Elizabeth, DCRO callouts and broken windows - Nettle Pot. 17th May 25

Myself, Alex, Karolina...

Oh hang on, Karolina sadly had to drop out. So that meant just myself and Alex! I met up with Alex in the TSG first thing, where Tom was busy changing the electrical panel. We had been told the TSG was closed, but knew Tom and members of UCET were spending their weekend, and wanted to discuss a Sunday trip.

So sat in the kitchen with breakfast in hand, we pondered our day, and figured what the heck, we might as well continue with Nettle Pot!

At that moment, Alastair, Oscar, Eve and Alex (different Alex) all turned up, and it turned out they were headed down Nettle too!
Being as the nature of the place is not conducive to multiple ropes, we agreed we would rig, and they would de-rig, as they intended to arrive a little later than us.

So off we went and reached Nettle for about 10a.m. It's a bit of a walk round the hill, but the weather was pleasant, and so the walk felt fairly easy.

We got to the lid, and proceeded with rigging. We agreed I'd rig the main entrance series whilst I'd let Alex rig Elizabeth.

Our was fairly apprehensive as to what to expect. I have done Nettle numerous times, but never down the potholes, always along the flats. My main concern was the narrows, aptly named due to the tight nature of the descent, and obvious return after! My recent experience hadn't been good with places I'd previously conquered! I was denied access to Fox chamber, where previously I'd had no problems. I was then denied access to dynamite, where previously, I'd had problems, but still got through! So this record of not getting through things I'd previously managed was playing on my mind some!

Anyway, off I descend. Gotta say it's one of Derbyshire's prettier shafts… Lots of column-like structures help make for a snug experience going down…
I had decided to put my stop on my short cows tail knowing things can get tight, and while I think I could have managed otherwise, I didn't regret this!
There are a few rebelays, but all are easy with plenty of room, that is, not to rig, but to navigate once rigged!
I got to the bottom and gave alex the nod to drop the last pitch. The entrance series is about 45m, so not too deep.
One at the bottom, you hit a floor, but this leads off with two ways on. The flats go off through a very muddy, gnarly bedding plain. I hate that way, you actually end up covered in a horrid, sticky mud that has tiny bits of calcite in it that likes to irritate your fingers if you get it in your gloves!

Out way on was mud free thankfully, which involved a tiny traverse at the edge of an open cavern, no more than 10 meters deep, maybe 3m wide.
We descended this, and then looked for a small hole which would be the start of Elizabeths shaft.
Alex rigged here, and so we continued down. This shaft is much more your typical Aven, and is not something you'd expect after negotiating the entrance. Quite pretty, with some interesting features!

We got to the bottom, and we were eager to see beyond. Trouble is we did not bring any spits and hangers with us, so we had to improvise. We did all except for the last pitch, we felt we couldn't rig anything with safety in mind, so turned back.

We headed back, and once returning to the top of Elizabeth, we met up with the other team who were just reaching the bottom of the main entrance pitch.

We had a little chat, and mocked them for wanting to head over to Derbyshire Hall, but hey ho, whatever you enjoy doing!

We both made our way out, remembering we only had Elizabeth to de-rig on the way out! Always a bonus!

The narrows are interesting. I remembered that my leg loop doesn't work in the right foot, given there is absolutely no room to lift my right left up to make progress up the rope, so what do I do? Proceed with right foot in loop! Doh!
I just about managed to change feet without being able to look down, perhaps thanks to me having some hose pipe to hold the loops open a little!
After inching up, I finally break free of the squeeze! Yay! Still a bit to go, but now I could enjoy the formations a little more pleasingly.

We were soon up and, on our way down to the car.

I had a slight technical hitch with the car – I locked my keys in the boot! Of course, as cavers do, Alex happened to have a sledge hammer in his boot, a big one at that! Still, windows are tough things, and it was three hits before the glass gave way! If you are wondering which window, I had a look on eBay for the cheapest bit of glass first, so nearside passenger was the one!
After that we headed our separate ways and whilst on the way home I contemplated the next days caving…

But todays wasn't over just yet!

Suddenly, my SARCALL alarm went off. I couldn't quite believe it, and knowing there weren't many in Derbyshire this weekend, my worst fears hit me – and yet it was to come true -Pelvic injuries in Nettle Pot!

shiiiiit… Knowing who was down there, all sorts of things were racing through my mind, not ignoring the thought of someone with Pelvic injuries coping in conditions below, but you start thinking about your rigging, (I was confident here, but even so!) but I know the likely reason, having been the other way so often… Either a fall down one of the holes that appear randomly, or the mud rendering gear next to useless…
After nipping home for a bite to eat, Oh, and reassuring club members I was ok, I headed back up to the scene. There were enough souls underground who could help, so I was tasked with a surface role alongside Callum on comms, I was quite happy with that!

Luckily, Eve was not seriously injured, but she was in a lot of pain. She was hauled up in a nappy harness, and taken straight to an awaiting ambulance. All in all, about 5 hours of time. Just glad everyone was ok.

Our ropes had to ensure the equivalent of about 700m of abseiling and descending that day, but they seem to have held up ok, after over an hour of cleaning!

A great, but long day in the end! Thankfully everyone was ok.

Fantastic trip that is a must on everyone caver's list!

Just Beza to do now!

The "Narrows" are actually quite narrow!			Elizabeth pot
Negotiating the narrows with stop on cows tail!	Pre-trip photo

Type of entry: Caving

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