Hey everyone! Thanks so much for checking out the video. If you want to see the start of the 3D model I took at the end of the video, you can see that here: poly.cam/capture/444A4136-784B-49A6-8691-F7CB7C129E22 I'll be adding to it and hopefully allow everyone to experience all the different levels of the mine in time.
Hey mate, I'm an industrial abseiler, I actually abseil off skyscrapers like you were talking about for a job. A good tip for doing big descents like this is to have your rope in a bag, attached to your harness, that way you don't have excessive tail weight so your descender will work better. Also eliminates your rope snagging on things when you lower it down, as it just feeds out of the bag as you descend.
Keeps it clean too. If there's wet patches down the road, you won't be getting into them if it's in the bag. However, in a cave, it's good to have the last feet of rope marked clearly at intervals of decreasing distance to make sure you don't end up without rope unawares (obviously, the end should be properly knotted to prevent rapid acceleration followed by instant deceleration.
Also, if you need to dig out those collapses, use a tool you can pull with and let gravity help. Shovels would be useless for the bulk of it. Not sure what this kind of tool is called in english but in Norwegian we call it a "krafse" no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krafse Narrower and pointier variations also exist. In an earlier video you used shovels for this and it was enragingly inefficient. In that case it was completely dry gravel which is the best case for what im speaking of. If its completely caked together the difference is maybe smaller but please consider this
Aside from the significant hazards encompassing factors like structural instability, toxic gases, oxygen depletion, floods, unstable ground, wildlife encounters, contaminated water, hazardous materials, and the lack of escape routes, I believe that these mines might be suitable for novice exploration.
Hey Brent, Im also Brent. First and foremost, you've got it going on! Im more than a little jealous. As i mentioned in a previous comment, ropes access is my life. This actually stemmed from getting talked into joining a mine rescue team in 09 (team Edgar). I too owned a couple claims myself above Leadville Co. I finally got the opportunity the descend down into one of them after a makeshift plug gave way opening the hoist shaft. Terrifying, but incredibly awesome at the same time. I too was solo (VERY dangerous, especially without a 4 gas meter to test for H2S or even just low O2) Anyways, if you were at all interested, id love to assist you in any capacity needed, even just stand by rescue, at no cost obviously. I would also at the very least like to discuss the type of kern mantle ropes you're useing both in safety and your efficiency (900 ft = 90ft of rope stretch on static rope, i noticed you also had dynamic rope in use). In a nutshell, if you're interested in chatting, let me know. In the mean time, keep up your hard work, enthusiasm, and passion. Makes my heart race watching your vids (something im usually hearing, rather than saying)
Agree with @brentseely6113 - you need use gas meter! (toxic gas detector). Think about ventilation system in mine! So many people died from toxic gases. The main toxic gases released in a mine are CO and CO2. Sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, cyanides, halogens, and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) are other gases that occur in the mine environment. As minimum gas meter is must!!!!!
Was gonna say... Shouldn't he have more breathing equipment? Granted, I'm no miner. I like to spend my time ABOVE ground, thank you very much! However, growing up in the Pennsylvania coal region, the history of mine accidents is something I'm acutely aware of! Gas, collapses, explosions, floods... Some bloody bloody history there. Playing around in old mines is not something people should take lightly, I think.
I dont think enough is said about the physical effort this all takes. Not just the mine exploration, but living in cerro gordo and working to restore the town. It really makes me more aware of the men who worked these mines 150 years ago and how amazing their work and lives were.
Not just that, you also gotta think of the less air down there, the less air quality. You don't just need to be fit, you also need to be healthy and go to a doctor now and again. Because who knows what your inhaling.
I think you got it twisted! The life of a miner back then was not "amazing" - they had 10-12 hours of back breaking labour for shitty pay (so I guess in that regard nothing much has changed, ok the hours got a fewer unless you have several jobs), their entertainment consisted of bad booze, smokes and maybe local brothel! So nope, that is/was not amazing, it is interesting from our POV, but that's about it!
I think the key to further success in consistently exploring the lower levels is retrofitting the main lift/hoist. We don't know the costs associated with doing that. However, it makes the most sense in lowering equipment and people to those levels in probably the safest manner. The other option would be to round up some local retired volunteers. Train them to work the winch in its existing configuration. Lots of retired guys are always looking for something to keep themselves busy and to have places to socialize and get away from their wives. lol.
@@GamePlague Getting a hoist would be better, if just to lower kitbags and equipment. Also a lot safer than running the main hoist and could be run with a smaller crew. Anything human-rated would need proper engineering, safety and probably certification. It would make expeditions a lot simpler and safer if Brent could just radio up for stuff to lower, and stage food, water, medical supplies etc for longer exploration trips. On which point.. Eyebaths and some packs of sterile saline! Getting dust & grit in your eyes is no fun.
Yeah, let's casually install a commercial grade lift that can handle 900 ft, and put it on a mountain at 10k feet elevation. Then we hire three guys full time to service it. It sounds so cheap when you say it!
I literally remember when it all started with "i bought a ghost town" episode. Then it appeared like a just great but unknown adventure. It's unbelievable that its all gone this far. 3 Years gone like just one little day and there's still much much much more to discover. I would love to get there someday, stop worrying bout my job and just do adventure things.
@@twonulatorExcept if not him it would be decaying to the ground within few years. One burned hotel vs restoration of whole site. Who doesnt make mistakes? We all do. And how many people decide to sacrifice their lifetime to throw a new life to the whole sites? Not many. And lastly: Who would complain about someones mistakes, while squishing buttocks in front of screen and getting dirty of taco sauce? Guess it.
I would be very cautious about shoveling away those collapses, and especially about the blaster. The collapses occurred in the first place because of instability and poor competence in the rock, and the collapses themselves might be the only thing holding up additional parts of the tunnel, meaning that clearing the collapse might cause more collapses to occur. I would suggest you not just “clear” collapses, but buttress them with structural braces as you clear them out.
I'm really excited for the exploration of the deeper levels but make sure when digging the collapses you are putting timbers in to secure the ceiling from further collapses. We want you alive and well as much as the exploration Brent.
Make sure you always file a flight plan. What I mean by that is before you set off alone down the mine, let others know what you’re doing, where you’re going, when to expect you to contact them again. That way if you get stuck, rescue starts sooner. Before you’re a Skelton. :)
As a tree climber who spent many days on rope my hat is off this guy, takes some real conditioning to go up and down repeatedly like that, no way I'm going in those tight spaces either, mad props!
I wonder how many people couldn't keep watching halfway through with the claustrophobia effect. ie 21:24 Also old dynamite sitting there gives me the jimmies.
Brent, I've watched so many episodes of your explorations over the last couple years, always thought how amazing it would be to 3D map it and now you actually did! Was so cool exploring the model, thanks for sharing, gives such a different perspective and experience to your videos. Really quite innovative, well done.
Hey Brett, the thing that you keep bringing up as an issue is communications. The priority idea would be to run some telephone cables down that shaft you've got your rope and lights in, splitting them off at each of the levels you've explored. The amount of danger you're in without some form of reliable connection to the surface is gut wrenching and I think that beam incident highlights it. If you had dislocated your shoulder, it would have been difficult to ascend back up, and it might well have been a time critical injury. I'd also suggest getting some MREs, spare batteries and cans of acidified water that can stay down there long term in case something happens to the rope while you're down there and you end up trapped for the few days it'd take to get to you.
Brent my husband and I are in our 80’s and we love watching your adventures at Cerro Gordo. We grew up in California but moved to Idaho 35 years ago. Just know we appreciate you and pray for you as you do dangerous things!
Whatever his name is he should have been wearing a gas and dust/spore mask for anything that he may be breathing into his lungs that is lethal or potentially slowly deadly throughout the Long haul
You might talk to Gly of "exploring abandoned mines and forgotten places". about winching out of shafts and his experience with his hoist. It would be good to have several exit strategies including at least 2 hoist systems and a couple manual climb outs. Food, supplies including rescue gear at your base camp is a good idea. The more supplies you have the better you will feel. It helps to be skinny to get through tight places and climb out. Hope you fine lots of nice things and maybe find one of the exits from the lowest levels.
Also there are a variety of sound powered phones than can transmit 30 miles with only the power generated by a voice, some are on Ebay. Drop a couple wires. down the shaft, one for power and one for phone and you will have better communication than radio. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound-powered_telephone .You might get search and rescue to "train" in. your mine and give you a hand also.
As a tower climber with 10 years of experience, having a ton of knowledge regarding getting a either a whole lot of items, or very big items, or both, up 1000-2000ft towers using nothing but ropes, and having tons of descent/ascent experience using ropes, this right here is a task that I would absolutely love to participate in. Looks like a ton of work but a TON of fun and extremely rewarding. I can pretty much feel that feeling you have of it eating away at you what's down there. The unknown treasures, memories, and history. Wow.
Wow! One of Brent's superpowers is persistence. This is one of the best videos to be produced by this channel. The exploration of the mine fascinates me. I love, love, love the LIDAR map! I can't wait until we can explore the mine virtually. Keep it up and stay safe!
Suggestion....Set up ropes at each of the known levels. Then they could be used to descend one level per rope at a time. Might eliminate the rope weight problem. Use the hoist to transport large supplies down to the 900 level as well as setting up some rest areas with caches of supplies at other levels. Then you can use the ropes for ascending and descending when hoist is not available. Hard line communications & electricity would be a good idea as well. Maybe you could find a small-ish winch system for using ropes to get supplies down as well as lifting Waste and other items out without using the main Hoist. Once all set up you could be more free to explore with less ascending and descending.
