Rowten Sumps

[ecowaller]

Hi, Has anyone got any info on the Rowten/kingsdale free divable sumps? They are something I have always wanted to do but never got round to it. I am up there over Christmas and if water is ok will have a look at them..info please

 

[Bob G]

They are easy enough if the line is in place.  They are less intimidating going upstream; first bit is usually only just underwater and short - about a body-length. The middle bit is around 3m, the upstream section about 7m, slightly descending roof for most of the way, then it slopes upward a little more steeply. I would recommend a look from KMC rather than a committing pull-through from Rowten for your first attempt. As always, do NOT let go of the rope.

 

[danthecavingman]

Mask and hood essential. If you're not taking a small bottle with you for the last sump, get some weights - it's easier to gain depth that way.

Dan.

 

[MSD]

Agreed. I tried to do them in a thick wetsuit with no weights and chickened out of the long one after a bit of a struggle.

Mark

 

[twllddu]

Haven't been through them for a few years but I'd be careful in the longest sump for surface debris e.g. barbed wire, sheep etc !

 

[AndyF]

Just make sure it IS the Rowten sump you are diving too...easy to get mixed up with the another one (can't remember which, but its Looooooong, and thus likely to last for eternity)

 

[SamT]

Many mentions of these in the past - search for Rowten.

However - this one stands out..

http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php/topic,560.0.html

 

[Pitlamp]

Sam - I agtree with everything that everyone has said above.  I'd just add that some free divers find they move more efficiently pulling along free diving lines head first face up (looking at the ceiling).  The roof of these three sumps is generally flat so this works well. It's less good though if you anticipate obstacles such as the rolls of fencing wire which sometimes appear in those sumps.

Sorry to keep banging on about caving literature but I think there is an excellent description of these sumps in one of the ULSA Journals from 20 years or so ago (or maybe more) - as I remember there's a picture of someone free diving the sumps on the journal cover as well.  You may well have this in your excellent Eldon library.  Also for anyone interested in any sumps in the Dales, the CDG Northern Sump Index 1995 has a lot of useful information.

But if you get the chance, you could also go and have a chat with Mike "Fish" Jeanmaire, who lives very close to you and was instrumental in creating these free dives (I think with Plymouth Caving Group).

 

[Les W]

instrumental in creating these free dives.

What! You mean he eroded them himself with his own bare hands. 

 

[ecowaller]

Thanks to you all, great beta...I shall report back after Christmas

 

[langcliffe]

But if you get the chance, you could also go and have a chat with Mike "Fish" Jeanmaire, who lives very close to you and was instrumental in creating these free dives (I think with Plymouth Caving Group).

Fish + friend from PCC, Mike Wooding and John Gardner - 5th June 1970.

 

[SimonC]

On several free dives I have zipped a nice flat rock inside my wetsuit which helps me sink!

Simon.

 

[Pitlamp]

Sam - sorry but it seems I've slightly misled you.  I looked up that ULSA reference this afternoon.  It's an article called "Free Diving" by Bob Greenwood in ULSA Review 13 (November 1974) pages 18-20.  I's only a general article about free diving - not specifically about the Rowten sumps.  The front cover of the journal has three monochrome images of a free diver at Rowten sumps - but these photographs say more about 70s caving attire than about the sumps themselves.  It's an interesting article but I wouldn't go out of your way to root it out as it wouldn't tell you a great deal about Rowten.

I've not been there for a while but the following may help.  All the sumps are bedding sumps, so nice and wide - but this means you can get lost if you somehow lose the line.  As I remember the first sump going upstream may only be a metre or so long, with a thin airspace so you can talk to people at base.  It surfaces in a nice airbell with thigh deep water covering all the floor.  The second sump is only just sumped, is 3 or 4 metres long and has a nice flat roof; as free dives go it's one of the easiest, surfacing suddenly in another nice large airbell with deep water (where you can stand up half submerged comfortably).  The 3rd sump is much longer (at least 8 metres).  It starts off shallow and deepens almost imperceptibly so that there is a steep ascent of a metre or so at the upstream end. The roof is flat but just before the ascent you'll encounter a lower area - this is normal (it doesn't mean its shingled up).  It is here where you might find a bit of old fencing or suchlike lurking - so take care!

Bon plongee, as our French colleagues say.

 

[Pitlamp]

I was reliably informed yesterday (by one of the people who originally set up these Rowten free dives) that the article describing them is actually in a LUSS Journal (i.e. Lancaster University Speleological Society).  There weren't many LUSS Journals but they are all excellent and well worth searching out.

 

[langcliffe]

I was reliably informed yesterday (by one of the people who originally set up these Rowten free dives) that the article describing them is actually in a LUSS Journal (i.e. Lancaster University Speleological Society).  There weren't many LUSS Journals but they are all excellent and well worth searching out.

Gardner J.W. - Lancaster University Speleological Journal, Vol. 1 No. 2, p.7, Spring 1971