2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
|
|
|
|
|
<html lang="en">
|
|
|
|
|
<head><title>CUCC's Austria expeditions</title></head>
|
|
|
|
|
<body>
|
|
|
|
|
<h2 align=center>Expedition primer</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><i>The annual CUCC expedition to Austria lasts up to five weeks each
|
|
|
|
|
summer and concentrates mainly on new exploration in the high alpine karst of
|
|
|
|
|
the <span lang="de-at">Loser</span> plateau (about 80km E of
|
|
|
|
|
<span lang="de-at">Salzburg).</span> The current main projects are:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<dl>
|
|
|
|
|
<dt><span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle</span>
|
|
|
|
|
<dd>a cave now over 24km long and 534m
|
|
|
|
|
deep, explored by the club since its discovery in 1988;
|
|
|
|
|
<dt><span lang="de">Steinbrückenhöhle</span>
|
|
|
|
|
<dd>explored to -226m in 1999 and to -368m in 2000 - now 2.5km long;
|
|
|
|
|
<dt><span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogelsystem</span>
|
|
|
|
|
<dd>formed from the linkage of several caves into one system, 20km or so
|
|
|
|
|
long, and 972m deep, of which a third of the length and both the deepest
|
|
|
|
|
point and the highest entrance were explored by CUCC in the early eighties.
|
|
|
|
|
</dl>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>All three of these caves are expected to be linked together, with the two
|
|
|
|
|
major ones only about 20m apart. Around ninety shorter caves have also been
|
|
|
|
|
explored and recorded over the twenty year history of expo, and prospecting
|
|
|
|
|
for new entrances is still an important activity.</i>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>So much for the executive summary, but what does that mean for the new
|
|
|
|
|
expo member ? What is actually involved in going on expo ?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Very few people, whether undergraduate or old lag, can afford the time
|
|
|
|
|
to go on expo for the full period. People come and go, and people pursue
|
|
|
|
|
their own particular interests within the larger context. But there has
|
|
|
|
|
to be some overall strategy and some degree of planning. It is no good
|
|
|
|
|
putting more resources into rigging than we have manpower to use, nor
|
|
|
|
|
concentrating on so few goals that the cave is always crowded. So it is
|
|
|
|
|
important that those doing the organising have a pretty good idea a few
|
|
|
|
|
weeks before expo of who is going, for how long, and how hard they expect
|
|
|
|
|
to cave.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>But don't expect too much from that word "organising" - expedition is not
|
|
|
|
|
a boot camp ! No one will kick you out of your pit and make you go caving
|
|
|
|
|
(except perhaps in an emergency, such as a call-out). Nor is it entirely a
|
|
|
|
|
holiday - once the effort has been put in to rig things, it is important that
|
|
|
|
|
people get in there and do the work exploring, surveying, photographing and
|
|
|
|
|
eventually derigging. The "organisation" is essentially a matter of pre-expo
|
|
|
|
|
behind-the-scenes things like getting grants and sponsorship, buying tackle,
|
|
|
|
|
coordinating transport and the like. On expo itself, it is a matter of
|
|
|
|
|
judging which projects can reasonably be tackled by the number of people
|
|
|
|
|
present, and suggesting the best lines of attack. This avoids rigging things
|
|
|
|
|
which no one has the time or will-power to push, and ensures that there is
|
|
|
|
|
enough gear to tackle the things which folk <u>are</u> keen to explore.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>There are important differences between expedition caving and a typical
|
|
|
|
|
Yorkshire weekend. On a tourist trip in the UK, a party will rig in, bottom
|
|
|
|
|
the cave and rig out (or, at most, there may be a separate rigging in and
|
|
|
|
|
rigging out trip on the same day). In Austria, a project cave will be rigged
|
|
|
|
|
at the start of expo, and then numerous working trips will use that rigging
|
|
|
|
|
until either the cave or the expedition finishes, and derigging takes place.
