Minecraft wiki entry for Mining, associated text: One of the fastest ways to descend in the game is indeed falling, but climbing ladders is not a fast method of upward transport at all. You may be thinking, having a soul sand bubble column would be fast, but unfortunately you won't get that one block of soul sand without going to the Nether, which you might access by obtaining the very obsidian you gather deep underground. Luckily, there is a fast method of upward transport that you have access to without much resources at all: sprint swimming and jumping at the same time. Sprint swimming is already fast, and if you hold down forward, sprint and jump at the same time while looking directly upwards, the effects add up, and you can rise at a speed of 6.98 m/s, 3 times the speed of climbing up ladders, even in a downward flowing column of water. So based on this mechanic, here I present to you the least resource-intensive 1×2 vertical shaft design for early game.