Red Rose Cave and Pothole Club - Newsletter Vol. 6 No. 7 - December 1969 / January 1970
KINGSDALE MASTER CAVE.
Party: Roger, Ian, Dave and guest.
A sump-splashing fun trip in Kingsdale
Master Cave was to be the order of the day. Immediately on halting, Ian flipped the bonnet of his car
open. It appeared the point of the exercise was to find a warm bit of car on
which to melt butter to facilitate bread spreading. The traditional pantomime
over we proceeded to get changed. On entering the hole the lid was replaced to
reduce the cold & draught. The water was quite cool, stimulating verbal
eruptions of surprise. A few yards from the foot of the short ladder pitch we
passed a party gathered round the base of a scaling pole. High up on the left
came the sound of digging-like activity. After half an hour or so of groveling
in irrelevant little side passages we decided we had found the way to Rowten Sump by process of elimination. The water was somewhat deeper than on our previous visit but we
reached the sump by which time we were less enthusiastic about splashing around. We wandered out of the cave at a casual Mach 3. On reaching the cars we espied a. figure running towards us. Someone from another club collapsed with cold
exposure in Rowten Pot. The facts known, we raced up
the hill and descended the gully. The boy now conscious. We got him to the
bottom of the gully and put him in a sleeping bag. Eventually the C.R.O. came
and he was soon hauled to the surface and whisked away to a hot bath at the Marton Arms where he made a speedy recovery.
There followed some anxious moments about
our ladder. It was eventually tracked down to a pile of tackle being loaded
into a van. Unfortunately Roger's karabiner and sling was lost down the big
pitch during the activity.
Dave.