Stu Gardiner, Estelle Sandford, Mark Denning & Jo Hardy
Plenty of progress forwards and slightly downwards, some large slab like boulders were extracted from the floor, however a large mainly limestone boulder proved too much for the plugs and we failed to make an impression on it. The plug that jammed itself in was hammered over and left for another day.
The current dig face is now a mixture of soft sand with bands of calcite around 1" thick, another large boulder is wedged between the roof and the calcite floor, this was dug around with the aid of a crowbar it moves a little, thoughts are this may need to be broken down before any attempts to try and move it.
The spoil area in Talus 4 is now quite impressive with some fine dry stone walling, this has given us much more dumping space.
Note: new plugs and feathers will be needed for the next trip.
Time underground: 5.5 hours
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Friday 31 December 2010
Thursday 30 December 2010
Whitepit - 29th December 2010
Stu Gardiner, Estelle Sandford, Mark Denning & Jo Hardy
The huge slab of calcite floor was the main obstruction preventing any further progress and there was no easy way of breaking this up due to the shear 'softness'. The best technique we found was to drill multible deep 14mm holes through the slab and then using plug and feathers slowly peel sections away, most attempts yeilded a few inches at a time, but every now and again we would get lucky and a significant 'chunck ' would come away. After around 2 hours of attacking the slab Mark finally managed to split it into two sections allowing us to haul the 2 halves out from the dig face.
Now that the obsticle had been removed it was digging as normal, with soft sand and small calcite chunks, however towards the end of the session I managed to unearth a boulder of around 60kg from the floor that ideally needed to be removed as this would provide more leg room at the face, plug and feather were used to reduce the boulder and this proved sucssesful by breaking a good third away, now the boulder could be moved (slightly) and after around 40 minutes of smashing it with a lump hammer in an attempt to reduce the wieght we managed to man handle it to a postion where a sling could could be secured around it and it was haulded from the face to Talus 4.
Note: Upon entering the dig a strong smell of mould was present, on further invesigation these was a thin layer on the wall of the dig face - This is the first time this has appeared.
Time underground: 6 hours
The huge slab of calcite floor was the main obstruction preventing any further progress and there was no easy way of breaking this up due to the shear 'softness'. The best technique we found was to drill multible deep 14mm holes through the slab and then using plug and feathers slowly peel sections away, most attempts yeilded a few inches at a time, but every now and again we would get lucky and a significant 'chunck ' would come away. After around 2 hours of attacking the slab Mark finally managed to split it into two sections allowing us to haul the 2 halves out from the dig face.
Now that the obsticle had been removed it was digging as normal, with soft sand and small calcite chunks, however towards the end of the session I managed to unearth a boulder of around 60kg from the floor that ideally needed to be removed as this would provide more leg room at the face, plug and feather were used to reduce the boulder and this proved sucssesful by breaking a good third away, now the boulder could be moved (slightly) and after around 40 minutes of smashing it with a lump hammer in an attempt to reduce the wieght we managed to man handle it to a postion where a sling could could be secured around it and it was haulded from the face to Talus 4.
Note: Upon entering the dig a strong smell of mould was present, on further invesigation these was a thin layer on the wall of the dig face - This is the first time this has appeared.
Time underground: 6 hours
Monday 27 December 2010
White Pit 15th Dec 2010
Estelle Sandford, Mark Denning, Jo Hardy, Mike Moxon & Bill Combley
2.5hrs
Digging still going well and horizontal with RH wall looking interesting. Just clearing more space and making the dig area bigger. 20mins each so we all dug.
Sunday 12 December 2010
White Pit - 12th December 2010
Stu Gardiner, Estelle Sandford, Mark Denning & Jo Hardy
The large problem boulder in the floor was broken down using feathers, however a large portion of it still remains due to some poorly placed feathers (Stu), it could be broken up further although it's not really causing too much of an obsruction.
The 8" stal floor turned out to be a huge roof pendant that had been deposited, this was removed after a larger boulder holding it down was taken out from further into the dig, once both these had been extracted the floor was much lower allowing the skip to be easily filled with the spade.
The dig has now taken on a distinct right hand turn and digging in the roof gave way to a small air space with some visable flow stone and some small straws etc. The passage is around 1m in width with a roof pendant in the middle, under this pendant is a very large slab that will need to be removed to allow progress. The floor will also need to be dropped considerably to allow for comfortable digging - Air is still very fresh, even after long periods at the dig face.
