With the recent fall at Bogg Shaft blocking access to the west
side of the Smallcleugh system and its very interesting stopes I had been
thinking about installing some permanent ropes so that access could be made via
the Caplecleugh Flats around the Middlecleugh North Vein. Tony had also
informed me that he had been to the area from the east side, and that some
group had actually been doing some work with the fall. They had installed a
hand line and a maypole which almost provided access to the chamber in the
shaft that intersects the Caplecleugh High Level, however there is still
material coming down the shaft and the pole on his last visit was half
buried.
Armed with ropes, Hilti drill and bolting gear we made our way
to Bogg Shaft via the surface shaft link to the stope on the west side of the
shaft. By the time the four of us had got there Karli managed to catch up as he
had started late. The sight that greeted us was a bit of a shock, the chamber
that you climb up into, to pass between the pipes was completely filled in with
material, which extended just past the first ore chute used to gain access back
into the Smallcleugh Horse Level. The chute was pretty much covered in rocks
and some of the wooden beams across it were smashed. Karli and Pete started to
have a dig at the debris, whilst myself, Tony and Wendy looked at the remaining
ore chutes, trying to find out which where open and best to
rig.
Meanwhile, Karli and Pete had managed to move some of the debris
away from the fallout area and much to Karli's surprise he found one of his
'honey' bottles that had been thrown down from the surface. Things are
definitely moving and working through the system! At this point we ended up
having lunch and then the ore chute was bolted up with a permanent rope. (On
the way back out we discovered a slight rub point in the chute so if you use
this, make sure a krab is used via the third hanger plate as a deviation). Once
we all reached the horse level, we made our way towards the forehead rise, but
not via a distraction. Passing a hopper and ladder way, I asked if Tony had
ever been up, nope, and he disappeared up it. Shortly we were all up in the
stope looking at artifacts. The stope was the continuation of the stope around
Bogg's Shaft and it headed back east. The way on was interrupted by some
understoping and without using ropes there was no way on. One thing that we did
notice was that in the roof you could see arching that looked like it had been
cemented? We retraced our route and finally made it to the rise near the
forehead which led to the rebelay shaft and the link to Caplecleugh.
At
the rebelay shaft, the remaining ropes were sorted out and Tony rigged the
pitch. Once he landed in the stopes below, Wendy set of down taking a recovery
rope, so that we could retrieve the off cut. All sorted, we parted company.
Having sat around waiting for Tony and Wendy to get down, had brought a chill
on (a very strong air flow here) and Karli put a brew on for us. After that we
proceeded to rig up the 10m rise with a rope, belayed to rails across it. The
bottom ladder here was free hanging and really it was only a matter of time
until it came away with someone climbing on it - not the best place to have an
accident this far in! The said ladder was removed to put temptation away, sorry
but you will have to use SRT here from now on. We made our way up to the
surface via the 5 pitches, cursing all the way.
It is certainly
interesting with what is happening inside Bogg's Shaft and it would be very
good to follow it up with a surface visit and decent to see the lay of things
up top - is it clear? Karli finding his honey bottle gets the mind jumping to
wishful conclusions! It would also be good to hear from the group who put in
the hand line and maypole. On another note, on the way down to the Bogg Shaft
stopes in the Caplecleugh High Level, Wendy noticed that one of the ropes
belayed to the water pipe was badly frayed - this has been removed and there is
only one rope now. This could do with getting backed to another
point. |
