Arrived in the afternoon and got keys from gasthof. Fridge full of other people's beer sadly. Picked up Philip S from the station and set up outside tarp and bier tent. Bier tent missing it's door ATM with a tarp rigged instead??????? Where has it gone ? Who knows?????? Gas hose fell off burner whilst cooking dinner, large plume of flame in bier tent but crisis averted
I was walking into town from the station (from Vienna this morning) when I was intercepted by Charlotte and taken shopping at the big Billa, thence to [otato hut, nerding etc. Hot day, sunny,not rain.
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<divclass="triptitle">topcamp - First visit to top camp</div>
Charlotte, James W and Jacob C going for a first carry to top camp to look at amount of snow etc., departed Gasthof at 11:00 expected back about 20:00. They are not taking the new top camp tarp up this time - it weighs 21 kg.
Carried the new tarp up to top camp today (25KG bag) rigged the tarp reasonably well. Water collection is started but needs rain. Storage cave emptied and some bits dried out.
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<p>Image of the path to top camp from Homecoming</p>
<p>The walk from Homecoming to the col was actually surprisingly pleasant and easier than the one from top camp. It could definitely become a trade route in the future.</p>
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I got an early lift up with Charlotte and went off on my own to check out <ahref="/1623/228/228.html">1623-228</a> "Kleine Schnellzughoehle" where the survey looks suspiciously like <ahref="/1623/114/114.html">1623-114</a> (Lost Hole) which I know visually looks very much like a smaller version of Schnellzughoehle.<p>
I failed: the GPS position (fairly close to the Stoger Weg) is (2024) in completely impenetrable pine scrub. So either ArGE are incredibly hard, or the path has healed up since 2000, or they have recorded the wrong GPS position. I suspect that it is really the same as 114 and that they have the wrong GPS.
<p>
It was horrid: lower altitude and lots of curious cows meant lots of flies, cow flies, horse flies, humid scratchy larchen. Nasty. So I went on to the next target which was to check out some entrances lacking photos on the near part of the plateau.
I can say categorically that a GPS position is not sufficient to disambiguate entrances when there are 5 pits all within a few meters. One would need good photos and very clear descriptions. This is the case for 1623-81, 81b and 1623-82b. <ahref="/1623/82/82.html">1623-82</a> 82 and 85 was easily identified because the paint and tag were in place. Ditto 148, but I failed with 289 too.
<p>OK so lots of frustratingly similar photographs were take (with GPS coordinates in the EXIF data at least). My phone battery died with all the GPS work, and even with a spare battery pack it died again. So I took decided to get my exercise by walking up to top camp, having a coffee (nobody there). I left at about 14:00 and walked back.
<p>The Berg Restaurant was not serving food, but beer was extremely welcome. As was the Austrian trio of double-base, accordion and base guitar which was serenading the just-off-work seilbahn station workers, who were tucking into roast pig, sauerkraut and potatoes. Very, very Austrian.
<p>Got a lift back down the toll road to Alt Aussee with a multigenerational German family in a very small car: the granddaughter had to sit across Granny and my laps. This was a bit uncomfortable for all concerned s she was about 18.<p>
Walked back to Bad Aussee. Had coffee having missed last bus.
<p>Walked back to Gasthof. At which point I discovered Jono had driven down and if I had just stayed drinking beer I would have got a lift. Ho Hum.
We rigged the entrance to Homecoming and rigged ropes down to the up pitch. ropes after this were left insitu. wookey dissapeared behind us to play with his new toy (Sap6) he measured some pitches as far as the 4 bolt traverse at the bottom of radagast. We found the pile of rope at the bottom of the uprope to Propane Nightmares.
These ropes had been left in a diabolical, abhorrent and disgusting state. They were left vaguely piled around the passage with knots still tied and with tangled ends and random extra knots, twists and fucked bits. Lara spat on the knots to try and untie one of them. We spent an hour untangling, untying, unfucking and coiling ropes. The clean ones were left daisychained whilst the fucked ones were coiled. The longest 4 fucked ropes were dragged out without tackle sacks! grrrrrrrrrrrrr
Set off with the intention of rigging as far as Hangmans if time permitted. I felt a bit ropey, and this sensation did not subside once we started caving. Ruairidh attempted to fettle the entrance rig a bit, and we extended the existing handline on the approach to Natural Highs. At the pitch by Natural Highs I was still feeling nauseous, so elected to turn round. This was a good move as I was even slower than usual on the way out, finding myself sitting gazing into space for minutes on end at various points. Ruairidh and Sieds got as far as rigging the traverse to the head of Honeycomb before heading out.
<p>
TU is a guess - two hours less for me
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we walked to garlic from top and fettled the tarps and kit. then thunder, lightning and lotsa of rain struck. we dealt with this by laying down and trying to sleep under the tarp. we ended up using a bivi bag as a duvet and had a book reading session until the rain had passed. was very warm and lovely.
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Wassil and I wandered over to top camp to meet Marie in the early hours of the Saturday morning. The weather was unassuming and I felt brimming with eagerness to get underground having spent one day too many days festering at base camp.
<p>
Having allocated half an hour at top camp we naturally faffed for an hour and a half before beginning the hopefully-not-too-painful walk to homecoming, bags heavily laden with rope, metalwork and caving gear galore.
<p>
We arrived at the cave a little past one, Wassil went to gather more equipment from Garlic while we began packing rope at the entrance. We continued to faff till our hearts were content and weren't underground till gone three. The whole cave was rigged to the bottom of Gromit so, besides some futile arguing with our heavy tackle sacks on the traverses(oh and passing Charlotte, James and Lara on their way out), the descent went fairly quickly.
<p>
Stopping for a quick snack break at the end of the Gromit traverse, it became clear that Marie was quite worn out from all the awkward SRT and so it was decided that we should turn around after ten more minutes.
<p>
We stopped a short ways into "second coming"(just before the first traveres) and while I got the stove out to cook some noodles, Marie got a lesson in bolting. As the drill whirred away in the background I eagerly unpacked the cooking equipment: pan, lid, noodles, stove top and lighters what else would I need ... hmm ... the gas must just be hiding somewhere in this tackle bag ... hmmm ... must be a very small cylinder. Well, it turns out that EXPO hadn't invested in microscopic gas cans but rather I couldn't see it because it was still sitting comfortably somewhere at top camp, forgotten. This news hit Marie particularly badly who immediately began feeling nauseous and requested we leave the cave sooner rather than later.
<p>
The plan put into action was that Marie and I would begin prusiking out while Wassil finished bolting the traverse Marie that had started. I packed up to leave of course taking just the essentials: first aid kit, snacks, water and the spare drill batteries ... oops. By the time Wassil caught up to inform us that we had run of with his much needed spare batteries, Marie had taken a turn for the worse.
<p>
She had stopped at the top of Wallace to begin emptying the contents of her stomach onto the traverse below(luckily not directly onto Wassil's head) and was feeling very apprehensive about some of the pitches to come. We waited until she was finished retching to offer water and discuss plans, but with options limited the only thing left to do was to start the long arduous journey back to the surface.
<p>
Several more chunder stops were required on the way out, during which I also began to take a turn for the worse, but we eventually made it to the surface around 11pm. Outside a thick mist had enveloped the plateau casting doubt onto our ability to find our way across it. We got changed as fast as we could and at midnight made the admittedly dubious decision to set off for stoney bridge instead of the currently-max-capacity-but-much-(much!)-closer garlic cave.
