The late, great Barry Andrew used the top rung and hangers from a dead ladder as a bog roll holder.

My thought as well. I've been along that section of passage at least a dozen times with no issues.

You're right Chris; I was there. In over quarter of a century of mine exploration this is a close as I have come to a catastrophe. As the initial post notes the incident involved the collapse of a false floor. The false floor in question was hidden under waist deep water laying over an...

Thanks for the help.

Clear polythene. In the end we didn't use it in anger for any prolonged period so I'm not really in a position to comment on its effectiveness. On the positive side it had sat in my helmet for several years and was in perfect condition when removed from its packaging.

I've always carried a polythene survival bag in my helmet. This weekend mine got used. Can anyone suggest a source for a replacement (must fit in helmet)?

What's the plan for underground visits? In 2020 we planned to do the underground trips in the Tamar Valley. Whilst I agreed to run this side of the conference I didn't think that having the conference based in two centres 60 miles apart was a particularly great idea.

and me

End of an era. I used to love getting their printed catalogues in the days before t'interweb

Absolute tragedy. The really sad thing is this mine is well known for bad air. I got caught out down there in 1990; fortunately I realised there was a problem and bailed.

Proving once again that the North York Moors is Britain's finest caving region!

Check out the Plymouth Caving Group, they do a lot of beginner friendly mine trips in and around the Tamar Valley.

Sew braces inside your oversuit

As a skint caver back in the 90s the late great Barry Andrew donated me an antique home made wetsuit, yellow tape down the seams. I spent a huge amount of time gluing it back together and patching it with random bits of scrounged neoprene. The suit got so bad that I had to be gaffer taped...

Fantastic stuff. Once again proving that the North York Moors is the UKs finest caving region.

Never really got on with the old Stop. I've been using micro racks with hyperbars for years. My current weapon of choice is the BMS microrack. I find they give a superbly smooth progression down the rope.

Absolutely awesome, well done.

A fantastic time was had - thanks to all concerned. (it was nice to meet you too).

Starting to think about my 2022 mine project:  This will involve reclimbing a shaft which has a bit of in situ tat in it.  Whist pretty confident in the tat (famous last words)  for obvious reasons we want to back up the climb with regularly placed bolts and runners.  Due to the acid nature...

For all us mining types Mining Journal has been digitized and is available at Archive.Org https://archive.org/details/pub_mining-journal?sort=titleSorter Unfortunately not a complete run but certainly a step in the right direction.