We split the 9 people into two groups for this trip to the monster Austrian cave - the 97.5km long Hirlatz. 

A plan was hatched for myself, Laura, Dave P and Mike (Pyro) Young to go to the West to Grunkogel to move the camp there to Sahara whilst the others went to carry on dropping the pitch series in Schwabenland. Everything was fine with this plan until 9pm on Monday night when a group of Hungarian cavers arrived to ‘help’ us out. I was given the job of being their tour guide and they were invited to join our team going to the west. We headed up into the mountains around lunch time and soon discovered that the snow was really deep this year – I mean I knew it’d be deep and the path buried but I had no idea about how deep it really would be until we started to head up the slope. Over several hours we beat and dug a path, often in chest deep snow, up to the entrance. One of the Hungarian cavers suffered badly with this delay – the conditions outside were freezing and the walk extremely tiring with a very heavy bag. Once we set off into the cave it became apparent that she was in no fit state for a multi-day trip and just 1 ½ hours into the cave the Hungarian team were forced to turn back.  

We went to do Cueto - Coventosa but it rained. So instead Phil, Andy and myself did a trip into Fresca to find the way to the bottom of the pitches on Friday. Then after it rained even more we decided to to Tonio - Canuela on Saturday instead. All in all a very good trip - maybe it'll be dry enough one year when I try to do Coventosa!

Mike Bottomley give me a hand with my gear into Roaring on Sat - and waited patiently whilst I dived. This is an awkward site, with a rift you need to negotiate in your dry suit and a pitch down into the sump pool. I used a 5lt stage bottle and 2 x 10ltrs EANx30. Had to do some line patching at 30m at the bottom of the shaft, then headed off between 30-31m, hitting thirds just as I dropped down to 34m - presumably not far from the end of the line - but frustrating not to have got to put some new line down!
Total dive time - 84mins, with less than 10mins deco.

On Sunday went with Mike for a training dive into Hurtle - vis just getting good - though expect rain today will have ruined that!

Well after my first visit to the Lot with John Volanthen earlier in the year I couldn't resist a second trip for some more rebreather experience and practice. This time though I went with my girlfriend - (she is much prettier than John!)

Ressel: Short dive down to 40m in the shaft

St Sauveur: Very short dive to 45m

Cabouy - Poumeyssen: Dive through, over 800m there taking about an hour, surfaced briefly then swum back, lines in good order.

Landenouse: - one hour in till we hit 34m, prob around the 800m mark but not sure exactly, then about the same back. Dive time 125min

Fontain de St George: An hour in, got upto the really shallow bit - presumably before it drops off down the slope. Again guess we were 700-800m in. Pretty quick out so dive time was 110min

Well it has been about 8 months since I last updated my website...!! Have I really got an excuse for leaving it this long?? probably not and I'm going to have a go at getting back into updating it regularly now - well at least once a month!

So, what have I been upto the last 8months?? Well how about the highlights rather than the full weekend by weekend?

Working from oldest to most recent I did another Hirlatz trip over Christmas/New year, this time with Joel, Lump, Ian, Peachy, H, Ali and Teagle. We were setting up for their February trip and finding the way to Schwebern land (clearly not spelt like that!!). The trip was pretty good, we got all the gear into the cave and set up for their Feb trip, Lump and I even had a scamper around trying to find another sump and we were underground for New Years eve - which was a first for me.

At Easter I went back to Fermanagh, this time with Dave Garman and we also me up with Artur Kozlowski and Alistair ...? we did some good trips but nothing as exciting as the previous year. All the reports are written up in the CDG news letter. Most of all I really enjoyed meeting both Artur and Al - and look forward to diving with them again.

Jason Mallinson and I have also been busy in P8 - we've made lots of trips but I've still not been any further than part way into S7 (when I pulled out a load of loose line). The main reason has been the crap weather as quite often we've found the sumps backed up and have wasted several trips! We have now managed to sort out the sump 5 bypass however, and there is a nice set of metal stemples leading up over the top. Nex time the weather is good we'll be in there for a trip to the end!

We've also each managed a dive in Roaring and most of our gear is in place for a push once the weather plays ball. My dive was over the cold spell at the end of Jan when it was snowing on top. I dived in a 7mm wetsuit in 5 degree water - and got down to 24m, with the line intact. It was hard work climbing up out of the water on the ladder though.

I've started a dig in Ellerbeck - a feeder for Hurtle which is an interesting site, although I'm surprised at the lack of flow at the end and would rather there was more there to help me find the way on and clear the water as I'm digging.

Wigmore is still carrying on as normal, though as it stands I've not been down for quite a while. We'll see what happens later in the summer but we need to keep going at that boulder choke.

