Riders on the Storm Traverse completed at 2.4km

[arturconrad]

17.05.2008
Divers: Brendan O'Brien, Artur Kozlowski

Finally I decided to take a chance in infamous Polltoophill sink (in Castletown, Coole River sinks there, 1.2km in straight line from Polldeelin). You probably know the story of Garda diver who went down there in early 90's on base fed line in search of some weapon of murder but after reaching -20m he signaled to pull him out and his colleagues managed to do it with great difficulty against the current. I realized that one day I will have to face that challenge if I want to finalize Polldeelin project... So I was monitoring flow in the sink for last 2 months and on Saturday I decided to give a try with 8mm line and Brendan's support. At the foot of the cliff there seems to be big collapse starting just under the water level with sheer wall on the south side. I dived first along that wall but after dropping to -16m among submerged mature trees I found only short blind pot. So I came back to the surface , attached my line/rope 1m below water level to substantial boulder underneath the cliff and started my way down from there along steeply descending slope. On about -19m when I was already in overhead for a good while my 8mm line run out ...literally: suddenly I looked at my reel and I saw it empty with no line attached to...Previous night I tied the line very lightly to the reel drum telling myself that I should be careful and aware of that while laying the line..apparently I wasn't..I hit cave diving Jackpot: new cave, no line, no compass. But still plenty of air and strong mental composure allowing me not to panic - not in first 10 sec   Luckily before that very limit of my calmness run out I swam up to the roof where I expected to find my line (8mm polypropylene, VERY buoyant) and there it was. Still murmuring into my reg "stupid!stupid!" I tied off the line and came back to the surface for another reel. In the meantime Brendan made some good relations with the owner of the land who unlocked one of the gates and let him drive the car to the distance of 60m from the dive base! Well done!!!
During the next dive I reached -39.4 of depth laying 80m of line in total. At the end of the line cave leveled out:there's vast plateau, smooth floor with only thin layer of silt. Brendan dived next, explored passage for further 20m and confirmed extension of that strange plateau for that distance both ahead and to the left! ( there should be wall in short distance to the right, I moved away from it to avoid to run into deep undercut). Apparently we are in a big chamber or some enormous passage ( of which this river in known by the way). We left the site very excited; the sun shines again on Polldeelin-Polltoophill Traverse project

24.05.2008

Divers:Brendan O'Brien, Artur Kozlowski

We were both better equipped and prepared for the job than previous weekend however passage conditions seemed to deteriorate since then. Once on -40m I was trying to avoid undercut on the right hand side but the floor is completely devoid of belay points. I tried to use anything including some substantial tree branch... After adding 50m of new line or so I dropped my negatively buoyant reel on the floor and we decided to return. At this point visibility was quite bad and we both had impression that we passed some low sections without proper belaying. I did some quick compass survey on the way out and the outcome was quite surprising: initially passage descends in SE/S direction just to turn toward West after 50m... Polldeelin Main Rising where this water is believed to resurge is situated NW. Hmmm...

7.06.2008
Divers: Brendan O'Brien, Artur Kozlowski

We dived together. 40m of line added. I tied off the line on -45.5m.
To our surprise ( again...) passage is heading W and SW...
On a deco stop, between 3 and 5m I came across some very interesting features looking like a fossils of some moluscus. Maybe it's worth of interest of someone with the knowledge..

08/06/08
Divers: Jim , Jonathan and Brendan

They added 80m of line.

20.07.2008

My fifth dive in Polltoophill. Flow at the surface strong but it's not an issue once underwater.
I had a plan for 40min on 48m but it turned out that 47.5 reached by lads at the beginning of June was the deepest spot so far - after that way on started going up to finally level out on ~40m. It also changed direction from W to NW which is exactly what I wanted - straight to Polldeelin ( Polldeelin passage turned SE). I added around 80m of line from 150m reel which has been left at the EOL ~320m from the surface. I reckon there's ~500m left to join the lines.
Links to video of fossilised corals ( that's Matthew Parkes opinion) I made yesterday in Polltoophill sink in Castletown.

According to Matthew (although he wasn't 100% sure due to poor resolution of pictures) these
"are fossilised corals within the Carboniferous Limestone from which the cave passages are dissolved. They are probably solitary corals that were once like thick cabbage plant stalks on the sea floor with the soft animal living in the uppermost section. They are are often preserved silicified, so do do not dissolve like the limestone around them. They are a form of chert although they may look a bit different from the black shiny stuff you may be familiar with from bands, nodules and beds such as you would have encountered whilst diving. If you want to see great examples of them the Sligo coast at Streedagh Point and places nearby are famous for the masses of fossilised corals like these. The different shapes you see in these just depend on the orientation of the coral relative to the side of the cave passage."

