Site AuthorCaving and diving since 1972 and bald as a coot under that hat. Not that there is any relationship between the two. I started caving in Yorkshire in the UK with friends and soon joined the Bradford Pothole Club. This was in the early days of Single Rope Technique, when rope replaced wire ladders on most caving trips. We discovered how easy it was to damage rope on a trip to the bottom of Needles Pit, in France - then the third deepest cave in the world. I noticed the rope had become badly frayed on the final pitch as I abseiled past it. My friends decided I should go back up the rope first to rerig it because I was the lightest, or was it most expendable? I survived to have further adventures on the continent, but most of my caving took place in England, where I spent a considerable amount of time digging for caves, with success measured in feet, rather than miles. By the eighties I was living in Ireland, working for the Aillwee Show Cave in County Clare. This was an exciting time for the beginning of the exploration of the underwater Green Holes in Doolin and also the discovery of Poll na gceim, a vertical cave with constricted sumps and a huge boulder choke. A shortage of divers led us to construct a plumbing system to drain the first four sumps, while judicious use of explosives got through the boulder choke. Unfortunately or fortunately I haven't yet persuaded another cave diver to go to the end of the cave. |
Brian Judd, Picos De Europa, Spain 2001 |
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The nineties saw me once more living in Bradford and involved in the exploration of Brackenbottom Pot, diving in Dub Cote, Nidd Heads North West Rising and Black Keld amongst others. Rocks were thrown at me in 1999, in a gesture of comradeship, I think, by the White Rose Caving Club, when I helped make a breakthrough in Fossil Pot on Grassington Moor. Later I was thrust into the downstream sump in Fossil Pot by the same Club, a very low silty place, where work continues. I have caved in other countries, including Uzbekistan, but especially China, where I have been six times. I'm now in Scotland continuing to have adventures and trying to pay for them. Learning web page design has given me the excuse to create this site. A lot of the stories in this site are of things that went horribly wrong rather than great heroic deeds. If I have insulted anyone (and I have) I hope you will see that I have insulted myself more. All the events really happened but because I wrote about them they are mainly from my point of view. I'm grateful to my friends for allowing me to neglect their contributions and make derogatory remarks about them. Contact me if you wish to give me money, work, advice, comments, abuse, or invite me on your expedition! Brian Judd October 2002 email: brianjudd at mac.com |
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