Wouldn't it though, eh Tom?! If only BareBones Excavators had that prototype Caterpillar front shovel, that's seen on their site, finished.
Judging by where the waterline exits through the wall in my well room, it's about 2ft below basement floor, which would put it atleast 9ft below ground. I'm going down 7ft at most, so I can walk through without ducking.
I'll install a metal staircase, and yes there'll be a dirt ramp too within that 5ft width, with approx. 10 - 12 degree grade.
RW, my contractor was fully aware of what I was up to with this "addition" to my workshop & all necessary precautions have been taken to keep the ceiling from coming down on top of me.
The concrete pad above tunnel is a 1ft thick with 5/8 rebar & wire mesh. And that pad also anchors to the house's cement foundation with 1" rebar that was hammer drilled. When the tunnel is done I will then add a steel door frame at both ends for added support to take care of any shifting or settling in the yrs to come.
No targets set, work at it when I feel like it... and this Fall with so much idle time, when I should have been taking off a big crop & instead have next to no crop, well I have a lot done already with approx. 5 or 6 cubes dug... but that was the easy digging.
Frost?... don't know what effect there will be... if it snows a ft before it gets wicked cold, frost won't be much of an issue, as snow is very insulating.
You don't have to wait for a collapse to visit Mario.
I have no problem operating my equip with reasonable accuracy 20-30ft away. Where my JD850 sits in the video, that will be where my seat will be till I get clear through to the other side.
A 250watt work light should be sufficient lighting.