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<center><font size=-1>Cambridge Underground 1981 pp 9-20</font>

<h2>Austria 1980</h2></center>

<p>Once again a Cambridge team raced across the German lowlands to a
rendezvous with the Austrian alps, this time augmented by a number of
able-bodied men from UBSS and NPC.

<p>It was intended to cave in the Tennengebirge this year, but the sense of
discomfort felt when we gathered on the first evening soon led to parties
being despatched to Altaussee, pending confirmation of whether we would even
be allowed onto the Tennengebirge.

<p>Arriving at the familar campsite at Altaussee, the sun shining, the lake
beckoning, the mountains soaring above and Fritz eagerly proferring free
bottles of beer, our spirits were greatly raised and we set about organising
ourselves for a renewed assault on the hidden depths of the Loser.

<p>With many thanks to Karl and Gunther once again, we were able to arrange
a vastly reduced rate for the toll road and garnered valuable hints as to
possible sites to be examined. We are most grateful for their invaluable
assistance, which has contributed to the success of our expeditions.

<p>Despite the suggestion after last year's visit that it might be time to
move to a new area, enthusiasm was rekindled by the liveliness of the 1980
gathering and with a complete break for many of the older hands (visiting
Greece and the Pyrenees this summer) a new drive should bring further
advances in 1982, if the younger CUCC members don't do it all this year !

<h2><a id="id41">Stellerwegh&ouml;hle</a></h2>

<h3>Julian Griffiths</h3>

<p>Originally explored by some Germans (Belgians ?), this pot had been
ignored by us in previous years, partly because we had other things going and
partly because it was some way away from the main area we were working in. We
had once seen a survey of the place which showed a short length of horizontal
passage ending abruptly at 200m+ of pitches and we knew the location of the
entrance, but that was all.

<p>An unfinished 200m deep pot was a tempting prospect but things didn't
turn out quite as expected. The exploration comprised a strange mixture of
excuses as to why the cave hadn't been pushed further and attempts to find a
different (ie. easier) route down. Andy Waddington and Budge were first into
the pot. There are two entrances, the lower of which is a draughting
phreatic tube. This quickly ended at an ice slope which was rigged down to a
large snow bank entering from the other entrance. A passage to the right was
noted but the draught seemed to be coming from a passage across an ice
traverse. This was negotiated and the continuing passage negotiated for
about 50m.

<p>Steve and Julian entered the cave later on the same day. Traversing
across several steeply inclined bedding planes, the bottom of which
disappeared into the gloom, they arrived at a 21m pitch. At its base they
ignored a low bouldery passage heading down dip in favour of a climb up to
and then down a steeply descending phreatic passage. This broke out onto
another couple of traverses rigged with a handline as a precaution against a
rather precipitous estimated 25m drop to one side. A large phreatic tube
rose from the far side and crossed an immense inclined bedding plane passage
(the largest yet) till it ended at another such passage. As there was no
continuation at the far side of this the pair descended the bedding until
they reached a greasy slope requiring a ladder. The same pair returned the
following day and rigged the slope to the head of a sizeable pitch. A 15m
drop ended at a two man ledge in a tremendous shaft. At this point, Steve's
carbide packed up so we had to exit.

<p>On the last couple of trips it became obvious that we were not following
the German's route as their survey points ran out just inside the entrance,
but as we were still following the draught it didn't particularly seem to
matter. Julian and Nick returned to the pitch two days later. From the ledge
a superb freehanging 55m pitch descended to a further ledge and from this a
descent of 25m brought us to the bottom of the rift and a small streamway.
We were now at -180m and things were beginning to look promising. The stream
was lost after 3m but the passage continued for a further 90m to the head of
a 10m pitch. Ben and Steve were following up behind, so it was decided to
leave this for them.

<p>Unfortunately, below this the pot went temporarily small, suggesting a
continuation above the head of the pitch. Five short pitches alterately wet
and tight, then along a small rift, up a couple of boulders and round a
sharp corner suddenly gave into a huge rift 5m wide by 100m high. The short
pitches had caught them somewhat by surprise and there had been some very
uneconomical rigging, with the result that they had no rope left to descend
the estimated 30m pitch that lay ahead. Clive and Tim had been meant to
follow on, but a rather enthusiastic descent of the big pitch by Tim had led
to a damaged coccyx. The pot was now 250m deep.

