Boundary Pot Extension

Team: Phil Wright, Adrian Savage, Mark Savage, Bert Savage and Jim Newton.

Two weeks previously Phil and Adrian had gone down Boundary Pot on a recce. Phil had pushed a passage full of cobbles and mud to the head of a pitch and after climbing down about ten foot he found he was on top of something a lot bigger. Having no equipment he and Adrian made their way out. Back at the farm, in consultation with the resident experts it appeared that they had come across something new. They decided to come back the following Saturday and push the new find but it poured down all weekend so Boundary was out of the question!

The following weekend was glorious, the gill was dry right up to Top Sink, the above team was recruited and we set off! Jim and I lagged miles behind (It was too hot to run) “Anyway,” said Jim, “it’ll still be there.” We arrived at the entrance and set off down, arriving at the passage Phil had pushed. I found it to be a cracker. Flat out amongst cobbles, a left hand turn, then cobbles that keep rolling out in a never ending streamway. Following is an S-bend with a bit more thrutching for about twenty feet to the head of the pitch. An awkward climb down for about ten feet saw Phil, Adrian, Mark and myself waiting at the bottom for Jim NO JIM! Phil went to see where he was, he was at the point where the cobbles were waiting for the unwary but he found it too tight and was busy trying to clear the floor. He came back saying Jim wouldn’t be long. Another wait and Adrian went to find out what was wrong, Jim had decided it was too tight and was going to retreat. Mark had climbed down the main pitch and Phil had gone down the ladder, I went down and we had a party. We had always used as a rule “One out, all out” but we were almost certain that we were in Fusion Chamber so Mark decided to go out with Jim and Adrian while Phil spent about fifteen minutes looking around. Phil went down what he thought was the way on to Hiroshima and when he came back he confirmed we were in Fusion Chamber. We noticed two or three ways on apart from the way we had come and the 48 foot pitch.

Phil spent a couple of minutes in a fairly big passage, which we reckon would have been the main way in as the way we came in (and the way the survey’s route comes in) are very immature and couldn’t have formed Fusion Chamber. Halfway up one wall above a pile of unstable boulders were some stale with what looked like a way on.
We then made our way out. We didn’t find a new cavern but we did find a new way into Fusion Chamber which is actually two joined together by a short passage. We eliminated the 48 foot pitch by finding a twenty foot pitch which can be free climbed. We reckoned on the pitch being twenty foot but we had to use two ladders because the only available belay was so far back. All the signs show that the known ways in fill up completely (during flood) although Fusion Chamber does not.

Even though it must be very unpleasant to be caught in there, there must be another way in.

Bert Savage

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