Yes....

Therrin

I'm still alive!

More on that later. Just got back from several back-to-back trips. Pictures to follow.

Jeff Darby

Hey, nice to see you return...

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Eric Frei

Lets see the pics.

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Drouin Tree Service

Where you been mang?

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Garry Brockley

Good to have you back man hope it was all successful

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Therrin

Have taken a bit of a hiatus from work and have been actively exploring an entire assortment of mineshafts with a professional group out here.

The last several trips have been through the area of the Mojave Preserve, and the Calico mining area, in Southern California. I've managed to keep my costs extremely low. I've been bartering for transportation and meals in return for teaching vertical access (mainly rappelling and SRT, along with other rope use stuff), and supplying extra gear.

The set from last weekend was pretty amazing. After rappelling down a 200ft deep vertical shaft, we entered a horizontal drift which was pretty extensive. There were massive sections of what's called "square set" structure down inside the mountain, which dropped another 11 levels down at 10ft/level. Massive woooden beams set into cube patterns which fill up cavernous spaces down there.
At least 2 of the mines on that trip had several MILES of drifts and winzes. We had a great time and I got to get outta the house and away from Bakersfield for 2 weeks straight and kinda let some steam off.

Therrin

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Therrin

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Eric Frei

Great pictures.

I suppose a big hearty breakfast like eggs and baked beans is not on eh!

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Therrin

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Jeff Darby

Great photos Ken...long and thin just slips in...lol.. a few of those holes I would only be a plug..lol.

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Therrin

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Therrin

LOL Ekka... we try to stay away from the beans.

I kept wondering what was going on at one point, my 4 gas detector was picking up low percentages of LEL's and H2S. After coming home and doing a "test" (haha) I realized that it was picking up traces from the gas everyone was passing one morning after a particularly hearty breakfast we all had.

The nice thing is that the monitor is VERY sensitive. It's a BW systems 4 gas detector. O2, CO, H2S, and LEL's (lower explosive limit). Other than our personal off-letting, I've only had O2 levels drop in 2 of the mines we've been in. One of them down to about 18%, because of a section of that mine that had caught fire deep underground, probably 80 years ago, and had poor ventilation to recirculate the air supply. We headed back out of that section when the O2 alarm started going off, and suffered no ill effects.

One of the other guys in the group has an O2 only monitor that clips to his helmet band, and we use mine for a group/area/multi-gas meter.
Since some of those gasses can displace O2 and will attatch to molecules in your blood, we have the alert levels set pretty low to keep a good saftey buffer.

The other nice feature is that my detector has an active sampling pump. So instead of the air having to just waft over the sensors, it physically sucks the air in and forces it over the sensors, which gives you a quicker (and possibly more accurate) reading. It can also operate in passive sampling mode, but the battery on active sampling still runs for around 10 hours at a stretch.


Jay,
yes, exploring with the girls along is alot of fun. I've had several of them message me almost out of the blue on my explorers forum, and on facebook, asking if they can go along on future trips.

Oh wait you meant the tunnels?
Yes, some of them are EXTREMELY TIGHT, as you can see in some of the pictures. The one of Matt (black helmet) squeezing into the one adit on the side of the mountain, while on his back and facing up; and also another where you just see my feet sticking out.
I'm the tunnel rat of the group, so if there's something either filled in, slightly collapsed, or very low access; I'm the one they send in to see if its worthwhile for everyone to gain access. You wouldn't believe some of the areas I've crawled into. I particularly love it though, so it's all good.

Eric Frei

Hmmm, these gas meters .... maybe we can get some to use for tree diagnosis somehow.

What sorts are there and where from?

We might be able to detect gases that affect trees, methane, NG, LPG, sulpher dioxide etc

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Therrin

We're probably talking about different *types* of meters.

The ones we use are the basic multi-gas meters you can get from BW systems, MSA, Biosystems, Calgaz, Gastech, Nextteq, RKI, Honeywell, and a whole slew of others.

I'd say stick with MSA, BW, or RKI. But that's just personal preference.

You have to have the actual sensors installed for the gas that you're detecting, so you kinda have to know what you're looking for. You can get gas detectors which are either pretty small, up to pretty bulky. Depending on how many sensors they have, and whether they're active pump sampling or not, and have data logging and all that, depends on the price.

Alot of the handheld size (like the one in my picture #50) you can get up to 4 gas sensors in. And there are basic standards for what you can get, although some models will let you change out or purchase for different sensor packages.

The other issue is the degree of gas that you're monitoring. What percentage of a gas is necessary to harm a tree? %propane? % natural gas? % methane? or % of whatever other gas you're specifically interested in.
Alot of the meters will read to within a range that is harmfull for humans. So it might not measure micro percentages one direction, and might just show OL (overload) in the other direction.

