Pete opened up the scaffolding and Paul and I followed him down into the new passage, while Keith and Simon surveyed through the boulder choke. I headed off with a roll of tape to mark the route we'd taken the previous week and I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of damage. I used up the 250m roll before I got back to the big chamber, which Keith had since christened Three Way Chamber, which meant that we had more passage than perhaps we'd realised. By the time I finished off right back to the breakthrough, the others were back along the main passage and Simon was busy taking photos.
Keith in the bottom of the dig, with the hole below (photo Simon Brooks).
Pete, myself and Keith at the breakthrough point - we came through where the light is shining from (photo Simon Brooks).
The passage from which we emerged into Three Way Chamber (photo Simon Brooks).
Keith and Pete in Three Way Chamber (photo Simon Brooks).
Keith in the start of the continuing main passage, named Urchin Passage, after the formations (photo Simon Brooks).
Keith in Urchin Passage - note the square top right hand side of the passage (photo Simon Brooks).
Pete and Keith in Urchin Passage (photo Simon Brooks).
Pete and myself in Urchin Passage (photo Simon Brooks).
Keith and Pete in Urchin Passage (photo Simon Brooks).
Pete in Urchin Passage - note the smaller size of the passage (photo Simon Brooks).
Keith investigating the boulder choke at the end of Urchin Passage (photo Simon Brooks).
Once the photography was done, Simon, Keith and I fetched Simon's DistoX (a great bit of gear, similar to the measuring instruments used by estate agents, which has a laser beam, which you point at a surface and measure the distance between the Disto to the surface - much better than a tape measure!) and started surveying Urchin Passage. Once we got used to what we were doing it didn't take long, but we were surprised at the direction the passage appeared to be trending; with all its twists and turns it had been difficult to get a feel for where it was going. While the photography had been going on, I'd had a closer look at the place where water had been sinking and discovered that it was quite a bit deeper than originally thought. When we reached this point during the surveying, Keith stepped onto a large boulder to point the Disto down a gap in the boulders and was greatly alarmed when the boulder dropped a few inches and then wedged again!! He flew out of the alcove back onto terra firma! This pitch was later called "The Elevator" as Keith said that was what it felt like. Personally, I'm glad I didn't get to find out!
Once we finished, we went to take a look at the smaller passage off Three Way Chamber and found Pete and Paul at the far choke, having spent some time 'progging'. They'd already shifted quite a large quanity of stone and some of this was already lining one wall of the passage. This passage is interesting in that all the small stalagmites have been broken and are still lying in place. Taking that into account, the chokes on both passages and the other 'damage' throughout the new cave, leads us to believe that there was a major earth movement at some point in the distance past, which broke formations and choked the avens. Was the 'original' passage also the same when t'owd man first investigated it? Did he really break up the formations to remove them or were they already broken? We'll probably never know, but it does open up some interesting questions.
Pete and Paul were very proud of the progress they'd made, having at one point cleared the small aven they were digging across, but then a little bit more 'progging' had produced a massive downpouring of boulders and now the aven is clear for the bottom 20 feet or so!! Apparently they moved very fast! Keith pointed out a collection of chert nodules in the right-hand wall near the boulder choke in the shape a number two - it's these nodules that have since given the passage its name of Cherty Two Passage.
While Keith joined the 'progging' team, Simon and I went to collect the Disto from Three Way Chamber and between the two of us surveyed Cherty Two Passage. Once this was done we headed for the surface.
Once we finished, we went to take a look at the smaller passage off Three Way Chamber and found Pete and Paul at the far choke, having spent some time 'progging'. They'd already shifted quite a large quanity of stone and some of this was already lining one wall of the passage. This passage is interesting in that all the small stalagmites have been broken and are still lying in place. Taking that into account, the chokes on both passages and the other 'damage' throughout the new cave, leads us to believe that there was a major earth movement at some point in the distance past, which broke formations and choked the avens. Was the 'original' passage also the same when t'owd man first investigated it? Did he really break up the formations to remove them or were they already broken? We'll probably never know, but it does open up some interesting questions.
Pete and Paul were very proud of the progress they'd made, having at one point cleared the small aven they were digging across, but then a little bit more 'progging' had produced a massive downpouring of boulders and now the aven is clear for the bottom 20 feet or so!! Apparently they moved very fast! Keith pointed out a collection of chert nodules in the right-hand wall near the boulder choke in the shape a number two - it's these nodules that have since given the passage its name of Cherty Two Passage.
The cherty 'two'.
While Keith joined the 'progging' team, Simon and I went to collect the Disto from Three Way Chamber and between the two of us surveyed Cherty Two Passage. Once this was done we headed for the surface.
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