Blue Pencil, 18th November
Posted by Radost Waszkiewicz on behalf of Jon Toft
The team: Ruairidh (1 year experience), Radost (1 year experience), Tom (novice), Jon (me, novice).
?We?re not completely lost. Not yet.?
Hearing these words from Radost, who?s leading the way, does little to reassure me. We?ve just spent the last hour wandering around a cave system in the search of something?the exit, I presume. I really don?t know. At this point I?m just following along. I?m led to believe we?re looking for a squeezy tunnel of sorts. We?ve been trying all the ones we?ve seen with no luck.
?I really don?t want to be rescued.?
Yet again, Radost?s words aren?t doing wonders in reassuring me. To be fair, they are spoken with the calmness that I?ve understood comes with years of near death experiences. Before I know it, he?s headed headfirst down a tiny crack. Tom follows right behind. Against my better judgment, I go next.
I don?t have anything against enclosed spaces. However, squeezing headfirst down a descending shaft is a different ballgame. With the walls scraping against both my chest and back, I employed my newly attained squeeze machine skills.
Breathe in, breathe out, push. Breathe in, breathe out, push.
I mutter to myself about how stupid this all is. I consider how hard the rescue operation is going to be when we have to get out of here. Will they have to pull us out backwards? I?d read about a similar case in the US where a guy went headfirst down a squeeze, got stuck, and died. This seemed eerily similar.
?Is this the right way?? I yell down the passage, while wedged between the walls. I?d been falling back in case we had to turn around, while Radost and Tom had continued ahead with all the determination of a fly trying to land on a light bulb. From the distance I heard Tom relaying Radost?s answer:
?I don?t know!?
Reassuring, once again. I follow up with ?Do we keep going??
?Keep going!?
Breathe in, breathe out, push. Breathe in, breathe out, push.
Suddenly, pushing along becomes much easier. The walls widen out a bit and I find myself able to move more freely. I?m able to start crawling along at a much better pace. Before I know it, I?m leaning headfirst over a four-meter drop.
?Jesus, guys,? I mutter to myself, ?thanks for giving me a heads-up.? I awkwardly turn around and carefully free climb down the drop, while giving Ruairidh a little warning.
The next section is much the same as before, with a very awkward 90-degree bend that required some acrobatics to avoid breaking my knees. At this point, Radost and Tom had found an exit to the thing, and had climbed out. They shout up:
?You need to go feet first in the last section.?
This would be helpful if I wasn?t currently nearing the exit, headfirst. I spend some time trying to flip around by placing my legs in a shaft running along the base of the squeeze, but quickly figure out that it?s useless. At this point I don?t even care. I squeeze out towards the exit and before I know it I?m staring down at Tom and Radost standing a good 3 meters below.
Perhaps it?s because I?m a novice, but I?m still not entirely sold on headfirst down climbing, so I perilously do a barrel roll supported by the chain that is for some reason mounted below the exit. As grab the chain and prepare the descent, I hear from behind:
?Jon, I think I?m stuck.?
I turn around to see Ruairidh jammed sideways into a crack, his helmet accidentally dropped on the ground and having rolled a good meter-and-a-half in front of him. He?s breathing heavily and looks a bit like he?s about to die. Not good. Unaware of the procedure for getting people unstuck, I offer the best advice I can: ?Try going backwards?? He agreed with my suggested strategy, and struggled for few minutes before managing to get unstuck through a combination of pure effort and appropriate language. Phew.
I headed down the chain, with Ruairidh following not long after, with a very exciting headfirst approach for added near-death excitement.
?That was the Blue Pencil!?
Radost is excited at having identified the passage by the chain at the exit. He remembers it being noted in the guide book. I?m somewhat relieved. Questionable navigation is better that no navigation, I suppose.
?So where are we now??
?The main streamway.?
?How do we get out??
?Well, we can go through sump 3, a 12-meter free dive. Or we can head back through the Blue Pencil.?
?For fucks sake.?
