Saug Goffar
31.214300,76.956700
Description
A NNW facing cave entrance (about 2.5 m wide and 3 m high) gives access to a rift cave that represents the deepest known pothole cave (note 1) of Himachal Pradesh. ETYMOLOGY: No autochthonous, indigenous or locally known name has been identified for this »shakehole« (NEWTON, J 1972), which outsiders christened (note 2) after the nearby village of Saug (note 3). SITUATION 1937: »On a grassy spur« (Glennie, E A 1937 Mss "Notebook" page 3) somewhere in »Baghal State« (now: Arki panchayat). SITUATION 1970: At an unidentified location (HODGSON, D 1970c, 1971: 23) and in an unspecified spatial relation »near« the village of »Souy« (sic! qua: Saug), which lies at a travelling distance of an estimated »10 miles« (16 km) along the road approximately north of Arki (31°09'N: 76°58'E: 1045 m). SITUATION 1972.1: »20 odd miles« (i.e. about 32 km, apparently there and back again) along the road approximately north of Arki (NEWTON, J 1972: 26). SITUATION 1972.2: »Cave of Song Goffar, near Simla, Baghal State, Northern India, altitude 5650 feet, ref. N. 31°12.8': E. 76°57.40'« (TURK, F A 1972: 197) or near 31°12'48”N: 76°57'24”E: 1722 m. POSITION 1937: Glennie, E A (1937 Mss "Notebook" page 3) commenced to position »A2. Cave in Baghal State. Lat. Long.« but never completed the entry. POSITION 1972: Glennie, E A (s.a. 1972 Mss) was told to position »Soug Goffar N31°12.86': E76°57.40': 5650 ft« (unspecified geodetic datum probably Everest 1830) corresponding to 31°12'51.6”N: 76°57'24.0”E: 1722 m (unspecified geodetic datum probably Everest 1830). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1937: »Cave opens out of a large slanting sinkhole about 30 ft [9 m] deep. Opening of cave about 8 ft [2.5 m] wide, 10 ft [3 m] high. Proceed down a steep slant about 40 feet [12 m], roof getting very high. A narrow cleft opens to right, but too narrow to enter and appears soon to close. Passage steeps sharply and turns right and becomes a slide of loose stones, at this point a fine roomy chamber opens out about 60 ft by 20 ft. [18 by 6 m] with a level gallery on left. A large stalagmite [speleothems] at beginning of a gallery gives a useful attachment for a rope. A faint light reaches to this chamber from entrance. Descend 40 feet [12 m] to lower level with cave owing to loose stones and enter 2nd chamber, about same size as first. A narrow shaft of light from entrance strikes across top of chamber very dim + [and] not noticeable below. Descend by rope again 40 feet [12 m] at first steep slope then vertical. The lower passage soon ends. Turn left + [and] ascend steep bank of loose earthy material into Dome Chamber. This has evidently been formed by a recent fall from roof and sides (?during Dharamsala earthquake). No stalactites [here in Dome Chamber].The chamber is a perfect circle about 35 ft diam. + [and] 50 feet high [10.7 m in diameter, 15 m high]. The roof being a smooth flat dome. No light reaches this chamber, where insect No 2 [note 4] was found. The cave is inhabited by crowds of bats + [and] is therefore very dirty. There are numbers of hyaline snails.The cave is damp + [and] slippery. Much water must enter in rains + [and] there is probably an extension below, as no lower outlet could be found. The cave is due to the widening of a single standing fissure« (Glennie, E A 1937 Mss "Notebook" page 4). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1970: The 3 m high entrance gives access to a steeply descending passage with level roof. This is followed by a 7 m wide and 12 m high passage which descends over loose scree to a chamber with half of the floor occupied by a shaft requiring tackle. The 7.5 m pitch leads to a 13 m wide aven, its roof lost in darkness. The streamway carries on but a T-shaped passage continues to another chamber (aven?) ending in a guano soil wall with a large hole above leading to a 15 m high domed chamber. The streamway continues through 10 m long constriction (narrow but high rift with Z-bend) to another second pitch (10 m ladder) and "final" 10 by 21 m wide chamber. A dig revealed a very tight cave entrance to third shaft (12 m) dropping 40 m into a rift passage ending conclusively in 4 m deep hole in the floor which is too narrow even for a ferret (after HODGSON, D 1970c: 4-5). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1971: »… an entrance 10 feet [3 m] high hidden by bushes, and a passage going in … descended while the roof remained level, and soon we were clambering down the loose scree in a passage 40 feet [12 m] by 20 feet [6 m] wide. A dull roar reached our ears, getting louder as we progressed. Obviously a waterfall, I thought, with hopes of wading for miles in a large river passage. Then we burst into an immense chamber, and found the source of the noise. Not water, but thousands of bats. Half the chamber floor was occupied by a shaft which was climbable at the end, being just a steeper continuation of the scree. It was from this hole that the bats were surging. We climbed the pitch and continued to the other end of the cavern where the passage was 40 feet [12 m] wide, the roof lost in darkness. Here a large boulder had wedged across the passage, the scree piling behind it and forming a pitch. […Next day] the 25 feet [7.5 m] pitch was descended into a second large chamber. The dry stream course turned into the right wall and continued in a Yorkshire-type T-shaped passage, but bigger things were straight ahead. The chamber ended in a wall of soil with a large hole above to which we climbed and entered