2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
|
2004-05-05 19:39:28 +01:00
|
|
|
<html>
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<head>
|
2004-05-05 19:39:28 +01:00
|
|
|
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<title>1984: Cambridge Underground report</title>
|
2004-04-21 10:35:34 +01:00
|
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../css/main2.css" />
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
</head>
|
|
|
|
|
<body>
|
|
|
|
|
<center><font size=-1>Cambridge Underground 1985 pp 7-9</font>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2>Wolfhöhle - A Guidebook Description</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>by Brian Derby</center>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Wolfhöhle was discovered by the 1983 expedition and pushed to a depth
|
|
|
|
|
of about 200m to the "Undescended 40m pitch" but more of that later. The cave
|
|
|
|
|
is situated on the Loser Plateau about 1km away from the col by the end of
|
|
|
|
|
the Bräuning Wall. The entrance is in the side of a small depression
|
|
|
|
|
along an obvious surface fault-like feature in the bunde-coveed lapiaz.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>From the entrance the draught is followed through a small phreatic level.
|
|
|
|
|
The passage size is about 1-2m and at least 3 entrances are known to this
|
|
|
|
|
level. After about 20m the floor of the passage drops away. This is the first
|
|
|
|
|
pitch of about 20m into Wolf Chamber. The skeleton of a large fanged animal
|
|
|
|
|
was found here in 1983 and was identified by the expedition biologists
|
|
|
|
|
(botanists and molecular biologists!) as obviously a Wolf. The skeleton was
|
|
|
|
|
found at the far end of Wolf Chamber, several metres from the pitch. Whether
|
|
|
|
|
this indicates another way into the system is unknown. In 1984 we removed the
|
|
|
|
|
skeleton for the benefit of the Austrians who identified it as a Brown Bear.
|
|
|
|
|
By now it was too late to change the name of the cave but the blind pitch in
|
|
|
|
|
Wolf Chamber has been named the Bear Pit. The obvious way on in the chamber
|
|
|
|
|
is a continuation of the entrance pitch but the draught does not come from
|
|
|
|
|
here so only a cursory inspection was given and it is believed to choke off.
|
|
|
|
|
At the far end of this chamber is a short climb up to a hole in the wall.
|
|
|
|
|
Crawling through this leads to the Bog Seat Climb, a slimy tube down of about
|
|
|
|
|
15m which was laddered. The passage enlarges slightly to stooping height and
|
|
|
|
|
a sandy way leads on to the first big pitch.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>The Big Leap is a 90m rift rigged in 3 pitches with a nifty deviation near
|
|
|
|
|
the bottom. The walls are very dark and drip from a peaty layer which may be
|
|
|
|
|
remnants of melt flod debris. The highlight of the pitch is Julian's bolting
|
|
|
|
|
technique. Never one to expend needless effort, the first bolt has about 5mm
|
|
|
|
|
waving in the air and makes nasty cracking noises now and again. At the
|
|
|
|
|
bottom, the rift narrows and is blocked here and there by jammed boulders,
|
|
|
|
|
one forcing a squeeze until it was moved by a thuglike pushing party in 1984.
