John Cooper, Hollie London, Ed Ford and Mike Wise on site to do some more spoil removal and initiate modifications to the stepping in right hand (or left hand depending on your view of things) wall.
We met Dave Morrison while changing and undertook training on the process for opening the new gate and wooden lid before heading in.
HL and EF worked at the front, with MW on the corner and JC up top hauling and dumping. The corner was modified slightly which reduced the bucket jamming frequency and opportunities for improvement work next week were noted.
After 20 minutes or so HL advised finding a hole at least a metre deep (isn't that a MK line?) which she proceeded to widen before swapping with EF. The draught noticeably increased at this point. EF descended and proceeded to open up the hole further and partially fill it with mud - at least according to HL :)
We lost count of buckets after the first half dozen but it is likely some 25 or so were removed in the hour allowed.
After this, JC and EF exited via the old route and attached our new wire to the end of the old and deployed it to the surface. MW started drilling while HL sat shivering in the draught, ear plugs in and trying not to drop too much loose spoil down MWs neck. Five 10mm holes were drilled, 4 along the stepped in wall and one on the 'left' of the hole. One drill bit snapped off in the drill chuck, but happily both parts were extracted and operations continued with the spare.
The new hole is impressively large and we are a good distance below the 'undercut' now. It made it quite easy to get in and do the necessary after the holes had been drilled.
After some wire fettling, HL and MW exited via the new route and met JC and EF who were relaxing on the surface. HL got the drill bag caught on the wooden lid on the way out.
Rock modification could just be heard from the surface.
JC and MW had some fun trying to shut the new gating arrangement.
2 hours for JC and EF, 3 hours for HL and MW
Photos by HL
Mike Wise
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| Before starting the session |
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| The hole appears and the draught picks up |
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| as above |
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| The other end of the hole with rock bridge. One 10mm hole made in the 'wall' just above the wellie boot |
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| as above |
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| overall view before rock modification |
