<p>Online at <ahref="https://bec-cave.org.uk/belfry-bulletin-no-366-october-1978/#Cambridge_University_Versus_The_Totes_Gebirge">https://bec-cave.org.uk/belfry-bulletin-no-366-october-1978/#Cambridge_University_Versus_The_Totes_Gebirge</a>
<pclass="MsoNormal">This is the third episode in a potentially<br/>
by storm for their summer expedition. Episode Two occurred last year and readers may remember the report I did<br/>
for the B.B. To recap, about a dozen of<br/>
us spent between two and three weeks at at Alt Ausse, a small village about<br/>
80km east of<br/>
<st1:cityw:st="on"><br/>
<st1:placew:st="on">Salzburg</st1:place></st1:city>. Most of our time was spent prospecting on the<br/>
nearby Loser Plateau. Loser is an<br/>
extensive plain undulating between 1600 and 1700m above sea level. The almost virgin lapiaz of the plateau is reached<br/>
bye steeply ascending toll road from Alt Aussee and a brisk hour or so walk<br/>
from the top. Last year we found several<br/>
promising caves: </p>
<pstyle="margin-left: 36pt;"class="MsoNormal">97 Schneewindschacht – too tight<br/>
at minus 265m. <br/>
82 – Brauninghohle – sumped (perched) at minus 220m. <br/>
106 – Eislufthohle – 150m deep and unfinished. <br/>
Plus various other 100m pots.</p>
<pclass="MsoNormal">The greatest incentive to return in 1978 was the unfinished<br/>
state of Eislufthohle. Although not our<br/>
deepest find in 1977, the shafts in Eislufthohle were of such a size and the<br/>
draught in the cave so strong, that we felt that the pot ought to yield a few<br/>
more secrets yet, there being 750m of depth potential still left. And with this in mind, we found ourselves<br/>
back on Loser in July/August of this year.</p>
<pclass="MsoNormal">The expedition members fell into three categories</p>
<pstyle="margin-left: 57pt; text-indent: -39pt;"class="MsoNormal">a) <!--[endif]-->‘Team Eislufthohle’– 5 strong team of SRT<br/>
rigged with a 300 foot length of rope with 5 belays and 1 rope protector. This affords, some idea of the technical<br/>
difficulties of rigging this large, spiralling broken, shafts. In defence of SRT on a pitch like this one I<br/>
most point out that we had comparable difficulties rigging and de-rigging the<br/>
thing last year on ladders, and once rigged for ropes, then routine ascents and<br/>
descents are not especially slow. </p>
<pclass="MsoNormal">From the chamber at the bottom, round a corner, leads to<br/>
Saved Shaft. This 13m shaft defeated the<br/>
ropes men and ladders ruled. At the<br/>
bottom is Boulder Chamber (no cave is a cave without one, you know!) A crawl through boulders and a traverse over<br/>
the first pitch of the Keg Series (no draught) leads to a free climb and &<br/>
30m pitch, split by a large ledge. From<br/>
the bottom a narrowish rift leads to a chamber with a heavy drip. This was as far as we got last year and we<br/>
called the chamber The Tap Room (What makes you think we drink beer?)</p>
<pclass="MsoNormal">So off we were again at last, pioneering new ground. The slow progress made during the rig is so<br/>
far, and the prospect of a deep cave, now prompted an interesting change in<br/>
policy – overnight trips. The lapiaz on<br/>
the plateau is impossible to negotiate after night fall, and so allowing for a<br/>
margin of error, it seemed logical to walk to the cave in late afternoon, cave<br/>
overnight and after 2 minimum trips of 10 hours, emerge into the morning<br/>
light. Good idea, we thought.</p>
<pclass="MsoNormal">Indeed, the first overnight trip did pay dividends. I had the privilege (or misfortune) to be<br/>
half of this two man effort. We timed<br/>
things a little too close for comfort on the walk in. We had to virtually run to the cave in<br/>
failing light and found the entrance about ten minutes before darkness trapped<br/>
us on the plateau. </p>
<pclass="MsoNormal">Once underground things seemed pretty much the norm. We soon reached the Tap Room. We descended a rope assisted climb that had<br/>
been rigged previously and followed an obvious traverse line to a small<br/>
chamber, the water having sunk into the floor at the bottom of the climb. The chamber had a nice big boulder poised in<br/>
the roof and a large enticing slot in the floor. A 10m pitch was rigged off a couple of bolts<br/>
down to a micro-ledge where the rift narrowed. A bolt rebelay was placed and a<br/>
fine, ever enlarging, 35m pitch was descended to a large ledge and a stream,<br/>
inlet. With the shaft being the ‘best<br/>
pitch ‘O the pot’ so far, spirits were high and we started putting in a couple<br/>
more bolts. These held a traverse line<br/>
that protected a bold step over to a ledge on the opposite wall, and also the<br/>
rope for the next pitch. This was 8m to a pool in a dribbly, dribbly<br/>
streamway.</p>
<pclass="MsoNormal">The stream trundled on down a trench in the floor and we<br/>
traversed along again in a high rift about three or four feet wide. We soon reached a fine rocking boulder<br/>
perched squarely on the traverse ledges. We quickly realised that we were to break into something big. A bend and upwards above a massive boulder<br/>
jam was an immense blackness, impenetrable to a good NiFe beam. Ahead and downwards lay a second impenetrable<br/>
blackness. We placed another couple of<br/>
bolts. This took some time as the bolter<br/>
had to be life lined and rock anchor teeth kept breaking off, and anchors kept<br/>
getting stuck, and</p>
