Other Sites and Blogs – Darkness Below

We can’t hope to bring you every story, but there are plenty of caving and mining blogs out there you can browse at your leisure – so have a read through some of the best! If you know of a blog you’d like us to add to this page please let us know.

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Swan Mine training session, 5th March 2022

Mendip Cave Rescue held a rescue practice for the Stone Mine members in Swwan Mine on Saturday 5th March 2022. This was a practice aimed more at the stone mines area, concentrating on the command & control and communication aspects of a search of a ...
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History of Cave Rescue On Mendip

Alan Gray, the Secretary of Mendip Cave Registry and Archive, has been collating reports of all caving rescue and incidents located in the Mendip Cave Rescue region, from early reports of an incident in Pen Park Hole in 1669 through to the current day ...
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5th August

Vince, Tav, Brockers, Nick, Jon, and Jake Full team available today which means the spoil will be moved, in one go, from dig to surface. At the current dig, down in the deep Soft South at the end of the NE passage below Trick or Treat, Tav worked away in the righthand corner, loosening sediment, […] ...
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22nd July

With Jon, Jake, and Nick As planned, arrived at HR early with drill and plugs/feathers. Down to the deep Soft South and along to the end of the NE passage and the current dig. There are a couple of large boulders left behind from previous digging sessions that require some reduction in size. The boulders […] ...
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MCR Quiz Night 18th March 2023

Following on from the enjoyable quiz night that was run pre-pandemic, Mendip Cave Rescue will be running another Cavers Quiz Night at the Hunters Lodge Inn, Priddy on Saturday 18th March 2023, starting at 19:30. All questions will be (vaguely) caving r ...
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Incident 3rd December 2022

At 10:30 on Saturday 3rd December 2022, an experienced male caver slipped in Goatchurch Cavern, dislocating his shoulder. Mendip Cave Rescue members were already at Goatchurch Cavern, setting up for a training session. The training session was quickly ...
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Incident 3rd December 2022

10th December

With Jon, Nick, Brockers, and Mike The boulders bite back! I was upfront digging under the pissing tree, well actually, somewhere close to Trick or Treat, at the current end of the NE passage in the deep Soft South. Jon was next in line filling bags and shifting away the rocks as I loosened the […] ...
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3rd December

With Brockers and Jake A bit thin on the ground today but I am sure we will manage to get plenty done. Brockers and Jake headed to the Soft South to start digging, I went in another direction making my way towards Trick or Treat. Decided against going through Toil and Trouble so off to […] ...
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INCIDENT 91/2022 DEC 1st THU. 13.24 ALUM POT, HORTON IN RIBBLESDALE, NORTH YORKSHIRE – CAVE INCIDENT

Having descended through Lower Long Churn into Alum Pot, a caver (m, 38) fell a distance of up to 5 or 6m from the bottom pitch, sustaining suspected injuries to ankle, femur, lower back and chest. CRO members descended to the casualty, assessed his in ...
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1st December

Solo The plan was to break-up some large boulders left to one side underneath the pissing tree. The northside of the hill was blanketed in thick fog, however, gaining height onto the plateau the sun was shining and it was a pleasant drive over to the southside, still in sunshine. Got to the farm, changed, […] ...
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Cheddar Gorge, Mendip Hills, Somerset

29th November: Fog, frost, sunshine, and goats. A midday walk around Cheddar Gorge ...
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26th November

With Brockers, Mike, Duncan, and Jake Smaller team this weekend. Down at the current end of the NE passage in the deep Soft South, Brockers was busily digging underneath the pissing tree, Mike was clearing away the spoil back to the pot. I was on the slippery ledge (clipped in for safety), Duncan at the […] ...
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INCIDENT 90/2022 NOV 24th THU. 13.19 BRIDGE HALL, LANCASTER HOLE, CASTERTON, CUMBRIA – CAVE INCIDENT

A caver (m, 54), on an exchange trip from Lancaster Hole to Cow Pot, slipped from the traverse in Bridge Hall, sustaining a slight head injury and knocking himself out briefly on landing. A loose rock also fell, landing on the caver’s wrist, caus ...
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Home Close Hole, Mendip, Somerset

The Passages described below, in total, measured 499m and the digging team were judged winners of the 13th J’Rat Diggers Award (all members of the Shepton Mallet Caving Club, SMCC) on the evening of 19th November 2022. 16th October Well! It has been quite a while since my last visit to Home Close. With Callum […] ...
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Exploring the possibility of extraterrestrial life living in caves

For millennia, caves have served as shelters for prehistoric humans. Caves have also intrigued scholars from early Chinese naturalists to Charles Darwin. A cave ecologist has been in and out of these subterranean ecosystems, examining the unique life f ...
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5th October

Solo Down in the deep South Soft, along the northeast passage and ‘underneath the pissing tree,’ I set to work with the plugs and feathers. The plan being to trim some of the rock and boulders that were jutting out from the passage sidewalls, so that a skip would run more freely along the route […] ...
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24th September

I had an appointment at Bath Racecourse, where there is a vaccination centre, for another (4th) covid jab. Hence, I was unavailable for digging but the rest of the team kept up with the task: Report by Jon: “Three diggers (Jake, Tav and Jon) arrived at the farm at the appointed hour. Jake remembered the […] ...
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