Sunday 29th January 2023

Mike Kushy, John Cooper and Courtenay James. I left Courtenay and John to dismantle the obtrusive rock at the Boulder Rift dig, this took them about an hour and a half. Meanwhile I worked on opening up the cemented dig in the main bedding some more, also managed to clear out some rock from the on going area. When JC and CJ arrived we cleared the rock built up from plug and feathering and some clatch. The session was ended with some more cement work on the walls higher up. There's still an annoying bit of rock low down which needs coming out to allow further clearing ahead. 3 1/2 hours. Mike.

Sunday 22nd January 2023

 

Before

Mike Kushy. Solo trip to work on the cemented dig at the bottom of the main bedding. Plug and feathering the right hand hole, made it big enough to get into. Need to open up the slope on the floor a bit more which won't take long. Head first a view off to the right for a few metres, a small hole down to the left, draughting very well, appeared. A flowstone wall ahead, all feels very safe. Broke my 14mm drill bit and didn't have a spare so had to improvise with a 10mm and what I had left of the 14mm. Will need a team of at least 3 next time to pull the clatch and rocks out. 5 hours, Mike.

After

https://youtu.be/W3jSOnFQxAU

Saturday 7th January 2023

Mike Kushy, Andy Thompson and Courtenay James. Carried the rest of the bags left throughout the cave down to the Bedding Dig. Cleared out a lot of clatch that had washed in. You can now see the holes in the floor more clearly again. Looking down the pit, the hole on the right has a good view to a stal'd up solid wall which is concave with nodules on it and some nice formations. Good draught when you stick your head in too. There's a huge slab like block across the floor which I think has dropped from above (4m or so). I believe this could be the cause of the blockage. With some cementing done off this it should be possible to plug and feather edges off it and some of the right hand side to get in and clear the rest of the clatch and some bigger rocks. When we're into the next bit a lot more work cementing will need to be done, but for now it's workable and a decent size to allow progress forwards. After this we went to the most recent dig in the Boulder Rift. Good progress was made for an hour or so clearing cobbles and grit back, it's a decent size in there now and there's a lot more to come out, buckets left on site. At the end of this session a big block was moved that now blocks the way into the dig, this will need to be broken up to allow access again, but it will make the whole dig much more comfortable. This block will probably take a few hours to break up. 5 hours. Mike.

Monday 2nd January 2023

Mike Kushy, Samuel Hill and Frank Tully. We took in a lot of materials, 6 tackles sacks of sand, 2 tackle sacks of cement and 2 bags with drills. With hopes of getting into the new passage seen last time we set to work at the most recent dig site. The plan was to open up the approach to bring bigger rocks out, we soon gave up on this realising it's a big job and decided to head further down and squirrel on with the hope of a 'big breakthrough'. Frank joined us at this point. Capping and pfs we managed to make a hole big enough to squeeze into the next bit, that wasn't 2m high but more like 2ft, got the width right at about 5m though. Eastwater Lower Traverse type passage, and 'proper cave' with a small streamway. The water hits a sandy cobble filled floor and heads left (looking down), digging here will require opening up the squeeze, which in turn will require opening up the approach to get large rocks out. There's also a couple of fluted rock paths heading back up into the ceiling, but just slightly too tight to get up into. MK on the way out of the new bit decided to go check out the other pit, it was then decided efforts for the day would be better spent on the bottom of our original Boulder Rift dig. Some corners were taken off and we managed to get a body length in, boulders in the ceiling again (clean washed) with an easy diggable floor full of mud and sandstone cobbles...interesting site with a much more pronounced draught! On the way out looking up to the left you can see a hole with water trickling out of it, I predict this is the other side of the chamber we broke into earlier...the survey should confirm this once done.

We then finished off by cementing at the bedding chamber dig. Really happy to start breaking up rocks in the floor here next session and there's quite alot of clatch to come out. 1 half bag of sand and a 1/3 of a half bag at the bottom, quarter Daren drum of cement. There's 2 tackle sacks of sand left in the 4th chamber from the entrance plus a tackle sack of sand and a tackle sack of cement left in the first chamber (plenty enough for the next session). 6 hours in total. Mike.

The bottom left of the new 'breakthrough chamber'

The final squeeze into the new chamber

A view of the new chamber from the squeeze

Sam in the bottom of the original dig in Boulder Rift

The view looking back up from the last photo

The other side of the dig looking back towards Sam

The sharp end

The sharper end

Friday 30th December 2022

Mike Kushy, Samuel Hill, Callum Simmonds and Courtenay James. Took 2 and a half full bags of sand down to the bottom dig in tackle sacks. Used 1 full bag with Sam and Callum. We then all moved up to the Boulder Rift dig. MK went back up cave to the Pit and a clear light connection was made with Sam still in the boulder rift. Would be an easy connection to make! We then carried on the most recent dig. Courtenay showed up around 2ish and he and MK went and did some more cement work, all the sand and cement has been exhausted. I think it should be safe enough next trip to start pulling rocks out of the floor again. Oh, we could hear and feel clear reverberation from the drilling by Sam and Callum. After this we went to join the guys in the Boulder Rift dig. They had got through to a little chamber beyond, with a hole in the floor draughting well. MK went in and dug a hole slightly higher up, which ended up connecting to the other dig in the boulder rift, forming a round trip. The hole in the floor was inspected and decent open passage can be seen ahead, no boulders or mud in sight. Unfortunately opening this up would have taken more time than we had today, and the whole approach could do with enlarging to allow bigger, loose stacked rocks to come right out. 5 1/2 hours. Mike K. 

https://youtu.be/7DBfA40Xa5w

Thursday 29th December 2022

John Cooper and Andrew Thompson. Took in John’s drill etc. Worked on Boulder Rift dig, removing top boulder and was on the lower one when John hit his index finger with the hammer, splitting it open. Packed up and came out. 1 hour. John.

