Post date: Jun 7, 2011 9:29:51 PM

John Moore, Stephen Macnamara, Al Kennedy & Stephen McCullagh

Time: 4 Hours

It’s been a while since we were last in Co0larkin. On that visit we spent quite some time looking for the best place to dig. Eventually after a protracted period of time we eventually settled on the right hand side half way up the boulder choke in an area which had seen some digging in the past.

For this trip it was decided that we would keep pushing in this mud and boulder filled area. With this in mind we came prepared with several scaf bars with connectors and a multitude of digging tools. John and I decided that we would begin the dig while Steve and Al looked for the surface shakehole above the terminal choke. Within five minutes of entering the cave I changed my mind again and decided to attack the left hand side down close to where a part of the stream sinks. John joined me and within 20 minutes we had made an interesting hole between a large boulder and the main left hand wall which looked promising. After a bit more digging we had gained about a metre but unfortunately we had to make a ‘crunch’ decision. There was a loose boulder in the way which blocked easy access to the continuation. Unfortunately this boulder was attached to several other boulders which may or may not have been attached to the multitude of boulders above and to the side.

Of course the sensible decision would have been to get out the scaf bars and build a protective cage to prevent a major collapse; however John was heading to South America that week and wouldn’t be back for a few months. So we seized the day (as they say) and went for it. Sometimes you win and sometimes you end up running backwards with the sound of boulders chasing you. This day was the latter. After a few minutes of adrenaline fuelled giggles, John and I went back to survey the damage; it wasn’t as bad as we thought, however there was still a few dodgy looking boulders in the way. John got out a particularly long scaf bar and got to work making things safe. Within 5 minutes of gentle proding things got worse and the roof came down. Oops! Lessons learnt. It was time to be a bit more cautious. I went in with the crowbar next, seconds later I came running out with my tail between my legs, again to be met by Stevemuh and Al coming back from their sortie.

Taking stock of the situation we were now 1.5 m behind where we started which was 2.5 m behind where we were just 20 minutes earlier. With sensible heads now firmly back in place the level-headed option was taken and the scaf bars were used for their main purpose. Steve scaffed the roof and then the four of us took turns removing the freshly fallen rocks until we eventually got back to zero metres again.

So in summary, no real progress but loads of ‘excitement’. I’m convinced we are going in the right direction so we’ll be back.

Stevebus