Brent you were born for that place! Every ghost town needs a historian and story teller. Brother I could listen to your stories all day long. I'm always totally captivated in your adventures. I wish you all the luck in the world
In another video he talks how itd take mere minutes to ascend and descend when the hoist was in full working order. I dont know if thats more or less terrifying. Descending slowly but safeish, or zooming up and down so you are dangling over a hole as short a time as possible
3+ hours underground is common place to ground (cave or mine explorers). Like a decently big cave will take you even 7 hours to fully coop. And it only goes up if you have to crawl ala "superman crawl" into a section of it. If you don't have that kind of fortitude, you're not in the right spot. You're either committed and fully prepared, or you're exposing yourself to severe dangers. It's like operating a table saw. Either your head's in the game, on the moment,... or walk away, because bad things can happen. He's clearly in the zone, clearly in the right mindset, and clearly devoted to the quest.
@@everythingsalright1121 believe this is because, while the actual hoist is still the same, it was originally powered by steam. That would mean it needed even more people to operate, also steam boiler can take *many* hours to heat up, not a huge problem as long as it is never allowed to cool down often. But these days it's of course not realistic to keep a boiler going 24/7.
@@4x4_Adventures lol this entire vid is 39 minutes. maybe wildly guessing, 10 minutes of it is him speaking on the way down out of a 3 hrs trip? great reasoning and math skills you'll go far
Brent, Couple of ideas, 1, put a trap door in the bottom of the lift, that way you no longer need to climb thru such small space and you can lower larger equipment down and yourself.. 2. install a CAPSTAN WINCH-HOIST LIFT that a one man on top can operate to pull you out of the shaft or any equipment.
I think it would be a massive benefit to have some sort of RC that could fit past collapses to determine the viability of digging it out as well as do the full polycam mapping.
@@thecharmingplatypus3208 nowdays a literal camera on a stick with wires, and screen (the digital boreoscope) is very cheap, robust and easy to use, its practically replaced fiber optic cord, , the way of use is the same, and i agree that the guy should get something of that manner
Brent, you should really get in touch with some miners from some other parts of the nation and educate yourself and get some assistance on this project. I appreciate your passion in a way i don't think you can really know. I know it can be very hard to trust others with your life, i would highly recommend you build those relationships and build that community. Use this community you have worked to build. An entrenching tool and supplies (as well as by your rock blaster) should be standard equipment for these expeditions. Would highly encourage you to build that infrastructure to allow safe exploration with bastions. (fiber optic with strain relief anchors for communication. conduit with strain relief for power). build the infrastructure you need to do what you plan. you sir are a passionate obsessives i admire and identify with to no end. be safe and keep doing what you are doing. it is worthwhile and amazing. Keep doing what you are doing and be safe.
Not sure if the economics makes sense, but upgrading your main hoist to a safe and reliable 1 man opp would give you a lot more resources. You still have your rope for backup. Thank for the vid Brent.
I think one of the most important things I think you should be installing in this mine is a communication system, and I think that a wireless system for the elevator/hoist unit that can connect with intermittent modules wired into the main system and then have hard wired com boxes at each of the main levels you visit regularly so that you can keep people appraised of your condition and situation and increase the amount of information you can relay if you need to alter your preplanned expeditions into the mine. the fact that you have LED rope down the shaft is fantastic and this shows how easy a hard wired com system is to put in to the mine. the bonus to this is that you can use old phones and phone box systems that are now obsolete but are perfectly fine for you to use inside of the mine and they are relatively simple to use and install, all you need is the proper lengths of wire. and of course the best part of this kind of system is that it is still quite common to find old items that would comprise the entire system and because it is obsolete and no longer in demand, the price for it all would be quite low to purchase the needed materials. all then that would need to be done is to install it. As always, thankyou for sharing with us the adventures you have in this incredible historical site. I love the location and the impressive amount of history that Cerro Gordo has. To call it RICH in history is merely adequate and there is a distinct lack of a more appropriate word that isn't' cliché and over used by today's young crowd. Until next time, thanks and stay safe and keep hammering away at your goals for your mine!
Asking opinions for who should be there to help that has experience...lol. I'm reading the comments and must have missed the Jeff Williams recommendation? He's legitimately the most experienced you'd be able to have down there. My mind is really blown that you haven't had him to your mine but have had Dan Hurd. 😂😂
It blows my mind that men were able to get 900 feet down and work… especially during that time period. Some SUPER tough men back in the day. Also, I’ve been through many old mines myself, but the whole claustrophobic nature of crawling would make me tap out.
@austincarter4452 with multiple bucket steam powered pullys and 24/7 operation it did not take long actually. One method is to drill .blast.muck. andy should also cultivate the drill and fill with expanding cement puddy for more controlled ore removal in cave collapse areas. Last but not least, there should be a rock crusher down there that feeds smaller material up the 900ft vaccum tube for easier retrieval on the surface. All that clay backfill he encountered is PAY DIRT.
I love the use of technology and that you have off-site historians putting in countless hours researching for you. Correcting the existing mapping, and creating maps for the future, is a gem in its own right.
it's cool, and i love this stuff, although "white people stuff" thought keeps going through my mind lol, not that theres anything wrong with that. But, I do wonder how much anybody really cares about an old mine anyway if it werent for this channel, ya know? I dont think the historical part is all that relevant, more like an excuse to explore stuff and do cool stuff on youtube. But again it's all super cool. Like there's probably 50 mines like this across America noone will ever care about the lower levels of ever again. Those mines had their time and it's gone. But again because it's so easy for a comment like this to come across as negative, want to stress this channel is great!
I fix fighter jets for work, right now I work in tank bay (diving in the fuel tanks to repair whatever is wrong). Claustrophobia is no joke but you can learn to over it come it and find a way to get "comfortable" while feeling squished, That being said I would love a chance to go on an adventure like this. Thanks for letting us join you on all your adventures!
Wow. An actual base camp down in the mine? That is awesome. I remember you spending Christmas or sometime during the holidays camping down at one of the levels. It was spooky because you kept seeing a light in the distance and you were the only one down there. I can't wait for your next video. Until then, take care, Brent! Thank you for yet another exploration video in the mines.
Astounding... all of it. The men who dug and blasted through creating these tunnels, the beam structures. Then you, Brett, taking us with you... A nail biter.. Looking forward to the coming tunnel clearing.
The woodsmanship & carpentry around the 18/19th century was insane! I adore my 19th century tableware cupboard for the fact how it's still holding up after more than 100 years and who knows how many moves it made. But those ladders are something else! I don't think you could make 'em better even today :O
True that, I inherited a baroque-era wooden cabinet from 1780 from my late grandmother and it is the best carpentry I've ever seen. The whole construction is ingenious, not a single nail is necessary to assemble it, yet its rock-solid.
Everytime he uploads a new video I thank god because he is alive. I worry about you Brent but knowing someone is there watching/waiting for you gives me some relief 😊
Hopefully Brent is successful in finding & exploring the deeper levels. I suggest using the hoist to haul down equipment, supplies and people to the 900 while working to clearing AND stabilizing the collapses
Brent...I hope you realise what an absolute legend of a man you are! A true modern day Cerro Gordo miner, reviving the intense effort those men of steel made all those years ago...its an absolute nervewracking treat watching you unveil the history of that place, all the while taking a serious risk doing it....thank you!! And also to your friend Robert who carried out so much research! Your channel is fascinating...so much history and adventure! Do you have the real concern of collapse whilst you're down there?? Its amazing what you're doing...
Can Dave Sparks get you a modern winch for the cage so you dont need the crew? He's probably got a crane or something he could adapt, just his kind of thing
All those cranes they rescue just to scrap because they're too old to certify 🤔 spool up 1200' of cable and go... Maybe Brent should do a fundraiser for this
Very nice to have the map overlays when you do these mine explorations! Gives us some idea of where you are in that massive maze. Would be great to see that part of the video developed even more (e.g. add routes/issues etc visually for a moment?) especially with this big mine project ahead! And as many folks have commented, please remember your own safety!
After finding the cigar tin and the 900 level sign, it makes me really curious what other cool findings might be under possible collapses or under Timbers. Great job as always Brent can’t wait to see what is in the future!
I get so emotional watching this channel. I never wanted someone to succeed so much. Brent is a special person doing amazing things. Distance dictates I'll never see CG, but man i want it to rise again. Awesome ❤
Your next project should be to get a group of people to modernize that manway. Lighting, electric, communications, fixing the entire ladder system and adding a way to bring items up and down. Especially if you plan on spending more time truly exploring all of the various points of access. As if you do not have enough projects.... ❤👊
Prusik loops for the gear on its own rope so much easier! The climb back up hook the gear rope end back to its own ascender. Fun stuff wish I was closer!
You know they free climbed back in those days, OSHA wasn't invented yet for any kind of safety standards. And any rope they might have had was being used at Lola's Place in town lol
another thing to keep in mind is that the wood was still solid and new when the ladder was put in. So although the risk of falling was still pretty dang high, it wasn't as high as it would be right now
I like your way of thinking about the 900ft level. Bringing supplies to dig out the collapses and possibly set up a direct communication line. That'd be huge. Thinking *years* ahead now.