Estelle and Mark have started to restructure the spoil areas with some impressive walls from the boulders taken out, this will be invaluable once more spoil and rocks start to come out.
As the dig gets deeper it's felt that maybe a bolt will be need in the roof to aid the extraction of skips below.
Total time underground - 4 hours
The large problem boulder in the floor was broken down using feathers, however a large portion of it still remains due to some poorly placed feathers (Stu), it could be broken up further although it's not really causing too much of an obsruction.
The 8" stal floor turned out to be a huge roof pendant that had been deposited, this was removed after a larger boulder holding it down was taken out from further into the dig, once both these had been extracted the floor was much lower allowing the skip to be easily filled with the spade.
The dig has now taken on a distinct right hand turn and digging in the roof gave way to a small air space with some visable flow stone and some small straws etc. The passage is around 1m in width with a roof pendant in the middle, under this pendant is a very large slab that will need to be removed to allow progress. The floor will also need to be dropped considerably to allow for comfortable digging - Air is still very fresh, even after long periods at the dig face.
Estelle and Mark have started to restructure the spoil areas with some impressive walls from the boulders taken out, this will be invaluable once more spoil and rocks start to come out.
As the dig gets deeper it's felt that maybe a bolt will be need in the roof to aid the extraction of skips below.
Total time underground - 4 hours
Saturday 11 December 2010
White Pit - 10th December 2010
Stu Gardiner, Estelle Sandford, Mark Denning & Mike Moxon
An 8" stal floor has been located in the centre of the dig face, this was broken up as best as possible however much of it still remains. A large boulder where you tend to sit has also been un earthed and will need to be plug and feathered during the next trip.
Around 12 skips were removed, many sand and small pieces of broken stal.
The current dig face seems to be trending to the right and gradually head down. Sediment layers indicate that there has been staring water indicating that we maybe nearing the bottom.
Total time underground 2.5 hours.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
An 8" stal floor has been located in the centre of the dig face, this was broken up as best as possible however much of it still remains. A large boulder where you tend to sit has also been un earthed and will need to be plug and feathered during the next trip.
Around 12 skips were removed, many sand and small pieces of broken stal.
The current dig face seems to be trending to the right and gradually head down. Sediment layers indicate that there has been staring water indicating that we maybe nearing the bottom.
Total time underground 2.5 hours.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday 9 December 2010
White Pit - 08th December 2010
Stu Gardiner, Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Steve Chitty, & Bill Combley
The verticle nature of the dig has now gone horizontal with signs that water once pooled at the current limit which hopefully means we have reached the bottom. The horizontal passage leading off away from Talus is now around 5 - 6ft long with soft sand and broken stal being removed with ease. Around 10 skips were removed from the dig face and the large problem boulder which was catching the skips along the drag route was broken down using plug's and feather's, however this has resulted in a large crater appearing which will need filling so the skips can run freely again.
Air is still very crisp at the dig face, even with prolonged digging head first. (Steve had a nasty slip on the icy scaffold stile coming out, which has resulted in a trip to A&E).
Total time underground 2 hours. with Mark Denning on the surface repairing the lock.
The verticle nature of the dig has now gone horizontal with signs that water once pooled at the current limit which hopefully means we have reached the bottom. The horizontal passage leading off away from Talus is now around 5 - 6ft long with soft sand and broken stal being removed with ease. Around 10 skips were removed from the dig face and the large problem boulder which was catching the skips along the drag route was broken down using plug's and feather's, however this has resulted in a large crater appearing which will need filling so the skips can run freely again.
Air is still very crisp at the dig face, even with prolonged digging head first. (Steve had a nasty slip on the icy scaffold stile coming out, which has resulted in a trip to A&E).
Total time underground 2 hours. with Mark Denning on the surface repairing the lock.
Tuesday 7 December 2010
White Pit - Priddy
Stu Gardiner and Mark Denning.
Plug's and feathers were used at the dig face to make the working area larger and a large boulder in the floor was unearthered, due to it's size this had to be broken up over a half hour period in order for us to attach a sling to it and remove it. Estimated wieght was around 20kg and this was eventually placed in the spoil dump within Talus.
Time undergound - 2 hours.
Plug's and feathers were used at the dig face to make the working area larger and a large boulder in the floor was unearthered, due to it's size this had to be broken up over a half hour period in order for us to attach a sling to it and remove it. Estimated wieght was around 20kg and this was eventually placed in the spoil dump within Talus.
Time undergound - 2 hours.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)