11th January

Report by Vince

Vince, Nick, Jon, Brockers, Jake and Tav.

Nick, Jon, Brockers and me set off to the Cold Gnarly North laden with new skips and trays, hauling ropes and empty bags. Reeled in the wire along the way too. Jake and Tav opted to clear the accumulation of rocks from the bottom of the entrance and join us later, when required.

Beyond the “spa”, a new skip run was put into place at the current end, the worn-out skip was replaced, although separating the rope from the skip proved not to be straight-forward and took a bit of time to sort out. Nick had gone to the end of the rift to clear the debris created by Tuesday evening’s expansion. The loose gravel and cobble-sized stuff into bags, larger lumps were passed back. Then Nick got to work with a hammer and chisel, some substantial flakes were removed enabling a better glimpse beyond. There is still the echo and the air fresh, it always appears to widen just a bit further ahead. Until it does, the expansion work will need to be continued. All the loose debris had been cleared and the fractured rock removed, the end was ready for the next phase to be carried out during the coming week. We moved back, Jake and Tav joined us and the spoil was removed from the cave to the surface, including a large boulder that had been strapped into a drag-tray for the journey out.

Today’s tally: Jake and Tav had hauled out 36 skip-loads of rock, these had been added to the wall along with others from the stockpile. From the Cold Gnarly North the count was 23 bags and 9 skip-loads of rock including the big boulder. A good session!

Author: mendipgeoarch

Archaeologist, Geologist, Speleologist