BROILED CUSTARD POTHOLE (aa -)
25.327200,92.495600
Description
A vertical cave entrance (shaft, pothole) of unidentified shape and unspecified dimensions is said to give access to a perennial stream cave where a meandering, keyhole-shaped cave passage (incised active streamway beneath a roundish relic upper section abandoned by flowing water) leads to a relatively large chamber of unidentified dimensions, which is characterised by a relatively small sump of unidentified dimensions at the base of an airy pitch. ETYMOLOGY: No autochthonous, indigenous or locally known name has been identified for what has been christened »Créme Brulée« in the sense of broiled custard (note 1) or, in Khasi, something along the lines of one Krem Jingbam ba Shet (note 2). SITUATION: On the western flank of the Shnongrim -Tangnub Ridge and sort of northish from the "U Le Junction" (note 3) where road to Tangnub (via Lelad, Lailad) forks off (south) from the road connecting Sutnga town via Shnongrim and the valley of the Litang River to Nongkhlieh. Unfortunately the original explorers failed recognise that they did not come anywhere close to understanding how to arrive at a sensible GPS position (note 4) and proudly left this cave in obscure spatial relation to its nearby and often possibly adjacent neighbouring caves (note 5). The nearest cave, Krem Umso (Tangnub), remains also without GPS position (note 6). All that has become known is that the entrance to this cave entrance lies at an estimated distance ranging between 100 m and 300 m approximately north of the road junction and about 40 m (on foot? in a direct line? vertically?) "below" (west) the road. Geologially, the cave entrance lies in the Kopili Limestone (Lower Miocene) and just beneath the Kopili Shales (caprock). The cave itself, however, can be expected to broach the underlying Prang Limestone. SITUATION 2: »A streambed runs under the road where the road becomes less steep and the jungle meets the road on both sides. [To reach the cave] Follow this stream bed …« (McCullough 2000.02.15 Mss: Krem Brulée; Brooks 2000.05.15 personal correspondence). SITUATION 3: Some 40 m below the road (Brooks 2000.06.07 Mss). APPROACH: »From road junction follow the road [north] towards Shnongrim until you reach the first bridge around 200 to 300 m [sic! qua: 200 to 300 feet or 60 m to 90 m] from junction. The path to the cave starts approximately 10 m before the bridge and descends steeply to the stream. Go downstream a few metres to an open canyon which you bypass via a path on the right. Reach a second stream and follow this downstream to the head of the canyon which you traverse around. Follow the now indistinct path via several scrambles and a 6 m free climb to reach shaft. The stream sink in the canyon can be followed underground to chokes and is presumed to feed upstream K. Brulée. N.B: Two surface streams sink in a canyon some 30 to 40 m away from the cave« (Chapman 2000.06.26 Mss). CAVE DESCRIPTION: The relatively large entrance shaft descends in two stages to the vaulted Entrance Chamber containing two cave passages at the lower aspect. The R-Passage leads to a boulder choke. The L-Passage descends over gently sloping boulders encrusted with dry crystalline calcite deposits to a chamber and to Crossroads Junction with three ways on where a Left Passage is a dry inlet leading to a relatively low crawl. A Right Passage is a decorated inlet from a boulder choke which appears to be the other side of the same boulder choke at the end of the R-Passage. A Straight Passage from Crossroads Junction (beneath collapsed boulders) contains decorative cave pearls (pisoliths) and drops to a small pool in a chamber exited via a long dry crawl with a decorated roof. This drops into Incised Canyon Streamway with small climbs and pools which can be followed downstream [for an unknown distance in an unknown direction] to a relatively large airy 3rd Pitch (7, 10, 27 m) to a high roofed Terminal Chamber with smooth walls, a gravel & silt floor, and a relatively small, choked sump. CAVE DESCRIPTION 2: »Krem Brulee … [is] similar in form to a Yorkshire pothole« (BROOKS, S. J. 2000b: 5). TACKLE: 1st pitch: natural tree & boulder back-up, 4 bolts, 45 m-rope. 2nd pitch: natural back-up, 1 bolt, 11m-rope. 3rd pitch: 2 bolts, 40 m-rope in 2 stages. CAVE CONTENTS: Entrance Shaft: Some washed-in debris, e.g. tree trunks. Entrance Chamber: Dry calcite ribbed walls (speleothem), boulder littered floor, and dry crystalline calcite with small dry gour pools at ground level. Incised Canyon Streamway: clean washed smooth walls, downstream [air?] draught, circular pools below short drops containing small crayfish, no calcite formations. Terminal Chamber: Silt & gravel floor with central mud bank, washed in organic debris (driftwood: leaves, twigs, branches) and one plastic sandal (no owner). Upper Boulder Choke: cave pearls -- some normal, most covered uniformly with crystalline calcite deposits [apparently aragonite or dog tooth spar of subaquaeous origin, indicating calcite saturated still water, possibly a backup zone]. CAVE LIFE: Bats (Chiroptera) and Arthropods including unidentified spiders (Arachnida conf. Araneae), about 5 cm long translucent crayfish or shrimp (Crustacea: Malacostrata: Decapoda), woodlice (Isopoda), and crickets (Gryllidae).