<p>
After around ten minutes of walking it became glaringly obvious we were not going to make it back to top camp. Marie was still throwing up and her balance had gotten worse with her state. Since Wassil was still feeling ok we decided on the very unappealing option that he would walk back to top camp, alone, and return with our sleeping gear so that we could wait out the night on the plateau.
<p>
Marie and I sat uncomfortably inside the bothy we had with us for around 2 hours, Marie regularly purging her stomach contents into a nearby grike, after which I grew worried that Wassil had not yet returned. Stumbling round the location of our camping spot(which I lovingly name "patient's retreat") I finally found a spot where my phone had signal. Chatting with Jono, We learned that Wassil had made it to top camp but was too worn out from the day to return to us so instead Wookey was on his way with food and bags.
<p>
around three in the morning we were greeted by the very welcome sight of a surprisingly cheery(considering the circumstances) Wookey strolling down the plateau towards us. He dropped off what we needed for the night, made sure we were ok and then headed back up to top camp. We each found relatively less spiky bits of rock to lie down on and tried to get some rest.
<p>
In the morning, the warmth of the sun forced us out of from the dozy comfort of our sleeping bags and back into the reality of getting off this horrible lump of angry rocks. I dumped my sleeping bag in my bivvy outside homecoming and we began to make our way back to the Col at quarter to ten in the morning.
<p>
The Usually 1 hour Homecoming to Col walk was inflated to over 2 by the requirement for regular breaks, general sluggishness expected from two considerably unwell people and difficult nav on the currently un-reflectored route.
<p>
We eventually made it back to the Col and then dragged ourselves down to the carpark arriving promtly at half one to be met by a relieved looking Jono and Phil B, who supplied us with energy tablets and chocolate.
<p>
Moral of the story - EXPO should invest in microscopic gas cylinder technology, there's some smart people here I'm sure they could figure something out.
I'm going to bed now,
good night.
Jacob
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<divclass="triptitle">basecamp - Heute ist Domstag</div>
Delayed Onset Muscle Stiffness my walk up to StoneBridge a couple of days ago.
<p>
A bit of a disturbance last night as Marie was a bit ill after coming out of a cave and could not make the walk back to camp and had to bivvy on the plateau with Jacob. Wookey took her a sleeping bag.
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<divclass="triptitle">basecamp - A stroll from afar</div>
Today, I got to sit on my seat, relaxing outside, munching on chips, and sipping a Gösser, while Balister hiked up the Tressensteinwarte to see if we could get a signal on our new Meshtastic systems.
This is the first step to enabling me to run the expo from the Tatty Hut 24/7. This is truly "Ultimate Power."
Let's see if he gets a parking ticket as he sprints back down the hill...
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<p>In the evening Phil B and Jono went up to play with radios and to find Isaac (who apparently had been taking more than 5 hours to get to Garlic with Sieds), Anthony & Ruairidh went up to stay at top camp. All in PB's car.
<divclass="triptitle">homecoming - Failed pushing but excellent sidequests</div>
We set off from Garlic Camp to homecoming vaguely early in the morning which was a very welcome change, 20 minutes downhill walking which was lovely as long as you didn't think about the walk back up. Isaac had joined our motley crew the night before and was <em>very</em> excited for a big trip (read: scared to be beasted by Charlotte and James).
<p>
While we were faffing at the entrance we ran into Wassil. The plan had been to use some of the rope we'd taken out of the cave from last year's leads and Wassil and co. had washed and brought back out the hill. Wassil told Charlotte they needed all the rope for second coming which put a bit of a dampener on the trip as we were pretty sure we didn't have enough to reach the watershed pushing front. Ah well, might as well get as far as we could.
<p> Nothing very eventful happened in the entrance series; I shat myself mildly less on the traverse at the bottom of Grommit that the two previous times (progress!) and rewarded myself with a piss in the streamway. It was to be the first of many.
<p>
We sadly continued on past the nice pile of rope and up the dodgy muddy rope that led to watershed. The best event in this section was that James refound my breaking-crab which I was extremely happy -and vaguely sentimental- about. James rebolted a scary corner traverse which made it 10% less scary. It went sandy crawl, sandy crawl, muddy crawl, muddy puddles interspersed with a few pitches till the top of Strained by Gravity.
<p> Here Isaac, Charlotte and I waited for James to rig what we haden't got to two days before. James made some strange grunts and groans which we elected to ignore. In the meantime Charlotte read another chapter of our bedtime story (Into Thin Air) and Isaac told us about the trials and tribulations of his job. We eventually got the all clear and descended to find James annoyed as the pitch lengths and rope lengths aligned unsatisfactorily and he'd had to turn back for several missed deviations. His mood was not improved by having missed a chapter of story-time.
<p> After another piss for bravery we continued to the many many metres of traverses. I was pleasantly surprised by how not scary it was, the mud was slippy but they weren't very exposed and sliding over on my knees eventually became fun.
Many slidy sandy bits through flow-stone canyon led to the top of The Sound of Water which Isaac offered to re-bolt and rig. James and I took a group piss then cuddled to keep warm and made up verses to Hard Caver:
<p><em> We rigged in Homecoming for many a day
<p> pirates stole our rope and for that they will pay
<p> we slid down traverses, got covered in sand
<p> then ran out of rope so the pushing got canned </em>
<p> At this point we decided to turn around. Isaac produced the first iconic quote of the day, not three metres into prussicing: 'I want to kill myself'. I took another piss (at this point questioning how much water i must have drunk) and we let him get a head start out the traverses. We spent a faffy time surverying a side lead (a traverse leading off flowstone canyon). James got sketched out after 4 or so points and we headed off.
<p> I realised i still had my jacket and hat on half way up Strained by Gravity and nearly expired of heat. At the top we met up with Isaac, collected the brew kit and headed on to the top of Sump Bypass where we ate some moderately sandy noodles with a spanner. I took a piss to celebrate. Isaac really seemed like he needed them and produced iconic quote no. 2: 'I feel like fried chicken before it's fried; covered in mud then breaded in sand'.
<p> Isaac and Charlotte headed out whilst James and I took a detour to survey Heifer. We had to drain a bit of a static sump and tried not to contemplate falling in. the actual aven through the wet bit was extremely cool and James excitedly took disto points while I stood on a rock and tried to keep up on book. It seemed like it went up 40 metres! We christened it Cow-Lick (as it was drippy) and as a few hours had now past we headed out. I had one final piss, by this point even James was concerned.
the entrance series dragged on a bit, especially as James had to isolate a shagged section on Grommit and the Wallace rope was still 2013 (agh). By Radagast I was dreaming of Gosser, Chips and my book so the final pitch to the surface was very welcome.
<p> Outside Homecoming we met Charlotte and Issac who made one final iconic quote: 'being out of the cave feels better than loosing my virginity'. We headed back very tiredly to the sweet damp embrace of Garlic Camp. Great trip.
<divclass="triptitle">Surface - Looking for entrances from the Oberwasseralm path</div>
I cycled up to the far end of Altaussee lake and walked up the path towards Hochklapfsattel (towards Wildensee) to have a good look at the side of the Loser massif below the Stoger Weg. [I am still looking for the entrance making the Howling Draft in the Futility Series in 115, which is 60m from the surface.]
