when a whole load came down suddenly with a loud crash! We swapped at that point, and I had a go. I built a small mound of rocks on the floor to give me some height and a little more protection and had some success, though it is hard holding a heavy horizontal bar in the air with only one hand in such a confined space.

Two days later on NHASA digging night, Nick and Neil from SMCC were carrying on where we had left off with the boulder choke when we arrived. Nick had found an 8 feet long scaffold bar (we had been using a solid bar that was only 4 feet long) He had more success with this, and revealed a large hole at the top of the boulder choke. He did have one scary moment when a large collection of rocks gave way at the same time, and he was so keen to exit quickly that he flew out of the rift headfirst! It is still looking immensely hairy in there though. One large rock has jammed near floor level, and there was no budging it without getting right in underneath the dodgy boulders above. No thanks!!

 Meanwhile that night, Dave Turner was in his usual fast and furious digging form and lowered the floor under the third platform by 4 feet. Hugh was waiting patiently for the flurry of digging to finish so that he could come down and use snappers in three large rocks on the floor that had stubbornly refused to be

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