another domed chamber 50 feet [15 m] high. The soil slope continued upward to conical mound in the middle of the floor and it became now obvious that we had climbed 30 feet [9 m] up a mountain of bat guano. The way on was closed by the soft composition of the floor, so I climbed down to find Rod Plant tackling the stream passage but having difficulty negotiating a tight section. No difficulty was experienced in persuading me into the constriction, which this time took the form of a narrow but high rift turning right then left in a Z-bend with a loose slab wedged in the most awkward position. Thirty minutes and feet later I had passed the tight part and was in a rift going on straight to pitch number two where the stream bed, which had descended steadily in a very narrow continuation of the passage below, was regained by a 30 feet [9 m] ladder. At the head of the pitch I was surprised to hear Keith's voice pretty close, and not much time passed before his light was seen through an easy bedding plane bypassing the squeeze. This time, Rod and I reached the final chamber below. The stream ended in a dried-up sump and although it must have been thousands of years ago when the stream last ran it looked more like the day before, such is a virgin cave! The chamber, 30 feet [9 m] wide and 70 feet [21 m] long, was explored to its extremities and Rod started to dig, undaunted. A small aperture was eventually opened, with a bat flying in the cavity below. […] With fresh lamps and spare carbide, a third shaft of 40 feet [12 m] with a very tight entrance was uncovered, leading to a final rift passage of 130 feet [40 m]. The stream course vanished in an impossible tight hole« (HODGSON, D 1971: 24). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1972.2: »An entrance about four feet [1.2 m] round … soon opened into a steeply descending passage which increased its size to about 60 feet [18 m] high and 20 feet [6 m] wide. We were soon stopped by a small pitch about 20 feet deep and while we were sat there bemoaning our luck about not bringing a ladder, we suddenly heard what seemed rushing water. "Great, we've cracked it!" I said to Hodge, but then we realised it was not water but hundreds of bats flying out of the passage. […] Next day, D. Hodgson, Rod Plant, and Keith Lee descended the small pitch into a large chamber with a 30 feet [9 m] pitch going off. After descending this they came to a rift blocked by boulders. They returned to the large chamber and found another chamber characterised by a huge pile of guano about 20 feet [6 m] high filling the floor and effectively blocking the way on […] The choke was soon dug through and Colin Hall descended on a 25 feet ladder which proved too short and Eccles [I. Carruthers] went down 40 feet to announce it did not go. […] Apart from a tight 20 feet [6 m] climb down that was it. […] Although this was the biggest cave we found, about 250 feet [76 m] deep we were bitterly disappointed by what had looked to be the breakthrough we were looking for« (NEWTON, J 1972: 26). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1971.2: Expedition cavers achieved to identify a sports caving device at »Souy« (sic!) which allows training to negotiate not only »a 25 feet pitch followed by a 30 feet and then a 40 feet pitch« but also »some rather large chambers« (HALL, C 1971: 6). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1993: »Sough Goffar de 61 m de profondeur (alt. 1580 m) … [est] creussée sur faille. Le responsable de l'expedition, John Conway, nous indique que les cavernes ne semblent pas avoir été formées par une importante circulation souterraine (diaclases tectonicques?). Leur conclusion est que l'etat Himachal Pradesh n'est pas géologiquement intéressant pour les spéléos [note 5]« (DUCLUZAUX, B 1993d: 54). CAVE POTENTIAL: None of the cave descriptions give the impression that the cave invaders, who were focussed on gaining depth, cared to look out for high level leads. Entering the cave by a collapse hole in the ceiling, they followed the tributary passage they had found and upon having identified a main drag, kept on running downstream in true Yorkshire style, totally unaware of the potential in the cave's substantial upper reaches. CAVE LIFE: Glennie, E A (1937 Mss "Notebook" page 3) noticed that »A2 Cave in Baghal State … is inhabited by crowds of bats … There are numbers of hyaline snails.« BARETH & CONDÉ (1972: 55) give a taxonomical description based on one male juvenile Campodeida: Simlacampa Clayae Condé 1956 which was collected from a certain »Song Goffar« (sic!) in a so-called »Baghol State« (Solan district, Baghal tahsil) in the Simla (Shimla) Hills, »Penjab« (ex- Punjab, now Himachal Pradesh). CUBBON, Brian (1972.04.10) determined cave fungi, found the genera recorded are common soil forms of world-wide distribution, and thinks the genus Absidia (Phycomycetes, Muceovales: Mucovacea: Absidia repens van Tiegh, det. CMI) has not been reported from caves before. PEAKE, John F. (1971.06.18) identified snails (Macrochlamys indica Benson) collected (Tube no. 20) from bat guano »in the deep threshold, 200 feet [60 m] from the entrance« (Glennie, E A 1971 June, Mss). HODGSON, D (1970c) mentions a »guano wall« and HALL, C (1971: 6) achieved to understand that »the cave was half full of bats« (Chiroptera). Frank A Turk gives a taxonomical description the milliped Typhlopygmaesoma hazeltonae, sp.nov. which was named after Mary Hazelton, Glennie's niece and life-long consort, but had been collected from »Song Cave« (TURK, Frank A 1972).
