Start with the soundings book and the crew’s pre-entry inspection cards. It is the source used to make a decision about whether the new iron markers reveal movement early enough to keep crews out of a failing face; it is not the decision itself. The rule only works if the source describes the conditions at the East Seam, four galleries below the old cart rail.
The latest count is 18 soundings recorded before entry; the prior file listed 19. Residents and workers have had their first chance to question the measure in public. The difference is a signal to check, not a verdict about who is right.
The disputed point is practical: The foreman calls the readings a useful warning; the survey office says the marks need a second instrument before they can justify a closure. One side relies on the posted total, while the other points to a hairline change in the slate above the second timber brace.
The risk of reading the file too broadly is that an entry becomes a conclusion. Dara Vek checked the soundings book and the crew’s pre-entry inspection cards against the field notes. The method is to start at the shift handoff, where an official total can lose its context; it confirms the entries, but not every interpretation attached to them.
Next: A second surveyor will repeat the readings from the opposite wall. A useful update will publish the method, exceptions and review date with the number.
