After a long break Mark Richardson and me were down Eldon Hole tonight.
No digging but we did finally get Damocles re-rigged. We installed a couple of protected webbing slings and a couple of months ago we installed 5 x Petzl Collinox anchors and new connectors on all of the up pitches and tonight we carried out the 15 second, 6kN axial pull tests (they all passed) and installed a 60m single newish 11mm rope all the way from the very top to the anchor at the top of the pull-through pitch from the main chamber.
3 x Petzl Collinox anchors were also installed and tested at the base of the pull-through pitch as the previous anchors were now underneath our digging spoil.
Another Petzl Collinox was installed and tested on the very last re-belay on the West entrance route, instead of the wobbly hanger that we have been using since we started the project.
We opted for Collinox anchors and the glass resin tubes as an alternative to the BCA anchors which would ruin the placements if they ever had to be removed. Technically, as DCA/BCA don't cover fixed ropes, these anchors fall outside of the BCA anchor scheme.
All the old rope was removed from the cave.
You will still need to take a rope for the pull-through pitch out of the main chamber.
Mark