<p><a name="german">Deciding that</a> the German route might provide an
easier path to glory, Nick and Budge turned right just past where the other
entrance comes in and found a large passage, which, if it hadn't been for the
snow bank, would have been the obvious way on. Past a traverse, this ended at
the head of a large shaft. The start of 200m+ of pitches, thought they. So
did Julian, until he had got down the first pitch, split 6m and 18m, with
Nick the next day. This led on to a short 2m climb, a 12m pitch and 14m
pitch, and then a nasty sloping traverse down a canyon passage. A left turn
(the canyon continued on small) and a muddy climb of 10m gave a low crawl
that looked suspiciously like a dried out sump. All this showed signs of
previous human occupation as there was survey cotton all over the place. The
crawl continued past the 'sump' and a window to the right gave onto another
climb down, a traverse across a hole and a slope to the head of a pitch. This
was 14m into a 'biggish' chamber. Suspicions as to the accuracy of the survey
were voiced and an exit made. An alternative pitch of 20m at the base of the
first pitch was looked at but the exit to the chamber at the bottom was tiny.

<p>Ben and Steve continued the headbanging later the same day. A traverse
along a rift, down an awkward step and two pitches of 8 and 12m reached a
floor. The rift became smaller and a further 6m pitch dropped into a small
stream. After a tight and awkward thrutch along, a tight drop wasn't rigged
as things were becoming a little silly. As Ben commented, "no stone to
drop down it and we were buggered if we were going down to pick any up".
Estimated depth beneath the start of the pitches was 140m and we reckoned
that we were 60m below where the Germans got to, so where the rumour of 200m+
of pitches came from we can't quite understand. This route was derigged the
next day and we returned to the "proper" route. The place had now
become known, somewhat uncharitably, as Stalaglufth&ouml;hle.

<p>Clive and Julian wanged in a bolt to descend the next pitch. 30m later
rope became scarce so we had to pendule across to a place where it was
possible to jam across the rift. Noch ein bolt and a 10m pitch to a boulder
floor then a 7m freeclimb down gave the head of another pitch. Rope became
extinct (we had forgotten one of the tackle bags) so Clive was hung over the
edge on a piece of string to put a bolt in. Back at exactly the same place
two days later with masses of rope, Steve and Julian were hit by a (the ?)
flood pulse which converted the next pitch into something of a turbine. Not
wanting to see how long floods could last in this part of the world, the
pair beat a very hasty, cold and wet retreat. Ben and Clive finally
descended this pitch two days later when things had quietened down a little.
The 16m drop was followed by drops of 5m and 10m and a bolt was put in at
the head of another pitch before an exit was made.

<p>And so to the final mega- pushing, surveying and derigging trip. We
didn't do much pushing, descending two 17m pitches before calling it a day
at a further pitch; the survey was extended from the bottom of the big pitch
to the head of the big rift and all the tackle was removed to the head of
the big pitch. Steve, Tim, Andy W. and Julian emerged in the early hours of
the morning after a 13 hour trip feeling somewhat tired.

<p>On reflection, we weren't quite sure why it had taken us so long to get
down to 350m. It wasn't an easy pot, but then it is probably no more
difficult than a lot of continental pots. The last couple of pitches are wet
and hence exploration beyond this point should be done in settled weather.
However there seems no reason why this pot shouldn't go to 600 or 700m,
especially if a connection is made with entrances further up the hill.

<h2><a id="id87">87</a></h2>

<h3>Ben van Millingen</h3>

<p>Getting bored with looking for Stellerweg, Nick and Ben wandered off
further down the path. About 200m from the climb up to Stellerwegh&ouml;hle
they found a gully full of boulders with a draught blowing out. Climbing up
the gully, a hole was found at the base of a small cliff with the same strong
draught. A short peaty slope descended to the head of a pitch the other side
of which was a rock bridge leading to a larger version of the same pitch.

<p>The first pitch was descended to a steeply sloping floor under the rock
bridge. Uphill was choked by boulders seen above ground in the gully,
downslope led into the larger shaft. This was particularly classy, but due
to the disappearance of all bolt drivers, the trip was abandoned for more
beer.