So, there are a few things you'd need to figure out ahead of time.
Incidentally, specifically what gasses are you thinking about, if you had to limit it to 4? (btw, in outdoor air, unless there is something MASSIVELY WRONG nearby, you'll always see 20.9% O2).

The cool thing about the one I use, since it has the pump, you can attatch tubing to the inlet for the pump. This means you can do spot-specific sampling, or even remote sampling, instead of the typical passive mode.

EDIT:
I just did some research, apparently the LEL sensor detects a broad range of combustible gases, including methane, propane, butane, natural gas and others. Though it gives you readout % of LEL's, but it doesn't specifically tell you which gas it's picking up. There's a different sensor you can get which picks up organic vapors of different varieties.
My unit's stat's are:
Detection range:

* H2S: 0 – 200 ppm (1 ppm increments)
* CO: 0 – 1000 ppm (1 ppm increments)
* O2: 0 – 30.0% vol. (0.1% vol. increments)
* LEL (combustible): 0 – 100% LEL (1% LEL increments) or 0 – 5.0% v/v methane

Sensor type:

* H2S, CO, O2: Single plug-in electrochemical cells
* LEL (combustibles): Plug-in catalytic bead


Check out gasmonitors http://tiny.cc/yad2v

Bruce Hopf

One thing I did notice from all of your pictures, this post, and other posts that you have done Therrin, is the love, and Passion, that you have for climbing, and it looks as you are at peace, and harmony, as you are climbing.
Whether it is climbing a tree, a mountain, in mine shafts, or caves, it looks like you are more at home, while doing it. Awesome pictures. Thanks for posting them. Bruce.

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clementine

Great pics Therrin and fair play to you but you gotta be outta your tree doing that sh1t.
I'm kinda claustrophobic so no way, no siree, holes is for moles!

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Therrin

You're right Clemmy, I *AM* out of my tree doing that shit!

(that was funny right?)

Just got some brand new SRT gear.

Got the Petzl Torse chest strap, the Petzl Croll chest ascender, the Petzl spelegyca, the Gonzo Guano Gear double footloop, .... got some of the plastic inserts that snap into the vent holes on my Ecrin Roc helmet, to keep dirt from pouring down the back of my shirt when I bump my head on stuff inside mines,
and got new pads for my helmets headband liner, since the other ones apparently were...missing??? Yeah. Good shopping times.

Me and my Frog system gonna do some awesome work together

sueann

I'm with Clem. I'm terrible claustrophobic and have even felt a little bit panicky in a plane with too many walls around. Usually I can control it though, when my heart starts thumping and I feel as though I might choke.

My husband is a coal mining engineer and once he took me down a mine shaft to show me what it was like, I ended up in a massive panic attack and started running to get out, he got me and took me straight out in the transporter. We were something like 5ks underground, and in one part he showed me a cave-in, I freaked.

That sort of thing is not for me, but you look as though you enjoy it no end.

Therrin

Well I'm back, again!

Been home roughly 1 day a week for the last.... eh. 5 weeks or so? Mostly trying to find regular work doing whatever. Electrical, plumbing, welding & fabricating, hydraulics, construction, weedwhacking... and some tree work too!

Starting to feel like a Jack of all Trades. I suppose at my age its nice to know how to do stuff, and be able to make money at it, but I'm really just getting by for the moment.

I have however, learned alot of life lessons lately. I'm hoping to apply them to myself as much as possible and see where life takes me. Looking forward to that actually. I can't help but realize that everything that happens in my life has a purpose, so I'm trying to tap into that and see where things take me.

Took down a large-ish leader on a codominant pine a couple days ago. Got the notch cut and half the back cut on one side, then my saw died. Couldnt get it to start! WTH?
Got out my backup saw, my 028, and it died too! It'd get up to high rpm and then just bog out.
Can get the 361 to start right now but that's about it. Havent had the time yet to strip it down. Finished up the job with a friends MS250.
BTW, the 250 is a great little saw. Pretty jazzy for its light weight, I was really fond of it.

interested in SELLING MY 361.... as either parts saw or rebuild. Looking to use the cash I received on the last job, plus whatever I can get for my 361, to put towards an MS460.

That's what I'm thinking at least. I'm really, really, tiiiiiired of cutting 3' to 4' diameter stuff with the 361.

Thoughts/comments/questions?

Garry Brockley

Great to have you back, looks like youve been doing alot of tunnelling and crawling in tight spaces lately! but enough about the girls.
what is that structure your in? is that the original shaft entrance? is it a tin mine?
Eric the only detectors we need around trees is a bullshit detector for adam toms ramblings.