He does'nt look like a digger. He looks like a boss man. He will need workers comp, liability ins, State mining inspections and permits, maybe Federal permits. OSHA. He will be negligent and liable even with volunteer workers let alone employees. Hes looking at joining the big boys and it will cost. Anyone he lets go into the mine could sue his ass off.
climbing 900 ft up ladders is no small task! i work underground at a gold mine and i climb 2-400 ft regularly up and down escape raises and it really is a workout great work man keep it up love the videos
I've been subscribed and kept up with this channel pretty much since the very beginning, every single video has blown me away since. It's amazing how many new things there STILL are to discover about Cerro Gordo. I wish I could be one of the people who was able to help fund this amazing project, or even put my hands to work to help rebuild it, but just know that I am part of a HUGE community who is watching intently and with great interest in this whole project. Keep it up, Brent! I am absolutely enthralled in everything you do here
true that.... amazing that this is more interesting than lot of extreme sports and adventurer stuff... to rediscover 100 year old human constructions underground.
Gosh that PolyCam thing is sooo cool. Imagine showing that to the OG miners! Brent you’re amazing. Please don’t stop, unless it’s ridiculously unsafe. If it’s just regular unsafe, you have to keep it up now.
Hey, just a few quick tips for potentially making your life easier in regards to the ropes: - You could look into the Petzl Stop, Simple or Rack descenders as they may by easier to handle if the rope weight is high. - To make the ascend easier you could have a look at the Petzl Asap, which is a device that runs along the rope and locks in case of a fall. You could put this on the rope and climb up, without much additional hassle. - Setting up Bolts may make the process of fixing the ropes easier, but it would require access to strong rock, which i think is covered by wood in the chute, so probably not feasible.
I agree the rack is the way to go for very long descents but I always used a petzel stop even on long descents in caves. And the a frogger coming out or rope walker.
I would either fix the winch to be faster and add more guide rails down to the 900, or remove it's man basket altogether and use a separate winch setup which is fast, and can be used to haul materials down that shaft by rope. Only one choke point on the ladder....saw it out and add replacement out of the way. Next, spend a day repairing that ladder . Replace rungs, add new rails as needed. Much faster and easier to be climbing a ladder than climbing a rope for 900 feet. You should have a dozen military shovels down there and a few buckets to move that clay out of the way. Also, I would stockpile every level possible. The 500, the 700, should have anything and everything you may want at the 900+ levels. Permanent,200 foot ropes need anchored going down the ladder chute to ease rope weight defending. Love the vids, can't wait for the next.
@GhostTownLiving it is amazing to watch the progress of Cerro Gordo. When you make these descents into the bowels of history it causes me to reflect on all the tens of thousands of man hours it took to create the labyrinth you are in. We can feel the vibes through your channel's streams. Thank you so much for keeping history alive and notching out your own piece of the history pie. - Jim
@@stuartcommon4651 Which is my point, There is redundancy. He is not using them at the same time. 'As you said'. He rappels on one rope and the other is there as a backup. Redundancy. Something to catch you if your main rope 'fails'.
@@peromo9397 in srt (which is what is mainly used in mine exploration and caving) there is only one rope, there is no backup, if that rope goes then you go with it. That's why there's extensive training available to enable it to be done safely. He initially sent down the long rope but with the weight of it he was unable to put it into his descender. He put down a shorter rope to descend the first part so that when he got to the bottom of the short rope the rest of the long rope should be light enough that he could swap to the main rope. Neither rope is a backup
Brent. PLEASE remember the town is dependent upon you to be ALIVE and HEALTHY. All your plans are for naught if you get into trouble in those mines. I seriously advise you to at least have one other person with you when you go down there - especially with EXPLOSIVES, man!! Love the videos and love the work and the care and the community that has rallied around you. And not to sound like the dad (or maybe mother hen) I am but for crying out loud don't climb without someone else with you. Dude I'm begging you. Imo you've already rolled the dice and gotten lucky a few too many times. Love the videos and love the cave exploration and am also dying to find out what's down below the 900. Just don't die to find out.
theres probably no one else crazy enough to go with him. this looks highly, highly dangerous. im also surprised he doesnt use a mask of some kind. inhaling a ton of dust made up of dirt, mold, rotting wood, animal feces, animal carcasses, and toxic metals cant be good for you
Hey Brent! Awesome video!!! A few suggestions just for safety (especially solo). I’ve climbed for a long while and also do high angle ropes rescue as a SAR medic. Redundancy, redundancy, redundancy. Make sure you’re backing up you anchors and knots. The double 8 you had is a great knot, but make sure you back it up with an overhand or bowline into itself. Think of not how far you’re going down, but how far you have to fall. It might not be a bad idea to find another anchor point and back up your main rope with a prusik attached to another, stronger, rope. This way your rope has play but you still have a backup just in case something were to happen. Reading some of the other comments as well I agree that rope stretch is a huge deal (900ft=90ft of rope stretch) and definitely keeping your ropes on you and not hanging. It’s an old access and multi-pitch climbing trick and keeps weight off and reduces wear and tear on those expensive ropes. I’m assuming you’re using a grigri the way you explained it or some other smooth friction descender, and these work great with this trick. Keep exploring and stay safe!!
Way to go Brent! So proud of you for overcoming your fear of heights and pressing on! Dead ends are just directions to a new path..... your achievements so far are proof of that. I can't wait to see what you achieve next!
Hello from the UK! Brent, I have some ideas for different things you could sell in your shop, but first I wanted to mention that I love watching your videos and seeing how far you've come from the very early days. You're truly an inspiration! And I was so happy to see you still have some of your cats! I remember them as little kittens so it was wonderful to see them all grown up in a previous video. Anyway, the reason I'm posting is because I saw you had some mine maps in a recent video and I wondered if you've considered reproducing them as posters or prints for people to buy? I personally think one of those maps would look awesome as a matted and framed print. I mean, who wouldn't want a map of Cerro Gordo's Union Mine on their wall at home or in an office? You could also reproduce some of the stunning historic photos of Cerro Gordo that you've shown on your channel for people to buy. Another idea would be to collect small ore and mineral rock samples from your mines and sell them as souvenirs in ring boxes or small clear perspex boxes with Union Mine, Cerro Gordo (etc) embossed on them. I'm sure many people would love to own a little piece of Cerro Gordo's history, especially if they're not able to visit in person, and it's a great way to support the wonderful work you're doing to preserve Cerro Gordo.
I'd suggest getting something similar to the old US Army Field Telephones to use for communications down there, a land line like that will work no matter what you do to it, and if it's not, they're pretty easy to diagnose and fix. Also, with it being a historic area, I'm sure there's universities that would love to send some teams in with you to explore and clear up sections to make it safer and easier to explore around as well.
In my town back in the day, they had a 4612ft shaft in the Goldfields. (1908, the Victoria Quartz Co Mine had the world's deepest shaft at 1,365 metres. By 1910 the shaft had reached a depth of 1,406 metres)
In my young days, in the 1980s, I worked in a South African Gold mine. My working depth was 5,400 feet. The mines today go down to 12,000 feet. But I would go down 12,000 feet in a modern mine instead of 900 feet in Brent''s mine. You cannot even remotely compare the technology and safety standards between then and now. It takes guts to go down the mine the way Brent did.
It's impossible to describe the million ways these videos are the best ever. They have everything that amazes the viewers from the old days to the modern. I am simply blown away at what the old miners accomplished and what Brent is willing to do to bring it back to life. Brent, you are one amazing man, just as tenacious in your plan as the men in the old days. It's the best videos on youtube. Wish i was there!
totally agree. his story telling is epic. the amount of tension in these videos is enough to freak me out, even tho i know he survived to "tell the tale" with a new video. but great day!! i'm a wreck...lol
@@vandover1528 as apposed to you boot licking fan boys who flock to this yuppies every move.. same shit different story. Its called beating a dead horse. This guys a pro
I know there may be an aversion to this given the history, but I think it would be wisest to work to restore the hoist system and rebuild the ladders and passage down to make it safer for generations to come. It might be time to investigate hiring a hoist team sometime in the future as well. We all want you to be safe and for this place to come back to life in a safe way.
I'm interested to know what the issue is with the hoist. Any mine hoist I've seen can be operated by a single man, including modernized hoists built over a hundred years ago.
@@Porty1119I don’t think it’s ever been modernized is the thing. A secondary electric hoist with a bosun’s chair would probably be a good addition though.
@@Porty1119 Mostly the age and how long there hasn't been profitable mining. The hoist hasn't been probably completely fully maintained for decades, likely the last full maintenance to really go through every piece was closer to the 50's maybe as far as in the 20's. Tells a lot about the state of the hoist that it seems the mine phone has been removed or at least doesn't work since Brent uses walkie-talkies to communicate with the surface and while the hoist has been used, it has been scheduled to minimize the need of communication. The hoist would probably need to be completely rebuild. The mechanical parts taken apart, checked, remade what has serviced their life and added modern safety features and all that. The hoist shaft would probably need whole new timbering so the hoist box can be replaced with new or even rebuild one, only the installation for remote controlling from the box would need a lot of work and with MSHA, a lot of expensive work. Only getting a mine phones for couple most used levels could be a huge project if it was to be done "the right way".
Brent, would it be possible that HeavyD could create a winch to get you down and up, even if not 900 feet long? . I realize there are very narrow spots that could be an issue, but at least it would be of some help climbing back up, Great content for both of you if it is possible!
