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Descent 310 is out now.
....so prepare to see some of the best writing and photography from the caving world
Including: Into the Echo Chamber, Tim Allen reports on another magnificent Yorkshire Dales find by the Space Miners....and: The Great Geoff Yeadon, undoubtedly one of the greats of the caving world. Following his death at the age of 75, Geoff Crossley, Martin Grass and Mick Nunwick pay tribute to him.
Agen Allwedd - Priory Road Exploration
- Thread starter marsrat
- Start date
Cantclimbtom
Well-known member
Eager to hear if there's big news yet
marsrat
Well-known member
The weekend just gone was a success. Substantial progress made, circa 1.5m (rock, wasn't easy going; progress to be confirmed). Once again, we have hit the problem of having insufficient manpower to remove the dug spoil (a fair few volunteers never made it/dropped out before the weekend). Our forward progress is rapid, but the bottleneck is getting the spoil out. It is possible that a breakthrough could happen in the next 5-6 camps if progress is maintained and we have the manpower to get the spoil out.
A report + photos, and more will be released shortly.
Last edited:
asheshouse
Member
Trust that you surveyed the 1.5m extension. 
Jedexertus
Well-known member
First x2 back dated digging updates on two back to back digging weekends and then the long easter weekend just gone.
First weekend 1/3
28/02/25 - 02/03/25
Friday to Sunday (Myself David Kinzett) and Paul Stacey accompanied by mathilde feral on the Saturday who came down solo on a day trip
Myself and paul continued the sand dig (SANDMAN) in Iles inlet that Alex Stacey and mathilde had started digging on the previous trip, me and paul dug and removed sand for around 2.5 hours before retreating back to camp at a reasonable time for once, Saturday morning joined by mathilde we continued the Iles dig first concentrating on moving a considerable amount of sand back out of the digging area and back down the passage with a drag tray alot more efficient with 3 people , we then continued to dig down at the end of the passage over the day using sand bags to help retain the sides of the ever Deepening hole as the sand was very loose n dry throwing the sand up out of the hole onto a ledge and making a big pile then back to the drag tray so we could clear the digging area without blocking ourselves in, this repeated several times, the hole ended up quite large approximately 2m deep from the original sand fill hight when Alex and mathilde had started, we hit the bottom of the passage solid rock with no continuation found. Mathilde left as it was getting late top efforts from her grafting hard all day and still having to cave out solo, me and paul continued to dig back into the sand wall back into the passage approx 0.5m filling large sand bags and stacking them at the end of passage at the back of the hole, we found an arch on the left hand wall going off at 45 degrees we around 1m lower than the original sand level, we quickly made progress getting around 3.5 meters into the continuation as we could dig the sand straight out and into the once huge hole, we noticed the air wasn't very good likely high co2 ? a Lighter wouldn't work and we were quite short of breath we called it a day at that point happy that we had found the continuation even though we hoped it would have been on the opposite side or straight on into open space. Paul exited the cave around mid day sunday and i went back to the dig solo for a couple of hours the air alot better now i made around another meter forward progress and also filling more sand bags and stacking, x12 large bags in total stacked and buried at this point keeping the dig a decent size to work in, I exited the cave that evening total 15 hours digging completed.
