Over 35km of labyrinth lies beneath Halkyn Mountain in North Wales. The abandoned lead mines associated with the Milwr Tunnel are still being examined for routes to lost workings and, potentially, the natural caverns which drain into the mine. Read the history of exploration of this fascinating area.

More of the Grim and Squalid!

Why do we do it? Why push onwards into often grotty holes? Because they are there? For two cavers, what they found in Crucifiction Cave proved grim and squalid, even by their own admission.

Gear Review

Cave photographers will be delighted to find another item in their arsenal: a flashbulb firer complete with slave unit.

The Descent Caption Competition

A record mailbag has been reduced to the final few. Who won the Enduro undersuit?

Descending the Peak Abyss

A volunteer group from Crewe CPC has repaired the anchors at Eldon Hole, allowing the caving community to continue its sporting pursuits in safety. In these days of rapid SRT descents, however, it is all too easy to forget how difficult it was for the early explorers to gain the bottom of the pot. With a description of work that has been completed in 1999, here is an account of a descent in 1900.

Fossil Pot: Key to Grassington Moor?

Fossil Pot has been extended by half a kilometre, a respectable addition to our northern caves by anyone’s standards. Yet the extension may prove more significant than the maths might indicate: could this be a route into the Lost Caverns of Grassington Moor?

Seduced by a Sump

Eight years of persistent digging have finally paid off with a breakthrough in Poulnagree, Co. Clare ñ but the explorers first had to learn to dive.

Cover: Sue Hagan in Ogof Ffynnon Ddu 1. Photo: Chris Howes

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Planning for Hidden Earth, the annual BCRA caving conference, is well underway, and it’s not too soon to begin preparing your competition entries.

BCRC Incident Report 1998

British cave rescue teams work long and hard on our behalf: we hope we never need them, but when we do … Here are the full details of all the callouts for 1998.

Grown Men Do Cry!

Faced with ever more more costly video equipment and diving gear, not to mention the hours of work involved in making an underwater caving video, it’s no wonder that tears are shed when the high-tech computer decides to throw it all away.

Another Mountain to Climb

On a return visit to Turkey, Martyn Farr continues his exploration of Altinbesik Cave – until the team discovers a major new site further along the valley.

A Tale of Two Letters

The crossed ‘I’ character is well known in Derbyshire caving circles, being inscribed on the wall in the Peak/Speedwell System. Investigations have revealed more sites where it is found, and how it evolved in the English alphabet.

The Fault That Never Was

Peter Borthwick has laboured for many years, digging to find a major passage, to reveal a secret that lies beneath Derbyshire limestone. Now he passes on his thoughts and theories: it’s time for a new generation to take up the challenge.

Give Me an Inch and I’ll Rant All Night

Alan Jeffreys returns to our pages with another of his ‘Caver’s Irregular Observations’.

Cover: Pat Cronin in Altinbesik Cave, Turkey. Photos: Martyn Farr

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VAT is not charged on UK publications. Orders to the EU are posted without tax paid and you are responsible for VAT and any other charges on delivery.

Descent is printed to the highest quality in the UK, as it has been since its inception in 1969.

Divers working in the huge resurgence of the Doux de Coly in the French Dordogne have been pushing further and further from base. In the previous issue of Descent we left them using habitats and scooters, and preparing to return to the cave in the summer of 1998. Join the divers for this concluding part to the article, which brings us up to date with the exploration of the Doux de Coly.

Baker’s Pit and its Water Quality

Baker’s Pit lies beneath an infilled quarry in Devon. Measuring the quality of the water seeping into the cave has revealed some interesting facts, such as an indication that there could be a vastly increased rate of stal growth going on.

Gear Review

BCB First Aid Kit and Ortlieb Drybag

How did BCB first aid kits and an Ortleib PS 490 drybag stand up when subjected to the rigours of a caver’s use?

Making an Entrance, Stage Left …

Is caving about making it easier to reach the end, or conserving what we already have and thereby maintaining the remoteness of the furthest reaches? In a Viewpoint article triggered by events at Ogof Draenen, Ben Lovett presents his personal opinions.

Vale: Peter Fowler

Martyn Farr writes a tribute to Peter Fowler, who died while cave diving in South Wales.

Once in a Blue Moon

Let’s face it: discovering a new cave is hardly unheard of. When it contains bright blue formations, it’s a touch more unusual. Here we have the previously untold story of the discovery of Wizards Chasm in a shakehole near Langcliffe Scar in the Yorkshire Dales.

Don’t Drop the Diagrams

When you buy a new bit of kit, what do you do with the paperwork? Many cavers throw it away, yet within lies some valuable advice that’s not to be so lightly passed up.

