Mark Denning and Estelle digging today
The idea today was to try and lower the floor enough to see down the water worn archway that disappears into the distance.The main problem we are still encountering is the tight space in which you can not swing a cat and that all the walls are still very solid rock and stall,however we persisted and slowly made the hole big enough to swing the hammer.
After a good couple of hours of bashing away at the floor with plugs and feathers and hammers and chisels the hole leading of is more accessible and i did manage to get a good look down the hole which is small and does look like it could be the void at the top of the roof.
The floor is still a solid lump but is now beginning to break up a couple good sessions should see us with enough room to start digging the water worn hole.
Lots of spoil ready to be brought out about 9 bags
3.5 hours digging
Monday 30 May 2011
Sunday 29 May 2011
Whitepit - 28/05/11
Mark Denning & Stu Gardiner
Capping and plug feathers in an attempt to widen the dig face so effective digging could carry on. Capping was very bad with stal veins being encountered in most boulders resulting in jammed rods and unexploded caps, plug and feathers were slightly more effective, however with most boulders not having free sides few were broken up enough to make a difference.
After a 'man' talk about what to do next, we decided to concentrate on digging straight down to try and gain more depth thus going past the stal and rock 'mess' which has been a thorn in our sides for many weeks.
After around 20minutes Mark dislodged a small boulder which revealed a void below and a water worn arch leading off in the general direction of the current passage. This is what we have been after and we now have a direction to dig in. The best part being that beyond the hole is loose mud suggesting that the stal 'mess' may have been held back at this point making future digging much more productive................. Time will tell.
Total time underground: 5 hours.
Capping and plug feathers in an attempt to widen the dig face so effective digging could carry on. Capping was very bad with stal veins being encountered in most boulders resulting in jammed rods and unexploded caps, plug and feathers were slightly more effective, however with most boulders not having free sides few were broken up enough to make a difference.
After a 'man' talk about what to do next, we decided to concentrate on digging straight down to try and gain more depth thus going past the stal and rock 'mess' which has been a thorn in our sides for many weeks.
After around 20minutes Mark dislodged a small boulder which revealed a void below and a water worn arch leading off in the general direction of the current passage. This is what we have been after and we now have a direction to dig in. The best part being that beyond the hole is loose mud suggesting that the stal 'mess' may have been held back at this point making future digging much more productive................. Time will tell.
Total time underground: 5 hours.
Whitepit - 24/05/11
Stu Gardiner, Henry Dawson & Mark Denning
Time spent attempting to find the direction of the ongoing passage, with mostly chipping away at stal and rock, there would seem to be large boulders wedged against the ceiling and maybe the way on is again down through the floor.
A few rubble sacks were filled and stacked up for when we have more man power.
The air seemed off to start with but over the period of the session it seemed to freshen up with no obvious signs of increased levels of CO2.
Total time underground: 3 hours.
Time spent attempting to find the direction of the ongoing passage, with mostly chipping away at stal and rock, there would seem to be large boulders wedged against the ceiling and maybe the way on is again down through the floor.
A few rubble sacks were filled and stacked up for when we have more man power.
The air seemed off to start with but over the period of the session it seemed to freshen up with no obvious signs of increased levels of CO2.
Total time underground: 3 hours.
Monday 23 May 2011
Whitepit 21st may 2011
Sorry for the lack of posts updating after the bang but unfortunately my computer packed up on me but no matter I'm back. So a quick up date from the past couple of weeks. Myself and Henry D went back down a few days after the bang and yes it was fairly successful. The wall and floor had both taken heavy damage and created about 19 loads of spoil of which we hauled back up to the dump.
Then on the following Wednesday evening myself and Jo went down for a couple of hours and removed alot of the big boulder in the floor. Now it looks like the roof has has turned south and digging straight down is the way on.
Lastly for this blog I went down on Saturday to try and widen the hole at the end.I spent a good couple of hours trying to get one little rock out turns out it was like a bloody ice Burg but i got the bugger out. The next digging session should be interesting when everyone else turns up and tries to figure out how the hell we're gonna get this rock up and out of the dig.
That's it all up to date.
Then on the following Wednesday evening myself and Jo went down for a couple of hours and removed alot of the big boulder in the floor. Now it looks like the roof has has turned south and digging straight down is the way on.
Lastly for this blog I went down on Saturday to try and widen the hole at the end.I spent a good couple of hours trying to get one little rock out turns out it was like a bloody ice Burg but i got the bugger out. The next digging session should be interesting when everyone else turns up and tries to figure out how the hell we're gonna get this rock up and out of the dig.
That's it all up to date.
Thursday 19 May 2011
White Pit 18-5-11
Estelle Sandford, Mark Denning, Henry Dawson, Bill Combley and Tony (don't know surname!)
Clearing built up spoil bags/skips and digging the end. It has gone back to calcited in rock/mud and does seem to break up with lots of hammer and chisel action. Roof seems to have joined wall and we seem to basically be going straight down at the moment. Air is pretty rubbish at the end and you are panting well the whole time in the dig - we all rotated in for a go at the lack of oxygen though!
2.5hrs
Clearing built up spoil bags/skips and digging the end. It has gone back to calcited in rock/mud and does seem to break up with lots of hammer and chisel action. Roof seems to have joined wall and we seem to basically be going straight down at the moment. Air is pretty rubbish at the end and you are panting well the whole time in the dig - we all rotated in for a go at the lack of oxygen though!
2.5hrs
Sunday 8 May 2011
04th May 2011 - Whitepit
Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Mark Denning & Stu Gardiner
Stu and Mark finally rebolted the entrance ladder with 4x M10 stainless steel bolts to replace the rusty M6 'temporary' fixings, all that needs to be done now is to fix the bottom of the ladder to the ground and to support the mid section against the concrete pipe or railway track support.
Mike and Estelle went to the end to dig / clear remaining spoil from the previous banging trip. Stu and Mark joined them later after fixing the ladder although the air was very bad with the bang fumes still lingering in the air.
Time underground: 2.5 hours
Stu and Mark finally rebolted the entrance ladder with 4x M10 stainless steel bolts to replace the rusty M6 'temporary' fixings, all that needs to be done now is to fix the bottom of the ladder to the ground and to support the mid section against the concrete pipe or railway track support.
Mike and Estelle went to the end to dig / clear remaining spoil from the previous banging trip. Stu and Mark joined them later after fixing the ladder although the air was very bad with the bang fumes still lingering in the air.
Time underground: 2.5 hours
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