2nd weekend 2/3
07/03/25 - 09/03/25
Friday to Sunday Myself and David Sutton joined but Samuel Hill on a day trip Saturday
Soloed down early Friday evening sorted out tools / sandbags drag tray from previous finished digs and brought to a central point for future use if when needed, checked out Donovans grief/ reo dreamo to get fresh eyes on how it all was down there and see if we could dig there this weekend, after the monks had received a very detailed email from Tony Donovan who was one of the last diggers in that area thanks Tony , i took some pictures and videos and went back to camp around midnight joined by David Sutton who was already there waiting. Originally we were going to continue the dig in avalanche aven but ideally wanted 4 or more people so we could make significant progress and only having 3 on this trip due to unforseen circumstances we decided to dig at Donovans. Saturday morning we were joined by Samuel Hill and we went to Donovans via Iles Trafalgar Bunker route, we concentrated work on the right hand passage / continuation not the vertical part of the choke to the left that tony and co had been focusing on previously, we removed some backfill under a large boulder and made good progress forward into a slightly more open area and began to pry boulders and clay from around the edges walls roof etc with long road pins / scaff bar crowbar etc at arms length whilst keeping ourselves safeish under what appears to be solid roof well a huge boulder that has slipped at some point but looks settled and not going to move any time soon ? And then going in after to retrieve the boulders n spoil very dodgy, sam hauling huge boulders out with his bare hands no gloves, we dopped and moved a considerable amount boulders out and back down the passage, stacking not to far along near the vertical choke but running out of space pretty quickly, the current end of Donovans grief is now probably about a 1.5 m square area that is unstable and needs scaffolding / boards ? and engineering to make it stable and safe enough for further forward progress . The air and draft are brilliant draft coming from all around from gaps in floor and above, it's hard to tell what is solid wall and or boulders but we are currently in the middle of whatever, at the end to the dig left is a 45degree bend on what looks like solid wall or an absolutely huge boulder ? With smaller rocks / clay n infill against it so hoping we can make the area safe enough to continue forward, considerable effort and many power is going to be needed in this area moving boulders and spoil back a good way along the passage to the old camp area for us to progress forward with any real impact along side the engineering needed. Sam checked out MOAB reporting its not very nice, before leaving for the day via sick parrot / Severn beach and back to priory road completing the new priory road round trip. Total of 7 hours digging at Donovans grief
Me and David Sutton called it a day at Donovans and headed back to Iles inlet sand dig where we decided we would look at the other small drafting passage / hole in Iles before you get to the current sand dig (SANDMAN) we dug down into the sand n fill enough so we could just get through the widest part a short but tight squeeze David first in and out without to much problem saying it bends left and then right but the continuation is far to small and tight to continue, i then squeezed in for a look and took some video and pictures seeing that the passage continues around another 5 meters ish before it appears to bend right the passage is tiny but was drafting towards us very well. It took David 3 attempts to pull me out of squeeze as it was slightly uphill on the way out and i had slid down full exhail on the way in, i wouldn't have gone in if I was alone as uncharted ground it was obvious there was nowhere to turn around, around 1.5 hours spent at this area, we think that the (SANDMAN) dig is going to intersect the drafting hole from the right near the point of entry but slightly lower down and we think that the continuation of the drafting hole is going to be larger lower down under the solid wall restriction as we are at the top of a sandbank and definitely at the top of the passage. The SANDMAN continuation is also tight at the top and has mud / clay layer and sand underneath where it widens out currently looking like it's a good size passage just full of sand easy digging so our thinking is if it does link to to drafting passage lower down currently around 5m away. Then we can continue forward into the blank space and hopefully find something extensive we could even backfill the SANDMAN dig slightly if needed for faster forward progress. This dig is not likely to be the daren connection but it's worth chasing for new cave and it is close to camp so ideal for Friday and Sunday digs. Concentrating bigger efforts on main daren leads / Avalanche / Donovans further away on a full Saturday dig.
David exited the cave Sunday around mid day and I sorted a few things at camp then went and dug at SANDMAN for another 2 hours filling more sandbags totalling x18 bags now with loose sand fill between layers and progressing around another meter forward total length of continuation is approx 5m . Total weekend dig time 10.5 hours
Easter weekend 3/3
Friday 18/04/25
Alex Stacy / Catherine / Christopher holt / Day trip hauling in stuff pelican case left at start of Suthern streamway that i took the rest of the way to camp later that evening / boards and grates donated by (Stuart france) taken to Waterfall chamber. 12.00 pm start / 5.00 pm finish
Camping Friday / Saturday
(Me David Kinzett) / Christopher holt /
Adrian Fawcett /Adam boldock / Ben chaddock entered cave in 2 groups 6.30 / 7pm in ish no digging Friday night. Adrian had brought down a BDH of scaff clips also donated by Stuart france thank you. Stuart.