The Power to Dig

Dig, dig, dig! On and on, pulling in more and more cavers to help. Then, a flash of brilliance. Would using water-power help? Is the Derbyshire Extension to Kingsdale Master Cave evidence enough?

Descent’s Caption Competition

Don’t miss the latest Descent Caption Competition, with an Enduro undersuit – and more – to go to the lucky (and skilful) winners.

Cover: Titan Shaft, the latest discovery in Peak Cavern. Photo: Paul Deakin

Inset: The Mendip Supergun. Photo: Simon Muir

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VAT is not charged on UK publications. Orders to the EU are posted without tax paid and you are responsible for VAT and any other charges on delivery.

Descent is printed to the highest quality in the UK, as it has been since its inception in 1969.

Cave diving has grown in stature over the years, until its current standing of a highly technical sport with rebreathers, underwater habitats and staged air and mixed gas supplies. The Doux de Coly in the French Dordogne is a case in point, where dives have taken cavers further and further from base – and still the cave continues, without limit.

This is Mr P.B. Smith

On 19 November 1988 Pete Smith lost his life in a tragic fall. His friends and colleagues from the world of caving pay their tribute to one of Derbyshire’s true characters.

Gingling by Night

‘It was not the great depth Gingling Hole that provided the attraction, then no more than 140ft, but it had a fascination and quality all of its own.’ Join Len Cook for another in his occasional series on caving in the 1950s as he descends this ‘Very Difficult Pothole’.

Bright Ideas in Lighting

Cavers are always on the lookout for newer, better ways of doing things. A fresh look at lighting is therefore bound to be of interest.

To Gate or Not to Gate …

‘To those who gate mines: you should examine your motives.’ So wrote Chris Jones in Descent (145), and in so doing attracted some counter-opinion from Colin ‘Steve’ Knox.

Within the Accursed Mountains

As a holiday destination, Albania is perhaps not most people’s first choice. Members of Axbridge CG succeeded in organising an expedition just before the climate changed further for the worse – and against all the odds not only found caves, but also made a film.

Cover: Steve Thomas and Mike Thomas diving in Doux de Coly. Photos: Gavin Newman

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VAT is not charged on UK publications. Orders to the EU are posted without tax paid and you are responsible for VAT and any other charges on delivery.

Descent is printed to the highest quality in the UK, as it has been since its inception in 1969.

Cavers descended upon Southport for the annual caving conference, Hidden Earth. Here is the full report covering the lectures, competitions and the Tackle Bag Stuffing Woman!

The Exploration of Beck Head

The Cumbrian area of limestone near Witherslack has attracted the interest of cavers for many years. One site, Beck Head, called for an underwater dig

The Most Southerly Caves on Earth

With ‘new’ caving areas such as Mulu, Papua New Guinea and the undiscovered limestones of China now firmly on the caver’s hit list, are the karstic islands off Chile our planet’s last virgin caving region?

A Giant Christmas Dinner!

Had your annual caving club dinner yet? No? Planned your Christmas festivities? No? Here’s one group that celebrated with a slap-up meal – in the depths of a cave!

With a Little Skullduggery

Members of Derbyshire’s Pegasus CC continue their downwards trend, and come up with yet more bones.

Dante’s Inferno

‘I stand up in a chamber where shadows race, huge against the dim walls. Sweat runs through my eyes to drip from my chin. The air, reeking of urea, sticks in my throat.’ In Drotsky’s Cave, in the heart of Botswana.

Cover: Commerson’s Leaf-nosed Bats in Drotsky’s Cave, Botswana. Photo: Ben Lovett

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VAT is not charged on UK publications. Orders to the EU are posted without tax paid and you are responsible for VAT and any other charges on delivery.

Descent is printed to the highest quality in the UK, as it has been since its inception in 1969.

In 1995 an expedition to Papua New Guinea explored a cave to a depth of more than 1km. This year the challenge was to make a through-trip and push an open lead in ‘the most promising cave on the plateau’.

Taking the Healing Airs

Speleotherapy is a well-known medical treatment prescribed by doctors in many eastern European countries – so why is it virtually unknown elsewhere?

The Bad News, and the Good

With expedition grants thin on the ground the big news is that major funding is once again available – so send for a form and go for it!

A Return to Pir Ghaib

Frustrated by repeated attempts to explore a cave in the hills of western Pakistan, it’s the fourth time lucky for Simon Brooks.

Time to Play TAG

Freshly returned from this year’s NSS Convention deep in the heart of TAG country, Ian Chandler reports on the reception given to SpeleoArt in the USA.

Cover: Cave diving in Hurtle Pot. Artwork: Mark Lumley

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VAT is not charged on UK publications. Orders to the EU are posted without tax paid and you are responsible for VAT and any other charges on delivery.

Descent is printed to the highest quality in the UK, as it has been since its inception in 1969.

