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19/12/09 - People Present: Alex Ritchie, Daniel Jackson & Darren Jarvis aka Daz of Caving. Weather: Bloody freezing, but mainly clear and thankfully no breeze. Despite the day’s weather we were able to continue as planned and prospects Storrs Cave for potential digging and then digging lower arch. We decided to do the prospecting first and bravely got changed in the –10C temperatures. We then trudged up the hill easily finding the large spacious entrance to Storrs cave. We first explored down the (pitch) at the far end of a tunnel, which quickly led to a dig with a duck/sump in it. With a bit of prodding with a metal rod someone had left there I managed to drain the duck, after which however the passage soon closed down to a narrow streamway. This streamway with a very small trickle running down it. Too tight needs capping. Next we returned to the main tunnel and explored some tight passages up hill which soon got too tight and again would need blasting these passages also looked like they would just hit the surface if pushed anyway. We then ventured into Storrs it self investigating each part of the cross rift until we eventually came to a very thick muddy slope with a couple inches of air space were we could hear a stream flowing. Though digging here would be difficult due to the mud and the fact that once dug more mud would come down and replace it. I do think this is the best lead of finding more passage as this bypasses a sump up stream which blocked us exploring in that direction, from the point we did manage to reach the stream. By the time we were done exploring we were now twice our weight in mud but happy at least we found one place of potential, what joy we had sliding around lol. We trotted off to our next goal our old favourite dig Lower Arch. |
30/12/09 - We originally planned to dig Lower Arch cave but the recent rainfall put the end to that idea, as water had flooded up to the dig shoring. So off to Storrs Cave for Alex and Daz, where we dug a good lot of mud out before I was able to squeeze down without the fear of drowning in the mud. I could see the passage continues around to the left and looks much much bigger. Only one thing, there appears to be a lump of solid rock in the way which makes the gap far too tight to fit through. We grabbed a pole and a big shovel from an abandoned dig site elsewhere in Storrs cave and began prodding. The rock would not shift so we started clearing the boulders and mud nearer to us so that getting to and from this point was not such a desperate affair. We have cleared a good amount of spoil and found a battery and the remains of an old shovel. We need to clear some more to make this rock dig-able then I guess the only thing for it is to chisel away at the rock because once we past that it really does open up from what I can see. Alex
16/01/10 - A team of four cleared some slumped mud before the offending obstruction was looked at; solid rock that wasn't budging. A few other sites were investigated and proddled, without any real success or gain, however a return may be made to the mud factory at some point in the future...
Next digging session - soon...