Saturday 10.30am Adrian collected tools scaff clips spanner etc from avalanche for Donovans Grief dig and also installed the new electron ladder donated by CSS in avalanche aven. Going to the old diggers camp via the Spice Grinder and Arrakis. The rest of us left around 45mins after checked sandman and visited the courtesan as only mecfrom thst group.has been to this part of the cave, we went to old diggers camp via Trafalgar and bunker, Adrian was already moving boulders when we arrived. We moved all of the boulders back from the entrance to the dig passage back to the old diggers camp and stacked everything neatly and filled as much undercut voids as possible approx 3 hours stacking and moving,
Next page . All half photos here in order of the update . Sandman draftingpassage. / and Donovans grief progress
First weekend 1/3
28/02/25 - 02/03/25
Friday to Sunday (Myself David Kinzett) and Paul Stacey accompanied by mathilde feral on the Saturday who came down solo on a day trip
Myself and paul continued the sand dig (SANDMAN) in Iles inlet that Alex Stacey and mathilde had started digging on the previous trip, me and paul dug and removed sand for around 2.5 hours before retreating back to camp at a reasonable time for once, Saturday morning joined by mathilde we continued the Iles dig first concentrating on moving a considerable amount of sand back out of the digging area and back down the passage with a drag tray alot more efficient with 3 people , we then continued to dig down at the end of the passage over the day using sand bags to help retain the sides of the ever Deepening hole as the sand was very loose n dry throwing the sand up out of the hole onto a ledge and making a big pile then back to the drag tray so we could clear the digging area without blocking ourselves in, this repeated several times, the hole ended up quite large approximately 2m deep from the original sand fill hight when Alex and mathilde had started, we hit the bottom of the passage solid rock with no continuation found. Mathilde left as it was getting late top efforts from her grafting hard all day and still having to cave out solo, me and paul continued to dig back into the sand wall back into the passage approx 0.5m filling large sand bags and stacking them at the end of passage at the back of the hole, we found an arch on the left hand wall going off at 45 degrees we around 1m lower than the original sand level, we quickly made progress getting around 3.5 meters into the continuation as we could dig the sand straight out and into the once huge hole, we noticed the air wasn't very good likely high co2 ? a Lighter wouldn't work and we were quite short of breath we called it a day at that point happy that we had found the continuation even though we hoped it would have been on the opposite side or straight on into open space. Paul exited the cave around mid day sunday and i went back to the dig solo for a couple of hours the air alot better now i made around another meter forward progress and also filling more sand bags and stacking, x12 large bags in total stacked and buried at this point keeping the dig a decent size to work in, I exited the cave that evening total 15 hours digging completed.
