Saturday 28th September 2024

Mike Kushy and John Cooper.

MK went in ahead freeing up the bang wire, which JC reeled in, and took the drill to the bottom. Then cleared loose rocks up the slope back to the base of the awkward climb. When JC arrived the pair cleared the rocks at the base of the climb back to Boulder Chamber. JC then set to moving rocks up cave whilst MK went to the sharp end to clear the bang spoil, mostly gravel. I believe a lot had been washed forwards with the rain. A good couple of slabs peeled off from the right hand wall and these broke up with a hammer. Once suitably cleared MK then headed up cave to join JC. JC then headed to surface to mix some cement while MK continued clearing rocks back to the bedding slope higher up. The big shelf is pretty much full. MK met JC on surface and the mix was poured into 3 buckets. MK took 1 to the dig face to use whilst JC made his way in with the other 2. A wall was built on the left of the dig face and clatch put behind. MK used the 2nd bucket cementing steps into the floor and patching up some of the walls. JC used the 3rd bucket in Boulder Chamber. JC went round into the old cave to check if we could get a light connection to the hole on the left where we think a chamber is. It turns out JC could get into the chamber from the Boulder Rift area. This could be opened up better from the Boulder Rift side and would allow a lot of spoilt to go that way rather than up the steep slope. JC then left and MK drilled 6 holes, 12mm x 400mm, 3 on the floor on the left and 3 on the floor on the right. 4 1/2 hours for me. Mike.

Before clearing. Photo MK.

After clearing. Photo MK.

Thursday 19th September 2024

John Cooper and Mike Wise. MW charged the 4 holes drilled by JC yesterday. JC advised some of them might be longer than expected, so with only 2m of 40g, we prioritised the two holes on the left and the upcave hole on the right and packed them to the brim. The remaining 250mm or so of 40g went into the 4th hole. JC kindly took the bang bag out while MW connected the det and brought the cable back out to the surface. Fired satisfactorily. MW bang wire remains in place. 1.5 hours. Electrical tape was used in the top of the first hole, but subsequently, 4" cable ties were used because the slimy, wet conditions stopped the tape sticking. Mike.

Wednesday 18th September 2024

John Cooper. Drilled 4 holes for Mike Wise to use tomorrow. All 12mm with a top 100mm of 14mm. Two furthest in 400mm deep and nearer ones 600mm deep. 1½ hours. John.

Sunday 15th September 2024

Mike Kushy and Nicky Pearce. 

Made a 2 bucket mix and me and NP took a bucket in each. NP used the 1st bucket up on the right hand wall, whilst MK had a go at the boulders ahead. Managed to take enough off to allow access to the floor. The 2nd bucket was used by MK to build a retaining wall on the left and cement in the boulders in the ceiling, NP had left during this. MK then cleared as much out of the floor as physically possible and put it behind the new wall. The floor needs drilling and banging to allow progress ahead. 4 hours. MK 

A view under the boulders ahead, I'm about 2 body lengths in. Photo MK.

The dig face. Photo MK.

Friday 13th September 2024

Mike Kushy and Mike Wise.

We cleared some rock back and stashed a load in the Boulder Rift connection. Mike had a camera rig which we poked into the chamber to the left. We then cleared the mid week bang spoil back. 2 big rocks in the ceiling denying us the ability to dig out the floor. Nice view ahead of a solid bedding ceiling. 4 hours. MK.

View ahead. Photo MK.

After clearing . Photo MK.

Wednesday 11th September 2024

Trtevor Hughes and Adrian Miles. All holes drilled out where needed and fired. The top right hole was left because the flake it is in is so thin that the whole thing could be beaten to death with a decent hammer ( I tend to use a short handled 7lb sledge).
Good luck for the weekend.
The rock pile at the base of the climb down before the final slope could really do with being moved up and out of the way. 1 1/2 hours. Trevor.

Sunday 8th September 2024

Mike Kushy, Mike Wise, John Cooper, Monica Bollani, Courtenay James and Trevor Hughes.

MK to start with. Arrived at site around 10.15am and then got about making a mix. 2 buckets filled up and carried to the dig face, used these supporting the ceiling blocks and building a wall on the left. The filled sacks were then tipped behind the newly built wall. Headed out with empty buckets and returned to the face with the drill. Drilled 5x12mm holes to a depth of 400mm. Feeling done in from the weekend's activities I was looking forward to exiting and leaving the rest of the cement work to another day...seems JC had other plans in mind. On return to the surface JC and MW were using the last of the materials to do yet another mix, fortunately I had MW to assist with the bucket carrying this time. I think MW was surprised on how long it took to get to the face, having not been down the new route yet. MW used 1 of the buckets to build more rock in around the Boulder Rift connection, whilst I used my bucket finishing off the wall on the left and filling in any other gaps around. CJ and MB came to see our progress, both having a look at the sharp end. On their way out CJ, MB and MW moved some rock from the pile in the chamber to the shelf higher up. TH arrived around 2.30'ish. I stayed down the bottom and pointed out what rocks could be broken up more and where had been cemented, TH seems very enthusiastic about the view beyond. I headed out and left him to it. 5 hours for me. MK.

Current end with drill holes. Photo MK.

What a huge amount of work that has been done down WR over the weekend. Joining as tail end Charlie on today’s trip I was given the task of boulder reduction - this was done and the resulting debris was moved back up-cave to the base of the climb. (take care when passing these).

We should get a bang in on Wednesday - this will get us very close to the interesting black spaces ahead. Trevor.

There is now enough sand and cement on site for another couple of mixes. John.

Saturday 7th September 2024

Mike Kushy, solo. Went in about 7.15pm. Took the drill in to downsize the big boulders ahead. Need to break rock down some more, but all the bigger stuff has now been moved back. Filled up some sacks of clatch. The chamber to the left looks really interesting and I think we should cement a way into this. Down in the floor it looks caveable beyond the next boulders. 3 hours.

Current dig face. Photo MK.

Friday 6th September 2024

Mike Kushy, Jason Hares, John and Danny Arnold.

First we started by clearing the rocks at the bottom of the 10ft climb back to the chamber. Then we all moved down cave and cleared the over stock of rocks from the bottom. These all ended up in the chamber eventually. MK then went to the front and filled sacks, these got tipped into the pit at the Boulder Rift connection. After the front was cleared sufficiently there were bigger rocks to plug and feather. MK set about this and the others all took turns to look at the front. When the others were gone a few rocks were felled but not enough battery to break them all up. There's a couple of small streams below us somewhere. Draught okay today. 4 1/2 hours for me. MK.

Mk's YouTube video from today

Bang spoil. Photo MK.

After clearing. Photo MK.

Wednesday 4th September 2024

John Cooper and Trevor Hughes. John in at 18.00 to add a bit to the survey of Boulder Rift. Came out 19.00 to meet Trevor then both in to bang yesterday’s holes. All went OK. Wire left just below lid. 2 hours for me. John.

A good firing- as per your picture. Maybe not a breakthrough but certainly a vast pile of rocks to clear. A lot of small(ish) rocks ahead, a good stacking/removal policy is needed. Having said that it does, indeed, look very promising. Trevor.

Tuesday 3rd September 2024

John Cooper. Drilled holes ready for banging. 2 in first boulder (vertical) and 1 in second boulder (horizontal). 1 hour. John.

Holes drilled 12mm top 100mm then 10mm: red 500mm deep, blue 300mm deep.
Red vertically downwards, blue horizontal.
Red boulder is only about 300mm thick.