Ogof Draenen’s War of the Worlds, an immense passage which hurtles into a choke, was discovered in 1996. Dogged determination has now taken cavers into the hillside beyond with a major extension: Prisoners of War.

Alas Poor Yorick

… I didn’t know him at all well. Take a trip into Derbyshire’s latest (and still secret) archaeological discovery. [Thesite was later named Carsington Pasture Cave with brief follow-up reports in Descent 149 and 151, then coverage of a Time Team investigation in 167 and 170.)

Into the Unknown

It’s August! It’s expedition time! No stranger to foreign climes, join Jim Eyre as he journeys into the unknown.

The BCRC and Capham Beck

Every two years the BCRC holds a conference. This year, they put the delegates through a gruelling rescue race – along Clapham Beck.

Reinventin’ the Wheelie Bin

Cave diving activity at the Ressel Resurgence in France has reached fever pitch as divers attempt to pass the sump before a halt is called to all exploration in October.

Return to Oonaglour

When the roof threatened to squish the party, exploration stopped – but the lure of open passage remained.

Cover: Deborah Morgenstern in the passage below Slab House in Honeymead Hole. Photo: Paul Stillman

Out of Stock

When Andy Goddard and Phil Murphy broke into an extension in Rawthey Cave they hardly thought they would begin a project which would take them back 3,000 years as they and others investigate the human remains found in the Wolf Den.

Cameras at Porth

Asking for help through the pages of Descent can lead to surprising results, in this case with making a film drama in Porth yr Ogof.

BCRC Incident Report 1997

Can you learn from the mistakes that other caver’s have made? Check here for the statistics and details from 1997.

Whither the Whalf

A poke around within a ruined building in the copse above Hillocks Mine in Derbyshire resulted in the discovery of a long-lost climbing shaft. Here is how the Whalf was rediscovered.

Cover: Run to the Mill Cave, Tennesse, USA. Photo: Marc Tremblay

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VAT is not charged on UK publications. Orders to the EU are posted without tax paid and you are responsible for VAT and any other charges on delivery.

Descent is printed to the highest quality in the UK, as it has been since its inception in 1969.

‘Schwyll could be the most extensive underwater cave network south of the Yorkshire Dales.’ Schwyll Spring, a fascinating rising near the coast of South Wales, has finally begun to give up its secrets to cave diver Martyn Farr.

The Inside Story

The feeling of pushing yourself, of what it feels like to be exploring a deep pot, comes through in this superbly introspective piece of writing by Dave Checkley.

Foreign Caving: The Final Solution

Caving outside your patch? How will you be treated by all the foreigners you’ll meet?

The First free Dive

Poetry to dive with …

Wonder of the Peak

An old advertising poster sparked off some research into the parts of Peak Cavern in an attempt to track down a date.

Cover: Ben Lovett, the Ice Castle in F41, OUCC El Regalon ’97 expedition to the Picos de Europa, Spain. Photo: Tim Guilford

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VAT is not charged on UK publications. Orders to the EU are posted without tax paid and you are responsible for VAT and any other charges on delivery.

Descent is printed to the highest quality in the UK, as it has been since its inception in 1969.

Perfect bliss can be found in Dentdale – at least, according to the cavers who have made the latest discoveries there.

Two Weeks in the Taurus

‘I was just about to reach for a bolt when there was a “tinkle, tinkle, ker-plop”…’ Join Martyn Farr and his colleagues as they explore the wilds of Turkey.

Preach what you Practise

With a wing and a prayer, Charles Bailey finds that flying is very easy – it’s the sudden stop that gives him a problem, especially when it’s at the far end of Carno Adit.

Gloucester Goes Mad in Missouri

How do the caves of Missouri match up to a visit by cavers from the Forest of Dean when they journey to the 1997 NSS Convention?

Taking Care of Tomorrow

As our mining heritage crumbles into dust, an increasing number of people are becoming involved in conservation and preservation. Here are the successes of the Shropshire Mines Trust.

The Queen of Hearts

Has Gilwern Hill been caved out with the discovery of Ogof Draenen? It seems not, with more passage found in the nearby Ogof Ddwy Sir.

The Emperor’s Old Clothes

Caving with the Naughty Underground Deshabille Exploration Society? Surely not; the thought of Alan Jeffreys with the NUDES conjures up all sorts of visions.

Cover: Pat Cronin in Altinbesik Cave, Turkey. Photo: Martyn Farr

Price shown includes postage within the UK. For customers outside the UK, postage will be added on at checkout.

VAT is not charged on UK publications. Orders to the EU are posted without tax paid and you are responsible for VAT and any other charges on delivery.

Descent is printed to the highest quality in the UK, as it has been since its inception in 1969.