expoweb/years/2024/logbook.html

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<h1>Expo 2024</h1>


<hr />

<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-06a">2024-07-06</div>
<div class="trippeople">philips, Charlotte, <u>waite</u>, Jacob C, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Basecamp - Setup day 1</div>
Arrived in the afternoon and got keys from gasthof. Fridge full of other people's beer sadly. Picked up Philip S from the station and set up outside tarp and bier tent. Bier tent missing it's door ATM with a tarp rigged instead??????? Where has it gone ? Who knows?????? Gas hose fell off burner whilst cooking dinner, large plume of flame in bier tent but crisis averted
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
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<hr />

<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-06b">2024-07-06</div>
<div class="trippeople">Charlotte, <u>Philip Sargent</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Bad Aussee - Shopping trip</div>
I was walking into town from the station (from Vienna this morning) when I was intercepted by Charlotte and taken shopping at the big Billa, thence to [otato hut, nerding etc. Hot day, sunny,not rain.
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
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<hr />

<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-07a">2024-07-07</div>
<div class="trippeople">Jacob, Charlotte, Waite, <u>PhilipS</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">topcamp - First visit to top camp</div>
Charlotte, James W and Jacob C going for a first carry to top camp to look at amount of snow etc., departed Gasthof at 11:00 expected back about 20:00. They are not taking the new top camp tarp up this time - it weighs 21 kg.
<p>
Post script
James, Charlotte and Jacob found top camp with minimal snow around. Route from carpark onto hill is 
blocked by large concrete block. Route can be found going round the right hand side but maybe not 
possible with building work happening. Otherwise route up hill on left of carpark at bottom end takes 
you up the hill and then a right turn by the big building on the left takes you back to original 
route. Cairned route up from col to top camp. Broke into storage cave and removed bits and bobs for 
an hour or so and stored them in stony . Got cooker running and cooked some pasta. Found a mouldy 
container of tortellini (act with care) . Walked down and placed some reflectors on the walk back. 
Got to carpark at 18:30 . A very damp day out.
<p>
Karin and Hilde came and said hello.
<p>
Tarp is partly up at <em>side</em> of hut as there was a caravan parked there yesterday.
<div class="timeug">T/U: 1.0 hours</div>
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<hr />

<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-08a">2024-07-08</div>
<div class="trippeople">wassil, Julia, sieds, <u>PhilipS</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">basecamp - Who went where</div>
Everyone went up to the plateau except for Julia and Philip S. Wassil and Sieds arrived during the day.
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
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<hr />

<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-08b">2024-07-08</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Waite</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Top camp - Carrying</div>
Carried the new tarp up to top camp today (25KG bag) rigged the tarp reasonably well. Water collection is started but needs rain. Storage cave emptied and some bits dried out.
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
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<hr />

<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-08c">2024-07-08</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Isaac</u>u></u></div>
<div class="triptitle">plateau - musings of a tired boy</div>
I'll fill this out later, food has just been announced as being ready and I am bloody starving!
<p>
Best,
Isaac
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
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<hr />

<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-09a">2024-07-09</div>
<div class="trippeople">Wookey, Sieds, <u>Philip S</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Basecamp - Nerd *</div>
Sieds has graduated (demoted?) to supernerd. Wookey spent a couple of hours last night failing to get 
the scanner working with Debian, and Philip was tearing his hair trying it with Ubuntu and Windows 
this morning. 
<p>
Sieds calmly checked the online documentation, did the three-fingered salute to reset the firmware on the scanner, and it worked.
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
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<hr />

