Caving Projects

Backburner Choke is located above the The Workshop area of James Hall (JH). When Dave (Moose) Nixon pushed James Hall, reaching The Workshop in December 1993, they carried on straight down to the bottom of JH, following the big passages as you would. They explored the area around and above The Workshop, one area they reached was Backburner Choke, a 3 m wide passage that was filled with a large choke of rocks the size of old style TV's. Due to time restrictions, they put it on the backburner, hence the name. They never went back to site.

Fast forward to 2010, Wayne Sheldon, Glyn Roberts and John Highfield went for a look, the rocks at the bottom could be easily removed / engineered out of the way so digging started in earnest. There was plenty of storage space, as it could be removed back to the chamber at the bottom of the slope. After a few sessions, it was a game of kerplunk, move the lower boulders and the ones above dropped down. A constant stream was flowing down and it was in a good area, with potential above. Eyre's Grove Mine is missing but is according to literature, its located above / adjacent The Workshop area.

The dig was dug over the course of a few years, eventually getting to a point where the remaining boulders are jambed 4 m above the floor, and they won't fall down. You can't work close to them, as a slight touch it will be game over for you, there is no chance to get out of the way. We have left the site to see if they naturally fall down on there own. An article on progress will appear in the new TSG journal to be published later this year.

Anybody who wants to have a look at the site or undertake digging, please feel free but be careful as the area is very loose, and it involves ascending a fixed rope.