caving_fox
Active member
Weekend 7-9th Oct. RDCC staying at the Wessex.
Friday we did a 1hr recce to the sump and back, low water high CO2. Saturday through to the Black Hole series. Fun. I like the chamber at the bottom too. Good luck on the dig it seems to be progressing well.
Sunday, and after a slow breakfast (thanks again Christian!) a choice of destinations awaited us. A passing glimmer of sunshine saw most head for the delights of Wooky's icecream, golf and tourguides to the new bit. Matt had other ideas for me. Just in case, he'd brought down a spare 3L bottle, mask, harness etc. He had a 5mm wetsuit, I appeared to have packed my neofleece and hood. "Assisted free diving" we would go. A degree of faff (and improvisation required for Matt's own gear) saw me with a 3L bottle jammed under my arm, regulator wrapped around my neck, and a bag at my side. I almost looked like I knew what I was doing. We ambled down to sump 1, clanking the bottle all the way. They don't bend even as little as a tacklesack does, and on harness you can't shift it around to the most favourable line of attack, or throw it at pitches. A little overnight rain had just cleared the streamway a bit and brought a fresher (although still not perfect) air. "Face in the water and just breathe" Hiss... Woooshgurgle. Grin. This is fun. Neoprene makes Sump 1 almost pleasant. Still too hot even from the slow walk in, lying in the puddle is good. Start right at the back of the puddle and slowly pull your way through. Hiss... Woooshgurgle. Easy. Even if the gravel has moved (and a harness et al) meaning it's a bit of a scrappy wiggle. I come back. I'm OK with this, happy even. We go through, and on down to Sump 2.
We'd been here yesterday, the airgap technically goes nearly to the end. It's 8m long and about 1m deep - a significantly bigger obstacle than 1. I've now got an extra 5kg of weight on - it's notable on every step. Matt briefs me carefully. The roof dips at the end, there's plenty of water space, don't get stuck in the slot on the right. Hold the Line. Breathe, calmly. Go. Hiss... Woooshgurgle. Almost immediately my mask fills with water. Urgh. Calm. I back out, and tip it out to Matt's amusement. Reseat the mask, fiddle with the hood. Try again. Don't worry if it happens halfway, just carry on. Hiss... Woooshgurgle. And drift. This really is a great feeling, no yanking on the rope desperate to get through instead it's almost warm, just floating and pull. Hiss... Woooshgurgle admire the view of gravel and silt. Almost a little bit of deep dark blue water. There's the roof, it really does dip down, scrape, and up. Air. Tug the rope back to signal Matt and watch the bubbles and lights come through. FistBump! Big Grin. we're through into St John's Airbell. Duck under an unobvious arch and the way on is the Great Bell and Sump 3
Sump 3 (13m long and -2.5m deep) is on the limits of free-divable. I'd easily do it in a pool, have done so lots of times without thinking about it. I'm very very glad of the bottle to do it with now. Another quick check, Hold the Line, watch the roof, and Hiss... Woooshgurgle. DOWN. The initial duck under is still silty, but it clears a bit, dark blue water, roof descending, silt and gravel on the floor ahead. Down Hiss... Woooshgurgle I find it easiest on my side somewhat. Hiss... Woooshgurgle Down. Pressure in the ears, cold. Hiss... Woooshgurgle Will this never end?! Pull and the roof changes angle, the shimmery surface is there. Hiss... Woooshgurgle . There. Out. Cold but OK. Very Happy. It's a wonderful feeling to challenge something like this and emerge unscathed, ready to explore.
Swildon's IV is known to me, I've been down Blue Pencil a couple of times, although the last was some years ago. Time and air levels are against doing too much more. I've breathed about 3x the volume as Matt! We follow the water downstream, the cold beginning to effect my energy a bit. Past the chain climb up into the hole of BP. It's our worst case emergency escape route, glad I don't have to try today. Annoying flakes and boulders block the stream, climb up, and down. Sump 4 is uninviting, as have been all the others, but the recent rain has washed most of the normal life from Priddy Green Sink out of view, slightly scummy but not too bad.. It's shorter, and the far side is somewhere I'd never imagined I'd be able to get, in my many years of caving in Swildon's hole. I think my first trip here was about '93. We, a group of young venture scouts, made it to the top of the 20' and returned late at night full of joy and wonder. Then I'd never imagined caving as a hobby, . And now twenty something years later I'm a few breaths away from going another step deeper, the first time I've ever been in a passage that has no air connections to the surface. Hiss... Woooshgurgle. Pull. and out. It's a flat muddy tube, grotty even, disappointing in some respects, another personal milestone, and thrilling in so many others. I'm very cold, exploration fever has waned, time is against us. From here it's possible to reach Sump9. On another day I could do this from Blue Pencil without air, having been through, 4 is a much easier free dive, only a couple of metres long, not too tight.
