Today I met Roy at the Knotlow Triangle for what we expected might be the last session for this job. Armed with a bit more rope than last time, and much fewer tools, we didn't need to use Roy's van to get it all over to the coe in the copse; we simply had to walk and carry.
Of course, I forgot something (my Petzl rig descender) so the journey had to be made twice, but soon we had the lid open, and I could start rigging.
Down at the work face, the angles and the board were still performing their shuttering functions, and there were no clues this time hinting of people having been down the shaft. One of the screws was obscured by the shuttering board, so, as well as a screw driver, I brought along a small compact bolt cropper, and, as the other screw appeared to have had its cross-slot filled with postcrete, I had to use this on both sides. This wasn't easy in the confined space, and at an awkward angle, but they were soon cut through, one piece of angle dropping the length of the shaft before I could grab it.
Once the shuttering board was removed, we could see that the concrete underneath had set to a nice finish, and all we needed to do was get the bits and pieces back to the surface.
Having cleared the site, I carried on rigging down to the foot of the main climbing shaft. Roy followed me down, and we inspected the bolts on the way, and made sure that the foot of the shaft hadn't been blocked by any of the falling rocks. There certainly is more down there, but it isn't blocking the passage to the pitches further down.
Once the check was completed, we re-ascended, de-rigged the shaft and removed the "keep out" notice from the lid.
As always, it's impossible to say any mine is totally safe, especially ones which necessitate passing through stopes as this one does, but we can say that the packwall which collapsed a month ago is stable now. We will carry on monitoring the site, and will probably make a few minor improvements depending on how the repair stands up.
We would appreciate other cavers keeping an eye on things too. And if you do notice anything which looks dodgy, or requires attention, email Pete Knight projects@thedca.org.uk and he'll make sure that the problem gets addressed.
That's one of the many things DCA does!