THE CONNECTION
Marble Arch - Prod's Pot/Cascades Connection Part III
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
THE SWANN'S WAY
Marble Arch - Prod's Pot/Cascades Connection Part II
Sunday, November 15, 2009
THE GREEN LAKE
Marble Arch -Prod's Pot/Cascades connection Part I
I went to take a leak and when I came back I heard someone talking about some mysterious green lake in Marble Arch System (4.5km ), possibly a sump, which could connect to another big , 4km long cave system, Prod’s Pot - Cascades. My eyes were getting bigger and bigger as he continued : the pool was attempted only once, by Tim Fogg, but the way on was lost in zero visibility. At that stage I already knew where I wanted to dive next. The next morning the jolly party of six proceeded to the Green Lake in Marble Arch Cave.
Monday, June 29, 2009
AGHINRAWN BLOODY SUNDAY
Artur Kozlowski and Al Kennedy
26.07.2009
Aghinrawn is a curious middle size cave east of Monastir Cliff (Florencecourt, co. Fermanagh). A small stream sumps for a short distance after 200m and then sumps again in 2m pot which has been investigated with scuba gear only recently; last April Chris Jewel and David Garman dived it to -11m with small 4l cylinders and wetsuits. The underwater passage seemed to continue but without any buoyancy device they didn’t dare to go any deeper. I concluded that having a go in a dry suit might be a better idea.
Last Sunday it was our second trip to Aghinrawn. On the first one, a week before, after free climbing down two pitches , we were stopped by an apparent collapse of the cave. I tried to dig the way through but sudden movement of some large boulders forced an immediate retreat.We concluded that the cave had collapsed since the last visit and we exited. I consulted Chris Jewell and it turned out that we took wrong way: instead of descending the pitches we were supposed to climb up above the first one and follow a steep bedding plane (low, horizontal passage) to another series of pitches.
This time we were carrying more equipment (2x7l, 1x3l, 2 sets of harnesses plus lead, a bag with fins and 80m reel) and the bedding plane route proved to be equally arduous. After that it was only worse. A tight, body size pothole in the floor led to the first pitch broken in the middle by the ledge. We lowered down all the gear to the ledge and left it for a while as we decided to scout the way on first. Every now and then I’ve heard Al murmuring f…kin’ shitholeand f..kin’ shithole it was, indeed, but I had a good day and it didn’t bother me too much. I felt this time nothing could stop me from reaching sump 2… At the bottom of the pitch the way on led through extremely tight horizontal squeeze which immediately opened up into another tight 8m high vertical drop. Tough one…Al squeezed in half way through but started hesitating as the pitch below felt very tight. I put some verbal pressure on him
and he got through. Then he returned proving it was passable either way. However, he was wearing a wetsuit and as it was proveen on many occasions he was better built to pass constrictions than I was. It seemed that in a bulky drysuit I stood no chance to pass it. But as I said before, it was my day and inch by inch I wriggled myself first through the squeeze and then down the pitch. I proceeded for some distance confirming easy continuation to Sump 1. We were still in the game.
We returned to the first pitch , Al climbing up to the ledge to lower our gear. With my thoughts already in the sump 2 I was recklessly standing at the bottom of the pitch, water dripping from above was causing background noise. I looked up and that’s when I received a powerful blow to my forehead (as it later turned out Al accidentally moved some stone on the ledge which went straight for my head). I dropped on my knees and reached for my face which felt completely numb. Still not fully understanding what had happened I remember having thought that maybe I would somehow recover so we could continue to the sump. And only then, after 2-3 seconds after the hit, with some weird, movie-like delay the blood gushed from my head. Loads of it. All I could think about was that we had to call the trip. I was out. I took off the helmet and the neoprene hood that was the only object I could use to stop the blood pouring all over the place. Al was already behind me and asked to show him my head. From couple of fucksI understood we were not good. I told him to unzip my drysuit and undersuit and cut the t-shirt I had underneath to make some more effective pressing. He eventually reaped the front of it (somehow the cutting tool I had was not particularly sharp…cave divers…
) and secured it over the wound with my neckless and snoopy loops (they are really good for EVERYTHING). We had to get out from the cave as soon as possible. All gear has been ditched not to slow us down. Half blind I free climbed the pitch and squeezed through the hole in the roof. Then Al took the lead and guided me out of the cave. Another half an hour later we were in Aghnahoo cottage waiting for Roisin to take me to Erne hospital in Enniskillen. When Al looked at my wound in the daylight I thought he was about to faint. A quick look in the mirror made me understand why. It looked like from low budget horror movie with the only difference we knew it was real.
