Anthony Hitchcock
June 2007
The June meet was held up Table Mountain and focused on consolidating the survey of the Metro Cave system. We gathered outside Shallow Cave where attempts were made to widen the passage leading towards Canadian Cave. Amy Reaper managed to squeeze past the constriction and explore further. In the meantime, Peter Swart went into Canadian Cave and waited to see whether Amy could make her way through the complex arrangement of boulders. It did not take long before she emerged from a tight passage and dropped into Canadian Cave. Ron and I tried to follow her, but the passage was too tight. Steve Craven spent much time and effort widening the constriction with hammer and chisel while Ron and I went to Peripatus Cave to attempt to push along the lower passage towards Canadian Cave. I slid down to the lowest level under a ledge, but could not progress much further. A good breeze flows along this passage, which continues as a very narrow choked crack. We then surveyed the lowest passage in the opposite direction for about 10m before it closed down to a boulder choke.
We then went to Canadian Cave to attempt to climb through to Shallow Cave. The connection is a corkscrew between boulders above head height. I managed to get up to the passage, but could not twist and contort my body to get into the passage beyond. I then went to the lower levels of Canadian Cave to investigate the hole from which a breeze issues. This leads into a passage heading back towards Peripatus Cave. I worked away some rocks and easily opened the constriction and explored the passage for about 8m before it closed to a boulder filled passage. We found a crack below the left wall at the end of the passage that was measured to be 4m deep, but too narrow to enter. We surveyed the new passage and then retired to enjoy a well deserved rest.
In the meantime Stuart Jepson, Jessica Hitchcock and Amy Reaper had been probing in the ’new cave’ called Top Cave. Peter Swart and I decided to visit the cave as they had been away for a long time. Peter was preparing to follow them down the cave when I heard excited yelps and chatter from below. The three intrepid cavers returned to Top Cave in wet and torn overalls and very tired, but exuberant for they had forged another connection with Bats Cave.
They had fixed four 7m ladders together and descended a very tight vertical passage and had to climb the last 4m to the floor. They soon realised that they had descended into the end of the recently explored Hangman’s - Bats connection. They found some wider passages at various levels whilst descending the ladder. These passages lead off in the direction of Wynberg Cave, but were not explored. The passages leading from Top Cave to Bats Cave and in the opposite direction towards Wynberg Cave form a parallel system to the Hangman’s - Metro System and is therefore a significant new discovery with the potential to significantly add to the length of the cave system.
Sunday 3rd June
Ron and I went back to the northern end of Metro and completed surveying the upper system that opened into the main passage below. We soon completed mapping this section and then moved on to Inukshuk Cave. Ron entered the next cave to the north while I waited in a nearby passage in Inukshuk to see if we could communicate through the 5m blockage indicated on the survey. We could hear each other banging on the walls, but there was no voice communication. There is some potential to dig through the sandy plug at the end of Inukshuk Cave and force a connection.
We moved on to Shallow Cave and again failed to get past the constriction so we surveyed over the surface from Hangman’s to Top Cave (Helms Deep). Ron rested while I mapped the upper entrance section of Top Cave (Helms Deep). We stopped at about 15h00 and headed back to the hut satisfied that we had justified our existence!