I visited a slate mine in Wales that had been opened about 300 years ago. Miners had to pay for their own equipment and candles. Peeling 1,000 pound slabs from the ceiling was how they did it. Absolutely terrifying and very low pay.
I think running a powerline and a communications line down to the 700 level is a great idea. Could even do a live 24/7 Camera down there or operate a RC car drone. Was wondering if a super powerful shop vac would help clear out the clay debris. Or like one of those old office pneumatic vacuum tubes but they would have to be crazy powerful.
Watching your channel is an adventure in it's self. Thanks for the adventures. It's too bad I don't live nearby. I like hard work, and I would love to work on those collapses and stabilize the holes. Then clean out the debre. It would be a lot of fun.
Wow, Brent. You are amazing. Climbing that kind of a distance with just rope and a fear of heights. No claustrophobia at all apparently? Those original miners were very tough men and apparently you are, too.
@@GhostTownLiving Look into the guys over at TVR Exploring, they're bringing an abandoned gold mine back to life, they're good at working with bad ground. Dunno if you've heard of them. Keep up the great work!
was drawn to this channel at the start of the pandy and love everything you done keep up the amazing work i can't wait for each video of all the progress
Get yourself a figure 8 ab device and some cord for a prusik, you could descend that length on a figure 8 easily. Never use one without the prusik though, thats your backup in case you slip or let go. You should get in touch with Frank from the Exploring abandoned mines channel, I'm sure he would love to come explore and do some mining with you. He has so much knowledge he's like a walking museum. Edit: I think you've already spoke to him if I remember right.
If you keep the line fixed, try an inverted ascender below the belay to feed rope on the rappel. For digging try an army entrenching tool and think about sand bags and a drag sledge for moving material and keeping out of the way. A sand bag couch with a blanket for example.
I always think how dark it must have been during the mines hayday. What a miner would've given for the led lights we have today! The spending a week digging away collapse is both a respectable throwback to the day to day operations that were occurring in the early 1900s. Dangerous but very cool to actually open access to previous unexplored areas.
Awesome video again, your enthusiasm never ceases to amaze. What ever happened to Johnny? Seems like he would have thrived on this journey. Cheers and best wishes!,
That is so cool to know about all of those levels being there and you didn't even know it till now. I am terrified of heights so even watching you climb down was nerve wracking for me. You should be incredibly proud of being able to overcome and face your fears just remember to always do it as safely as possible. We don't want you to get hurt.
Speaking along the lines of communication, you might look into old WWII phones. They use internal power sources and hard line to connect. They may need to be fixed but that's just another adventure and it's fun to learn about. There are a number of other options along that same tangent from different eras. Having something like that would be a game changer for the purpose of talking to the surface.
Wow, take care of yourself Brent! That 12x12 could've been a lot worse. Otherwise, for some reason that idea of having a hard-line communications system between the levels is exciting to me lol And Base Camp on the 900' sounds like a blast. That's so exciting that there are more levels below, you just need to find the way to them. I've faith in you, keep up the good fight!
Brent, it scared me so much when that big support beam fell on your shoulder. I found myself thinking about how easy it would be to get caught up moving forward (almost recklessly) with all the new information you're receiving and momentum you're making toward the lower levels. Stay safe!
@@jgoo4572 I have no doubt he's done his homework in terms of what he can and can't safely do down there, but I suppose one doesn't muck about in an abandoned mine without understanding there are always going to be some risks. Still scary though.
It's really nuts that he goes off down these random corridors alone. I have to keep telling myself that we're watching the video and his post-exploration narration so he must have made it out...
@@jgoo4572 I hav 2agree 1000%. with prayers, safety first should now be done always from now on. it already happened n keep a record of why it happened. U did not die or got injured horribly. Please let us know what safety rules had 2b implemented from now on. God bless from Canada.
@@TannCo2 He most definitely hasn't done his homework. He's yelling into a camera non-stop, instead of talking very quietly or even whispering, he wants to "legal grey-area style" rockblast some random collapses down there, I have not once seen him check a gas monitor or hold one into the camera, so he might aswell just at one point fall asleep due to carbon monoxide poisoning or something similar and never wake up again. Dude seems absolutely unhinged and like he doesn't give much of a fuck if he dies.
i have been here since this story with Brent which I found by chance. My hat off from respect to the way Brent has grown and faced so many challenges without giving up but gaining strength forever moving ahead. This 900 foot "descent" and scaling back up would not have been possible without his determination and drive to make this a continuing new adventure. When the old hotel burned I thought Brent would give up but it lead to all these new stories that I will continue to follow and support .
Please get The Diesel Brothers back. Not only are they extremely resourceful but they are also dedicated to hard work and a crazy adventure. Also them coming to help your problem with the foundation of the hotel was the coolest series I have seen them do! @HeavyDSparks . Amazing video's and progress Brent you're doing an awesome job.
Hi Brent. As a fellow mine explorer, I also abseil in deep shafts on rope. My deepest single one is 600ft. For the decender, I use a rack. This is fiction based ladder, where if the fiction is too great, you can remove one of the bars to lessen the friction. I find them excellent for stiff and mucky ropes. Just practice above ground with them first, as they can be tricky to get used to and it is vital they are threaded correctly.
Awesome, exciting episode.... lots of good tips from climbers in the comments.. I hope it leads to many more adventures! We were warned not to fall asleep in a mine as one breathes deeply and rock dust enters parts of your lungs that don't normally get exposed to the dust... maybe sleeping with a dust mask is a good idea?
Hey everyone! Thanks so much for checking out the video. If you want to see the start of the 3D model I took at the end of the video, you can see that here: poly.cam/capture/444A4136-784B-49A6-8691-F7CB7C129E22
I'll be adding to it and hopefully allow everyone to experience all the different levels of the mine in time.
love how you bought the mini blaster!
I bet a wheelbarow would be a huge help down there
look into a prussic loop
i'm surprised how level the floor looks.
was it really that level or is it just the software that does that ?
What happened to Johnny? He was your guy for adventures like this
Hey mate, I'm an industrial abseiler, I actually abseil off skyscrapers like you were talking about for a job. A good tip for doing big descents like this is to have your rope in a bag, attached to your harness, that way you don't have excessive tail weight so your descender will work better. Also eliminates your rope snagging on things when you lower it down, as it just feeds out of the bag as you descend.
Keeps it clean too. If there's wet patches down the road, you won't be getting into them if it's in the bag. However, in a cave, it's good to have the last feet of rope marked clearly at intervals of decreasing distance to make sure you don't end up without rope unawares (obviously, the end should be properly knotted to prevent rapid acceleration followed by instant deceleration.
Excellent advice!
I was thinking the same thing but wasn't sure if I was on the right track or just remembering something from a movie lol
we use the same trick rapping waterfalls when Canyoneering
Also, if you need to dig out those collapses, use a tool you can pull with and let gravity help. Shovels would be useless for the bulk of it. Not sure what this kind of tool is called in english but in Norwegian we call it a "krafse" no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krafse
Narrower and pointier variations also exist.
In an earlier video you used shovels for this and it was enragingly inefficient. In that case it was completely dry gravel which is the best case for what im speaking of. If its completely caked together the difference is maybe smaller but please consider this
Aside from the significant hazards encompassing factors like structural instability, toxic gases, oxygen depletion, floods, unstable ground, wildlife encounters, contaminated water, hazardous materials, and the lack of escape routes, I believe that these mines might be suitable for novice exploration.
Hey Brent, Im also Brent. First and foremost, you've got it going on! Im more than a little jealous. As i mentioned in a previous comment, ropes access is my life. This actually stemmed from getting talked into joining a mine rescue team in 09 (team Edgar). I too owned a couple claims myself above Leadville Co. I finally got the opportunity the descend down into one of them after a makeshift plug gave way opening the hoist shaft. Terrifying, but incredibly awesome at the same time. I too was solo (VERY dangerous, especially without a 4 gas meter to test for H2S or even just low O2)
Anyways, if you were at all interested, id love to assist you in any capacity needed, even just stand by rescue, at no cost obviously. I would also at the very least like to discuss the type of kern mantle ropes you're useing both in safety and your efficiency (900 ft = 90ft of rope stretch on static rope, i noticed you also had dynamic rope in use). In a nutshell, if you're interested in chatting, let me know. In the mean time, keep up your hard work, enthusiasm, and passion. Makes my heart race watching your vids (something im usually hearing, rather than saying)
Agree with @brentseely6113 - you need use gas meter! (toxic gas detector). Think about ventilation system in mine! So many people died from toxic gases. The main toxic gases released in a mine are CO and CO2. Sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, cyanides, halogens, and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) are other gases that occur in the mine environment. As minimum gas meter is must!!!!!
Was gonna say... Shouldn't he have more breathing equipment? Granted, I'm no miner. I like to spend my time ABOVE ground, thank you very much! However, growing up in the Pennsylvania coal region, the history of mine accidents is something I'm acutely aware of! Gas, collapses, explosions, floods... Some bloody bloody history there. Playing around in old mines is not something people should take lightly, I think.
Hey Brent, another Brent here. 😜
I dont think enough is said about the physical effort this all takes. Not just the mine exploration, but living in cerro gordo and working to restore the town. It really makes me more aware of the men who worked these mines 150 years ago and how amazing their work and lives were.
How much physical effort does it take to CLIMB 900 feet. Amazing fitness to do that.
