Where am I? DCC > CAVING AND MINING > GOING DOWN > DIGGING AND EXPLORATION > WHITE SCAR
WHITE SCAR, Yorkshire
The following is a note from Tony Brocklebank of Preston, a DCC member:
White Scar Cave - Great Rift Extension
(1997?)
Following the main streamway through White
Scar a point is reached just before the sumps where the
water issues from an enlarged bedding plane. At this
point the Great Rift heads off to the left, with
dimensions similar to the main streamway, and is assumed
to be the original route of the stream, although it is
now dry.
The Great Rift ends at a steep climb
upwards, the rift at this point being around seventy to
eighty feet high, with a good draught. Over the
course of more than twenty trips an extension of around a
hundred and twenty feet was made, ending at a small
chamber around twenty feet in length and six feet
high.
Despite further work assisted by members of
the Earby Pothole Club and numerous others progress slowed
and eventually stopped, not so much due to the difficulty
of digging but to the long slog in through the streamway
and the difficulty of removing spoil. The dig is in
heavy, thick mud throughout which within minutes envelopes
the diggers in a two to three inch deep coating, and tends
to knacker even the fittest of diggers (which we often
weren't!).
The dig is around a mile from the sinks
(Quaking Pot area) and four hundred feet below them.
The potential is therefore considerable but if you fancy
resuming the project be prepared for a long slog!
If anyone works out how to lift water from
the streamway a hundred feet to the top of the rift we
could wash it out in no time - let me know.