2nd weekend 2/3
07/03/25 - 09/03/25
Friday to Sunday Myself and David Sutton joined but Samuel Hill on a day trip Saturday
Soloed down early Friday evening sorted out tools / sandbags drag tray from previous finished digs and brought to a central point for future use if when needed, checked out Donovans grief/ reo dreamo to get fresh eyes on how it all was down there and see if we could dig there this weekend, after the monks had received a very detailed email from Tony Donovan who was one of the last diggers in that area thanks Tony , i took some pictures and videos and went back to camp around midnight joined by David Sutton who was already there waiting. Originally we were going to continue the dig in avalanche aven but ideally wanted 4 or more people so we could make significant progress and only having 3 on this trip due to unforseen circumstances we decided to dig at Donovans. Saturday morning we were joined by Samuel Hill and we went to Donovans via Iles Trafalgar Bunker route, we concentrated work on the right hand passage / continuation not the vertical part of the choke to the left that tony and co had been focusing on previously, we removed some backfill under a large boulder and made good progress forward into a slightly more open area and began to pry boulders and clay from around the edges walls roof etc with long road pins / scaff bar crowbar etc at arms length whilst keeping ourselves safeish under what appears to be solid roof well a huge boulder that has slipped at some point but looks settled and not going to move any time soon ? And then going in after to retrieve the boulders n spoil very dodgy, sam hauling huge boulders out with his bare hands no gloves, we dopped and moved a considerable amount boulders out and back down the passage, stacking not to far along near the vertical choke but running out of space pretty quickly, the current end of Donovans grief is now probably about a 1.5 m square area that is unstable and needs scaffolding / boards ? and engineering to make it stable and safe enough for further forward progress . The air and draft are brilliant draft coming from all around from gaps in floor and above, it's hard to tell what is solid wall and or boulders but we are currently in the middle of whatever, at the end to the dig left is a 45degree bend on what looks like solid wall or an absolutely huge boulder ? With smaller rocks / clay n infill against it so hoping we can make the area safe enough to continue forward, considerable effort and many power is going to be needed in this area moving boulders and spoil back a good way along the passage to the old camp area for us to progress forward with any real impact along side the engineering needed. Sam checked out MOAB reporting its not very nice, before leaving for the day via sick parrot / Severn beach and back to priory road completing the new priory road round trip. Total of 7 hours digging at Donovans grief
Me and David Sutton called it a day at Donovans and headed back to Iles inlet sand dig where we decided we would look at the other small drafting passage / hole in Iles before you get to the current sand dig (SANDMAN) we dug down into the sand n fill enough so we could just get through the widest part a short but tight squeeze David first in and out without to much problem saying it bends left and then right but the continuation is far to small and tight to continue, i then squeezed in for a look and took some video and pictures seeing that the passage continues around another 5 meters ish before it appears to bend right the passage is tiny but was drafting towards us very well. It took David 3 attempts to pull me out of squeeze as it was slightly uphill on the way out and i had slid down full exhail on the way in, i wouldn't have gone in if I was alone as uncharted ground it was obvious there was nowhere to turn around, around 1.5 hours spent at this area, we think that the (SANDMAN) dig is going to intersect the drafting hole from the right near the point of entry but slightly lower down and we think that the continuation of the drafting hole is going to be larger lower down under the solid wall restriction as we are at the top of a sandbank and definitely at the top of the passage. The SANDMAN continuation is also tight at the top and has mud / clay layer and sand underneath where it widens out currently looking like it's a good size passage just full of sand easy digging so our thinking is if it does link to to drafting passage lower down currently around 5m away. Then we can continue forward into the blank space and hopefully find something extensive we could even backfill the SANDMAN dig slightly if needed for faster forward progress. This dig is not likely to be the daren connection but it's worth chasing for new cave and it is close to camp so ideal for Friday and Sunday digs. Concentrating bigger efforts on main daren leads / Avalanche / Donovans further away on a full Saturday dig.
David exited the cave Sunday around mid day and I sorted a few things at camp then went and dug at SANDMAN for another 2 hours filling more sandbags totalling x18 bags now with loose sand fill between layers and progressing around another meter forward total length of continuation is approx 5m . Total weekend dig time 10.5 hours
Easter weekend 3/3
Friday 18/04/25
Alex Stacy / Catherine / Christopher holt / Day trip hauling in stuff pelican case left at start of Suthern streamway that i took the rest of the way to camp later that evening / boards and grates donated by (Stuart france) taken to Waterfall chamber. 12.00 pm start / 5.00 pm finish
Camping Friday / Saturday
(Me David Kinzett) / Christopher holt /
Adrian Fawcett /Adam boldock / Ben chaddock entered cave in 2 groups 6.30 / 7pm in ish no digging Friday night. Adrian had brought down a BDH of scaff clips also donated by Stuart france thank you. Stuart.