Not just that, you also gotta think of the less air down there, the less air quality. You don't just need to be fit, you also need to be healthy and go to a doctor now and again. Because who knows what your inhaling.
They had some amazing framers back then, the work has stood the test of time
@@markfish8403 agreed, now what repair man would go down there to fix half of this calapse, besides this thrill seeker?
I think you got it twisted! The life of a miner back then was not "amazing" - they had 10-12 hours of back breaking labour for shitty pay (so I guess in that regard nothing much has changed, ok the hours got a fewer unless you have several jobs), their entertainment consisted of bad booze, smokes and maybe local brothel! So nope, that is/was not amazing, it is interesting from our POV, but that's about it!
I think the key to further success in consistently exploring the lower levels is retrofitting the main lift/hoist. We don't know the costs associated with doing that. However, it makes the most sense in lowering equipment and people to those levels in probably the safest manner. The other option would be to round up some local retired volunteers. Train them to work the winch in its existing configuration. Lots of retired guys are always looking for something to keep themselves busy and to have places to socialize and get away from their wives. lol.
Even just renovating the ladder could make a huge difference. If you could just climb down with a safety rope it would be a game changer.
@@GamePlague Getting a hoist would be better, if just to lower kitbags and equipment. Also a lot safer than running the main hoist and could be run with a smaller crew. Anything human-rated would need proper engineering, safety and probably certification. It would make expeditions a lot simpler and safer if Brent could just radio up for stuff to lower, and stage food, water, medical supplies etc for longer exploration trips. On which point.. Eyebaths and some packs of sterile saline! Getting dust & grit in your eyes is no fun.
Yeah, let's casually install a commercial grade lift that can handle 900 ft, and put it on a mountain at 10k feet elevation. Then we hire three guys full time to service it. It sounds so cheap when you say it!
@@temper44 with that mindset, nothing gets done🎉
i bet those old guys in town who he brought his rocks to would love a chance to help out.
I literally remember when it all started with "i bought a ghost town" episode. Then it appeared like a just great but unknown adventure. It's unbelievable that its all gone this far. 3 Years gone like just one little day and there's still much much much more to discover. I would love to get there someday, stop worrying bout my job and just do adventure things.
Except he burned down a historic hotel on site out of naïveté
@@twonulatorExcept if not him it would be decaying to the ground within few years. One burned hotel vs restoration of whole site.
Who doesnt make mistakes? We all do.
And how many people decide to sacrifice their lifetime to throw a new life to the whole sites? Not many.
And lastly: Who would complain about someones mistakes, while squishing buttocks in front of screen and getting dirty of taco sauce? Guess it.
I would be very cautious about shoveling away those collapses, and especially about the blaster. The collapses occurred in the first place because of instability and poor competence in the rock, and the collapses themselves might be the only thing holding up additional parts of the tunnel, meaning that clearing the collapse might cause more collapses to occur. I would suggest you not just “clear” collapses, but buttress them with structural braces as you clear them out.
I came to comment this to I know how hard it would be but he need to put more structural support especially if he’s going down more
Yep, get that woodwork up against the walls and ceiling! Think like a miner! Instead of blasters, get some woodwork tools.
He knows.
@@Megasaurusify I would assume by now he knows what's up
Which of course requires manpower and materials, both in short supply! That’s why mining crews were sometime large!
I'm really excited for the exploration of the deeper levels but make sure when digging the collapses you are putting timbers in to secure the ceiling from further collapses. We want you alive and well as much as the exploration Brent.
Absolutely...,💪
Make sure you always file a flight plan. What I mean by that is before you set off alone down the mine, let others know what you’re doing, where you’re going, when to expect you to contact them again. That way if you get stuck, rescue starts sooner. Before you’re a Skelton. :)
As a tree climber who spent many days on rope my hat is off this guy, takes some real conditioning to go up and down repeatedly like that, no way I'm going in those tight spaces either, mad props!
Yeah Tree Climbing is hard but you can kind of move around and do it so safely. Going down a mine however is a different thing altogether....
It so awesome to see Brent back in the mines again. It really seems like that's his happy place.
I wonder how many people couldn't keep watching halfway through with the claustrophobia effect. ie 21:24 Also old dynamite sitting there gives me the jimmies.
It's a safe(r) space.
Brent yearns for the mines
@@uhohiateasbestos1535you beat me to it!
@@Justme-jt1efthat’s what’s I’m saying 😂😂my n-.. 🤝
Brent, I've watched so many episodes of your explorations over the last couple years, always thought how amazing it would be to 3D map it and now you actually did! Was so cool exploring the model, thanks for sharing, gives such a different perspective and experience to your videos. Really quite innovative, well done.
Do they make scanners that are drones and will fly while mapping the area for you?
@@Outlawstar0198 They do make lydar drones for 3 mapping but not for going down caves lol
@@Outlawstar0198 just need the imagery (3d photogrammetry)
@@Outlawstar0198 Yes we need the drones they used in Prometheus.
What is bill burr doing here?
Hey Brett, the thing that you keep bringing up as an issue is communications. The priority idea would be to run some telephone cables down that shaft you've got your rope and lights in, splitting them off at each of the levels you've explored. The amount of danger you're in without some form of reliable connection to the surface is gut wrenching and I think that beam incident highlights it. If you had dislocated your shoulder, it would have been difficult to ascend back up, and it might well have been a time critical injury. I'd also suggest getting some MREs, spare batteries and cans of acidified water that can stay down there long term in case something happens to the rope while you're down there and you end up trapped for the few days it'd take to get to you.
Maybe he'll find the old phone mentioned on the vintage metal sign...
How did the miners connect the phone?
Any visible phone cables anywhere?
@@4seasonspix i think the random lengths of wire we see tangled up down there is what's left of the telephone system
@nopetrainconductor9840 it'd be cool I'd he could find and restore one of the original phones then use it at Basecamp 900.
@@krockpotbroccoli65 that would be cool to see but i suspect it would be a pain in the ass to do though
Watching that beam fall on him could have been the last video. Trapped no phone. Need a phone line ran down.
As a retired, Union construction worker of 28yrs, climbing a ladder that was nailed together a hundred yrs ago is insane!
if he is on the rope and climbing ladders he should be safe enough,,u can't free climb ladders that deep,
@@BearwoodBrown it still scares me! Lol
@@BryanJohnson-qb1se I do not think i would or could doit unless there was there was a nice pile of gold down there ,,,
They don't build 'em like they used to!
@@BearwoodBrown It's amazing how motivating a pile of gold can be.
Brent my husband and I are in our 80’s and we love watching your adventures at Cerro Gordo. We grew up in California but moved to Idaho 35 years ago. Just know we appreciate you and pray for you as you do dangerous things!
Be careful down there, Trent. You are getting comfortable with this and this is when it becomes dangerous.
Complacency is dangerous…
His name is Brent not Trent
Complacency kills.
@@zzxvc no its brett
Whatever his name is he should have been wearing a gas and dust/spore mask for anything that he may be breathing into his lungs that is lethal or potentially slowly deadly throughout the Long haul
You might talk to Gly of "exploring abandoned mines and forgotten places". about winching out of shafts and his experience with his hoist. It would be good to have several exit strategies including at least 2 hoist systems and a couple manual climb outs. Food, supplies including rescue gear at your base camp is a good idea. The more supplies you have the better you will feel. It helps to be skinny to get through tight places and climb out. Hope you fine lots of nice things and maybe find one of the exits from the lowest levels.
Also there are a variety of sound powered phones than can transmit 30 miles with only the power generated by a voice, some are on Ebay. Drop a couple wires. down the shaft, one for power and one for phone and you will have better communication than radio. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound-powered_telephone .You might get search and rescue to "train" in. your mine and give you a hand also.
As a tower climber with 10 years of experience, having a ton of knowledge regarding getting a either a whole lot of items, or very big items, or both, up 1000-2000ft towers using nothing but ropes, and having tons of descent/ascent experience using ropes, this right here is a task that I would absolutely love to participate in. Looks like a ton of work but a TON of fun and extremely rewarding. I can pretty much feel that feeling you have of it eating away at you what's down there. The unknown treasures, memories, and history. Wow.
Your strength and pure willpower to climb so much in one evolution is wild! I couldn't climb down 900ft let alone climb back up!
Ya getting down is the easy part. Going back up all that rope is a grunt. I have done it in caves but never as deep as he is going.
Wow! One of Brent's superpowers is persistence. This is one of the best videos to be produced by this channel. The exploration of the mine fascinates me. I love, love, love the LIDAR map! I can't wait until we can explore the mine virtually. Keep it up and stay safe!
I think it is the best video too...i been with him since the first video! love love this adventure!
Suggestion....Set up ropes at each of the known levels. Then they could be used to descend one level per rope at a time. Might eliminate the rope weight problem. Use the hoist to transport large supplies down to the 900 level as well as setting up some rest areas with caches of supplies at other levels. Then you can use the ropes for ascending and descending when hoist is not available. Hard line communications & electricity would be a good idea as well. Maybe you could find a small-ish winch system for using ropes to get supplies down as well as lifting Waste and other items out without using the main Hoist. Once all set up you could be more free to explore with less ascending and descending.