[youtube]

Cave fossils Polltoophill

[/youtube]  
 
[youtube]

Cave fossils Polltoophill

[/youtube]

28.07.2008

I am pleased to announce that finally I joined the lines. I wish to name new Polltoophill - Polltoophill traverse as DONKEY's Traverse....yeah...I made a 'loop' and came back to my own line...embarrassing..
First 250m vis was quite clear, good 2m, but after that it reduced to 1m -  more particles and  I  have even thought that I might have already swam over that place... After adding 50m of line on 43m I came across PP line, definitely mine...I knew it couldn't be Polldeelin line, that was too far but I marked it with double snoopy loop, tied off EOL and started my return... Of course, after 120m I arrived to double snoopy ...pretty big loop isn't it? bit embarrassing... Ech...I guess next time I'll be watching my compass more closely...

Cheers

PICS:  

1. Me praying before very first dive
2. Truly international blend: French car, Brazilian sesame bar, Polish diver and Irish Donkeys.

[ardhill]

Nice to see yo bring some of your other reports over on here.

I still wonder how much dilemma there was for you to decide to jump in here. After all, the previous 'dive report' on this cave wasn't exactly encouraging

[arturconrad]

I still wonder how much dilemma there was for you to decide to jump in here. After all, the previous 'dive report' on this cave wasn't exactly encouraging

It took me about two months to get ready for that, mentally I mean. My adventurous spirit has some limitations and God knows how much I preferred to be 'home and dry', just watching "Friends" on that day... .
But I already went too far with Polldeelin project, I couldn't keep going on and pretending that there was no problem at the other end. So I went there but I wasn't exactly excited about it You know, it's a kind of conscious that someone has to do it, and you know it  has to be you. And you feel sorry for yourself.
On the other hand after having read  previous 'dive report' dozens of times I realised one thing  - it might have meant nothing. There was no info on time of year the dive was made, nor on water level. Then Garda divers don't have experience in cave diving per se , any, even tough diver would be scared diving in such environment like Polltoophill for the first time. So, there was a chance that I would survive..

And actually Polltoophill turned out to be quite a nice dive site. Deep one though...


artur

[Andrew]

Hey Artur,

love the new profile picture  , good to see your keeping in with the locals 

Andrew

[Letz]

Really enjoyed reading this report, marvellous    Thanks 

But .............. Artur !!!

On about -19m when I was already in overhead for a good while my 8mm line run out ...literally: suddenly I looked at my reel and I saw it empty with no line attached to...Previous night I tied start of the line very lightly to the reel drum telling myself that I should be careful and aware of that while laying the line..apparently I wasn't..I hit cave diving Jackpot: new cave, no line, no compass.

 



I'm looking forward to getting back over there and following your line. Being as you have a shortage of females to go "ooh" and "ahh", well done and here's one of these 

[arturconrad]

Last year on February 22nd Tom Malone and I came to Kiltartan, co. Galway for the first time to challenge Polldeelin, one of the major river caves in Gort area. I thought it would be nice to celebrate that event and start river cave season at the same time of year. Funny enough Tom called me on Saturday when I was already on my way to Kiltartan and asked if I was still in the country as he wanted to get back into diving after few months break. As weekend already started it was a bit short notice to him to join us but hopefully we should see him back in the caves soon.
I met with Jim Warny on The Square in Gort and we had a quick chat on where to go.
Jim wanted to go back to Pollonora ( he already dived there last week) to start survey but I wanted to take advantage of the flow which I believed would be substantial between Polltoophill and Polldeelin to find the way on which I lost in July last year ( Donkey's Travers, loop to my own line, see report above). But most of all I wanted to start diving my rebreather in river caves and for some reasons I believed Polltoophill would be much better spot ( wide open passage, not too much silt, expected strong flow indicating way in/way out and clearing disturbed bottom, decent depth... . To my relief I managed to convinced Jim to join me there -  I felt much safer having experienced rebreather cave diver by my side.

