Fell down mine shaft

[Cherokee]

You stepped back, and slid down the wall of a 15 foot mine shaft. Your only slightly hurt, but only have your nugget scoop and a knife with you, as you dropped your pick up top. Whats the best and easiest way to dig foot holes to climb out. Its a rectangle hole.

 

[toecutta]

maybe you dont need foot holds... how wide is the shaft? can you chimney up?
PS.. was this email written from the bottom of a 15 foot hole? do you need some help? <giggling>

 

[Cherokee]

No i am not in, and hope never to be in the bottom of a shaft.
My legs wont reach each side to shimmy up.

 

[Ramjet]

With only a knife and scoop I would suggest very slowly

 

[Davent]

With a knife and a scoop, I would first fill my pockets with good sample dirt before trying to get out, maybe try and get someones attention to chuck my detector down!

 

[rotor]

Depends on the actual ground the shaft is in - you wont be digging footholes if it's in solid rock ....... actually the first rule when around anything you can fall into or down is to "Never walk backwards"

 

[Jaros]

You could wait till it rains and "float"up! :lol:

 

[AngerManagement]

Same when on a Roof.

Never walk backwards. Seen a few do just that, and end up badly hurt.

If in a shaft with soft walls. Dig slowly and carefully and stand on the diggings to get your self higher.. One day you may get out

 

[Tathradj]

I would calmly asses the situation with what I have.
Your prospecting mate that you have gone into a known mining area
wonders over to find out what happened as you just
disappeared from sight and toss's down your pick
or goes and gets a length of rope to help you out.
Or raises the alarm.
.
If there is no hope of digging foot holes either with
what you have or with a stick in the bottom of the hole,
I would calmly reach around to my Back pack and try my phone.
If no reception set off my EPIRB and sit and wait.
.
Then the bottom of the shaft starts to crack and sink
under your weight.
Now you are in real trouble.

 

[grubstake]

I would calmly reach around to my Back pack and try my phone.
If no reception set off my EPIRB and sit and wait.

You might be in for a l-o-n-g wait, mate. There certainly wouldn't be enough unobstructed view of the sky for an EPIRB/PLB to get a GPS fix - it needs widely separated satellites for triangulation - and it probably couldn't reach a search and rescue monitoring satellite either, unless one happened to be directly overhead. 8.(

 

[Cherokee]

Would digging step holes in a corner be easier to climb out of, than the side wall?

 

[ballaratgold]

Hahaha that brought me back to about 6 years ago, me and some mates went out Devils kitchen on Tims property to explore some caves, we took some rope and a few travlers and in one of the caves there was a shaft so a mate went down about 6m and then stopped in a little cut in and said he didn't want to go first and because I had a few beers under my belt I felt the courage to go first, but I only tied the safety rope around the first two loops on my jeans where your belt goes through.... As soon as I was leaning back starting to decline down the shaft I got rope burn so let go of the rope and the safety rope just ripped through the belt loops and down I fell. My mate couldn't stop laughing. He said all he could see was me falling straight past him down to the bottom haha. I no longer drink and treat mines with great respect... Just thought I would share that story there cool mines to go through on his property. You can see the old miners work and then all of a sudden they change into army tunnels that the yanks dug training for war

 

[AtomRat]

I like bear grylls method by using two sticks or planks to climb a shaft, but is risky, and needs two sticks or things to wedge and stand on to begin with

 

[SCROUNGER]

Well, by the vague and humorous answers you've got to your post Sheryl, it's a pretty good bet to say that none of us would know what to do :lol:
Best i can suggest is prospect with a mate or let somebody responsible know roughly where you're going and when you expect to be back so they can get a search going when you don't come home or back to camp on time.
Maybe also carry a whistle with you like i do when i'm out in the rough scrub fishing or hiking?

 

[AtomRat]

If there's enough oxygen at the bottom of the shaft, a small fire may be a signal option for smoke mabey :/ ..or a real bad headache

 

[silver]

Don't panic ,... unless you've landed next to a complere skeleton still sporting an old miners hat. :lol:

 

[Cherokee]

I like bear grylls method by using two sticks or planks to climb a shaft, but is risky, and needs two sticks or things to wedge and stand on to begin with

AtomRat, i like your idea. Would never have thought of it, just like the wood choppers climbing up the tree.

 

[SCROUNGER]

Yes, but where did you get the planks from? And what are you going to dig the slits to hold the planks in position with Sheryl? It'd want to be a bloody good knife you've got with you :lol: :lol:

 

[Cherokee]

I would pull my baby Stihl out of the back pack and cut them up from the huge tree limb thats leaning against the hole.

 

[SCROUNGER]

Ah, now you're thinking, and if that didn't work you could use it to saw of your legs, one at a time to eat :lol: and if you've got matches that you lit the fire with you could cook them. How about wearing a jumper and knitting a rope ladder? :lol: :lol: Sorry Sheryl, just amusing myself.
It is a good question though, and one i often ponder when i'm out there alone and look down deepish shafts. Many have old tree limbs in them but many don't as well.