Sunday, 8 September 2024

Sunday 8th September 2024

Mike Kushy, Mike Wise, John Cooper, Monica Bollani, Courtenay James and Trevor Hughes.

MK to start with. Arrived at site around 10.15am and then got about making a mix. 2 buckets filled up and carried to the dig face, used these supporting the ceiling blocks and building a wall on the left. The filled sacks were then tipped behind the newly built wall. Headed out with empty buckets and returned to the face with the drill. Drilled 5x12mm holes to a depth of 400mm. Feeling done in from the weekend's activities I was looking forward to exiting and leaving the rest of the cement work to another day...seems JC had other plans in mind. On return to the surface JC and MW were using the last of the materials to do yet another mix, fortunately I had MW to assist with the bucket carrying this time. I think MW was surprised on how long it took to get to the face, having not been down the new route yet. MW used 1 of the buckets to build more rock in around the Boulder Rift connection, whilst I used my bucket finishing off the wall on the left and filling in any other gaps around. CJ and MB came to see our progress, both having a look at the sharp end. On their way out CJ, MB and MW moved some rock from the pile in the chamber to the shelf higher up. TH arrived around 2.30'ish. I stayed down the bottom and pointed out what rocks could be broken up more and where had been cemented, TH seems very enthusiastic about the view beyond. I headed out and left him to it. 5 hours for me. MK.

Current end with drill holes. Photo MK.

What a huge amount of work that has been done down WR over the weekend. Joining as tail end Charlie on today’s trip I was given the task of boulder reduction - this was done and the resulting debris was moved back up-cave to the base of the climb. (take care when passing these).
We should get a bang in on Wednesday - this will get us very close to the interesting black spaces ahead. Trevor.

There is now enough sand and cement on site for another couple of mixes. John.

Saturday, 7 September 2024

Saturday 7th September 2024

Mike Kushy, solo. Went in about 7.15pm. Took the drill in to downsize the big boulders ahead. Need to break rock down some more, but all the bigger stuff has now been moved back. Filled up some sacks of clatch. The chamber to the left looks really interesting and I think we should cement a way into this. Down in the floor it looks caveable beyond the next boulders. 3 hours.

Current dig face. Photo MK.

Friday, 6 September 2024

Friday 6th September 2024

Mike Kushy, Jason Hares, John and Danny Arnold.

First we started by clearing the rocks at the bottom of the 10ft climb back to the chamber. Then we all moved down cave and cleared the over stock of rocks from the bottom. These all ended up in the chamber eventually. MK then went to the front and filled sacks, these got tipped into the pit at the Boulder Rift connection. After the front was cleared sufficiently there were bigger rocks to plug and feather. MK set about this and the others all took turns to look at the front. When the others were gone a few rocks were felled but not enough battery to break them all up. There's a couple of small streams below us somewhere. Draught okay today. 4 1/2 hours for me. MK.

Mk's YouTube video from today

Bang spoil. Photo MK.

After clearing. Photo MK.

Wednesday, 4 September 2024

Wednesday 4th September 2024

John Cooper and Trevor Hughes. John in at 18.00 to add a bit to the survey of Boulder Rift. Came out 19.00 to meet Trevor then both in to bang yesterday’s holes. All went OK. Wire left just below lid. 2 hours for me. John.

A good firing- as per your picture. Maybe not a breakthrough but certainly a vast pile of rocks to clear. A lot of small(ish) rocks ahead, a good stacking/removal policy is needed. Having said that it does, indeed, look very promising. Trevor.

Tuesday, 3 September 2024

Tuesday 3rd September 2024

John Cooper. Drilled holes ready for banging. 2 in first boulder (vertical) and 1 in second boulder (horizontal). 1 hour. John.

Holes drilled 12mm top 100mm then 10mm: red 500mm deep, blue 300mm deep.
Red vertically downwards, blue horizontal.
Red boulder is only about 300mm thick.