An account of the discovery of the Compost Series in the West Kingsdale Master Cave.
A recent club trip that defaulted to Kingsdale for want of anything more original saw some debate as to what to do, and where to do it. Not particularly desiring to have another epic in King, or a shuffle barely below the surface in Rowten Cave. I recalled an aven in Carrot passage which we had often considered ascending and was surprised to obtain two enthusiastic followers. "Alas we have no bolt kit", but one appeared, as did a variety of tatty purloined slings; and hence the excuses ran out.
Now Carrot is one of those places which you visit once if at all, but human nature being what it is you invariably forget the worst, given time. However, sufficient memories remain to farm out the shiny new tacklebag to someone else, and to bring up the rear; partly to prevent the others from acting on the not unnatural urges to turn tail.
From the start of Milky Way the journey is mostly crawling or flat out, and much grumbling ensued of the "are you out of the way" sort. Shortly beyond Shingle Crawl after the Tri-Junction, is an indeterminate fork, the main way on continuing right; but the aven lies along the left branch. This was reached by C.J., in search of a place to relieve himself whilst on a digging trip to the far reaches of Carrot, excavating a shingle bank in his frantic hurry to attain an upright posture.
The aven is the first bit for a long way that you can stand, so we gratefully did, and took stock of the diminutive enlargement down which dribbled a miserable trickle. Not having been to the spot I was somewhat disappointed, but having expended some energy already a bit more would not go amiss. So the visiting idiot called Bown was prodded into action, whilst Duncan and I trod on the braidline to belay him. Several bolts, animal grunts, and raining DIY hammers later he vanished, lowered the ladder now freed of its function of etrier, and told us to come up.
He had popped up into the floor of a small passage aligned in the direction of the aven. With the realisation that we'd found something, exploration fever ran high and powerful draughts appeared to whistle from all corners. The passage continuing in the direction of that at the base of the aven became small and squalid, but in the other direction (south) it stepped up into a nicely decorated crawl half full of a smooth layer of very fine silt, which was soon churned to a disgusting morass and not at all decorated. This led to a junction on the left with a nearly parallel passage, one side being barred by a stat grill, but book northwards the passage cuts down to a hole in the floor which, free climbable with care descends to the same level as that of the scaled aven. An uninvitingly choked crawl leads out. Over the pit the passage continues but becomes too low, as does a similar passage before the pit. The continuation of the crawl past the Junction passed a very soft calcite bank, (most of which transferred itself to the inside of my furry), an odd shaped stay which mysteriously vanished and a damp grovel to a flat out low bit. At this stage we were feeling well pleased, but cold and tired and accordingly exited leaving a rope and a heap of organic matter in the aven. The return to more normal bipedal mode of transport was slow and exacerbated by Duncan shedding a crowbar at Tri-Junction and not realising until the duck, and the tacklebag which having been on one trip showed every intention of not doing another.
The van of course refused to start and the night was late and cold, but the pub was made with vows of secrecy. Bown however forgot and news spread in less time than it takes to get served. One NCC member was overheard to say disgruntedly that he didn't know there was an aven!
Fuelled by quantities of Diesel the passages expanded and the draughts howled, and C.J. and Tim were wound up to visit. Not surprisingly none of the original trio could face the notion, so these two surveyed from the junction with Carrot Passage - which must have been excruciatingly squalid. {It was! - Ed.). C.J. managed to destroy the remaining formations in a futile bid to extend the parallel passage through the stal grill. They exited se d ngly unimpressed, and unable to detect a draught.
The passage of a week allowed sore knees to heal and furries to dry and a return was planned. However, one team didn't make the change whilst the surveyors managed to release a perched puddle and hot footed it out with phobias of being drowned.
Another visit came by default because Goudie had forgotten his descender to do Rowten. "Rats", I thought, as I had no desires to revisit suffering a bout of imminent 'flu. This trip pushed the 1008e ends to some sort of conclusion. The other passage at the top of the aven was forced round a tight bend to an even tighter one; a side passage dug to a calcited choke and the passage over the pit going a bit further. ffl e continuation of the glutinous crawl leads to a point needing digging although a drip and echo indicate a possible aven beyond. At least three points for possible extension remain. but they are likely to be long term prospects.
The passages at the top of the aven are mostly hands and knees phreatic tubes with minimal vadose enlargement. Although the glutinous crawl and the parallel passage to the pit take some water (which has been responsible for the deposition of a finely layered silt), the passages do not appear to be affected by flood to any degree. Hence, the system slat be considered as essentially fossil, carrying only percolation water.
A thin shale band can be seen at the top of the aven which has obviously had a controlling influence. However, the presence of this series above Carrot Passage at about 900 feet O.D. putting it at the ones level as the base of Toyland, raises interesting questions as to its origins and the passage destinations. The continuation of the aven passage heads towards Valley Entrance and seems to have been formed by the water flowing in this direction, according to scallop marks. This would accord with the northerly direction of down dip drainage, and fits with the apparent flow and markings in Carrot Passage. The presence of the pit and associated passages indicates a 3D network of some complexity, the origins presumably related to levels of the postulated inter/post glacial lake in Kingsdale. Further extensions may help to shed more light.
