What's Appin'in!: August 2012

Appioneers.. despoiling virgins since June 2012

The Adventures of the Appioneers:

"We meet the Boss of Glenamuckymuck

and then we all get stuckystuck"

Chapter One: The Discovery

When we initially found Glenamuckrach pot, we thought it was a new discovery. Having followed the obvious route up from GM Resurgence to a very distinct Pot (vertical cave entrance), and the only pot in the area, it was, at the time, perfectly obvious that the cave I now refer to as Viewpoint Pot was Glenamuckrach Pot. After that, since the map held no other points in the area, we figured we could safely assume that anything else would be new. Following my tried and true formula for cave hunting:

Tree = Cave

we rather quickly stumbled upon the entrance to another cave located beneath the next tree over down the glen.

George sitting at the original end of Glenamuckrach Pot

The original description of Glenamuckrach Pot:

" This is one of a line of sinks along the upper edge of the limestone above the ruins of Glenamuckrach. The entrance is at the foot of a three metre deep channel with the stream sinking into a tight tube 10m uphill. Once past the decomposing sheep at the entrance, the passage drops in a series of steps. Near the bottom the stream reappears and flows into a narrow rift that rapidly become too tight." -Appin Cave Guide (Young, Ivan Ed. GSG: 1978)

Clearly things have changed over the past 30 years, because the visible part of the cave was now completely dry, and the stream doesn't reappear until you get down into The Boss, where it flows out of a channel near the top of the wall and drops 2m down to the floor. This is however still audible from the choke where George is sitting above. On the first day we looked at the cave, Tam squeezed through the first bit, but didn't go much further. He did however, kick a rock, and we listened to it patter patter patter thunk! patter patter patter Thunk, pat pat. We all sat there for a sec and George said.. "Tam.. that sounded like a pitch!" so he kicked another rock.. and another. It was about the only thing my helmet cam actually recorded on that trip: 4 seconds of travel. We were definitely coming back.

On our second trip to the glen, Tam expressed a desire to find a chamber big enough to call "The Boss", so he hightailed it back up to the cave and disappeared. We were just about to start getting concerned when he piped up on the radio saying he'd "found the Boss".. mishearing at first, I said something inappropriate back, but he was so excited he didn't even bother with a witty comeback. Hugo Boss was a GO!

Chapter Two: Penetration

See? Clean Boots!!

Tam came down the hill and we stopped for lunch, enjoyed a visit from Hillary of Bealach Country House who popped in for a cup of tea. Apparently other settlers in the area are not as hospitable as we are, because she had (shockingly!) never before been served tea while out hiking the glen! Scandalous!! Noting her impressively clean hiking boots, I asked her what route she took to get there, and she told us about the nice dry path.. with the signposts that we somehow missed on earlier visits. I obligingly glared at the fellas and promised punishment later.

Andy, George, Tam and I trekked back up to the cave entrance after lunch, and George and Tam set to trying to enlarge the entrance enough to make it a bit more pleasant. Andy and I meanwhile, grabbed the SRT kit and popped over to the neighboring cave, the curious pot at the next tree over. If this was GM Pot.. what was that? More importantly.. how could it be missed when it's sitting right on the path? Surely it had already been checked, but we figured we'd have a go anyhow.

Viewpoint Pot

Amber exiting the Viewpoint Pot of Glenamuckrach


The flowstone passage between chambers

This cave has a vertical entrance roughly 4 m deep x 2.5m x 1.5m with some interesting pockets part way down, but it's at the bottom where it gets interesting. At the uphill side of the chamber, about 6 feet above the ground, there was a passage over pristine flowstone leading into a larger chamber. Peering through the crawl, one could clearly see a small waterfall. Andy climbed over with his camera into the next chamber. This is what he saw:

Flow passage btwn chambers in the Viewpoint Pot at Glenamuckrach. Mmmmmm.. Purdy...

Waterfall coming out of the ceiling.. might take a bit of a climb that one.

There's a potential passage in the ceiling that bears further investigation, and a ladder. So far, that's all she wrote for this little cave, but I think it warrants some further investigation.

Chapter Three: Violation

Sump One... Wanted : One Midget with Dive Gear

Once Andy and I returned from exploring the pot, we found that Tam and George had disappeared. The floor of the passage beneath the squeeze where Tam had passed earlier had been dug out about a George in width, and we could hear voices down below. Andy and I squeezed through the gap. On the other side, there was a small chamber that provided room for some elbow-protecting yoga, followed by a sketchy looking narrow s-curve at a shallow downhill angle. Andy went feet-first, and didn't seem to have any trouble, but I like to see where I'm going, so I went head-first. Around the corner, there 's a 45º downward slope followed by a small pitch and a small slab of rock sticking up slightly in the way. I was wearing a thin furry over my wetsuit for this trip, finding that wetsuits tend to snag less on the evil velcro limestone of Appin. As I curved around the corner, I began to worm my way down the chute when I discovered a small glitch in my outfit. The slab of rock was slightly hook-shaped, and it had caught on the zipper my furry. Meanwhile, my backside kept catching on the rocksnags of the chute. As I wiggled about trying to dislodge my posterior from the hooks, I found myself slowly creeping down the chute with an overly friendly chunk of cave gradually unzipping not just my furry, but also my wetsuit! Using my hands to stop myself from sliding headlong down the pitch, it was some work to try and unhook myself from the rock slab, and at one point, I was incapable of moving either forwards or backwards, but feared I'd be condemned to dangle forever upside-down from my bosom.

Well.. maybe not forever..

HB Top of Cascade

Upstream exit to the Royal Mile

I'm sure as my waterlogged carcass began to dessicate, I'd eventually slide free. Well.. perhaps not even that.. but there was a moment there when I thought I'd have to climb out of my wetsuit in order to get free. Imagine the look on the fella's faces if I arrived in The Boss al fresco! Fortunately, I eventually managed to push myself up enough to unzip my suit fully and dislodge the groping rock, climb down the chute, and zip back up without further mishap barring a few new holes in my furry. Needless to say, I have proposed calling that particular section of passage "Stripper's corner".

Later, on my way back out, I discovered that although the initial squeeze that we had passed was less forthcoming on the return journey. I had come in feet-first on my backside, and as it's a slight decline, it went rather smoothly. On the return, I discovered that my usual approach of crawling out on my belly wouldn't work, as there's a 1-foot right-angle turn part way up the squeeze. I am flexible.. but not that flexible! After some careful pondering, and a first-ever occasion of me having to actually remove my helmet to navigate a cave passage, I ended up heading out the same way I went in: on my back. But this time, having no purchase for my boots or my hands, I had to stick my hands in the air and shuffle out, crawling with my shoulder blades and butt-cheeks, one agonizing inch at a time.

It took me 40 minutes to travel 20m.

Boiler Room

George had less luck than I had at the exit, communing with the walls of the Chinese Finger Trap for a bit longer. He too was forced to disrobe in order to appease the Mutton God, but in the end, we all made it out of the cave.

So retired for an evening of midge-infused cosmopolitans (complete with fruity umbrellas) and delicious gourmet tapas.