Once upon a time:
My recollection may be a bit hazy, but I'm pretty sure for as long as I've known Tony he's been doing a series of short dives in his native Crummock water. These have always been of the same length 2m, 4m and 8m. Asking about this ritual he told me about the Rowten sumps, a trip he'd love to do in the future.
The future:
In readiness for a wash out summer the weather in the Dales has been dry and stable for weeks now. Mike and I had great conditions for our sump practice (see
here), we'd been on a Cantabrian adventure (see
here), come back and it still hasn't rained. Conditions are perfect. "What do people think about rigging Rowten on Thursday?" read the text and each of us began to prepare to see if we could make Tony's dream a reality.
As ever trips like this require solid foundations and Sam had once again excelled herself with a lemon tray bake and a bottomless pot of tea. Replete we then headed over to Kingsdale under clear blue skies. Conversation in the car based on how we were going to approach the sumps and the ferrying of our gear. It seemed strange parking at the Valley entrance spot for a Rowten trip and our attire too, neoprene heavy, hinted at a more unusual excursion. I'm aware I probably mention it too much but we're very privileged to live were we live and Kingsdale looked stunning as we climbed up to the Turbary road, a gentle breeze preventing over heating.
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| A stunning evening in the Dales |
As Mike began rigging the first pitch I realised that my mind had been entirely on the sumps, I hadn't thought about this part of the trip at all and I needed to get back into a ropework mindset. I'm just glad I wasn't doing the actual rigging.
[in progress]
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| Mike rigging the first pitch |
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| Tony descending the daylight shaft |
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| The last vestiges of daylight |
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| Trying not to get wet in the puddle |
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| Mike beginning the descent into darkness |
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| In the bottomless rift, Mike rigging the main shaft |
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| Rigging the last short pitch |
