Wednesday 25th June 2025

John Cooper, Hollie London, Ed Ford and Mike Wise on site to do some more spoil removal and initiate modifications to the stepping in right hand (or left hand depending on your view of things) wall.

We met Dave Morrison while changing and undertook training on the process for opening the new gate and wooden lid before heading in.

HL and EF worked at the front, with MW on the corner and JC up top hauling and dumping. The corner was modified slightly which reduced the bucket jamming frequency and opportunities for improvement work next week were noted.

After 20 minutes or so HL advised  finding a hole at least a metre deep (isn't that a MK line?) which she proceeded to widen before swapping with EF. The draught noticeably increased at this point. EF descended and proceeded to open up the hole further and partially fill it with mud - at least according to HL :)

We lost count of buckets after the first half dozen but it is likely some 25 or so were removed in the hour allowed.

After this, JC and EF exited via the old route and attached our new wire to the end of the old and deployed it to the surface. MW started drilling while HL sat shivering in the draught, ear plugs in and trying not to drop too much loose spoil down MWs neck. Five 10mm holes were drilled, 4 along the stepped in wall and one on the 'left' of the hole. One drill bit snapped off in the drill chuck, but happily both parts were extracted and operations continued with the spare.

The new hole is impressively large and we are a good distance below the 'undercut' now. It made it quite easy to get in and do the necessary after the holes had been drilled.

After some wire fettling, HL and MW exited via the new route and met JC and EF who were relaxing on the surface. HL got the drill bag caught on the wooden lid on the way out.

Rock modification could just be heard from the surface.

JC and MW had some fun trying to shut the new gating arrangement. 

2 hours for JC and EF, 3 hours for HL and MW

Photos by HL

Mike Wise  

Before starting the session

The hole appears and the draught picks up

as above

The other end of the hole with rock bridge. One 10mm hole made in the 'wall' just above the wellie boot

as above 

overall view before rock modification

Monday 23rd June 2025

Mike Kushy and Dave Morrison. Fitting new doors, mesh and preparing for turret building. Also had a tidy up of the thistles. 2 1/2 hours. Mike.

Framework. Photo DM.

Framework. Photo DM.

Thursday 19th June 2025

Mike Kushy and David Morrison. DM fresh off the plane and straight back to digging plans. We had a little clear up and forumlated a final plan for the site. We also measured for the final gate. This will be bolted and hinged to the concrete sleeper, lifting upwards to a catch. A turret is the landowners preferred style for the cave entrance itself. 2 hours. Mike.

Wednesday 18th June 2025

Mike Kushy, Mike Wise, Mike Waterworth and Ed Ford. MK at the sharp end to begin with, filling buckets of slop, with MWi at the 1st haul, then MWa at the corner and EF top hauling. Works okay with 4, with a bit of fettling it might be possible to clear with 3 even. 4/5 people preferred though. MK and MWi swapped places after a couple of dozen buckets, then another couple of dozen cleared. Still more loose to come out but we think it's best to open the ledge up at the bottom to create more clearing space. Draught picked up around 7.30pm. 2 hours. Mike K.

Saturday 14th June 2025

Mike Kushy. Crowbarred some boulders, broke these down with pfs. Collapsed a lot of mud ready for Wednesday nighters. Mixed up two small buckets of cement and resumed stabilising work. New wire near cement dig still coiled up. Apologies for not having any photos or videos of the pit downwards, I dropped my phone whilst probing the holes. 3 1/2 hours. Mike.

Wednesday June 11th 2025

 Ed Ford, Hollie London, Mike Waterworth, Trevor Hughes and Mike Wise.

 Took in 2 daren drums of sand and with HL, EF and MWa rotating roles at the front we extracted 35 buckets of spoil which TH hauled up and dumped. MWi made some minor improvements to the surfaces to ease the upper hauling route. Spoil became progressively wetter and digging harder during the session. Draught improved noticeably towards the end. Some decisions are going to be needed regarding rock removal in the floor and on that section which forms the left hand corner, but digging should be possible for one more session.

