David Heap

David Heap
Born	(1941-03-14)14 March 1941
Died	23 February 1995(1995-02-23) (aged 53)

David (Dave) Heap was largely responsible for the opening up and development of caving and potholing in Northern Norway in the 1960s and 1970s. He led a number of speleological expeditions not only to Norway but the French Pyrenees and to Greece. He was the author of the now classic caving book Potholing Beneath the Northern Pennines.

Professionally, after teaching history at Ermysted's Grammar in Skipton, he took a history lectureship at Adelaide University and extended his caving experience from the Yorkshire Dales to the Nullarbor region and Tasmania. After a year he returned to the UK and quickly progressed to Headmaster of a succession of prestigious secondary schools, notably William Hulme's Grammar, Manchester, Handsworth Grammar, Birmingham and Edward VII Grammar, Lytham St Annes.

The Station Master's House at Ribblehead became the David Heap Memorial Centre in 1999.

Personal life

David Heap graduated from St Catharine's College, Cambridge University in 1963 with a Double First in History and English.

Apart from potholing, Heap was an enthusiastic yachtsman, a keen mountaineer and was well known for his collection of rare Victorian New Zealand stamps.

Caving achievements

Whilst a pupil at Heversham Grammar school, in 1958 David Heap gathered together a group of friends to form The Kendal Caving Club. The club is still very active.

He left Heversham in 1959 to read History and English at Cambridge, and became a leading member of the Cambridge University Caving Club, rising to become its president.

Inspired by the research of Marjorie Sweeting (a leading expert in Karst landscapes) David Heap first visited Arctic Norway on a Cambridge University expedition in 1961. This confirmed the possibility of significant cave development in a new area astride the Arctic Circle. He then led a total of nine caving expeditions to Norway, which culminated in 1968/69 with the discovery and descent of the Ragge Javre Raige pothole near Musken, well inside the Arctic Circle. The system still retains the record for the deepest pothole and the deepest through trip in northern Europe, at 1900 feet. The deepest single pitch is around 500 feet.

Heap also led the first exploration in Norway of the Oskhula/Kristihula cave system near Fauske. By 1969 four miles of passages to a depth of 520 feet had been explored, subsequently extended to nine miles and 1,000 feet deep, making it the longest cave in Norway.

Heap led overseas expeditions to Greece and to the French Pyrenees. In Greece the objective was the 1,400 feet deep Provatina Chasm in the Astraka Mountains. In the French Pyrenees in 1963 the target was to prove a connection between Gouffre Martel and La Grotte de la Cigalère. The expedition actually proved that such a connection could not exist.

At the age of 23 Heap published Potholing Beneath the Northern Pennines (RKP 1964) which attempted to define the spirit of caving as well as vividly describing a number of underground trips. The book is now regarded as a classic and is a collector's item.

In his capacity as a school teacher/headmaster Heap inspired many young people by introducing them to the world of outdoor sports. At each school he organised caving trips for pupils to the Yorkshire Dales. Many students at Ermysteds Grammar School took part in the Norway expeditions and several have since become distinguished cavers. Notable amongst these is eminent cave diver Geoffrey Yeadon BEM, President of the Cave Diving Group UK.

Prior to his early death, Heap made a bequest to his last school which allowed it to open the David Heap Memorial Outdoor Centre at Ribblehead near Ingleton.