Trip to Titan Sep 2009

Titan trip Sep 2009
By Doug



I have waited a long time to visit Titan, and this was the day, we set off in two cars, I was travelling with Linda and John, while Mike and wes, travelled with Paul, Guy was meeting us in Castleton.
It’s a long way to Castleton and we arrived a little late at the old Methodist chapel which is the headquarters of TSG caving club, who were dealing with the access for us.
We dealt with all the form filling, and paid our £3 each to be allowed out, of peak cavern, then we went to a little café for breakfast.
While we waited for the breakfast, John went to someone’s house to collect the key for the entrance shaft.
Guy turned up as our breakfast was served, and then John returned with the key, so after breakfast we set out for the hills.
We left Guy’s car in the long lay by just outside Castleton as we were intending to exit through Peak cavern, so would need a car to get back to our cars.
After asking directions at the farm, we drove down a long bumpy lane where we parked just through a gate.
We got changed, then set off up the hill to the entrance shaft.
John had organised this trip and he was doing the rigging, so after we had got the scaffolding off and the lid unlocked, he set to work and rigged the hundred and fifty foot shaft.
The entrance shaft is unusual in that it was sunk solely for the purpose of gaining access to Titan.
John abseiled the shaft first, then Mike, then I followed, during my decent I admired the fine piece of work that was lined with glass fibre rings down to the solid rock.
The shaft bottom connected to a short passage with welly deep water which led directly into the upper reaches of Titan where I found John and Mike, peering down into the awe inspiring depths of the cavern.
As the others were arriving one by one, John was already hanging in the abyss, and setting off, to rig the first pitch.
We all sat and chatted, until John called up that the rope was clear, then Linda set off down, then we waited, and waited.
Eventually, John called for Mike, and off mike went, then we waited, after what seemed like a geological age, Mike called rope free, I got on the rope and set off down.
There is something very special about hanging in a natural cavern which is 147 metres deep, I make that about 450 feet, the going was a little difficult at first, mainly due to the weight of the rope hanging below.
As I dragged the heavy rope through my petsl stop, I had time to swivel and spin around to admire the enormity of the cavern, my hands were aching seriously from holding in the lever on my petsl after about a hundred feet, but as the rope got lighter I was able to speed up.
By the time I got to the half way ledge where mike was waiting, my petsl stop was steaming, John and Linda had gone down and Mike was about to swing, Wes landed as Mike set off, and the others soon followed.
I hung myself over the edge to find a re belay in mid air with about 80 metres of moist cave air under my feet, the loop was a bit short, and I had to mess about for quite a while to free my gear, but once I got away, the second pitch was spectacular.
My petsl hand, was realy aching by the time my feet felt the boulders at the bottom of the cavern, so I sat on a boulder and drank some tea while we waited for the others and contemplated size of the cavern.
Soon we were all together and rested, and ready to set off for the way out, the way out being under a huge boulder.
We all ducked under the boulder, with John leading, and then slid, scrambled, and crawled through a three dimensional labyrinth of scaffolding and boulders, always downward, until eventually we slid into a passage in which we could stand up.
The passage, led us to a lovely streamway which we followed for quite some time, each time we came across a side passage we checked it out as possibly the way out,
We had omitted to bring a cave survey for some reason but John and Mike had been here before, and anyway you can’t get lost between Titan and Peak cavern, can you.
One of the passages we first tried, looked quite promising, it was to the left, which was what we were expecting, and it had an arrow scratched on the roof, always a good sign, in fact, it was the right passage, but alas, we are UCET and we have been known to get lost on the way to the pub for our Thursday meeting.
So after trying every other passage, upstream and down, we came to the conclusion, that this one was after all, the way on, at this point we had a meeting, some wanted to go back up the rope, some preferred to carry on out of Peak cavern, we were split about fifty/ fifty, all seven of us.
We decided to probe the passage for a while and see where it led us, we were soon plodding and scrambling through old mine workings, and Mike and John, recognised it at last, at this point Mike, Guy, and Paul, who were the three in favour of going back up the ropes decided to do it.