|
|
|
|
|
This clearly places a lot more wear and tear on the ropes, which also tend to
|
|
|
|
|
get muddier, so quality rigging is essential. Of course, some of this rigging
|
|
|
|
|
is new exploration, not just "follow the P-hangers", so it is an exciting and
|
|
|
|
|
challenging activity. Also, unlike a Yorkshire tourist trip, you must survey
|
|
|
|
|
and describe what you find - logbook write-ups form part of a long-term
|
|
|
|
|
record of what has been done so are rather more important than on weekend
|
|
|
|
|
meets at home. Surveying may be an entirely new activity for first-time expo
|
|
|
|
|
members, but it is also a very important one, and one which it is worth
|
|
|
|
|
making the effort to get right from the start.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>The caves in Austria are as different from Yorkshire and Mendip as
|
|
|
|
|
those two areas are from each other. There are few sporting streamways
|
|
|
|
|
and few formations. The caves are colder (often not much above freezing,
|
|
|
|
|
and sometimes below). They are often much deeper than Yorkshire trips,
|
|
|
|
|
though the entrances we are currently using mean that even the remotest
|
|
|
|
|
places are not at vast depths. However, pitches may be big, and close
|
|
|
|
|
together in deep shafts of up to a couple of hundred metres. Though
|
|
|
|
|
often dry in good weather, run-off is rapid and a damp pitch can rapidly
|
|
|
|
|
become a serious proposition with near-freezing water pouring down it.
|
|
|
|
|
Rigging will sometimes seem unnecessarily gymnastic until you have seen
|
|
|
|
|
the pitch after a thunderstorm ! Set against this is a large amount of
|
|
|
|
|
huge stomping horizontal passage found in the last few years, with many
|
|
|
|
|
leads still to push not needing a lot of vertical work at all.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>In Austria, expo is effectively split into "<a href="bcamps.htm">Base
|
|
|
|
|
Camp</a>" and "<a href="tcamps.htm#topcamp">Top Camp</a>". Base camp is in
|
|
|
|
|
the valley, near the pub, shops, lake and other "R&R" facilities. It is
|
|
|
|
|
here that we have the bulk of the documentation, computers, lamp charging,
|
|
|
|
|
log book and survey book. Top Camp is reached by a toll road (on which we
|
|
|
|
|
have a deal which avoids paying each time) which ascends 900m to a tourist
|
|
|
|
|
car park from where walking takes 30-45 minutes to top camp. Various cave
|
|
|
|
|
entrances are from a few minutes to maybe an hour and a half from here. Top
|
|
|
|
|
camp and Base camp are linked by mobile phone, which are much better for
|
|
|
|
|
coordinating and reporting activities than the radios we used previously.
|
|
|
|
|
However they should still be used sparingly to ensure that there is plenty of
|
|
|
|
|
battery power in an emergency. The result of this is that trips are mostly
|
|
|
|
|
organised by the people in top camp, and trying to participate in expo whilst
|
|
|
|
|
spending every night at Base Camp is somewhat frustrating. It also costs more
|
|
|
|
|
:-)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>On the other hand, top camp is in a nature reserve where camping is
|
|
|
|
|
theoretically not allowed at all, so we need to keep it as low-profile
|
|
|
|
|
and undamaging as possible to avoid being banned. Top Camp is essential,
|
|
|
|
|
not only for caving convenience and efficiency, but also for safety. Meeting
|
|
|
|
|
these needs consistent with local politics is something of a balancing act
|
|
|
|
|
which needs everyone's cooperation. It is likely that in 2001 the main top
|
|
|
|
|
camp will be much more of a low-key affair, with additional bivouacs at
|
|
|
|
|
the entrances to two of our caves.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>If we have a spell of truly awful weather, usually everyone will come
|
|
|
|
|
down to Base Camp, and this is a good time for getting surveys drawn up,
|
|
|
|
|
passage descriptions written, log books up to date etc. It's also not
|
|
|
|
|
unknown for a certain amount of beer consumption to occur. This is also
|
|
|
|
|
the case at "expedition dinner" which is usually organised somewhere in
|
|
|
|
|
the middle of expo, when the greatest number of people can attend.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3 align=center>What to read next ?</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Obviously, those coming on expedition will have a better and more
|
|
|
|
|
productive time if they know more about what goes on, what has been done
|
|
|
|
|
previously and what our particular caves are like. I'd love to think that
|
|
|
|
|
everyone would find time to read everything on the website. In reality,
|
|
|
|
|
however, not everyone wants to effectively memorise the guidebook, and
|
|
|
|
|
devour several books on the history, culture, geography, geology, food,
|
|
|
|
|
weather and other <span lang="la">minutiæ</span> of their holiday area.
