(Two Men)
I picked Rob up at 4:43pm a smidge earlier than prescribed as he was still finishing his tea. We chucked his clobber in the van and made our way over to Moss Rake. HDM was another place I’d been interested in visiting since I read Sam’s report back in a 2008 newsletter. Rob and I made a quick inspection pre kitting up and a few minutes later we were back at the top armed with rope and crowbars.
Enter Luke (The half)…
Rob and I tried to move the offending sleeper but no joy, it wasn’t until Luke was ready and mustered all the force from his little kitten arms that we (2.5 men) were able to shift sleeper. Rob belayed the rope around one side whilst I wrapped a sling on the opposite creating a lovely Y-hang. Here we could easily see the precarious arch which Sam stated in his report was not to be touched, the only problem being it was the precise point where you’d place your feet without thinking. Rob now on Rob descended -20m to find Dan’s insitu bolts. Luke followed Rob down again trying not to kill the man below, Rob eventually landing on a large platform -60m? off to the East where the chain ladder hung from a rotting stemple.
Rob rigging the Shaft below the chain link ladder (Jon Pemberton)
I hastily followed admiring this amazing shaft and all the hand-picked levels which veered off. I didn’t find the place that loose, only the top little ginged section as described above. We regrouped on the platform whilst Rob rigged the next big hang and took some lovely snaps of Luke. The final hang dropped to floor of the shaft predicted to be -80m. Loads of leads squirrelled off from here and the shaft did appear to go much deeper with the humongous rope haul marks seen in the ginging. I followed Rob and Luke’s voice and entered a small chamber through a remarkable stacked archway, admiring the stone stemples above my head. When I eventually reached the other two Rob was halfway down an ore shute which terminated in a small chamber. We took a few more photos around this area and eventually hear Joe (Man number 3)
Luke in the Cartgate (Jon Pemberton)
After a further ferret around the base of the shaft it was determined we’d need to revisit HDM to survey it and check off all the leads to the west which haven’t been inspected in modern times. Luke headed up first being the weakest member of the team and we ascended to a little drizzle on surface followed by great bants in the pub afterward.