Tuesday 27th December 2022

John Cooper and Mike Kousiounis. Took in enough sand for 3 mixes and cement for 6 mixes plus the drill. Left the drill at the start of the Boulder Rift but the rest went to the bottom dig. John did 3 mixes of cement which Mike used up walling. John then came out with all the empty bags leaving Mike to go to the Boulder Rift dig. 2 hours. John.

After finishing with John cementing (12.30pm ish), Mike K went to do some more work at the most recent dig in the Boulder Rift. Plug and feathering away. Andy Thompson arrived just after 2pm  to provide some much appreciated help. Andy then took over p and f work whilst Mike went to inspect the collapse from Thursday down the other BR dig site. The collapse was obvious and has opened up a lot more room to get to the bottom, there is also a view of some decent space below heading towards the new site. Mike and Andy left the site just before 4, two decent sized boulders to break up still but out of battery power. There's enough cement and water at the cementing site but some more sand will need taking in. 5 hours in all. Mike.

*Photo looking vertically down on the recent dig site, most of the boulder on the left has now been removed*

Thursday 22nd December 2022

John Cooper, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Went in with the diggers but stopped to start surveying at the Pit whilst they went to the bottom dig with more sand and cement. First descended the Pit and updated the one leg done previously. More there than expected. Could talk through to Adrian in the Upper Bedding Chamber but could not get a visual connection. Then on to the Upper Bedding Chamber and surveyed down the East side. Then on to Boulder Rift and surveyed the South going passage – lots of rumbles from below on way out. Needs doing again properly when it’s been made safe. Did not do the Upper North trending bit as the diggers had joined us by then and were below it. 2½ hours. John.

Courtenay James, Mike Kushy, Wayne Starsmore and Mike Wise. Started about 3.30. We took in one and a half bags of sand, a full BDH of cement and an extra container of water, plus the drill bag. Wayne set about a mix whilst Courtenay and Mike W carried on with clearing spoil on the rope haul and Mike K sorted rocks out for the bottom. All the sand and cement was used, 5 and a half small buckets for use at the bottom. Cemented in some steps which will be usable next session and started building up off the floor. I'm guessing another 4-5 sessions to finish. There are lots of big rocks and fist sized rocks at the bottom ready for next time, slight draught. At 5ish Wayne headed on out whilst the rest of us went to trial a new dig site in the Boulder Rift chamber. Under the large horizontal slabs in the middle of the chamber there's a pit that heads down to some clean washed rock. After saying hi to the surveyors and listening to an impressive collapse beneath them we got to work. Progress was steady and all seems safe enough to work without stabilising. Slipknotting a rope around rocks in the floor helped to remove some large lumps. A hole in the floor was revealed with a cool draught being emitted once opened, more work yet. A crowbar, Plug and Feathers box with tools and a rope has been left in place. A good dig to have at the end of short cementing sessions at the bottom. Mike. K

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Sunday 18th December 2022

John Cooper, Mike Kousiounis and Andrew Thompson. Took in sand, cement, mixing tub, dexion and drill (not used). Whilst Mike sorted out his skeleton dexion frame in the bottom pit Andy sent up buckets of spoil for John to stack. Once Mike was ready a mix of cement was done which Mike used to hold the frame in place. Lots more cementing will be required before any progress can be made. 2½ hours. John.

From logbook : A trip down to the dig to do a cementing and scaffolding session. We each lugged a tackle sack to the dig face and Mike assembled the angle iron whilst John and I hauled some of the catch out from the right hand wall on the approach to the face. A short cementing session at the end. Lots more cement needed. 1/3 of cement left in drum. 2 1/2 hours. Andy T.

Saturday 10th December 2022

 Mike Kushy and Courtenay James. 

Started at 11, carried on digging down in the muddy pit at the bottom. Revealed more voids between boulders. Even managed some plug and feathering to remove some decent sized limestone. In one hole a possible solid wall with flowstone and stal' can be seen. Very cold draught coming from all voids and the theory is that it's all just one big space filled with boulder. I think the next way on is down still. Some scaff bars and cement work will be needed before any more progress down though. 5 hours. Mike.

https://youtu.be/R18-xFClXts

Thursday 8th December 2022

 Mike Kushy, solo trip. Carrying on from where Mike Waterworth and I left off yesterday. Carried on down through the floor, some decent holes appearing and the draught is getting stronger, Saturday should be interesting. 5 hours. MK

https://youtu.be/zVyv8Xh5qAQ

Wednesday 7th December 2022

Mike Kushy and Mike Waterworth. More work on the muddy dig, started to go down in the floor and was finding fist sized lumps of limestone instead of the usual sand and mud. Found a draught at the end heading in the same direction as the passage above. 2 1/2 hours. Mike K.