Dig at the start of the session

Looking onwards around the left hand corner

The base of the dig at the end

Looking around the left hand corner

 Photos and video by Hollie

1.5 hours digging, 2.25 hours overall

 Mike Wise 

Saturday 7th June 2025

Michael Kousiounis and John Gisborne. Met 10am and took in drill, water and 2 daren drums with premixed cement and sand in. JG went for a look at the sharp end, then MK went in and broke up the nuisance rock from Wednesday evening. JG in the meantime started making a mix and sent the first load down to MK to carry on the wall building. A second mix was made and this was used supporting the opposite wall. Buckets filled up ready. Lots of calcite amongst the spoil at the bottom and the floor seems to be drying out well. All daren drums brought out and left with sacks in container, ready to get filled up with sand and taken back in. 2 1/2 hours. Mike.

Wednesday 4th June 2025

 Hollie London, Trevor Hughes, Mike Wise, Ed Ford, Chris Holt and John Cooper on a mission to level the bottom of Cement Dig. HL, EF and CH each spent approximately 30 minutes digging and filling buckets. The top rope attachment loop was found to have a very long tail; when this was adjusted the rope reached all the way from JC at the dumping spot to TH at the top of the shaft making hauling easy peasy especially with MW, EF and CH assisting the buckets to negotiate the corners. A new 8m rope was attached to the top rope krab and left to follow the bucket, making it easy to retrieve the bucket from JC after emptying.

EF had a 1 on 1 battle with a tooth shaped rock in the floor which was rocking to and fro but did not want to be extracted. The full time score was EF 0 - Rock 1. In extra time CH and MW took a look at it but the final score was Diggers 0 - Rock 3, with a grand total of 42 buckets removed, all of which were dumped by JC with the rest of the team rotating to different extents.

At the end MW went down to review the status at the bottom and was really pleased to find a flat floor with no downhill wriggling needed to see the 'corner' and a clearance of maybe 15" below the undercut. The floor has some rocks embedded in the mud but a bit of minor furtling indicated these could be dug out.

No-one got cold as the draught wasn't as strong as it was on the last visit, but TH and MW got persistently dripped on while positioned just above the top of the shaft.

 JC took CH out via the old cave, HL carried my bag of tools in and out - thanks HL!

Before digging photo

After digging photo - the rock mentioned above can be seen in the floor just above the krab

 2 hrs and 15 minutes

Before and after photos by HL 

 

Mike Wise

Saturday 31st May 2025

Mike Kushy and Mike Wise. Took in 2 8ft scaff bars and 2 x daren drums of sand/dust to Cement Dig. MW cut the bars whilst MK drilled for pins. MK also made a small mix and started buliding up a wall from solid ledge at the bottom. MW then made a further load of mix to keep building. No building materials left so will have to fill Daren drums to carry in next session. Lovely draughts coming from all holes leading 'down cave'. 4 hours. MK.

MK's youtube video from today

The dig face (looking east), I'm stood on the big solid ledge. Photo by MK.

Wednesday 28th May 2025

 John Cooper,Jake Baynes, Mike Kushy, Hollie London and Mike Wise

Johns log entry:

  I went in via the Puddle Dig route and had a look at the bottom of Cement Dig before the others arrived. At least a couple of meters deeper than the last time I was there. Hauling was done in two stages using two ropes. Started with MW at the bottom filling small buckets (5L) which HL hauled up and passed across to JB. He removed the bucket from that haul rope and attached it to the upper one which I pulled up and emptied. Initially we were hauling and dumping via the original East slope but when MK arrived the top haul moved across to the West slope where emptying by MK was easier, even though a longer haul. After a while I swapped with MK so resumed emptying the buckets. Much later, about the time the spoil being removed changed from bang debris to original deposit (sticky and muddy), MW and HL swapped. 60 loads of spoil removed from bottom. Definitely needs 5 people to work effectively.

 

Mike Wise log entry.

