2020

Mitchell’s Dig 2020

Saturday 4^th January 2020. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. Two mixes of cement done, split into 3 and 2 sent to the bottom with Pete. Whilst Pete and Adrian cemented at the bottom John continued cementing higher up. 1½ hours. John.

Saturday 11^th January 2020. John Cooper, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. John carried drill to bottom. Pete drilled 8mm holes for 12gm cord in boulder on floor and on side. Adrian then set up charge whilst John carried drill out. Adrian brought out wire and firer with the two of them being chased out by the fumes (good outward draught today). 1 hour. John.

Saturday 18^th January 2020. John Cooper, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. Carried drill to bottom. First Pete levered off shattered rock which Adrian passed up to John to stash. Then Adrian replaced Pete and capped more off. Meanwhile Pete came up to where John had stashed rock and John moved on up. We then moved the rock on up until John ran out of stacking space. Nice outward draught today. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 25^th January 2020. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. One mix of cement taken to bottom which Pete used wall building. While he was doing this the rest of used moved rocks up from where John had stacked them last week. Once Pete finished cementing we moved on up and cleared the spoil to the top stacking space, all ready for the surface next time. Bad day for Nigel. First he splashed cement into his eyes, then his light failed and finally he wrenched his shoulder so he was sent out early. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 1^st February 2020. John Cooper, Pete Hann, Adrian Vanderplank, Jude Vanderplank and Barry Wilkinson. Adrian sent to the bottom to do some capping. Meanwhile with Barry and Jude on the surface, John on the Naughty Step and Pete loading 18 buckets of rocks were hauled out. Then one mix of cement was taken to bottom. After Jude had a look at dig face she came up and waited. Pete loaded spoil at the bottom which Adrian passed on up to John to stack, apart from some clatch which he stowed. Finally John used 1 bucket of cement building a wall for clatch and Pete used the other wall building at the very bottom. 3 hours. John.

Saturday 8^th February 2020. John Cooper, Pete Hann, Rich Marlow, Mark Le Poidevin and Adrian Vanderplank. Adrian and Pete took one mix of cement to bottom which Pete used wall building. John carried the capping kit down. Adrian and John moved spoil upwards. Just as we had finished clearing the bottom stacking ledge Mark and Rich turned up. After a look at the face they came up and we hauled the spoil on up to the end of the tunnel. They then left and we descended to see how Pete was getting on. He had just finished cementing but didn’t want Adrian to do any capping so John carried the capping kit out again unused. 1½ hours. John.

Saturday 15^th February 2020. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Wayne Starsmore and Adrian Vanderplank. Wet and windy so Adrian sent to the bottom to cap the conglomerate boulder in the floor. The rest of us hauled spoil. First we moved last week’s stash up to the bottom of the entrance. Then moved on down and moved spoil up to the two alcoves. Finally moved it on up to the top of the tunnel. By then the stream flow had increased so we made a run for it. Wayne went to look at the bottom and brought out the drill and capping kit as Adrian has run out of battery power. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 22^nd February 2020. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. There had been a good water flow down the hole over the past week. One mix of cement taken to bottom. Pete used half at the bottom whilst John continued wall of 1^st February a bit higher to create space for clatch. Once cement used up Adrian continued capping conglomerate boulder with Pete and John hauling spoil up bottom rope. Once Adrian had run battery low we moved on up and hauled spoil from the top of the tunnel to the bottom of the entrance ready for a surface haul next week, if it’s not too wet and windy! 2½ hours. John.

Saturday 7^th March 2020. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. Last week was too wet but this week was fine. Started by clearing the entrance shaft. Pete loading, John on the Naughty Step, Adrian and Nigel on the surface. 22 loads cleared it. The Pete to the bottom with John above him stashing clatch and rock about 3m up. Eventually Nigel and Adrian arrived, Nigel’s first time this far down. We then moved on up and cleared from the bottom step to the top of the tunnel before we called it a day. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 14^th March 2020. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. One mix of cement and capping kit taken to bottom. Whilst Adrian continued capping the conglomerate boulder Pete built up above the Slot where the mud was getting washed out. After a while Pete descended to replace John and continued cementing work below the Slot. The boulder is still large. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 21^st March 2020. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Adrian Vanderplank. Capping kit taken to bottom. Whilst Adrian continued capping the conglomerate boulder the rest first moved spoil from the middle stacking space to the top stacking space. Then moved on down and moved Adrian’s spoil up to the ledge then on up to the alcoves. Good outward draught the whole time. Discussion at the end between Adrian and Pete which resulted in decision to move to stronger boulder breaker next week. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 18^th July 2020. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann and Barry Wilkinson. First attempt to fit rigid ladder in entrance shaft. Modified brackets required. 1 hour. John.

