Wednesday April 30th

Mikes Wise and Kushy to tidy up the base of Cement Dig and continue with necessary alterations.

5 previously stashed full buckets were moved out and 3 more extracted from the dig. MW drilled 7 holes, 5 in the left hand wall and 2 in the newly exposed rock in the floor and charged them while MK did more tidying up above.

On exit MK diverted to initiate some noise.

Despite feeling a bit unwell, MK still carried the drill bag in and out - thanks a lot MK

MK at the top of the shaft using his light to make himself invisible

Photo by MW

2 hours

Mike Wise

Wednesday April 23rd

Mike Wise and Mike Kushy along with Trevor Hughes (welcomed back after an illness), for a clearing session following the recent rock disturbance.

The hoped for open space on the left had not materialised but a large amount of rock had been sheared off the front leaving a clean face for next time and no significant collateral damage was noted.

Between us we dug, filled, hauled and disposed of north of 50 buckets of debris plus 5 or 6 big lumps of rock.

In doing this, we dug down on the right into the space left by the absent steps and below the bang debris into virgin fill. This was a solid but wet clay embedded with small stone. Soon afterwards we exposed an undercut some 18" deep running along the entire right hand side with a solid looking, flow stone covered vertical wall at its back. Also exposed was a rib of resistant rock with a rounded upper edge running at right angles across the middle of the dig. The connection of this rib with the right hand wall was hammered energetically, but nothing much resulted.

Satisfied for the moment we exited after 2.5 hours

At the start of the session a slight draught could be detected which I thought might be coming from the right hand hole that MK pushed in the first phase of WRH exploration. As we exposed the clay and undercut the draft increased noticeably to become a conversation piece above. I thought it came from the undercut. MK went down for a quick look as we exited and thought it was coming from the clean face on the left hand wall.

The next session will be used to clear the bottom of loose debris completely and if we remember to bring them, to use a smoke match or two. A photo or two will also be taken.

Mike Wise

Wednesday April 9th

Mike Wise, Mike Kushy and Sam Hill to do some clearing of the rubble at Cement Dig meeting at 1800. Before we could get at the dig debris, we needed to do some tidying up in the approach passage. MK hauled buckets of smaller material, while MW and SH dealt with larger blocks which were lifted out and stashed out of the way in the calcited rift area. This took at least 30 minutes.

With only three of us, heroic efforts had to be made, especially by Sam, with MW passing him buckets and MK somewhere above disposing of debris. Nevertheless, a veritable mountain of loose material  flew up in our shiny, but overpoweringly pleasant smelling new buckets and out via 2 bucket drag lines. A good few large rocks also somehow were got all the way out. This was kept going for an hour or so taking us to around 2045. Unfortunately, we all forgot to count the buckets.

MW then did some drilling. The floor in front of the left hand alcove shown in the final photo from Saturdays blog entry was dug back to what seemed to be a solid base. 6 holes were drilled. The back wall is split by a diagional joint; above the joint are some calcite features, below is clean rock. At some point during this activity MW found himself talking to MK rather than SH as SH had departed; it was getting late. MW and MK exited at 2200 after subjecting the drilled alcove to a bit of a prod.

Photo by Mike Wise 

Sam playing piggy in the middle

Saturday April 5th

Last Wednesday MK had noticed on our way out something of potential interest, so after finishing a session at BagPit, MW and MK went back to take a look.

 The 'something' was at the top right of the bedding below Calcite Squeeze and immediately below the crawl into Boulder Rift Chamber. A small ledge curves around to the right below a big slab and terminates where it slopes down in front of a wall. Small stones dropped several metres. 

MW went along the ledge and started digging mud out ahead, sandstone cobbles came as well. It looks like water has come down from the Boulder Rift crawl and mud and cobbles are plentiful. The ledge has a lip on it at the front edge. After clearing, we swapped and MK stuck his head far enough to see down the wall. It was draughting noticeably but we think it connects with Tooth Dig somewhere and would be almost impossible to dig, so we left it alone.

Photos attached are by MK and include a couple of the Cement Dig taken on Saturday whilst collecting a bucket and crowbar. Wednesdays conclusion was successful and there is plenty to clear. Plan is for a 6pm meet on Wednesday

1.5 hours

Mike W 

2 photos - MW sat on the ledge getting mud and cobbles out to create some space. The slope of cobbles leading up to Boulder Rift crawl can be glimpsed to the right of the crowbar. The drop is below the notch in the roof.

MW stretching to grab a rock from in front of the vertical wall.

MK looking down into the bottom of Cement Dig. Lots of rubble. On the right are the broken remains of the second step.

MK sat in the bottom on a floor of broken rubble just waiting for removal. Right middle, just out of view, is the small passage pushed previously to the right. Upper left a view exposed by the removal of a rock.

Back on Wednesday.

Wednesday 2nd April

Mike W with Mike K to clear the larger rocks and prep to push on at the bottom of Cement Dig. We went in through the new cave with MK taking a detour to view the Puddle and grab his P&Fs.

In the dig, MW split the large rock into 2 pieces and after some struggle got the still rather large 'half' up to MK. The 2nd half was even bigger so this was split. Apart from one other being split, the rest of the rocks were manhandled out which was a bit of a struggle given the lack of footholds in the pit.

After a bit of cleaning of loose debris during which a few more large rocks were found and shifted out, the view looking down from the top was of a nice rock bench curving around the hole below where the bottom step had been. This was some 250mm wide, 500mm or so deep and approx. 1.5m long. From the floor, the low passage MK had previously pushed a bit was now accessible curving off to the right. Finally, a large rock that MK might have cemented in place in the past and which blocks the 'way on' at 11 on a clock face was accessible. A slight draught was detectable.

The bench took 2 x 12mm x 550mm holes and the blocking rock took another. A 4th hole swallowed one of MW's drill bits which snapped off at nearly full depth! After charging we retired back up through the horizontal passage where all the rocks had been dumped last week and stopped just above at the front of the calcited rift to pack up. In the passage which was now pretty much empty due to sterling rock tidying efforts by MK, and just above it in the packing area, the air was freezing cold.

MK fired from Golden Key Chamber, a slight rumble being heard by MW climbing the ladders and we exited after 2.5 hours.

 The Puddle had dropped a little bit but there is still plenty of water there.