Ramsons Pot, 11 June 2022

Team: Becks Kelly, Paul McCarron, Peter Ward, Stephen Macnamara, Stephen Read

On the previous trip to Ramsons, we had left a few leads in the ICC Extension, including a draughting wet crawl heading towards PPP Chamber, and two other leads at the bottom of the cave.

On Saturday morning, Paul and I drove together from Moira to Enniskillen bus station, where Becks had landed and Peter had arrived by car from Plumbridge. We found them both on the side of the road, Becks munching on some breakfasty stuff from a shop and Peter nibbling on some fruit. In Belcoo we called by Jock's house, picked up digging gear in Aileen's shed, and then made our way up to the cave. The track was surprisingly OK for the amount of rain that had fallen in the past couple of days, and both cars made it to the turning point at the end.

We agreed to split the rigging - I would take the top section and Jock would continue the rig in ICC. The lip at the entrance is getting very muddy - hopefully it won't suffer too much more erosion! On the way down, I stopped to put in another concrete screw on the traverse starting the swing into ICC. A failure of the single bolt that had been here would have resulted in a long swing into the waterfall. Once this was done, the drill was hauled back up to the top of the pot, and we continued to the big rock bridge. Here Jock took over and got us down to the main boulder chamber in ICC.

Jock poked into the top dig (Eoghan's dig) - where we had pushed to the start of a flat-out water grovel last time. The draught had been good and we had high hopes of connecting with PPP Chamber. However, now the draught was absent, and a continuation beyond the puddle was not obvious. We decided to focus on the lower digs first, where at least we could stay dry.

The others soon caught up and we made our way down the boulder slope and climbs. One TV-sized boulder decided it wanted to come with us, so we spent a short while pulling it back out of the way. At the bottom, we turned right to start digging a mud-filled rift, where there was the tantalising sound of water falling. This dig was going in the direction of PPP, but some 20 metres lower. Becks took the lead with a right-angled trench shovel.

Jock and Peter continued to the lower dig, reached via a short series of crawls and rifty climbs. I followed, widening some of the squeezes en route with a chisel and hammer. Soon, Jock had returned from the bedding plane at the bottom, reporting that clearing some gravel had immediately revealed clean limestone on roof and ceiling, with very little space to progress without rock breaking. I decided to go down for a look anyway, and Jock returned to the other dig with Paul and Becks.

In the lower dig, Peter worked to clear some more gravel from the bedding plane. I continued chiselling off some edges at the bottom of the rift, and building a spoil-retaining wall in our extremely limited space. After a while, I squeezed forward into the small chamber just before the bedding plane, where we were able to swap around. The chamber had a gravel floor which sloped down steeply to the bedding plane, making for an awkward entrance, and an even more awkward exit. We decide that the floor had to be lowered stepwise down to the level of the bedding, to make access easier. I began digging and flinging gravel and rocks back out into the squeeze, where Peter stashed it behind the wall.

After a bit over an hour, we had filled up the stashing space, but it was a lot easier to get into the bedding plane and push away more gravel. I attempted to squeeze in a bit, but it was very similar in feel to the Cheese Press - if not tighter - and there was no visible turning space beyond. However, there is a draught, and more exciting - a clear sound of a small stream ahead. I think this dig is worth a little more persistence.

The ceiling could easily be raised with plug and feathers: hopefully only a short distance will be required before the passage opens up a bit.

We headed back to the others and found they had made quick progress in digging a horizontal crawl tube through the mud. Becks takes up the story...

Paul and I both took turns digging in what can only be described as a pure luxury dig. Digging here is a genuinely wonderful experience, as progress felt very easy and there was even room to straighten up from time to time. The dig is up a small muddy climb, about 2-3m high and follows a horizontal rift that is filled up with very easy to move mud. It heads horizontally and then veers off right, however it was too small for me to squeeze through even without helmet. Jock joined us after some time, and we moved about 3m of mud/ rocks horizontally. The big game changer was angling the trowel, which enabled us to move even more stuff! We dug for around 2 hours in total, with the dig beginning to draft by the end and water could be heard. I recon another days work would move it on significantly and we would break through. I was a bit sad to leave this dig and wanted to stay indefinitely.

On our exit, the stream had risen considerably, although ICC seems fairly immune to flooding. We decided to leave Eoghan's dig for the next time. Leaving the silence of ICC and swinging out onto the main pitch in full spate is an exhilarating thing - definitely recommended!

Stephen.