Team Awesome - reunited!
Pre-pints were supped in't Red'n then we headed along the dale to a draughty hole which Rob had found a few months ago during the Beast from the East... It looked to be beyond the point of the shaft found in TDM and could link things up nicely.
Enjoying the walk over discussing news and politics...
Rigging off naturals we descended pretty quickly using our "Expo" rigging methods of zero rigging and a left handed bowline, avoiding rub-points as we could.
What knot is this?
Hanging about on a tree
I almost made it to the bottom via these rigging methods but whimped out when the rope would hang over a wall of miners deads! - Luke to the rescue, He abseiled down to place the first bolt above my head which left the bottom of the rope a metre or so from the floor but bomber as far as risk assessments go. We scouted around quickly admiring the miners cart axle and thousands of bones - don't tell anyone...
Rob surveyed down whilst Luke dug through a collapse to gain access to a further pitch...
Rob surveying up to daylight
Luke digging through the collapse
The Main Vein
Rob bolted the freshly discovered 6m pitch but with no rope and it looking pretty negative in terms of finding a connection of any sort we started our retreat. What we did notice on the wall of the pitch was a large rope groove from hauling ore out of the mine.
Rob placing a bolt
Getting out was a bit tricky due to the loose nature of the place. Luckily nobody died.
Luke squeezing through the entrance
We made it out with just enough time for a beer and pub snacks with a plan to return to drop the 6m pitch minus a Jon.