Polldeelin. Riders on The Storm - Return of the Rider ;)

[arturconrad]

22.02.2008
Divers: Tom Malone, Artur Conrad

Last Saturday, taking advantage of the fact that most of you were in Belfast so the caves were not so crowded Wink  Tom and me we paid the visit to Polldeelin Spring. It?s impressive rising of Coole River and one of the biggest risings in Ireland . It?s a part of massive underground conduit draining West Lowlands. While on the surface the river is known under many names ? Gort, Coole, Beagh, Owendalulleegh, Cannahowna?With underwater cave passages up to 10m by 20m in diameter it?s one of the most important karst areas in Europe.
We?ve never been there before and we?ve based on information and rough sketch from Caves of County Clare and South Galway. General site has been located without any problems behind Kiltartan church. Water level was high and river flood plain was substantially flooded. Bases of all trees in the area were flooded as well so it was quite tricky to use them as the points of reference in finding the underwater cave entrance. There was no line from the entrance to the junction with Boleyneendorrish River 30m in as indicated in the book. It took us over 20min to reline this section with 5mm PE white line. Visibility not exceeding 1m, quite a flow esp. near the entrance, after initial boulder slope floor very silted/covered with mud banks. We didn?t have silt screws with us so once mud banks started we were forced to belay on sharp projections near the roof (which we probably correct on the next visit as it will damage line or snoopy loop quickly). Finding way was very slow and confusing ? following left hand side wall we often found ourselves wedged in deep under cuttings, passage changes direction and depth, once I even found myself travelling with the flow (!) so I checked compass but it was showing south?not very reassuring.. Shocked  Finally we started laying 3mm PE as there was still no sign of any line. After around 60-70m in we encounter broken line (3mm?) loose toward the entrance and fixed by belays further into the cave. We kept on with our line going then parallel to the old one until Tom reached his thirds due to under pumped twinset (210 bar of 300 possible, ?) The plan was that if everything is OK I would continue on my own. But I didn?t think things were ok. Due to tough conditions I wasn?t convinced of the quality of belays we did and ?.all right, I just didn?t feel like proceeding on my own, the place was quite inhospitable that day. We reached 27m and I don?t think we were more than 100m in but I got impression that the arse job had been done and place is now ready for decent dive. Cave is supposed to level out soon on average depth of 34m. According to the book present limit (in 2000) was 200m. I don?t know who was originally behind this exploration (I would suspect Martyn and his Dark Shamrock Team, I?ve sent him email, we?ll see ;-) I don?t know neither if EOL has been moved further in since then, I wouldn?t be surprised so much -  Jim? Anyway, this might be exciting project guys, even on OC we still have few meters to bite off I believe (with careful planning, thorough preparation and thoughtful logistics?).
I?m very interested where is the end of the line at the present, any idea?

2&8.03.2008

Since our first trip to Coole River Rising last month I visited Polldeelin twice, on 2nd and 8th of March. Both solo trip. On 2nd of March I got to the point where we tided our line to the main line ( now I reckon  it's 80m into the cave) only to realise that I have some major problem with my wings and I cant keep my buoyancy right. I tried to add some line but after few metres of crawling through very deep and soft mud resulting in complete blackout I decided that it's far beyond my comfort zone and called the dive.I also realised that silt screws I was carrying was too short (around 20cm) to stay firm.  But I like places that don't give up easily so I came better equipped following weekend. Despite the rain  (but nothing major, mainly showers) water level was even lower than two weeks and week ago. However flow was stronger and I spent ten minutes on six meters securing 7l with oxygen and installing heavy duty rope that one could hold on to on last deco stop in case of current being too strong. Once I got to the point where I tided off our line on 27m I proceeded following the old line checking the belays and line itself from time to time. The line soon turned out to be well buried in soft mud and I had to install 60cm silt screws (which were just about right lenght to stay firmly) to sort it out. But after that section cave became more pleasant and i was travelling along washed limestone with thin layer of silt on. I got to the end of the line and I added 80m of my own. I got 34.5m maximum depth but cave levels out on 29-30m after that and keeps going south indeed (the book wrongly states that it levels out on 34m that's why I was carrying EAN28 as a back gas). End of the line is now around 240m in and looks like ther's plenty more to go... Jim told me he visited place twice but he layed the line along right hand side wall. Actually it might be not such a bad idea to follow both sides of the passage independently as the vis is usually around 1 m and due to decompression penalty there's always little time to get idea of its whole cross section. Word on configuration: I dived with manifolded twinset with valve protector as I found it much more comfortable in big spaces than sidemounted 12s (I mean  more balanced, takes less effort to swim, lower air consumption - that was our conclusions from Coughlan Mine where we often got head ache due to the effort/heavy breathing/co2 chain). But since I dived Polldeelin alone last two times I was carrying 7l of air in case of some unimaginable catastrophic manifold failure and loss of all air in the twinset. Some would say that's unnecessary once you mastered shutdown drill but it makes me feel safer. I also filled it with air to have kind of bail out in case some problems with high 02 partial pressure. We always plan our mixes below 1.4 PP02 but again you never know. Beside of that such 7l tank carried sidemounted is a handy place for carrying silt screws as well