21.02.2009

Divers: Jim Warny, Artur Kozlowski

On the surface the sink was full of floating shit - bottles, shoes, tyres, wheels, gas tanks (!?), logs to name only few. Jim located my 9mm main line at -1m and off we went. Dark  I thought...On -14.5 we found the line cut, torn into pieces. Great . Without wasting the time Jim attached his 120m reel. I was so absorbed with managing my rebreather that he had to do all the job - laying the line and belays. We navigated our way among tree branches, substantial wooden logs and other flood debris - all that came last winter. Two people on steep downstream slope plus belaying process resulted in very low visibility, in the range of 0.5 m and I could only pay respect to Jim that he managed to keep going with all the tasks on his shoulders plus newbie behind him. Once we reached familiar plain on -40m vis improved to 1m. We cut that vast plateau across  and continued along left hand side wall at -45m heading South but still downstream as the flow indicated. Water was 6.3 degree and after 45 minutes we both started feeling our fingers going numb. When Jim finished his 120m reel ( what else can I say..RESPECT) I reached for my 60m one and showed it him hoping that he's not gonna go for it. Much to my relief he gave me wild look and we started return. We finished the dive uneventfully after 96min.

22.02.2009

Divers: Jim Warny, Artur Kozlowski

We returned next day reaching EOL in 10 minutes ( comparing to 45min on previous day when laying the line). Finding the way was even more awkward but again it was mostly on Jim shoulders, i only followed him checking compass directions and trying to make sure the line wasn't caught anywhere. When we hit -47.5m and muddy bottom some confusion arose, I stopped having a feeling that we've been caught in some tight spot with extensive undercuts on both ways. I hold to the line at the point where I believed we should place some belay. All my snoopy loops were on my reel that Jim was using few meters ahead and all I could do was to pull the line to bring his attention ( probably I should have shouted ) Finally he came back but it seems he had everything under control and all situation was probably more my imagination than anything less. In my defence I can only say that vis at that stage was non existent . After adding 60m of new line (strong, indicative current at the end, passage turning West) we turned back enjoying good, 1m+ visibility. Back to the surface after 72min.

Same day we went to check out Castle Sink, few hundred meters distant to the South from Polltoophil. I suspect that initially that was  main route of the river on its way to Polldeelin and right now we are somewhere in the middle of that underwater junction.
You can read in Caves of County Clare and South Galway that Castle Sink is completely choked with boulders and trees. There was still substantial flow into it so I thought it was worth to check. Unfortunately we stirred heavily silted bottom on the approach so I was going down in nil vis and along very steep and unstable cobble stone slope. At -6.5m I gave up without any conclusion. This can be potentially very dangerous when approached from the inside ( let's say for someone diving from Polldeelin side).

Interesting point:
Following Jim and  without all that gas pressure that exists on open circuit ( I can sometimes feel it very severely  ) suddenly I can picture the cave much better than after my 6 or 7 previous visits..
I must admit  that diving in Polltoophil on that weekend was almost...enjoyable! 

artur

[arturconrad]

Hi All,

Just short update on Riders on the Storm Traverse Project  ( I know, I can't help myself, I just like this name...)


28.02.2009

Divers:Artur Kozlowski and Brendan O'Brian

No line added.Getting more familiar with Polltoophill/Megalodon blend.

07.03.2009 ?  just don't remember...

Diver:Artur Kozlowski

Meg. I went off with 100m reel. EOL was only 200m in as we had to reline the cave after winter floods. At 230m I came across my old 4mm line but I kept on putting new 6mm line  - this year I decided to follow only flow indication as the last year too much compass reliance resulted in making a loop to my own line  . 40m from old EOL I stuck in some some nasty section of deep and soft flood debris. I tried to fly over it quickly but I felt a need for belay point and had to land pretty much in the middle of that. No way to read handsets but HUD worked fine and finally a belay  (although of doubtful quality  ) was made. Nevertheless I did not want to push it and made my way out surfacing after 99min. Water somehow warmer, around 10 deg.

22.03.2009

Divers:Artur Kozlowski, Frank Griega, Pawel

Meg. I left lads on -30m and quickly regained EOL 250m in. I continued over mud banks which luckily disappeared after few metres. Soon I arrived to the edge of some deep rift ( well, it could be only 2-3m deep, you don't know in normal 1m visibility unless you descend it) running perpendicular to the way I was heading (NW). Again I decided to trust the flow and I crossed over the rift swimming for good 7-8m in mid water with no point of reference until I landed on some relatively clean bottom with well defined NW flow -  . I continued until I run out of line 300m in. Good dive, 111m runtime, water still 10 deg. Quite a flow on -14m on the way out.

