With Tony away skiing (and once again seemingly with the slopes to himself!), Mike and I needed something to keep us busy on a Thursday evening. It's been very dry, the water levels are low and conditions should be right for good visibility (see here for a great John Cordingley explanation of vis. conditions). There'd also been a recent acquisition of a few bits of Warmbac neoprene so a Rowten recce seemed in order.
It's important to be prepared for trips like this and fortunately Mike was on it with quality banana bread, washed down with tea before the drive over to Kingsdale. Then for the short(est?) walk to the entrance and being unladen, quick scuttle along the roof tunnel to the pitch. SRT kits hung on the bottom of the rope we stomped up the main drain with just hoods, a mask, a camera and the description in hand. At the master junction we were both in new territory as we took the right hand branch and headed down Rowten passage. It's a cracking bit of cave, ripples in the water reflecting off the low arched roof. All too soon though we arrived at the sumps, a rope belayed from a thread indicating the way on.
We'd had a brief chat on the drive over about what this recce was going to be about and were in like mind about "just having a look". On paper the sumps are 1.5, 4 and 8 m long respectively. Today though a small airspace was visible through the first. With no worries about building up bad air, we both made our way through before conferring again. Things felt good. We were warm, visibility was good - perhaps a metre or so and the line so far was in good nick. Decision time. OK. I'd try going through to the next bell and then come back. Calm my breathing, duck into the water and pull, pull, pull. Turning onto my back I was briefly aware of little silvery bubbles trapped on the roof and then a larger mirror, pierced by the rope - I was through.
Wanting to spend as little time as possible in the bell I tried to get my breathing back under control and then hauled myself along the rope once more. Mike was waiting for a report and on hearing I didn't think it was too bad, we swapped over the mask and he disappeared into the sump. I don't know how long he was gone, but my perceived time I'm sure was longer than the actual time before he broke the surface once again. Mike too reported that it wasn't so bad and that the hood and mask combination worked well. It was decision time again.
Having read about the Langstroth sumps, the idea of 'dead air' in air bells really worries me. Both of us going back through the 4m sump and then waiting in the isolated bell while we tried the last sump therefore didn't appeal. I suggested to Mike that I'd like to try going back through, see how I felt and if all was good, proceed through to Rowten before returning.
[in progress...]
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