16.03.2008

Coole River Rising. Fourth visit in Polldeelin. On arrival strong outflow and higher water level have been noticed but after consideration decision to dive has been taken. Very strong flow especially first 50m into the cave. After dropping and triple securing o2 tank on 5m (where the flow is absolutely mad as it?s a mouth of cave and apparently tighter in cross-section) slow trip upstream started. Vis much reduced to 0.5m, lot of suspended particles. EOL has been reached in 30min and 45m of new line added. Very very fast return with the flow ? 7 minutes exactly . Deco on 5m has been one of the craziest things I ever did under the water. Holding to heavy duty rope attached on 7m I was freezing my ass (or rather fingers) to death trying to manage Poseidon permanently freeflowing against the flow. While trying to ascend slowly last 5m I was literally flushed out to the surface feet first making Jim laugh (he was kindly waiting for me on the surface to help me out with the gear). Cave keeps going South on depth of 30m.
End Of  the Line 285m.

17.03.2008
Coole River Rising. Fifth visit in Polldeelin. Flow and water level surprisingly reduced. Good dive. 90m of passage explored. Cave turns South-East and levels again on 34-35m. EOL 375m into the cave.

21.03.2008
Coole River Rising. Sixth visit. Great conditions, water level dropped another 0.5m. Current much reduced as well. Floating reel due to 6mm polypropylene line on it caused lot of trouble while handled. After lying around 40m of new line I couldn?t find any decent belay point. While keep on searching  suddenly I realised I was going with the flow which meant I was moving to the exit ( not a great direction while exploring cave?). Since I reached my thirds I secured reel with 10m of line left on it and started return. At the end of the cave my gauge was reading 35.6m of depth. At the surface I figured out that I had to be moving along the floor, I had apparently crossed the passage and somehow turned back (amateur?). Bit disappointed with the progress but anyway EOL moved 420m into the cave.

22.03.2008
Jim Warny took me to Pollduagh or Cannahowna River Rising which is basically the same river as Coole just upstream. Initial exploration has been done on OC by Martyn and the rest of the team. Last year Jim, Jonathan White and John Sherry , all diving on CC connected Rising with The Churn, vertical shaft making over 0.5km traverse on average depth 30-36m. Jim knows the place by heart and he was diving his Meg, I was there for the first time diving OC. We got few hundred metres in and when I got to the junction where cave drops from 30 to 36m in a huge chamber I was out of pegs and close to my thirds. So I retreated gracefully followed by Jim. This is a huge place but vis was very low, lot of debris in the water. According to Jim cave around entrance under the water is about 30m wide!
After the dive we did some poking around and after some interesting discoveries we made plans for the near future to extend the traverse

23.03.2008
Return  to Coole River Rising. Again excellent conditions. Double dive. Me first on OC and then Jim on Meg to the end of my line.
After  I reached EOL I had to sort out the reel which came lose and now was floating beneath the roof 15m back toward the entrance. After that and short break to calm down breathing I had 8min left to find the way on. I moved from the floor toward ceiling and got the impression that there is kind of collapse with big boulders in the middle of the passage. I have spotted some possible way on but left it looking for sth bigger. Finally I found my self going back with the flow again. And again I had to return. But the flow is substantial and I expect easy continuation of the way on to be found soon. The next dive is scheduled for Saturday 29th of March with some extra torches to be used at the end of the cave and with 20min time allowed for stay at the end looking for the way on. If well executed dive shouldn?t take longer than 90min which is reasonable maximum I can spend in 6degree water (hopefully warmer till then..


