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<h1>CUCC Expo 2000</h1>

<h2>Introduction</h2>

<p>In the summer of 2000, Cambridge University Caving Club ("CUCC")
held its 24th annual expedition to the <span lang="de-at">Loser</span>
Plateau in the <span lang="de-at">Totes Gebirge</span> region of Austria.</p>

<p>There were twenty-three expedition members; as has been the norm for the
past years the expedition lasted for five weeks. The
<a href="../../bcamps.htm">base camp</a> was at
<span lang="de-at">Gasthof Staud'n Wirt, Bad Aussee,</span> where the
Club is annually made very welcome by <span lang="de-at">Hilde</span> and
<span lang="de-at">Karin Wilpernig</span> and family.</p>

<h2>The story so far</h2>

<p>Under the<a href="../../smkridge/index.html">
<span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel</span> ridge,</a> which is
situated to the south-east of the <span lang="de-at">Loser</span> plateau,
lie the large cave systems of
<a href="../../smkridge/161/top.htm"><span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span></a>
and <a href="../../smkridge/41.htm"><span lang="de-at">Stellerwegh&ouml;hle,</span></a>
each 24km in length. The
<span lang="de-at">Stellerwegh&ouml;hlensystem,</span> which includes
entrances such as
<a href="../../noinfo/smkridge/88.htm"><span lang="de">L&auml;rchenschacht</span></a> and
<a href="../../smkridge/41/115.htm"><span lang="de">Schnellzugh&ouml;hle,</span></a>
has been explored by Austrian, German and CUCC groups since the 1970s. CUCC
has not explored here for many years; instead the Club's exploration has been
concentrated in <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle,</span> which was first
entered on the 1988 CUCC expedition.</p>

<p>Connected to the <span lang="de-at">Stellerwegh&ouml;hlensystem</span> is
the <span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel Eish&ouml;hle,</span> discovered in
1929. This is a large ice cave including the vast chamber of
<span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle,</span> the largest ice-bearing chamber
in western Europe. This chamber is significant as the distance between
passages leading off from <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> and
passages in <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> is very short.</p>

<p>This tantalising prospect of connecting two large systems---which, if
joined, would be high in the list of caves in the world with a great length
<i>and</i> depth---has excited explorers from CUCC for the past few years. At
the start of this year's expedition the distance between the systems was
approximately 75m. Major discoveries on the
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> side had been made in 1999 via the
deep shaft entrance of <span lang="de">Steinschlagschacht,</span> but no way
through had been found. Thus searching for a passage to forge the link was a
major objective of this year's expedition.</p>

<p>Further out around the <span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel</span> ridge,
downslope from the summit of the <span lang="de-at">Hinterer
Schwarzmooskogel,</span> lies the system of
<span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle.</span> This cave was discovered
by CUCC in 1999 and stood at 224m deep---with a wide open lead at the
bottom---at the end of the 1999 expedition. The second major aim of this
year's expedition was to continue exploration here.
<span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span> lies in a potentially
important position, 500m north of <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle.</span>
It was postulated that the cave might lead to an easier way into the Far
North areas of <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle,</span> where deep
shafts lie unexplored.</p>

<p>A significant amount of time on CUCC expeditions is spent on
documenting known and new caves, surveying (both underground and on
the surface), experimenting with the use of techniques such as GPS
(Global Positioning System) and related activities. The Expo web site
provides comprehensive information about the caves of the
<span lang="de-at">Loser</span> Plateau and it is highly
important that this is kept up-to-date with the latest knowledge.</p>

<h2>Aims of the Expedition</h2>

<p>The aims of the 2000 Expo are summarised below.
<ul>
<li>Push leads in the <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> to attempt
to forge the link between the
<span lang="de-at">Stellerwegh&ouml;hlensystem</span> and
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle.</li>
<li>Push leads in <span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle.</span></li>
<li>Continue exploration in <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span>
---there are over 200 documented ways on.</li>
<li>Document and survey every new passage discovered.</li>
<li>Continue surface surveying and documentation work from previous
years, in parallel with prospecting for new caves on the plateau.</li>
<li>Fix positions of cave entrances more accurately using GPS (now
that the Selective Availability accuracy restriction has been lifted
by the US Government).</li>
</ul></p>

