Valinor Field Dig: Saturday 6th December 2025

Surface AM - Mike Kushy, solo. 2 hours spent chiselling rock by hand.

Diving - Alessio Sancetta and Sam Chung. Sam's report from the Wessex logbook:

Saturday 6th December 2025

Swildon's Hole

Sam Chung, Alessio Sancetta

The 'Valinor' dig near the Queen Vic's pub aims to break into Swildon's 12 to enable cavers to continue pushing & exploration of the far reaches of the cave. Radiolocation of Sandwich Chamber was last done by Phil Short and co. in 2003. However, to quote Kushy, "I think if we are going to commit to digging 70m deep, we best double check exactly where we're aiming."

So the plan for today was to setup the radiolocation again in Sandwich Chamber to double check.

Alessio & I set off at 10 am as planned, with our cylinders already staged at Sump 2, and the radio kit staged by Sump 9 on earlier trips. Unfortunately, Alessio's cylinder was only half full, but he breathes like a fish so we persevered anyway. Water levels were quite high, so Sump 7 and its bypass were submerged. With it being zero visibility and being quite tight, I somehow got the line wrapped around my leg. At Sump 9, we decanted the radio kit into a new tackle sack because the straps on the old bag were broken. We had to put big boulders in the bag because it was so buoyant.

At Sump 10, with Alessio diving with the bag, he encountered a tangled mess with the dive line. Turns out there was another rope that must have been washed in creating a bird's nest. The other rope is still there, and we've tried to keep it out the way as much as possible & there is a nice bottle of Moet stashed at Sump 12. We decanted here and climbed up Victoria Aven. A fall here would be fatal, and the walls all covered with slippery mud. Luckily there was an in-situ rope for a bit of support. Getting through Desolation Row was a huge pain with the kit bag constantly getting stuck. Alessio was in front towing it with me at the back freeing the bag. Radiolocation was set up at 1500, half an hour later than planned.

I got myself stuck in the rift on the way out which killed my energy. Surface team successfully picked up signal.

Sam, 8.5 hours.

L>R - Alessio, Tuska (David Morrisson) and Sam Chung on route to Swildons. ?

Alessio in Sandwich Chamber, eating a sandwich. Photo SC

Surface PM - Mike Kushy, Tuska, Jake Baynes, Hollie London, James Morrisson and John Cooper. Radio Locating and taking orientation of Sandwich Chamber in Swildons.

Too much going on to describe everything, contact above ground was okay but not clear (too much interference from around, later discovered the underground team heard us quite clearly) location was quite simple and clear. We also started working on depth measurements, but that's alot more involved and more data improves the accuracy so more work to be done tomorrow still. Mike.