Regards

Artur

[arturconrad]

HI lads,
Here's report from Sunday trip to Polldeelin.

20.04.2008

On my previous dive in the rising in the end of March I spotted some possible way on in the upper part of the passage but didn't follow it looking for something bigger - without success. So the plan for Sunday was:
Jim go first on his Meg and tries to find the way on
I go on OC after his return
Tom follows line along right hand side wall looking for potential oxbow to Coole River cave (eventually he didnt get far as he was diving right after me and the vis was absolutely shite...sorry. One more prove that it has to be solo diving down there...)

Conditions were excellent, low water level, flow inside almost none, vis around 2m, water temp. 10deg.
Jim sorted the end of my line reeling it back to 415m and noticed the same small opening near the roof. He passed short tighter section laying his own line. Passage opened , went up and continued to South East direction. Unfortunately diver has been forced to  return immediately due to sudden need to relive his bladder I'm sure the next time he won't forget to put the 'condom' on;) Reel has been left at the end of exploration around 430m in.

After quick chat with Jim on the surface I took the plunge and reached EOL in about 20min. The depth there was around 29m. This is very strange part of the cave - there's no visible single passage, it looks like one could follow in ANY direction. I had to use compass all the time to keep South-East. Following this direction I was slowly making my way navigating among big blocks/boulders. Floor covered with thick layer of very fine silt. At least 10 eels met, sometimes in group of 2 or 3. Cave ascends quite steeply and after 20-30m that I covered in total I was on 19m of depth. Vis at the end not great due to :

-big snow flakes of silt falling from above however roof not visible at any stage
-lot of fine silt everywhere including boulders/blocks
-shite diver

To give you idea about the extent and nature of the silt in that section: I was securing line to the stone on the top of the big boulder when suddenly  my 50W Halcyon on goodman handle gone. I put it against my face and nothing. As I found my self in complete darkness i move my head to point my two helmet mounted lights on the line. But they were gone too...I reached for my back up light in the pocket and only then I thought: "Wait a second , it's impossible that my ALL Three lights gone in the same time unless..."  ...I moved one meter up and forward and everything became clear. While making belay I disturbed the silt causing Complete Blackout. I guess I don't have to add that at this point I started having second thoughts...
 
Anyway, EOL around 460m into the cave and I start getting excited. Will the cave continue to rise? Are we in some abandoned section and we soon reach dry cave or the cave will continue on that depth for the next kilometer to the Polltoophill sink?

Few pictures attached below, Jim with Meg, Tom standing next to, note the water level - in February Tom attached this line to the branch while floating in the water!!

Best wishes

Riders on the Storm Team  

[stroke]

Well, I will at least say Thank You on behalf of local diving community. Nice article for discussion. But you are on the wrong forum Artur. This diving community is too shy and apparently you are not Irish.

[arturconrad]

Here's update of Polldeelin Rising exploration up to 770m in.



26.04.2008

Divers: Jim Warny, Artur Conrad

On Saturday Jim dived first. After reaching the point where I tied off the line on -19m he went up to -15 until the passage which turned out to be kind of crevasse started closing up. He came back to -19m and noticed some possible although not very promising way on leading down. He tried to follow it but got badly entangled in the line and had to remove the bailout to free himself. I imagine that vis by this time has reduced to zero ( very silty area). He returned after 1.5h and wasn't very enthusiastic about what he found. Neither was I. Getting into the water I had a vision of myself crawling through the silt in blackout in hopeless attempt to find the continuation...
At the EOL, taking advantage of reasonably good visibility I realised that way down described by Jim is actually quite comfortable and steeply drops over thick silt covered floor. After a while and to my amazement I reached silt free floor on the depth of 38m, which marked the deepest point of the cave. As my PPo2 reached 1.5 due to 31% mix on my back I tied off the line and started my return.