This made sense because we had, somehow to retrieve the ropes anyway, so someone would have to abb down to the mid point, to de rig, if we all, went out of Peak.
John, Linda, Wes, and myself carried on through the mine workings.
It was quite some time before we scrambled into a cavern which even I could recognise, I had been there on a trip through J H mine some years before, we were elated, but knew that we still had a long way to go through uncomfortable terrain.
We plodded on, and were soon in a nice streamway which we followed for quite some time, then we came across a passage on the left which John thought he recognised, while he and Wes checked it out, I checked out the streamway farther on.
The main passage sumped out after fifty yards, so I went back, and we took the side passage which turned out to bypass the sump.
Back in the streamway we came across a fixed ladder leading to a passage twenty feet or so above us, Wes went to check it out, but we could see by the mud on the ladder and running down the wall of the passage that it was well used.
We soon realised that this must be colostomy passage, it was easily the most filthy, slippery, dirtiest mud passage I have slid through for a very long time, much worse than OHA.
Most of colostomy passage has be navigated horizontally, it is pure mud, and feels like about five miles long, if you have ever wondered what it would feel like to be a turd, you should try it.
After colostomy, comes the trenches, this is more of the same, just a little higher, more like OHA, then the joy of stream passage.
We knew we were on the last leg when we passed the junction which leads to Speedwell cavern.
Now we could walk upright and made good time, it was not long before we were entering the nether regions of Peak cavern, we sat in the little lagoon formed by a small dam across the stream, to wash the mud out of our caving gear, suit, ears, and places where you would not expect mud to stick.
It was pleasant walking out through peak cavern with just the odd light left on, and the public long since gone to the pub or curled up in their beds.
As we let ourselves out through the big iron gates, Mike and Paul were waiting for us, they had left Guy to finish de rigging.
Back at the old Methodist chapel, I got changed, as my dry gear was in Paul’s car, but Linda, Wes, and John’s gear was somewhere else, we decided that it would be best if I went home with Paul and Mike, as my van was at Mike’s house.
The three of us set off back up to the entrance shaft to check that Guy was OK and give him a hand if needed.
By the time Mike and I got back to the shaft, Guy was just hauling up the last rope, so we locked everything up, put the scaffolding back, and we all carried the ropes and gear back to the cars.
Guy’s dry gear was in Linda and John’s car which was now the only other car left at the top, so he got changed and then drove it back to the Methodist chapel, while Paul, Mike, and I headed for home.
Some hours later I was to be found, sitting in the middle of the road outside Mikes house, perfectly sober, waiting for the cramp in my legs to ease, so that I could drive home.
It had been a long, tiring, day, but I would not have missed it for the world.

can anyone tell me how to delete a post that has been posted erroniously.

You need a forum admin to delete a post but you can edit the post yourself using the "edit" button and then removing all the text and then saving the changes (so the post is still there but it is empty).

Your erronious post has been deleted

another cool trip report douge.quirky as ever but brill

sorry about the error, I have now edited it with my new found knowlege,
thanks for the knowlege, admin.

Good report Doug,

How did you all get on with the Petzl stops on the titan pitch? i read that it's only for maximum descents of 100M? I've had trouble with mine before on long descents as it get's hot. maybe i just go to fast?

ye speed is a big issue with any desending device , even a figure of eight can get pretty hot if you "shoot" down the rope , the best advice i can give is to take it nice and steady on big pitches and don't stop as the heat from your chosen device will eat into the rope and you might end up on the floor faster than you think other than that petzl (plumits) i mean stops are as good as any . by the way guy used a bobbin down titan and found it nice and smooth , i also know a couple of people who put a crab in the side of there petzl stop and used it as a bobbin , this will stop you getting a "petzl" hand half way down , but if you let go of the rope with your right hand AHHHHH you go . is' almost christmas so i can use these now.