<p>The next day a short swing reached the rock bridge from where a rope was
rigged into the larger shaft. This reached a sloping floor at 20m The way on
was down a small steep tube in the corner. The draught blowing out of this
was strong enough to extinguish a carbide. A very cold bolting session
secured the rope for the second pitch (16m) in the tube. The pitch opened
into a roomy chamber with the head of the third pitch in the floor. Climbing
out over boulders, the rope was rigged (17m)

<p>The fourth followed immediately. A 38m drop landed in a chamber. On the
other side, a slice of wall, 15m high and 4m thick had slumped. A crawl
under this block choked with no noticeable draught. There was no other way
on at the bottom of the chamber, so on the way out a pendulum reached the
top of the block, where it was found that the gap between the block and the
wall was choked with rocks. A large inlet high up on the wall in the chamber
was noticed, but would require bolting up to reach. The draught does not
come from beneath or on top of the block so is presumed to come from the
inlet. Considering the size of the draught at the entrance and the top of
the second pitch it was disappointing to find the cave end in such a manner.

<p>AERW helped (or was it hindered) on the derigging, failing to take a
successful picture of the entrance pitch which was superbly lit by sunlight.
Unfortunately, Nick's water bottle took a walk under the boulders near the
entrance, never to be seen again, but he doesn't need that now anyway.

<p>87 is one of the more pleasant caves we have found in Austria, with
large, roomy, straightforward pitches, and would make an excellent Yorkshire
Sunday afternoon trip after the pub.

<h2><a id="id115">115 Gemsescheisenh&ouml;hle</a></h2>

<h3>Simon Kellet</h3>

<p>A prospecting team consisting of Ken Baker, the Terrible Twins and Simon
Kellet found 115 roughly below 32 (an obvious draughting hole on the Stoger
Weg) some 50m from the pathway. It was the most promising of several holes
looked at. The entrance is a railway tunnel emerging from the hillside. A
slope down after 20m led to a steeply descending crawl which was blocked by
loose stones. A howling gale issued forth - certain extinction for stinkies
- inspiring us to begin excavations.

<p>These were completed next day, and after pausing for refreshments (a UBSS
innovation to bring civilisation to CUCC), Clive wriggled through a 10m
crawl into a large passage. A climb down a boulder pile led to a 7m pitch,
followed by a scramble down piles of loose stones to a hopeless choke at
-50m.

<p>It was decided that the draught was coming from a hole opposite the pitch
head. It wasn't. However this didn't stop us making two trips to bolt a way
across to it, to find that it didn't go anywhere interesting. Clive found
the real way on. A climb up led to a strongly draughting phreatic tube in
the roof. Hands and knees crawling led to a chamber with a 20m pitch
dropping into a second chamber. A climb into a thrutchy sharp-sided rift
followed, with one squeeze, breaking out into a large phreatic tube. The two
branches of this system all ended in pitches, one of which draughted.

<p>Progress was then halted when Simon and Ken bungled, not being able to
find the rather obvious way on. The pitch led to a nasty rift with no
draught, but Simon failed to notice an obvious traverse some 10m below the
pitch head, despite dangling there while fiddling with protectors. An
attempt was made to entomb Ken, when someone prusiked up a pitch with all
his gear and then showered him with assorted lumps of metal.

<p>Allegiance was, as a result, transferred to other systems, and only on
the derigging trip was further progress made. The traverse led to a very big
phreatic tube with a ramp sloping down at about thirty degrees to a pitch
estimated at 20m, but undescended. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth
ensued. There was no time left to plunge on into what looks like a very
promising cave. Bolts, and a rope on the bolt traverse, were left in place.
1981 will see a renewed attack.

<h2><a id="id113">1623/113 Sonnenstrahlh&ouml;hle</a></h2>

<h3>Andy Connolly</h3>

<p>'Team Sunbeam' (Sonnenstrahl) - Tony (pilot), Andy (co-pilot) and John
(Cheese sandwich maker) - having established a record time to Salzburg,
decided that a similarly speedy exploration of a pot would be the only way
to keep their reputation up. 113 was pushed to a conclusion at -330m in
under a week, due to the straightforward nature of the pot.

<p>Dreaming of enormous caverns with underground lakes (courtesy of John)
the three set off to the northern end of the Loser plateau beyond Wildensee
- a region that Cambridge had not previously explored in the past because of
the long walk of over six hours required to get there. No caving gear was
taken as it was designed to be purely exploratory. The original intention
had been to camp, but a party of teenage girls offered us a place in the
Wildensee Hut, an offer that could hardly be refused.

