Saturday 29th July 2023

Dave Morrison +1 working on the entrance fixed ladder. Joined later by John Cooper and Andy Thompson after they had been to LVS dig. 

Monday 24th July 2023

Dave Morrison, Mike Kousiounis, John Cooper +1

Starting work on installing a fixed ladder down the entrance pitch. Rocks was chopped out to allow room for the 5m length of ladder to fit vertically. Brackets were measured and the ladder has been left in place. It can not be used currently and care has to be taken when free climbing down the entrance as the work done has caused some stability issues on the walls. This can  be worked on once the ladder is secure. It's been decided to use an aluminium ladder for the final section, which can be moved out of place whilst digging downwards to allow more working room. The bottom of the 5m ladder will also need a platform constructed at its base. We also aim to replace the aluminium ladder that's already in the pipe work and measurements have been taken to make a custom steel ladder to take its place.

Base for new ladder.

Looking down entrance shaft.

New ladder location, awaiting fixings.

Sunday 2nd July 2023

Cement Dig. Mike Kushy Solo. Had a go at continuing along the bedding ceiling. Built a wall to temporarily stack spoil. The source of the draught was a 2 inch preatic tube, probably an inlet. Used the space to put sand/cement and tools into. Then had a look at the passage above. The end dips down towards Cement Dig. About halfway in I dug up the flowstone on the right and got into a 2m boulder chamber with no obvious way on. The Cement Dig draughting well! 4 hours. Mike

The dug alcove, now a place for kit and mixing

The end of the alcove

How it began

Friday 16th June 2023

Mike Wise and Mike Kushy. Started about 8pm. Pushing into the new rift above Tooth Dig. Went up about 4 body lengths but it pinches out and gets dodgy. Off to the right there's no passable space but draughting. Far too dodgy to dig unfortunately. Convinced there's open space on that side of the cave somewhere. Looked at the higher bedding and I think it's worth chasing along the bedding ceiling just before dropping into Cement Dig. Alcove in Tooth Dig was definitely draughting again. 2 1/2 hours. Mike K

Kushy pushing above the squeeze in the roof of Tooth Dig

Kushy having a rest

Scouting in the bedding below the Calcite Squeeze

 

3 images of the exit up through Calcite Squeeze. Kushy’s best side apparently .

Thursday 8th June 2023

Michael Kousiounis, solo trip. Got to the parking about 10.15. Very interesting trip today! Took in 3 big batteries and one small one. Straight to the end of Tooth Dig. The draught seemed so much more prominent today and a cool relief after the carry in. Did really well on the slab ahead, I think weaknesses have been building up and a large chunk was removed (see picture). With all the batteries used up I went in for a look. Without taking my helmet off I was able to get a look over the edge, it looks the top of a vertical waterworn rift, with lots of sharp fossils either side. Coming in above the rift is a phreatic tube, looking up cave it gets bigger. Looking down the rift a view of about 8ft to wedged rocks, only about 6inches wide, but higher up cave the rift is definitely wider and with one large boulder removed it could be descended, although this would take a lot of effort. A hole can be seen and stones can be chucked down which bounce further down then the 8ft drop seen at the tighter end. As soon as I looked over the edge the draught was much stronger, seeming to come from the higher up area. With this in mind I went to investigate the squeeze further back that breaks up into the higher bedding level, this is worth pushing. With further investigation it doesn't look as bad as it did when first found, the phreatic tube can  be seen heading up into what looks like decent space. It looks like the open space could be somewhere directly under the calcite squeeze area. Being alone I let my sensibility prevail and I decided it's best pushed with support, I did however use my vape and the cloud goes up then cuts off right around a corner...something is drawing air into this space. No broken drill bits today, but a broken Mike, an effort to exit from the cave and in serious need of a shower. 4 hours, Mike.

Alas: The landowner came over for a chat and this weekend they have trial bikes on the land, so he's asked us if we can put off digging for this weekend coming.

Plug and Feathers in use

End broken boulder

Wednesday 7th June 2023

With Mike, Sam and John. After a free climb down and pushing forward, twisting down through the boulders (hanging death), past some nice formations, then after a few squeezes down to where I was asked to sit and pass rocks to the man above. Rock after rock as they kept coming. Until Mike broke the drill bit and that ended the rocks. After that down to the end of the dig to take a look, where we dug a few buckets and took them up. Climbing back up to the surface, taking in the formations. Ray.

Ray Bell, John Cooper, Sam Hill and Mike Kousiounis. Tooth Dig. Clearance session. Mike took in his drill to break up the bigger chunks of rock. I stacked the spoil being passed up to me for about an hour. Then Mike broke his drill bit when only a couple of rocks were left. That’s two sessions in a row! This time it sheared completely at the shank rather than just one of the four tungsten carbide tips breaking. Gentle outward draught this evening. 1½ hours for me. John

Michael Kousiounis, Samuel Hill, Ray Bell and John Cooper. Clearing spoil back. MK broke up the bigger blocks ahead whilst everyone else cleared stuff right back. All the alcove and passages in Tooth Dig are now clear (apart from one big boulder that was left due to drill bit snapping). JC left after this whilst the others went to see the end. We finished off by filling all the small buckets with sand from the alcove. These were then taken back on the way out. 3 hours. Mike.

