Grand Turk and the Secret passage

[Gareth Stonely]

So, here's my first trip report.

I went straight from work to Minera car park arriving a hour early but planned on meeting Rich W and Lee at 6pm. With half hour to spare a bear (me) went into the woods just above the car park and came across picture 1. 6pm came round and the lads turned up as we got out of the car Richard T turned up followed by Ste with the news that it was just us on this trip. Already for 6.30 Pete turns up, quick chat with him before we headed down separate holes.
I offered to rig the pitch so i could use my new rope  :lol: . All down safely we crawled through the tube and headed to the 'secret passage'. At the bottom of the secret passage we looked up a vertical internal shaft. Somehow,It was me who had to climb up, luckily there was a few places i could put protection. So off i went up the shaft on my first ever lead climb, it was luckily for the lads below that he bear went into the woods   . At the top of the climb i was greeted with picture 3 and some rope already rigged. With the rope,knots and anchors checked i lowered the rope down and the lads srt'd up. We headed along the level (pic4) till we came across some ladders and another shaft (pic 5&6) unable to climb this shaft we continued along the level. We came to a collapse 100m along the level and possibly an abandoned dig as there was just a bar and a few pulleys. On closer inspection by Richard T this could be a collapsed stope. We had a quick poke at it and moved some rock for more rock to come down, so at this point we decided it was time to head the pub but by the time we got there it was shut  

[mike leahy]

Where's the Pictures gaz :huh:

[Gareth Stonely]

[Gareth Stonely]

[quote="mike leahy" post=40383]Where's the Pictures gaz :huh:[/quote]

Poor Internet, took a while to up load.

Most of the pictures you will have to turn your phone

[mike leahy]

Nice piccies

[Richard Timms]

:lol:  
It was a good climb though,with only a few whimpers of distress  :lol:

[Dave Tyson]

Steve Kennedy was asking about a Grand Turk survey or info on uk.caving - I doubt if anything will be posted by members of NWCC, but I had a poke around a few years ago so can answer some questions.

The rise up from Grand Turk passage to the mine workings was almost certainly dug from above, but modern cavers must has ascended the shaft from below to rig the rope. When I first looked at this over 10 years ago the shaft had an electron ladder hanging to the floor from about 1/2 way up the shaft. It was hung off some kind of bolt. There was a piece of static caving 'tat' hanging down part way - but not reaching the floor.

Not knowing the state of play of the anchor or the provenance of the rope made me fairly nervous to prussik up it, but I used a piece of climbing rope attached to an anchor to safeguard the ascent. As it happened on reaching the top of the rope I saw it was rebelayed via a good anchor and the rope showed little signs of wear. Ahead the rope disappeared though a hole in large stack of railway sleepers and crawling through this entered a mined passage. There was a heavy steel plate that could close the hole in the timber-work - presumably for air control.
 
The passage was generally walking height and turned after a while sharp right. It carried on, with a few piles of rubble more or less straight. The was a rise with some decaying ladders on the right hand side. I had planned to bolt this and see what happened at the top, but never got around to it. The main passage carries on to a collapse which is due to rubble falling down a shaft. it *might* be possible to dig around this on the LHS using a bit of scaff and board to prevent run it.

On a later visit the original rope had been replaced by a proper Y-hang and the electron ladder left coiled up on the floor nearby.

There is a sketch plan in the book 'limestone and caves of wales' by Trevor Ford - its not very detailed but indicates the the mined passage is part of the upper day level - see attachment. I think it is on the white vein as detailed on minera plans - but a lot of detail is missing.

The interesting point is that the rise almost certainly connected to the surface and would make a through trip. If you head along the old railway track (like you were going to Cabin Shaft), but carry on further there is a gate on the RHS and a minor path towards an old acheson lime kiln. Near a copse of trees, hidden under soil and vegetation is a steel plate with an access hatch. In side the hatch is a 100' shaft. There is a bit of steel ladder near the top (dodgy) and some steel wires hanging down. Abseiling down leads to an earth floor with a large tree trunk. I suspect if you removed the latter and dug down you would enter a horizontal passage which would connect with the Grand Turk rise (the one which need bolting). I think this surface shaft might have something to do with GCC.

Of course all this area will have been investigated by NWCC and be safely in the hands of Peter Appleton and close confidents - the chances of it seeing daylight are absolutely zero...

Hope this is of help,

Dave

[Steve]

Rigging was spot on. Free climb up the shaft was impressive. All round great trip  B)

[Dave Tyson]

[quote="Stones" post=40382]So, here's my first trip report.

So off i went up the shaft on my first ever lead climb, it was luckily for the lads below that he bear went into the woods   . At the top of the climb i was greeted with picture 3 and some rope already rigged. With the rope,knots and anchors checked i lowered the rope down and the lads srt'd up.[/quote]
This is interesting - the rope with the Y hang was at the top of the pitch near the air dam and coiled up rather than left hanging down - I wonder why, and how did the group that left it there get back down? As you note there is no way out along the passage - unless someone rigged a rope down the rise. But then that implies the rise must reach the surface elsewhere and not where the lidded shaft I mentioned before is located. Hmm time to dig out my distrox and do a bit of surveying,,,

Dave

[Steve]

This is what I said too dave. There must be a way in else where

[Richard Timms]

Also felt like fresh air at rise

[mike leahy]

I've got a portable maypole

[mick murphy]

this s the white vien 40 years ago we went down the shaft and slid into the level just 1 ft of grap the level crosses
the diesal stopes high in the roof you could absail down if bolted  it then turns towards grand turk and if memory serves me wellthe level opened into the grand turk sump high up on the left hand side just before you climb down to the sump not easy to see there was a continuation of the left just over the rock bridge backfilled but did not investigate the other side of the shaft is blocked so cannot reach daylight by the straem. mick

[Dave Tyson]

I have had a quick recheck of the rough position of where I think the un-climbed shaft in question is  on the surface and it definitely is near the old lime kilns. Of course I am relying on the correct scaling of the map in the book, but a couple of cross references place the surface location at about SJ26165172 which corresponds to that area. Might be worth a surface poke about - it's possible that there is another shaft nearby to the one I descended and that would be more likely as I don't think the upper day level was 200' down.

I have marked the area on the attached map

Dave

[Dave Tyson]

I have found some of my photos from the exploration of the lidded shaft near to the limekiln which may connect to grand turk.

These show:

1) view looking down the shaft with the ladder and wires to some scaff
2) view of the hatch from outside
3) view from bottom of shaft looking up
4) tree and bits of scaff at the bottom of the shaft
5) tree and bits of scaff from a better perspective
6) more detail from inside of the top of the shaft and ginging

enjoy!

Dave