Wednesday 24th April 2024

John Cooper, Alex Hannam, Sam Hill, Callum Simmonds and Andy Thompson. Andy worked on the surface, initially clearing the rocks John stacked by the entrance on 14^th April and then hauling. Sam took his drill in for p/f work and John took in one of the large hauling buckets with a tape handle. Initially Sam was at the bottom loading rocks into the large bucket which Callum hauled up the 10ft climb and passed them to John to stack in the Boulder Chamber. Once that was done Callum went down for a look and John made a start moving the rocks outwards. Some of the larger ones were broken up by Sam. Alex arrived and also went for a look at the bottom. From then on rocks were moved up in stages to the shelf and then on upwards before eventually reaching the bottom of the entrance shaft. Callum had to leave to go to work but the rest cleared all the rocks to the surface. The slab is now ready for Kushy’s attention. 2 hours.

Sunday 21st April 2024

Mike Kushy, solo trip. Went and broke down some of the rocks from last night and worked on making the slab squeeze easier. Tried to squeeze down the hole nearest the solid wall feet first, I got stuck at my hips. Whilst there I had a look down the other hole in the floor, doesn't go. Prominent cold draught from the hole nearest the solid wall. Looked around the chamber and all looks risky stuff. Need to bang out the slabs and follow the solid wall. Moved some rock up cave, more still at the bottom of the 10ft climb but too difficult to shift alone. 3 1/2 hours. Mike.

Saturday 20th April 2024

AM - Mike Kushy solo. Carried on working on the big boulder, good chunks removed. Small enough rocks were posted through the hole in the wall into next door passage. With batteries spent I decided to have a go at getting past the boulder, and I succeeded. Awkward little twist to get into the boulder chamber beyond. Made some videos of the chamber and 2 interesting holes in the floor. If I had had someone with me I would have gone on in. Now I'm sure we're on the right road. Next step is to open up the awkward climb down more and blow the big boulder to pieces. Great draught coming from below. 3 hours. MK 

MK's YouTube video from today

Decent sized fossil in the new chamber. Photo MK.

Boulder after using up batteries. Photo MK.

The view of the best hole in the floor estimated 2-3m wide. Photo MK.

 

PM - Mike Kushy solo. The awkward 10ft climb is no longer awkward. 2 1/2 hours.

Big flake that came off. Photo MK.

Head of climb down. Photo MK.

Looking down the climb. Photo MK.

Wednesday 17th April 2024

Sam Hill. Went down solo and attacked the slab for 2 hrs. No pictures but got a good chunk off it. It is easier to attack now. Could do with a second person at some point to help clear rock from the bottom. Sam.

Sunday 14th April 2024

Mike Kushy and John Cooper.

Cleared out the rocks on the bedding slope to start with, MK in cave and JC on surface. 22 buckets cleared. MK then went down to attack the boulder at the bottom, whilst JC surveyed the new chamber. Still can't quite fit through, the pinch point is at the very end of the boulder, unfortunately this means the whole boulder has to come out. After we were both done we then cleared the remaining rock from the shelf to surface, 15 buckets this time. Still some rock down near the chamber to clear. Cold draught at the dig face. 3 1/2 hours. MK.

The dig face. Photo MK.