 The first 30 buckets were easy containing mostly bang debris. The following 30 were harder to fill and empty comprising in the main sticky mud and access to grab this stuff was down slope and under the under cut, so was harder to get at.  In the end HL was able to get in under the bedding roof and see around a sharp left corner into about 1m of narrow ongoing passage. Spoil removal at the corner noticeably improved the draught but there is loose material coming down from above the undercut somewhere. 

On Saturday 31st some stabilisation work is planned by MW and MK unless 3 more bodies are available in which case some more clearing will be done.

 We also need to improve the method for hauling up from the bottom - it is unnecessarily difficult. 

No photos this week, but prospects are looking more positive than they have for quite a while

 2.5 hours

Mike Wise.

Friday 16th May 2025

Mike Kushy. 1 hour filling trailer with rocks. Mike.

Photo MK.

Sunday 11th May 2025

Mike Kushy. Went to Puddle Dig and moved some spoil back behind walls I built. Fairly draughty and long crowbar goes into the muddy floor with hardly any resistance. Then on to Cement Dig and cleared some of the backlog further back. Much stronger draught at this site and actually got quite cold even though I was moving the whole time. 2 hours. Mike.

Wednesday May 7th

 Mikes' Wise and Kushy checking out the result of last week's bang and to clear what we could with our limited resources. The left hand wall was damaged, but still intact and solid looking.  The rock in the floor had been broken out. MW dragged out the rock from the floor and some loads of the loose or detachable lumps for MK to stack or throw further up the passage above. We then swapped and MK investigated the undercut pulling off some more large lumps before attacking the backwall and uncovering a decent sized descending hole adjacent to and connected with the undercut. After removal of a large triangular rock, this showed the same sticky, stone filled and wet mud infill that we had buried with bang debris last week. MW probed the floor here with the large crowbar,  shoving it down 2ft without too much effort.  In summary we seem to have solid left and right hand walls and bedding roof and maybe have left the horrible loose stuff behind. We also now have room to dig. All we need is a minimum team of 5 for a 1/2 day to clear all the bang debris and the mud infill so we can see what we have found. 

2 hours

Mike Wise

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.

Tuesday 25th March

Mike W and Sam H to assess the damage made in Cement Dig from last weeks activity, move out what material we could and assess possibilities for next steps.

The steps had disappeared, creating some much needed space and there was a lot of mixed sized debris in the bottom. A hole up on the right, not visible from the steps was disgorging stones, mud and clay at random with quite a lot already on the floor. Further space creation opportunities exist on the right at floor level. Cement work was largely intact.

With Sam in the hole and Mike perched above, 4 buckets of small stuff and all the accessible medium, large and larger but manageable rocks were brought up and dumped on the only flat surface available (where the end of the wire had been left). Sam uncovered two very large rocks which could be moved but not lifted out.

Actions needed in the normal course of events would be a) cement up the loose hole b) P&F the large rocks and lift them out and c) get a team of at least 5 to move the rocks back to a suitable spot and then chain out all the small stuff in buckets. While discussing this we started getting terminally depressed at the thought of how much cement would be needed to be brought down to accomplish the first task. We instead discussed the use of lightweight, but strong GRP grid, brought down in suitably sized sections and either bolted into place or wedged behind steel tubing or dexion. This has been successfuly used in LVS to create a working platform and hold back the loose overhead boulder choke. Suitably installed, possibly with chicken wire behind it, this could also enable storage of much of the small and medium sized debris, avoiding the painful thought of chaining it out. The hole needs gardening and surveying to establish details of course, but we left feeling much more cheerful following this discussion. We just need to find some off-cuts.

Time underground 1 hour. Write up by Mike W / Photos by Sam.