Anyway, after the wound had been cleaned in the hospital, it turned out that there was some bits of rock embedded in my skull, and the skull itself was also probably fractured. They couldn’t proceed in Enniskillen so the next day I was taken to Altnagelvin maxillofacial clinic in Derry where they removed 1cmx1cm piece of rock from my head along with some shattered pieces of skull bone and finally patched me up. It all took less than an hour and was quite an experience: I was only under local anaesthetics and the surgeon clearly enjoyed showing me every bloody piece he pulled from my head.
Ok. And those were all good news. The bad ones are that the piece of rock made his way into my sinus and I’m out of diving for a while, until the whole thing properly heals up.
Aaaghhrrr…. blooody Aghinrawn!!!!!!!!!!!!
Al and Gaelan Eliffe removed all the gear from the cave on Monday.
Artur
26.07.2009
Aghinrawn is a curious middle size cave east of Monastir Cliff (Florencecourt, co. Fermanagh). A small stream sumps for a short distance after 200m and then sumps again in 2m pot which has been investigated with scuba gear only recently; last April Chris Jewel and David Garman dived it to -11m with small 4l cylinders and wetsuits. The underwater passage seemed to continue but without any buoyancy device they didn’t dare to go any deeper. I concluded that having a go in a dry suit might be a better idea.
Last Sunday it was our second trip to Aghinrawn. On the first one, a week before, after free climbing down two pitches , we were stopped by an apparent collapse of the cave. I tried to dig the way through but sudden movement of some large boulders forced an immediate retreat.We concluded that the cave had collapsed since the last visit and we exited. I consulted Chris Jewell and it turned out that we took wrong way: instead of descending the pitches we were supposed to climb up above the first one and follow a steep bedding plane (low, horizontal passage) to another series of pitches.
This time we were carrying more equipment (2x7l, 1x3l, 2 sets of harnesses plus lead, a bag with fins and 80m reel) and the bedding plane route proved to be equally arduous. After that it was only worse. A tight, body size pothole in the floor led to the first pitch broken in the middle by the ledge. We lowered down all the gear to the ledge and left it for a while as we decided to scout the way on first. Every now and then I’ve heard Al murmuring f…kin’ shitholeand f..kin’ shithole it was, indeed, but I had a good day and it didn’t bother me too much. I felt this time nothing could stop me from reaching sump 2… At the bottom of the pitch the way on led through extremely tight horizontal squeeze which immediately opened up into another tight 8m high vertical drop. Tough one…Al squeezed in half way through but started hesitating as the pitch below felt very tight. I put some verbal pressure on him
and he got through. Then he returned proving it was passable either way. However, he was wearing a wetsuit and as it was proveen on many occasions he was better built to pass constrictions than I was. It seemed that in a bulky drysuit I stood no chance to pass it. But as I said before, it was my day and inch by inch I wriggled myself first through the squeeze and then down the pitch. I proceeded for some distance confirming easy continuation to Sump 1. We were still in the game.We returned to the first pitch , Al climbing up to the ledge to lower our gear. With my thoughts already in the sump 2 I was recklessly standing at the bottom of the pitch, water dripping from above was causing background noise. I looked up and that’s when I received a powerful blow to my forehead (as it later turned out Al accidentally moved some stone on the ledge which went straight for my head). I dropped on my knees and reached for my face which felt completely numb. Still not fully understanding what had happened I remember having thought that maybe I would somehow recover so we could continue to the sump. And only then, after 2-3 seconds after the hit, with some weird, movie-like delay the blood gushed from my head. Loads of it. All I could think about was that we had to call the trip. I was out. I took off the helmet and the neoprene hood that was the only object I could use to stop the blood pouring all over the place. Al was already behind me and asked to show him my head. From couple of fucksI understood we were not good. I told him to unzip my drysuit and undersuit and cut the t-shirt I had underneath to make some more effective pressing. He eventually reaped the front of it (somehow the cutting tool I had was not particularly sharp…cave divers…
) and secured it over the wound with my neckless and snoopy loops (they are really good for EVERYTHING). We had to get out from the cave as soon as possible. All gear has been ditched not to slow us down. Half blind I free climbed the pitch and squeezed through the hole in the roof. Then Al took the lead and guided me out of the cave. Another half an hour later we were in Aghnahoo cottage waiting for Roisin to take me to Erne hospital in Enniskillen. When Al looked at my wound in the daylight I thought he was about to faint. A quick look in the mirror made me understand why. It looked like from low budget horror movie with the only difference we knew it was real.Anyway, after the wound had been cleaned in the hospital, it turned out that there was some bits of rock embedded in my skull, and the skull itself was also probably fractured. They couldn’t proceed in Enniskillen so the next day I was taken to Altnagelvin maxillofacial clinic in Derry where they removed 1cmx1cm piece of rock from my head along with some shattered pieces of skull bone and finally patched me up. It all took less than an hour and was quite an experience: I was only under local anaesthetics and the surgeon clearly enjoyed showing me every bloody piece he pulled from my head.