In amongst that lot there have been the usual amount of parties, tourist caving trips, CDG dinners, training camps and fun dives (I've even been off to the Lot for 4 days with John Volanthen) etc.. All in all quite a busy time. More recently all my time has been take up with planning, organising, preparing and training for the Culiembro Expedition - follow the link on the left hand side of the page.

It was the 7^th year of CHECC and the team put on the best event yet in my opinion (except the first one which was just special). It was at the Rotary centre in Castleton so I decided to try and dive in P8. During the week Jason Mallinson contacted me and at the last minute Dave Ryall dropped out so it was just Jason and I gearing up 12.30 to go caving.

There were supposed to be hoards of students around to rig the cave and carry our gear but we were well ahead of them and decided to lug the kit underground our self. The water levels in the first sump looked normal but when we got to S4 I found it backed up once again. Having come this far and knowing what it looked like we decided to have a dive anyway. The usually 3-4m deep sump was 13m deep instead and when I ‘surfaced’ on the other side I was still at 8m depth! Up the pitch for the S5 bypass was flooded and I reeled out line up to a miniscule airbell before giving Jason the thumbs up to turn the dive....

Duncan, Dave Garman and I made a trip to the terminal choke for more digging fun! We installed a hand line on the muddy slope up to the Generation game and made a quick trip in to the end. After some clearing of boulders we held a little ceremony before putting a portion of Tony's ashes in the water.

Then we set off two snappers – which didn’t go when they were rigged in series the first time so I had to go back and re-rig them, this time in parallel. I wish I had wire cutters strippers down there as it can’t be good for my teeth and I don’t like the taste of mud!

A pleasant and swift exit from the cave was made in order to get back from the Ratfest and the after party back at the Belfry.

On Sunday Duncan and I met up with John V for a dive in Wookey. I got to use my buoyancy bag in anger and carrying a third cylinder. We looked at the climb Duncan was interested in but decided that we’d need to come back with a rope and possibly a drill to make any progress.

  I stayed at Whitewalls for the weekend as it was the CSS fireworks weekend. The hut was unusually busy which was great and I got to meet lots of people I’d not talked to before. On Saturday Duncan and I were up early and out of the cottage by 8.30 so that we could meet John Volanthan at SWCC for 9.30.  The West Brecon Cave Rescue team had scheduled a training session and underground practice for that day so there were also plenty of people kicking around here. However nobody could get on with anything as the team had a real shout – to get a dog out of a tight rifty cave!

Whilst some people went off to sort this out we grabbed Clive Westlake as a Sherpa and headed into OFD1. Dip sump was pleasant if a little gloomy and I enjoyed myself, although not getting very far with only my 5 clothes pegs and the numerous junctions in there. As we finished early we nipped into Gothic on the wayout. As I’d used lead from the dive base at Dip I had to use Clive’s SRT bag full of stones as weight – but as John V said, it’s good to improvise sometimes!. 

P8
On my second diving trip down this cave the water levels were much lower. I’d previously stashed a 7 ltr cylinder and carried in another today so that I would have plenty of gas. I found the line I’d laid last time in the middle of the dry passage leading upto sump 4 and climbed down the ladder into the sump. This was open and fairly pleasant. On the far side sump 5 was closed and so I dropped my kit off and went up over the bypass. Sump 6 stank of diesel and I swam around in the pool here trying to feel the floor with my feet. I then followed the cresta run upto the start of sump 7 before heading out and home. 

Hurtle – The Deep
I finally got to put my new deco skills (and card to buy deco gas) to good use by making to the end (well almost) of the deep in Hurtle. I used EANx28 for a bottom gas and EANx78 for deco. Spent 1hr and 40mins in the water.

August Bank Holiday – P8, Bagshawe and Ireby Fell 

Three days of caving… what to do with all that time!! Predictably the weather wasn’t the best and With my various caving friends occupied in other placed I had a bit of a mixed weekend. 

 On Saturday I dived in P8 assisted by Mandy Fu. The water level was very high but as I’d never dived there before I didn’t have anything to compare it to. After the first three sumps I walked along the passage to sump 4 and was surprised to find no line in the water. Fortunately there was an old line reel back in the preceeding passage. After clearing the mud off this I decided that it wasn’t in too bad condition (although it wouldn’t spin). I lined into the sump but.....

5th-6th July 

I was determined to do a decent caving trip to check that I was fit enough for the Picos expedition. As it was a pretty wet weekend we (me, Mandy, Robbie Shone, Kev and John) opted for King Pot. Kevin and John bailed in the “T shaped” traverse whilst we pushed on – but didn’t go down the last pitch as I screwed up with the ropes + it was pretty wet and we needed to get back anyway.  On Sunday I modelled for Robbie and Mandy as he taught her about using her Digital SLR underground. I finally joined in with one of the “Grand Days out” a week later on Saturday. Good fun pumping the sump down and Duke Street 2 was interesting. Did some digging on the far side before exiting to get a beer and burger!

