Cover: Geoff Yeadon in Frake’s Passage, Kingsdale, Yorkshire Dales. Photo: Mark Burkey

Descent has a smart new cover style, with a new logo first spotted at Hidden Earth in September.

In the forthcoming issue 294:

Newsdesk includes the Tratman Award 2021 announcement and a story about cheese. Regional news includes progress at Whirlpool Rising in the Peak District, big clear-up work at Thrupe Lane Swallet on Mendip, the Golden Pippin dig on Yorkshire’s Ingleborough, all sorts of work at Redhouse Lane Swallet in the Forest of Dean and the discovery of a waterwheel in a Welsh mine.

Main features:

The Changing Face of Descent

As already mentioned, Descent has changed its appearance somewhat. This seems a good time for Chris Scaife to look back at Descent covers through the ages.

The Aquamole is Back

After a break of 26 years, Geoff Yeadon decided it was time to return to cave diving. This turned into a big event in the Yorkshire Dales, as told by Geoff, Mark Burkey and Roo Walters.

In the Wilds of Crete

British cavers have been visiting Crete’s Lefka Ori – or White Mountains – for many years; but, as Chris Scaife reports, it is still a wild place with undescended holes everywhere.

Of Clouds and Barren Lands

Meghalaya in India is also known as ‘the Abode of the Clouds’ and, as Simon Brooks reports, expeditions to this region never fail to deliver.

Petzl Duffel 85 Review

The large, durable transport bag is reviewed by Chris Scaife. The review is followed by a quiz for your chance to win one.

NAMHO in the Lake District

Chris Jones reports on this year’s NAMHO conference, held in Grasmere.

Extraterrestrial Caves

When Descent was launched in January 1969, humans had not set foot on the moon. Now, in October 2023, we feature an article by
Francesco Sauro and the European Space Agency about the exploration of caves on other planets.

The Oldest Northerners

Tony Brown and Martin Stables write about recent excavations in Cumbria’s Heaning Wood Bone Cave, including the discovery of the oldest human remains ever found in northern England.

 

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