Sunday 4th June

Mike Kousiounis +1. Started off as a solo trip. Took drill and 3 batteries to the end of Tooth Dig. The rock is very tough and snapped part of the hilti drill bit tip, so slow going. Managed to take enough out to get closer to the edge ahead though. The gap of the strike ahead is about 6 inches wide, but looking higher up it gets wider so still worth pushing on. Courtenay joined me around 1'ish and he cleared most of the spoil from the alcove back to the corner and some into the small chamber before the corner. Everywhere is now full up and we could do with a good clearance session. 5 hours. Mike.

Thursday 25th May 2023

John Cooper and Mike Kousiounis. Tooth Dig. Two drills taken in. Started off with Mike passing rocks back for me to stack above my head. Then I used my drill enlarging the squeeze from the far side, but not very effective. Mike used his more effectively breaking up rock at the end. When I came to swap my battery I discovered it wasn’t charged. Packed up then moved all the rocks from Mike back to the alcove. As I was climbing up Boulder Rift Courtenay James was coming in. He went on down to join Mike. 2½ hours for me. John

Mike Kousiounis, John Cooper and Courtenay James. JC and I took a drill in each. Cleared the small chamber before the corner. Then cleared some back from the corner to the bottom of the climb. JC worked on the squeeze over the slab some more whilst MK worked at the sharp end. The boulder at the end is tough work, but at the end I was able to reach my helmet over the edge but not enough room to squeeze my head through for a view, next session hopefully. JC cleared some of the spoil back from the end into the alcove,  left around 3ish and met CJ on the way in. CJ then joined me and he cleared some of the alcove back. Could do with clearing the alcove out fully. The most prominent and very cool draught was clearly coming from the alcove today. Interestingly it was being drawn into the floor of the current sharp end before heading up into the bedding rift above. 5hours. Mike.

Sunday 21st May 2023

Michael Kousiounis and Andy Thompson. Tooth dig. Took both drills in. Cleared all of the alcove out to the bottom of the climb/chamber, some was left in the corner area. AT then went to work on rock at the end of the tunnel whilst MK worked on the squeeze over the slab, a good chunk was removed from the slab and should be easier to break up next time. Rocks were cleared back from the sharp end into the alcove and this is now nearly full up again. Should be enough space for one more session though. The end is draughting. 5 hours. Mike.

Andy at the end of the bedding tunnel, Tooth Dig

Thursday 18th May 2023

John Cooper and Mike Kousiounis. Tooth Dig. Two drills taken in. Started off with Mike passing rocks back for me to stack above my head. Then I used my drill enlarging the squeeze from the far side, but not very effective. Mike used his much more effectively breaking up boulders at the end. Every so often I’d stop what I was doing and move Mike’s rocks back to the alcove so he could get out. After a couple of hours I gave Mike my remaining battery to finish off whilst I went out. Mike followed an hour later. No sound of running water today. 2½ hours for me. John Cooper

Cleared the corner back to the dumping grounds. We then moved forwards, John worked on the squeeze over the slab whilst I worked on the big block ahead. This is all now broken up as well as some other large rocks near the floor, a bit of forwards progress was made too. The alcove is totally full and there's still rocks to clear back from the dig face, a big clear back is the first thing to do next visit. The far end isn't looking so intriguing anymore but it's worth pushing on to the solid wall ahead. The sand spoil from the alcove could go in here if the end of the dig craps out. Strong draught today that seems to be emanating from the floor somewhere. No sound of water apart from some dripping. Could feel the quarry set off their charges. 3 1/2 hours. Mike.

Sunday 14th May 2023

Andrew Thompson and François Tollemer. Digging at bottom of Boulder Rift. Very nice hole and a sound of water, so it sounds good.

François

François Tollemer, Andy Thompson

Today, François and I made our way down to Tooth Dig to clear some spoil and attempt to break down a large boulder that is currently blocking the route on. After clearing the spoil into the alcove, I took a small stab at the boulder, but decided it was a job best left for another day, as I had something rather evil to dispose of that was best not left in the cave. Before leaving, whilst laying by the alcove, we found that we could hear a running streamway in the distance. It is the first time it has been heard and it will be interesting to see if we can still hear it next Sunday. Hopefully sooner or later we will find some running water!

2 hours

A Thompson

Monday 24th April 2023

John Cooper and Lee Hawkswell. Lee used a Leica GS 18 T package to locate the prime point for the survey. East 353289.2, North 150560.7, Alt 241.03. Note drop the 3 and 1 from East and North if using ST prefix.