Introduction
The Peak Speedwell System is located in the village of Castleton, made up of Peak Cavern, Speedwell Mine, James Hall Over Engine Mine and Titan Shaft. The system contains about 18km of cave passage, one of the deepest underground cave dives in the UK, down to a depth of 74 metres; the highest underground pitch in the UK which is 145 metres high, it has six known entrances but only four are usable.
Peak Cavern Flooding Observations - 05th April 2018:
This was orginally posted on UK Caving.com by Pete Knight, and with his permisson, this has been posted on this site. All pictures by Pete.
I just thought some of you might be interested in this observation about the water levels in Peak. A few of us had a visit to the Cavern today (5th April 2018) with a vague hope of going up Victoria Aven and taking some pics.
Read more: Peak Cavern Flooding Observations - 05th April 2018:
Peak Cavern Events 2018
PEAK CAVERN HAVE A NUMBER OF EVENTS RUNNING DURING THE YEAR
WHEN AFTER HOURS ACCESS WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE.
SPRING EVENTS
Feiday 6th April 2018 - Concert
Saturday 7th April 2018 - Concert
Western Highway
Western Highway is located in the high level passages of Far Sump Extensions, approaching from Fingernail Chamber, a short pitch up leads into a 3 m wide passage, this passage passes below the Vortex 2 pitch, then it rises for a short distance before it starts to descend steeply for 100 m, then it starts to ascend for a further 10 m to the current dig face. The location of the current dig face is approximately 35 m below the end of Joint Effort, Speedwell Mine.
Transition Tube
Transition Tube is located at the end of Cliff Passage, Speedwell Mine. At the very end, a bouldery slope rises upwards to the left, that eventually reach the base of Cliff Cavern. The tube can be entered either from the very end of Cliff Passage or from a platform part way up the bouldery slope, both passages eventually meet and the tube continues.
Backburner Choke
Backburner Choke is located above the The Workshop area of James Hall (JH). When Dave (Moose) Nixon pushed James Hall, reaching The Workshop in December 1993, they carried on straight down to the bottom of JH, following the big passages as you would. They explored the area around and above The Workshop, one area they reached was Backburner Choke, a 3 m wide passage that was filled with a large choke of rocks the size of old style TV's. Due to time restrictions, they put it on the backburner, hence the name. They never went back to site.
Saturday 29th April 2017 - Peak Cavern Rescue
Just after midday, the team were called to assist a male caver in Peak Cavern who had dislocated his shoulder. The man, in his twenties and a member of a university caving club, had sustained his injury in Peak Cavern's main stream passage downstream from the Surprise View ladder. He was treated by the team doctor and managed to make his own way to the surface with some assistance from team members. The incident took five and a half hours.