But for now, home beckons. Matt leads back, upstream, through the sumps, wait, check, go Hiss... Woooshgurgle, past the Landing and the road sign here's the familiar back of 1. One last time Hiss... Woooshgurgle. I'm shivering now. Each climb and step has gone from being Friday's balance and push off, to a laboured struggle: Place a foot, find a hold, heave. rest, recover, move on. Inclined Rift isn't too fiercesome. The bottle's in the way of course, but there's plenty of holds to jam across and rest. At the ladder we stop to rest, again. There's no lifeline in situ. Argh! On Friday I'd swarmed up without thought. Today the prospect is intimidating. Matt dekits and makes the climb. He digs our rope out of our bag (No thanks strangers for not replacing it when you de-rigged yours
glad you left the Wessex's ladder) and passes the rope down to haul bags and after another pause to regather my strength, belays me to gain the top. Gallantly he takes the bag too, as although I'm warming up a bit, being that cold has really sapped all my strength.The short dry way is mostly fine with only one instance of the bottle being totally in the way. Daylight. We discuss details and progressions, the advantages of 5mm neoprene, and other kit, on the amble back to the Wessex, tea, being warm, and the long drive home again.
Would I do it again - Hell yes. It's a great feeling, Very unlike anything else I've experienced in a cave. But full thick neoprene is the way to go, a neofleece doesn't cut it for more than a couple of meters. I also need to work on my kit, as my battery case ended up half full of water, but it appears to still work ok. I was very aware how much I still need to learn, by analogy it was my first ladder trip, opening up many new possibiliteis, but with all the technical skills of SRT beckonning in front. And of course the preface of Duncan Price's Underwater Potholer remains in the forefront of my mind: "Cave diving is dangerous, do NOT do it - remember I told you so"
No pictures.
Huge thanks to Matt for one of the most intense caving episodes of my life. Plus everyone else for food and laughs, the Wessex for the ever comfortable hut, YSS and KUCC for company.
Friday we did a 1hr recce to the sump and back, low water high CO2. Saturday through to the Black Hole series. Fun. I like the chamber at the bottom too. Good luck on the dig it seems to be progressing well.
Sunday, and after a slow breakfast (thanks again Christian!) a choice of destinations awaited us. A passing glimmer of sunshine saw most head for the delights of Wooky's icecream, golf and tourguides to the new bit. Matt had other ideas for me. Just in case, he'd brought down a spare 3L bottle, mask, harness etc. He had a 5mm wetsuit, I appeared to have packed my neofleece and hood. "Assisted free diving" we would go. A degree of faff (and improvisation required for Matt's own gear) saw me with a 3L bottle jammed under my arm, regulator wrapped around my neck, and a bag at my side. I almost looked like I knew what I was doing. We ambled down to sump 1, clanking the bottle all the way. They don't bend even as little as a tacklesack does, and on harness you can't shift it around to the most favourable line of attack, or throw it at pitches. A little overnight rain had just cleared the streamway a bit and brought a fresher (although still not perfect) air. "Face in the water and just breathe" Hiss... Woooshgurgle. Grin. This is fun. Neoprene makes Sump 1 almost pleasant. Still too hot even from the slow walk in, lying in the puddle is good. Start right at the back of the puddle and slowly pull your way through. Hiss... Woooshgurgle. Easy. Even if the gravel has moved (and a harness et al) meaning it's a bit of a scrappy wiggle. I come back. I'm OK with this, happy even. We go through, and on down to Sump 2.
