The Shaft

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }

IMG_0959, originally uploaded by Mic2006.

As mentioned in a previous post I had been involved this summer in a digging project with David Sawatzky, Greg Warchol and Doug. This picture shows the work taking place at the bottom of our pit.

The intent was to follow a surface joint down to what David suspected was its subterranean connection, a water filled tube. The tube had been dived for some significant distance from an alternate entrance a couple of hundred metres away. There is a pool at the bottom of the pit and divers bubbles had been spotted boiling up there from an exploration that was taking place beneath us. Though Greg had used his microblaster higher up very little of that was necessary down at this level. David spent much of his time immersed in the pool dredging out boulders and shards.

As for me, I made the awkward journey down to the digging surface many times. You descended in the classic chimneying manner, knees on one wall, soles of your feet on the other. The scalloped rock was immensely sharp and the crevice was better suited to a sheet of paper than a bulky human.

The return journey back to the surface was far more difficult. After a day of digging I was always tired and dehydrated. A steel cable ladder assisted ones struggles. Where the shaft was to narrow to take proper steps in the rungs you just pulled yourself upward with rubbery arms but where the shaft opened out I often found myself spinning around like a fishing lure. If it were not for ones caving coveralls you would be torn to shreds. I was so tired that I wondered how I could possibly make it back to fresh air.

The pit was absolutly crawling with snakes and every crevice seemed to have a pair of venomous eyes staring back at me. David was unconcerned, I was terrified. Their presence was a definite incentive to overcome my fatigue. I did not relish the idea of sleeping down there especially as we had removed a rattler earlier in the dig. (See earlier post “Black Snapper” that is to appear in the archives as soon as I figure out how to do that.)