Today's photo is of a Caterpillar D8 (or D9, I'm not a Cat expert) cutting through the top of an escarpment to create a new pass.
The particular concession we were working early in 1990 in Libya was bisected by a massive escarpment. Normally we'd find wadis close by that we could use to descent or ascend the escarpments but in this particular case the wadis were too far away and we were losing several hours each day in driving around.
The normal approach when you're confronted with an obstacle is to find your way around, over or under. Over or under were out of the question and around took several hours so the solution was to just bulldoze a way through.
I think we ended up cutting two new routes through this escarpment and augmenting some of the natural wadis to ease the strain on our trucks and Land Rovers.
On the plain at the base of the escarpment you can see vehicle tracks leading from below the bulldozer off the the middle of the left side of the photo. This was the seismic line we were surveying. With the bulldozer operator, our surveyors would find a route that best fit our needs and the bulldozer driver over a number of days would just start pushing the rock out of the way. By constantly reversing, lowering the blade and pushing forward again he'd gradually end up cutting deeper and deeper through the rock to end up with a path that our 4×4 Land Rovers, Bedford's, MAN's and MOL's could climb. The trick, of course, is to not drive over the edge – and to make sure no-one is below the work zone!
From this altitude looking down a salt pan is evident on the lower plain which is also dotted with small bushes. You can also tell from my angle on the bulldozer that he's already part way down the escarpment but still has a way to go.
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