Peak diving milestones, 35 years, ink sump and far sump
- Thread starter alastairgott
- Start date
Pitlamp
Well-known member
Um - well, at least I managed to get something uploaded. If you click on the above small image it does come up bigger. Better than nowt I guess.
Anyway - some detail. This is the restriction in Far Sump first passed by Tim Nixon and Jerry Murland 35+ years ago, looking upstream. The floor is mobile gravel and the slope continues steeply up leftwards for several metres out of shot. (Ignore the obvious lines visible in this picture - these are part of a much more recent bypass route.)
As you can see there are no line belays (where it matters) to hold the line in the right place. Immediately on passing this restriction the way on is steeply down to the right (through another low slot). So the line buries itself in the gravel on the corner (to lower right in this image).
This picture was taken on a day when the restriction was too small to get through - the hole is body sized so there's not enough room if you're wearing tanks. So if you start digging to make it bigger, more and more gravel slumps in from the left. It's a potentially nasty place. When Tim and Jerry pushed this it was extremely rare to tackle this sort of obstacle underwater. They were really going into new (psychological) territory. Of course, once they showed it was possible it then became easy for the rest of us who followed. This was the real "breakthrough" at Far Sump.
Anyway - some detail. This is the restriction in Far Sump first passed by Tim Nixon and Jerry Murland 35+ years ago, looking upstream. The floor is mobile gravel and the slope continues steeply up leftwards for several metres out of shot. (Ignore the obvious lines visible in this picture - these are part of a much more recent bypass route.)
As you can see there are no line belays (where it matters) to hold the line in the right place. Immediately on passing this restriction the way on is steeply down to the right (through another low slot). So the line buries itself in the gravel on the corner (to lower right in this image).
This picture was taken on a day when the restriction was too small to get through - the hole is body sized so there's not enough room if you're wearing tanks. So if you start digging to make it bigger, more and more gravel slumps in from the left. It's a potentially nasty place. When Tim and Jerry pushed this it was extremely rare to tackle this sort of obstacle underwater. They were really going into new (psychological) territory. Of course, once they showed it was possible it then became easy for the rest of us who followed. This was the real "breakthrough" at Far Sump.
Pitlamp
Well-known member
ah147 said:
Not really - but there is a route around it nowadays away to the left which is fine.
It's described in detail in CDG Newsletter 138 page 12 and there's a survey showing both lines on page 14. If you're going in Far Sump I'd recommend reading this beforehand to make life slightly easier.
You'd have no problems in there ah147 - in 1980 though it was quite a bold thing to push through.
Thanks for your encouragement bograt - the problem I encountered was I was trying to resize in kB but those instructions led to me trying to work with pixies or summat. So I had to wing it. (Life was so much easier when all we had to worry about was timing when to pour various liquids in and out of a plastic cylinder . . . )
Yes jolly times indeed and a suitable excuse for a bit of a social get together - In the peak Hotel in Castleton maybe?
Where are the pictures? and before we all get consumed in too much nostalga (Not that I want to diminish what a great achievement
passing both of these sumps were in any way). Just take solice from the fact that you are only as good as your next dive.... Mind you that's just from the perspective of someone who may be deemed to be no long eligible as a 'diving' member of the CDG.
Where are the pictures? and before we all get consumed in too much nostalga (Not that I want to diminish what a great achievement
passing both of these sumps were in any way). Just take solice from the fact that you are only as good as your next dive.... Mind you that's just from the perspective of someone who may be deemed to be no long eligible as a 'diving' member of the CDG. Ahh Nostalgia, you can't beat it!
Indeed, without JM there probably would not have been an active Derbyshire Section ready to take up the mantle when Peak opened up for divers.
I remember Oliver Lloyds editorial comment was along the lines of "Peak Cavern is like a bottle of Champagne, the cork has been removed and the results are sparkling"
There was a great little community that developed around the Chapel too as members of CDG merged with TSG it was always a fun time both for the diving and the socialising.
Over the Hill
New member
Anyone agree Nostalgia is no longer what it used to be.
Pitlamp
Well-known member
It's certainly not the easiest part of the Peak District phreas.
Some folk have been through and wondered what the problem was; they're the lucky ones who hit it on the right day when a previous flood had scoured it out. I've been there when it's been impossible to get through as there is too much gravel. On one visit I had to abandon a long dive and use the air digging, simply to render it passable for the next attempt. The main problem is there's a slope of gravel and silt steeply uphill from this area and if that slumped when you were in there - actually I prefer not to think about that!
Some folk have been through and wondered what the problem was; they're the lucky ones who hit it on the right day when a previous flood had scoured it out. I've been there when it's been impossible to get through as there is too much gravel. On one visit I had to abandon a long dive and use the air digging, simply to render it passable for the next attempt. The main problem is there's a slope of gravel and silt steeply uphill from this area and if that slumped when you were in there - actually I prefer not to think about that!
