With Jake, Jon,
Duncan and Tav
Although last
weekend it required three persons to secure the cave, only one was necessary to
re-open the cave for this session. Given that we were a team of five, when it
was suggested that we should dig in the ‘Soft South’, there wasn’t too much
dissent.
I went ahead and
clambered down into the cave. I called up for some empty bags and, before I
could get out of the way, I received several packs thrown down the entrance by
those team members remaining on the surface above.
In the ‘Soft
South’ I spent the session lowering the floor of the ‘chamber’, also removing
sediment from the southern and eastern extents. Jon, in between loading the
skip to Duncan, at the bottom of the entrance, modified the skip haul route
into the ‘Soft South’. There had been a delay to the start of today’s
proceedings while Jon had to go across the border, beyond the former
pinch-point, to the ‘Cold Gnarly North’ to search for tools. The bar that had
been used last weekend (lastly, by Brockers, it seems), despite a determined
search, had disappeared. Jon reported back with tools from the north and
commented that there wasn’t as much water in the puddle as might be expected
following this week’s heavy rain. The missing bar was later rediscovered,
buried under a considerable pile of loose spoil that had been left un-bagged.
A couple of
substantial boulders were loosened, then dragged and cajoled to the base of the
entrance, where the surface team comprising Jake and Tav accepted the challenge
of getting them out in their entirety. This task called for the use of two
ropes. A successful challenge completed, and two more fine rocks were on the
surface ready to be used in the base of another stone wall, sometime in the
future.
On the surface it
had turned into a fine and warm spring day. Today’s final tally was 83 loads
out to the surface; 68 bags and 15 loads of rock. Another productive session.
And, I remembered
to pick-up my camera – didn’t take any photos though!