Wednesday April 9th

Mike Wise, Mike Kushy, Courtenay James and Sam Hill to do some clearing of the rubble at Cement Dig meeting at 1800. Before we could get at the dig debris, we needed to do some tidying up in the approach passage. MK and CJ hauled buckets of smaller material, while MW and SH dealt with larger blocks which were lifted out and stashed out of the way in the calcited rift area. This took at least 30 minutes.

With CJ down in the dig, MW at the top of the dexion drop, SH in the now cleared out passage and MK somewhere above disposing of debris, a veritable mountain of material in our shiny, but overpoweringly pleasant smelling new bucket and a few more large rocks flew up and out via 2 bucket drag lines. This was kept going for an hour or so taking us to around 2045. Unfortunately, we all forgot to count them.

CJ and MW then swapped and drilling kit was lowered.  The floor in front of the left hand alcove shown in the final photo from Saturdays blog entry was dug back to what seemed to be a solid base. 6 holes were drilled. The back wall is split by a diagional joint; above the joint are some calcite features, below is clean rock. At some point during this activity MW found himself talking to MK rather than CJ. SH and CJ had departed as it was getting late. MW and MK exited at 2200 after subjected the drilled alcove to a bit of a prod.

Photos by Mike Wise 

 Sam enjoying the bucket hauling

Courtenay filling buckets

Saturday April 5th

Last Wednesday MK had noticed on our way out something of potential interest, so after finishing a session at BagPit, MW and MK went back to take a look.

 The 'something' was at the top right of the bedding below Calcite Squeeze and immediately below the crawl into Boulder Rift Chamber. A small ledge curves around to the right below a big slab and terminates where it slopes down in front of a wall. Small stones dropped several metres. 

MW went along the ledge and started digging mud out ahead, sandstone cobbles came as well. It looks like water has come down from the Boulder Rift crawl and mud and cobbles are plentiful. The ledge has a lip on it at the front edge. After clearing, we swapped and MK stuck his head far enough to see down the wall. It was draughting noticeably but we think it connects with Tooth Dig somewhere and would be almost impossible to dig, so we left it alone.

Photos attached are by MK and include a couple of the Cement Dig taken on Saturday whilst collecting a bucket and crowbar. Wednesdays conclusion was successful and there is plenty to clear. Plan is for a 6pm meet on Wednesday

1.5 hours

Mike W 

2 photos - MW sat on the ledge getting mud and cobbles out to create some space. The slope of cobbles leading up to Boulder Rift crawl can be glimpsed to the right of the crowbar. The drop is below the notch in the roof.

MW stretching to grab a rock from in front of the vertical wall.

MK looking down into the bottom of Cement Dig. Lots of rubble. On the right are the broken remains of the second step.

MK sat in the bottom on a floor of broken rubble just waiting for removal. Right middle, just out of view, is the small passage pushed previously to the right. Upper left a view exposed by the removal of a rock.

Back on Wednesday.

Wednesday 2nd April

Mike W with Mike K to clear the larger rocks and prep to push on at the bottom of Cement Dig. We went in through the new cave with MK taking a detour to view the Puddle and grab his P&Fs.

In the dig, MW split the large rock into 2 pieces and after some struggle got the still rather large 'half' up to MK. The 2nd half was even bigger so this was split. Apart from one other being split, the rest of the rocks were manhandled out which was a bit of a struggle given the lack of footholds in the pit.

After a bit of cleaning of loose debris during which a few more large rocks were found and shifted out, the view looking down from the top was of a nice rock bench curving around the hole below where the bottom step had been. This was some 250mm wide, 500mm or so deep and approx. 1.5m long. From the floor, the low passage MK had previously pushed a bit was now accessible curving off to the right. Finally, a large rock that MK might have cemented in place in the past and which blocks the 'way on' at 11 on a clock face was accessible. A slight draught was detectable.

The bench took 2 x 12mm x 550mm holes and the blocking rock took another. A 4th hole swallowed one of MW's drill bits which snapped off at nearly full depth! After charging we retired back up through the horizontal passage where all the rocks had been dumped last week and stopped just above at the front of the calcited rift to pack up. In the passage which was now pretty much empty due to sterling rock tidying efforts by MK, and just above it in the packing area, the air was freezing cold.

MK fired from Golden Key Chamber, a slight rumble being heard by MW climbing the ladders and we exited after 2.5 hours.

 The Puddle had dropped a little bit but there is still plenty of water there.