<h2>And so to Austria</h2>

<p>With the tackle having been prepared and packed, five cavers set off
from England on the weekend of the 15th July. Others who had set off
previously joined this contingent in Austria and Base Camp was established
over the next couple of days.</p>

<p>The caving area is situated on the Loser plateau at an altitude of 1600m,
some 800m higher than Base Camp.  A toll road ascends the mountainside to a
restaurant and car park at the top.  From here it is approximately a
45-minute walk to Top Camp on the plateau, more if one has hundreds of metres
of rope and other caving gear on one's back!</p>

<p>Initially this year the weather was poor but Top Camp was finally set up
after a few days and the rope and tackle ferried there.</p>

<p>The next few sections of this report detail the work which was undertaken
in each of the major target areas of work for the expedition.</p>

<h2>Discoveries in the <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span></h2>

<img src="ice.jpg" width=500 height=375 hspace=10 vspace=10 align=left>

<p>Initially much work was undertaken to document the
<span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> entrances and other holes in the region.
The main entrances to the <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> side of
the <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> lie in a "portal row" together with
other, unconnected entrances to small caves. Two of the latter were
investigated and some naming ambiguities resulting from the decades of
<span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> exploration (the cave was first
discovered in 1929) were resolved.</p>

<p>There had been rumours before the expedition that the "40h"
entrance, which provides a quick way into
<span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle,</span> was open
(rather than being blocked by snow as is usual). CUCC had not
explored from this entrance before and there was some confusion as to
exactly which entrance it was.</p>

<p>Cavers from CUCC found a Spit (a self-drilling anchor placed
in the rock to use as a belay point for descent) in a large entrance
partly plugged with snow. A small ice-floored tube blowing a
formidable and very cold draught led off from the bottom. This was
descended and <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> entered after less
than five minutes from the start of the descent.</p>

<h3>Mission Impossible</h3>

<p>The first aim in <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> was to bolt up
alongside a frozen waterfall, which had been identified previously by
geologists as being in an important location. This is because of the
proximity to <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> and the fact
that the passage seen at the top of the climb is believed to be on the
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> side of the large fault plane
which bounds <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> on its northern side.
No other passages of any significance are known which cross this plane.</p>

<img src="climb.jpg" width=350 height=528 hspace=10 vspace=10 align=right>

<p>The climb was bolted quickly and led at the top to a climb round an
ice buttress and a 24m pitch, the start of <b>Mission Impossible</b>.
It is believed that this point may have been reached many years
earlier by a French group (using an alternative route up when the ice
was in a different state from at present). However, at the bottom of
the pitch an icy duck led to a further 3 second drop. This was
certainly in undiscovered cave and the new shaft was quickly rigged.</p>

<p>Forty-five metres lower, large chambers and passages were encountered.
These led precisely towards <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle!</span>
However, despite much searching, no ways on were found at the end, save for
some large avens rising above. This year there was insufficient manpower to
bolt upwards; the series hence stopped 20m below
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> and virtually underneath (plus or
minus survey error).</p>

<p>Wookey and Atkinson bolted across the top of the 45m pitch to enter a
parallel shaft, which unfortunately, although of impressive
proportions, did not lead to a closer point to
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle.</span> Additionally, the area in the
region above <b>Mission Impossible</b> in
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> was thoroughly searched but no
ways down were found.</p>

<p>Although Mission Impossible did not lead in itself to a connection, it
has proved that significant development exists in the gap between
<span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> and
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle.</span></p>

<h3>Night Manipulations Series</h3>

<p>Whilst the bolting up to Mission Impossible was in progress, a very
low wet crawl under a side wall of <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span>
led to further passages, believed to have been partially explored previously.
This led to approximately 200m of passage including a connection through to a
point half-way up the Radio 3 pitch in the <b>Persistence of Vision</b>
series (discovered in 1999). Despite filling in a significant gap on the
survey this series did not unfortunately lead to any passages closer to
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle.</span></p>

