By Twebber

I had another little trip in Knotlow to continue the diving of the pump series.

I met up with Jeff and Mandy on a cold and frosty Knotlow Triangle. The 210 shaft was rigged Jeff and Mandy went off to go down the climbing shafts. A delay while i looked for my descender, I eventually had to go back to the car, and I descended with everything I needed in a bag. As I entered waterfall chamber I was treated to the chamber illuminated by Jeff’s Scurion as they’d reached the top of the last pitch.

As they were being quick, they got to watch me kit up and enter the water.

First job was to investigate the passage right just at the beginning of the sump. This is not marked on the survey that was done when these passages were last pumped dry in 1970s. I think I can see passage heading back right towards the vein of Mecanno passage. I pulled a few rocks out of the way and since that mean I could not see anything i carried on down my dive line.

(for an idea on the dive, see the video here)

knotlow dive limits
Follow the line in good visibility to the passage junction.  I planned to lay out new line by turning left here, so I attached my line reel to the junction and then  turned right.  Swam to chamber at the end and had a poke around this.  Nothing obvious so I cut off the line reel I’d left at the end of this path and followed it back to line junction in zero vis.

Once here I picked up the new line reel and swam forward laying line as I went. The Vis soon cleared and I got to the “end”. This is marked on one of the surveys as “collapsed roadway”. There is definitely passage bending off to the right . Also left and up may be passable. I shifted a couple of rocks out of the way up, but this totally destroyed visibility and I retreated.

I surfaced, dekitted and went down the coffin level to meet Jeff and Mandy. Exit up the 210 rope and get out of my wetsuit in time to meet the others coming out of the climbing shaft and help me haul the bottles up the pitch.

 


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