OUCC Proceedings 9 (1979)

John Singleton

For those who enjoy physical pain, wallowing in six inch deep liquid mud and lying on their sides in ice cold water, Cueva de la Caña, although short, is an absolute must. It is also interesting because it trends towards Osu, and draughts quite strongly; it is possibly a fourth entrance.

The cave begins in an obvious cleft, by an obvious tree stump, situated about 70m to the south east of Cueva del Osu's main entrance. This leads down over boulders to a muddy feet first crawl to the right, which emerges in a chamber over a section of rift. It is important at this point not to follow the walking stick after which this cave is named by sliding down the crawl and rolling into the rift! The rift can be descended from the far end of the chamber over wedge shaped boulders past Pencil Crack, where a surveying pencil came to grief, and the walking stick, to reach a small stream entering from above just after the first bend in the rift.

The rift eventually widens into a chamber full of loose powdery red coloured boulders marking some ancient collapse. Ducking under a slab to the left leads to 'Crinoid Corner', notable for its fossils. The way is on through the squeeze between a flat slab and a loose ceiling, part of which decided to attack Al, compelling him to retire to the surface to evacuate his bowels.

A short section of passage which is 'interesting' for tall cavers leads to 'The Duck', a tight eyehole into a pool of liquid mud. A wet, tight crawl is then followed by a short section of narrow rift which chokes at stream level. The choke can be bypassed by the climbing rift to a small stal-filled chamber which emerges high up in the rift beyond the choke. Running water can be heard a long way below, and the rift continues for about 50m at this level.

Unfortunately, lack of time and the tightness of the rift prevented its full descent. However, it would be a worthwhile project for the two or three people with 'nothing to do' for a day some time in the 1980 expedition.