11.04.2009

Diver:Artur Kozlowski

I arrived to Castletown on Saturday morning and set up my camp on the hill overlooking Polltoophill sink. I brought 320m of line on three reels and the plan was to take advantage of wet weather and strong flow to establish the connection with Polldeelin rising in Kiltartan (EOL in Polldeelin,  according to my estimation, shouldn't have been more than 400m away from EOL in Polltoophill. I had enough sources ( or so I thought) to execute two push dives. If they had gone all right I would have stayed one day longer, borrowed extra line and extra bailout from Jim and tried to connect the lines.
Dive on Saturday proved to be excellent with extra 170m of line laid on one go. Depth was constant -40m, flow strong ( maybe slightly too strong... ) and indicative, very little trouble to find the way on. Water was very warm, 12deg and 250min runtime was not a problem. I went to sleep in high spirits.



12.04.2009

Diver:Artur Kozlowski

After nice camping by castle ruins overlooking Castletown sink I got back to water with 150m of line on two reels.
Weather was absolutely fantastic, like not in Ireland, and that only itself told me to beware. Quiet before the storm. I started descent ready for pretty much everything and I couldn't say I was disappointed.
On -10m I started realising something was wrong with my bouyancy  Bumping along steep slope down to -30m it became finally obvious to me that for some reason my wing was not working properly (It was when I set up the gear, I always check since my second dive in Polldeelin last year... ) It worried me a bit because apart of obvious shortcomings from buoyancy point of view my cunning plan to use a wing as a backup rebreather in case of insufficient bailout ( vide: Mark Elliat, Ocean Gladiator) had to be abandoned... . Unwilling to go back to the surface, dekit and sort out the problem ( an extra hour, but yeah...like if I was in hurry somewhere...)  I dropped extra blocks of weights from my pockets ( they were meant to be used as belay points) and went on on drysuit itself  . It worked. At least on -30m. Then on -43m I felt that one of my fin straps came completely loose and in frantic and a bit acrobatic twist I managed to grab the fin just before it slipped of my foot. Ufff.... . Luck had it I was just over the section of deep mud and loose flood debris so I had to keep on going on one fin until I arrived over some more suitable bottom. Eventually I reached my yesterday's EOL at 470m in 30min ( instead of planned 20min) -  better late than never....From there on everything was going smooth, I attached new 100m reel and I was moving on in well defined passage heading NW (good, towards Polldeelin Rising) on constant -40m with substantial flow confirming the way on.
And then the passage started dropping down although very gradually. I haven't realised that until I had to add some diluent to my counterlungs as I couldn't take full breath (ADV was off). I looked at my bottom timer: -44m. Hmmm...When I reached -46m I started wondering if I wasn't back to 150m from the entrance where the cave had it's deepest point, -47m.  Please, not the loop, not again... .On reaching -50m relief was mixed with surprise. I certainly wasn't back to beginning, the passage was firmly heading  NW and dropping steadily. On -51 or -52m line on 100m reel finished and  I checked my runtime. I was 47min in, not bad, I was still happy to go for another 5-10min ( the question if I have should was something else, especially given my bailout limitation and air diluent . I felt comfortable enough and attached another 50m reel double checking on the same occasion my narcosis level which turned out to be surprisingly satisfying (well, well, well... ). But After having laid 10m or so of line on continuing gentle slope and reaching -55.3m (which is now second greatest depth in Irish sump) I decided it was enough. I was cutting too many corners and just asking for troubles. It became obvious  there would be no immediate connection with Polldeelin. Not for a while at least( EOL in Polldeelin is at -36m, 830m in). Turning back was actually  quite a good idea ( one of very few I had on that day... ) as the flow I had to fight against on my way out was bloody strong. Couple of times I had to stop to take a rest and to calm down my breathing - I wasn't on OC anymore and CO2 buildup was a real threat. At the same time I realised that bailout I had with me, especially given all that hard work against the flow, was a joke. Back to planning desk. Nevertheless it was learning curve I'd say. Very sharp though 
Run time 275min. All 6m deco on OC.
EOL 580m

Artur

[Stephen McMullan]

Great report Artur. Well done!

[BOB1577]

Super report Arthur looks like i might need a rebreather to keep up with you. sorry I was not there to help you I missed your mail as it was on the work comp and was off the last 4 days. Would have loved a dive though keep me posted on further projects. I you dont get response in a day always txt me as then I can ring ya back to confirm anything OK.