Photos.  1 before clearance /  2 and 3 after clearance / 4 Puddle dig, still very wet

Wednesday March 19th 2025

Mike W and Mike K, having discussed the matter a couple of times recently, decided to go and disturb the floor in Cement Dig. Mike K arrived first and went ahead, bag in hand, to check the results of a recent disturbance in Puddle Dig and rollup and retrieve the wire; Mike W followed carrying a drill bag and battery box. The two Mikes met at the connection point into Boulder Rift chamber and soon were reminiscing about previous visits to the 'old cave'. Mike W inserted himself into the bottom of the dig and found there wasn't room to swing a drill, so it was decided to open things up by making the two steps disappear. 4 holes were drilled in the bottom step and 2 in the upper step. Although some quickly holed through at 300mm, others were drilled normally to between 400 and 600 mm. Mike K busied himself dropping dried mud down Mike W's neck and into the drilled holes. After some faffing around, the job was done and Mike K laid a wire trail all the way back to Golden Key Chamber. He fired just as Mike W was hauling bags up the 10ft climb. 3 hours  Mike W

A disturbed but still quite wet Puddle dig. Photo MK.

Mike W sitting on the lower step in Cement Dig. Photo MK.

Wednesday 12th March 2025

Mike Kushy and Mike Wise. MK went in early and cleared some mud. Pool still there. MW arrived and 4 holes drilled, 3m used. 2 1/2 hours. Mike K.

Dig face. Photo MK.

Wednesday 26th February 2025

Mike Kushy, Sam Hill and Mike Wise. Very wet cave today after the heavy rain yesterday. MK took the drill and the 'rinsed out' pf box in. Broke up the large rocks laying in the pool and tossed them further back. The pool only had water in the half closest, beyond was fairly dry and gaps could be seen over the mud. SH arrived in the midst of MKs aqueous mud mining but didn't opt to tag in. We both moved some rocks higher up to the dam. MW then arrived and with SH near Tooth Dig, MK hauling and MW filling the buckets we cleared the dam fully. We then all congregated at the bottom where MK unwound the bung and shoved his arm up the pipe to unblock it. This consequently rushed into the dig and my suit got a good clean. No pictures and you wouldn't want to see the state of it. The dam water raised the pool level by a good 2 inches. Think this is a good time to leave this dig site until warmer weather. Let's head North! 2 1/2 hours. Mike.

Sam Hill's video upon arrival.

Saturday 22nd February 2025

Mike Kushy, Alison Moody and Dave Walker. Initial tourist trip through the upper passages. On to Cement Dig, where both AM and DW went for a look at the ends. Nice draught coming out of Cement Dig today (may be worth putting a couple of charges into the boulders in the floor). Then to BRC and down to Tooth Dig, not much of a draught here and no one really approves of the site logistically. Then through the 2nd connection and into the newer passage. MK went ahead to assess bang damage and we decided we'd have a little clear out. MK perched in the chamber above the dig receiving buckets from DW, whilst AM was at the front. After a while DW went to the front and MK passed buckets to AM who was in the chamber. Once the chamber was exhausted MK went to the front and 5 large rocks were prised from the ceiling. There's a massive shattered block in the ceiling ahead ready to come down, but unfortunately when it's prised it moves even more ceiling higher up cave (ceiling we really don't want moving). The dam needs clearing and we need to get some more cement in before any more forwards progress. Nice draught at the bottom and quite frosty air. Tools retrieved from various dig sites: 1x micro pick, 1x 1 1/2ft crowbar, 1x short cold chisel and 12x full pf sets 😀 3 hours. Out through the new route. You can have a good hours trip now looking around at the sites. Mike.

The sharp end. Photo MK.

Sunday 16th February 2025

Mike Kushy, solo. Drilled holes (2@ 1m and 2@500mm) filled and fired fine. Dig face looks to be draining well with a narrow, wide, void ahead. Obvious draught coming from this. 2 hours. Mike. 

Current dig face. Photo MK.

