Sunday 16th February 2025

Mike Kushy, solo. Drilled holes (2@ 1m and 2@500mm) filled and fired fine. Dig face looks to be draining well with a narrow, wide, void ahead. Obvious draught coming from this. 2 hours. Mike. 

Current dig face. Photo MK.

Wednesday 12th February 2025

Mike Kushy and Sam Hill. MK arrived around 3, took in drill and broke up the last big rocks laying around. Then crowbared the loose blocks at the sharp end, these were then reduced down in size again. Started then to do the usual wall building and chucking slop behind it and of course a bit of prodding. All the buckets were filled and pushed higher up cave. SH arrived around 4.30, he moved the rocks and buckets up into the dam. We had a bit of a play with the hose, oh the dam doesn't leak anymore! After all this we decided to clear out the tunnel from the hauling spot to Tooth Dig. We did these with both of us on the Tooth Dig side and all the spoil was sent to the far side of the approach passage to TD, where there was a handy alcove. Upon clearing we noticed there was quite a bit of space in the floor heading to the recent Dig area. SH went into the dodgy boulder area above the dig face and a close light connection was made (this may be worth opening up). The dig face just keeps going forward, but until the floor is lowered/ceiling is raised it's hard to retrieve any more mud. There a nice vertical gap in the ceiling ahead about 6 inches wide, packed with grit. 5 hours for me, Mike.

MK rodding the mud ahead. Photo SH

Closer view. Photo SH.

The dig face to begin with. Photo MK

Sunday 9th February 2025

Mike Kushy and Mysti Ommer. A sunny but cold morning. MK got to site around 10 with drill, broke up the last of the bigger rocks at the face. MO arrived around 11. With MK hauling and MO filling buckets the dam was cleared in just over an hour. The pair headed to surface to mix up some cement. 2 buckets mixed and each carried a bucket to the dig site. These were transferred into smaller buckets at the bottom. MK set to work cementing, whilst MO took the buckets and headed out to start another mix. MK then headed to surface. Alex Randall showed up, but we decided not to make yet another mix, MO had to leave. MK took 2 more buckets in and used them on side walls and a bit on the dam. Horrible foggy wet weather on return to surface. 5 hours. Mike.

Thursday 6th February 2025

John Cooper. Solo trip to survey the latest area around the third connection down to the puddle, not the connection itself though. 1½ hours. Now got to update the survey properly. John.

Wednesday 5th February 2025

 Mike Wise, Mike Kushy and Sam Hill. MW filling buckets with stone and mud from the dam, MK hauling and SH on the Tooth Dig side taking buckets and rocks further away. It's now possible to get to the hauling spot from 3 different ways, again. After an hour or so the dam was cleared, apart from 2 large rocks. MW set to work with pfs whilst SH came back round to the dig face, where MK joined him. Bigger rocks were sent up to MW to make the most of bringing the drill in, meanwhile SH filled buckets of slop from the pool and sent them to MK in the dodgy pocket above the dig. MW then requested more rock to break up, so SH set to work on this whilst MK dismantled his walls to find more big rock. There's not actually a great deal of mud left in/around the pool anymore. Compulsory prod around at the end, still no drainage but far in to the right you can get some real good glug sounds. The dam is filled up with small bucket sized rock and there about 4 big rocks that need breaking down more. We really need to cement up around the sharp end! 2 1/2 hours. Mike.

No photo's today, but check out White Rabbit Cave in Canada:

White Rabbit Cave - Youtube

Monday 3rd February 2025

Mike Kushy, solo. Took in drill and made rocks smaller, these got tossed into the dam. Lost some mud in a crack to one side and tipped several buckets into the dam. Went to the sharp end and the air was very frosty. Worked on some temporary walls some more, which were backfilled with mud from the bottom of the puddle. Some decent rocks retrieved from the pool and sent further back, all the buckets are filled and further back too. Once again some stirring with the crowbar ahead. There's a very large block in the floor under the puddle which moves. 2 hours. Mike.
Didn't take any photos, so here's a Lidar image with the cave entrance marked in green.

Sunday 2nd February 2025

Mike Kushy, solo. Headed in just before 5pm, quite a cold evening. My glasses steamed up as soon as in the concrete pipe. Got to the dam and found it empty, the far side of the dam a lot of mud has washed away around the sandbag (as expected) letting out a small leak. Will have to cement this up in drier weather. The hose could also do with replacing as it's quite old and has a few kinks. The hose was where I'd left it though and you could see foam where the hole I put the hose in had overfilled. There was foam higher on the walls than the crawl through to the end, so the place would have been fully sumped at some stage. There was hardly any water to be seen at the dig face, the shattered ceiling ahead had obviously had water go over the top of it, thus bringing all the ceiling to the floor (at least we know now it is not holding the standing up block to the left. Chucked what rocks I could back and lost several buckets of mud directly into the alcove above the dig face. Then I quickly built walls around and tipped all of the mud behind them. The puddle now beginning to show its ugly face again. Ahead a thick calcite vein (8") was broken out and this let the water move on further ahead. It was at this point the air noticeably changed in draught and temperature. A lot of stuff to clear as ever and there's a large block ahead to the left that will come out. I'm feeling more optimistic now, it looks like we could be above some mud filled rift. 2 1/2 hours. Mike.

Start of session. Photo MK.

End of session. Photo MK.