Diver: Rob M
Support: Dave C, Jim T
Too idle to carry 7l cylinders so carrying out essential stabilisation works: Bog
Episode Recap: The outcome was that after a slightly muddy rift opening at the entry to the sump, a roughly 1m high x 1m wide phreatic tube (wider at the bottom as it’s formed on a bed) clean passage with good vis was followed for the aforementioned c. 49m of a 50m line reel, accounting for belays (all of which made to conveniently sited breakdown) trending 240 degrees at a depth of 3m via a series of s-bends, with the current limit at such a bend but appearing to continue unimpeded beyond.
Eager to continue the push to reveal the further secrets of Glorious Hole, but slightly later than desirable as Bog and Jim had both been suffering the hardship of taking holidays in the sun, the team reassembled at Bagshawe tonight with additional equipment. In Rob’s case this meant a freshly loaded line reel and a pair of 7s; Bog and Jim with the equipment required when quantities of heavy and awkward dive kit needs to be shifted quickly underground – Dave…
In a cunning predetermined plan, Bog turned up late with a hacksaw – allegedly for cutting scaffold tubes to length in order to stabilise the increasingly dodgy looking and now slightly mobile squeeze – but we all knew that he just didn’t like the sound of carrying 7 litre cylinders. He would later deliberately forget his Croll, and, it turned out, had deliberately hidden his chest harness in the cave 3 weeks prior.
Rob, Jim and Dave therefore set off to the sump to prepare for exploration. Kitting up tonight was a far easier affair by virtue of taking place in the large chamber immediately before the Glorious pitch head. Regs attached to cylinders, rebagged and ready to go with no air leaks, and the diver in position perched on a boulder in the pool, I climbed the ladder to roughly the depth at which I’d previously concluded an abseil at water level. Rob was a good 10 feet below me at this point, and I acted as a davit arm, guiding the heavy cylinders out of a constriction and over to Rob as Dave lowered them from above. We took note of the relative height of the line belay to water level for survey alignment purposes, time-checked, and agreed a 1 hour dive / 2 hour SHTF time. With that, Rob submerged and was soon out of sight. I watched his exhaust break surface a few times and returned to Dave for the wait…
Having plenty to catch up on, and with a bit of photography thrown in, the time passed quickly but the onset of having all the heat sucked out of us by limestone prompted a time check. Over an hour elapsed with no sign of Rob, however with the prior line to survey a longer dive was anticipated so we resumed our position.
Around 20 mins later a shout announced the diver’s return, so I headed back down the ladder and we soon had the cylinders back with Dave who, by the time I reached the top, had taken both of them back to the kit/dekit chamber.
Rob returned with a brief tale of dry passage, which meant a public house based debrief was essential. Spurred into action by the spectre of last orders, Dave grabbed all the bags and went like a machine towards the main passage. We all reached the pitch to find Bog waiting for us, no doubt disappointed to find that he’d now be obliged to lug a 7l cylinder up the steps. My cylinder definitely felt heavy on the awkward prusik out so I was glad when I was relieved of it at the pitch head!
Passing through the squeeze on the way out, it was noticeably cleaner and free of perched boulders, and a lovely shiny bit of scaff was solidly in place holding the big rock (and probably the rest of the cave) in place. Providence in the choice of tubes had even rendered the hacksaw surplus to requirements.
Back at the Bowling Green we had a guided tour of the sump and dry crawl beyond by way of Gopro video. The stage is set for Rob plus another diver to make a return at the next opportunity to survey the new passage, which yet again trends at 240 degrees for a further 40m underwater, before surfacing into a low, dry crawl that drills ahead for a long way to the present limit of exploration denoted by a rift crossing the low crawl, which then continues onward in tantalising fashion.
Work continues….