2017-18 Photos--Really digging the ice tunnels

There were actually two separate but related projects--one was to saw away the encroaching tunnel walls and roof...the other was to add some more user-friendly escape raises aka emergency exit ladders.

the ice tunnels before widening
A "before" view of one of the tunnels before widening (SH).
 a section of newly widened tunnel

A section of the tunnel after widening. This has been done before, but the show pressure is inexorable. This time the roof as well as the wall was cut away (SS).

Here's another view looking back toward the station (SH).
Darrin Jackson with an electric chain saw
Here's Darrin Jackson working away with the implement of choice, an electric chain saw (SH).
cut snow blocks loaded onto a sled
The cut snow blocks were loaded onto sleds...(SH)
winching the sleds out of the tunnels



...and then winched out of the tunnels in 3 stages...here's the end of the first stage at the corner by the gravity vault (SH).
in the power plant arch
After the sleds were winched out of the tunnels, the third stage was to pull them through the power plant arch into the LO arch. The carpenters would switch off between cutting snow blocks and moving the sleds (SS).
dumping the snow behind Cryo
The sleds were then hauled off with a snowmobile and dumped...this one is behind Cryo (SH).
 end of the project for this season






Here's where the work stopped at the end of the summer season (SS).

Photo credits and thanks for this page: Sayer Houseal (SH) and Sheryl Seagraves (SS).

Continuing...the tunnel escape raise project.

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