Saturday 10.30am Adrian collected tools scaff clips spanner etc from avalanche for Donovans Grief dig and also installed the new electron ladder donated by CSS in avalanche aven. Going to the old diggers camp via the Spice Grinder and Arrakis. The rest of us left around 45mins after checked sandman and visited the courtesan as only mecfrom thst group.has been to this part of the cave, we went to old diggers camp via Trafalgar and bunker, Adrian was already moving boulders when we arrived. We moved all of the boulders back from the entrance to the dig passage back to the old diggers camp and stacked everything neatly and filled as much undercut voids as possible approx 3 hours stacking and moving,
Next page . All half photos here in order of the update . Sandman draftingpassage. / and Donovans grief progress
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Jedexertus
Well-known member
Next page continuation
everyone took a look at the dig face and we discussed the situation, we stabilised the end of dig with a couple of piece's of scaff less than i had expected and continued to dig the left hand side S/E facing and removed spoil and boulders back and down the passage in drag trays slow going with only 3 people on ideally 4 peaple or more due to the corners in the passage back to the camp, the passage floor was lowered in a few places to aid access and help with thecdrsg trays, 2 day trippers arrived at the dig John Stevens and Mike Reid to say hello n then fucked off lol. Taking Adrian Fawcett out with them approx 6pm Apparently Rupert massey had come with JS and Mike but stayed at camp with the only sign of him being there was a bottle of piss i nearly drank from lol me /Christopher/ Adam / Ben continued to dig until 9.30pm Then returned to camp via the round trip. Late night after food n chill 3pm / 4pm bedtime.
total digging time Saturday was around 9 hours
Sunday. Ben / Adam left camp around 11.30 but returned to camp after doing a water run all water bottles full then exited the cave. Absolute legends hopefully to return at another dig weekend in the future as there help was 100% needed and the company was great to.
Just 2 left Me and Christopher, we left camp around 12.45 and went to Broadside to collect pvc capping mats took some photos at courtesan, visited avalanche to collect a heavy crowbar and avon to show Christopher the avalanche dig, we exited to the bunker via the horrendous spice grinder ,well horrendous for me as a pretty normal sized caver my first time going that way through it, never again will i do it id rarthe go back out of broadside n doen Trafalgar even though its longer. We got to old diggers camp 2.45 pm late start but time didn't matter we we gonna get a full shift in as not exitingthe cave until monday. We added a potentially temporary scaff support to the roof as one boulder just above was questionable not sure if it was going to move as we took some large boulders down just by the side of it. More a confidence thing probably as getting out of that area in a hurry is slightly restricted bu the tight ish entry. We Dug at the left capping and removing alot of boulders one huge boulder taking about 7 caps to get into manageable pieces, also capped and widened the passage just before the dig face. Alot of forward progress was made in a short time, with just 2 of us went could only removing boulders and spoil back into the passage around the vertical choke restricting access again. We need 6 or 7 people really. 4 on drag trays at least, 1 at dig face and 1 just behind for optimal forward progress and spoil removal to old camp. We packed alot of the clay back around the walls of the dig aswell. After we had exposed boulders to see what was good n bad etc, on point spoil management at the old diggers camp is essential as space is possibly likely to run out before the connection is made if dig continues in the same fashion ? Hopefully we find some gaps in the fill and work our way through the larger boulders letting them support each other and reducing the ammout of scaff and engineering speeding ip forward progress. We have the option of removing boulders and spoil down the passage leading to the bunker and possibly into the bunker if needed ? Finnish digging at Donovans at 10.30pm with 1.2m of forward progress yes that's 1.2 meters nearer to Updweeb. We exited the old camp via the round trip. Dragging the peli case to seven beach and then into Grolsch l, capping some boulders in Grolsch was a nightmare, one cap left in a boulder as failed to set it off. Very awkward angle and our magic wand isn't overly heavy so if your not perfectly square on its hard to get enough power behind it. We got back to camp 1.00 am bolloxed. Total 9.5 hours digging. Sunday morning we went to bed 5 /6 am. Got up 10.45 not enough sleep lol had breakfast Faffed n packed up camp left camp 1.55 pm didn't manage to do the washing up and left it at the rope climb Suthern streamway with only 2 hours until our callout. exited the cave at 4.05 pm 5 mins late of call out notva bad time with a bag each and a peli case drill n batteries. Great productive weekend despite fewer people than expected. . Next dig date is confirmed for 16th / 17th / 18th May . WE NEED AS MUCH HELP AND MAN POWER AS POSSIBLE WE CANNOT REMOVE SPOIL AND BOULDERS BACK FROM THR DIG FACE FAST ENOUGH !!! We are looking at setting up a pully system for drag trays to speed things up but again we require people to help . THIS IS THE CONNECTION AND IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN sooner rarther than later the more help we get . PLEASE contact Alex Stacey. Marsrat or myself if you can help be part of the glory be part of history.
