Black Keld page 11: Passing Sump 5


	Black Keld Passing Sump 5 Last revised: 1/3/01
	Access to Black Keld Is Not Allowed! At the end of February 2000 the rains held off briefly to enable another dive by Brian Judd.
		"The line had remained fairly taut despite heavy flooding. New line was tied on and exploration continued. Care was needed to stop the line from spinning off too quickly and tangling, because the reel was overloaded. The route continued through large passage, following the left hand wall. In places the wall was undercut, so metal pipe belays were placed, there being a scarcity of rocks on the sandy bottom to tie the line to.

After reeling out fifty metres and laying a 4lb lead weight, an ascent was made to the roof. The depth was only 3 metres and I surfaced in a metre wide airbell. There was no possibility of tying the line to anything. While dropping back down and reeling back, the line got tangled around a fin and between my bottles. Visibility reduced to zero. The tangle had to be carefully sorted out, before forward progress resumed.

The impression was that the passage was rift shaped, rather than rounded as before. This was an impression by feel, because visibility wasn't good enough to confirm it! After laying 100 metres of line, 'thirds' were reached. The line reel was buried in the sand and another 4lb weight tied on. Surveyed back, pleased to note the current had restored visibility to a metre."

The divers continued work throughout March and on the 26th they were rewarded when Sump 5 was passed by Brian Judd after a dive of 640 metres.

"I had difficulty getting out of the water, because there was a big bank of sand and I felt like a turtle going to lay eggs with all the heavy bottles strapped to me."

The dry passage reached is impressive - over 20 metres tall and 3 to 4 metres wide. Wading and walking for 85 metres leads to a boulder collapse. The passage had been trending South, but upon clambering over the boulders, it turns North-East. Shortly after this a large sump pool is met.

This is the sixth sump in the main passage. (There are three more sumps in side passages between sumps 2 and 3 and there are side passages off the main line in sump 5.)

Click on pictures to enlarge them and get more text.

Don't panic!

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