<p>
The cycle path along the south side of the lake is now stopped after half way, and bicycles have to trog up the hill and go along the track, which is
<ul>
<li>A worse surface
<li>in the full sun, not in the nice shade
<li>A totally unnecessary extra 80m of ascent which I really did not like
</ul>
They really don't like cyclists I feel.
<p>
Anyway I parked the bike at the "No Cycling" notice at the bottom of the track up (where going left would go to Stummern Alm) and walked up 3km (+400m) to Oberwasseralm.
<p>It is mostrously dramatic: not only are you right underneath the Trisselwand but the Loser massif (Vor.SMK) Weisse Wand is huge and very steep.
<p>I did spot, I think, (on the opposite slope of the Loser above/beside the Weisse Wand) the steep grassy field with an entrance at the top end which Chas and Planc found in 1983 and which I revisited in 2017.
<divclass="triptitle">Surface - Entrance hunting towards Griesskogel</div>
<p>The objective for today was to head over towards the Griesskogel camp used by ARGE some years ago to find a few of their caves that are in interesting places given what we have recently found in deep Balkonhöhle. We also planned to swing by a few caves that were lacking entrance photos to rectify the shortfall. Ruairidh was also keen to drop an undescended pitch in 2012-ns-07 (aka 2016#01), so we took drill, rope SRT kit etc.</p>
<p>In the course of our wanderings, we came across an interesting rusty artefact. The base camp brains trust reckons this to be a reserve fuel tank likely jettisoned from a second world war era plane.</p>
<imgsrc="/expofiles/photos/2024/AnthonyDay/mysterious-crash-wreckage.jpg"style="transform:rotate(270deg); object-fit:contain; object-position: left top;"width=400pxheight=400px>
<p>Our first target was to find the entrance to 1623/261. This is a fairly insignificant cave: <100m long, <50m deep. The interesting feature is that the cave is aligned with development in deep Balkonhöhle, specifically Charon, so I was interested to discover if there were any obvious similarly aligned surface features. Sure enough, the 1623/261 entrance was found to be in the side of a chossy gully. We didn't have a compass, so cannot confirm the alignment, but it seems highly probable that this surface feature is related to development of 1623/261 and deep Balkonhöhle. (There is another similarly aligned ARGE cave - Haldenloch (appears not to have a number) - that is further away to the northeast that we didn't visit.)</p>
<p>We also found the campsite used by ARGE some years ago, identified as the flat area of limestone complete with hangers that they used to fasten their tents to. Immediately above this campsite, we found the entrance to Griesskogelschacht (1623/232).</p>
<p>On our way home, we stopped off at 2012-ns-07 (tagged as 2016#01). Ruairidh headed down in dry grots while I sat in the sun offering advice on thrubolt placement technique and rock quality from a vantage point 15m away where I couldn't actually see what was going on. Two bolts later, Ruairidh made it to the bottom which appears to be choked with boulders (though someone in an oversuit may prove more willing to absolutely confirm that). There is also an upgoing unexplored passage (QM B). Not super promising, but probably worth a return visit. If the cave goes anywhere, it is likely to connect to the upper levels of Balkonhöhle.</p>
<p>In the course of our wanderings we took photos of the following entrances:</p>
<ul>
<li>2012-dd-01</li>
<li>2012-ns-05</li>
<li>2012-ns-06</li>
<li>2012-ns-07, aka 2016#01</li>
<li>2012-ns-09</li>
<li>2012-ns-10</li>
<li>2012-ns-12</li>
</ul>
<p>All photos have been added to the relevant cave page (except where an existing entrance photo could be resurrected). With the exception of 2012-dd-01, all other caves should now have sufficient information to be added to the Kataster. There is a 2022 survey of 2012-ns-05 and 2012-ns-06 that is not in the dataset; the survex file is very sparse and contains no clues as to where the connecting points should be.</p>
Due to circumstances I would love to describe as 'out of my control', but alas cannot, I ended up wearing the same pair of underwear for a walk up to the plateau, for a night at garlic, down homecoming the next day, another night in garlic, and a walk back down to base camp. Unsurprisingly to some (and by "some" I here mean "everyone but student cavers") they ended up carrying a rather pungent odour into the following day. In the absence of someone inventing a way to send scents through the medium of text, I'll leave you with James Waite's thoughts on the smell as 'ohh that's rather like a strong camembert'.
<p>
Lessons learnt: 1) Bring spare underwear for a multi-day trip. 2) Find time to change underwear on said multi-day trip.
<p>
Actions carried forward: Null.
<P>
Isaac
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James was shown how to scan survey notes, put them in a plastic wallet, and create the corresponding online wallet.
<p>Lara was shown how to type up a logbook entry online, but she (sensibly) bailed on typing up the survey data when faced with the full complexity of the survex system in troggle..
We had a lot of fun, walking up to Top Camp to deliver some supplies, including two Tofu Paneer curries intended for my consumption. Once at Top Camp, I reviewed the behavior of meshtastic nodes about the plateau. Chat performance is good, but some units are not updating positions consistently This needs more study. Jono ran the Stone Bridge fixed node to the top of Niederes augst-eck. This gives the mesh good coverage over Balkon area and much, much further, Jono was giggling like a radio amateur after working Scarborough Reef. I setup mqtt access to a node and packets where sighted in Virginia on a server operated by Phil Benchoff.
Future work: Rename channels so we can pass telemetry over an expo specific channel, test bridging the plateau to the potato hut via mqtt. Setup Anthony's cellular wifi at top camp to help support bridging. Figure out why the GPS is a pain on some units. And figure out why Meshtastic won't run on wookey's phone.
The data logger had been extracted from Traungold where it had been all winter. Minimum temp -4.9 C which then went up to 0.1 C and was very stable for months when it was presumably buried in snow.
<p>
Created new folder as expofiles/datalogger/ where I have put the data, exported data (xls, txt) a .db3 file which was lurking and the 88MB Windows control software. There is also Apple s/w.
<p>You can extract the PDF file without software by just plugging the device into a USB port, where it appears as a disc drive containing just the pdf.
Tess arrived, and cooked the evening slop + rice (with Lara) for the canyoning [Strubklamm] team. A fine evening with much conviviality. ABout a dozen people down at base.
<divclass="triptitle">homecoming - There and there and there and back again</div>
When I emerged from homecoming and realised the stars were only just still visible because it was dawn I seriously considered if I'd left some of my sanity down by the pushing front. We had finished faffing and started descending around midday the day before, a solid 16 and a half hours ago.
<p>
I had cleverly left my undersuit and thermals down the hill (where i had tried and failed to wash them) so before we left I had an emergency call with Issac, who was on Plateau Porter duties. For the actual trip I borrowed Marie's oversuit, conveniently left outside and Charlotte's leggings. Thanks everyone. The undersuit was very thick which although I was boiling all the way to Radagast was very welcome later in the day.
<p>
After a pretty slow descent (fixing lights, faffing with ropes e.t.c) we got to the split off to watershed where James and I continued ahead while Charlotte waited for Jacob. We headed all the way to the end of the sandy traverses and the beginning of flowstone canyon, noting on the way at the water-filling-drip that the water levels must be very low. I also reflected on how much bigger Strained by Gravity was than I remembered, 70 metres back up didn't sound so fun.
