Post date: Aug 31, 2009 2:45:16 PM

Members: Aileen Cónnór, Roisín Lindsay, Artur Kozlowski & Stephen McCullagh

Time Underground: 30 hours

Sumps, Magnificent Chambers and the Survey Trip to end all survey trips

Saturday the 29th of August saw Artur, Roisín, Aileen and Stevebus make their way to Shannon with the idea to survey the new stuff found on the last camping trip downstream in the Easter Streamway and to push into the unknown.

This was Artur's first trip into the far reaches of Shannon and it was both his and Roisín's first camping trip.The trip started with the customary breakfast in Bloodstones before the cave was entered at 11:30 am. The trip downstream was uneventful apart from Aileen's moment of comedy muppetary - throwing a bag accross Swingers Corner while it was still attached to her. Arriving at the Snake Escape in good spirits Roisín, Artur and I made our way up through the tight rift into Starlight Aven. Meanwhile Aileen went down to the campsite and collected the hand-bolting kit. She caught up with us when we were half way up the aven and we all crawled our way through the Serpent's Curse to the top of 'Totally Traverseable'. At the bottom of the pitch we got out the survey gear and we proceeded to work our way station to station down the streamway. Aileen recorded the data, Roisín drew the passage, Artur held the tape and transported a crowbar and I was on the instruments. The new passage involves a lot of difficult traversing at the top of the rift before dropping down a chute to gain stream-level. All in all it took 20 survey stations to make our way down to the limit of the previous trip.

At that point we packed the survey gear away and pushed downstream with the intention of surveying on the return trip. Aileen lead from this point on in a very awkward and tight rift and after a few false dawns we found our way to a very tight constriction which required a lot of thought before eventually I found a way through at the top of the rift. The passage at this point increased in dimensions and I found myself at the top of a bell shaped chamber. I tried to push on at high level but the continuation was way too tight. Aileen joined me at the top and we finally worked out a way down to stream-level which would allow a return. Aileen followed the streamway round a corner and found a deep pool with an intriguing hole on the otherside. Aileen tested the water and found it to be very deep. I tried a high-level route but the walls were coated in wet slippery mud and were getting further and further apart. On the way back I found to my dismay that getting down was a harder prospect than going up. Artur and Roisín joined us and between Aileen and Artur I got safely back to the ground. Artur looked at the hole at the otherside of the deep pool again and he went for it. Keeping to one side and using a few large rocks he made a leap for the hole. Unfortuately there was no obvious way on. In honour of the effort the sump will be named ''Artur's leap was bold but Aileen's hole is a no-go' Sump.

Surveying back was difficult and in very trying circumstances we tied the two surveys together. This area is definately the most remote non-diving place in Ireland. Nevertheless I hope we're not the last people to visit it.

Making our way back to the top of Totally Traversable it was decided that we would rig the other pitch. After a bit of rock throwing the consensus was that the larger hole looked more promising. I rigged the rope around a large rock natural and put one hand-bolt at the top of the pitch to produce a Y-hang that allowed me a free hang to abseil down. The pitch is truely magnificent and about 50' deep. One of the best pitches in Fermanagh. While abseiling I noticed a large hole 2/3 of the way down which seemed to be coming from the other pitch. At the bottom is a large chamber with a soft sandy floor dotted with the many rocks we had thrown on previous trips. The rest of the group joined me at the bottom and we took a few photos before Aileen lead down the large obvious passageway. Unfortunately after 15 m we met a deep pool (that may be a sump) however there are signs including a significant draft that the pasage goes on the other side. As it was then way past midnight we didn't venture into the water. Back in the chamber Artur made a bold climb up to the hole I had noticed on the way down. He was able to confirm that it was the bottom of the other pitch.

The chamber has great acoustics and the walls look like large church organ pipes. It has also has a large rock formation that looks like a pulpit. We have named the chamber 'Midnight Mass'. That probably makes the deep pool 'The Baptismal Font'. After a few photos Aileen and Roisín made their way back up the pitch and continued back to the campsite. Artur and I stayed and surveyed the passage and chamber.

We eventually made our way back to the campsite and after some pasta we were all in bed at about 3:30 am.

The next morning we had a late start and after discovering that there was no tape measuring equipment at the camp our plans were changed from surveying around the campsite to exploring the lead near the campsite that was left for Aileen way back over a year a go. At the obvious lead Aileen pushed through a small hole and found herself in a large chamber. After we all joined her we went onto explore. There seems to be two potential leads. One dig that follows a sandy streambed that gets too tight and a tight digable squeeze that leads into what looks like another chamber. Realising the time was 2:00pm we turned around and made our way out of the cave. We finally got out at 6:30pm and after changing we sped to Enniskillen just making it on time for Artur to make the last bus for Dublin.

Stevobus