<p>An early start saw us prospecting by mid-morning - several promising
leads were noted, detailed elsewhere (1). The return to Altaussee was made
at a speed which resulted in the near extinction of the 'Barnsley School' of
architects - however the wise inclusion of an iron lung in his pack saved
the day ! We were somewhat disheartened to find that everyone else had found
"lots of holes with massive draughts howling out of them" - the
classic Loser success formula.

<p>After much mature consideration, Team S. turned their attention to the
Stellerwand area next day. Several nasty 'grots' were entered with little
success. The lunchtime sardines set the seal of failure on the rest of the
day. Tony's late find of a "promising hole" descending at an angle
of forty five degrees turned out to be a dead end, after a short pitch, as
was verified the next day.

<p>Exploration in a substantial dry valley above this find led to a sizeable
hole in the ground (18m x 8m) surrounded on three sides by vegetation and
having a large descending snowbank on the fourth. A return was made to this
the next day. John, in shorts, T-shirt and wellies, placed a rebelay while
dangling on the end of "a rope I picked up cheap - I think its for
SRT!" Descending to the floor of a snow-filled chamber, a ramp, hading
down at about forty degrees, was followed. A spate of naming, not always
inspired, resulted in the creation of Barnsley Methodist Chapel and The
Purple Pit !

<p>A further day's work gained the bottom of the Purple Pit and an area of
abandoned phreas with no way on. AERW, dressed in his usual odd assortment
of 'fun-fur' garments, had planned to descend 113 to have a look around, but
as usual had forgotten to get directions regarding the way on from the
bottom of the entrance pitch. He proceeded to blunder off down an unexplored
section of ramp, and foolishly looking down into a large black space, his
helmet and complete lighting system plunged into the unknown. A four hour
search revealed his whereabouts and he was hauled with many dark mutterings
to the surface.

<p>A survey trip was made to the base of the Purple Pit, measuring pitch
lengths only as the compasses were found to be somewhat untruthful,
indicating a direction of SE for magnetic north ! Due to AERW forgetting to
bring pencils and slate, the survey was given up as a bad job and a further
search of the abandoned phreas at the bottom of the pitch was started. Five
minutes search revealed a further pitch of 50m. A retreat was made for more
gear.

<p>The next two days saw a descent of a 100m shaft in steps to a point where
vertical development stopped and horizontal development became tight. Nick
offered his services for the final push.

<p>AERW, John and Tony descended to the bottom to survey out and derig, a
few minutes ahead of a flood pulse caused by a freak thunderstorm. Tim,
Clive and Ken met the pulse at the Purple Pit and got out quick, arriving
back at base camp a bit concerned for the others. Nick and Andy, ably
assisted by Team Cordon Bleu (messrs Kellet and Burgess - Ambrosia creamed
rice burnt to taste) descended to find the others safe, but cold, having
found some more passage.

<p>Two days later the derig was complete and the only job remaining was for
John to give various features esoteric or just plain stupid names. (Vielen
Dank MGP 69 V)

<p>References :

<p>(1) <a href="log.htm">1980 expedition logbook</a>.

<h2><a id="id113report">1623/113 Sonnenstrahlh&ouml;hle</a>
           Stellerwand,  Totes Gebirge, Austria</h2>