Saturday 15^th August 2020. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Used the new fixed ladder which is still about 4m short of the top. First we cleared some bang debris from the bottom to the bottom stacking space then we moved on up and cleared it on up to the tunnel. Also cleared the alcoves up to the tunnel. Pete thinks a couple of moving boulders at the bottom need capping to make them small enough to haul out. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 5^th September 2020. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Adrian Vanderplank, Jude Vanderplank and Barry Wilkinson. Cleared spoil from top half of cave. With Pete filling at the tunnel, me hauling and emptying at stacking space, Nigel filling, Adrian passing buckets up, Jude on Naughty Step and Barry on surface the first hour was spend clearing from the Tunnel. Once done Adrian and Pete went on down to start capping. I took over from Jude who replaced Adrian and we spend the next hour clearing the top stacking space. I then left and digging finished another hour later. 2-3 hours. John.

Saturday 12^th September 2020. John Cooper, Pete Hann, Matt Randall, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. First hour moved spoil up from bottom to alcoves. Jude loading, Pete above, Matt next, Adrian next and me stacking in alcoves. Then Pete drilling with Jude assisting while rest moved spoil up from alcoves to mid tunnel for another hour. Matt loading, Adrian above him and me hauling then stacking. All clear by time charge ready for firing. Didn’t hear it on surface but heard a little way down entrance shaft. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 19^th September 2020. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Wayne Starsmore, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. One mix of cement taken in. First moved spoil up from bottom to step, Pete loading, Wayne above and John stacking. Then while Pete did some cementing we moved it on up to the alcoves and then on up to the tunnel. Once that was completed Jude went down to join Pete and a bit more spoil moved on up to the alcoves and then on up to the tunnel. Finally we made a start on moving the spoil up from the tunnel but after only a few loads Pete and Jude had finished cementing so we all left. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 26^th September 2020. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Wayne Starsmore and Barry Wilkinson. Started where we finished last week. With Pete filling, Wayne above him and John above Wayne all the spoil was passed to Nigel to stack at the bottom of the entrance. Once this was complete Nigel went to the surface to assist Barry. With Pete filling and Wayne moving the buckets up the slope, John on the Naughty Step, Barry and Nigel hauled 23 loads to the surface to leave the dig clear of spoil. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 3^rd October 2020. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. 10 am start. With storm Alex passing through Pete thought it might be too wet to cement so just Adrian capping a conglomerate boulder at the bottom. One alcove filled with spoil but the other still empty. Trickle of water reportedly heard below, otherwise quite dry 1½ hours. John.

Saturday 17^th October 2020. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Wayne Starsmore, Adrian Vanderplank, Jude Vanderplank and Barry Wilkinson (in his own bubble on the surface so the underground group stayed legal at 6). 10 am start. Two mixes of cement to the bottom where Pete built walls supervised(?) by Adrian. Meanwhile the rest moved 10 loads of spoil from the alcoves to the tunnel, then moved it on up to the base of the entrance and then on to the surface in only 5 (heavier) loads. Capping again next week. 1½ hours. John.

Saturday 24^th October 2020. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. Although Adrian took capping kit down it wasn’t used. Lots of spoil hauled up the from the bottom until the bottom ledge was quite full. Plenty of hauling next week. 1½ hours. John.

Saturday 31^st October 2020. John Cooper, Nigel Graham, Pete Hann, Wayne Starsmore, Adrian Vanderplank and Jude Vanderplank. One mix of cement taken in. Initially all hauled spoil up from the bottom shelf to the midway tunnel. Pete then went cementing whilst the rest of us hauled the spoil up to the bottom of the entrance. Then we hauled 18 loads up to the surface, by which time Pete had finished cementing. Had to return to rescue Nigel’s van. 3 hours. John.

Saturday 14^th November 2020. John Cooper and Adrian Vanderplank. Survey trip during lockdown. Nice outward draught. 2 hours. John.