Saturday 17th January 2026

John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Kate Lawrence, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Pleasant day, 8°C, and sunny spells. Started by lowering the bottom ladder then Kate descended, lifelined, and managed to descend to the bottom. John then had to go down the fixed ladders to unhook the bottom ladder so the haul line could be used for its proper purpose. Kate then send up 28 loads of mud (slop!) and 25 of rock. The larger rocks were kept ready to be sent down for walling of the North end mud bank. Finally camera sent down so she could record the current state. Made a start fastening down some wire mesh on the hauling platform to prevent slipping. 2½ hours. John.

Video looking South

South-East Wall. Photo KL.

Thursday 15th January 2026

John Cooper, Kate Lawrence, Wayne Starsmore, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Heavy rain and big puddles on roads but forecast said rain slowing down as afternoon progressed. Cold at 6°C and a bit of wind but sheltered in the depression. Initially Kate and Wayne went down to have a look at the current dig floor, reporting a nice draught coming out of the hole in the floor in the South-East corner. When they came out John lowered his drill kit and followed it down. After clearing mud away from the exposed boulder on the floor he drilled a line of 5 12mm x 400mm holes plus a separate hole in another boulder to the West. The holes were marked with lengths of black cable. By the time he’d done this Adrian and Jude had arrived so John came out, hauling drill kit out before Jude went down for a look. Once she was out tackle sack of bits lowered then Adrian descended and charged the holes, some with 40gm and some with 12gm cord. Tackle sack raised before detonator carefully lowered down. Adrian then came out, detaching the removable bottom section of ladder with some difficulty. This bottom section was then raised above likely blast damage before Adrian reached the surface. A separate lifeline was taken across and used as needed. Nice bang felt from the stile and the fumes came out quickly. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 10th January 2026

John Cooper, Bev Ford, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Mike Kousiounis, Kate Lawrence, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Frost on surface with air temperature 2°C but warmed up when the sun came out and hauling got underway. Started with Kushy and Adrian being lifelined down to the bottom and then the bottom sections of ladder were hauled out to work out how they fitted together. While this was happening on the surface Mike and Adrian were breaking up boulders. Eventually spoil hauling commenced. Draughting holes in the floor were gradually exposed such that capping fumes could be smelled on the surface. Mike was lifelined out so he he could go to Valinor, location testing from Swildon’s Hole. Adrian continued capping for a while longer. At the end the bottom extending ladder, securely strapped to form one unit, was lowered down into postion and Adrian was lifelined out. A total of 32 loads of rocks and 21 loads of mud removed today. One large bucket of walling rock and several barrow loads of smaller rocks were moved to where they were required. 3 hours. John.

Heading South under Pete's wall. Photo MK.

Clearing spoil. Photo MK.

Looking under East wall. Photo AV.

Saturday 3rd January 2026

John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Kate Lawrence, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Frost on surface with air temperature 1°C and a cold wind blowing. Kate down to the bottom. Started with spoil removal from the South end to prevent the mud wall slumping in. Then switched to the floor at the bottom of the rift. Total of 40 loads of mud and 14 of rocks today. At the end Kate had to perch the bottom ladder on a wobbly heap of rocks so she could reach the middle ladder. Had a lifeline for safety. Next session we will need to add an extra section to the bottom ladder, it’s a double extender so not too difficult. Also several big rocks that will probably require Adrian with capping kit or p/fs. 2 hours.

Saturday 27th December 2025.

John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Kate Lawrence and Adrian Vanderplank. Colder today at 4°C but a bitterley cold East wind blowing. Kate to the bottom where she first bailed out a small puddle, sending most of the water to the surface. Then she sent up 31 loads of mud and a couple of loads of rocks. Adrian replaced her and used capping and P/Fs to break up more rocks. The grand totals for today were 1 load of water, 32 loads of mud and 11 loads of rocks. More could have been done but Adrian ran out of caps. Will probably need to keep digging some mud from the opposite end of the rift to stop too much slumping in. 2½ hours. John.