LEECH CAVE, Lelad

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A tiny cave entrance (pear-shaped in ground plan, about 0.5 by 0.3 m wide) is bordered by wedged-in boulders and the massive walls of a narrow, east-west trending surface rift, and gives access to an estimated 10 m deep rift cave forming pothole. Neil Pacey (2009.02.13 Mss: Krem Thliem / Leech Cave) understod this to be an entrance pothole in cross rift. ETYMOLOGY: No autochthonous, locally known name can be expected for this insignificant little cavelet where Neil Pacey decided on 17th February 2009 to nickname Leech Cave only after having amused Joanne -Jo- Hardy and Cdr Arnab Das (Commander, Indian Navy) with attaching a small, solitary tiger leech (Annelida: Clitellata: Hirudinea spp.) to the top of his head (Brooks, S J et al. 2009.02 Mss -Diary 2009.doc- Friday 13th February, Saturday 14th February). Most likely to allow making this rift not only famous but also popular among the resident population, the nickname Leech Cave was later on alienated into an inviting Krem Thliem (noe 1). SITUATION: According to Pacey (2009.02.13 Mss: Krem Thliem / Leech Cave), the entrance to Leech Cave lies not only at an inexplicable location but also at a spot without identified spatial relations to all the other cave entrances in the same vicinity. On the other, hand, Pacey (2009.02.13 Mss: Krem Thliem / Leech Cave) increased his misinformation considerably by recording the relevant GPS position nowhere else than right under large tree (sic!) --as if to get intentionally a measurement with the lousiest possibly precision error attainable. According Brooks, S J et al. (2009.02 Mss -Diary 2009.doc- Saturday 14th February), the entrance lies somewhere in a gully (ravine?) without identified name, which lies in one way or another below the village of Lelad (note 2). POSITION: The originally recorded the GPS position N25°18'03.7”: E092°29'27.7” (ignored EPE substituted with fraudulent ±8 m): 1020 m asl (GPS Garmin Etrex) had been read on a so-called promentry (sic!), which prbably stands for a kind of promontory (note 3), which lies not only south-east of an unidentified gully with stream sink but also also at a spot from where the entrance to Leech Cave lies at an estimated distance of about 80 m on a bearing of 130° from the GPS reading point (note 4). APPROACH 1: Ignored (Pacey 2009.02.13 Mss: Krem Thliem …). APPROACH 2: The entrance to this cave is reached by traversing in one way or another around the ridge and by following the first large gully down into the valley (Neil Pacey in: Brooks, S J et al. 2009.02 Mss -Diary 2009.doc- Friday 13th February). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1 (modified after Pacey 2009.02.13 Mss: Krem Thliem …): The tight entrance shaft descends past an awkward squeeze (2 m down) down to the bottom of a rift cave passage where the only way on east is blocked by boulders (note 5). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2: Brooks, S J et al. (2009.02 Mss -Diary 2009.doc- Saturday 14th February) were told that Neil Pacey noticed a descendable pitch … but found theway on to the next pitch [so far, there is none known] was inaccessible due to a tight squeeze. TACKLE: Pacey (2009.02.13 Mss: Krem Thliem …) lists 3 bolts, Y hang and deviation. 15 m rope required. PROSPECTS: At a first glance very good (Pacey 2009.02.13 Mss: Krem Thliem …) but it might be worthwhile to consider that progress is thwarted insofar as it … would require removal of boulders (Brooks, S J, undated 2009 June Mss amendment to Pacey 2009.02.13 Mss: Krem Thliem …). CAVE CLIMATE: Very good with moist draft [sic! qua: draught] blowing out of hole (Pacey 2009.02.13 Mss: Krem Thliem …).bably stands for a kind of promontory (note 3), which lies not only south-east of an unidentified gully with stream sink but also also at a spot from where the entrance to Leech Cave lies at an estimated distance of about 80 m on a bearing of 130° from the GPS reading point (note 4). APPROACH 1: Ignored (Pacey 2009.02.13 Mss: Krem Thliem …). APPROACH 2: The entrance to this cave is reached by traversing in one way or another around the ridge and by following the first large gully down into the valley (Neil Pacey in: Brooks, S J et al. 2009.02 Mss -Diary 2009.doc- Friday 13th February). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1 (modified after Pacey 2009.02.13 Mss: Krem Thliem …): The tight entrance shaft descends past an awkward squeeze (2 m down) down to the bottom of a rift cave passage where the only way on east is blocked by boulders (note 5). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2: Brooks, S J et al. (2009.02 Mss -Diary 2009.doc- Saturday 14th February) were told that Neil Pacey noticed a descendable pitch … but found theway on to the next pitch [so far, there is none known] was inaccessible due to a tight squeeze. TACKLE: Pacey (2009.02.13 Mss: Krem Thliem …) lists 3 bolts, Y hang and deviation. 15 m rope required. PROSPECTS: At a first glance very good (Pacey 2009.02.13 Mss: Krem Thliem …) but it might be worthwhile to consider that progress is thwarted insofar as it … would require removal of boulders (Brooks, S J, undated 2009 June Mss amendment to Pacey 2009.02.13 Mss: Krem Thliem …). CAVE CLIMATE: Very good with moist draft [sic! qua: draught] blowing out of hole (Pacey 2009.02.13 Mss: Krem Thliem …).