- Jon Toft
Posted by Radost Waszkiewicz on behalf of Jon Toft
The team: Ruairidh (1 year experience), Radost (1 year experience), Tom (novice), Jon (me, novice).
?We?re not completely lost. Not yet.?
Hearing these words from Radost, who?s leading the way, does little to reassure me. We?ve just spent the last hour wandering around a cave system in the search of something?the exit, I presume. I really don?t know. At this point I?m just following along. I?m led to believe we?re looking for a squeezy tunnel of sorts. We?ve been trying all the ones we?ve seen with no luck.
?I really don?t want to be rescued.?
Yet again, Radost?s words aren?t doing wonders in reassuring me. To be fair, they are spoken with the calmness that I?ve understood comes with years of near death experiences. Before I know it, he?s headed headfirst down a tiny crack. Tom follows right behind. Against my better judgment, I go next.
I don?t have anything against enclosed spaces. However, squeezing headfirst down a descending shaft is a different ballgame. With the walls scraping against both my chest and back, I employed my newly attained squeeze machine skills.
Breathe in, breathe out, push. Breathe in, breathe out, push.
I mutter to myself about how stupid this all is. I consider how hard the rescue operation is going to be when we have to get out of here. Will they have to pull us out backwards? I?d read about a similar case in the US where a guy went headfirst down a squeeze, got stuck, and died. This seemed eerily similar.
?Is this the right way?? I yell down the passage, while wedged between the walls. I?d been falling back in case we had to turn around, while Radost and Tom had continued ahead with all the determination of a fly trying to land on a light bulb. From the distance I heard Tom relaying Radost?s answer:
?I don?t know!?
Reassuring, once again. I follow up with ?Do we keep going??
?Keep going!?
Breathe in, breathe out, push. Breathe in, breathe out, push.
Suddenly, pushing along becomes much easier. The walls widen out a bit and I find myself able to move more freely. I?m able to start crawling along at a much better pace. Before I know it, I?m leaning headfirst over a four-meter drop.
?Jesus, guys,? I mutter to myself, ?thanks for giving me a heads-up.? I awkwardly turn around and carefully free climb down the drop, while giving Ruairidh a little warning.
The next section is much the same as before, with a very awkward 90-degree bend that required some acrobatics to avoid breaking my knees. At this point, Radost and Tom had found an exit to the thing, and had climbed out. They shout up:
?You need to go feet first in the last section.?
This would be helpful if I wasn?t currently nearing the exit, headfirst. I spend some time trying to flip around by placing my legs in a shaft running along the base of the squeeze, but quickly figure out that it?s useless. At this point I don?t even care. I squeeze out towards the exit and before I know it I?m staring down at Tom and Radost standing a good 3 meters below.
Perhaps it?s because I?m a novice, but I?m still not entirely sold on headfirst down climbing, so I perilously do a barrel roll supported by the chain that is for some reason mounted below the exit. As grab the chain and prepare the descent, I hear from behind:
?Jon, I think I?m stuck.?
I turn around to see Ruairidh jammed sideways into a crack, his helmet accidentally dropped on the ground and having rolled a good meter-and-a-half in front of him. He?s breathing heavily and looks a bit like he?s about to die. Not good. Unaware of the procedure for getting people unstuck, I offer the best advice I can: ?Try going backwards?? He agreed with my suggested strategy, and struggled for few minutes before managing to get unstuck through a combination of pure effort and appropriate language. Phew.
I headed down the chain, with Ruairidh following not long after, with a very exciting headfirst approach for added near-death excitement.
?That was the Blue Pencil!?
Radost is excited at having identified the passage by the chain at the exit. He remembers it being noted in the guide book. I?m somewhat relieved. Questionable navigation is better that no navigation, I suppose.
?So where are we now??
?The main streamway.?
?How do we get out??
?Well, we can go through sump 3, a 12-meter free dive. Or we can head back through the Blue Pencil.?
?For fucks sake.?
- Jon Toft
