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Rana Hole

Assynt, Alt Nan Uamh, An Claonaite, Sutherland.

Originally discovered in 1976 by Tony Jarratt and rediscovered by Pete Dowswell and Ivan Young in 1978. The initial pot was a crawl at the bottom of a shakehole which ran under a vertical aven and ended in a peat-floored chamber. The hole was named after a frog (Rana temporia) sitting in a peaty pool. With the permission of SNH and the local landowner, the entrance shaft was dug out by the GSG.

Following the discovery of several kilometers of passage downstream of sump 6b in Uamh an Claonaite, Martin Hayes began digging at Rana Hole in 1995. Radio-location in 1996 placed Mole Hole directly above Belh Aven (a large chamber down stream of sump 6 in Uamh an Claonaite) so digging by the GSG was briefly diverted but resumed at Rana Hole after Mole Hole quickly closed down in an impenetrable crack. It was at the time estimated that the entrance to Rana Hole was approximately 20 m above the top of Belh Aven (OD 350 m [from the base of the shakehole] - now taken as OD 365 m [from the level of the spoil heap above the shakehole] to OD 330 m [estimated high point in Belh Aven]). The Bone Cave entrances are about OD 310 m [now assumed to be about OD 305 m]. It was hoped that by digging down a passage would be reached which would run sideways to the top of Belh Aven. If not a further 20 m down there could have been passages on the level of the Bone Caves [These initial heights may have been a little optimistic. The top of Belh Aven has been surveyed at OD 315 m and the bottom is OD 275 m]. By 2000, the depth of excavation had reached about 10 m below the original peat level. Excavation was slow as all digging and shoring materials, scaffold poles buckets an winches had to be hand carried 2km up from the car park and the peat and later glacial till filling the hole had to be hauled out by hand (a 3 or 4 man hauling team would assist two diggers). Digging was eventually speeded up, with a tripod and pulley assisting as the pitch got deeper and loads became heavier but In wet weather, water cascaded down the hole and digging had to be abandoned. Progress was speeded further in 2006 when Norman Flux created and continued to adapt a two person (later three person) bicycle winch.

A long list of diggers and haulers should be thanked for their efforts (including most of the GSG's members at one time or another and several innocent bystanders who just happened to get volunteered).

In 2003, the depth had reached about 14 m when stacked rocks from behind mesh and Acroprops at one side of the shaft collapsed releasing an avalanche of debris while Martin Hayes was descending the electron ladder to the dig. Julian Walford who was at the dig face only just avoided live burial by dodging back into the narrow cleft at the there end of the dig. After a few minutes of stunned silence those on the surface, called down to find the two diggers shocked but unhurt. Removal of the collapsed rocks found a short length of open passage but this turned out to be more of the same vertical rift as the entrance shaft simple offset slightly to the west. A tightening of the rift above keeps out most of the surface debris and leaves a largish platform at the 14 m level. The shift sideways improved drainage and the speed of digging increased. The new pitch was called the BBC pitch after a ladder inherited from the BBC (left behind after they had been filming elsewhere). Eventually another 14 m down, the water levels again became a problem as the initial free drainage seemed to have been clogged by material disturbed by our digging. A massive dam (or a series of progressively larger and more effective dams) had to be constructed at the west end of the fissure to allow the dig face to be pumped dry. A tiny void to the east seemed to take water and a pipe from the dam was inserted which seemed to let the water drain slowly while the diggers worked below.

The entrance now drops down two vertical 14 m pitches (requiring ladders or SRT kit, cows-tails and safety lines are also required). The pitches are offset by a 5-6 m traverse (Showerbath Corner) and at the bottom a short scramble down a sloping rock face leads to a low crawl (at about 30 m depth) which emerges into a higher but still tight fissure (the Skyeway - discovered a day or so after the GSG Annual Dinner on Skye in 2007) running 30 m east to a boulder choke in as wider section of passage. In the tightest section timber stemples have been inserted in the bottom of the narrow rift to allow cavers to push themselves up into a wider part of the passage. Above the east end of the Skyeway, a climb up the side wall reaches a rift (probably a detached continuation of the entrance pitch) which rises about 10m then closes down. In the floor of the Skyeway, near the east end, a drop through a boulder ruckle leads to a muddy crawl heading 10 m north into a large chamber filled in part with large boulders. The connection to Two As' Chamber was found the day after the Skyeway connection after most of the digging party had returned home.

Two As' Chamber is about 50 m long by 10-15 m wide and consists of two parts, separated by a massive debris pile. The eastern part is an inverted cone of debris dropping to a lower level with voids leading off which relatively quickly dead-end. Some of these voids may be worth pursuing but so far there is no way on. The western two-thirds of the chamber slopes down over breakdown rubble to the chamber floor where the roof is lined with stalactite straws. A low taped crawl leads through the straws to a small grotto the entrance to which is partially blocked by a large rock. There is the sound of falling water beyond but this is not the way on so please do not disturb the pretties.

Returning along the taped crawl, to the left a tight hole in the floor drops into the Christmas Series. There are other slots around the side walls of 2As' chamber but this is the only one that continues. A tight vertical squeeze down through a boulder ruckle emerges in a tight horizontal passage, the uppermost of three parallel passages (the Christmas Series - discovered at Christmas 2007) in a diagonal rift separated by rock ledges and large boulders which can be squeezed through to reach the top of Black Rift .

