Issue 153 - April/May 2000

......(Click cover for full view).

Features

Gauging the Risk
How many times have you read in the media, or been told by your non-caving friends, that taking
part in our sport is a risky business? 'No, no,' you reply, 'itís really quite safe.' But in the cold light of analysis, how right are they - or you?

Images from the Past
Images from the Past returns with feedback from the last edition of Descent and another
picture to puzzle over. Can you help?

Goydenís Divine Escape Route
'I was puzzled: here was a dry river bed - but only minutes before I had seen a large river
flowing past Goyden, which lay less than 200m away. Then we heard the roar of the river,
and saw a frothing flood rushing downstream - but instead of reaching us the water was sinking
in a wild frenzy into a new sink.'

The Descent Caption Competition
Another Descent Caption Competition opens with no fewer than three prizes to win. Can you apply the funniest, stupidest, most ridiculous caption to our pair of illustrations?

Gear Review
The lightweight Dragon Tropical Oversuit receives a testing - and comes out shining.

The Man of Pen and Ink
Malcolm Newton, who died in November 1999, was renowned for his superb drawings of mining relics. His club, the Shropshire CMC, pays its tribute with a selection of Malcolmís work.

Know Your Boundaries ...
'We were eventually rewarded with an immense high-level passage, nearly 50m wide and
littered with house-sized boulders. Chattering bats circled overhead, disturbed by our lights.
We reeled out the survey tape ...' But in Vietnam, you must also deal with bureaucracy.

A Thundering Gale on Pant Mawr
'Breathing' caves are well known; differences between barometric pressure can cause draughts to
blow inwards or outwards. Sometimes the movement is ferocious - one cave on Pant Mawr moor is such a place. Now, why not use the strength of the draught to calculate the volume of unknown cave?

The Adventures of Conon
The identity of Conon Fraser, who wrote caving fiction stories, was queried in Descent (151).
Following some detective work, here are the answers.