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
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