<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-09b">2024-07-09</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>waite</u>, jacob, charlotte, , issac</div>
<div class="triptitle">fishface - collecting rope</div>
no reflectors left on spits.
<br>
4th pitch left rigged
<p>
With major Faff we set off from top camp towards Fishface to collect rope that had been left there 
last year. Our bags were very heavy with lots of ropes, hangers and all our caving kit to get to the 
store of ropes at the bottom of the 4th pitch. James and Jacob found the cave with minimal snow and 
cleared and flattened it whilst Charlotte kitted up to go in and rig.Jacob hadn't brought a chest 
harness to expo so some macguyvering of a sling was in order. Rigging went smoothly past the chossy 
death pitch and tasteful noods until we got to the icy tube pitch. Charlotte rigged the wrong way 
here as the topo from Jonty had confused hiltis for expansions. Cue an hour of going down the wrong 
pitch and then back up and fruitful searching for hiltis (unreflectored). Charlotte found the nright 
bolts and eventually the rest of us got into a group shelter and started singing, hugging, shivering 
and eating flapjack to stay warm.  We even wrote a new verse of Hard Caver.
<p>
The plateau is perfect for caving they say
<br>
as long as you find them and don't lose your way
<br>
we went down to fishface to collect all the rope
<br>
but missed half the bolts and we lost all our hope
.....
<p>
Eventually we heard rope free and quickly made our way down to the rope store at the bottom. As I 
passed the deviation at the bottom my light decided it didn't want to work anymore meaning i had to 
use my spare which fortunatly was around my neck! Large tacklebags were filled up with large 
quantities of rope which then were prussiced out by this years expos first and keenest cavers. we 
emerged after much fighting with bags (charlotte really likes having three bags whilst derigging) to 
a lovely evening with the sun just having set, and enjoyed a relaxing walk back to top with the milky 
way looking over us. (The walk was much less relaxing for me as the spade handle kept getting caught 
on things and tried to kill me multiple times).
<div class="timeug">T/U: 8.0 hours</div>
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<hr />

<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-10a">2024-07-10</div>
<div class="trippeople">charlotte, jacob, waite, <u>Isaac</u>, , phillip s</div>
<div class="triptitle">basecamp - Bread Making</div>
<p>
With an afternoon of festering well on the way after arriving back from our FF rope 
retrieving trip yesterday, it was decided that I should try my hand at bread making.  
Holding a degree in International Relations from Aberystwyth University, I was deemed 
the perfect candidate for checking if the instructions were indeed 'idiot proof'.  
Holding a Masters degree in International Relations from Aberystwyth University I was 
of course delighted to find the 'Numpty Dumpty makes a loaf of bread' edition of the 
instructions.  
<p>
After initial faff with finding and setting up the equipment an opportunity was 
identified to time how long it would in fact take for me to wrap my head around the 
guide, and get a loaf of bread started in the machine.  A stopwatch was started and I 
continued.  
<p> 
Regrettably the faff continued.  Notable moments include setting 20ml of water out in 
the sun to warm enough to activate the yeast, and indeed going down an internet forum 
rabbit hole to try to decipher how much water to add to about a third of a packet of 
yeast in the first place.  A heated debate also arose from the instructions regarding 
the stirring implement for the bread mixer. In absence of a wooden or plastic spoon I 
elected to use the *cleaned* plastic handle of a sharp knife.  Before I could enact my 
plan however I was hurriedly halted by Phil, insisting I used the special tool which 
apparently exists to stir the bread.  This tool takes the form of a plastic knife.  A 
plastic knife is of course not the wooden or plastic spoon noted in the specification 
for the bread making machine, and despite my pleas that between the two they are so 
similar that stirring potential would not differ, I eventually yielded, trusting in the 
experienced guidance that the knife would produce the best results.
<p>
On to the results though, the bit you are all interested in.  After dutifully waiting 
the three and a half hours, the bread was extracted.  Slicing it up, samples were 
distributed.  I'll leave it to the quotes to put together the picture of how it went.
<p>
Trying the bread first, Phil came out with "It's not mixed very well, there are dense 
lumps of salt in it".  Under usual circumstances this would not be too bad, however the 
quote was accompanied with a deliberate journey to the door of the tatty hut and 
beyond.  The bread's final resting place we can only guess at, but it is alluded to 
being the bush outside.  
<p>
Upon Mr. Waite trying the bread second he ended up lying on the floor, claiming the 
bread was "so dense I had to lie down".  When I made a move to pretend to kick James on 
the way past he responded "please don't make it come up, I don't want to taste it 
twice!"  It was at this point when Jacob chimed in with the tactful comment "I couldn't 
even finish mine", adding "I feel nauseous" for good measure.  
<p>
I do not know how it says more about (my bread, the others or Charlotte) but her 
comment was "I thought it was actually quite nice".  So there you go, idiosyncratic 
taste buds or an unwavering commitment to politeness?  I'll let you decide.
<p>
In the end I took this episode as an omen, deciding to call off my trip up the plateau 
early tomorrow morning.  I was on the edge and this certainly seemed like the universe 
sending me a message.  There is a silver lining though, and that is that I'll certainly 
never be asked to make bread again.  Another afternoon drinking beer for me!
<br>
Yours to the final Sump,<br>
Isaac.
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
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<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-10b">2024-07-10</div>
<div class="trippeople">Sieds, Marie, Lara, <u>Wassil</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">balcony - Rigging balcony entrance series</div>
<p>We were tasked by Antony to rig the entrance series of Balkonhöhle so that he could go and rig 
Mongol Rally (presumably a more interesting rig).</p>
<p>Obedient as we are, we agreed to the task and decided to make it a rigging learning expereince as 
well.</p>
<p>As we were the first people going to Balkonhöhle we had to add refelctors to the path, which we 
found by using the GPX track from essentials.</p>
<p>At the entrance of the cave, I rigged the handline onto the balcony. We then got changed and 
prepared to go underground. As it was supposed to be learning experience, Sieds and Marie had 
priority on the rigging, supervised by Lara and me.</p>
<p>As Sieds was geared up first, I took him to rig the first pitch. Midaway down the entrance series, 
Marie took over. She got to rig the large drippy pitch, which I was a bit jealous of.</p>
<p>Around this time, Lara was getting a bit worried because of the storm that was forecast and the 
perceived increase in drip. For the sake of expediency, I rigged the last bit. At the bottom, we 
decided that it would be irresponsible to keep going and rig the traverse we were meant to.</p>
<p>So we slowly made our way out of the cave, which wasn't very far, since we rigged a total a of 
139m of rope.</p>
<p>The walk accross the plateau back to top camp was uneventful, except for the storm that was 
rapidly approaching. Luckily we made it back to camp 5 minutes before it started pouring.</p>
<div class="timeug">T/U: 5.0 hours</div>
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<hr />

