Sheffield University Speleological Society

Structure and Function
A University caving club with many non student members (most of these are graduates of Sheffield University but it possible to join the club without being a student). In recent years the society has had up to 50 members on the books with about 20 active year on year.

SUSS are active mainly in the Peak District, but also in the rest of the UK managing 10+ organised weekends and many more impromptu ones. The current policy on foreign caving is to alternate between organising sporting trips and expeditions. The structure of the society is similar to many student clubs with a committee consisting of a Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Meets Secretary, Social Secretary, Safety and Training Officer, Equipment & Lamps Officer, Librarian, Web secretary, Life members Secretary, Publicity Secretary, Inclusions Officer and Ordinary Members. The Chair, Secretary and Treasurer must be taken by current students. Members can take on more than one role. When caving the club has leaders (who must be signed off), seconds, equals and freshers.

Typically the club runs a 'try caving' weekend in Peak after freshers week, followed by a weekend to the dales. These are interspersed with midweek fresher trips and in October the SRT training season begins (greatly supported by Mark Wright every year). This lasts for a month or two and then the focus is underground SRT. Organised weekends take place throughout the year as do mid week trips to Derbyshire. There are also spurts of SRT training prior to expeditions/sporting trips abroad.

History
SUSS dates back to 1961 when it was split off from the University Mountaineering Club. There had been a Caving secretary at SUMC for at least 12 years and its cavers carried out exploration in the vicinity of Smoo cave in Sutherland (far North of Scotland) in 1948.

The 60's

During the 60's SUSS mostly caved in Derbyshire with Eldon Potholing Club and Peak District Mines Historical Society. In 1961 they visited the International Speleological Congress in Vienna, and in 62/63/65 there were expeditions to the Sligo area of the Irish Republic. There were also expeditions to Morocco in 1966 and 67, an area the club returned to in 2012. In the late 60s there were some unofficial expeditions to County Clare and 2 biospeleology enthusiasts discovered a new species of snail, Trichoniscoides Thomasum.

On the 15th of March 1969, Chris Hay fell while ascending a ladder in Meregill and required rescue. He was dived out of the cave but did not survive the drive to hospital.

The 70's

The society continued its work in Morocco, going out in 1972 notably pushing Kef Naverine to -120m. 4 New species were discovered during this expedition - 2 Hypogastururidae, 1 Sminthuridae and a new Gammarus. In 1973 a couple of members went out to Canada and assisted in the exploration and survey of Arctomys Cave (to -522m).

Bulgaria 1974 saw 8 members of the club, notably finding 800m of virgin passage after completing an 80m duck with 10cm airspace. Two trips to Skye in 1974 and 75 yielded many small discorveries. In 1975 and 77 visited the Picos in Spain, exploring Torca Labarga.

Turkey 1976 was supposed to be a joint expedition with Bulgarian Cavers who sadly could not get visas. The expedition continued nonetheless with 2 virgin pots explored (-53m and -225m) and pushing a previously explored cave, Golcuk Dudeni from -138m to -245m.

At home, Sarah's Cave (in what now is Wimpey's Quarry) was discovered and surveyed prior to being destroyed by quarrying. SUSS participated in many digs with New Venture Mine a notable find (explored to -67m).

The 80's

1980 saw an expedition to Steinernes Meer in Austria. 4GB or Kuhfladenschat was pushed to -296 and Dreizhen-Sekundenschacht to -120m among others. 1981 saw the begining of SUSS's long commitment to Crete, in Lefika Ori. The deepest cave found on this initial expedition was -197, the longest 1750m (which had a vertical range of 175m). The club may have returned to the area the following year but no record is archived. There were expeditions to central Crete in 1984 and '86. 60 new caves were catalogued and the deepest was -175m with a 54m pitch.

1986 also saw the first expedition to Tonga, which was followed up in '87. The deepest cave proved to be -135 and 324m long but the expedition mainly focused on the interesting speleology of many of the caves.

The Taurus Mountains in Turkey were visited in 1989 and 90. Civ Magara (depth -238m) was the main find on the first expedition with many other notable finds. The main find on the latter expedition was Kuzan Bogazi (eventually explored to 1.5km long!).

The 90's

1994 saw a joint expedition in conjunction with Speleo Club Kamnik with 'Lazy Bastard rift' coming in at 85m deep. The expedition was frustrated by snow and shattered rock blockages. SUSS took 24 people to the bottom of the Berger (and 40 to camp 1) in 1998.

The 00's

During the early 00's SUSS had a small number of active student members and (like many other student clubs at the time) was beset by other setbacks; notably Foot and Mouth, the loss of the Goodwin Gym for SRT training and increasing difficulties with the Union. This culminated in the club being banished from the union. This was reversed in 2004-5 and relations have become much more amicable.

Despite the difficulties, there was a joint trip with SWCC to the Dent de Crolle in 2002. 2004 saw a trip to the Vercors and in 2006 SUSS returned to the Lefka Ori mountains in Crete. This proved to be a success and the club returned in 2008, '09 and '10. Among many impressive finds the one that caught the attention of the national media was Colosuss - eventually pushed to -553m, the 5th deepest cave in Crete.

The club had many of its members join other expeditions during this period, most notably in the Dachstein, Matienzo, Mulu and Megalaya.

During the mid to late 00's, digging took off in the club in a big way with most activity occurring in peak. Notable finds include Donatella's Aven Inlet Sump - siphoned to discover 100m of virgin passage, Titan Streamway Terminal Choke - passed to over 200m and a joint project between a number of clubs to empty the many sumps in Rasp (masterminded by Henry Rockliff).

Also of note are the infamous Naked Calendars that were created for 2007 and 08.

The 10's

2010 saw the final expedition to Crete and in 2012 the society returned to Morocco.

Tourist trips so far this decade have included the PSM and the Gouffre Berger in France.

The SUSS Hut

The club built a hut at Rowter farm in 1967 from an old railway carriage, it lasted until the early 80s when a new hut was gained near the Hill Inn in the Dales. That one lasted until 2005 and currently the club does not have a hut.

Digs

An inexhaustive list of SUSS led digs with significant breakthroughs;

In Peak; Rocky Tube, Western Highway, Donatella's Aven, Absolution, Moosetrap Inlet

In Castleton Catchment; Suicide

In Bradwell Catchment; Bird Mine, Brunt Mine, Crematorium Pot, Long Rake Founder Shaft, New Venture Mine/Cavern

In Stoney Catchment; Dynamite series in Carlswark, Farnsley Lane Swallet