Monday 23rd December 2024

 Mike Kushy. Drilled 5 holes @600, all filled and fired fine, should be messy. 2 hours. MK 

Red holes drilled side on into the bedding slab.
Blue holes vertically down through the eroded solid floor. Photo MK.

Saturday 21st December 2024

Mike Kushy, solo. Took the drill in with the aim of moving rocks and breaking them down. That wasn't happening, everything is too big! Filled up buckets and moved a few rocks back. Spent the rest of the time widening the puddles in the floor ahead. Quite a stream coming in today, but floor draining away somewhere. Built some walls and put the spoil behind them. Draught seems to be coming from under a boulder on the right hand side. Easily enough spoil for another team clearing session. Then we may have to look at popping the rh boulder. Whilst looking for a drain hole with the long crowbar, in the puddle on the left, I was hit with a strong smell of oil/diesel and a thick band of grey clay. Towards the end I built a temporary dam and filled it up with gritty mud as much as possible, hopefully this will help to clean up a bit. 4 hours.

MK's YouTube video from today

Dig face. Photo MK.

Puddle on left. Photo MK.

Puddle on right. Photo MK.

Wednesday 18th December 2024

Sam Hill, Ed Ford, Kat Rosier and Callum Simmonds. Good session with lots removed. Started by moving all the rocks then dug the floor down. Large rocks to break up in the floor now and was getting rather wet with water pooling. Interesting sediment layers met as digging down and the draft seemed to ebb and flow as well. 2hrs. Sam.
We found a few bits which may be bone. Left by the black case. Ed.

Current dig face. Photo SH.

Closer view. Photo SH.

Tuesday 17th December 2024

Mike Kushy, solo. Breaking up rock and filling buckets ready for Wednesday. Loads to clear. Being a very mild morning the draught was present but not as strong as it has been. A growing puddle at the bottom. 3 hours, Mike.

A view from higher up of the dig face. Photo MK.

The dig face. Photo MK.

Sunday 15th December 2024

Mike Kushy, Ed Ford and Trevor Hughes.

MK went in just after 11 armed with drill. Lots of big rocks to break up. Filled the bags and buckets and moved all the spoil up cave a bit. Ed arrived just after lunchtime and we cleared everything back to the main chamber. Me and Ed then both squeezed through the recent (3rd) connection to the dig face and looked at the prospect of bringing spoil out this way. MK then went into the new 'chamber' and raked the floor, chucking all the spoil into the bouldery side. This revealed a very nice looking waterworn trench, the floor is composed of alot of sandstone and grit. EF in the meantime was losing what he could on the other side and filling the buckets up. Then with MK above the 3rd connection EF handed him buckets up. After a while we opted to go get the rope and krab and this was a lot more efficient. TH then arrived (est' 2pm), we left TH to prise rock and pf the stuff down to size. MK and EF meanwhile hauled a lot up. Rocks were strategically placed to prop up rock and build walls. There's a lot more space to fill up there yet and with a 4th person it would have been possible to pass stuff through the window towards the Tooth Dig loop. Batteries spent we all left, very cold from the draught. Loads of room at the bottom and it's now possible to clear the floor without going into the 'chamber'. 5 1/2 hours for me. MK 

MKs youtube video from today

Dig face after clearance. Photo MK.

Trevor at the dig face, then Ed, then Mike. Photo MK.

Hard to see on camera but this is stacked calcite layers right above the dig. Photo MK.

Dig face before clearing. Photo MK.

Thursday 12th December 2024

Mike Kushy. 5 holes drilled @600mm, all filled fine and fired fine. 3 holes on the right hand wall/floor and 2 in the floor just before the new squeeze. 1 1/2 hours. Mike.

Wednesday 11th December 2024

Mike Kushy, Callum Simmonds, Sam Hill and Mike Wise.

MK went in early to fill up bags and buckets and with drill. By the time all the bags and buckets were filled SH arrived and started moving them up cave. When MW arrived he and SH moved up cave to empty stuff into the Boulder Rift Chamber. Meanwhile MK started reducing bigger rocks with pfs. CS arrived at some point and took rocks and bags from MK and started ferrying them up cave. A large rock moved from the floor and blocked the ability to fill and more buckets, so whilst MK set to on this the others moved stuff as far up cave as they could. Big rock dealt with, more bags and buckets filled until the hole in the floor looked passable. MK wiggled on through, a flat out horizontal squeeze through the bedding ceiling into an erratic boulder 'chamber'. All the boulders were very big and well calcified up, so it didn't feel too dodgy. In the chamber it is possible to stand up and climb around a little, there's plenty of space to pack spoil into. Being in the 'chamber' the draught was not obvious anymore. Looking back towards the squeeze (out) everything on the left looks very clean washed, everything on the right is uninformed and erratic, the floor of the chamber was also bone dry! It is possible to squeeze through head first, turn around and come out head first too. The floor could be dug more when in the chamber, the floor leading up to the squeeze is solid bedding. Next step I think is to try and take away some of the wall and floor and get back to the line that heads into the "cliff". SH came down at the end of the session to have a look/take photos and squeezed through into the chamber too. 3 1/2 hours for me. Mike.

Mike in the new chamber, scraping the floor back. Photo SH.

Mike coming out of the new chamber. Photo SH.

 

Sam with his legs in the squeeze that lead to the chamber. Photo SH.

The current face. Photo SH.

Closer view. Photo SH.

Mike going through the squeeze. Photo SH.

Sunday 8th December 2024

Mike Kushy and Adrian Miles. 

AM went ahead with drill and started on holes whilst MK moved the bang wire further down cave. 5 hopes drilled and MK assisted AM on the set up. 2m of 40 used and fired, all went off well. The shock wave felt a lot greater this charge than any previous, even though we didn't use much material. 1 1/2 hours. Mike.

AM drilling at the dig face. Photo MK.

Wednesday 5th December 2024

Mike Kushy, Mike Wise, Sam Hill, Oli Hill, Trevor Hughes, Mike Moxon, Jake Baynes, Adrian Miles and Ed Ford.

MK went in just after 5 armed with drill. Broke up a big loose rock then filled up bags and buckets and stashed ready for the others. I then managed to move a big chunk of the bedding floor and this was downsized, allowing a lot more room at the bottom.

Around 6.30ish everyone started to arrive and all the filled bags and buckets were cleared right back. Lots and lots of bags and buckets cleared and many large rocks pulled out of the muddy floor. At some point a decent sized opening appeared in the dig face floor, between the corner and the hole at the far left. An incredible and very icy draught emitted from this, very clear that this is our direction. Lower down it looks to cut back right towards the corner and also there's signs of water carving its way down vertically through the bedding. It got difficult to clear any more without taking another large chunk of the floor away, which is best done with a charge. All the rocks are cleared though so hopefully some rain will wash alot of the remaining mud through. A very active stream and a good soaking at the point position. It was very clear to see the streamway pick up and it was easy to tell that it had started raining heavier outside, a very reactive streamway! 3 1/2 hours for me, just over 2 for the others. Pint and food at the hunters afterwards. Mike.

See comments below. Photo SH.

Didn't have camera, but here's a pic from last session. Photo is taken sat at the corner looking left across the bedding.

Red is the hole to the far left, green is all the loose bedding floor removed this session, pink is where the new hole in the floor is and blue represents the corner.