Tim, Simon and Rob. Another prospecting trip to the Pool Chamber Upstream Sump dig (now nicknamed Dambusters).

Firstly the 6.2mm of rain we had one evening last week seems to have not caused a flood, so the dig was unfortunately as we left it. Tim and Simon eagerly set to work digging the rocks out of the floor whilst I, this time armed with loads of caps, had a date with a large rock sat in the middle of the future trench. This rock was about the size of a table, and after 20 caps is approximately the size of a table still! Thankfully the boys had been busy and the sump has probably dropped another 6 inches, so hopefully the next flood will make a dramatic impact now….

Out of caps we then put in a traverse handline on a slippery climb up into the 2009 stuff and then headed back to the entrance. Here, to assist with diverting the flow down into Pool Chamber, we installed a new flap which blocks the pipe, flooding the entrance. This time it is attached to a 30m rope which is lined back to the entrance, so upon arriving we should be able to pull off the flap and get in. We were hoping to install a few attachment points along the length, to reduce friction, however out of drill power we had to settle with one pulley attached to a natural thread directly above the pipe. We tried it out, but with little patience we only waited for the water to back up for 5 minutes, so we’ll have to wait and see to see if we can pull the flap off when there is a full ~3m of head on it.

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