Eldon Hole

Pete O’neil, Rob Crowther, Shawn Lanigan, Myself.

A mid-weaker, we assembled at Eldon farm at a sensible time, and headed up the hill. Plan was to descend the South route, and head up to Damocles.

I rigged the route without any issues… Well, one… There had been a growth spurt of moss, being spring, and some anchors didn’t want to reveal themselves. This meant a slight overshoot at one point, which I always hate. Something about having to retrace your ascent kind of kills things!

Hit the bottom, and Robert, Shawn and Pete follow behind. Whilst waiting, it is at this time of year that I scour the bottom looking for fallen victims… Not so much cavers, but amphibians! My record so far has been over 30 recovered frogs, toads and newts! Today, I counted about 7. Sadly, two larger frogs had not survived the freefall, so they remained where they fell.
I filled my bag ready for their rescue later.

We descended into the depths. I had intended for a long while to check out the magnificently engineered dig by the Buttered Badgers for a good while, but it’s one of those things where everyone gets on with the trip to hand so it usually gets left for another day. This time, I had a wait, so down I climbed, into the depths of the boulder choke. The engineering of the scaffolding is top notch! You actually feel quite comfortable descending, everything is solidly constructed with lots of triangular support. When you consider the thousands of tonnes of rock behind the scaff…. Hmm best not.

Once everyone had descended, I grabbed the rope for Damocles. Now, there was a slightly clerical error on my part here… I packed the wrong bloody rope! Doh! 30m short, we were never gonna make that!

I felt disappointed for everyone, but folks were still in high spirits, so before they had a chance to consider a wasted trip, I suggested we get to a pub!

This was Roberts first proper SRT trip, and he did very well, making a good time out and no hitches. This trip can get people as it is quite exposed, although the South route feels less so IMO.

Great trip; one of Derbyshire’s little(big) gems!

A look down the South route, 60m from surface to bottom. Pete and Shawn patiently waiting below

Amazing work by the diggers below the ice age deposits.

Illegal to disturb or pick these fellas up, unless they need rescue! Great Crested Newt.

Type of entry: Caving

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