Jeff, Dave B, Joe & Jon P
We met at the usual time and made our ways to the bottom of Cussey in pairs to avoid boulder dislodging catastrophes! Once all de-kitted we made our way through Loper Lust to the dig which was now no longer dry and a pool of water had formed at the bottom of the ramp. I took to the dig face first being first down the hole and with Rob stating that breakthrough was imminent I was keen to crack on whilst trying to keep dry.
I made my way up into the first air bell which was roomy enough to laydown in. We ferreted about 10 kibbles which now required feet hooking to bring forward to the dig face, a turf rolling technique was applied which seemed to work well rolling the sheets of clay up rather than digging down with fingers which seemed a waste of time. I could now see through to a bigger air bell and cleared just enough mud so I could squeeze through. Now in air bell 2 I could see forward approx. 4m where the floor dropped away with lots of popsicle pendulums on the roof which thwarted progress. Luckily these were quite easy to remove but seeing that breakthrough was no longer as close as we though I made way for someone else to have a go.
Dave was up next and took a whopping 2 more kibbles which now had to be ferreted from the arse end of nowhere and limited dragging without lots of movement from everyone in the chain. Dave managed to push forward into a further air bell (3) but it wasn't until Joe took his turn at the dig face that we reached the 4th air bell albeit with Joe losing both gloves in the process and completely caking his glasses with mud.
We now had to resort to stacking at the sides as it was impossible to drag kibbles back to the chamber. Jeff had the final dig and could see a few more metres ahead to where the passage seemed to be changing direction. We left covered in slop and now need to decide a further plan of action for the dig.
Breakthrough must be only metres away...