The weather was pretty foul as the five of us met up at the layby at the head of Lathkilldale, on the Monyash to Bakewell road; heavy rain and a strong westerly wind made for a night where the fire, a beer and the telly might be the best idea. But Bernie, Steve, Jane, Jess and I had decided on a trip into Lathkillhead Cave - but via the Upper Entrance, the main cave entrance in the valley below being flooded out with a serious amount of water.
Lathkill Head Cave
Back in late 2013 and early 2014, I helped Graham Mullan put together a 3D model of the Lathkill catchment, from existing survey data from previous surveys undertaken. One part of the system where data couldn’t be located was Garden Path so I planned to re-survey this part of the system, using the Garden Path entrance that is kept locked for conservation purposes but a key is available for scientific trips only.
After last week's great stomp around Giants, there was a plan hatched in the Peaks Hotel which involved Alan Walker getting permission from the Lathkill Estate for us to enter Lathkill Sough this week. I decided that this would be a good opportunity to complete a small DCA task which Ann and I had started in March 2017 when we were to investigate a winze at the back of the adit above Bateman's House to see whether it was worth installing P bolts to replace a set of rusting 8mm spits.
Members Present: David Botcherby, Louise Baddeley, Corin Donne, Sam Lee.
Half a dozen met at the layby at the head of Lathkilldale for a trip into Lathkill Head Cave via the upper entrance. It was a wet night after a pretty wet day, but we still expected the recent good weather to have left the cave devoid of any stream, and we were not disappointed. However, water in the lower Tigers must still have been sumped somewhere as the QRAE II meter we were using started alarming as soon as I abseiled down into the Waiting Room. 18.2% (oxygen by volume) was the reading.
Last Wednesday evening, after spending most of the day with a group from Macclesfield in Mouldridge Mine, and with my DCA "Gasman" hat on, I decided that, having only just recently measured the air quality in Lathkill Head Cave, and Lathkill Head Upper Entrance, it might be a good idea to do the same in the only other entrance - Garden Path.
In response to a report of high CO2 levels in Lathkill Head Upper Entrance, a small group of us (Ann Soulsby, Christine Wilson, Andy Chapman and me) descended the cave, and, using the DCA CO2 meter, Ann measured the atmosphere at various locations. The following was reported back to DCA.
Surface: 0.01%
Foot of rope in Waiting Room: 1.55%
Top of choke at the bottom of Waiting Room: 1.70%