NOTE 1: broil (verb) 1. (transitive) to cook (meat or fish) by exposure to direct, intense radiant heat. 2. (intransitiv) to become very hot, esp. from the sun : the countryside lay broiling in the sun. Origin late Middle English (also in the sense burn, char) from Old French bruler ‘to burn’ of unknown origin. custard (noun) a dessert or sweet sauce made with milk, eggs, and sugar. Origin late Middle English crustarde, custarde (denoting an open pie containing meat or fruit in a spiced or sweetened sauce thickened with eggs), from Old French crouste. NOTE 2: broil (verb, English), shet (SINGH, N 1920: 54), pynthnam ne shet ha u rnga (BLAH, E 2007: 37). custard (noun, English), ka jingbam ba la khleh ka dud ka pylleng bad ka shini (SINGH, N 1920: 105). NOTE 3: The Tangnub (Tangnoob) junction Krem U Le has been positioned (WGS84) near N25°19'35.6": E92°29'48.2" unidentified EPE, Gebauer 2001.02.10, 12-channel GPS N25°19'35": E92°29'48" ±10, Gebauer, H. D. 2001.02.07, 12-channel GPS N25°19'34.9": E92°29'48.9" unidentified EPE, Gebauer 2002.02.16, 12-channel GPS N25°19'34.5": E92°29'48.6" ±5.1 m, Gebauer 2001.02.07, 12-channel GPS N25°19'34": E92°29'48" ±130 m, Gebauer 1999.03.29, unreliable 4-channel GPS N25°19'34": E92°29'48" unidentified EPE, Brooks, S. J. 2000.02.14 copied from Gebauer 1999.03.29 N25°19'33”: E92°29'47” unidentified EPE, Gebauer 1999.04.03, unreliable 4-channel GPS N25°19'34.8" E92°29'48.3“ average. NOTE 4: Estimated N25°19'37": E92°29'48” or some 3.3 seconds corresponding to 120 m in a direct line north of the road junction --another proof of »the accuracy of GPS and the surveying teams« (Anthony 'Tony' R Jarratt 2003.02.17 Mss "Cave Log 2003" 17/2/03; repeated by Brooks, S J 2003 Mss: Diary 2003.doc). NOTE 5: Within approximately 200 m or 250 m from Brulée Pothole lie the cave entrances of Krem Risang, Krem Churchill 1, Krem Churchill 2, Krem Kdong Muliar, Krem Phtar and Crab Claw Cave (Khasified: Krem Tyrsim Tham). NOTE 6: Another proof of »the accuracy of GPS and the surveying teams« (Anthony 'Tony' R Jarratt 2003.02.17 Mss "Cave Log 2003" 17/2/03; subscribed by Brooks 2003 Mss: Diary 2003.doc).
Documents
Bibliography 25/06/2016History
EXPLORATION HISTORY: 2000.02.14: Fraser E. Simpson, Tom Chapman, Amanda Edgeworth and Kirsten McCullough discovered becoming aware of having been shown the entrance of a cave which they nicknamed "Krem Brulee" (sic! for: Creme Brulée Pothole) and explored up to the Low Crawl. 2000.02.15: Simpson, Chapman, Edgeworth and McCullough claimed to have "surveyed" 250 m up to Clean Washed Pitch. 2000.02.16: Simpson, Edgeworth and McCullough claimed to have completed both exploration and "survey" but failed to produce a cave plan.
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | UMSO, Sutnga (Krem) | ||
| 0.1 | U LIEH (Krem) | ||
| 0.3 | CHURCHILL CAVE, 1st (aa -) | ||
| 0.3 | KDONG MULIAR (Krem) | ||
| 0.4 | CRAB CLAW CAVE (aa -) | ||
| 0.4 | CHURCHILL CAVE, 2nd (aa -) | ||
| 0.5 | PTHAR (Krem) | ||
| 0.5 | RISANG - KSEH U PRING (Krem) | ||
| 0.5 | SOIDA (Krem) |