NOTE 1: Both HODGSON, D (1971: 24) and COURBON & CHABERT (1986: 70) recorded a depth of »200 feet« (61 m) but NEWTON, J (1972: 26) claims a depth of »about 250 feet« (76 m). NOTE 2: So far, I found this cave called »A2. Cave in Baghal State« (Glennie, E A 1937 Mss "Notebook" page 3), »Another Cave« (HODGSON, D 1970c: 4); »Saug« (Conway 1971: Map of caving district Arki), »Cave in the Simla Hills« (GLENNIE, E A 1947: 587), »Cave of Song Goffar« (TURK, F A 1972: 197); »Song Goffar« (BARETH & CONDÉ 1972: 55), »Soug« (Conway 1971: Map of caving district Arki, item 6; NEWTON 1972: 26), »Soug Cave« (Conway 1971 cave plan in CHABERT & CONWAY 1972), »Sough Goffar« (COURBON & CHABERT 1986: 70) and »a cave in the Souy area« (HALL 1970: 6). NOTE 3: Saug near (±150 m) 31°12'50”N: 76°57'15”E (AMS sheet NH43-04 Simla) in Solan district, Baghal tahsil (ex- Baghal State) is shown on the unpublished »Map of caving district Arki« (Conway, John circa 1971 s.a., traced from a Survey of India sheet 53-A/16 held by the High Commission of India, London). NOTE 4: »insect No 2« is the second specimen of Simlacampa Clayae Condé 1956 (Arthropoda: Insecta: Apterygota: Diplura: Campodeida: Campodea) collected in 1937 by Edward Aubrey Glennie (1937 Mss "Notebook" page 4). The first had been collected from –>Kotla Cave (Glennie 1937). NOTE 5: DUCLUZAUX, B (1993d: 52) has not been anywhere close to this site but anyhow decided that the 61 m deep »Sough Goffar« (Saug Goffar) at 1580 m has been carved out of a fault. On this occasion, Bruno Duclusaux composed not only the plural singularis »les spéléos« for himself but also subscribed blindly to John Conway who stated that the Arki caves do not result from important underground movement (of water). The conclusion is, that expedition cavers in search of conventional caves are ordered to find the geology of Himachal Pradesh State not interesting. NOTE 6: »Mr. K. Wadely« (Raja Sahib Bahadur, undated 1937 Mss; Craven, S A 1991.02.26 personal correspondence) appears to be the »K. Wadley« mentioned by Glennie, E A (1937 Notebook: 2).
Documents
Bibliography 18/05/2016History
EXPLORATION HISTORY: 1937 (May?): Edward Aubrey Glennie (1937 Mss "Notebook" page 4), perhaps accompanied by one Mr. K. Wadely or K. Wadley (note 6), collected in »A2 Cave in Baghal State« specimens of Simlacampa Clayae Condé 1956 (Campodeida). 1970 September (HALL, C 1971: 6) or November (BARETH & CONDÉ 1972: 55): Set Ram (forest warden at Arki) guided Dave "Hodge" Hodgson (surveyor) and Jim Newton to the sinkhole entrance (HALL, V 1971). Jim and Dave made an initial recce to the top of a 20 feet pitch (NEWTON 1972). Next day, D. Hodgson, Rod Plant, and Keith Lee pushed exploration (NEWTON 1972). Next day, "seven" (including Jim, Newton, Colin Hall, and Ian "Eccles" Carruthers) camped at the entrance and pushed till abandoning pshing (NEWTON 1972). Members of the "British Speleological Society Expedition to the Himalayas" collected cave fauna (BARETH & CONDÉ 1972: 55).
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.9 | GHIANA CAVE 1 | ||
| 2.1 | GHIANA CAVE 2 | ||
| 2.6 | PAJYARE RA KOTLA 2 | ||
| 2.6 | PAJYARE RA KOTLA 1 | ||
| 4.3 | SHALAGHAT, Solan (Cave at) | ||
| 6.0 | Arki Resurgence | ||
| 6.0 | LUTRU MAHADEVA CAVE | ||
| 6.4 | MUTRU MAHADEV GOFFAR | ||
| 7.0 | DUNGA DORA |