Coniston – Kendal Caving Club

Dave, John, Miranda, Tom

Upon reaching Levers Water, Dave noticed a group of 10 heading in, so we gave them a little time to get ahead of us, but by the time we reached Arete Chamber we bumped into them. A friendly bunch from The Caving Crew. We had a bit of a natter and they kindly let us overtake them.

Off we headed across the MAGS stemples of doom, and into the Top Level Extensions. Pausing at the cart, we decided the traverse rope across to Earthquake Passage was looking in decent nick and that it’d be rude not to. So into new ground for us, enjoying a few artifacts and some nauseatingly deep holes in the floor.

We headed back up and over the stemples, and the Crew were still enjoying the first pitch. Once again they kindly stood aside for us and we leapt onto the second pitch. A whistle-stop look round a few side passages as we were all overstocked on photos of the lagoon and the blue rock. Down in Pinnacle Chamber, Dave made a scramble up into a hanging stump of a level and found some lovely mine pearls off the beaten track. Down onto Hospital Level and on our way to the Black Bull for a post-blue-Bluebird

Photos by Dave

Tom, Chris H, Yolanda, Vikki, Ray

A sunny Saturday saw 5 of us squeezed into a Berlingo and heading up the much improved track as far as the Youth Hostel. A steep walk up the hillside beyond and we were soon embarking on a leisurely pootle down through 5 levels of the Coniston Coppermines, from Levers Water down to the Hospital Level.

As usual, not far inside the mine we took a quick detour to visit the Stemples of Doom! Apart from a few longer-than-entirely-comfortable steps, they’re not too bad to cross, and they are protected by a traverse line. Some people prefer not to look down the gaping void below though.

A short bit of easy passage and a couple of pitches soon brought us to the jewels in the crown of this particular mine: the Green Pool and the Blue Boulder, expertly photographed by Chris. The photos below show the colours as they actually are… not some artificially enhanced version!

Another short section of passage then leads to the final pitch down into the Hospital Level. This pitch always has a lot of loose rock at the top, so it was strictly one person moving at a time. Once down to the Hospital Level, it’s an easy journey back to the surface.

A satisfied crew then made their way down to the Black Bull for a celebratory pint, apart from Chris, who unfortunately had to head straight off.

Tag: Coniston