<p>
The mood was a little down at this point because both James and I had realised that the late start and faff meant we were in for a very long trip if we wanted to reach the pushing front which slightly scrapped the plan of two days in a row down homecoming. Still, we poked around the top of Flowstone canyon to pass the time; into the rift we'd surveyed a few days before (still not traversable without bolts) and up to the higher level passage. Jacob and Charlotte showed up around 4:30 so we offered to survey this higher level passage in the rift to see where it went while they rigged Sound of Water.
<p>
We had a pretty fun time doing this, and got some nice 10 metre legs. It felt entertainingly sketchy because the floor had a changing rift in it with piles of sand, gravel and dust on top of it so wherever you stepped seemed to send avalanches of floor onto the passage below. James declared it was like murder holes in castles so it was promptly named 'portcullis passage'. After passing some nice helictites, James, who was ahead with the disto shouted back that it ended in a wet chamber with a tackle sack in it. Very strange. We realised pretty much simultaneously that we were actually looking down onto the chamber we had sat in (and pissed in) the last trip while waiting for the pitch to be rebolted and Charlotte had left the bag in it this time as well. I dashed round the long way into the chamber and James shot a leg down from the window he had emerged in 5 metres above me, closing the loop.
<p>
After this entertainment was over we sat pretty cosily in a bothy bag, had a cuddle, listened to James' music and waited for the all clear. This also gave us plenty of time to come up with another half Hard Caver verse, this time:
<palign=center><em/>When caving with Charlotte it's prussic galore
<palign=center>You won't leave the cave till it's gone half past four
<p></em> the second half would be written later during noodles:
<palign=center><em>We dropped a few pitches and surveyed the lot
<palign=center> By the time we get out we will wish we'd be shot
<p> When the pitch was rigged we zoomed down it, did a bit of spikey rift waling/traversing, rigged Alpine Showers and finally reached the pushing front. Unfortunately the mood was a little down. Charlotte was very cold and we all were aware it was 8, the time we'd agreed to turn around. I was also trying not to think about the fact my whole leg had got splashed descending Alpine Showers which meant I really should turn around rather than get hypothermia.
James declared he would put in a few traverse bolts along a ledge while we began turning round. Surprise, surprise that's not what happened. We chatted and made the executive decision it would be stupid late anyway so we might as well push the cave and make it an even later trip. The next day's caving would be sacked off unless we fancied an evening all night trip (that did not happen). Charlotte had also put on her spare layers so we all got up and got excited again.
The water shot off from where we were standing down a rift in the floor but it was easy to walk round the side for 4 or 5 metres. James put in a traverse line and then much discussion was had at the best place for a y-hang, as all the rock was a bit shit. Eventually he put one on the same wall and a deviation on a lovely huge flake that went from the left wall to the centre of the rift. we descended and added in another traverse following above the stream where it kept dropping. All the time I was swearing at the waterproof paper but getting very excited at how big the passage was and the general concept of treading on ground that had never been stepped on before.
James dropped another pitch and, having run out of bolts, drilled a thread for the deviation: very Yorkshire. The stream became very lovely and shallow here at a very gently angle so we walked along the bottom. This nice passage led to me later naming it 'My Favourite Things' following the Sound of Music theme. (James added that it was also a good name because he was caving with his favourite people: awww).
The roof of the rift dropped till it was right above us and the stream plummeted into the floor. It we felt like we were in the Gods, dropping rocks 25 metres into the stream below. Here, having ran out of bolts and rope we sadly had to turn back, with the slightly alarming realisation it was already 11.
The way out was a little hellish. Starting off well, I dropped an apple sized rock directly on Charlotte's helmet. Earlier I'd realised that Jacob's leg loop was not only not doubled over but was about 2mm from coming out. Excellent safety practices all round.
Flowstone canyon with a big bag, caving alone was I'm pretty sure somewhere close to a lot of peoples idea of torture. I had to repeatedly toss the bag up squeezy climbs then do them myself with shot legs. Charlotte caught up with me and cajoled me over the traverses, with chocolate and patience. She also offered to carry the bag up Strained by Gravity and the other small pitches. What a legend. The scent of noodles and promise of water pushed me on to the bottom of Sump Bypass where James and Jacob waited. Here the second half of the Hard Caver verse was written.
It now being 1am we were a bit delirious. Jacob went the wrong way and took a detour down Heiffer and Charlotte and James decided to try rerigging and rebolting Wallace and Grommit. It seriously needed doing but you could not have paid me. After a long slow prussic I emerged at 4:30, Jacob before 5. James looked shattered but pulled himself out 20 minutes later and Charlotte a bit after that around 6.
<p> The sun shone off the mountain and through the wild flowers as we walked up the hill to Garlic Camp. Despite how my legs felt, at that moment I was extremely happy.
Sieds has sorted out the printer properly. We have new Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black cartridges in today. The Blue cartridge is at 10% and there is a new Blue cartridge in an OPENED box and bag under the bench which should be used to replace it at the end of Expo 2024.
<p>
There is also a completely new OPENED Black cartridge under the bench in a box.
<p>There were several old cartridges in opened boxes and bags, but were unlabeled as to which were good (unused) and which were bad and empty. Sieds has sorted it all out.
<p> So we are probably good with this printer and have enough toner for expo 2025.
<divclass="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
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In 2023, I was poking around the area around dm-04 while Ash surveyed it with possibly Eli from Cardiff. There are several interesting shafts in the area, including the one I dropped today. This shaft was under a fissure with a few boulders in the roof. Rocks dropped in create an impressive BOOM.
<p>
On the trip back from Garlic, Isaac and I visited the shaft with actual vertical gear and some Petzl Pulses. While Isaac nipped down to Homecoming to find a drill bit, I scouted the rigging. The rock at the top was a bit funky due to frost etc. After a bit of beating, I identified places to set some pulses. Isaac returned with the drill and I quickly drilled a few holes and placed the pulses.
<p>
I expected to drop into a large chamber, but instead found myself in 2.5 meter diameter shaft that went down at 15 meters. The result was very disappointing, but my rigging and the pulses exceeded expectations, so we called it a win for the day.
<p>
Isaac went to drop the drill and rope back at Garlic while I did a quick survey of the cave. I tied to the dm04 tag, but that leg is a bit estimated since it was too bright to use the disto effectively.
<divclass="triptitle">basecamp - Cheese banned from expo shopping?</div>
A breach of our human rights!
<p>
I feel I speak for all when I say we are flabbergasted, dismayed and in some cases angered by the decision to bar cheese from further expedition shopping...
<p>
The simple coagulated dairy product has been a mainstay of our expedition goers diet since we first arrived. The morale boost acquired by placing a luscious, creamy strip of Gouda into one's mouth cannot be overstated.
<p>
By relegating cheese to being a so-called "personal item" it forces expedition goers to balance their own need for a morale boost with their personal financial circumstances, creating potentially, a delicate class divide between those on the frontier. It also calls into question if the expedition command truly have the attendees best interests at heart.
<p>
An army marches on it's stomach. Expedition caving is no different. Happy cavers are effective cavers and by removing access to our most favorite food I believe the expedition command has actively damaged the lengths and depth prospects for exploration going forward.