<h3>Explored 1980, ExCS</h3>

<p>The 113 entrance pitch, belayed to two substantial pine trees at the lip
and rebelayed 5m further down to give a 21m free hang, lands on a snow ramp
which is descended to the floor of the entrance chamber. Two ways on exist :
parallel to the dip, a passage communicates with two further surface
openings, 113A and 113B. Down dip, a 1m climb over boulders leads to a series
of ramps hading down at about 40 degrees. The first of these ramps descends
for 30m over a treacherous surface of ice and rubble to a drop not descended
(Ibbeth Perilous Pot). The second ramp, which communicates in places with the
first, descends for 60m to a chamber 20m high and 30m long (Barnsley
Methodist Chapel). This is floored with large boulders at one end. The
obvious low, sandy side passage to the left leads onto the head of a 14m dry
rift pitch with a bouldery takeoff. The pitch is free hanging after the first
2m, to a gravel floored chamber opening off the rift. Water entering high on
the right takes a floor trench 10m deep which may be traversed above to gain
the balcony of the Opera House, an impressive 20m, roughly circular chamber.
A 12.5m pitch gains the bouldery, sloping floor of this chamber. A further 7m
ladder climb, followed by a 10m pitch down a rift, leads to a 6m x 2m x 2m
high gravel floored chamber with a 1m diameter hole at one end. This is the
takeoff for a series of pitches (the Purple Pit) which corkscrew down a fine
clean-washed pot for 60m. This pitch system lands in an extensive area of
abandoned phreas; a short 6m pitch down the obvious hole in the floor leads
to a narrow rift. A 3m climb up and a short traverse lead to the entrance to
a sandy phreatic tube (Muesli Crawl). At the end of this passage is the
takeoff for a 100m shaft system which descends in steps of 8m, 26m, 12m, 10m,
20m, 5m and 9m to a rocky floor. A 6m drop lands on a gravel floor, with a
small streamway disappearing down a tight slot in the floor. Back at the base
of the 100m shaft a tight abandoned side passage leads to the Crematorium, a
complex of dry rifts and gravelly chambers becoming too tight at a depth of
approximately 330m.

<h2>"<a name="rescue80">But we didn't mean to be rescued</a>"</h2>

<h3>John Bowers</h3>

<p>The expedition was settling down into a pleasant routine. The days began
with the early morning mist clearing from the lake, the cheery sound of Ken
swearing as he brought round the tea, and Ben cough-starting his lungs. A
leisurely breakfast, a cooling swim and a quick drive up to the plateau -
not too hard really. All you had to do was pick up a pile of rope, abb down
and add another 100m to the pot. Then out in plenty of time to enjoy a long
evening guzzling lager and gooey cakes. But then it all went very wrong.

<p>Competition between Stellerweg and Sonnenstrahl was intense. Sonnenstrahl
was deeper but it looked like stopping - would this trip find a way on and
keep the lead over Stellerweg ? Parties were down each pot, leaving just
three heroes to sunbathe, drink and tidy up the remains of last week's
breakfast. The drinking was successful and they even washed up a pan, but
the sunbathing was a total failure as the skies clouded over and rain
crashed down. Thoughts turned to their poor comrades deep beneath the
Austrian limestone. As the day passed, more rain fell. Some of their friends
returned wet and cold, telling of icy dark prusiks up crashing waterfalls.
Night fell and still Andy, Tony and John were missing. What had happened ?
Were they dangling helpless from a rope ? Were they huddled in a narrow,
draughty rift with the flood waters rising around them ?

<p>Well, no. Eating apricots - that's what they were doing. Happily sitting
in a spacious, warm, dry chamber stuffing themselves with marzipan and
apricots. Just before the flood pulse arrived, they happened to notice a
slit in the wall above the final pitch. Thinking it could lead to a bypass,
Tony was forced through to find an abandoned phreatic series. When the flood
pulse came, the prospect of 200m of wet prusiking didn't appeal too much to
these geriatrics and so they decided to stay warm and dry, waiting for the
waters to subside. The chamber was thoroughly explored and surveyed (its the
most accurate part of the whole survey). A dig was started, and for want of
any more lively entertainment they built dry stone walls up and down the
chamber. But slowly our reluctant heroes were getting cold, and despite an
imaginative game of I-spy played without light, they were beginning to wish
they were somewhere else.

<p>Then the waters parted and Nick and Andy Connolly descended - using racks
rather than wings. "Who are you looking for ?... What us ? ... alright,
we'll come out now..." and at 3.00 am, five wet, tattered figures
emerged to be greeted by a cold drizzle and a pot of burnt rice pudding.

<hr />
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for Cambridge Underground 1981</li>
<li><b>1980 Expedition info</b>:
<ul>
<li><a href="log.htm">Logbook</a><br>
<!-- <li><a href="bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves &amp; Caving Report</a><br> -->
<li>Stellerwegh&ouml;hle - <a href="descnt.htm">from Descent 49</a></li>
<li>Austria 1980 - from <a href="npcpub.htm">NPC Newsletter</a></li>
<li><a href="song.htm">Another Kick in the Balls</a> (expedition song)</li>
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