27.04.2008

On Sunday, expecting easy continuation on max depth -38m I prepared EAN 28 in 10l stage. After reaching -38m I started laying line along left hand side wall. Soon it turned out that my 'floor' was only ledge and darkness opened below and on my right. I did few 'DIR' belays by wrapping the line around protruding flakes but finally I found myself swimming along the wall in mid water without any belay points. When my line ran out I reeled it back to last DIR belay, secured it with snoopy loop and drop down... Floor has been reached on -43m, free of silt, with plenty of belay points. After drop of 24m ( from -19 to -43) I got the feeling we're back into the main conduit. Was it due to over excitement or was it nitrogen narcosis I got myself in some nasty entanglement with helmet, stage and reg involved and while removing half of the gear to get out of it I already knew that my next dive here would be on trimix.

Jim dived after me adding 40m of line on max depth of -45m which as we already presumed was the greatest depth achieved in any Irish underwater cave. The dive went smoothly, Jim was 'slightly narked but delighted' and he confirmed that big passage continues strongly SE direction. We couldn't be happier that day. After 5 weeks we were back in the main conduit!

03.05.2008

Divers: Jonathan White, Jim Warny, Artur Conrad

Jim and me we were diving on trimix and Jonathan just came back from his MOD2 on Kiss in Malin Head. It was a while since the last time he was in the cave so he decided take it easy exploration wise and brought his impressive photographic equipment. Quickly he has learned new rule of thumb in Irish cave diving - Never dive shortly after me!
But as I was diving first ( lucky me!) I enjoyed good 2m visibility enhanced by the beam of my new 7LEDs DragonSub ;-P As I was swimming along the section lined by Jim on the previous weekend I had impression that he must have really enjoyed his nitrogen narcosis but after checking the bearings I had to pay respect to him, line was going SE, exactly where we wanted to go. Nevertheless that section of passage was gradually going up with some deeper canal left on my right hand side. I reached the reel left by Jim and kept going on. Shortly I have been forced to find the way among the boulders, a bit similar situation as we experienced after 400m. When my reel was almost empty i got to tight section on -37m and around 610 into the cave. Suspecting that that was dead end I left the reel in place, returned 25m toward the entrance and started new search with second reel. After some zigzagging among the boulders I came across my own line apparently creating some 'interesting loop' and disappointed I started my return. Dive time 2h. On last deco I enjoyed Jean Michel Jarre on my UW MP3 Player
After short discussion on the surface Jim went down for another 2h ( Dire Straits on deco but same as me he came back without conclusion. Enthusiasm from last week vanished completely.

05.05.2008
Determined not to let The Polldeelin project fall into stagnation phase I felt obliged to dive it as soon as possible. Not being able to refill my tanks in the area I headed to Mayo for some other project but I was back next evening dropping my refilled stages and deco tanks into the river. The dive took place next day in the morning. There's not much good things I can say about my preparedness to that dive when it comes down to equipment. I left one of my o2 clean regs in Mayo so I had to share one reg between three tanks - one with travel EAN32 and two others with O2 for deco. Apart of that all my tanks were pumped to far lower pressure that I asked for...but this is Ireland and I can only blame myself for not checking the pressure on the collection...Finally, after lot of troubles down there I returned to the surface after 140min with 5 tanks drained to 0 B ( both stages used in early part of deco, both o2 deco, suit inflation tank). Last 75 min I spent closing and opening tank valve with every breath since the regulator that had to serve 3 tanks decided to freeflow...I still had 3000l of back gas in my twin but 24/20 is not a great deco mix...Shambles...
The only good thing is that I think I found the way on ( actually it seems we have never lost it) only meter away to the right from the end of the line... However further dive is needed to confirm this.