<p>
I implore expedition command to reconsider their decision. I sympathize that it may be awkward in the short term, however I hope they would agree with me that it is better to loose face than to loose life.
<p>
In the event of inaction on this issue, I am afraid we will be forced to consider further action.
<p>
Signed: The people of the plateau.
<divclass="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
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<divclass="triptitle">Balcony - Balcony Camp Set up and the Pushing Begins</div>
I love camping in unusual places and so I was excited, if not a little apprehensive for an underground camp. This would be my first surveying trip and my first trip after becoming quite in ill in Homecoming and so the fear of everything that could go wrong so deep underground for so long was quite high but luckily the thrill of adventure triumphed in the end. I was in good hands with two very experienced expo goers and offered great advice whilst packing for the trip - a special shout out to the raisins and seeds that Anthony packed which made our morning porridge significantly more palatable. I was worried we would be stuck at top camp in the pouring rain but it turns out I never fully understood the meaning of caving faff until I helped pack for an underground camp. We were only just about ready when the rain lessened up around 4pm and so we took advantage of the weather window and scampered across the plateau through a thick mist, hopes high that nothing too important had been forgotten. <p> We were already commenting on the ridiculous amount of gear we had to lug through the entrance series but a couple more parcels of tackle sack joy awaited us on the way since Mongol Rally still hadn't finished being rigged. An epic train of tackle sacks had to be ferried through the crawl at the top of Mongol Rally. I was tasked with scurrying up the muddy slope so that Wookey could hook his foot around the straps. The largest bag only just barely fit through. Anthony and I gave Wookey a head start to rig and rebolt and as I heard his woohoos as he abseiled into the abyss, I tried to absorb his gleeful energy and not think about the fourth tackle bag waiting for me at one of the rebelays. I started off a bit shaky but soon I was on my way, my efficiency improving with each rebelay until one of the hanging ones towards the end when I could not physically unweight my cowstails there was so much weight tugging at my harness. Once again, my despair was lightened by a cry of glee from Wookey as he had just finished rigging the final swing to the pit stop after much swinging about although mainly because I heard the word bag. Sure enough, Wookey once again came to my rescue and soon we were all down, Anthony not having the same problems I did but probably carrying more weight. (to be continued, I'm off to the lake)
<divclass="timeug">T/U: 48.0 hours</div>
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Got a paynefully early start up the hill with Charlotte and team, then she set a blistering pace for a payneful trog up to the col, arriving at 09:25, where I thankfully left the party and headed off leftwards behind the Braüning wall at a more reasonable pace.
My aim was to explore the possibilities of the Geschwandalm area as a potential forward base for bringing gear up to the plateau in case the new cable car system proves difficult, and longer term as a possible partial replacement for the Gasthof campsite when property values eventually force our squalid encampment further away from the gentile tourist areas.
There is no roadhead at Geschwandalm, but the meadow above it on the path just below the lip of the edge of the plateau would make a fine campsite. (We would need to bring our own electric fence though, the cows were friendly enough but one of them was very big and I wouldn't fancy getting stepped on while in my pit.) No flies to speak of and no horseflies.
The path along the bottom of the Braüning wall is not well marked at all at the col end, but mostly is well cairned and the cuts through the pine scrub are well maintained. It could be a useful route for a stretcher party if that was needed in this area. I lost the path again around the Geshwandalm huts (alt. ~1540m) in the multitude of cow tracks but found it again at the stream just below the main grassy area.
<imgwidth=20%href="/years/2024/images/path-through-woods.jpg"src="/years/2024/images/path-through-woods.jpg"><br>The path from there to where it intersects the driveable track is narrow and not motorable (unless on a scrambler bike). It is an easy gradient and was a 50 minute easy amble to the track.
At the track there is a wider area a hundred metres or so away (southwards) which could be a gear trans-shipment area and campsite if necessary (alt. ~1380m). There is a busy stream (~ 0.5 litres a second) a couple of hundred metres away. It is clearly a forestry road (blocked by cut trunks in places) and we would need to talk to the forestry people. The track joins the ski-lift tracks below the Löser Hütte and then into the toll road. The other way along the track connects to Bla Alm (signposted, and confirmed by Mark Shinwell) so could be an alternative if we can't use the toll road.
Track online at <ahref="/expofiles/gpslogs/2024/PhilipSargent/2024-07-21_geschwandalm.gpx">/expofiles/gpslogs/2024/PhilipSargent/2024-07-21_geschwandalm.gpx</a>.
<br>Bing <ahref="https://www.bing.com/maps/?cp=47.6652%7E13.763353&lvl=17.6&style=h">aerial photos show the forestry track</a> and much of the path from Geschwandalm, it shows that the track does not go to Bla Alm at all, but apparently ends only about 150m beyond where the path joins it.
<divclass="triptitle">Homecoming - A satisfying but not very useful result</div>
Slavedriver Payne woke us up early and we got up the hill vaguely fast (despite Chi's moderate faff). Unfortunately further faff then occurred at the entrance to Homecoming. This included further effort towards the Gordian Knot from the first Homecoming trip, which concluded in Chi doing an Alexander the Great. We ended up with two ropes. Chi also spent <em> some </em> time reconstructing a pantin from two broken ones (it didn't work). Clearly one person was the issue here. *editorial note: it would transpire that Lara concluded faffing a good 20 mins after the futile pantin was birthed*
<p>
Harry and Charlotte entered early to rerig and apparently faffed for an ungodly amount of time. Chi and I got underground at 12:40 collecting Charlotte's Pantin, which she had ironically managed to forget after it had been used as a model for the Frankenpantin. Much faff followed this as well: we raced down to the top of Wallace where we met Harry coming up the pitch. He had somehow managed some mess involving a dropped drill bag, a random pitch and disgustingly twisty rope. All was retrieved and the rope was replaced.
<p>
Chi zoomed down to join Charlotte and de-rig Heifer for rope while I coiled the old shit 2013 11mil (it was not a pretty job). Harry and I sat kindly waiting for each other to finish 5 minutes after both of us had, without saying anything.
<p>
On the way to the pushing front only one eventful thing happened. Harry got entertainingly stuck on a pitch-head after descending into the traverse line. He attempted to climb over it at the risk of falling backwards, again, much to my entertainment, before giving up.
<p>
We decided to push the QMA aven at the start of Flowstone Canyon. Chi and I pushed a lovely big rock down it first. Nice stuff. <b>EDITORIAL NOTE it was at the end of Watershed, the aven isn't in Flowstone Canyon </b>. Chi spent 20 slow minutes putting in bolts while we layered up. He was frustrated at how slow the drill was until it was pointed out to him that it was in reverse. Chi blamed DeWalt. He then claimed that some strange mineral vein had fucked his drill bit, which turned out to be entirely flat at the tip. With the drill bit swapped, he tried to put it in the same hole and fucked the second bit a little too. We eventually dropped the pitch.
<p>
The bottom had a potential camping place (whooo). It was drippy on the pitch side of the pot but dry on the other with a flat rocky area you could potentially fit four sleepers in. Chi also realised I had left his down jacket at the top of the pitch thinking it was the emergency shelter. In my defence they were in identical orange bags.