Ok. And those were all good news. The bad ones are that the piece of rock made his way into my sinus and I’m out of diving for a while, until the whole thing properly heals up.
Aaaghhrrr…. blooody Aghinrawn!!!!!!!!!!!!
Al and Gaelan Eliffe removed all the gear from the cave on Monday.
Artur
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
TOUCHING THE VOID
Artur Kozlowski and Al Kennedy
17 May 2009
Hopes for this trip were dampened by the recent wet weather, but we wanted to get back in the upper reaches of Upper Cradle Hole and work on the survey and push sump 3a further. Some modifications had been made to kit: Artur had slimmed his sidemount profile down and was diving in a semi-dry; i wore a light fleece undersuit to reduce overheating while walking and climbing in drysuit, wrapped my oversuit around my waist under my drysuit to change into while pushing dry passage, and stuffed my wellies into my drysuit pockets. Acting as a human drybag i also took a headtorch for Artur.
We kitted up in the 'Hoo and walked with Paul - who'd kindly given me a lift - to Upper Cradle sump 1. The river was rather fuller than usual, but we decided to see what conditions in Upper Cradle 2 cascades were like. The first dive was incident free (though i saw my first eel!), the sump being so large that the increased flow had little effect. At the other end we each dropped one bottle for the climb up the cascades, deciding that it would be ok to pass sump 2 on just one bottle each. With the increased flow there was no question of attempting the constricted passages of sump 3 so we didn't need to take two bottles each beyond sump 2. With care it was possible to climb the cascades, though much more difficult than before. After we ascended a couple i began to wonder if reversing them might not be much harder...hmm. After some yelled debate (because the water was so noisy) we pressed on.
Artur Kozlowski and Al Kennedy
17 May 2009
Hopes for this trip were dampened by the recent wet weather, but we wanted to get back in the upper reaches of Upper Cradle Hole and work on the survey and push sump 3a further. Some modifications had been made to kit: Artur had slimmed his sidemount profile down and was diving in a semi-dry; i wore a light fleece undersuit to reduce overheating while walking and climbing in drysuit, wrapped my oversuit around my waist under my drysuit to change into while pushing dry passage, and stuffed my wellies into my drysuit pockets. Acting as a human drybag i also took a headtorch for Artur.
