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Eldon Hole - Trip Report

pwhole

pwhole

Well-known member
No horses or their riders yet.
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Neeigh lad - you just haven't dug deep enough yet. As an aside, this skull was briefly glimpsed as backfill (or was used as an impromptu stemple!) in the roof of an old opencut a while back:

_IGP0526_sm.jpg


But great work all of you. I think this one will pay dividends.
 
Mark Wright

Mark Wright

Active member
SamT said:
Great stuff.  I was lay in bed thinking about the next ring the other night  and thought triangle! !

the shape of the walls certainly  lends itself  to that there. presumably with a 90 deg  'point'
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SamT,

You need to get yourself a girlfriend, never mind laying in bed dreaming about triangular rings!!!

Yes it has a 90 deg. point made with a scaffolders 'Double' fitting. We had an idea the walls might start curving in after our first trip and discussed the triangle then. It cuts the costs down significantly and in theory should be a more solid structure that the rectangular top section. The top section is a pretty solid structure though.

If anybody is at a loose end for a caving trip over this bank holiday, we could do with the wooden ladders on the Gin Shaft in Rowter Hole taking down Eldon Hole. It would be greatly appreciated. PM me if anyone would like to help the project. Just getting them out of Rowter Hole and leaving them at the farm would be good.

Mark
 
bograt

bograt

Active member
Steady Mark, some of us go back a long way and have memories.---OFF TOPIC.!!!

Stick with Eldon, Superb Project, go for it  (y) (y)
 
Rob

Rob

Well-known member
A quick preliminary on the survey Katie and I did today, subject to proper GPS fixing:
  • Depth ~80m, depending upon where you take the surface as. From the sharp drop off at the top of the East route it's 75.5m, +82m from top of North Route
  • Old dig currently 9.2m lower than ongoing dig
  • Top of Damocles Rift 8m lower than top of East Route, but probably 5-15m more to the surface directly above
  • Very bottom is ~106m higher than Main Rising, ~70m above P8 Sump 1, ~50m above Worst Dive Base in Derbyshire in Gautries
 
Mark Wright

Mark Wright

Active member
Paz Vale, Dan Hibberts, Sam Pemberton, Nigel Strong and me were at the dig site by about 11am today and made excellent progress downwards.

Rob and Katie Eavis joined us shortly after and did a Disto X survey of the whole cave including the current bottom of the dig and up into Damocles Rift, with the highest point being only about 6m from the surface.

Ann Soulsby, Roy Fellows, Alastair Gott and 1 other from the TSG (sorry I didn't catch your name) also popped down to give us a lending hand which was greatly appreciated.

By the end of the day we had installed the third triangular ring, knocked all the boards down and even got the next set of boards slotted into position. Unfortunately we were 8 boards short. The floor of the shaft is now at a depth of +/-3.8m and level with the squeeze that drops you into the awkward downward continuation. Tuesdays trip should be able to clear the base of the the shaft ready for the next ring to go in and cap the large boulder at the squeeze.

The section through the shaft is the same as ever but we did occasionally notice a good draft coming up through the rocks in the floor as we were digging. Very encouraging. It was cool and a bit misty when we went in and cloudy and warmish when we got out at 5pm.

We decided to keep the shaft in the same place for the next 1.8m and possibly step it in at the bottom of this section. That is of course assuming it doesn't go in the next 1.8m. I'm forever hopeful.

Mark
 
 
pwhole

pwhole

Well-known member
Did I actually see AlastairGott picking up rocks in that there video? Fantastic excavation. Is that vein I can see in the top-right corner of the photo?
 
Goydenman

Goydenman

Well-known member
Like the way you have organised the digging - plenty of room. Looks like you are making fast progress. Thanks for the video it is very clear.  (y)
 
alastairgott

alastairgott

Well-known member
err umm err... might have been me, popped out for a short morning trip into sidetrack but failed again, as the guy from suss had lost his keys :s

so the trip turned into a longer afternoon trip as I followed Ann, Roy and Alex Crow down their rope and they left me there. so I thought I might as well help :)
 
pwhole

pwhole

Well-known member
Well good work that lad. You'll get into Sidetrack eventually. Probably not via Eldon Hole though.
 
Mark Wright

Mark Wright

Active member
By the time we get down to the bottom of the boards we positioned on Sunday there will be room for 3 diggers, 1 Supervisor and an apprentice Supervisor.

Mark Richardson went down yesterday afternoon and took the 8 boards we were short of and slotted them into position ready for the next digging trip. He also capped the large boulder at the top of the squeeze and an equally sizeable one underneath it. Most of the diggers are working away from home this week so it'll probably be Saturday before the next trip which should see the shaft boarded down to -5m?

Mark
 
Speleotron

Speleotron

Member
If I'm free this weekend (50 50 chance at the moment) I'll be up for joining you. I cant do anything technical but I can lift and carry. I live in Leeds and dont have a car, where and when would I need to be? is there somewhere I can meet you to get a lift? I dont mind getting a train to manchester or something.
 
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