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< h1 align = "center" > CUCC Expo 2004: Mission Statement< / h1 >
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< p > This summer, Cambridge University Caving Club will be continuing
its highly successful series of expeditions to the Loser plateau in
Austria. This document sets out the principal goals of the 2004
expedition.< / p >
< h2 > Background< / h2 >
< p > This summer sees CUCC's 28th expedition to the Loser plateau, which lies in
the Totes Gebirge area of the Austrian Alps, about 80km east of Salzburg. CUCC
is the principal group exploring in the area, which continues to yield new
discoveries.< / p >
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< p > The principal known cave system in the area is the Schwarzmooskogel
system, which comprises a number of connected caves including < a
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href="../../smkridge/161/top.htm">Kaninchenhö hle< / a > , < a
href="../../smkridge/41/41.htm">Stellerweghö hle< / a > and the stunningly
beautiful < a href = "../../smkridge/40/cucc.htm" > Schwarzmooskogel
Eishö hle< / a > . Altogether the system is 55.1 kilometres long and 1030m
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deep, putting it among both the world's < a
href="http://www.pipeline.com/%7Ecaverbob/wlong.htm">longest< / a > and < a
href="http://www.pipeline.com/%7Ecaverbob/wdeep.htm">deepest< / a > caves; over
half of the length, and the highest and deepest points, were explored by
CUCC.< / p >
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< p > Over the last few years the principal focus of CUCC's work has been < a
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href="../../smkridge/204/204.html">Steinbrü ckenhö hle< / a > , a cave
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lying to the north of the main Schwarzmooskogel system, beneath the Nieder
Augst-Eck mountain. Since its discovery in 1999, 7.2 km of passage has been
discovered, reaching a maximum depth of 510m.< / p >
< h2 > Principal Goals for 2004< / h2 >
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< h3 > Steinbrü ckenhö hle< / h3 >
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< ul >
< li / > The deepest point in Steinbrü ckenhö hle is in the tight and
arduous stream passage of Razordance, which appears to continue downwards
beyond the limit of exploration in 2003. It slopes down in a south-westerly
direction, towards the nearest points of Kaninchenhö hle, so there is a
possiblity of a connection, although the present gradient of the passage is
sufficiently steep that it seems likely to pass right underneath. <!--
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Personnel: Dour, Mark, Dave, ?OllyM, ?Frank -->
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< li / > The main find of last summer was a new series of horizontal passages in
the north-west of Steinbrü ckenhö hle, known as 'Rhino Rift'. There was
insufficient time to explore this fully in the five weeks of last summer's
expedition, so there is much still to be found. <!-- Personnel: Lots of
people: Earl, Becka, Martin etc -->
< li / > The pitch series of Gaffered to the Walls, in the Swings and Roundabouts
area, was explored last summer to reveal a new horizontal level at around
-250m, known as the Underworld. This is considerably deeper than any other
horizontal phreatic development yet found in Steinbrü cken, and it is hoped
that there is much more yet to be discovered; there are certainly many leads to
explore in this area. <!-- Personnel: Principally Martin + Earl. I'm also
interested (Dave) -->
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< li / > There are a number of other leads in Steinbrü ckenhö hle which might merit exploration, including an undescended pitch (QM 01-38A) in the Chocolate Salty Balls area, known as 'The Eleven Second Rattle' after the sound heard on dropping rocks down it; another undescended pitch (01-68A) at the end of the Merry F***ing Christmas crawl; and many others (cf. the Steinbrü ckenhö hle < a href = "../../smkridge/204/qm.html" > question mark list< / a > ).
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< / ul >
< h3 > Eislufthö hle (1623/76)< / h3 >
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< a href = "../../plateau/76/76.htm" > Eislufthö hle< / a > was found on the second
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ever CUCC expedition to the Loser area in 1977. That year the explorers got
to -150m with the way on wide open. They pushed again in 1978, and in 1979
finally reached a sump at approximately -506m. They derigged and nobody has
been back in the intervening quarter of a century. The area is
< a href = "76why.html" > interesting< / a > , so it's about time we had another
look.
< ul >
< li / > The 76 description says "There are a number of going leads in this cave
and you're welcome to them". We've < a href = "76qms.html" > collated 8 of them< / a >
from information in the log book writeups, published accounts, and surveys.
