John Cooper, Dave Morrison (Tuska) + 1 did more work on the fixed entrance ladder. John.
To watch the diggers in action on YouTube click here
Sunday, 6 August 2023
Friday, 4 August 2023
Saturday, 29 July 2023
Saturday 29th July 2023
Dave Morrison +1 working on the entrance fixed ladder. Joined later by John Cooper and Andy Thompson after they had been to LVS dig.
Tuesday, 25 July 2023
Monday 24th July 2023
Dave Morrison, Mike Kousiounis, John Cooper +1
Starting work on installing a fixed ladder down the entrance pitch. Rocks was chopped out to allow room for the 5m length of ladder to fit vertically. Brackets were measured and the ladder has been left in place. It can not be used currently and care has to be taken when free climbing down the entrance as the work done has caused some stability issues on the walls. This can be worked on once the ladder is secure. It's been decided to use an aluminium ladder for the final section, which can be moved out of place whilst digging downwards to allow more working room. The bottom of the 5m ladder will also need a platform constructed at its base. We also aim to replace the aluminium ladder that's already in the pipe work and measurements have been taken to make a custom steel ladder to take its place.
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Base for new ladder. |
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Looking down entrance shaft. |
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New ladder location, awaiting fixings. |
Sunday, 2 July 2023
Sunday 2nd July 2023
Cement Dig. Mike Kushy Solo. Had a go at continuing along the bedding ceiling. Built a wall to temporarily stack spoil. The source of the draught was a 2 inch preatic tube, probably an inlet. Used the space to put sand/cement and tools into. Then had a look at the passage above. The end dips down towards Cement Dig. About halfway in I dug up the flowstone on the right and got into a 2m boulder chamber with no obvious way on. The Cement Dig draughting well! 4 hours. Mike
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The dug alcove, now a place for kit and mixing |
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The end of the alcove |