<p>
After lots and lots of discussion Chi called the chamber 'Peculiar Pot' after the strange large boulders surrounding the camp. I surveyed, Harry drilled and we dropped a pitch down the rift on the other side. What followed was a lot of wiggly rift with a pitch at the end. Due to the strange pitch/traverse Harry rigged which you had to stand in it was dubbed Perverse Pitch which proved itself accurate.
<p>
We agreed to finally turn around once it was dropped, it already being 9pm. Annoyingly, (or not) at the bottom we found the side of the Sound of Water pitch. Loop closure! This of course meant closing the survey loop and derigging what we'd just dropped, making the whole exercise interesting but a little pointless.
<p>
I forgot that Harry's water bottle was in the bottom of my bag, and may have slightly convinced them they were wrong. Harry, desperate for a drink took a sip from a streamway before realising it was a little frothy a few feet upstream. Chi and I had indeed pissed there five minutes before. The dehydration continued as all the other water was used for noodles and Harry had never found his, how mysterious. I was in trouble when I emptied my tackle sack on the surface but on the plus side denying Harry basic human necessities slowed him down behind me on the entrance series.
<p>
Harry and Charlotte slowed themselves down by doing some more Wallace fettling. Chi and I got out at the lovely hour of 3am and napped for the 15 minutes before they caught up. I got deja vu as we headed up to Garlic and immediately passed out. A very long, very fun day.
<divclass="triptitle">Homecoming 359 - Second Coming Re-rig</div>
A hot, heavy walk up from Base Camp saw Sieds and Becka underground at 14.30. At the short drop with a high rebelay before Wallace and Grommit Sieds had accidentally dropped a large, loose rock on his last trip. Unfortunately, he now realised that the huge rock next to this previous rock was also extremely loose. We were aware that there was already a trip below us in Homecoming but the other rock was extremely loose so I derigged the next rebelay and prussiked up to the high rebelay and held the rope out of the way. Sieds then gently pushed the giant rock and it immediately toppled. I then headed down cautiously. The rope initially looked fine but at the Y-hang rebelay for the final long hang the Y-hang arm had been cored and the knot also looked to be damaged. I painstakingly got the knot out and tied out as much as I could then we headed down, leaving a warning not for the other group.
<p>
We went to Second Coming and, at the first traverse, wondered why it was rigged 5m above the obvious floor so Sieds scrambled down and checked it was OK to walk down. I derigged the first traverse, releasing four short ropes and plenty of metalware and we put in a short handline to the floor to replace it. We then checked out other lower sections and went to the third traverse. This was, mysteriously, rigged on the right wall, wandering up and down it. Sieds began to rig a more straightforward and easy traverse along the left wall but he ran out of time to complete it.
<p>
We got out of the cave at midnight and Sieds walked to Garlic camp and I walked to Top Camp with a full moon and no wind. I could see and hear Sieds as he approached Garlic when I was almost at Top Camp, it was so still and silent. It was nearly 2am before I got to Top Camp and I crept around making food trying not to disturb anyone - I didn't realise until the next morning that there was nobody else there.
<divclass="timeug">T/U: 9.5 hours</div>
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After a rather eventful walk up the plateau summiting a mountain on my travels. I arrived to a concerned Becka and James about to come looking for me. On a side note would not recommend carrying caving kit and camping kit in one go it sucks. The next few hours were spent waiting for the previous camping trip to exit the cave so we knew what to take and do once underground. The other group - Wookey, Marie and Anthony - arrived at top camp at around 18:30 where we discussed their progress. Apparently it involved lots of swearing at far too many tackle bags on the way down the various pitches. Opting to eat dinner at top camp we continued to faff, getting underground for 20:00. This would be our last daylight for 65 hours.
<p>
Due to James and I not knowing the way to camp we had a guided tour of Balkonhoehle by Becka which slightly slowed progress taking 4hrs to reach camp. I was using my rack much to James's entertainment. I proceeded to drink half a litre of very cold water causing me to shiver. This would be the coldest I was all trip. When in our sleeping bags I apparently fell asleep far too quickly in comparison to a jealous Becka who was still cold. I was very warm and had a great nights sleep.
<p>
The tour of Balkonhoehle continued on the first day after a slow start. We found a couple of draughty A leads near camp which would be good for another team to look at if they're down for a short day. Once at Northern Powerhouse we dropped the big pitch as someone had to do it, resulting in a lovely 50m pitch which went nowhere. Becka nearly had a big rock land on her head when it fell out of the wall when James lent on it. Luckily the big rock went nowhere and only a little one went down. This would become a trend of our trip. Having used up all our thru-bolts to push the pitch and being a little late we decided to scope out our leads for the next day. This involved going to the lead in the chamber surveyed on the previous camping trip and digging a boulder choke to bypass a pitch. Once we realised it was going we left and James squashed his knee behind a rock. Becka was very concerned, thinking James had seriously either squashed or trapped his arm. I rammed myself into a very tight, horizontal, sharp and rifty squeeze where I bailed out due to rescue being impossible. We then looked at some other leads which needed killing. We went back to camp for an early night in preparation for a big pushing day the next day.
<p>
The gas stove required much love to actually work at cooking our dinner. On another side note the gas stove could do with being replaced with a stove with a pre-warming gas loop, otherwise you have no chance of cooking anything quickly.
An earlier start than the previous day left us with plenty of time to kill many leads. We set off to yesterday's dig to put in the pitch above as we now had bolts to bypass the sketchy boulder choke. Here I learnt to bolt under observation from James. Two more pitches were found and bolted. At the bottom of the second pitch I had to return to the top, while James and Becka surveyed our new found shafts, I was sent to collect the 50m rope for the 3rd pitch and some more flapjack. On the way back to the others 2 false floors collapsed underneath me while on a traverse line resulting in a disgruntled Becka, appropriately so. The 3rd pitch had some slightly more inventive rigging due to a low amount of bolts left. Here I had a conversation while bolting which was not a good idea, resulting in unset bolts which I had to be reminded to set. The 3rd pitch finished at a muddy tube so it ended rather depressingly.
After having de-rigged we had no thru-bolts to rig anything so we pushed a couple of horizontal ramps on the way to Tartarus which all connected to themselves quite entertainingly. There seems to be a big, wet boulder choke where all the leads crap out. We then headed further in to a QMB, which was lovely wide passage until it again died while on top of a boulder false floor on top of a big drop. We all got scared and ran away.
On the way back to camp we replaced the old (2012) rope from the Northern Powerhouse up-pitch and also surveyed a short side passage. I ran away to camp to make a start on dinner while the surveying was done. An inventory was taken and an early night was had.
A very early morning and a relatively faff-less start was achieved. Mongol Rally was quickly started by Becka. I tried to make my life easier by abseiling out of the window on an Italian hitch with my jammers on the up rope. The plan failed when the carabiner failed to open, resulting in me having to untie the rope from the natural it was secured to in order to feed it through my carabinier to then try again. James was not impressed and made sure to hold onto the rope. Once this first obstacle was passed I was off, being chased by James and trying to keep up with Becka, which didn't happen. My pantin and croll weren't being helpful, making my life very unpleasant. Much suffering was gone through trying to exit, much to everyone else's entertainment. The exhaustion caught up at the bottom of the entrance series. Much flapjack was consumed, giving me a second wind. I exited to Becka going telling me that we were behind schedule and cracking the whip.
