Sumps
The Resurgence Sump / Swine Hole Sump:
Resurgence Pool at head of gorge. Two lines lead off into a underwater pleasant, the left line leads to the school room after 12m, a circular airbell with a 20 m high aven, choked at the top. The line to the right descends in a wide bedding, after 80 m; the passage ascends over silt covered boulders, passing an inlet on left from Halfway House Sump, too small to enter. This brings the main flow into the sump. Continuing along, after 20 m, the swine hole sump pool is reached.
Swine Hole Sump B:
This is a small gravel choked sump, at the end of a 15 m long canal reached from the downstream passage from the Swine Hole Passage.
Swine Hole Sump C:
Beyond the downstream passage, a upstream passage divides in to several branches, the left branch ends at a flat out bedding sump that can be siphoned out. Found to be choked with mud.
Lumbago Walk Sump:
An oval water surface 1.5 m x 0.8 m that is static under normal water conditions, the pool is choked at 1m depth. An impressive amount of water resurges from here in flood conditions, causing Lumbago Walk to sump.
Devil's Kitchen Sump:
A extremely tight sump / duck which can't be dived. This was siphoned out; a larger passage was observed beyond but is too tight to enter.
Halfway House Sump:
The deepening canal leads to a sump, passing through small cross rifts, passing several airbells that reaches a silt choke after 50 m. Just before the choke, the water flows out through two low bedding slot in what appears to be a larger continuation. The first outlet is a 7 m flat out squeeze, to easy going but after 5 m until it becomes too small for any further progress to be made. The second outlet is too low. This water flows from an inlet into the resurgence sump.
Reference:
Cordingley, John. 2010. Peak Cavern, Destination Dirtlow. Technical Speleological Group Journal 18. Page 54 - 61
Styx Inlet Sump:
A low bedding off Halfway House Passage, after 15 m enlarges into easier going passage for 30 m to a constriction, a bypass was dug around this into the continuation of the passage. A further 55 m of diving, the passage trends to the left to a submerged chamber with a boulder slope rising in front to a submerged choke.
Reference:
Cordingley, J. 2010. Peak Cavern, Destination Dirtlow. Technical Speleological Group Journal 18. Page 54 - 61.
Cordingley, J. Cave Diving Group Newsletter no 177, Oct 2010. Page 11.
Buxton Water Sump:
The low airspace canal leads to a shallow 1 m high bedding sump. After 55 m the sump leads to a bouldery section, off to the left lies the Torricellian Chamber, an airbell where the water level is occasionally higher than the upstream and downstream end of the sump. 8 m further along the main sump, a ascent through boulders reaches Buxton Water Aven. Buxton Water Aven is 65 m high. See Buxton Water Aven section. Across the aven, the sump continues via descent through boulders, passing through two small airbells before surfacing after a further 37 m of diving.
Reference:
Lister, J. 2010. Cave Diving Group Newsletter no 175, July 2010. Page 25.
Speedwell Pot:
This is a former sump, used to issue overflow water from Speedwell Mine in flood causing peak cavern to flood but this was capped with concrete in the 60's to stop this. The water sometimes backs up against this cap, creating a sump but not worth diving.
Perseverance Sump (also known as Frank's Pool):
A 1.7 m deep pool choked with calcited rocks, located beyond a uphill squeeze partway up Perseverance Pot.
Mucky Duck Sump:
This is now a easy duck except when the system is in flood.
Cohesion Sump:
The large steeply descending phreatic tunnel descends underwater to a silt choke to a depth of 30 m, 50 m from base. In drought, the level of the sump has been 9 m lower than normal. This sump is very silty and visibility soon goes.
Pickering's Sump:
A perched pool in the calcite flow about 0.6 m deep. There is no outlet.
S.E.P. Sump:
A very tight bedding sump off Treasury Chamber which hasn't been dived due to tight nature of sump. Approach passage could be blocked by mud and rocks now.
Treasury Sump:
Situated off Treasury Chamber at foot of a steeply descending gravel floored tube. A silty sump pool leads to low arch on left hand bend to a roomy tube, after 21 m it emerges into Sand Passage of Speedwell Mine. There is a thick line but this isn't a free dive.
Surprise View Sump:
A squeeze down a sloping bedding plane leads into a 2.5 m pot; a tight descent leads into a tube, after 13 m this surfaces into John Beck's Chamber, stooping height and 5 m long. An excavated passage at the end after 5 m reaches a constriction. A loud stream can be heard beyond. A route to the south from the chamber becomes too tight after 3 m.
Reference:
Cordingley, John. 2010. Surprise View Sump, Peak cavern. Technical Speleological Group Journal 18. Page 51 - 53.
Galena Chamber Sump:
This flooded fissure is choked with rocks at 1.5 m depth. This has been pumped and dug to a depth of 4 m.
Buxton Water Inlet Sump:
An 18 m dive in a easy tube to a airspace in a 5m high cross rift, the route beyond is through a tight squeeze into a low silty bedding for 2 m to a tight section, 2 m beyond this restriction, a further restriction is reached where two blades of bedrock are restricting further progress. The passage beyond looks slightly bigger.
Reference:
Cordingley, John. 2010. Peak Cavern, Destination Dirtlow. Technical Speleological Group Journal 18. Page 54 - 61
Lake Passage Sump:
This a simple duck now except in flood when it becomes a 3 m long sump. This has been bypassed by a crawl.
Quink Sump:
The stream emerges from this sump; it is 20 m long sump that links to a pool adjacent Ink Sump dive base.
Ink Sump:
A small static pool soon enlarges into larger passage; Quink Sump joins from the left just after the start. Several airbells are passed on route at 4 m, 20 m and 31 m, the eyehole is reached at 67 m from base, this descends to a junction, the route to the right leads to a solid clay choke while the main route to the left descends into a pleasant tube. After 172 m a airbell is reached, 20 m further the sump surfaces into Doom's Retreat. A route at the north end of the aven via fixed ladders allows access to the final chamber and the choke that is currently being dug.
Reference:
Lister, Jim. 2010. The Ink Sump / Doom's Retreat Project, Peak cavern. Technical Speleological Group Journal 18. Page 13 -16.
Far Sump:
Sump 1 is a 5 m dive through to 10 m of canal passage. Sump 2 follows, 10 m further is Brown's Chamber, a small arch at the bottom of the chamber leads into a 2m x 1m passage, 98m from base is Captain Beaky's Freakout, a low but wide area through a series of muddy bends. 239m from base, an impenetrable inlet on the right delivers water from Stemple Highway. The passage continues very shallow but muddy. White Feather Aven is passed, approx 350 m from base. 370 m from base, an inlet comes in from the left, this is Far Sump Inlet Sump. A few metres later, the sump ends at 385m in a small lake chamber with a waterfall entering on the left.
In dry conditions, the sump reduces to 210 m long, it’s possible to duck through the first 25m to Brown's Chamber, and the last 147m of far sump will unroof. Far Sump Inlet Sump will also be a separate sump. It isn't a very nice dive when its dry due to poor visibility and appalling diving conditions.
White Feather Aven tops out at 12 metres high. At 7 m high, a passage to the north-west becomes too narrow but is a few meters away from Hypercapnia Sump, located above the passage at the far end of Salmon's Cavern.
Reference:
Cordingley, John. 2010. White Feather Aven, Far Sump, Peak Cavern. Technical Speleological Group Journal 18. Page 33 - 35.