With a spell of fantastically dry weather the conditions in the Dales became excellent for diving. At the same time I learnt that with a sling I could zip myself into my drysuit on my own. These two facts combined to mean that I did a series of solo dives into the easily accessible Hurtle Pot.

This also gave me the opportunity to test out carrying a third cylinder in a bottle bra and dropping that when it reached halves – extending the range of my dives. I also acquired a pair of 12ltr cylinders as I wanted to go even further.

My first objective was to dive upstream from Hurtle to Jingle Pot. After a couple of line repairing dives I finally did this on my third attempt and left the lines in excellent condition. Happy with this I then decided to dive downstream from Hurtle to which proved much easier and I effectively did this the first time – although when I reached -2m I was pretty buoyant and decided to turn round instead of going on and surfacing.

Shannon Survey Trip: Over the first May Bank Holiday myself, Simon and ‘Mad’ Phil went back to Fermanagh to help with the Shannon survey. Phil flew over earlier and spent the day working on his laptop whilst we flew into Belfast later and Steve picked us up. Then the four of us had a few beers in town before crashing out on the floor of Steve’s house.

In the morning we met Gaelen for Breakfast and headed into the cave fairly early. It was quick progress down to the new section where we (me, Steve and Gaelen) surveyed down and Simon and Phil went on so they could survey back. After the survey work I spent an hour or so taking photos. 

On the Sunday Simon and I wanted to dive in Upper Cradle again – so we’d hired cylinders from a dive shop in Dublin. This meant we could only get big 12’s though so we had fun carrying these down the stream way! In appalling vis we failed to get through the first sump and though.  

We finished off our brief return visit to Fermanagh by doing a walk with everyone else over the surface where Shannon runs – following the route of the cave.

3 Peaks 3 Pots - 19th-20th April

The concept is simple – do the three peaks which form part of the famous walk in the Dales (Ingleborough, Penyghent and Whernside), do the deepest cave on each of these hills (Meregill, Penyghent Pot and King Pot), carry all your kit and do it in over one weekend!

For the week before Easter myself, Simon Cornhill, Hilary Greaves, MUSC and HUCC went over to Fermanagh in N.Ireland. We teamed up with some of the locals I know and set about diving several sumps which in some cases hadn't been dived at all and in others hadn't been dived for a long time.

Divers: Chris Jewell (BEC), Simon Cornhill (CDG), Hilary Greaves (OUCC)
Support: Local Irish cavers - Stephen McCullagh, Aileen Connor, Tony Furnell, Stephen Read, Gaelin Ellife + members of MUSC.

Ferry from Holyhead to Belfast, 10 days staying at Gladagh Glen near BlackLion in Fermanagh. Sharing the hut with Manchester Uni Speleology Club and Huddersfield uni - 22 people at its peak!

Shannon
One of the primary objectives of the trip was to dive the terminal sump in Shannon cave. This extensive stream cave was first explored down to the sump in the 80's The before it could be dived a section of cave known as George's choke collapsed. Later in the 90's the main entrance also collapsed. Since then a new generation of Irish cavers began digging in from a nearby cave - Polltullyard. I first visited the cave in November 06 when the diggers were at George's choke and trying to get through. In March 07 I learnt they'd passed the choke and were back at the end - opening up the possibility of diving the sump. During the Spring and Summer of 2007 I flew over several times for a weekend of caving in Shannon. Initially I inspected the sump with a wetsuit and mask and then helped the Irish cavers with a dig they were hoping would bypass the sump - "Balcony dig"

On Sunday 16^th March, Simon Cornhill and I went to dive the sump. I dived first with a pair of 300bar 3lt cylinders, a 5mm once piece caving wetsuit and a 5mm
hooded vest. Beneath the initial arch...

On 2^nd of February we decided to put three divers through the sumps for the first time.

Hilary Greaves (RRCPC) Joined John Maneely and myself to finish off the aven climb. Fiona Crozier (BEC) and Katie Steckles (MUSC) provided the Sherpa assistance and for once the men were outnumbered by the women in the cave! After about a further 6m of vertical climbing I reached the top of the aven and a flat roof. The only possible lead was an impossibly tight rift heading off South East. Slightly disheartened I abseiled down so that John could head up with a tape measure to check the height – 26m in total. After cleaning the mud covered ropes ad climbing gear the three divers pulled some of the kit out, leaving the rest for some shorter climbs closer to the sump pool. As we couldn’t retrieve all the kit it’s important to say thanks to Bruce Blagden who went down midweek to get my cylinders out after this trip. 

After a few weeks off on Saturday 23^rd of February we arranged a radio Location exercise with Brian Prewer (WCC).

Stu Gardiner, myself and John Maneely made up the team, this time assisted down to the sump by Duncan Price (CSS) and Matt Jones (KUCC). (do you get the impression its become a real multi club affair now!) 

