Tuesday 23rd September 2025

John Cooper and Mike Kousiounis (Kushy). Survey trip of Tea Party Chamber and on to current end. Twenty minutes in, 60 minutes surveying and 40 minutes out (it’s uphill!). The current end chamber appears to be developing a wetter, muddier floor. Now got to process the data collected. (See Survey Page.) 2 hours. John.

Saturday 20th September 2025

Mike Kushy, John Arnold (With GoPro), Jason Hares (Jay) (With GoPro) and Lucas McMaster.  All undergound just after 10am. Took in sand, stemples and fixing kit, 5l of mixing water and food. MK went ahead using pink conservation tape to set route markings (don't cross the tape for the best route basically).  All down to TPC no problems, JH mentioned that the rock above the light connection would need sorting on the way out. MK sorted out more taping in TPC whilst the others took the time to look around. We then all went through to the final chamber where more taping was done by MK whilst the others used GoPros on sticks on various holes. MK then went through with the others on how to clear the 'intermediate chamber' and left them to it. The plan was to go and set the via ferrata stemples in place. Unfortunately the drill started smoking, so that plan didn't work. With JH in TPC hauling the buckets, MK part way in assisting buckets through the pipe, LM filling buckets/working the rope and JA loosening mud we cleared for a good hour before stopping for lunch. After lunch MK went to loosen mud and had discovered JA had been digging his way to China. With MK loosening mud and digging to China, JA filling buckets/working rope and LM/JH hauling back to TPC we did another good hour or so more clearing. Towards the end we discovered a hard calcite floor about 1ft deep, hopefully all the mud is only 1ft deep! Packed away drill and we all started to head out, also with any empty bags. The boulder above the light connection did need sorting indeed, LM and JH sorted this out and got it moved close to the 'emergency exit'. Consequently some clearing of loose stuff and stabilising needs doing, this is a high priority job. Need to make a list of materials in TPC now. 6 hours. Mike K.

The link to the video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyboaDlXhcg

It's rather long so key bits can be found here:

0.19 Cement Dig
0.23 Approaching Light Connection
0.35 All in Tea Party Chamber
0.45 Entering The Hookah Pipe
0.55 to 1.09 In the Final Chamber - note the frost shattered Stal
1.24 Break in filming - starts again leaving Light Connection
1.38 Rock moves!

Wednesday 17th September

Sam Hill, Mikey Waterworth, Ed Ford, Jake Baynes, Adrian Miles and Mike Wise.

Team split into 2 parties with different aims

Mike Wise solo report:

A drill, capping kit, lump hammer and micro crowbar were taken down to Boulder Chamber. Here the irritating pyramid shaped lump on top of the large boulder at the top of the 10ft climb was capped off using 3 holes and 5 caps. The top of the boulder is now flat. Some minor dressing was done with the lump hammer. The kit was abandoned temporarily in the chamber.

The hammer and crowbar were taken down to Boulder Rift Chamber where the floor of the step-up and crawl into the bedding below Calcite Squeeze was attacked for about 45 minutes to improve head room and generally remove lumps from the floor. Large amounts of rock varying in size from very big/just liftable to hand size were removed along with their covering of mud. The big stuff was stacked in the chamber, the smaller stuff and some mud was rammed back into the gaps that appeared below the mud covering.

Started packing up at 2045 and began slowly exiting at 2100 having heard nothing from the team below. They caught up with me at Boulder Chamber and at the entrance shaft I found that someone was jiggling the hauling rope from the top. It turned out to be SH who mistakenly had exited via the old route - he must have run out!  Thanks to JB for carrying my drill box down into Boulder Chamber at the start. 

Other report:

All visited TPC. EF's foot came off the slippery scaffold bar on the descent from the Light Connection and he somersaulted down onto the chamber floor. Injuries declared in the Hunters later were a damaged knee and a badly swollen wrist. MWa scanned everything from TPC to the end.

2 hours 

Mike Wise

After Ed’s acrobatics, myself and Jake had a look at TPC. I then went through the Hookah to join SH and MWa at the end. Myself and MWa went back to the chamber just after the hookah and cleared some of the spoil in both directions. MWa and SH went back to the final chamber to look at prospective leads whilst the rest of us started heading out. All on the surface by 21:30. Adrian. 

Sunday 14th September 2025

Mike Kushy, Ed Ford and Hollie London. MK and EF to begin with. Headed in just after 10am leaving one of the new 6l daren drums for HL to pack her camera kit in (thanks to Rob Harper for the kind donation). EF took in his drill and picked up the drinking water on the way in and MK took charged batteries, drum of sand and a 5l container of mixing water in. When we got to TPC EF got to making some brews, then HL arrived equipped with her camera and some hauling rope (which proved very useful later). After morning tea we had a go at The Hookah Pipe some more, with MK on the far side pf'ing back and EF/HL working the TPC side. When we decided it looked big enough to haul buckets through we all stopped for lunch. EF and HL then went through to the most recent chamber and we used the haul line to pull buckets back. Ideally we need flat laid 5l buckets cut to 3/4's for this, plus we can still open the whole tube up some more (maybe a small charge is needed on one side). MK pulling the line in TPC and EF/HL taking turns pushing on, 66 buckets in total. Around 59 buckets MK shouted to call it at 60 but the reply was 'There's a great big chamber not far off'. All 3 now in the smallish chamber we all took turns loosening mud and fishing out rocks. First one through then stopped and cleared from the otherside for others, all got through in the end. The new new chamber is roughly 10m long x 4m wide x 3m height with nice broken column formation at the far end. Lots of rifts intersecting but the draught is not obvious anymore. Liquid mud floor which is very shiny (perhaps a small lead content?). We will have to discuss the next steps as a team once everyone has had a look. 4 drums of sand in cave, 1 drum of cement, 5l of mixing water and 10l of drinking water. 6 1/2 hours. Mike

Click here for todays video.

HL coming back out of the newest chamber. Photo MK.

Rogue Coral fossil found in the new chamber. Photo HL.

EF in the new chamber. Photo HL.

MK looking at the broken column formation. Photo HL.

EF entering the new chamber. Photo HL.

Same photo as previous but further back. Photo HL.

EF fishing out rocks from the soon to be breakthrough point. Photo HL.

The column found in the 'intermediate' chamber. Photo HL.

Wednesday 10th September 2025

Mike Kushy, Hollie London, Ed Ford and Mike Wise. MK and HL to begin with. We made our way in around 5.30pm with batteries and a tub of sand. Picking up 2x scaff' bars on the way everything was taken to TPC. EF arrived not long after with his Dewalt 18v drill so we handed him some pfs and he opened up the head of the light connection more. This has revealed that some extra stabilisation needs doing here, possibly some cementing and a scaff' bar for a brace. Meanwhile HL was attacking The Hookah Pipe with the sds and chisels, whilst MK did more furnishing of TPC's floor. MK then went through The Hookah Pipe and used the Bosch sds from the far side. MW arrived and made it into TPC for the first time and said it wasn't as bad as we made out. He brought his Makita 36v in and attacked the pipe from TPC side. We all swapped turns tidying the floor and chiselling. Towards the end EF managed to get through THP into the decorated chamber beyond so he did some pf work from the far side. HL had a go at THP too. I think she could have done it but the squeeze is very intimidating and it's not going anywhere. Probably another session and we may be able to start hauling buckets of mud back into TPC. 3 tubs of sand and 1 tub of cement in cave, no water. There is 5l bottle of drinking water on the shelf near the bottom of the shaft. This will need an empty tackle sack to take further in. We also need to take in a heavier lump hammer for calcite.  3 1/2 hours. Mike K.