On New Year ’s Day 1999, cavers broke through to the foot of the deepest known natural underground shaft in Britain, 145 metres below the surface, after years of digging upwards through a boulder choke in the further reaches of the Peak Speedwell cave system. It was 2006 before a connection was finally made from ground level that could be safely rigged for descent. In December, a party of cavers descended Titan intending to exit via one of the other routes back to the surface but one of their party experienced difficulties on the lower part of the climb. The rescue operation involved the longest free-hanging underground haul ever undertaken in the UK.
‘Titan offers a popular challenge for competent vertical cavers,’ says Bill Whitehouse, of Derbyshire CRO, the team which carried out the rescue. ‘A descent first involves a 48-metre abseil down the artificial entrance shaft, then a 20-metre passage to the Breakthrough Window into Titan, some 130 metres above its floor. Descent from there is normally in two stages: First, a free abseil down to the Event Horizon — a sloping ledge just over half way. A traverse and re-belay then permit a second free abseil to the bottom and access to the climbs and crawls through to the rest of the cave system. A stream enters the shaft just above the Event Horizon and the lower sixty metres of the descent can be quite wet even with the rope rigged to avoid the worst of the water. ‘In December, some of the connecting passages were impassably flooded due to heavy rain so the caving party had no option but to reclimb Titan. When one of the group became cold and exhausted, and unable to complete the climb, he and another returned to the bottom with another, while the rest climbed up and out to raised the alarm. ‘The initial information was confusing. It wasn’t clear how many were in trouble or where they were in the shaft. At first, we thought they were at the Event Horizon ledge — the location of previous rescues — but the first two team members into the shaft found that they were actually at the bottom, although communications with them wasn’t possible. ‘By 9.30 pm, team members had reached the foot of Titan and found that only one of the two was in trouble. The other climbed out accompanied by a team member who reported that the remaining caver was in no condition to climb and would need hauling out —
Breakthrough Window. On the surface, another team erected a Multipod frame over the top of the entrance shaft, rigged ready for hauling as well. Progress was slow but steady. Communications in the shaft were difficult largely due to water noise but matters were improved by the use of a number of PMR radios (a luxury as radios don’t often perform well underground but due to the sheer size and volume of Titan, they did! ‘After an hour dangling in the air, the casualty was safely at the Breakthrough Window and moved through to the foot of the entrance shaft. Another half hour and he was on the surface sipping tea in the cab of a Land Rover. ‘Over the next few days, something over 700 metres of rope and a mass of other kit had to be washed, dried and repacked — a task which took almost as long as the rescue itself!’
first, 130 metres up past the Event Horizon to the Breakthrough Window, then 48 metres to the surface. A rescue all the way up Titan had not been done before. It would be the longest free-hanging underground rescue haul ever in the UK. ‘While team members began setting up to haul, a team doctor descended to the casualty where he found him to be exhausted and cold but otherwise in reasonable shape. ‘By about midnight, everything was ready. The ropes in lower Titan had been rigged to avoid the falling water as far as possible but, even so, one team member described conditions as like operating in a washing machine. The plan was that the doctor would prussik alongside the casualty as he was hauled. Two team members were stationed on the Event Horizon to operate a releasable deviation for the haul, and safety lines and a hauling party of five were in place at the
Left: Titan from the top, shows one caver in Breakthrough Window and another about at the Event Horizon @ Robbie Shone. Above: Multipod set up over the entrance shaft © Mick Earle.
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