everyone took a look at the dig face and we discussed the situation, we stabilised the end of dig with a couple of piece's of scaff less than i had expected and continued to dig the left hand side S/E facing and removed spoil and boulders back and down the passage in drag trays slow going with only 3 people on ideally 4 peaple or more due to the corners in the passage back to the camp, the passage floor was lowered in a few places to aid access and help with thecdrsg trays, 2 day trippers arrived at the dig John Stevens and Mike Reid to say hello n then fucked off lol. Taking Adrian Fawcett out with them approx 6pm Apparently Rupert massey had come with JS and Mike but stayed at camp with the only sign of him being there was a bottle of piss i nearly drank from lol me /Christopher/ Adam / Ben continued to dig until 9.30pm Then returned to camp via the round trip. Late night after food n chill 3pm / 4pm bedtime.
total digging time Saturday was around 9 hours
Sunday. Ben / Adam left camp around 11.30 but returned to camp after doing a water run all water bottles full then exited the cave. Absolute legends hopefully to return at another dig weekend in the future as there help was 100% needed and the company was great to.
Just 2 left Me and Christopher, we left camp around 12.45 and went to Broadside to collect pvc capping mats took some photos at courtesan, visited avalanche to collect a heavy crowbar and avon to show Christopher the avalanche dig, we exited to the bunker via the horrendous spice grinder ,well horrendous for me as a pretty normal sized caver my first time going that way through it, never again will i do it id rarthe go back out of broadside n doen Trafalgar even though its longer. We got to old diggers camp 2.45 pm late start but time didn't matter we we gonna get a full shift in as not exitingthe cave until monday. We added a potentially temporary scaff support to the roof as one boulder just above was questionable not sure if it was going to move as we took some large boulders down just by the side of it. More a confidence thing probably as getting out of that area in a hurry is slightly restricted bu the tight ish entry. We Dug at the left capping and removing alot of boulders one huge boulder taking about 7 caps to get into manageable pieces, also capped and widened the passage just before the dig face. Alot of forward progress was made in a short time, with just 2 of us went could only removing boulders and spoil back into the passage around the vertical choke restricting access again. We need 6 or 7 people really. 4 on drag trays at least, 1 at dig face and 1 just behind for optimal forward progress and spoil removal to old camp. We packed alot of the clay back around the walls of the dig aswell. After we had exposed boulders to see what was good n bad etc, on point spoil management at the old diggers camp is essential as space is possibly likely to run out before the connection is made if dig continues in the same fashion ? Hopefully we find some gaps in the fill and work our way through the larger boulders letting them support each other and reducing the ammout of scaff and engineering speeding ip forward progress. We have the option of removing boulders and spoil down the passage leading to the bunker and possibly into the bunker if needed ? Finnish digging at Donovans at 10.30pm with 1.2m of forward progress yes that's 1.2 meters nearer to Updweeb. We exited the old camp via the round trip. Dragging the peli case to seven beach and then into Grolsch l, capping some boulders in Grolsch was a nightmare, one cap left in a boulder as failed to set it off. Very awkward angle and our magic wand isn't overly heavy so if your not perfectly square on its hard to get enough power behind it. We got back to camp 1.00 am bolloxed. Total 9.5 hours digging. Sunday morning we went to bed 5 /6 am. Got up 10.45 not enough sleep lol had breakfast Faffed n packed up camp left camp 1.55 pm didn't manage to do the washing up and left it at the rope climb Suthern streamway with only 2 hours until our callout. exited the cave at 4.05 pm 5 mins late of call out notva bad time with a bag each and a peli case drill n batteries. Great productive weekend despite fewer people than expected. . Next dig date is confirmed for 16th / 17th / 18th May . WE NEED AS MUCH HELP AND MAN POWER AS POSSIBLE WE CANNOT REMOVE SPOIL AND BOULDERS BACK FROM THR DIG FACE FAST ENOUGH !!! We are looking at setting up a pully system for drag trays to speed things up but again we require people to help . THIS IS THE CONNECTION AND IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN sooner rarther than later the more help we get . PLEASE contact Alex Stacey. Marsrat or myself if you can help be part of the glory be part of history.