|
|
|
|
|
A couple of uneventful short pitches lead on to the first bit of real fun.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Tiddley-Pom Pitch is quite straightforward at first, at least once you've
|
|
|
|
|
found John Bower's bolt hidden round the corner on the left. In order to
|
|
|
|
|
place this bolt John must either have secret powers of levitation or very
|
|
|
|
|
athletic knees. At about this level (10m down) a drip enters. This is in fact
|
|
|
|
|
a stream with very fast respnse to thunderstorms. Tiddley-Pom goes down 60m
|
|
|
|
|
to a big wet ledge and then 10m to a big dry one of jammed boulders - Cold
|
|
|
|
|
Toes Ledge. Here is a good place for a rest of about 16 hours while
|
|
|
|
|
Tiddley-Pom demonstrates its drainage abilities. For further details, ask
|
|
|
|
|
Planc or Dobbers. The ledge acted as comfort stop for soup on the way out but
|
|
|
|
|
we only brought the soup down after our intrepid duo showed how boring it
|
|
|
|
|
could be without it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>From Cold Toes Ledge there is a sequence of short pitches from further
|
|
|
|
|
jammed boulders as the rift descends. The water sinks down a slit which was
|
|
|
|
|
followed down for about 15m before it became too tight (Nobody Knows). The
|
|
|
|
|
main way on is traversing over this to a pitch leading down to the
|
|
|
|
|
undescended 40m pitch and the limit of the 1983 expedition.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>This is now known as Fear and Loathing Pitch. FLP turned out to be a bit
|
|
|
|
|
bigger than 40m, in fact it goes down about 150m in several rebelayed
|
|
|
|
|
sections. Two high spots for their entertainment value were a particularly
|
|
|
|
|
airy traverse near the top and a bastard flake at Acrobat Point which before
|
|
|
|
|
it was rigged could only be passed by a move sponsored by Pressure for
|
|
|
|
|
Population Control and probably banned by the Catholic Church. The rift never
|
|
|
|
|
widened out more than 3-4m before landing on an unpleasant bit of damp floor
|
|
|
|
|
- Las Vegas. The way out of Las Vegas is Beezley Street (where the rats have
|
|
|
|
|
rickets) a particularly unpleasant mud walled slimy rift. The surveying of
|
|
|
|
|
this was done on the run as we slid down between the walls. Traversing this
|
|
|
|
|
if possible leads on to the next pitch. Another short traverse follows but
|
|
|
|
|
this one is clean washed and sharp. Three short pitches now corkscrew down to
|
|
|
|
|
the Drainage Ditch, a wading depth section of passage occasionally blocked by
|
|
|
|
|
boulders leading on to another series of pitches twising down. All the water
|
|
|
|
|
is in still pools which presumably get filled in spring. We are now almost at
|
|
|
|
|
the end. The Drainage Ditch passage continues for a few more metres and
|
|
|
|
|
finally reaches a static sump. A hile above leads on to another sump and some
|
|
|
|
|
avens before closing in. The cave is surveyed as -438m from the highest
|
|
|
|
|
entrance to here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>The bottom is very dark walled and gives a good feeling of depth. It is
|
|
|
|
|
here that Wiggy's Premier cap lamp failed and he prussiked out with an
|
|
|
|
|
Aquaflash between his teeth with me waiting at rebelays to light him till my
|
|
|
|
|
carbide ran out.... Exit from Tiddley-Pom to surface on one and a half torch
|
|
|
|
|
lights between two.
|
|
|
|
|
|
2004-04-29 16:24:54 +01:00
|
|
|
<hr />
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<!-- LINKS -->
|
2011-06-01 09:55:49 +01:00
|
|
|
<ul id="links">
|
2004-04-29 16:24:54 +01:00
|
|
|
<li>Cambridge Underground 1985,
|
|
|
|
|
<a href="../../../jnl/1985/index.htm">Table of Contents</a></li>
|
2006-06-19 18:39:31 +01:00
|
|
|
<li>Main Wolfhöhle <a href="../../plateau/145/145.html">Guidebook page</a></li>
|
2004-04-29 16:24:54 +01:00
|
|
|
<li>1984 Expedition info:
|
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="log.htm">Logbook</a></li>
|
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="stopp.htm">Stop Press report</a>, CU 1984</li>
|
|
|
|
|
<li>Main Expo report, Cambridge Underground 1985:
|
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="report.htm">Austria 1984 Exposée</a></li>
|
|
|
|
|
<li>An Ascent of the <a href="twand.htm">Trisselwand</a></li>
|
|
|
|
|
</ul></li>
|
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves & Caving Report</a></li>
|
|
|
|
|
</ul></li>
|
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="../../pubs.htm#pubs1984">Index</a> to all publications</li>
|
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="../../index.htm">Back to Expeditions intro page</a></li>
|
2004-04-30 22:56:57 +01:00
|
|
|
<li><a href="../../../index.htm">CUCC Home Page</a></li>
|
2004-04-29 16:24:54 +01:00
|
|
|
</ul>
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
|
|
|
</html>
|