Black Rift (named for the black [peat] staining on its walls) is a high ceilinged vertical rift with a 4 m water fall emerging from a tight slot above what appears to be the west end of the chamber. A short length of passage (Misfire Rift) heads east through a boulder ruckle but soon dead-ends. A slot in the ceiling level with the waterfall slot also extends about 12 m east (from the waterfall) but also stops above Misfire Rift. It is possible to traverse past the waterfall another 5 m but this also is a dead-end. The waterfall slot itself is a wet 5 m crawl which becomes too tight.

The apparently blank west wall of the waterfall chamber is actually a very narrow (too tight) rift separating the two upper sections of Black Rift. The west part (Way on Chamber) is reached by a low, wet, 3m long squeeze at the foot of the waterfall. This emerges over a large boulder in a wider chamber floored with breakdown and sediment. The upper traverse over the waterfall looks down onto this chamber. Two tight rifts head off west and northwest from Way on Chamber. The wider northwest passage runs about 10 m into a grotto of muddy straws. The western route is a tight phreatic passage with two squeezes leading to a mud-choked chamber (Santa's Grothole). The actual way on is down, through a slot next to the side wall. A 8-10 m descent down through a 'concreted' boulder ruckle (large chunks of broken calcite) drops sharply on reaching an open rift. This is the Black Rift pitch descending into Black Cuillin Chamber. Depending on how the pitch is rigged and how it is measured this is either 6 or 10 m (6 m from the ledge at the bottom of the boulder ruckle to where it is possible to step of to the side onto a solid floor or 10 m from the anchor above the pitch to the floor directly below).

The descent through the boulder ruckle is technically free climbable but some cavers might prefer the assistance of a ladder. Further down a lifeline is recommended and the 6-10 m pitch at the bottom requires either ladder or SRT kit. There is always at least a trickle of water emerging from the tight fissure above the pitch. In wet weather this becomes a waterfall. The exact position of the water flow varies depending on the amount of flow so it is usually possible (on the way down at least) to rig a drop out of the main flow. However the position of the flow can change so climbing back up could be wet. In very wet weather, most cavers regard this pitch as too unpleasant and turn back.

When found Black Cuillin Chamber had a floor of breakdown with the water from above disappearing into a rock filled dip in the floor. A small amount of digging revealed two ways on.

To the southwest, the Tony Jarratt Series begins as the northernmost of three rifts. A narrow [very narrow] rift (Slipping Into Something More Comfortable) running 35-40 m, crossing two 3 m deep slots dropping to water (an interrupted streamway disappearing into boulder ruckles below) and gradually becoming tighter [larger cavers may not fit]. At its southwest extent, beyond a third slot in the floor, a there is a small aven and to the right, a tight tube leads to Blue Chamber. This is a roomy passage apparently formed by a roof collapse which runs upwards for 40 m almost due south from a small shallow pool of clear water at its northern end. This pool appears to open out underwater beneath the northeast wall of the chamber but diving has shown this to be just an undercut . The chamber is walking height at the pool but reduces to a flat out crawl at the middle part before enlarging again at the southern end merging into the phreatic rift on the left (east). Some interesting formations can be seen including cryogenic calcite crystals formed by solute concentration on freezing (probably related to past periglacial conditions). At the south end a short dug-out crawl leads up into Two Bs' Chamber.

The crawl into Two Bs' Chamber enlarges into a 70 m long, 20 m wide chamber rising to 4 m high, again formed by roof collapse. Beyond a smaller passage can be followed a further 20 m while a lower passage, Not Two B, can be pursued for 25 m to a mud choke. No obvious way on is evident but a continuation may be hidden in the boulders.

At the Northeast end of Black Cuillin Chamber another short climb down drops 3 m into Flake Passage. This leads after 20 m to a traverse along a flake of rock over another 3 m deep slot dropping to the interrupted streamway. At the end of this traverse an awkward climb ascends a calcited boulder choke. At the top a flat out crawl between calcite formations leads to a rope-assisted climb down onto a rock bridge at the foot of Belh Aven [in Claonaite Seven]. At the foot of the slot in Flake Passage voids through the boulders allow the Rana streamway to join the main streamway in Uamh an Claonaite. Tracing the streamway at the foot of Belh Aven reaches the other end of this boulder choke where a voice connection can be made to Flake Passage.

The 2007 breakthrough from the Rana Hole dig into the Claonaite system after 12 years of excavation was actually at the drop from Black Cuillin Chamber into Flake Passage as rest of the route to Belh Aven was open passage but as that had not been spotted by the explorers of Uamh an Claonaite the top of the rope climb at the rock bridge is the official junction point and the furthest extent of Rana Hole.

See also Rana/Claonaite System and Uamh an Claonaite.

Alternate Names: Rana-Claonaite

Notes: During the digging of the entrance shaft the 5-6 m offset meant a vertical haul was impossible so a flume or chute was rigged to divert buckets being hauled up the two 14 n pitches. this flume took up most of the width of the passage and to get past cavers had to squeeze along the traverse (Showerbath Corner) which in wet weather was directly under the flow of water from above.

The Tony Jarratt Series was named after the original discoverer of Rana Hole Tony (JRat) Jarratt who was a major contributor to the digging in the entrance shafts despite living in Somerset. He was also present in December 2007 when the breakthrough was made into Claonaite Seven and discovered 2B's Chamber in 2008 a few months before his untimely death from cancer. Santa's Grothole (off Way on Chamber) was named by Tony Jarratt.

Hydrographic Feeds: Surface seepage from NE of Beinn an Fhuarain

Hydrographic Resurgences: Allt nan Uamh