Swildons making people ill?

[Les W]

We had a dingy that had a split in it, we watched it visibly widening as we rowed back after the trip, We just made it to shallow water as it split all the way round.
As I recal on the same trip we lost someone from our party and when we went back to find him, discovered that he had fallen off the traverse above the lake and luckily landed in the lake. He had then swam out of the cave, cold but unhurt!

 

[Lincolnshire poacher]

In response to Darkplaces initial post, could it be bad air??. Remember that time in Box when you were down by the submarine door and we left in a hurry coz we both felt ill.

 

[darkplaces]

I was panting (but not knakered) and becoming convinced it was lack of O2, but we were on an active streamway which pulls the air in and my younger/fitter friend didnt have the same problem. I must be getting old or something would higher methane (cow fart) trigger breathing or is it just Co2 which triggers breathing? Once outside I recovered quickly for the walk back were joker001 and wormster were waiting.

 

[graham]

Sounds like bad air. Quite common in Swildons, including in the streamway.

 

[Les W]

Air was fine on Saturday lunch time on the MNRC centenary trip.

Perhaps it was all those candles

 

[cap n chris]

and carbide fumes.... and magnesium fumes... and mothballs... and the stench of felt hats and tweed jackets :wink:

 

[danthecavingman]

Definitely experienced bad air down Swillys before. Went down many years ago with Emma Porter after the BCRA conference in Bristol way back in 1993 - god that makes me feel old! We went down just after midnight after an extended drought, sump one had been open for a lot of the summer and we were the first in a while to see it properly sumped again. There had been a lot of rain. The quote from my log book reads:

"Descended the Twenty and Emma noticed a smell of diesel (We had heard reports of Diesel and Bad Air). By the double pots the smell was desperate but we pressed on to sump one. At sump one we turned back. I had a headache, Emma felt sick and both of us were hyperventilating with racing pulses. By the double pots I had started to recover but Emma was very unhappy. At the twenty I went up and belayed Emma who had a real struggle at the top. I had to help Emma up the water rift"

I remember at the time being quite frightened as we were both really struggling against the effects when we realised too late what was going on.

Sounds like bad air to me DP.

Dan.

 

[emgee]

It wouldn't be surprising to think you've had (and are getting over) the bovine form of lep; your experience is similar to other cavers. As I understand things, you should now be immune to bov. lep.. You may have caught it anywhere and so Swildon's should not necessarily be blamed (it might be a good plan not to point the finger just in case it results in limited access BTW).

:shock: YOU SHOULDN'T DRINK THE WATER AT ALL ANYWAY! - do you know what cavers do to it?....

I understood on Mendip they manufactured it from something called Butcombe. Or was it the otherway round

 

[emgee]

Caving trip? main shaft? Hope you've got used to the SRT!

It's a winch meet, TT.

I might even see you up there, DP! :wink:

Is it that time already? Where did that year go? Never been down GG on a Bradford meet (purely by coincidence) is their set up basically the same as the Craven one?

 

[cap n chris]

Not done a Craven descent/ascent. Bradford rig is a bit like a reflective glass shower cubicle with standing room only for four people - it's similar to one of those posh lifts at office blocks which go up the outside of the building. There's no music playing inside though. :wink:

Off thread!

 

[darkplaces]

It wouldn't be surprising to think you've had (and are getting over) the bovine form of lep; your experience is similar to other cavers. As I understand things, you should now be immune to bov. lep.. You may have caught it anywhere and so Swildon's should not necessarily be blamed (it might be a good plan not to point the finger just in case it results in limited access BTW).

:shock: YOU SHOULDN'T DRINK THE WATER AT ALL ANYWAY! - do you know what cavers do to it?....

I understood on Mendip they manufactured it from something called Butcombe. Or was it the otherway round

:shock: I had a pint of Butcombe after the trip!

 

[cap n chris]

Were you sick?

 

[darkplaces]

no..

 

[Limestone_Cowboy]

As regards to caves making you ill, I've never experienced any signififcant illness from a trip but did get a nasty infection in a small cut on my hand after a trip down county pot in yorkshire. Though this may also have been caused by staying at bull pot farm
Last time I was in Swildons there were hundreds of people and certain bits of the cave really stank of piss.

 

[Dave H]

More likely to be the Gournier which is next to the Choranche (tourist cave, no lake) The lake is immediatly inside the entrance

Across the valley from it. When I was there in '92 (Berger trip) some guys were doing a multi-pitch (30m at a time) abseil down the waterfall to the left of the entrance.

The water in the lake is very clear and extremely cold... as my friend that capsized the dinghy found out...

After a hot and sweaty walk there, I decided to strip off and dive in. I always check the termperature of water now

 

[whitelackington]

As we are now in high summer and it has been hot for a few weeks, has anyone come across bad air in Swildons yet this season :yoji:

 

[Dave H]

The flat-out exit crawl at the bottom of Heron Pot, Kingsdale, had a rather pungent froth on it  :yucky:
Now, I wonder what low-life did that? I bet it wasn't a caver, but I suppose it could have possibly been a sheep  :-\
Luckily we sent the guy with the thickest, longest beard through first and he collected most of the froth in it 

 

[Roger W]

The flat-out exit crawl at the bottom of Heron Pot, Kingsdale, had a rather pungent froth on it  :yucky:
Now, I wonder what low-life did that? I bet it wasn't a caver, but I suppose it could have possibly been a sheep  :-\
Luckily we sent the guy with the thickest, longest beard through first and he collected most of the froth in it 

Modified worst-case scenario...

There you are, stuck in a tight dry crawl.

The guy in front of you is stuck...

The guy behind you can't find reverse gear...

You are absolutely bursting for a pee....

Cap'n Chris says you shouldn't do it in dry passageways.

But your bladder isn't going to take no for an answer for much longer...

 

[graham]

The flat-out exit crawl at the bottom of Heron Pot, Kingsdale, had a rather pungent froth on it  :yucky:
Now, I wonder what low-life did that? I bet it wasn't a caver, but I suppose it could have possibly been a sheep  :-\
Luckily we sent the guy with the thickest, longest beard through first and he collected most of the froth in it 

Modified worst-case scenario...

There you are, stuck in a tight dry crawl.

The guy in front of you is stuck...

The guy behind you can't find reverse gear...

You are absolutely bursting for a pee....

Cap'n Chris says you shouldn't do it in dry passageways.

But your bladder isn't going to take no for an answer for much longer...

Grow a beard - quick! :tease:

 

[Dave H]

Grow a beard - quick! :tease:

Actually Mr. Kendall's beard is fairly similar to the Darwin one you have as an avitar at the moment