Brent you were born for that place! Every ghost town needs a historian and story teller. Brother I could listen to your stories all day long. I'm always totally captivated in your adventures. I wish you all the luck in the world
If it took you 3 hours to descend. I CANNOT imagine how long it took you to ascend back up. I’m glad you made it back up safely 💯
In another video he talks how itd take mere minutes to ascend and descend when the hoist was in full working order. I dont know if thats more or less terrifying. Descending slowly but safeish, or zooming up and down so you are dangling over a hole as short a time as possible
3+ hours underground is common place to ground (cave or mine explorers). Like a decently big cave will take you even 7 hours to fully coop. And it only goes up if you have to crawl ala "superman crawl" into a section of it. If you don't have that kind of fortitude, you're not in the right spot. You're either committed and fully prepared, or you're exposing yourself to severe dangers.
It's like operating a table saw. Either your head's in the game, on the moment,... or walk away, because bad things can happen. He's clearly in the zone, clearly in the right mindset, and clearly devoted to the quest.
@@everythingsalright1121 believe this is because, while the actual hoist is still the same, it was originally powered by steam. That would mean it needed even more people to operate, also steam boiler can take *many* hours to heat up, not a huge problem as long as it is never allowed to cool down often. But these days it's of course not realistic to keep a boiler going 24/7.
THIS.
@@4x4_Adventures lol this entire vid is 39 minutes. maybe wildly guessing, 10 minutes of it is him speaking on the way down out of a 3 hrs trip? great reasoning and math skills you'll go far
Brent, don’t let this obsession led by passion be the death of you. Damn, that was scary just to observe
Brent, Couple of ideas, 1, put a trap door in the bottom of the lift, that way you no longer need to climb thru such small space and you can lower larger equipment down and yourself.. 2. install a CAPSTAN WINCH-HOIST LIFT that a one man on top can operate to pull you out of the shaft or any equipment.
I think it would be a massive benefit to have some sort of RC that could fit past collapses to determine the viability of digging it out as well as do the full polycam mapping.
Too much debris in the tunnels for any RC to drive (even the ones with tracks)
@frank-t6857 I was thinking there's got to be something more all terrain that's not a traditional 4 wheeled RC vehicle.
@@davidwolfe8116 Fiber optic cord might work better than an RC vehicle, but I'm not sure on how accessible those are.
@@thecharmingplatypus3208 nowdays a literal camera on a stick with wires, and screen (the digital boreoscope) is very cheap, robust and easy to use, its practically replaced fiber optic cord, , the way of use is the same, and i agree that the guy should get something of that manner
Just use one of the cameras they use to look in pipes
Brent, you should really get in touch with some miners from some other parts of the nation and educate yourself and get some assistance on this project. I appreciate your passion in a way i don't think you can really know. I know it can be very hard to trust others with your life, i would highly recommend you build those relationships and build that community. Use this community you have worked to build. An entrenching tool and supplies (as well as by your rock blaster) should be standard equipment for these expeditions. Would highly encourage you to build that infrastructure to allow safe exploration with bastions. (fiber optic with strain relief anchors for communication. conduit with strain relief for power). build the infrastructure you need to do what you plan.
you sir are a passionate obsessives i admire and identify with to no end. be safe and keep doing what you are doing. it is worthwhile and amazing. Keep doing what you are doing and be safe.
Not sure if the economics makes sense, but upgrading your main hoist to a safe and reliable 1 man opp would give you a lot more resources. You still have your rope for backup. Thank for the vid Brent.
I think one of the most important things I think you should be installing in this mine is a communication system, and I think that a wireless system for the elevator/hoist unit that can connect with intermittent modules wired into the main system and then have hard wired com boxes at each of the main levels you visit regularly so that you can keep people appraised of your condition and situation and increase the amount of information you can relay if you need to alter your preplanned expeditions into the mine. the fact that you have LED rope down the shaft is fantastic and this shows how easy a hard wired com system is to put in to the mine. the bonus to this is that you can use old phones and phone box systems that are now obsolete but are perfectly fine for you to use inside of the mine and they are relatively simple to use and install, all you need is the proper lengths of wire. and of course the best part of this kind of system is that it is still quite common to find old items that would comprise the entire system and because it is obsolete and no longer in demand, the price for it all would be quite low to purchase the needed materials. all then that would need to be done is to install it. As always, thankyou for sharing with us the adventures you have in this incredible historical site. I love the location and the impressive amount of history that Cerro Gordo has. To call it RICH in history is merely adequate and there is a distinct lack of a more appropriate word that isn't' cliché and over used by today's young crowd. Until next time, thanks and stay safe and keep hammering away at your goals for your mine!
Its required by mining law.
Asking opinions for who should be there to help that has experience...lol. I'm reading the comments and must have missed the Jeff Williams recommendation? He's legitimately the most experienced you'd be able to have down there. My mind is really blown that you haven't had him to your mine but have had Dan Hurd. 😂😂
I emailed Jeff the other day!
@GhostTownLiving right on, hopefully he can get down there cuz I'm sure he'd be the perfect fit
It blows my mind that men were able to get 900 feet down and work… especially during that time period. Some SUPER tough men back in the day.
Also, I’ve been through many old mines myself, but the whole claustrophobic nature of crawling would make me tap out.
Honestly how do they get down there just tnt and a will? 😂😂😂🇺🇸🇺🇸
@austincarter4452 with multiple bucket steam powered pullys and 24/7 operation it did not take long actually. One method is to drill
.blast.muck. andy should also cultivate the drill and fill with expanding cement puddy for more controlled ore removal in cave collapse areas.
Last but not least, there should be a rock crusher down there that feeds smaller material up the 900ft vaccum tube for easier retrieval on the surface. All that clay backfill he encountered is PAY DIRT.
I love the use of technology and that you have off-site historians putting in countless hours researching for you. Correcting the existing mapping, and creating maps for the future, is a gem in its own right.
it's cool, and i love this stuff, although "white people stuff" thought keeps going through my mind lol, not that theres anything wrong with that. But, I do wonder how much anybody really cares about an old mine anyway if it werent for this channel, ya know? I dont think the historical part is all that relevant, more like an excuse to explore stuff and do cool stuff on youtube. But again it's all super cool. Like there's probably 50 mines like this across America noone will ever care about the lower levels of ever again. Those mines had their time and it's gone.
But again because it's so easy for a comment like this to come across as negative, want to stress this channel is great!
I fix fighter jets for work, right now I work in tank bay (diving in the fuel tanks to repair whatever is wrong). Claustrophobia is no joke but you can learn to over it come it and find a way to get "comfortable" while feeling squished, That being said I would love a chance to go on an adventure like this. Thanks for letting us join you on all your adventures!
Wow. An actual base camp down in the mine? That is awesome. I remember you spending Christmas or sometime during the holidays camping down at one of the levels. It was spooky because you kept seeing a light in the distance and you were the only one down there. I can't wait for your next video. Until then, take care, Brent! Thank you for yet another exploration video in the mines.
Seriously? I'll have to look for that one.
@@SinkyYT th-cam.com/video/WYs-1m0YSKQ/w-d-xo.html
it was the Mole People and those were not lights it was there Eyes Glowing.
@@SinkyYTshe even set up a raft to lounge on I believe.
Astounding... all of it. The men who dug and blasted through creating these tunnels, the beam structures.
Then you, Brett, taking us with you...
A nail biter..
Looking forward to the coming tunnel clearing.
The woodsmanship & carpentry around the 18/19th century was insane! I adore my 19th century tableware cupboard for the fact how it's still holding up after more than 100 years and who knows how many moves it made. But those ladders are something else! I don't think you could make 'em better even today :O
True that, I inherited a baroque-era wooden cabinet from 1780 from my late grandmother and it is the best carpentry I've ever seen. The whole construction is ingenious, not a single nail is necessary to assemble it, yet its rock-solid.
Everytime he uploads a new video I thank god because he is alive. I worry about you Brent but knowing someone is there watching/waiting for you gives me some relief 😊
Especially crawling through the narrow collapsed spaces ... holy crap, what if more came down, he'd be stuck :(
Hopefully Brent is successful in finding & exploring the deeper levels. I suggest using the hoist to haul down equipment, supplies and people to the 900 while working to clearing AND stabilizing the collapses
He does not have the people to move the hoist otherwise he would use it himself
@@barnhardtbrecken3360 he could probably find a team for a one off supply run, he was talking about consistent trips
Brent...I hope you realise what an absolute legend of a man you are! A true modern day Cerro Gordo miner, reviving the intense effort those men of steel made all those years ago...its an absolute nervewracking treat watching you unveil the history of that place, all the while taking a serious risk doing it....thank you!! And also to your friend Robert who carried out so much research! Your channel is fascinating...so much history and adventure! Do you have the real concern of collapse whilst you're down there?? Its amazing what you're doing...
Can Dave Sparks get you a modern winch for the cage so you dont need the crew? He's probably got a crane or something he could adapt, just his kind of thing
All those cranes they rescue just to scrap because they're too old to certify 🤔 spool up 1200' of cable and go... Maybe Brent should do a fundraiser for this
Your transparency of your videos conveys the personal struggle you have taken on. I admire your tenacity. It is inspiring!
Very nice to have the map overlays when you do these mine explorations! Gives us some idea of where you are in that massive maze. Would be great to see that part of the video developed even more (e.g. add routes/issues etc visually for a moment?) especially with this big mine project ahead! And as many folks have commented, please remember your own safety!
After finding the cigar tin and the 900 level sign, it makes me really curious what other cool findings might be under possible collapses or under Timbers. Great job as always Brent can’t wait to see what is in the future!