|
|
|
|
|
Even if you are that sort of person, it helps to have some idea of where to
|
|
|
|
|
start - there's about three long novels' worth of stuff on the site and much
|
|
|
|
|
of it is of mainly historical interest, concerned with caves whose
|
|
|
|
|
exploration is considered complete.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>We have attempted to condense the "how to do it" material into an
|
|
|
|
|
<a href="handbook/index.htm">Expedition Handbook</a>, which covers topics
|
|
|
|
|
such as Surveying, Prospecting, Rigging and Rescue. There is also a rather
|
|
|
|
|
embryonic section on photography. This is still a fairly big chunk of stuff
|
|
|
|
|
to read, so an effort has been made this year to provide a "primer" page for
|
|
|
|
|
each section, which should be read by <b>everyone</b> new to expo. It is
|
|
|
|
|
particularly important that you understand the aims of each activity, since a
|
|
|
|
|
job done badly is actually worse than a job not done at all. This is
|
|
|
|
|
especially true of cave survey and passage description, or, for prospecting,
|
|
|
|
|
the recording of locations.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>To get a feel for what trips are like, it is perhaps worth dipping into
|
|
|
|
|
one of the <a href="years/1996/log.htm#1996-161-6">logbooks for recent
|
|
|
|
|
years</a>. To get an idea of what expo will be trying to achieve, there is a
|
|
|
|
|
"<a href="years/2001/goals.htm">mission statement</a>" for the current year.
|
|
|
|
|
And to see how much potential there is, a glance at the current
|
|
|
|
|
<span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle</span>
|
|
|
|
|
<a href="smkridge/161/qmtodo.htm#1999">Question Mark list</a> is a
|
|
|
|
|
revelation. Leads are numbered by year, with the most recent first. Following
|
|
|
|
|
links from any of these leads will get you into the cave description, which
|
|
|
|
|
gives an idea of the sort of caving. The
|
|
|
|
|
<a href="smkridge/161/top.htm">complete description</a> runs to c 90 A4 pages
|
|
|
|
|
when printed, so is rather too much to digest in one go ! We recommend
|
|
|
|
|
looking at the printed survey to get an overall idea of the cave and which
|
|
|
|
|
parts have the most potential. However, as this is too big for a web page,
|
|
|
|
|
there are now useful survey fragments incorporated throughout the main
|
|
|
|
|
descriptions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>If you want to delve deeper into the site, it's worth a quick look
|
|
|
|
|
at the site <a href="../rdmap.htm">road map</a>. This gives you an idea
|
|
|
|
|
of the structure of the site and where you can expect the graphical links
|
|
|
|
|
to lead. There are also plenty of textual links, as exemplified by the
|
|
|
|
|
expo <a href="infodx.htm">site index</a>.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<hr>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!-- LINKS -->
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt=">" src="../icons/lists/0.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
Back to <a href="../index.htm">CUCC Home page</a><br>
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt=">" src="../icons/lists/0.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
CUCC <a href="handbook/index.htm">Expedition Handbook</a><br>
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt=">" src="../icons/lists/0.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<b>Main Indices:</b><br>
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt="--->" src="../icons/lists/1.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<a href="infodx.htm"><b>Index</b> to Expo</a> information pages<br>
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt="--->" src="../icons/lists/1.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<a href="areas.htm">Description of CUCC's area</a> and split to subareas<br>
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt="--->" src="../icons/lists/1.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
Full <a href="indxal.htm">Index to cave descriptions</a> in area 1623<br>
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt="--->" src="../icons/lists/1.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
List of (links to) <a href="pubs.htm">published reports and logbooks</a><br>
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt=">" src="../icons/lists/0.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<b>Pictures:</b><br>
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt="--->" src="../icons/lists/1.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<a href="gall0.htm">Text only Index</a><br>
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt="--->" src="../icons/lists/1.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<a href="gallery/0.htm">Index pages (with thumbnails)</a><br>
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt=">" src="../icons/lists/0.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
Other info:<br>
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt="--->" src="../icons/lists/1.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
Table of <a href="folk/index.htm">members of CUCC expeditions</a> 1976-2000<br>
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt="--->" src="../icons/lists/1.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<a href="others/index.htm">Other groups</a> who have worked in the area.<br>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
|
|
|
</html>
|