<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-11a">2024-07-11</div>
<div class="trippeople">Marie, Jono, Becka, <u>Wassil</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">garlic - Setting up Garlic Cave Camp</div>
<p>It turns out that Garlic Camp is a really good idea. 1h58 from the car park, under 20 minutes from 
Homecoming, so I'll be spending more time there.</p>

<p>In order to make that happen, Jono organised our small group to set up Garlic Camp. Before that 
could happen, some gear needed carrying to Balkonhöhle, which Becka tried to organise. Seeing that I 
was sceptical of the plan, she tried to appeal to my male ego by saying that she tought I the next 
big thing on expo. Marie was a bit easier to convince.</p>

<p>At top camp, I edited the water collection system, hoping to make a system that is more robust and 
easier to replicate next year.</p>

<p>Once Becka, Jono and Marie were back, we slowly made our way towards Homecoming via Fishface. At 
Homeconing we bumped into Charlotte, Lara, Wookey and James, who were just starting with the rigging 
of the Homecoming entrance series.</p>

<p>From there, the walk to Garlic Camp was rather short, Jono claiming it was only 12 minutes, 
excluding the breaks taken.</p>

<p>At Carlic Camp, we set up a water collection system, solar panels, and a tarp to protect the 
sleeping area. Further, we did some terraforming to make the space more livable.</p>

<p>At around 17, Marie and Becka decided to make their way back to Top Camp. Shortly afterwars, Jono 
and me left for the car park. On the way to Homecoming, we caught up with Marie and Becka. Sadly, we 
had to say our goodbyes for the second time after we reached Homeconing.</p>

<img src="/years/2024//expofiles/photos/2024/path-to-col-from-homecoming.jpeg" width=60% />
<p>Image of the path to the car park from Homecoming</p>

<img src="/years/2024//expofiles/photos/2024/path-to-top-camp-from-homecoming.jpeg" width=60% />
<p>Image of the path to top camp from Homecoming</p>

<p>The walk from Homecoming to the col was actually surprisingly pleasant and easier than the one from top camp. It could definitely become a trade route in the future.</p>
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
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