Wednesday 12th February 2025

Mike Kushy and Sam Hill. MK arrived around 3, took in drill and broke up the last big rocks laying around. Then crowbared the loose blocks at the sharp end, these were then reduced down in size again. Started then to do the usual wall building and chucking slop behind it and of course a bit of prodding. All the buckets were filled and pushed higher up cave. SH arrived around 4.30, he moved the rocks and buckets up into the dam. We had a bit of a play with the hose, oh the dam doesn't leak anymore! After all this we decided to clear out the tunnel from the hauling spot to Tooth Dig. We did these with both of us on the Tooth Dig side and all the spoil was sent to the far side of the approach passage to TD, where there was a handy alcove. Upon clearing we noticed there was quite a bit of space in the floor heading to the recent Dig area. SH went into the dodgy boulder area above the dig face and a close light connection was made (this may be worth opening up). The dig face just keeps going forward, but until the floor is lowered/ceiling is raised it's hard to retrieve any more mud. There a nice vertical gap in the ceiling ahead about 6 inches wide, packed with grit. 5 hours for me, Mike.

MK rodding the mud ahead. Photo SH

Closer view. Photo SH.

The dig face to begin with. Photo MK

Sunday 9th February 2025

Mike Kushy and Mysti Ommer. A sunny but cold morning. MK got to site around 10 with drill, broke up the last of the bigger rocks at the face. MO arrived around 11. With MK hauling and MO filling buckets the dam was cleared in just over an hour. The pair headed to surface to mix up some cement. 2 buckets mixed and each carried a bucket to the dig site. These were transferred into smaller buckets at the bottom. MK set to work cementing, whilst MO took the buckets and headed out to start another mix. MK then headed to surface. Alex Randall showed up, but we decided not to make yet another mix, MO had to leave. MK took 2 more buckets in and used them on side walls and a bit on the dam. Horrible foggy wet weather on return to surface. 5 hours. Mike.

Thursday 6th February 2025

John Cooper. Solo trip to survey the latest area around the third connection down to the puddle, not the connection itself though. 1½ hours. Now got to update the survey properly. John.

Wednesday 5th February 2025

 Mike Wise, Mike Kushy and Sam Hill. MW filling buckets with stone and mud from the dam, MK hauling and SH on the Tooth Dig side taking buckets and rocks further away. It's now possible to get to the hauling spot from 3 different ways, again. After an hour or so the dam was cleared, apart from 2 large rocks. MW set to work with pfs whilst SH came back round to the dig face, where MK joined him. Bigger rocks were sent up to MW to make the most of bringing the drill in, meanwhile SH filled buckets of slop from the pool and sent them to MK in the dodgy pocket above the dig. MW then requested more rock to break up, so SH set to work on this whilst MK dismantled his walls to find more big rock. There's not actually a great deal of mud left in/around the pool anymore. Compulsory prod around at the end, still no drainage but far in to the right you can get some real good glug sounds. The dam is filled up with small bucket sized rock and there about 4 big rocks that need breaking down more. We really need to cement up around the sharp end! 2 1/2 hours. Mike.

No photo's today, but check out White Rabbit Cave in Canada:

White Rabbit Cave - Youtube

Monday 3rd February 2025

Mike Kushy, solo. Took in drill and made rocks smaller, these got tossed into the dam. Lost some mud in a crack to one side and tipped several buckets into the dam. Went to the sharp end and the air was very frosty. Worked on some temporary walls some more, which were backfilled with mud from the bottom of the puddle. Some decent rocks retrieved from the pool and sent further back, all the buckets are filled and further back too. Once again some stirring with the crowbar ahead. There's a very large block in the floor under the puddle which moves. 2 hours. Mike.
Didn't take any photos, so here's a Lidar image with the cave entrance marked in green.

Sunday 2nd February 2025

Mike Kushy, solo. Headed in just before 5pm, quite a cold evening. My glasses steamed up as soon as in the concrete pipe. Got to the dam and found it empty, the far side of the dam a lot of mud has washed away around the sandbag (as expected) letting out a small leak. Will have to cement this up in drier weather. The hose could also do with replacing as it's quite old and has a few kinks. The hose was where I'd left it though and you could see foam where the hole I put the hose in had overfilled. There was foam higher on the walls than the crawl through to the end, so the place would have been fully sumped at some stage. There was hardly any water to be seen at the dig face, the shattered ceiling ahead had obviously had water go over the top of it, thus bringing all the ceiling to the floor (at least we know now it is not holding the standing up block to the left. Chucked what rocks I could back and lost several buckets of mud directly into the alcove above the dig face. Then I quickly built walls around and tipped all of the mud behind them. The puddle now beginning to show its ugly face again. Ahead a thick calcite vein (8") was broken out and this let the water move on further ahead. It was at this point the air noticeably changed in draught and temperature. A lot of stuff to clear as ever and there's a large block ahead to the left that will come out. I'm feeling more optimistic now, it looks like we could be above some mud filled rift. 2 1/2 hours. Mike.