We kitted up in the 'Hoo and walked with Paul - who'd kindly given me a lift - to Upper Cradle sump 1. The river was rather fuller than usual, but we decided to see what conditions in Upper Cradle 2 cascades were like. The first dive was incident free (though i saw my first eel!), the sump being so large that the increased flow had little effect. At the other end we each dropped one bottle for the climb up the cascades, deciding that it would be ok to pass sump 2 on just one bottle each. With the increased flow there was no question of attempting the constricted passages of sump 3 so we didn't need to take two bottles each beyond sump 2. With care it was possible to climb the cascades, though much more difficult than before. After we ascended a couple i began to wonder if reversing them might not be much harder...hmm. After some yelled debate (because the water was so noisy) we pressed on.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
MASTODON DEFEAT & FU INLE
May Bank Holiday
Saturday...Making the most of the day, Artur, Niall, Jan, Julie and i set off early to Mastodon with ladder and tools. First we tried the rift to the Northern Way and i was sent down to make a better effort than before. I traversed across the first false floor until it constricted then dropped down horizontally and inched forwarded. It didn't look easy: the floor disappeared, the rift narrowed and twisted. Removal of a boss of rock might help things, so the drill was lowered with a chisel fitted, but it proved impossible to put any force on the blade one-handed. Our weapon wasn't so potent as first thought... Niall had a go too, but was also defeated. By this time Artur, Jan and Julie had gotten bored and entered Mastodon to look for promising leads. One rift in boulders seemed to offer a possible connection, drafting strongly and heading in the right direction, but needed digging. Niall, Jan and Julie set off for Noone's Hole and Artur and i dragged our tools into the rift and started digging in shifts. We took a break at 1 pm and walked back to 'Hoo for some food, but Artur needed an afternoon nap so it wasn't until later in the afternoon that we resumed work. Digging fever had passed though. The rock was incredibly hard, and the drill made virtually no impression on it (we had used two batteries in 15 minutes during the morning, before deciding that hammer and chisel was more efficient). We had cleared out the rift fill as much as we could and i tried to see how far in i could squeeze, but it got too tight. Some rock would have to go. I started to chisel away again, but soon the rift started to fill with smoke - i turned to see Artur reclining comfortably and smoking a 'scientific' cigarette to observe the direction of the draft.
May Bank Holiday
Saturday...Making the most of the day, Artur, Niall, Jan, Julie and i set off early to Mastodon with ladder and tools. First we tried the rift to the Northern Way and i was sent down to make a better effort than before. I traversed across the first false floor until it constricted then dropped down horizontally and inched forwarded. It didn't look easy: the floor disappeared, the rift narrowed and twisted. Removal of a boss of rock might help things, so the drill was lowered with a chisel fitted, but it proved impossible to put any force on the blade one-handed. Our weapon wasn't so potent as first thought... Niall had a go too, but was also defeated. By this time Artur, Jan and Julie had gotten bored and entered Mastodon to look for promising leads. One rift in boulders seemed to offer a possible connection, drafting strongly and heading in the right direction, but needed digging. Niall, Jan and Julie set off for Noone's Hole and Artur and i dragged our tools into the rift and started digging in shifts. We took a break at 1 pm and walked back to 'Hoo for some food, but Artur needed an afternoon nap so it wasn't until later in the afternoon that we resumed work. Digging fever had passed though. The rock was incredibly hard, and the drill made virtually no impression on it (we had used two batteries in 15 minutes during the morning, before deciding that hammer and chisel was more efficient). We had cleared out the rift fill as much as we could and i tried to see how far in i could squeeze, but it got too tight. Some rock would have to go. I started to chisel away again, but soon the rift started to fill with smoke - i turned to see Artur reclining comfortably and smoking a 'scientific' cigarette to observe the direction of the draft.
Friday, April 17, 2009
TOWARDS MONASTIR SINK
Team: Chris Jewell, Artur Kozlowski
15.04.2009
15.04.2009
Divers: Chris Jewell and Artur Kozlowski
After having established voice and visual connection with the surface in Northern Way, Dave returned to Upper Cradle while Chris and I traversed underwater to Monastir Way, carried our gear through cascades, passed sump two and finally arrived to sump three ( first one , smaller one). 3 weeks ago I took a quick look into it laying the line to -4m along shingle and washed cobbles floor where rift closed ahead but flow was coming from low descending slit on right hand side.Tired, cold , with bulky 12s (actually I had only one 12l with me there..) and facing steep unstable cobblestone slope under low squeeze I was in no position to push it 3 weeks ago. This time was different. Steep unstable slope turned out to be rather imaginary but passing the slit proved to be committing enough. From there I followed strong current indication ( previous week was very wet in Fermanagh) in small passage which surfaced in 5m long rifty airbell. I belayed on a flake above the surface and from there current led me down through small 4m deep shaft.
