Issue 158 - February/March 2001
......(Click cover for full view).
Cover: Dave Hardwick in Fishmonger's Swallet (Background image - Crystal Pool, Ogof Ffynnon Taf).
Photographs by Chris Howes
Features
The Descent Caption Competition
The latest Descent Caption Competition offers you a top-of-the-range LED light - here's your last chance to enter.
The Fishmonger's Bones
Let's face it: cavers dig holes. They're good at it. Very good. So when a surface shaft in an 'unknown' caving area breaks into a chamber, there's cause for celebration - then the nature of the dig changes. Spoil is mixed with bones by the bucketload ... easily enough to attract the Time Team.
Dead Racoons and He-man Lager
Meghalaya in north-east India continues to fascinate British teams and is very capable of leaving an everlasting impression: "I'm not sure I've ever had an experience that matches the sense of zeal for exploration as those few days in the caves."
Tracking Down the Tram Tunnel
For years, cavers have been enticed by the bricked-up entrance to the old tram tunnel at Pwll Du in South Wales - the more so since the discovery of Ogof Draenen has caused so many to walk past it - and no less than three entrances offer the possibility of a way in. But gaining access hasn't been plain sailing ...
The Second-hand Sump
Sell Gill Holes: first explored some time before 1842 and now the site of many a novice trip. Even so, could there be more to the cave than the guidebook states? Ric Halliwell takes a look at a section of cave that was gained, then lost, then forgotten, then dug open ... and all but forgotten again!
Images from the Past
This month Images from the Past presents some feedback and another question - how do cavers commemorate their own? One caver is interested as part of a project - can you help?