10.05.2008
I got to the end of the line, the only possible way on seemed to be going SW along left hand side wall on the depth of 40m.However it started turning gradually, I was still fine when it was going W but after it took NW direction I reeled the line back to the point where I spotted some opportunity to jump off toward South. I follow this way for about 15m in bad bad visibility going up along some gentle slope with boulders untill I hit the roof..great..again I left my half full reel in place and turned back.
After that dive I payed more attention to Pooltoophil, Pollonora and Pollatoomary projects.

13.07.2008
I returned after two months on 13th July. I was deliberatly waiting for some wet conditions as I need some flow indication to find the way on. Maybe conditions were slightly too wet on last Sunday...
I took off late afternoon with 2x15 Twinset and three aluminium 11l stage cylinders determined to find the way on. Visibility 1m flow at the mouth of the cave v. strong - I was moving on like elephant. When I arrived to -43m I was 15minutes late comparing to my runtime in dry weather. Finally I reached my reel well burried in the silt but unfortunatelly there was no visible flow at the end of the line. Vis went bad very quickly, I let too much line to get off the reel and with twin set and two stages I became perfect target for line entanglement. I focused on sorting the line and in my head I have already decided to turn the dive. When the line was sorted and me ready to go back I suddenly noticed some sort of flow coming from my left hand side. I looked at my computer I was suppose to turn now according to my basic plan but...I had a second plan I made in case of some progress and plenty of gas in Four tanks I had with me ( I dropped only 1 stage on the way, 02 and deco50% were staged on 6 and 21m). So I started swimming against that flow which was becoming more and more apparent. Suddenly I stopped confused - particles of silt in the water were indicating that it comes from underneath of me...With no better option but following that indication I dropped down and after 3-4 m I landed on the bottom of a clean passage. Flow was now very helpful so I secure the line and started swimming against. I checked bearings - SE - f... perfect! I finished my reel and tied off the line 730m into the cave, Passage was still going straight on 34-36m. I was back on the surface after 185min, tired but happy

02.08.2008

I started new reel from EOL, passage still nice, straight, after 40m I met big boulder. I passed it on my right and continued. After another ~30m passage started going NE, I stopped and realised I was swimming with the flow...  b****cks ! ( it's not great direction when you explore upstream..Wink. I reel the line back to the point where I was still against the flow. That big boulder must have been actually a junction and the way on was on its right. As I reached my thirds I cut off the line and turn the dive. EOL 770m.

Since that trip continuous raining made any diving there impossible ( even for such a cowboy like me;)

All the best

Artur

[Stephen McMullan]

Fair play for taking the time to do the reports Artur and sharing them. Great report and I particularly loved the "shambles" episode 

Cheers, Stephen

[Stephen McElhone]

Your reports make for interesting reading, not too sure I'd be at it though

[Scubadec / Dec Hanniffy]

Excellent reports!
Love reading them!
Dunno would i like diving the dives you do tho! I like seeing the surface!

[ardhill]

Thanks Artur

I always enjoy reading your adventures

[pat coughlan]

Artur,
excellent reports, give me shout the next time you rare up my way

pat

[arturconrad]

27.09.2008

Set up dive, just to drop 02 and EAN 50 cylinders but finally I spent there over 1h repairing line after two months of flooding

28.09.2008

Diving with new configuration in Polldeelin -twin plus 4 alu 80. Cave was very dark and at least twice I had very serious thoughts to turn the dive. Nevertheless I decided to carry on but slowly and carefully. I reach my EOL  in 63min, I stayed there for another 17min but I managed to add only 55m of new line; end must be now around 830m. Runtime 200min.That could have been last dive in Polldeelin this year, I don't know if there's any point to go  there back in that kind of conditions.

Cheers

[arturconrad]

Hi Lads,

Having plenty of time I came up with this. It's not a survey as I don't have survey data yet.  It's just a sketch based on my notes, line measurements and rough directions taken during the dives.

cheers

Artur

Sorry, the plan's being updated

[arturconrad]

I thought I would post a link to that 'fantastic' cave diving video that we shot in Polldeelin in November.
It's the same one I used at my talk. It's not exactly what you call a 'promotional video' but well...

http://vimeo.com/groups/1688/videos/7410504


artur

[arturconrad]

16.06.2010

Repairing the lines damaged in the 2009 flood. Not as much damaged as hoplessely burried underneath thick layers of fine gravel, sometimes more than 0.5m deep.
Runtime 1.5h

