3rd September

With Tav, Jake, Jon, and Duncan

The bottom of the pot in the deep Soft South

Tav and Jake headed off to get digging underway at the end of the NE passage in the deep Soft South. I was all set to take a position on the ledge but went along to the dig to take some photographs before it all steamed up. Duncan settled down at the bottom of the entrance, Jon opted for surfaces duties.

At the dig, photographs taken it was obvious that a minimum of three people were required along the NE passage. Tav and Jake continued digging, both filling bags and I shuttled the filled bags along the passage to the bottom of the pot. The filled bags were hauled up to the ledge where Jon had now positioned himself, having abandoned the surface for the time being. Duncan remained at the entrance and hauled the skip back, stashing the bags in the entrance and along the surrounding passage.

Looking along the north-east passage

The large boulder noted last session had been eased out by Jake and now requires some reduction in size, it wouldn’t succumb to hammer blows. I will return in the coming week with plugs and feathers. Good progress at the dig-face and the way forward in now easily accessible. Stacking space was diminishing rapidly and we decided to move out and clear the cave. About 70 bags were emptied plus a few rocks added to the stockpile. It had been another good session. Refreshments at the Hunter’s and it was great to see that the Perspex guards had been removed, back to some sort of normality at last.

Jake (foreground) waits for Tav to fill a bag and pass it back