<divclass="triptitle">basecamp - Arrival and rain</div>
Mark Shinwell arrived in an electric van (hired) and in the early evening Jono's new huge tap at the end of the hut (put up yesterday) got tested by a downpour.
<divclass="triptitle">Basecamp - Festering and computers at the end of time</div>
Isaac and I were tasked with writing up 2023's unfinished logbook writeups. After overwhelming Philip with website bugs and general stress we each decided to go on missions of self discovery to stave off a complete mental break.
<p>
Isaac went for a swim in the lake, he will have to edit this post to share how that went but if this text remains we can oblly assume that he wishes for his experience to remain between him and the waters of grundlesee (should this be the case please respect his privacy and do not harass him for details of his experience).
<p>
I went for a a quick walk up the nearby Gallhofkogel, lovely views(which I would put here were I an expereinced enough nerd) and a good few benches to sit enjoy a packed lunch.
<divclass="triptitle">Menstrual Tunnel - My first underground trip abroad</div>
I asked Jono for him to teach me to survey and which he enthusiastically agreed. The next morning he came up with a grin telling me to grab my helmet and my swimming costume????? and get in the landy. We arrived in a car park with Jono keeping the plan quiet and walked us alo0ng the river opposite a chinese. Across the river under the chinese was a small tunnel. It was a battle to get into the tunnel with the strong torrent of water trying to push us down. I mistakenly volunteered to go in to mark the survey point with my finger and was instantly hit by slime underfoot and a grotesque smell. I concealed my disgust and headed in. The others took their time learning about the survey device and choosing their spot. Then they entered with much dramatica, Jono gagging and threatening to throw up, Aidan doing his best to avoid the slime and Jacob quietly disgusted. At this point we noticed the used menstrual products next to me and the strong scent of fecal matter. We sped up the process with Aidan valiantly fighting the cobwebs. Much surveying was learnt and ready to try in an actual trip. We made a quick escape all taking time to wash thoroughly in the river.
<p>
Lesson learnt: Be wary of Jono's ideas. Ask more questions.
<divclass="timeug">T/U: 0.2 hours</div>
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<divclass="triptitle">Plateau - First Plateau Crossing</div>
It's Rosa and I's first expo and it was Tom's first time up to Garlic camp. We had lots of fun navigating our way across, mostly playing join the dots orienteering style. We bumped into Rosa, Lara, Chi, and Harry who had finished prospecting just before the Homecoming junction. It took us about 3.5 hours to get to HC where I left my caving kit and Rosa and Tom left their camping kit. On the return journey we found the autobahn and followed it, but lost the trail around the traverse climb. The route needs more reflectors but we had a good day and I saw a tiny snake that Rosa did not like at all!
<divclass="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
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Yesterday Jacob and Isaac got round a duplication problem with logbook entry by overwriting an existing entry - which meant that a dozen entries from 2023 were typed up, but all overwriting the same entry. (So these now need to be recovered from the git records).
<p>
One confusing problem was a corrupt entry elsewhere in 2023 which made it seem like a new entry was being edited, when it wasn't (which was only on the server and could not be reproduced on dev machine at base).
<p>
We now have a new <em>expoadmin</em> capability of easily deleting logbook entries online. Also troggle is not producing duplicate entries any more. Ridiculous amount of effort, sorry guys.
<divclass="triptitle">Homecoming - Swinging into the Tube</div>
Following the walk across the plateau with everyone and Isaac (who watched us go in before heading off to Garlic), and a lot of faff, we went down the entrance series. Lara lead the way, followed by Rosa, Tom, and then I. Tom had a battle with the entrance pitch - unaided by the 5om of rope I had given him to take down - which required teamwork and feeding him chocolate role like it's an apple to free him.
<p>
I found the entrance series' rigging a bit needlessly hard but when it was explained to me about the usual state of the snow plug it made a lot more sense.
<p>
When we got down to the top of Radogast I got all my bolting kit together and abbed down on the fixed rope with the rope for the pitch in the bag on my hip. (You can probably guess what's coming up!) When about 7m down there was a lovely flat as anything wall of rock where I put a rebelay in, but not before using a wide range of climbing moves to pull myself in and get my skyhook on. Annoyingly, the skyhook popped as I was getting a bolt out the bag so I had to do that very physical part twice. It was about here that I discovered that alpine caves didn't feel as cold as I believed they would be - owing to quite how dry they are. I was positively cooking!
<p>
Once I got the bolts in I threw the end of my rope up to Lara to rig on the pitch-head so I could rig the rebelay and come back up - my legs were going a bit too tingly for my liking! At the top I learnt the others were quite cold but I needed a moment to regain use of my legs because they'd become quite painful. With renewed blood flow to my lower limbs I abbed back down, got embarrassingly stuck on my rebelay (small cowstail crab got pinned and wouldn't come out), abbed down, did some swinging back and forth and then left and right so I was swinging round in a circle so I could grab another bit of rock, hook it and pull myself in. Placed one bolt and then did a fairly scary traverse out on my cowstails trying not to whip into the void of Radogast as I clambered into the tube and placed my final bolt.
<p>
Once all that was finished being rigged Lara came down to see (the first bolt of the traverse line spun a bit (It was being pulled in every direction), she joined me, we left the rope and the bag behind and made our way out (Lara tightened the bolt to perfection - I think a forgot to clean all the clay off first time round). I have absolutely no idea how they got into here in 2018 except maybe running off the top of the pitchhead and doing a massive rope rub pendulum into it!
<p>
The others had already started their own way out, having got cold and bored - sorry! We followed out and there I caught up with Tom who had had a scary moment with his D-ring spinning and the harness trying to open the triact lock! We made our way out and by the end I was peeling off clothes like I was in Spain!
A very cool bit of SRT bolted for me & setup for the future, but unfortunately a very different trip experience for everyone else. (Tom's space blanket shelter is apparently quite amazing though!
<p>
<b> Lara's Note: It was a very entertaining SRT day for me. I hung at the top of Radagast with a great view of Aidan bolting. This also meant I participated in some extended rope based ballet. Aidan and I balanced on one ledge, both connected to two ropes, trying not to topple the other person off. Aidan beautifully bolting a rebelay and then getting stuck on it was also good stuff. </b>
Following yesterdays bolting trip myself and Aidan headed back down to explore a couple of QMAs. We had a smooth entry with no more than the usual level of faff. A couple of slippery climbs down and we reached a pitch that had been surveyed but obviously by much more ballsy cavers than ourselves so we bolted it and rigged the approx. 13m pitch. I got to place my first bolt ever!!! It was very exciting, and I loved it. We had some flapjack and layered up for some surveying. We began surveying down to two QMAs passed the Oxbow. Down to the left was steep and needed rigging so we opted for the right which was down climbable. It resulted in another pitch below but with a slipppery "Banana skin" like mud just in front so PROCEED WITH CARE. When we looked up the pitch we could see that we could make a loop closure!! and as first time expo novices this is quite fun! (and spoiler, loop closure all meets on the survey). We had a peek down another lead we anticipate to join the stream way below the pitch and the plan is to return on Saturday to descend the pitches and continue surveying.
