Anthony Hitchcock
2009
The entrance to Helms Deep was discovered by Mario and Evelyn Fedele while they were searching for new caves near Bats Cave. The cave was originally called Top Hole and has been renamed Helm’s Deep, which is a better name to describe this vertical system. The entrance is roughly at the same level as Bats Cave and above the Hangman’s Metro valley. It is hidden behind some trees nestled at the base of the cliff.
The entrance cuts under the cliff and drops about 5m to a rocky floor. The entrance chamber is linear and has developed into a lofty corridor parallel to the cliff line. The ceiling is about 5m high, but in one place extends much higher. This upper extension has not been explored. A climb of about 3m leads to a short passage that extends to the south and soon closes down. In the middle of the chamber is a narrow passage that leads into the ridge for a few meters. The floor of this passage slopes down and shows evidence of subsidence near the end.
The cave has developed vertically at the northwest end of the corridor. The passage cuts back under the wall and drops through a very narrow slot.
Ron Zeeman and his survey team were still soldiering on closing the gap between The Metro and the Hangman’s Systems. We took a break from this to be shown the entrance to this new hole. There was a ladder in place and Stuart Jepson, Jessica Hitchcock and Amy Reaper had long disappeared into the depths of the cave. We used the opportunity to map the easily accessible entrance corridor. We completed this and then rested in the sun on the soft restio mats outside the cave. We soon heard joyous sounds from the valley below. Not for the first time, Stuart and company had made a significant breakthrough. Last time it was Hangman’s to Bats Extension and this time they explored Helms Deep and found themselves in Bats Extension once again. The ladder hit bottom about 50m from the Hangman’s Bats connection. It never ceases to amaze us how the cave system on Table Mountain continues to yield new passages and connections.
The descent into Helm’s Deep is very tight and quite a challenge to enter. We were also busy working on the connection from Wynberg to Metro so the survey of this cave was put on the shelf for another day. Winter came and we decided to wait for the dry season. The summer of 2008/9 was earmarked by me for the survey, but volunteers were not easy to find. Then Stephan Moser agreed to help and we decided to do the survey on the 21st February. We went armed with SRT equipment and ladders and carted them across to the cave. The slot is too narrow to descend while wearing a harness. Stephan took off the harness, but found the vertical slot still too narrow for him and so he had to retreat. I had a go and edged my way slowly down, centimeter by centimeter. Every time I breathed in I became stuck and then slipped down a centimeter on exhalation. So I slipped slowly down with no idea where my feet were nor able to find the ladder rungs. I was in this precarious position when I was suddenly overcome with nausea and almost complete loss of power in my body. I do not recommend the experience of a sudden attack of stomach flu when wedged vertically in a passage at the top of a deep hole. I communicated my predicament to Stephan and asked him to let me try to get control of myself before attempting to climb out. This took quite some time during which I did get sick. Maybe we should rename the cave ‘Diced Carrots Drop’. I had no strength in my arms to pull myself up using the ladder and was feeling rather shaky. I slowly gathered a little strength and using my legs pushed myself up far enough for Stephan to be able to pull me out. I cannot think of anybody better than Stephan to help one out of a predicament.
I returned to Helm’s Deep on the 1st March armed three very useful cavers, namely Stuart Jepson, Alf Alfreds and Ron Zeeman. All are thin men and Stuart could guide us having explored the system before. It was very helpful to have Stuart guide us through the narrow vertical crack and across the gaping hole. We stood on a ledge looking at the ladder twisting down the deep hole. Ron and I continued to survey while Alf and Stuart explored. There are some extensions along narrow crack-like passages, but these are part of the same passage development found at the various levels on the way down and on floor level. The rock is quite rotten and we took great care not to dislodge rocks. I was exploring a passage along an upper ledge when a large slab began to slip towards the edge. Ron was exploring below so I asked him to take cover while I wedged rocks under the slab to stabilize it.
We surveyed to the bottom with the depth being 35m from the entrance to the floor and then linked the survey back to a permanent beacon I had left below the Hangman’s link. We were by this time quite cold and glad to make our way out of Bats and back into the warm sun.
Anthony Hitchcock