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Jedexertus
Well-known member
Between 1.2 n 1.5 forward progress. I'd rarther gestimate on the shorter than longer, we had a tape down there aswell but wasn't going bsck to camp to retrieve just to measure as still plenty of meters to go before we get to excited, at least a couple of square meters has been removed from the dig and dig face in totalTrust that you surveyed the 1.5m extension.
asheshouse
Member
Looking forward to the next 1.5m. Great report. Thanks for the post.
Jedexertus
Well-known member
So am I
The Old Ruminator
Well-known member
Great but can we please have a survey with the places named. Even a sketch would do.
Jedexertus
Well-known member
Hope this helps
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Cantclimbtom
Well-known member
That's a whole lot of cave not shown (yet) on the surveys published by CSS!
Well done all. Hopefully it'll all be over soon! 
Heading for Suicide Choke in Updweeb, if I remember right.
Donovan's Grief though? Never heard it called that. It was named Rio Dreamo.
Only dug there a couple of times and was never at the sharp end. I do remember lying in MOAB choke, guiding trays through, though! I was told it was abandoned due to it becoming too difficult to prise boulders out of the floor.
Heading for Suicide Choke in Updweeb, if I remember right.
Donovan's Grief though? Never heard it called that. It was named Rio Dreamo.
Only dug there a couple of times and was never at the sharp end. I do remember lying in MOAB choke, guiding trays through, though! I was told it was abandoned due to it becoming too difficult to prise boulders out of the floor.
Crustyface
New member
5 stars; highly recommend; would cave again. Camp compares very favourably to Hard Rock and the Restaurant, and both the main dig at Rio Dreamo / Donovan's and the secondary digs at Sandman, Avalanche and Grolsch all feel very worthwhile. It really does need a large team to make it efficient - Dave and I, alone on Sunday, stacked up a lot of boulders in the lower parts of the dig that need hauling out to be stacked properly in the old camp. We also rammed clay into all sorts of holes in the ceiling and walls so in general it has become narrower and lower. I think scraping out the clay floor to make it more consistently hands-and-knees will vastly improve the experience of rolling boulders uphill and make the drag tray easier to control with fewer humps and corners. Also given that by the sounds of it Updweeb could be dug down, I think it won't hurt to aim lower.
The draught comes from a hole in the floor ~5 metres before the current end of the dig, directly below the up-choke that was dug in the old days. I think lowering the floor here could make it worth exploring, though Dave wasn't enthused when he had a look and tidied it up a bit. Tunnelling straight towards Updweeb from the end of the dig will definitely get us there but is less likely to encounter airspace, and the stacking space in the Old Camp won't fit 15 cubic metres - a problem for later maybe.
