On Friday 19th January several club members visited Talybont (Alltycrib) mine. All initially descended the so-called Air Shaft into the main workings.
Talybont entrance pitch
Andy Wood was the first to descend the second pitch using the in-situ rope, but found that it was two ropes knotted together and slightly awkward to pass, then the top ladder collapsed below him*.
After the two rope pitches there are a series of short fixed ladders to descend – this brings you to a cross-cut that if followed comes to the main adit level. Inbye there are several mining artefacts to view.
* The top ladder is not really part of the descent system and was probably an older ladder removed from below and just left on the pitch for convenience! Part of one leg had rotted and it collapsed when Andy stepped on it. The ladder was reversed so that the broken section is now near the top.
Deviations were placed near the top, and lower down the second pitch – a single 45m rope will cover both rope pitches and use of the deviations removes any rub points. There are now two 10mm bolts near the rebelay location but they require hangers to use (one of these bolts was added during the trip – another bolt was placed lower down for the second deviation).
Flooded working in the level
Subsequently a visit was made to Wilkinson’s Level which was more extensive than remembered or expected. The pitch beyond the oil drum was not descended. A report was made to the Bat group that a greater horseshoe bat was seen in Wilkinson’s Level.
Report by: Steve Holding