On the way downstream I decided to make a few notes.....

Stu and I pushing the crawl in Wigmore

John and I returning to the crawl

John Maneely and myself visited Young Blood's Inlet to push and survey the crawl as well as drop off more gear for the aven climbing. We met Bru and Ian P at the Belfry just after 8.30am on Sunday and got changed there before driving upto the farm. It had been raining hard on Firday night and a bit on Saturday afternoon so we wern't sure we'd be able to dive but at the very least we;d sherpa gear down to dive base.

We got down the ladder at about 10am and iIt was fairly unpleasant in the upper reaches of the cave, with ice cold water cascading everywhere. We pushed on quickly though and got the four heavy bags down to the bottom by about 11.30. After kitting up quickly, John and I  hit the water and headed through the sumps whilst Ian and Bru turned around. John dived first but the weather conditions up top meant he had no viz anyway.

Once in Young Blood's we....  

October 21st - Giants Hole - I joined an Eldon trip up the 'filthy five' and through St Valentines sump (which had been ingeniously bailed by Sam T and other Eldon members. 

Oct 27th/28th - MUSC trip to BullPot Farm. Saturday down Knacker Trapper, Sunday down Lancaster hole.

3rd - 4th November - Rich Bayfield and I did a Draenen trip to cantankerous surverys passage and then the bitter end of the cave - Luck of the Draw. Plus we saw the amazing Geryon by complete accident!! http://www.cavinguk.co.uk/draenen/pictures/CS1.jpg . Then on Sunday i dropped off my bottles in Wigmore ready for next time.

10th -11th November - DCRO induction at Whitehall on Saturday. Diving through ink sump to dooms retreat with Clive Westlake and Colin Hayward on Sunday.

17th - 18th November - Saturday - Stoke Lane Slocker to sump 7 with John Maneely. Dental Floss thin line in 6 and 7 combined with lots of gravel in 6 put us off progressing any further but we will be back. Then Jon helped me sherpa Stu's cylinders down Wigmore on Sunday.  

24th-25th - CHECC at SWCC - enough said!

December 2nd - Deaths Head to Big Meany with MUSC on Sunday after NS AGM.

December 9th - Nice swim round in Holme Bank doing a bit of line laying.

Saturday was the BEC AGM and no caving got done due to politics to excess!! However the usual party to excess on Saturday night didn't stop me hitting Wigmore on the Sunday - although at one point I almost didn't go..

I managed to perusade Rich L Smith and Barry Lawton to sherpa my kit down to dive base at the bottom of Yeo Pot and to wait for my return. I was only planning a quick trip - just to check out the airbell I'd seen a few weeks earlier at the beginning of 7. When I'd first been through some of the sumps with Stu I'd carried a line reel to Sump 5 and so I picked this up here. I also armed myself with a couple of silt screws, some cable ties and a few snoopies.

When I reached sump 7 I dropped down the pot and dived underneath the arch, then up the silt bank. It was here I'd seen the airbell last time so I paused to try and see it again. A slight move to my left showed the silvery surface ahead of me so I began to sort the line out. I placed a silt screw into the mud underneath me and cable tied to main line to it. Then I reeled off this with my main line reel. By the time this was done I was working in a cloud of zero vis but it didn't take long to break into clear water and reach the surface....

As I'd just moved to Manchester I helped out with the MUSC freshers trips. This consisted of picked some people up from their tackle store - driving to Giants, going caving, taking photos and then going to the pub. Meanwhile the MUSC minibus returned to Manchester to pick up the second set of freshers...and repeat!!
On the second trip Adam and I went on a few detours in the top series and I got to see a bit more of the cave.

Sunday: I learnt the hard way that building scaffold frames underwater is not easy!! John Taylor and I were assisted (Mandy and Mike from MUSC) to the Glory Hole sump in Bagshawe to continue working on the scaffold frame. John placed one piece and I went to fix the other side. After an age I still couldn't get it to fit so called it a day - and John was so cold at this point we bailed!! - I need more scaffold building practice!!

Duncan Butler and Mark Stephens helped carry my diving kit down Wigmore for my planned trip to the end. I knew they wouldn't want to wait for 3hours so told them i'd see them back at the hut.

The vis was excellent all the way down stream, so much so that I spotted a presumably previously unknown airbell in Sump 7- with only my search line and keen to achieve my main objective of reaching the end I decided to leave this for another time. Once out of the water I found my way to slime rift and placed a new bolt for the ladder to deal with the lack of decent belays. I then progressed down stream through the first boulder choke to reach the terminal one. The water obviously backs up here as there was a lot of mud over the choke. I found an old survey perched on a boulder here and picked out a couple of digging sites. A return is planned soon!!

On Sunday I investigated the upstream aven above sump 3 with Dave Garman but found the squeeze very tight!! We then hauled the kit out.