Proof that Sean went within metres of a cave while he was back in Ireland

So Shannon Group members have been talking about pushing this for a few years and we finally decided to make a proper assault on the day after the first Shannon Group Christmas Dinner Thingy. We came equipped with a tent, gardening tools, cement, scaff and many hands. While work was done to clear some of the branches above the entrance (unfortunately including one that would have helped hold back further debris from falling!) and pitching the tent as a shelter as close to the entrance as possible, Steve, Stevo, Aileen, Earlene and I went in one by one to check out the situation. The entrance chamber was accessible -- much dodginess to look at here, but the way on could be reached by ignoring it. Naturally, the way on looked even more dodgy (with a tight awkward squeeze necessary between boulders) so the plan was to do some major shoring to stabilise the entrance chamber, and then widen the squeeze with a cap or two. Over the next few hours we worked in shifts to shore up the first chamber, in particular the 3 or 4-ton rock hanging from the ceiling. Despite this, underground was the place to be considering the -2 degree heat (or lack of) on the surface, so most of us tried our best to stay underground. Apart from Sean, who stopped by to offer his Kiwi yuletide wishes and some encouragement. Next time, bring tea! :P With a series of scaff bars and an entire wall of stone and cement built to hold up the ceiling, attention was turned to the squeeze. Steve Muh capped the offending rock with some care; it still wasn't a nice place to be with rocks breaking around you. Meanwhile there were still occasional movements off the beaten track -- the chamber should be sound now, but I recommend against poking around in the holes along the side of the chamber floor, beneath the entrance! At least one false floor here caused a bit of shock when it gave way to the streamway. After capping, Stevo, Steve, Artur and I each took a look into the way on, which started off a mite dodgy-looking and then became more so, although this is possibly just us with our ultra-cautious heads on after the shoring. We were now able to reach the streamway, albeit in crawling space between boulders, and the most likely way on appeared to be up above the stream into what seemed at first to be vast black open space (Petzl Duo style) and then became more like small scary-looking boulder chamber (with a Scurion check). We left for the pub as darkness fell, knowing that there was still a good deal of work to be done before we get into the cave proper. Fat Tony

Rónán, stirring as ever