Tuesday 22nd October 2024

John Cooper. Surveying. Started by pulling Trevor’s wire up to Boulder Chamber. Then surveyed round the Lower Boulder Chamber Loop. Then surveyed on down to the end dig. Finally surveyed the connection through to Boulder Rift. Brought Trevor’s wire out and it is now in the tool chest. There was a cold outward draught at the dig. 2½ hours. John.

Sunday 20th October 2024

am. John Cooper. Drilled a couple of holes. The lower one kept blocking up halfway down despite reaming out several times. 1 1/2 hours. John.

pm. Trevor Hughes and Adrian Miles. John’s blocked shot hole proved impossible to clear so 1 and 1/2 holes were fired successfully. An easy trip for my last day as a 60 something caver. Trevor.

Saturday 19th October 2024

Mike Wise, Lee Hawkswell and Mike Kushy.

Arrived around noon. MW went in first, followed by LH and then MK. MK went through the new connection and from that side he received the full bags of clatch from LH. Meanwhile MW was filling up more bags at the sharp end. LH was at first using his belay belt to pull bags up from the bottom, the strops were utilised and very effective. After many bags were cleared LH and MW swapped places. MK then retrieved some rope from the Boulder Rift Chamber and the rope with strops works perfectly, take a krab in. All of the spoil cleared today filled up some of the immediate holes in the floor but will take a few more sacks to fill. The draught was very cold today, so only a short session. MK had a look at the dig face in the end. 5 bags filled up ready to be cleared. 2 decent sized rocks put under the new connection point. These will want to be broken down in size (be careful). The way on looks interesting, can't see anything obvious but the draught is significant. 2 holes on the left to square the passage and we won't be far off the furthest visible point. Everyone got a good ass wetting today! Just over 2 hours. Mike K.

Current dig face. Photo MK.

Sunday 13th October 2024

Mike Kushy, solo. Took a drill in and set about clearing the bang spoil. The effect of the bang was perfect. With everything cleared as much as possible from the dig face side I then put the drill, hammer and pfs into the connection and went back up cave to the higher boulder rift connection. From the other side I grabbed the tools and cleared rock from there. A little pf work to get rid of a couple of larger rocks. I then squeezed through the newly opened connection with drill. The new connection could be made bigger, but I don't think it needs it. It would also be good to get some cement work to each side. After this I filled up several sacks of clatch and put them near the new  connection. There's a heck of a lot of spoil to clear at the dig face. This could be done with 2 people but would be most suited to a team of 3-4. The ledge needs clearing of loose rock near the new connection also. 1 1/2 hours. MK 

MK's YouTube video from today

Bang debris in the new connection. Photo MK.

New connection all cleared. Photo MK.

Current dig face. Photo MK.

Friday 11th October 2024

John Cooper and Mike Kousiounis. Initial panic when the wire could not be found in the chest nor at the bottom of the entrance shaft. Quick call to the Wednesday team who said it was down at the bottom. Bag with drill and bag with cord etc taken in. One extra hole drilled to take the back of the rock off rather than deepening the existing holes. 1m of 20gm shared between the holes and 1m of 5gm connecting cord just sufficient.  Wire taken out after use. 1 hour. John.