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Therrin

HI GALBEEEEEEE!

Um, pics 2,3, & 4 are of a tin mine.

The other one's I'm blanking out on, but some of the others are gold, silver, copper, dolomite, talc.... and I'd imagine some other minerals too.

Yes, been doing alot of mine shaft exploring. It's my new "thing", well that and actually gold prospecting now. Found some spots that I'm hitting for placer deposits. Looking to buy a sluice to add to my ensemble pretty soon here.

Found one really nice spot but the water is really high right now, I was down in there yesterday, some spots it was 15 feet deep, and its a 3 hour hike up a river bed into the mountains. Gonna wait till summer, till the water drops down, then try to siphon off some of the sections and feed it over a sluice.
I'll post some pictures of the places I found, its absolutely gorgeous. I'd been to parts of it before just hiking, but never been this far up it yet. It's very pretty up there.

Garry Brockley

Thats cool mate! is there any money in prospecting these days? i used to play in a tin mine as a youngster, scarred the living crap out of me as i thought ill use my little torch aargghh dark as hell two 10 years old boys and a pen light bbbrrrrr gives me the shivers just thinking of it PENRHYNGERWYN if i could shake the name i would for effect i would.
it doesnt surprise me they use you for the digger mate your long and thin. good to see your enjoying life and not letting things get you down, it will come good for you just keep working smart.

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Therrin

Yes I'm definitely the designated tunnel rat.
If we see an opening up somewhere but its difficult to access or really small/partially caved in/etc, I usually elect to check it out to see if it opens up into another tunnel system or if its just a dead end.

Alot of them are dead ends. Some of them though, there's just a little adit or shaft and it looks like it goes nowhere, but it's the link between where you are and an entire other section of a mine.

When I go solo to scout stuff I always leave a breadcrumb trail of glowsticks which mark the path I take down tunnel splits. Some people say "I always go left", but that really doesnt say much about where they ARE if you're in multi-split complex tunnel systems, or if there's a winze or raise or something.

I really appreciate that they crew I explore with now all take saftey seriously, and they're all very hardcore about vertical ropework and rescue techniques.

I'm looking at some special caving helmet mount lighting stuff. I've been constantly upgrading my lighting systems Galbee. I've seen people go into mines using pen lights, and its really a sad thing.
The tin mine I was in, started in with a 150' vertical shaft, and there was a bunch of fallen debris covering the bottom. I thought it was a bust, then I started moving beams and rocks and found a tiny opening that dropped down into a drift. Upon later exploring that section, (in pic 2) there was a tiny opening off to the side as well, which I widened a little and had to shimmy through sans harness just so I could fit. It was pretty pleasant overall. The last date I saw scrawled in carbide down there was from the 30's I think.

**EDIT**
Oh, and yes to prospecting. Gold is running right around $1300/oz , so mines which werent proffitable to run at the turn of the century, are now being bought up again. The placer mining that I'm doing right now has the *potential* of good payoff, but its really alot of work. I really enjoy it though, I find it somewhat relaxing, though strenuous at times. I'm learning to read the geology of the areas I hike through to look for signs of the possible presence of gold.

newguy18

i'm not a gas.

[QUOTE=Therrin;87020]


You wouldn't believe some of the areas I've crawled into. [QUOTE]

Is it just me,or does that just sound wrong?Glad you quit drinking Ken.

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sueann

There was a programme on the telly about these tunnels Therrin, I thought they would be just the thing to keep you happy - 250ks of them - what joy!

*cough*



Viet Cong tunnel systems

Therrin

Thx for the link!

Apparently I've been gone long enough that I've missed out on the formation of another true TW regular!! Thx for checking out my thread sueann.


I'd pack my bag for Vietnam right now, but at 6'7" tall, I'm pretty sure that whatever they've got would be a pretty good squeeze for me. Them vietnamese folks are small! (oh yeah, and something about boobytraps too)

I'm pretty much down to check out mines wherever I go though =)

Finding a corridor floor covered with 80 year old dynamite and blasting caps isn't far off from boobytraps I suppose. Maybe i *am* kind of crazy. Hmm.

sueann

No, no silly! the war is over and they've taken all the booby traps away, it's a tourist attraction now and you can do the mole thing and crawl happily away and pop up here and there for a la carte refreshments. Very civilized these days.

6'7"????? *gulp!*, I'd be staring straight at yer belly button!

Therrin

Oh but about the first part, that sounds very civilized. Especially the refreshments. I cant remember the last time I came out of a mineshaft and had someone hand me a lemonade for my troubles.

All things considered... the tunnel full of explosives sounds a little wilder than tunnel ratting it up in Vietnam.

I wonder which lucky person got the job of clearing all those tunnels out.

sueann