Hell & High Water

RETURN TO OLD DESMOND

Dave Murtagh, Petie Barry, Artur Kozlowski

Carol's Sump

Water levels were extremely high, maybe only 1-1.5m from the top of the slope in Great East Chamber. I had to run an extra line to reach the start of the old one. Water crystal clea as usual, I quickly reach my reel on -41m and started squeezing sideways through 4m high rift which was only 0.5 wide. After couple of metres I found a suitable ( or I thought so...) shelf to place a block of lead and make a belay
but after few minutes of fumbling ( I didn't feel narked but my hands coordination was a joke...) during which the vis went and the reel fell down into the rift, I was forced to pull back. Max depth -42.7m

Last Hope Sump

Situated behind the second pitch in South West passages extension it was the last sump in the cave that hadn't been investigated. At the same time it was in a perfect spot for further underwater extension so I had big hopes for it. Lads rigged the pitch with a ladder and once I confirmed I could reach the sump despite high water levels they brought the rest of my diving gear from Great East Chamber. The dive began fantastic in a big, well defined gently sloping down passage, all in 10m+ visibility. After 20m from the base there was an S bend where the way on led through some lower'ish arch in a left wall but after having a good look I decided I didn't need a belay there. I continued descending in a smaller but still comfortable passage until I reached a nadir of the slope at -14.7m, leaded the line and continued along now gently ascending bottom. At that stage my line run out so I deployed my bottle reel with an extra 20m of line stuffed into it. After another 10m I reached an apparent dead end of the passage but a quick look around let me spot, only a few metres back and above my head, a rift that seemed to be heading vertically towards the surface. I followed that and after a dubious belay around some brittle chert projection I surfaced in a 3m long rift-shape canal. My first impression was a disappointement because I always imagined that moment ( I mean a moment of reaching a surface of any sump in Old Desmond) differently ( read more splendid ) Nevertheless there seemed to be a dry continuation from the rift , along some steep mud covered slope heading NW ( good, very good ) Getting out of the water was something else and having a drysuit with no grip whatsoeverboots didn't help...After 20 min of strugling I managed to dekit and secure my diving gear on a handy rock shelf only to realise that I couldn't proceed without a risk of destabilising the mud slope, which in that case would slide down right into the sump. I wasn't sure if the rift I just surfaced through could accomodate that amount of clay and not wanting to be stranded behind a blocked sump I kitted up and returned to the base. The way on seems to be there so I'll be back next week with wetsuit, wellies, 3 & 2l tanks and shovel to see what's behind a dark opening at the top of the slope!



Artur