by paul » Sep 14, 2007 7:06 am
Personally I agree with some of the other comments on UKCaving.com - notably from experienced cave divers.
Quoting one example:
"Free diving sumps seems to me to be a fairly advanced caving technique. People doing it ought to:
a) Know how to make sure they are diving the right sump
b) Wear reasonable equipment.
c) Have enough sense to turn around if the situation gets sticky, i.e. longer/tighter/nastier than expected
I think it's reasonable to expect the above as a minimum. For at least 99% of people I also think it's a good idea to do your first dives with someone experienced who has dived that sump before.
Or...we could have a labelling system. While we're at it, we could also put a laminated rigging topo at the top of every pitch in the country and a signpost at every junction. Oh, and a picture of a "well dressed and equipped caver" at every entrance...."
Of course the last paragraph was typical British ironical humour!
Sumps in the UK are cold (cave tempratures are in the low 40's) and often small with very limited visiblity.
Really, if you are going to attempt to dive a sump, you should at least be able to locate the correct one in the first place!
In a way having labels and signs giving distances could have the opposite effect without prior knowledge. A sump of say 20 feet may not seem beyond possibilty (you've free-dived a sump of 12 feet before after all) - until you find actually it goes 10 feet deep, has a tight section and the rope is liable to slip into a narrow section as there is a bit of a dog-leg to the right plus you cannot see your hand in front of your face even with a dive mask on...
There was a well-publicised program on the TV ("Ultimate Caving" in case you come across it on YouTube or wherever) here in the past few weeks showing a well-known TV presenter, Kate Humble, who had no caving experience, being taken on trips into 3 different caves.
The first of these was Swildons Hole in the Mendip Hills near Bath in Somerset. There is a well-known sump called Sump 1 which is probably only 4 or so feet long and pretty straight-forward. Many, many cavers have free-dived Sump 1. She got through (eventually...) with some assistance. Her co-presenter, a mountaineer who accompanied on her caving trips, also free-dived through Sump 2, about 25 feet long.
It makes you wonder whether this particular case (the free-diving of the 100 foot sump by mistake) was precipitated by watching this TV program...