Stu Gardiner & Mark Denning
With only the 2 of us and a dig face that was already choked with spoil sacks and rubble that needed removing to Talus we set about trying to dig directly down through the boulders. Caps were used (3 at a time) and the results were good, the large problem boulder was broken up and the right hand wall was taken back using feathers allowing more movement at the dig face.
Investigations with the crow bar indicates that the roof is still dropping on the same 45 degree angle, this means that we still need to drop the floor level by a considerable amount so that we retain a sizable dig face.
The rubble sacks are very useful allowing the digger to extract spoil and rubble in confined surrounding without the cumbersome skips getting in the way.
NOTE: The dig must be cleared of sacks and rubble before any other digging trips are considered as there is little room. Also there are LIVE caps jammed in some of the rocks (Stu to advise).
Total time underground: 3.5 hours
Thursday 24 February 2011
Sunday 20 February 2011
White Pit - 20th February 2011
Stu Gardiner, Mark Denning & Jo Hardy
Good progress with the floor lowered a few inches and some of the walls taken back a little.
Hessian sacks were used to move the spoil from the dig face as there were only 3 of us.
Total time underground: 3.5 hours
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Good progress with the floor lowered a few inches and some of the walls taken back a little.
Hessian sacks were used to move the spoil from the dig face as there were only 3 of us.
Total time underground: 3.5 hours
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Saturday 19 February 2011
White Pit - 16th February 2011
Stu Gardiner, Mark Denning, Estelle Sandford, Jo Hardy & Mike Moxon
With a few skips needing emptying from the previous session emptied, we set about trying to dig past the large stal blockage, the theory being that once we are past this then the passage will widen and that we may regain the left hand wall, although it seems unlikely the wall will be found, however we still have obvious roof formations that are keeping us on track.
The dig face is currently quite low due to the nature of the floor, the stal blockage has invaded much of the floor. The large slab like boulder on the right was broken up enough to expose the soil below, this should allow the floor to be lowered.
Around 10 skips of mainly rubble was removed to Talus.
Note: Mike Moxon investigated the unstable slope near the entrance - verdict: shoring is required.
Total time underground: 2.5 hours
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
With a few skips needing emptying from the previous session emptied, we set about trying to dig past the large stal blockage, the theory being that once we are past this then the passage will widen and that we may regain the left hand wall, although it seems unlikely the wall will be found, however we still have obvious roof formations that are keeping us on track.
The dig face is currently quite low due to the nature of the floor, the stal blockage has invaded much of the floor. The large slab like boulder on the right was broken up enough to expose the soil below, this should allow the floor to be lowered.
Around 10 skips of mainly rubble was removed to Talus.
Note: Mike Moxon investigated the unstable slope near the entrance - verdict: shoring is required.
Total time underground: 2.5 hours
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Friday 11 February 2011
White Pit - 9th February 2011
Stu Gardiner, Estelle Sandford, Mark Denning, Mike Moxon & Pete Hellier
With the passage trending slightly to the right we set about removing boulders from the floor in an aim to enlarge the working area, plugs and feathers were used effectively and the floor was lowered.
The flow stone bank on the left of the passage is thought to be the result of the small inlet passage found in the roof recently, this has caused us to trend right, however once past this hopefully we shall be back on track.
The passage is still dipping at 45 degrees with obvious water worn roof pendants guiding us on. Around 10 skips were removed, mainly broken boulders and loose gravel / mud.
Total time underground: 3 hours
With the passage trending slightly to the right we set about removing boulders from the floor in an aim to enlarge the working area, plugs and feathers were used effectively and the floor was lowered.
The flow stone bank on the left of the passage is thought to be the result of the small inlet passage found in the roof recently, this has caused us to trend right, however once past this hopefully we shall be back on track.
The passage is still dipping at 45 degrees with obvious water worn roof pendants guiding us on. Around 10 skips were removed, mainly broken boulders and loose gravel / mud.
Total time underground: 3 hours
Thursday 3 February 2011
White Pit - 2nd Febuary 2011
Estelle Sandford, Mark Denning, Jo Hardy and Hels Warren
Stu, you've been replaced! We got ourselves a younger and better looking substitute on our digging team! LOL
Initially clearing up about 7 skips of spoil created by Mark from his previous trips on sunday and monday breaking up quite a lot of a large boulder in the floor. Once the spoil had been cleared and hauled out, Jo and then Hels (on her first ever go at actually digging) had a go at hammering and chiselling at the stal at the end of the dig before Estelle went and drilled and plug and feathered (first removing the 2 Mark had left stuck in the rock from being greedy!) and then breaking most of that rock up, so now back to stal and mud digging mostly (until the next rock!). Dig is veering around to the right, but continuing to go down on around the 45 degree angle.
Total time underground: 2.5 hours
Stu, you've been replaced! We got ourselves a younger and better looking substitute on our digging team! LOL
Initially clearing up about 7 skips of spoil created by Mark from his previous trips on sunday and monday breaking up quite a lot of a large boulder in the floor. Once the spoil had been cleared and hauled out, Jo and then Hels (on her first ever go at actually digging) had a go at hammering and chiselling at the stal at the end of the dig before Estelle went and drilled and plug and feathered (first removing the 2 Mark had left stuck in the rock from being greedy!) and then breaking most of that rock up, so now back to stal and mud digging mostly (until the next rock!). Dig is veering around to the right, but continuing to go down on around the 45 degree angle.
Total time underground: 2.5 hours
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)