We'd been here yesterday, the airgap technically goes nearly to the end. It's 8m long and about 1m deep - a significantly bigger obstacle than 1. I've now got an extra 5kg of weight on - it's notable on every step. Matt briefs me carefully. The roof dips at the end, there's plenty of water space, don't get stuck in the slot on the right. Hold the Line. Breathe, calmly. Go. Hiss... Woooshgurgle. Almost immediately my mask fills with water. Urgh. Calm. I back out, and tip it out to Matt's amusement. Reseat the mask, fiddle with the hood. Try again. Don't worry if it happens halfway, just carry on. Hiss... Woooshgurgle. And drift. This really is a great feeling, no yanking on the rope desperate to get through instead it's almost warm, just floating and pull. Hiss... Woooshgurgle admire the view of gravel and silt. Almost a little bit of deep dark blue water. There's the roof, it really does dip down, scrape, and up. Air. Tug the rope back to signal Matt and watch the bubbles and lights come through. FistBump! Big Grin. we're through into St John's Airbell. Duck under an unobvious arch and the way on is the Great Bell and Sump 3
Sump 3 (13m long and -2.5m deep) is on the limits of free-divable. I'd easily do it in a pool, have done so lots of times without thinking about it. I'm very very glad of the bottle to do it with now. Another quick check, Hold the Line, watch the roof, and Hiss... Woooshgurgle. DOWN. The initial duck under is still silty, but it clears a bit, dark blue water, roof descending, silt and gravel on the floor ahead. Down Hiss... Woooshgurgle I find it easiest on my side somewhat. Hiss... Woooshgurgle Down. Pressure in the ears, cold. Hiss... Woooshgurgle Will this never end?! Pull and the roof changes angle, the shimmery surface is there. Hiss... Woooshgurgle . There. Out. Cold but OK. Very Happy. It's a wonderful feeling to challenge something like this and emerge unscathed, ready to explore.
Swildon's IV is known to me, I've been down Blue Pencil a couple of times, although the last was some years ago. Time and air levels are against doing too much more. I've breathed about 3x the volume as Matt! We follow the water downstream, the cold beginning to effect my energy a bit. Past the chain climb up into the hole of BP. It's our worst case emergency escape route, glad I don't have to try today. Annoying flakes and boulders block the stream, climb up, and down. Sump 4 is uninviting, as have been all the others, but the recent rain has washed most of the normal life from Priddy Green Sink out of view, slightly scummy but not too bad.. It's shorter, and the far side is somewhere I'd never imagined I'd be able to get, in my many years of caving in Swildon's hole. I think my first trip here was about '93. We, a group of young venture scouts, made it to the top of the 20' and returned late at night full of joy and wonder. Then I'd never imagined caving as a hobby, . And now twenty something years later I'm a few breaths away from going another step deeper, the first time I've ever been in a passage that has no air connections to the surface. Hiss... Woooshgurgle. Pull. and out. It's a flat muddy tube, grotty even, disappointing in some respects, another personal milestone, and thrilling in so many others. I'm very cold, exploration fever has waned, time is against us. From here it's possible to reach Sump9. On another day I could do this from Blue Pencil without air, having been through, 4 is a much easier free dive, only a couple of metres long, not too tight.
But for now, home beckons. Matt leads back, upstream, through the sumps, wait, check, go Hiss... Woooshgurgle, past the Landing and the road sign here's the familiar back of 1. One last time Hiss... Woooshgurgle. I'm shivering now. Each climb and step has gone from being Friday's balance and push off, to a laboured struggle: Place a foot, find a hold, heave. rest, recover, move on. Inclined Rift isn't too fiercesome. The bottle's in the way of course, but there's plenty of holds to jam across and rest. At the ladder we stop to rest, again. There's no lifeline in situ. Argh! On Friday I'd swarmed up without thought. Today the prospect is intimidating. Matt dekits and makes the climb. He digs our rope out of our bag (No thanks strangers for not replacing it when you de-rigged yours
glad you left the Wessex's ladder) and passes the rope down to haul bags and after another pause to regather my strength, belays me to gain the top. Gallantly he takes the bag too, as although I'm warming up a bit, being that cold has really sapped all my strength.The short dry way is mostly fine with only one instance of the bottle being totally in the way. Daylight. We discuss details and progressions, the advantages of 5mm neoprene, and other kit, on the amble back to the Wessex, tea, being warm, and the long drive home again.Would I do it again - Hell yes. It's a great feeling, Very unlike anything else I've experienced in a cave. But full thick neoprene is the way to go, a neofleece doesn't cut it for more than a couple of meters. I also need to work on my kit, as my battery case ended up half full of water, but it appears to still work ok. I was very aware how much I still need to learn, by analogy it was my first ladder trip, opening up many new possibiliteis, but with all the technical skills of SRT beckonning in front. And of course the preface of Duncan Price's Underwater Potholer remains in the forefront of my mind: "Cave diving is dangerous, do NOT do it - remember I told you so"
No pictures.
Huge thanks to Matt for one of the most intense caving episodes of my life. Plus everyone else for food and laughs, the Wessex for the ever comfortable hut, YSS and KUCC for company.