I get so emotional watching this channel. I never wanted someone to succeed so much. Brent is a special person doing amazing things. Distance dictates I'll never see CG, but man i want it to rise again. Awesome ❤
Running some mains power down the shaft would be a good idea. Branching off and each level
Brent is at the top of the world at the bottom of his awesome mine!
Yep with a dash of insanity.
Your next project should be to get a group of people to modernize that manway. Lighting, electric, communications, fixing the entire ladder system and adding a way to bring items up and down. Especially if you plan on spending more time truly exploring all of the various points of access. As if you do not have enough projects.... ❤👊
Prusik loops for the gear on its own rope so much easier! The climb back up hook the gear rope end back to its own ascender. Fun stuff wish I was closer!
Thinking about the fact that those ladders where considered to be climbed without rope is insane
Yeah I was wondering if people free climbed those ladders back in the day?
You know they free climbed back in those days, OSHA wasn't invented yet for any kind of safety standards. And any rope they might have had was being used at Lola's Place in town lol
another thing to keep in mind is that the wood was still solid and new when the ladder was put in. So although the risk of falling was still pretty dang high, it wasn't as high as it would be right now
@Gamingdragon618 and there would have been places to stop and rest
I like your way of thinking about the 900ft level. Bringing supplies to dig out the collapses and possibly set up a direct communication line. That'd be huge. Thinking *years* ahead now.
He does'nt look like a digger. He looks like a boss man. He will need workers comp, liability ins, State mining inspections and permits, maybe Federal permits. OSHA. He will be negligent and liable even with volunteer workers let alone employees. Hes looking at joining the big boys and it will cost. Anyone he lets go into the mine could sue his ass off.
There's no problem until something bad happens!
climbing 900 ft up ladders is no small task! i work underground at a gold mine and i climb 2-400 ft regularly up and down escape raises and it really is a workout great work man keep it up love the videos
I've been subscribed and kept up with this channel pretty much since the very beginning, every single video has blown me away since. It's amazing how many new things there STILL are to discover about Cerro Gordo. I wish I could be one of the people who was able to help fund this amazing project, or even put my hands to work to help rebuild it, but just know that I am part of a HUGE community who is watching intently and with great interest in this whole project. Keep it up, Brent! I am absolutely enthralled in everything you do here
i can not wait until he finds the Mole People Down there.
true that.... amazing that this is more interesting than lot of extreme sports and adventurer stuff... to rediscover 100 year old human constructions underground.
Gosh that PolyCam thing is sooo cool. Imagine showing that to the OG miners! Brent you’re amazing. Please don’t stop, unless it’s ridiculously unsafe. If it’s just regular unsafe, you have to keep it up now.
@36:24 Between The Acts. I used to smoke them many years ago. They are an acquired taste.
Hey, just a few quick tips for potentially making your life easier in regards to the ropes:
- You could look into the Petzl Stop, Simple or Rack descenders as they may by easier to handle if the rope weight is high.
- To make the ascend easier you could have a look at the Petzl Asap, which is a device that runs along the rope and locks in case of a fall. You could put this on the rope and climb up, without much additional hassle.
- Setting up Bolts may make the process of fixing the ropes easier, but it would require access to strong rock, which i think is covered by wood in the chute, so probably not feasible.
If the hoist is unusable, I can't imagine a fixed line isnt the next step (speaking as a climber)
I agree the rack is the way to go for very long descents but I always used a petzel stop even on long descents in caves. And the a frogger coming out or rope walker.
I would either fix the winch to be faster and add more guide rails down to the 900, or remove it's man basket altogether and use a separate winch setup which is fast, and can be used to haul materials down that shaft by rope. Only one choke point on the ladder....saw it out and add replacement out of the way. Next, spend a day repairing that ladder . Replace rungs, add new rails as needed. Much faster and easier to be climbing a ladder than climbing a rope for 900 feet. You should have a dozen military shovels down there and a few buckets to move that clay out of the way. Also, I would stockpile every level possible. The 500, the 700, should have anything and everything you may want at the 900+ levels. Permanent,200 foot ropes need anchored going down the ladder chute to ease rope weight defending. Love the vids, can't wait for the next.
I'm getting claustrophobic just watching you climb over those collapses! What an effort.
Not smart to do alone.
Not smart to do AT ALL
I'll bet Brent is in much better shape than 3 years ago. Still, I wouldn't be able to decend. It's too scary. Yup I'm 🐔! Lol
@GhostTownLiving it is amazing to watch the progress of Cerro Gordo. When you make these descents into the bowels of history it causes me to reflect on all the tens of thousands of man hours it took to create the labyrinth you are in. We can feel the vibes through your channel's streams. Thank you so much for keeping history alive and notching out your own piece of the history pie. - Jim
So claustrophobic down there….I just couldn’t do it ….so fair play to you Brent…man of steel !!!
I'm so impressed that you have used 'double rope' techniques. Having redundancy can be a life saver.
He's descending srt, there's no redundancy with the other rope as he's not using them both at the same time
@@stuartcommon4651 Which is my point, There is redundancy. He is not using them at the same time. 'As you said'. He rappels on one rope and the other is there as a backup. Redundancy. Something to catch you if your main rope 'fails'.
@@peromo9397 in srt (which is what is mainly used in mine exploration and caving) there is only one rope, there is no backup, if that rope goes then you go with it. That's why there's extensive training available to enable it to be done safely. He initially sent down the long rope but with the weight of it he was unable to put it into his descender. He put down a shorter rope to descend the first part so that when he got to the bottom of the short rope the rest of the long rope should be light enough that he could swap to the main rope. Neither rope is a backup
I can only carry on watching as he obviously survived. Hes on another level spiritually down there.. Uplifting to watch!
The only question is will he survive the next one?
@@grandpied I know it's insanely dangerous what he's doing I couldn't believe what I was watching and his plans.
I love it! Thanks for droppin in mate!
Brent. PLEASE remember the town is dependent upon you to be ALIVE and HEALTHY. All your plans are for naught if you get into trouble in those mines. I seriously advise you to at least have one other person with you when you go down there - especially with EXPLOSIVES, man!! Love the videos and love the work and the care and the community that has rallied around you. And not to sound like the dad (or maybe mother hen) I am but for crying out loud don't climb without someone else with you. Dude I'm begging you. Imo you've already rolled the dice and gotten lucky a few too many times. Love the videos and love the cave exploration and am also dying to find out what's down below the 900. Just don't die to find out.
theres probably no one else crazy enough to go with him. this looks highly, highly dangerous. im also surprised he doesnt use a mask of some kind. inhaling a ton of dust made up of dirt, mold, rotting wood, animal feces, animal carcasses, and toxic metals cant be good for you
I was thinking that too, but then I wondered who was holding the camera when he squeezed himself through parts of the collapsed area?
@@4seasonspixhe’s probably using some kind of selfie stick. There are cameras that let you edit out the stick from the final video.
Relax
This mother hen agrees❣️
Wow climbing out from level 900 is amazing! I agree with others, it seem like it would be wise to get more hoist operators trained up!
Hey Brent! Awesome video!!!
A few suggestions just for safety (especially solo). I’ve climbed for a long while and also do high angle ropes rescue as a SAR medic. Redundancy, redundancy, redundancy. Make sure you’re backing up you anchors and knots. The double 8 you had is a great knot, but make sure you back it up with an overhand or bowline into itself. Think of not how far you’re going down, but how far you have to fall. It might not be a bad idea to find another anchor point and back up your main rope with a prusik attached to another, stronger, rope. This way your rope has play but you still have a backup just in case something were to happen. Reading some of the other comments as well I agree that rope stretch is a huge deal (900ft=90ft of rope stretch) and definitely keeping your ropes on you and not hanging. It’s an old access and multi-pitch climbing trick and keeps weight off and reduces wear and tear on those expensive ropes. I’m assuming you’re using a grigri the way you explained it or some other smooth friction descender, and these work great with this trick.
Keep exploring and stay safe!!
Way to go Brent! So proud of you for overcoming your fear of heights and pressing on! Dead ends are just directions to a new path..... your achievements so far are proof of that. I can't wait to see what you achieve next!
Hello from the UK!
Brent, I have some ideas for different things you could sell in your shop, but first I wanted to mention that I love watching your videos and seeing how far you've come from the very early days. You're truly an inspiration!
And I was so happy to see you still have some of your cats! I remember them as little kittens so it was wonderful to see them all grown up in a previous video.
Anyway, the reason I'm posting is because I saw you had some mine maps in a recent video and I wondered if you've considered reproducing them as posters or prints for people to buy?
I personally think one of those maps would look awesome as a matted and framed print. I mean, who wouldn't want a map of Cerro Gordo's Union Mine on their wall at home or in an office?
You could also reproduce some of the stunning historic photos of Cerro Gordo that you've shown on your channel for people to buy.
Another idea would be to collect small ore and mineral rock samples from your mines and sell them as souvenirs in ring boxes or small clear perspex boxes with Union Mine, Cerro Gordo (etc) embossed on them.
I'm sure many people would love to own a little piece of Cerro Gordo's history, especially if they're not able to visit in person, and it's a great way to support the wonderful work you're doing to preserve Cerro Gordo.
Great idea!
Good ideass
I am watching Expedition X with your town being featured.