[arturconrad]

I've just noticed I mixed up runtimes of last two dives in Polltoophill. They were 140 and 155min respectively ( and not 2:20h and 2:35h as I stated before... )
Sorry for that, I don't know where did I get it from....Must have  something to do with my ego..

artur

[slimtiger]

 
Is it just me or do they mean the same thing?

[arturconrad]

    

all right...I'll try again:

I've just noticed I mixed up runtimes of last two dives in Polltoophill. They were 140 and 155min respectively ( and not 250min and 275min as I stated before... Embarrassed)
Sorry for that, I don't know where did I get it from....Must have  something to do with my ego..Wink

artur

[arturconrad]

Two Polltoophill trips were cancelled over last month due to constant rainfall and thus high water levels. Eventually it stopped raining on Saturday the 9th of May with prospects of dry weather till Wednesday. So I had 3 maybe 4 day slot before another storm would come and I had no intention to miss it.
I arrived to Castletown on Sunday night and set up my camp on familiar hill overlooking Polltoophill sink. On Monday morning flow was still way too strong so I went for walking recce trip around Kiltartan and Castletown finding 3 new potential dive sites never mentioned before anywhere. More diving to do 
Back to Polltoophill the dive was scheduled for Tuesday morning but didn't take a place until evening due to some equipment problems.
Flow in the sink was strong but not prohibitive. I stopped on -15m where the flow is always the strongest due to size of cross section and I simulated going back against the current. Seemed to be manageable so I proceeded downstream. Last month brought lot of silt and flood debris and on the top of that visibility was barely 0.5m. I reached end of my line in 35 minutes and continued for another 40m at constant depth of -55m. I attached another reel and continued with current reaching -62.5m     somewhere 680m in the cave. 20/42 diluent did a good job, especially given the fact that each belaying was reducing vis to none and making the flow of water the only indication of the way on. Clear head certainly helped there.
From there passage started ascending to level out on -58m. 1h into the dive I dropped my reel and started return. EOL 720m. It took me 40 min to reach my first stop at -27m. I did all intermediate stops flying the unit manually between 1.5 and 1.6. I'm thinking  of putting new 9mm line down to -20m with solid, 'bomb proof' belays so you can pull yourself out of the cave in case of troubles; it should also help to avoid excessive work against the current during deco stops. On -6m I switched to open circuit oxygen staying there for 1h15min including "air" break. Final ascent was 1m per minute and surface was reached uneventfully after 3h45min. Water temperature is very comforting at its 14 deg.

With length of penetration from Polldeelin rising in excess of 800m that should make potential traverse well over 1.5km long but....there's also a chance that I'm exploring two parallel passages on different levels and that they're going to miss each other ( or they already have...) Time will see. Survey would definitely help.

artur
 

[BOB1577]

Arthur,
          Sounds like you had a good time. Let me knw the next time you are heading up there as i really want get back into diving it again. Even if its during the week. I have some holidays coming to me and could take a day here and there ok. If i dont get in soon with you i will end up taking 10 tanks to catch up. Ya the distance has me thinking you must be in another paralelle tunnel. maybe even under it as the depth seems quite diffferent from pooldeelin. We will see in time.

[arturconrad]

31.05.2009

Evening dive, mid day was way too hot to start gearing up. Despite good couple of days of a dry weather water levels were still quite high, as was the current. But at least it promised easier route finding.
Once in the water, I tried to insert few silt screws somewhere about 400m into the cave where 30m long section of continuous deep and fine silt without a belay was like asking for troubles to come but silt screws wouldn't stay in and eventually I had to give up and proceeded to EOL, 720m in. This has been reached  in 45minutes. From there progress was painstakingly slow and in nil visibility, as usual . The cave didn't want to ascend and it continued on -60m. I used 30m of line that was on the reel left in cave and attached new , 100m reel. Another 50m and I was still in sixties. Damn. I had a plan for 2h on average -50m and I didn't want to push it. I looked at the computer - 1h. It was time to start thinking about return: over 800m against the current was a long way to home. And then floor started rising gradually, first into fifties , to finally leave me with empty reel at -48m. Good. Ascending passage was reasonably clean with light grey wall on my left hand side. Very similar to the passage at the EOL in Polldeelin which is at -38m. Good sign I guess 
I surfaced after 4.5h dive at 1am  in surreal fog covering the river, even more surreal with final tones of Pink Floyd's Echoes  fading away on my uwmp3.
Oh, the water temperature, even at the bottom was 19 degrees. Plus. And Celsius. 
Can one ask for anything more than that?
Artur