Start of session. Photo MK.

End of session. Photo MK.

Friday 24th January 2025

Mike Kushy, solo. Took in a bag of postcrete, bung with tap attachment and hose. Dismantled some of the dam and built it back up using the postcrete. Once this was finished I went to the dig face with some empty buckets to grab some sticky mud and give the postcrete time to set. Big puddle at the bottom! (Glad I didn't struggle bringing the drill in). The sticky mud was used to line the dam inside and out. Once this was done I fitted the bung into the pipe work and attached the hose. Need to render the dam up with cement ideally at some stage as there are still a couple of minor leaks. The hose was really effective and a good flow came out, enough that the dam doesn't fill up quick enough, to provide a constant flow. I've left the tap open and managed to put the hose into the boulders to the left. Turned the tap off for a while and then opened again. The water can be heard flowing off down the hose and into the diversion. Recommend leaving the tap open open when not there, then closing on arrival of digging trips ready to use for cleaning or flushing afterwards. 2 hours. Mike.

Youtube channel.

The finished dam. Photo MK.

Puddle. Photo MK.

Puddle again. Photo MK.

Wednesday 22nd January 2025

Mike Kushy, Sam Hill, Mike Wise and Kaz Noiri underground around 1845. Kushy found Kaz at the Wessex and Kaz wanted to see a Mendip dig. After an induction by Sam on what needed moving and what shouldn't be prodded, Kaz moved mud and rocks away from the face to the bucket loading area. Mike W dismantled the dam and rebuilt it to accommodate the 4" pipe and Sam and Mike K tidied up the dumping area before hauling up and dumping some of the filled buckets. Some buckets of nice sticky mud were used in the dam construction.  Some rocks were dismantled using P&F before being hauled out. After clearing up the dig face, Kax experienced an unexpected  (to him perhaps) aspect of digging when the forward part of the left wall collapsed.  This is visible in Sam's second photo.  A great time was had by all. Time down 2.5 hours. Some rocks at the bottom need reducing for hauling out. The dam is higher than previously and the inside of the dam base needs sealing around the pipe. Suggest a pea or smaller gravel concrete mix. It will cure underwater, although if anyone has any 30-minute curing cement, that would be good. Mike Wise.

I left the guys at the 2nd connection to the Boulder Rift Chamber and headed to Tooth Dig. After the initial squeeze down you can traverse straight across to the loop, rather than all the way down and back up. Now with a view to the hauling spot I started clearing the gloop further back. Sam showed up and  started pushing rocks and gloop back to me. Enough space was made to be able to slide small buckets through. Lots of clearing of the hauling spot and spoil from below. Recommend always doing it this way rather than blocking the way again. I then went down to join the others. Kaz and I left out of the old cave exit. Mike Kushy.

Before. Photo SH.

After. Photo SH.

Sunday 19th January 2025

Mike Kushy and Tim Rose. Got to the dig around 10.30, took in 2 drills and charge materials. TR went to the dig face to pull stuff back and break down rock, whilst MK went to the hauling spot and pushed spoil back to create more room. After this the whole of the top dam was fully cleared, including any rocks that would fit in the small buckets. The hauling spot is now full to the brim and really needs 2 people up there to create more space. TR then went to the front and with MK above him in the dodgy boulder bit, a dozen or so buckets of mud were sent high up there. I think TR got a bit fed up of sliding into the 1m deep puddle, which seemed a good time to swap places and start drilling for the charge. MK drilled 5 holes @600mm, 3 into the already shattered slab to the right and 2 in a slab further ahead (hopefully that clears the puddle). Awkward set up, just had to give in in the end and lie knee deep in the water whilst setting up. TR packed drills and bag up and we both left, filled and fired fine. Cold as usual. This site is getting a bit desperate, I feel if we don't find some space in the next couple of charges we're going to struggle. 5 hours. Mike.