I can't yet see a use for the boards and grids that we took in on Friday - more drag trays could be useful, and plastic mats to smooth the floor. The clay has a tendency to spill from the tray and then get compressed into the floor, which gradually raises the floor level unless you trim it down with the new shovel - my favourite tool of the weekend. The new capping rod is like a sportscar - elegant and rapid - kudos to whoever made that wonderful thing.
I was really quite taken by the surprising level of comfort at camp and the amazing characters on the team. Special thanks to Adam and Ben who did the water run for us. It's a fantastic project that anyone with the time and ability should try to help.
The draught comes from a hole in the floor ~5 metres before the current end of the dig, directly below the up-choke that was dug in the old days. I think lowering the floor here could make it worth exploring, though Dave wasn't enthused when he had a look and tidied it up a bit. Tunnelling straight towards Updweeb from the end of the dig will definitely get us there but is less likely to encounter airspace, and the stacking space in the Old Camp won't fit 15 cubic metres - a problem for later maybe.
I can't yet see a use for the boards and grids that we took in on Friday - more drag trays could be useful, and plastic mats to smooth the floor. The clay has a tendency to spill from the tray and then get compressed into the floor, which gradually raises the floor level unless you trim it down with the new shovel - my favourite tool of the weekend. The new capping rod is like a sportscar - elegant and rapid - kudos to whoever made that wonderful thing.
I was really quite taken by the surprising level of comfort at camp and the amazing characters on the team. Special thanks to Adam and Ben who did the water run for us. It's a fantastic project that anyone with the time and ability should try to help.
Jedexertus
Well-known member
Well done all. Hopefully it'll all be over soon!
Heading for Suicide Choke in Updweeb, if I remember right.
Donovan's Grief though? Never heard it called that. It was named Rio Dreamo.
Only dug there a couple of times and was never at the sharp end. I do remember lying in MOAB choke, guiding trays through, though! I was told it was abandoned due to it becoming too difficult to prise boulders out of the floor.
The email we received from Tony Donovan stated the passage or the end of the passage after the vertical MOAB dig near to the old camp was named Donovans grief. The passage leading down is not MOAB witch most people think including us originally when looking at the original survey. The name Reo dreamo is still an unknown to where it came from
. The vertical choke at the end of the passage is not diggable by hand well without banging and poking whatever moves etc, there is no way you could just be in the choke and pry boulders down by hand without dying it would be suicidel to even try it,l. We have been digging the right hand end and have turned 90% and are digging the left wall south east, it is currently boulders and infill that is currently very disabled by hand and capping where as just further back at the vertical choke it's basically just boulders no real infill, the floor at the end has / had gaps with draft but the clay infill ends up blocking these so hoping we find some air gaps in the fill on the sides or roof of the dig so they do not get filled in whilst we are progressing forward and keeping the air good down there at the actual face, there is very good draft a couple of meters back from the face rhat goes up the vertical chock and back towards the old camp so currently no issues with air quality. we are trying to stay level and straight at the minute not going up or down left right but we will see what we encounter and will do whatever we need to get through with the least ammout of engineering possible. Using the larger boulders as walls if possible and finding a way through the infill and smaller boulders 
Yellow is the vertical chock. Red is our current dig. Even if solid fill all the way / hopefully not
we are gonna get this done . Again the more help and man power we have each dig weekend the faster the connection will be achieved. . Again if anyone wants to help us contact marsrat or myself and we can add you to an external WhatsApp chat to discuss everything. The next did date is Saturday 17th May . But we normally go in Friday out Sunday so. 16th /18th . But day trippers whatever come help cheers
Jedexertus
Well-known member
Thank you mate you were a credit to the team and more than pulled your weight over the weekend a pleasure to cave with that also goes for Adam and Ben . I really hope you all come back when possible the ammout of progress made this weekend could not of happened without you all
The name Reo dreamo is still an unknown to where it came from
See reply #52 on this tread and also Martyn Farr's reports in various issues of Descent from 92/93 below.
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