Post date: Apr 6, 2010 5:45:31 PM

The End of the Sabattical

Stephen (Bus) McCullagh, Stephen (Muh) Macnamara, Tony Corcoran (needs a nickname) (UCD), Tony Seddon & Chris Jewelll

Trip Time 8 1/2 Hours

The intention with this trip was for Chris and Tony S to deliver dive cylinders to beyond George's Choke and for Muh, Tony C and I to do some digging in Mistake Passage. At the present time we believe that Mistake Passage is where the water from Pigeon Pot comes from so it's a prime site for further discoveries in Shannon Cave.

Easter normally marks the time that we make the major break-throughs in Shannon so it was with a bit of high spirits that we entered the cave. This was the first time that both Tonys were in the cave so we made our way slowly down through the cave allowing them time to look at the formations on the way. Water levels were slightly elevated however we made Mistake Junction without too many mishaps. At that point we split into two. Going up Mistake Passage we took the high level route involving a dodgy exposed climb into a high-level chamber followed by a climb down past a couple of precarious boulders to access the main streamway. It's a bit more difficult to the normal entrance however it bypassed the wet entrance. We made our way up the awkard mud-coated passageway before making a U-turn and crawling our way up slope to the dig.

To get to the face of the dig there is an awkward squeeze through boulders and the plan was to cap one of the edges to make it easier. Assessing the problem in front of me I thought it best to push through so that I could get myself into a better position to drill a hole. After drilling the hole I inserted the cap and then the firing pin. A few light taps and nothing happened a few heavier taps and still nothing happened. It looked like it wasn't going to go off. Normally this is not an issue as repositioning the firing pin produces the desired effect. Unfortunately the pin was completely jammed with no movement. I was now stuck on the wrong side of the squeeze. Drilling a few holes and hitting the rock around it didn't help neither did levering the bar with the end of the crowbar. Talk about an ironic situation - trapped by the tool that I was using to enlarge the squeeze so that I would prevent such an incident - I could hear the slagging at the Symposium already!

I considered my options and decided it was best to try and squeeze past. A few tentative moments later and I was through. Once through I knew the only way to get back to the dig was to break the pin. Pulling the pin back and forward it eventually snapped leaving the cap and four inches of high-tensile steel in the rock. The squeeze was hastily renamed 'Russian Roulette'. With a bit of courage the three of us squeezed back through.

At the dig-face there was a tight rift with one of the sides made up of shattered rock. This to our surprise was easily removed by a crowbar. Both Muh and myself took turns at prying the rock and we made quick progress in opening up the visible hole enough for muh to squeeze through. On the other side the rift opened up and went for 12 m to a mud and boulder blockage. By this time Chris and Tony S had caught up with us. Chris squeezed through to join us. It was now 5:30 and Steve remembered that he had made arrangements to meet 'Fat' Tony on the surface at 4:30 - he was a tiny bit late. He and the two Tonys headed on out. Chris and I stayed and made an attempt at digging at the end but were beaten back by a couple of dodgy boulders on the roof. So we also turned round and headed to the surface. On the way out we met Eoghan Mullan with a group at the bottom of the main Polltullyard pitch. Luckily two ropes were rigged so we all got out quite quickly.

Stephen