Dead Man's Handshake

[Caver Keith]

This should be worth listening to this on Sunday at 7.15pm on BBC Radio 3. It will be available on BBC Sounds any time after that. Link for that is here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002dcdg

 

[langcliffe]

I've been responding to a number of requests from Leo, and he came across as a very genuine guy. When he emailed me to let me know the date of broadcast, he said "it was really inspiring to be able to meet some of my caving heroes, and a real pleasure to make the programme", which I thought was nice.

 

[Duncan Price]

And very good it was too...

 

[Badlad]

It's a great story well told.

 

[Lankyman]

Can I suggest that the name of this feature be changed to something more positive? It's hardly likely to encourage budding cave divers into the sport. What about 'Anglo-German Life Affirmative Bedding Plane'? I'd be far less doom-laden swimming towards that.

 

[Ian Ball]

Thank you for the link.

 

[Ian Ball]

And very good it was too...

Agreed

 

[Lankyman]

Finally got round to listening to this - excellent, gripping stuff and a reminder why I was perfectly happy to be a non-diver. Listening to the part where Geoff is describing watching Jochen's fins as they are exiting surprised me. I had always assumed Geoff would have come out ahead given his fears about not knowing Jochen and if he might have tried to take his air in a last resort situation.

 

[Maisie Syntax]

DMH is all well and good, but why hasn't the tale of the King Pot Inlet had similar coverage over the years?

 

[mikem]

I think your naming of it probably explains why...

 

[Lankyman]

DMH is all well and good, but why hasn't the tale of the King Pot Inlet had similar coverage over the years?

Surely it's largely a PR thing? You need an incident there which could lead to a dramatic name (like the Dead Man's Handshake). What if, say, on one of the dives someone had bumped into someone else in poor visibility? You could call it the Fraught Flipper Fumble. Guaranteed to get a TV documentary and Netflix film (starring Viggo Mortenson).

 

[mikem]

Nah, it needs to include imminent danger

 

[Cantclimbtom]

Can I suggest that the name of this feature be changed to something more positive? It's hardly likely to encourage budding cave divers into the sport. What about 'Anglo-German Life Affirmative Bedding Plane'? I'd be far less doom-laden swimming towards that.

Each to their own, whilst I'm not an experienced or skilled diver and utterly incomparable to cave divers I had a vague feeling for years I wanted to dive but half hearted, never enough to actually get done, eternally at the bottom of my things-to-do list.

Then I was chatting to someone who quit diving (recreational) after an unusually unpleasant narc fear episode, he blamed it on having just read Martin Farr's "The Darkness Beckons" and being very freaked out by reading it, he said his mind latched onto that for some reason when he got narc'd.

Anyway, for right or wrong, he blamed reading the book... I wondered what on earth the book could be? So I read it and it made a big impression on me too, except for me it was: <bleep> me! that diving thing sounds <bleep>ing interesting! So I signed up right away to do my Pay And Die International (PADI) open water.

Maybe some people, if sufficiently perversely stupid, might be encouraged... just saying...

 

[Pitlamp]

DMH is all well and good, but why hasn't the tale of the King Pot Inlet had similar coverage over the years?

Because, although the connection between the East Kingsdale Branch (to use its proper name) with King Pot was a major achievement by a team of five northern cave divers, it wasn't as ground breaking as the earlier connection between Keld Head and the KMC. The latter (following on from Mike Wooding's 1970 dives in Keld Head) broke the psychological barrier of long distance / duration underwater sojourns and, as such, was arguably the biggest quantum leap ever in British cave diving. It was the turning point from an era when all focus was on getting through underwater sections as quickly as possible in hope of finding above water passages to the modern way of thinking where long underwater journeys are regarded as completely acceptable for their own sake.

Another reason for the DMHS tale becoming so prominent may have been that sponsorship was being sought at the time and such a dramatic story could only have helped. In fact the DMHS area is actually quite easy compared with some of the difficult underwater terrain now being tackled by British cave divers. But that was because Geoff went back soon after the incident and sorted it with the addition of a single 2 kg lead block belay, the same one which is still there today in fact.

I was very fortunate to be just starting out as a cave diver when it was all happening in the late 70s and it really was an incredible period. The northern caving community was amazed by how quickly advances were being made. The KH to KMC connection and all the stories that went with it was something very special; I found that period truly inspirational and it was largely responsible for my remaining an active cave diver to this day. (I did the first double through dive from KH to KMC and back and I was very much aware I was standing on the shoulders of giants.)

 

[Maisie Syntax]

Oh dear, I'd have thought that the innocent 'saintly halo' in the post would have given the game away that I am well aware of the reasons for KPI not having quite the same draw as DMH. Mind you, I know which one gets mentioned more in conversation in these parts