All but one of these are in Hall of the Green King (-260m) or above - the
proposal is to allocate enough tackle to 76 to enable us to get to this level.
Judging from CUCC's experience reexploring
< a href = "../../smkridge/161/136.htm" > Steinschlagschacht< / a > and Arge's
looking at old CUCC finds in the Stellerweg area, there are likely to also
be a number of undocumented or previously unnoticed leads.
< li / > Eislufthö hle was surveyed to about -150m in 1976 (Waddington: < i > "I
would not claim more than grade 2, in the light of subsequent surveying
experience"< / i > ). The survey below -150m is almost entirely based on rope
and ladder lengths. Perhaps unsuprisingly, the published surveys are
missing horizontal passages in places where they're described in write-ups!
None of the original data survives anyway, so we should try to produce a decent
survey of the known cave as well as mapping new finds.
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< li / > < a href = "../../plateau/99/99.html" > 99< / a > is a strongly draughting entrance
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about 35m from 76 which was explored to a < i > "ledge with a 1m diameter shaft
dropping in a corkscrew at least 20m."< / i > (at perhaps -40m).
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< a href = "../1979/report.htm#id89" > Contemporary reports< / a > suggest
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< i > "It is not clear how [99] relates to 106, but if it does come into 106 then
it must do so fairly far down."< / i > (106 was another number allocated to 76
initially).
< li / > If we exhaust 76, < a href = "../../plateau/97.htm" > Schneewindschacht< / a >
is in the same area. Waddington: < i > "if you want a cave with some real
potential to go in a big way, I'd suggest a return to 97 - Schneewindschacht.
This has a wide open phreatic tunnel in it, which could be easily gained with
the aid of a rock drill. A rock drill might also be of use in making the Nun's
C*nt a bit more amenable"< / i > .
< / ul >
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< h3 > Miscellaneous< / h3 >
< ul >
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< li / > One of the most interesting of the many smaller caves in the area near
Steinbrü ckenhö hle is Hauchhö hle, a prominent entrance near the
walk-in route which draughts very strongly, suggesting that the cave behind is
extensive. Exploration so far has revealed some 128m of horizontal passage,
with the main lead being an undescended pitch. This was not explored last
summer due to lack of time and manpower, but is an interesting lead and might
well repay some effort. <!-- Personnel: Julia, Mark, Dave -->
< li / > The area of plateau to the north and west of Steinbrü ckenhö hle
has never been studied in detail: there are likely to be many new, unexplored
cave entrances in this area, which lies between the known caves in CUCC's area
(1623) and the boundary with the adjacent area 1626. <!-- Personnel: Brian,
Tony, other people when feeling slack -->
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<!-- Not this year...
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< li / > Some suggestions have been made for a return to Kaninchenhö hle,
which was the primary site of exploration by CUCC for most of the 1990s. There
are a number of open leads in the Far North, the area closest to
Steinbrü ckenhö hle; it is not entirely inconceivable that one of these
may lead to a connection between the two, although it seems unlikely.
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-->
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<!-- Personnel: This is Wookey's pet project -->
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< li / > There is also much documentation and surveying work to be done, which
although less glamorous than original exploration is vitally necessary
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considering the extent of CUCC's discoveries in the area so far; a
< a href = "thingstodo.html" > list of tasks for the summer< / a > is already being
assembled.
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< / ul >
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< h2 > Expedition Committee< / h2 >
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< dl >
< dt > Expedition Leader:< / dt > < dd > Olly Madge (Caius)< / dd >
< dt > Treasurer:< / dt > < dd > David Loeffler (Trinity)< / dd >
< dt > Transport Organiser:< / dt > < dd > Mark Shinwell (Queens')< / dd >
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< dt > Sponsorship:< / dt > < dd > Nial Peters (St Catharine's)< / dd >
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< dt > Other committee members:< / dt > < dd > Martin Green (Corpus)< / dd >
< dd > < i > [plus others yet to be appointed]< / i > < / dd >
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< / dl >
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< hr / >
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<!-- LINKS -->
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< li > < a href = "index.html" > Back to 2004 Index< / a > < / li >
< li > < a href = "../../pubs.htm" > Index< / a > to all publications< / li >
< li > < a href = "../../index.htm" > Back to Expeditions intro page< / a > < / li >
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< li > < a href = "../../../index.htm" > CUCC Home Page< / a > < / li >
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