Further Exploration of the Fridge Door via the Boob Tube

October 16-23-2023 Santi (ADES), Peter Eagan, Dave Bell, (England) Torben and Louise Redder (Denmark)

After our successful caving trip in October 2022, we decided to see what was hidden behind the Fridge Door. We had managed to dig almost past the divers’ sumps, then at Easter 2023 we successfully completed the dig, giving a dry entrance to the further unexplored reaches of the Fridge Door cave. This had been found many years earlier, but never pushed due to the difficulties of getting past the bottom of the entrance pitch. It is tight, muddy and usually submerged under water.

Once the dry section of the cave had been opened, the expedition was able to pinpoint a location very close to the surface and dig into the cave giving a way in for anyone. This was lined with a plastic tube, now known as the Boob Tube due to its chest hugging nature, and it would be the entrance we would use to push on further in October 2023.

Firstly, we visited the Champions dig from the inside (which had enabled the finding of the Boob Tube), then with a bag of rope, hangers and surveying kit we crossed sump two, climbed up into a higher level and began bolting some very tricky traverses to reach our goal. The first was to push on following a good draft, which we did until we ran out of tackle. We also dropped a pitch to the side of the passage, which ended up going nowhere. We had noted a breakdown area above us but wanted more information before climbing up into it. There were signs that it had previously been entered and there were even a few survey stations. We were also out of time. Danish children were waiting back at base to be fed.

With the cave now rigged safely, we planned to return to the breakdown area armed with information from the caving logbook. It turned out that it had not been fully examined and the survey had been aborted at a short section of passage, reputedly looking back into the known cave at “Stars in the Sky.” 

 David Bell in a passage of Boob Tube. Photo: Peter Eagan

Once we got back to the breakdown area, we split into two groups: the Danes to finish pushing in a low muddy bedding and the rest of us to explore the breakdown. At the end of that day, we had surveyed nearly 250m of new passage with more seen. The Danes’ passage was left still going, as they ran out of time. The rest of us reluctantly turned back at a junction, where our new passage broke into the side of a sloping chamber and continued beyond the opposite side. We had managed to enter this new section through a small, unpromising hole, but the sandy-floored tube just kept going, gaining in size all the time. Various side branches were passed but not entered (these will be explored Easter 2024). It was quite a long trip, mixed with pushing new cave passage, surveying and taking photos of what we saw, ensuring we made the most of our time beyond the Fridge Door. We even managed to bypass the muddy traverse, but it would require a hand line before it could be used safely.

Our final explorations were not far into the Boob Tube entrance along an easy, sandy crawl. A pitch was dropped but with only small ways on it doesn’t look too promising.

Exiting via the Boob Tube is not an easy feat, as it requires both arms above your head. It’s a good idea to have someone outside to pull you out, so the smallest must exit first.