<pclass="MsoNormal">Our sleepy beer starved brains were in need of a<br/>
wake-up. And how! The next pitch turned out to be a magnificent<br/>
<pclass="MsoNormal">After a rather committing free climb (at least at this sort<br/>
of depth!) the traverse continued. Generally all the traversing was done on good, if not very continuous<br/>
ledges. After what seemed like several<br/>
hundred feet we clambered over a big jammed boulder chaos and on to the head of<br/>
another pitch. A rope was belayed to a<br/>
bolt and a chock-stone and a descent was made down 12m of muddy slope. Up until now things had been just comfortably<br/>
muddy with a mainly dry, powdery variety. This pitch however, later named The Fiesta Run, was a very glutinous<br/>
affair. This fact was later thought to<br/>
be associated with a shaft noted entering the roof at this point. The traverse ledges beyond seemed to clear a<br/>
little. We reached more chock-stones<br/>
with a further pitch beyond. Stones<br/>
dropped directly below fell for about fifty feet. Those that were lobbed outwards a little fell<br/>
a great deal further. We were running<br/>
out of steam here and decided to turn back. To be honest, we were a little disappointed the horizontality<br/>
Eisluftohle was adopting. We had envisaged<br/>
pitch followed immediately by pitch, followed by pitch, going down very deep<br/>
and all very easy! Instead, we had a<br/>
steeply sloping streamway occasionally punctuated by short pitches. Tackle carrying on the traverses would not be<br/>
easy and the streamway could go on for miles. However, our depth we estimated, conservatively, at 350m. Well satisfied with this we left the cave<br/>
after another twelve hour trip.</p>
<pclass="MsoNormal">With just over a week of the expedition left a couple more<br/>
pushing trips could be had and even greater depth attained. Just then however disaster struck. We were driving down the toll road after the<br/>
above described trip when one of the disadvantages of overnight trips was<br/>
hammered home rather brutally. With the<br/>
front passenger asleep and me in the back still wide awake the driver decided<br/>
to nod off at the wheel. To his credit<br/>
he could have chosen a section of road adjacent to a drop of several hundred<br/>
feet, but instead settled for one of a mere thirty. Without the slightest hint of last minute<br/>
braking or swerving, we missed a telegraph pole and a tree by inches, went<br/>
through a fence cum crash barrier and launched ourselves over the near vertical<br/>
drop. The next few seconds consisted of<br/>
one of lifes great eternal moments. With broken glass flying and twisted, blood bespattered, metal all<br/>
about, the car seemed to roll over and over before finally coming to rest,<br/>
wheels down, in a river at the bottom of the drop. The driver suffered cuts to face and hands,<br/>
slight concussion and a fractured sternum. The front seat passenger suffered a bad gash in the head and was<br/>
suspected of having a lightly fractured neck. The car was a write-off and your seemly invincible narrator, I’m almost<br/>
ashamed to say it, had not a scratch (well, only one small one!)</p>
<pclass="MsoNormal">You’ll be pleased to know that both the injured people,<br/>
after spending a week in hospital, and with one getting flown home, both made<br/>
full recoveries.</p>
<pclass="MsoNormal">Whilst being fortunate inasmuch as three of has had been<br/>
spared the greater karts area in the sky, we (that is Team Eislufthohle) were<br/>
now a little short of manpower. Over the<br/>
next week we realised de-rigging with so few people as were left could prove<br/>
awkward. We even started fondling<br/>
insurance policies, wondering whether we could avoid de-rigging<br/>
altogether! We abandoned the grade 4<br/>
survey that had been started, half finished! Photographic trips were scrapped left, right and centre and now having<br/>
given up overnight trips, one alpine start allowed the bottom couple of pitches<br/>
to be de-rigged. And then just what we<br/>
didnt need, the weather closed in. With<br/>
low cloud and rain, we couldnt even see the plateau for several agonising<br/>
days, let alone navigate across it. We<br/>
were forced to kick our heels at the camp site in Alt Ausee until, two days<br/>
before departure, back came the sunshine. With a magnificent effort form Team Geriatric, bless em again, and in<br/>
the company of your long suffering narrator, the rest of the cave was<br/>
cleared. Phew!</p>
<pclass="MsoNormal">And so back to good old British beer. The return journey was noted only for a<br/>
delightfully comfortable night spent on a bench in a lay-by of a German<br/>
autobahn; also for being waved through<br/>
<st1:country-regionw:st="on"><br/>
<st1:placew:st="on">Belgium</st1:place></st1:country-region> customs by the cleaning<br/>
lady! As for Eislufthohle, then I<br/>
think, judging by the large passage size at the bottom, and the drop test’s<br/>
performed there, not to mention the draught (or The War!) then to squeeze 400m<br/>
out of the place would be a mere formality. Beyond that, who knows? The local<br/>
expert, Karl Gaisberger, to whom many thanks, inspected the mud on our gear<br/>
from the Fiesta Run area and confirmed that is was quite old stuff, totally<br/>
unlike that deposited a sump backing up. Therefore with a sump not being, imminent and with the passage seeming<br/>
to enlarge all the time, Eislufthohle, already one of Losers most significant<br/>