Team: Chris Jewell, Artur Kozlowski
15.04.2009
Divers: Chris Jewell and Artur Kozlowski
After having established voice and visual connection with the surface in Northern Way, Dave returned to Upper Cradle while Chris and I traversed underwater to Monastir Way, carried our gear through cascades, passed sump two and finally arrived to sump three ( first one , smaller one). 3 weeks ago I took a quick look into it laying the line to -4m along shingle and washed cobbles floor where rift closed ahead but flow was coming from low descending slit on right hand side.Tired, cold , with bulky 12s (actually I had only one 12l with me there..) and facing steep unstable cobblestone slope under low squeeze I was in no position to push it 3 weeks ago. This time was different. Steep unstable slope turned out to be rather imaginary but passing the slit proved to be committing enough. From there I followed strong current indication ( previous week was very wet in Fermanagh) in small passage which surfaced in 5m long rifty airbell. I belayed on a flake above the surface and from there current led me down through small 4m deep shaft.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
NORTHERN WAY - AURAL AND VISUAL CONNECTION WITH SURFACE
TEAM: Chris Jewell, Dave Garman, Al Kennedy, Artur Kozlowski
15-04-09
Our aim on this trip was to establish the location of the Northern Way surface connection, then to traverse to the Monastir Way and push in the two third sumps (someone please rename these 3 and 4 or 3a and 3b!), with Chris Jewell and Dave Garman from England. Rather unthinkingly i'd chosen the wrong tanks, and since lugging 2x 12 L bottles through Upper Cradle Hole and then up the Monastir Way was very unappealling i elected to stay on the surface to hunt for the connection. From our survey we had determined the most likely position to be in a 100 m or so square area south of Mastodon cave. Without much hope that it would work i suggested that the three divers - Artur, Chris and Dave - shout when they reached the rift if they could not push it.
In the event, even in wetsuits Chris and Dave were unable to push the surface connection, and so the divers resorted to shouting 'hello'. Unbelievably i heard them faintly but clearly on the surface over 100 m away near Pollsillagh! Running in the direction of the shouts, i shouted 'hello' back as i approached the Mastodon shakehole, to be greeted by cheering from the diving party.
TEAM: Chris Jewell, Dave Garman, Al Kennedy, Artur Kozlowski
15-04-09
Our aim on this trip was to establish the location of the Northern Way surface connection, then to traverse to the Monastir Way and push in the two third sumps (someone please rename these 3 and 4 or 3a and 3b!), with Chris Jewell and Dave Garman from England. Rather unthinkingly i'd chosen the wrong tanks, and since lugging 2x 12 L bottles through Upper Cradle Hole and then up the Monastir Way was very unappealling i elected to stay on the surface to hunt for the connection. From our survey we had determined the most likely position to be in a 100 m or so square area south of Mastodon cave. Without much hope that it would work i suggested that the three divers - Artur, Chris and Dave - shout when they reached the rift if they could not push it.
In the event, even in wetsuits Chris and Dave were unable to push the surface connection, and so the divers resorted to shouting 'hello'. Unbelievably i heard them faintly but clearly on the surface over 100 m away near Pollsillagh! Running in the direction of the shouts, i shouted 'hello' back as i approached the Mastodon shakehole, to be greeted by cheering from the diving party.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
UPPER CRADLE HOLE - DISCOVERY OF THE NORTHERN WAY
Easter 2009
Team: Artur Kozlowski, Al Kennedy
Cradle Hole is a huge shakehole (if I were not trying to be smart I would say hole in the ground) South of Marble Arch, co. Fermanagh, bounded by big cliffs. It is believed to be collapsed massive underground junction of Sru Croppa and Aghinrawn rivers. Descending to the bottom of the Cradle Hole one can proceed North and downstream towards Marble Arch ( Lower Cradle Hole) or South and upstream towards Monastir/Aghinrawn River Sink (Upper Cradle Hole). After 200 m upstream along fine river passage the Aghinrawn River sumps (Sump 1). It was first tackled by M. Boon in 1958 when he free dived short 0.5m long sumped section to a bigger sump chamber. In 1961 diving on the rope ( and to my understanding on aqualung) P. Davies ventured 24m into the sump on depth of 3.6m. Next move belonged to Martyn Farr who pushed it for total 105m from the base but the passage still showed no sign of coming up. Finally in August 1978 Dave Morris and Phill Rust got through first sump which proved to be 135m long. Next day Morris explored 240m of stream passage behind Sump 1 and called it Monastir Way. Continuing he passed 30m long Sump2 and after another 120m of dry passage he arrived to small Sump 3 which was easily bypassed and after 30m Sump3 proper appeared. At this stage he had 1m of line left so Sump 3 remained undived.
Easter 2009
Team: Artur Kozlowski, Al Kennedy
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