Awesome
I'd suggest getting something similar to the old US Army Field Telephones to use for communications down there, a land line like that will work no matter what you do to it, and if it's not, they're pretty easy to diagnose and fix. Also, with it being a historic area, I'm sure there's universities that would love to send some teams in with you to explore and clear up sections to make it safer and easier to explore around as well.
In my town back in the day, they had a 4612ft shaft in the Goldfields. (1908, the Victoria Quartz Co Mine had the world's deepest shaft at 1,365 metres. By 1910 the shaft had reached a depth of 1,406 metres)
5 times deeper than Brent go's here.
In my young days, in the 1980s, I worked in a South African Gold mine. My working depth was 5,400 feet. The mines today go down to 12,000 feet. But I would go down 12,000 feet in a modern mine instead of 900 feet in Brent''s mine. You cannot even remotely compare the technology and safety standards between then and now. It takes guts to go down the mine the way Brent did.
I have to keep reminding myself when watching this that you must have made it back. Amazing footage and great video as always.
It's impossible to describe the million ways these videos are the best ever. They have everything that amazes the viewers from the old days to the modern. I am simply blown away at what the old miners accomplished and what Brent is willing to do to bring it back to life. Brent, you are one amazing man, just as tenacious in your plan as the men in the old days. It's the best videos on youtube. Wish i was there!
totally agree. his story telling is epic. the amount of tension in these videos is enough to freak me out, even tho i know he survived to "tell the tale" with a new video. but great day!! i'm a wreck...lol
Ahaha ok...
@@NickRanger , the super ignorant people never ceases to amaze me!
@@vandover1528 as apposed to you boot licking fan boys who flock to this yuppies every move.. same shit different story. Its called beating a dead horse. This guys a pro
I know there may be an aversion to this given the history, but I think it would be wisest to work to restore the hoist system and rebuild the ladders and passage down to make it safer for generations to come. It might be time to investigate hiring a hoist team sometime in the future as well. We all want you to be safe and for this place to come back to life in a safe way.
I'm interested to know what the issue is with the hoist. Any mine hoist I've seen can be operated by a single man, including modernized hoists built over a hundred years ago.
@@Porty1119I don’t think it’s ever been modernized is the thing. A secondary electric hoist with a bosun’s chair would probably be a good addition though.
That sounds like a tomorrow project. A smart and necessary one, but one not too high on the list.
@@Porty1119 Mostly the age and how long there hasn't been profitable mining. The hoist hasn't been probably completely fully maintained for decades, likely the last full maintenance to really go through every piece was closer to the 50's maybe as far as in the 20's. Tells a lot about the state of the hoist that it seems the mine phone has been removed or at least doesn't work since Brent uses walkie-talkies to communicate with the surface and while the hoist has been used, it has been scheduled to minimize the need of communication.
The hoist would probably need to be completely rebuild. The mechanical parts taken apart, checked, remade what has serviced their life and added modern safety features and all that. The hoist shaft would probably need whole new timbering so the hoist box can be replaced with new or even rebuild one, only the installation for remote controlling from the box would need a lot of work and with MSHA, a lot of expensive work. Only getting a mine phones for couple most used levels could be a huge project if it was to be done "the right way".
Thanks for taking us on your adventure. Doing all that without a selfy stick is a challenge and you did it all with one.
Brent, would it be possible that HeavyD could create a winch to get you down and up, even if not 900 feet long? . I realize there are very narrow spots that could be an issue, but at least it would be of some help climbing back up, Great content for both of you if it is possible!
I visited a slate mine in Wales that had been opened about 300 years ago. Miners had to pay for their own equipment and candles. Peeling 1,000 pound slabs from the ceiling was how they did it. Absolutely terrifying and very low pay.
Thanks!
I think running a powerline and a communications line down to the 700 level is a great idea. Could even do a live 24/7 Camera down there or operate a RC car drone. Was wondering if a super powerful shop vac would help clear out the clay debris. Or like one of those old office pneumatic vacuum tubes but they would have to be crazy powerful.
I hope that I can go through the 3D model of the mine in VR one day.
I wouldn't be doing that in RL even if there was a tour nevermind talking about blowing through blocked routes! He's got such passion.
And I've only just got to the bit he says they might be living down there for days!!
Watching your channel is an adventure in it's self. Thanks for the adventures.
It's too bad I don't live nearby. I like hard work, and I would love to work on those collapses and stabilize the holes. Then clean out the debre. It would be a lot of fun.
Wow, Brent. You are amazing. Climbing that kind of a distance with just rope and a fear of heights. No claustrophobia at all apparently? Those original miners were very tough men and apparently you are, too.
Where's the bottom of this mine? No one knows! But Brent is sure to find out, or get as close as possible.
I'll keep going until we find it!
@@GhostTownLiving Look into the guys over at TVR Exploring, they're bringing an abandoned gold mine back to life, they're good at working with bad ground. Dunno if you've heard of them. Keep up the great work!
Thanks!
was drawn to this channel at the start of the pandy and love everything you done
keep up the amazing work i can't wait for each video of all the progress
Get yourself a figure 8 ab device and some cord for a prusik, you could descend that length on a figure 8 easily. Never use one without the prusik though, thats your backup in case you slip or let go. You should get in touch with Frank from the Exploring abandoned mines channel, I'm sure he would love to come explore and do some mining with you. He has so much knowledge he's like a walking museum. Edit: I think you've already spoke to him if I remember right.
If you keep the line fixed, try an inverted ascender below the belay to feed rope on the rappel. For digging try an army entrenching tool and think about sand bags and a drag sledge for moving material and keeping out of the way. A sand bag couch with a blanket for example.
I always think how dark it must have been during the mines hayday. What a miner would've given for the led lights we have today!
The spending a week digging away collapse is both a respectable throwback to the day to day operations that were occurring in the early 1900s. Dangerous but very cool to actually open access to previous unexplored areas.
Awesome video again, your enthusiasm never ceases to amaze.
What ever happened to Johnny? Seems like he would have thrived on this journey. Cheers and best wishes!,
I have wondered for a long time what happened to Johnny? Brent did he move away to?
Thanks!
That is so cool to know about all of those levels being there and you didn't even know it till now. I am terrified of heights so even watching you climb down was nerve wracking for me. You should be incredibly proud of being able to overcome and face your fears just remember to always do it as safely as possible. We don't want you to get hurt.
Is the air quality something that should be taken into consideration when going down into these mines? Stay safe!
Speaking along the lines of communication, you might look into old WWII phones. They use internal power sources and hard line to connect. They may need to be fixed but that's just another adventure and it's fun to learn about. There are a number of other options along that same tangent from different eras. Having something like that would be a game changer for the purpose of talking to the surface.
Wow, take care of yourself Brent! That 12x12 could've been a lot worse. Otherwise, for some reason that idea of having a hard-line communications system between the levels is exciting to me lol And Base Camp on the 900' sounds like a blast. That's so exciting that there are more levels below, you just need to find the way to them. I've faith in you, keep up the good fight!
Brent, it scared me so much when that big support beam fell on your shoulder. I found myself thinking about how easy it would be to get caught up moving forward (almost recklessly) with all the new information you're receiving and momentum you're making toward the lower levels. Stay safe!
@@jgoo4572 I have no doubt he's done his homework in terms of what he can and can't safely do down there, but I suppose one doesn't muck about in an abandoned mine without understanding there are always going to be some risks. Still scary though.
It's really nuts that he goes off down these random corridors alone. I have to keep telling myself that we're watching the video and his post-exploration narration so he must have made it out...
@@jgoo4572 I hav 2agree 1000%. with prayers, safety first should now be done always from now on. it already happened n keep a record of why it happened. U did not die or got injured horribly. Please let us know what safety rules had 2b implemented from now on. God bless from Canada.
@@TannCo2 He most definitely hasn't done his homework.
He's yelling into a camera non-stop, instead of talking very quietly or even whispering, he wants to "legal grey-area style" rockblast some random collapses down there, I have not once seen him check a gas monitor or hold one into the camera, so he might aswell just at one point fall asleep due to carbon monoxide poisoning or something similar and never wake up again.
Dude seems absolutely unhinged and like he doesn't give much of a fuck if he dies.
I'd be running an Internet / comms connection down there asap. And that beam was a warning to be more vigilant.
i have been here since this story with Brent which I found by chance. My hat off from respect to the way Brent has grown and faced so many challenges without giving up but gaining strength forever moving ahead. This 900 foot "descent" and scaling back up would not have been possible without his determination and drive to make this a continuing new adventure. When the old hotel burned I thought Brent would give up but it lead to all these new stories that I will continue to follow and support .
Please get The Diesel Brothers back. Not only are they extremely resourceful but they are also dedicated to hard work and a crazy adventure. Also them coming to help your problem with the foundation of the hotel was the coolest series I have seen them do! @HeavyDSparks . Amazing video's and progress Brent you're doing an awesome job.
Hi Brent. As a fellow mine explorer, I also abseil in deep shafts on rope. My deepest single one is 600ft. For the decender, I use a rack. This is fiction based ladder, where if the fiction is too great, you can remove one of the bars to lessen the friction. I find them excellent for stiff and mucky ropes. Just practice above ground with them first, as they can be tricky to get used to and it is vital they are threaded correctly.
Thanks!
Awesome, exciting episode.... lots of good tips from climbers in the comments.. I hope it leads to many more adventures! We were warned not to fall asleep in a mine as one breathes deeply and rock dust enters parts of your lungs that don't normally get exposed to the dust... maybe sleeping with a dust mask is a good idea?