<h3>Persistence of Vision</h3>

<p>In 1999 the <b>Persistence of Vision</b> series was discovered---to
quote the words of the original explorers:<br>

... An interesting series off <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle,</span> with
some tortuous small passage of a highly "Mendip" nature, including tight
bends, squeezes, ridiculous climbs, insane bolt traverses, and bizarre hading
rift. This connects a selection of rifts and pitches which are largely
blocked at the bottom. The passages trend steeply up between the pitches.
There is an awful lot of "varied caving" in the 400m of passage found so
far...</p>

<p>In 2000 further exploration was conducted at the very end of the
series, where a tight slot led to a further pitch down and
unfortunately became too tight. Some of the series was derigged, but
there is still an interesting lead part way along which could trend
towards <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle.</span></p>

<h3><span lang="de">Kalter Gang</span> and
<span lang="de">Spinnenfriedhof</span></h3>

<p>On the last day of exploration in the
<span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> the blocked squeeze
through into <span lang="de">Kalter Gang</span> (surveyed by VfHM in 1984)
was excavated and the passage beyond re-explored. This area is approximately
200m ENE of Mission Impossible. A lack of rope prevented descent to the
bottom of the continuing rift; this will almost certainly be looked at again
in 2001 to check that no passage was left unexplored by the original
explorers.</p>

<h2>Discoveries in <span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span></h2>

<p>As mentioned previously
<a href="../../smkridge/204/204.html"><span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span></a>
stood at 224m deep at the end of the 1999 expedition. Unfortunately work
early in this year's expedition was hindered by the discovery of a large
amount of snow at the bottom of the entrance pitch. This necessitated work to
find an alternative route down; at one stage it was feared that the whole
cave might be inaccessible but thankfully a new shaft was found, bypassing
the old second and third pitches and the snow plug too.</p>

<p>Exploration then continued apace and after some effort the cave was
been rigged down to -224m. In parallel with this rigging other
exploration was conducted. This alone led to two large pitch series
of approximately 100m depth each, with shafts of large diameters.
Unfortunately both stopped: one in a too-tight rift and another in a
boulder choke.</p>

<p>The shaft visited in 1999 was pushed from -224m; unfortunately no
horizontal level (as postulated in 1999) was found; instead, the
series of shafts continued until an eventual end at -368m, where a
tight stream passage led off. It is possible that further passage
could be found here, but it does not appear especially promising. In
addition, the lead requires a large amount of tackle to reach, which
could possibly be better used in other areas.</p>

<img src="sb.jpg" width=594 height=387 hspace=10 vspace=10 align=left>

<p>Throughout the expedition two of the members new to Expo spent a
considerable amount of time pushing a series of crawls leading off
from <b>110 A Day</b> in the upper levels of
<span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle.</span> These alone led to the
discovery of a significant amount of passage, but in the last few days of the
expedition a very significant discovery was made here: large horizontal
passage trending northwards.</p>

<p>In this direction lies terrain not explored by CUCC; 1500m further west
lies the great system of <span lang="de-at">Raucherkarh&ouml;hle,</span>
80km in length. The new passage in
<span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span> will be pushed in 2001
to investigate the extent of the horizontal development at this level. This
will form part of a general shift to a larger amount of exploration around
the <span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span> area in general, both
above and below ground.</p>

<h2>Discoveries in <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span></h2>

<p>In addition to the major work being carried out in the
<span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> and
<span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle,</span> a team set off to explore
the <b>Regurgitation</b> area of <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle.</span>
This is an interesting area, explored from a large chamber at the bottom of a
huge wet aven. A winding stream rift descends steeply from the chamber; this
was explored and surveyed for a considerable distance. There is still the
possibility of further discoveries at the bottom but the amount of water
descending the shafts may begin to pose a problem.</p>

<h2>Surface work and other caves</h2>

<p>As is usual for modern-day CUCC expeditions, a large amount of surface
work was undertaken. This year this included surface surveys to known
and new entrances, prospecting for new caves and documenting some
earlier finds whose documentation had been lacking in some respect.
Other follow-up work on previous surveys was also undertaken.</p>

