Tiragarvan River and Quarry rising

[Penguin]

12 September 2010

Diver - Penguin, sherpa - Petie

After a bit of a cave diving sabbatical for most of this year (four trips  ) i've decided to get back on the horse and get in the water again.  Following an aborted trip to Creevy today (flooded) Petie and i landed up at Tiragarvan Cave.  It had been a while since i was there (see first post in this thread - apologies for re-awakening an old one from the dead).  The exploration had been ended before by an unstable boulder-choke from a filled in 'skylight' upstream of the Lugadorris pot.  This choke had been passed in the 1970s - when the boulder-choke was less of a choke - to reach 30 metres of further stream passage ending in a sump, which had been dived to c. 100 metres of well-decorated streamway.  I wanted to get back here, as i don't think anyone but the original diver has been there. 

We entered by Lugadorris pot (new stile on the way down) and headed upstream to the choke.  I had thought previously that i could pass the choke on the left in a sump.  Getting down to the sump was awkward and required passing a tight, loose, squeeze.  After a boulder shifted here on my first attempt i backed up and we set to work to stabilise it.  Petie promptly jiggled the keystone out and dropped all the offending boulders into the sump pool.  So the way to the pool was bigger but the sump got smaller i went down to it and took a quick look wearing my dive mask.  All looked promising and the visibility was a nice clear 3 metres or so.  Petie passed the dive kit through the choke and i kitted up in the pool.  The entry in kit was a bit awkward. 

Initially i thought it was going to be extremely short as i noticed an air surface immediately ahead, however this turned out to be a tiny airbell i couldn't get my neb into.  I went on, moving left around the tail of the boulder-choke.  At which point i realised i'd forgotton my safety spool (along with my neoprene gloves, brrr).  Oops.  After a brief hesitation as to the advisability of continuing, i swam on.  Some of the boulders slid towards me and i took a few seconds to confirm that it wasn't going to move any more - at least if i didn't touch it.  The roof was nice and solid which was encouraging.  After another few metres i surfaced onto a mud and gravel bank in a pleasant streamway.  Tying off to the wall i walked down to the second sump.  There was no dive line in place, and it was muddy as described in the Irish Sump Index, i had left my silt screws on the far side of the first sump, so i returned.  The dive out was a little touchy-feely in poor visibility, trying not to bang into the boulders.  Petie had gone downstream to Puthewarntagh, so i couldn't get my silt screws without dekitting.  I gave up further dive plans and found Petie.  We explored 15 to 20 metres of new 'dry' passage downstream of the Puthewarntagh pot. 

It will be a nice project to work on over the winter, to get back to - and hopefully beyond - the limit of the 1970s extension. 

A.

[ardhill]

  Petie promptly jiggled the keystone out and dropped all the offending boulders into the sump pool.  So the way to the pool was bigger but the sump got smaller

These dry cavers just don't get it do they

[Penguin]

Following another visit on 01-10-10 i've updated the Irish Cave Diving DB with info from both upstream sumps, which i've taken the liberty of naming September Sump and December Sump rather than the more conventional sump 1 and sump 2, since the present second sump was actually dived first (December 1973) and the current first sump was dived after (September 2010).  Confusing.    At least the months they were dived are sequential.  

Anyway, the December Sump is much as Parker reported it.  Low and muddy bottomed.  Usually when mud is encountered in an Irish sump it's pretty deep, however this mud was only a few centimeters thick in most places and then underneath was gravel, and all i'd brought to belay the line to were silt screws.  Even pressing against the ceiling (not difficult to do here) i could not push them in very far.  I also found Parker's line but thought at first it had been dislodged into a tight part of the sump so i laid my own, both lines are belayed together to some poor silt screws.  

The far passage was generally pleasant, and probably ends near the sink so there's not much hope for any more extension in the streamway.

A more fulsome account is here https://sites.google.com/site/shannoncavegroup/tripdigging-reports/monaghan/tiragarvanrivercave1973extension1october2010

A.