The dig face after clearing. Photo MK.

Thursday 16th January

Mike Kushy, solo. Pool at the bottom pretty much dry on arrival. Cleared left over mud and rocks, then moved a very large rock in the floor. This was downsized and stacked to one side. Spent the rest of the session looking for a drainage hole. The 2ft crowbar goes right into silt and mud on the floor without hitting anything solid. Draught seems to be coming from out of the floor. 2 hours. MK.

Before clearing. Photo MK.

After clearing. Photo MK.

Sunday 5th January 2025

Mike Kushy and Sam Hill. Got in for 11, took in 2 drills. Bloody wet couple of days, drippy throughout and nice stream coming in at the top Boulder Rift Chamber connection. SH went to the front and sent rocks back, some too large for buckets (will need breaking down). Lots of buckets tipped into the dam, which is now over full and needs clearing next. After rocks had been cleared the water had been found. After clearing as much mud and grit out as possible, it's now over knee deep. The pool is a 1mx1m. Unable to find a plug to drain the pool but there was easily enough water coming in today, that it should have flooded. MK had a go at the front for a bit, until stacking got desperate. We decided it was too wet to get drills out. 2 hours. Mike.

MK's YouTube Video from today

Before clearing. Photo SH.

After clearing. Photo MK.

SH in photo at the wet end. Photo MK.

Tuesday 31st December 2024

Sam Hill, Alex Randall and Mike Kushy. Took 2 drills and HE kit in. SH attacked the boulder in the floor at the face, whilst MK hauled and AR fed him buckets. After an hour or so MK got tired. SH then did some hauling with MK bucket filling, meanwhile AR had a go at the front. This lasted another hour or so and all the stacked top dam was cleared. AR had to pop out for half hour or so, MK and SH rebuilt the dam and filled it right up again. When AR got back MK went hauling, with AR bucket filling and SH at the front. MK came down and he and AR rebuilt and refilled the dam once more. All the pf work done, MK went to drill for charge. Meanwhile SH did more hauling, with AR filling buckets. 5 holes drilled @600, assisted SH and AR on set up. Filled and fired fine. Fresh at the bottom all session. The current stacking area is getting a bit overwhelmed. There's loads more that can go up there, but someone will have to go to the other side of the Tooth Dig loop and rake the stacked spoil right back. It's no longer possible to drop down from The Boulder Rift Chamber to the current dig site...unless of course you come from the Tooth Dig way 😬!  No photos, we were too busy enjoying ourselves getting covered in gloop and listening to Sam's German Propaganda music. Hard to describe the bottom, a rumble of rock was heard after the initial shock wave. 5 hours, Mike.

N/S survey overlay.

Happy New Year, from all us Conglomerates.

Monday 30th December 2024

Mike Kushy, solo. Took in drill and set to reducing the 'too big' rocks. 1 & 1/2 batteries used before the crawl. The dam is now about twice as high as yesterday and is filled up with mud and rocks from the bottom - be careful not to tip it! Would be nice to build a permanent dam once all is cleared and set up a dam/hose wash system. Went to the face and jiggled the 2nd dam a little to allow more mud to come out and allow the boulder in the floor more movement. The next 1 & 1/2 batteries were used on said boulder. Being very fractured it splits up really nicely, but there's a lot of it. The dig has become 'self digging' and there's a little black hole about 2 inches wide that the stream flows off into. Big clearance next, only 2 needed. 3 hours, Mike.

The top dam and spoil.
The retaining wall is just over a foot high. Photo MK.

Drainage hole. Photo MK.

Boulder in the floor at the dig face. Photo MK.