<p>Caves are tagged with discreet aluminium tags and new minor
discoveries (of which there were several this year) are documented,
surveyed to and surveyed inside.  The most significant of these
discoveries this year was <b lang="de">Traungoldh&ouml;hle</b>, opposite the
entrance to <span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span> and with seven
entrances. Two entrances lie underneath the rock bridge which gave
<span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span> its name, portrayed in
Figure 3 above. The new cave was fully explored to 200m in length.</p>

<h2>Other work</h2>

<p>Much work was conducted using GPS receivers to fix cave entrances and
other navigational landmarks. New coordinate conversion software
enables translations between Austrian grid and latitude/longitude
coordinates to be made with reasonable accuracy. A map was prepared
of the GPS fixes and surface survey points which helped to resolve
some inaccuracies.</p>

<p>In addition some design work on a new version of the surveying
software <i>Survex</i>, designed and written by CUCC members, was
undertaken. The new release is expected by the end of 2001 and will
greatly enhance the software's capabilities, with a modular
architecture and a fully graphical user interface. Details of the
project, nicknamed <i>Project Spud</i>, are available from the
<a href="http://www.survex.com/spud.html">Survex web site</a>.</p>

<h2>Follow-up work</h2>

<p>The usual follow-up work in Cambridge and elsewhere is continuing even
as you read this report. Survey data is processed on computer using
<i>Survex</i>. Surveys have to be drawn up and passage descriptions
written.</p>

<p>The CUCC Expo documentation archive, maintained as a Web site, is
currently being updated with the finds from Expo 2000. This
comprehensive cross-referenced resource provides an excellent
knowledge base of information for future expeditions.</p>

<p><a href="../../index.htm">The archive can
be viewed on the Web here.</a></p>

<h2>Conclusion</h2>

<p>A total of 2.5km of cave was discovered this year; the length and
depth of <span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span> were extended to approximately 2.5km and -368m respectively. The prospects for further
discoveries leading off from the newly-discovered large horizontal level in
<span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span> are good. Significant
systems such as <span lang="de">Organh&ouml;hle</span> lie in the direction
in which this passage trends; there are certainly more discoveries to be made
here.</p>

<p>The expedition in 2001 will continue the work of previous years, again
searching for the elusive
<span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle---Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> connection and
also prospecting around the area of
<span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle;</span> many large surface shafts
lie unexplored here. It is possible that an attack on the connection will be
made from <span lang="de">Steinschlagschacht</span> and the nearby Hall of
the Mounting Choss. Here there are at least two deep unexplored shafts and
other descending question marks. Although these could not drop directly into
the currently-known parts of the <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle,</span> they
may drop into passages nearby. The discovery of Mission Impossible this year
has shown that significant cave passage does lie in the gap between the two
systems; it seems increasingly likely that any connection which exists will
not be in a direct line across the gap.</p>

<p>Planning for the forthcoming 2001 expedition has now begun in earnest.
Any enquiries should be directed to the Expedition Leader,
<a href="mailto:mjg54@cam.ac.uk">Martin Green</a>, Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge.</p>

<h2>Thanks</h2>

<p>Thanks go to the following for their gracious sponsorship of Expo 2000:
<ul>
<li><b>Thomas Tunnock Ltd.</b> for Tunnock Bars;
<li><b>Finlay McKinlay, Chemists</b> in Glossop and
their suppliers for first aid and photographic supplies;
<li><b>The Ghar Parau Foundation</b> for their support.
</ul></p>

<p><span lang="de-at">Hilde, Karin</span> and the other folk at
<span lang="de-at">Staud'n Wirt</span> must be thanked for
their excellent food and hospitality and the use of their campsite and
hut. Finally the expedition members are also thanked for their
individual contributions to this year's expedition.</p>

<p><a href="mailto:Mark.Shinwell@cl.cam.ac.uk">Mark Shinwell</a> --
Expedition Leader 2000<br>
Queens' College, Cambridge, England. CB3 9ET</p>
<p>19th November 2000</p>

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