17.06.2010

Further  line repairs. Around 800m mark I started looking for the continuation of the way on, which at the time I thought would be before the end of my line from 2008 at 850m. With breathing becoming more and more difficult from the unit (seemed like it was getting flooded) I decided to abort the dive before the search was completed, I bailed out and started the return. I was a bit anxious wheather I had enough of gas as it was my first serious bailout that far inside the cave but it proved I had plenty: before I reached my 6m stop I used 200b from one Alu 80 and 150b from another, leaving 2 Alu 80 untouched. I tried to go back on the unit during my last stop and I managed to finish it breathing carefully in some rather vertical position and flushing the loop often with 02. When I open the unit on the surface the canister was 1/3 filled with water and all sofnalime well soaked.
Runtime 3h

19.06.2010

I was back two days later and after some epic search at the end of the line I finally found the way on – after two years and 4 dives to the end of the line.  What happened is that the passage at the  previous limit of exploration (850m)gradually turned north and closed down in a very silty and low alcove (pic below P850) It was very confusing as the Polltoophill was somewhere to the south or south east so I thought I must have gone wrong somewhere before that point. So I kept searching  and thoroughly inspecting the passage between 800 -850m.  With no more incidents with flooded unit I completed the investigation of the right hand wall but it didn't reveal any side passage or junction. Then i attatch a 30m search reel that I brought especially with me on this dive to the end of the line and jumped off to the left to investigate a left hand wall.I expected  it to be a maximum three metres away but I found it suspiciously further - five, perhaps six metres away. I moved a couple of metres south keeping the wall at my right hand side.At first I thought I was going back upstream but deep silt and solid 1m undisturbed vis suggested that I hadn't passed that route yet. I did some zig zagging  and after not finding any line in the passage I realised I found the way on.
Now, looking at the sketch you must be thinking that I must be some sort of half idiot if I needed so much time and  so many dives to find the continuation but keep in mind that with 1m  visibility which is usually quickly down to 10-20cm after only a short presence in the passage filled with a soft silt things look, or 'feel' I should rather say, very different.
From the 'breakthrough point' the silty passage continued soutwards for another 200m at the depth between 30 and 40m and I tied off the line at 1070m from the entrance.
Runtime 4.5h

26.06.2010

I continued from my previous end of the line and after a while I arrived to a huge mudbank with a very steep slope of 60 plus degree (pic below P1150). I secure the line at the bottom of the slope with a siltscrew and carefully started my way up. At the top, at merely -20m or less the ceiling of the cave was very low and  I was moving on with a great care and difficulty using the siltscrews frequently as the passage was passable only in certain places. Vzis was deteriorating very quickly. I was absolutely convinced that I was only metres from the connection with my 2009 Polltoophill line, somewhere on the other side of that mudbank. Suddenly he ceiling got lower but at the same time I felt that the floor of the mud bank descended steeply. Vis was next to none anyway so I turned my body around and went fin first as it was quite tight,  laying the line behind me. After few metres when the passage got bigger I turned around again. I moved ahead of a mud cloud which was now quickly rolling down the slope  and with a heart beat rate hitting through the roof I started sweeping the passage with my torch beam from one side to another in search  of my reel from Polltoophill. But there was only mud covering all he floor. The passage kept descending and at -30 I  knew for sure  itwasn't the right spot. Moreover the passage direction turned to NE and I had an impression that from some time I was moving with a slight current. No good. I went on on a depth of -40m  untill my line run out 1380m from the entrance. .I felt I must have missed the connection point but the question was where. My bet was the the top of the big mud bank. Maybe there was an other ascending passage from the top of the mudbank, that I simply missed in 0 vis. It would made sense given the fact that my EOL in Polltoophil was in an ascending passage at -23m of depth. It was time to go back to Castletown.

Runtime 5.5h

The link to the report of the Connection dive in August :
http://forum.technicaldiving.ie/index.php/topic,1276.msg13930.html#msg13930

artur

[Peter McCamley]

Well Artur
An amazing write up. Thanks for sharing your experiences.