<divclass="timeug">T/U: 6.0 hours</div>
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<divclass="triptitle">Homecoming - The Aborted Camping Trip</div>
Before this entry begins I'd like to make it clear that I feel truly ashamed of my performance (or lack of one) on this trip. I failed to meet the standard expected of one signing onto a trip of this nature, and by this failure I caused a lot of negative attention to be bought onto the trip and my companions.
<br>
I take full responsibility and I am sorry.
<p>
I was a coherent but faffy start to the trip. The plan was that Lara and I would walk down from Garlic to Homecoming, meeting Harry and Chi who'd be walking up from base camp. It was 20 past 10 when we all met up. This sounds completely reasonable, and indeed it is if I neglect to mention that our planned meeting time was 9:30. It hadn't been the most pleasant walk up for poor Chi and Harry, the weather being exceptionally poor when they began their walk. It transpired that they had actually rang everyone in residence at Garlic, with the hope of requesting the trip be scrubbed. Unfortunately, Garlic being a cave, and none of us being awake at 10 to 8 in the morning their attempts were in vein.
<p>
Heavy faff then proceeded to follow for a while. I can't remember how long exactly but 2 hours sounds about right. Trying to get everything adequately into bags + work out what was going where and indeed what we actually had around us was a bit of a task and a half. We took so long in fact that Aiden and Rosa, setting off from garlic far later than Lara and I, managed to get into the cave before us.
<p>
Finally entering the cave with 10 minute intervals between us we had two dense bags each to manipulate through the entrance series. This was the start of my downfall. At the first rifty bit before Radogast I sunk down in the rift wedged by one bag on top of me squashing me down, but unable to lift myself up due to my hip being held taught by the hauling line on the second bag. Getting myself out (after a great deal of help from Lara and Harry) annoyed, slightly shaken, and questioning my abilities somewhat, we pressed on. My next obstacle was to come just moments later at the traverses approaching Wallace. Once again I had difficulties with the bags, never quite having the strength or dexterity to align them in a manner cohesive with good caving. This (and the exact causal relationship im still unaware of) managed to stir up many unpleasant memories of my childhood and teenage years. I then struggled rather too much lifting myself up on each re-belay. The cumulative effect of these events meant I reached the bottom of the pitches in a rather unsettled and uncomfortable state of mind.
<p>
Propane nightmares was up next and I fell well behind moving the, now one bag, along with me. If I may also take a tangent here, I'd like to announce my hatred for the Petzl Portage 30 liter bag. What an dismally stupid idea it was to place the attachment point for the donkey dick 3/4 of the way up the bag rather than at the top. The placement means that every attempt to move it,the bag ends up dragging at an angle, wedging itself on any outcrop that it happens to come by. Dragging the bag through propane nightmares made me feel like I had travelled back in time to 2021 and I was piloting the Ever Given through the Suez Canal.
<p>
By this point I had mentally checked out of the trip and wanted nothing more than to be in the daylight cradling a Gosser and floating around the lake. The thought of strained by gravity, and especially the traverses afterwards filled me with dread. It was also here where the noise from the water falling ahead was noticed, calling into question if a camp would be possible at all. After much deliberation it was decided the others would continue to the camp site, dump the equipment somewhere dry, meanwhile I would huddle at the top of Strained by Gravity in the group shelter, listening to a pod cast and feeling sorry for myself.
<p>
In the group shelter I listened to The Rest Is History podcast episode on the history of British Elections. Very interesting! Eventually the others returned and we started to make our way out of the cave. Chi had his bluetooth speaker with him, and holy fuck drum and bass approaching you at ever increasing volume is a terrifying motivator for getting up pitches quickly. At one of the re belays near the top of Grommit I did have to ask for the music to briefly be paused however, as I worked out how to un string up myself. In a brief lack of focus I forgot to remove the old rope before putting the new one in at the re-belay. It only took a couple of attempted prussics to realise that something had gone rather wrong.<br>
There is a feature on the CT chest jammers which I have been aware of, and often talk about, but have never had to use in the wild.
<br> "The metal ring on the cam catch" I tell freshers, "Is brilliant, as you can actually grip it properly to open it, and if you get jammed, you can clip your footloop through the loop to stamp the cam out if it all goes to shit!". After trying to open the cam by hand at the re belay I quickly realised what I had to do. It is with a great deal of excitement I can announce that the technique worked perfectly. In fact, lost in the relief and excitement of the moment I believe I yelled down the pitch "Fuck yeah, CT, I love you!". The journey out from that point on passed rather unproblematically. Lara had a brief uncomfortable moment when during reaching for a couple of mars bars that had fallen down a rift, she tilted forwards and slipped into said rift unconnected to any traverse line. I'll leave it to her to describe this episode in more detail as my description definitely did not do it justice.
<p>
We got out just gone 7pm, and made our way back down the plateau. I am aware that this is a controversial decision, and one that has no doubt been the subject of much discussion. This log book entry, being written by one member of the party, isolated from his former team mates and their thoughts, is not the place for this discussion. Not wishing to damage the discourse or my party by offering a reasoning, I will avoid giving one till they can consult.
<p>
Only a few more matters to discuss before the end of this entry. Firstly, Casualties. My descender (and footloop and ascender) I like to keep clipped to a side gear loop when not in use. I abhor a cluttered D-Ring. On traversing the rift just before Strained by Gravity on the way out (the one with the corner traverse line) my descender, which must have been inadequately clipped to my gear loop by my numb fingers pinged off and clattered to rest down a 20m unexplored rift. Rescue should be possible if one wanted to push the lead. <br>
Secondly when shaking out a tackle bag at the gear dump, Chi and Harry noticed a mystery item fall out and likewise tumble down a rift. This was my first aid kit. The rift is not a lead and rescue is taken to be impossible.
<p>
We have been told it is important to note that the cave was still wet and drippy even 12 hours after the previous rain. I'm sure this will be typed up on the next set of survey notes.
<p>
This is only one small part of the story, and I'm sure some companion editions would be welcomed and are coming soon from the other members of the trip.
<p>
Finally to my companions I am sorry again. I owe you all a lot of beers.
<p>
Homecoming Camping Trip 24-07-2024 <br>
MIA: Petzl Simple under the command of I.Neale <br>
KIA: Compact First Aid Kit under the command of I.Neale, on secondment to H.Kettle, C.Khulmann
First of all, I'd like to note that turning round was the right decision for the whole group and no blame should be put on anyone. It was too wet to push that day anyway and getting all the camping stuff where it needed to be was a successful effort in itself. Most importantly, if any member of any trip decides for whatever reason they don't want to continue caving the correct thing to do is turn round.
<p>
The actual trip was faffy and tiring, but pretty fun. Entertaining moments include: Chi's absolute horror at the amount of food we brought (half a noodle pack per person is apparently not enough) and the absolute levels of rage we achieved at the ever increasing number of bags. Chi and I capped out at 3 for Strained by Gravity, and Harry at 4.
<p>
The morale was pretty good when we'd had a final snack with Issac but I got a bit unhappy at the watershed traverses, finding the idea of turning round pretty demoralising. Some kind words from Harry and a little helpful bullying from Chi sorted me out. The other two planned to zoom out to see if we could get a lift down the hill before drinking happened at base camp but Harry decided that it was unwise to leave me and Issac at the back alone so waited for me at the top of strained by gravity. Probably a good decision.
<p>
We all zoomed (read with scepticism) out the entrance series to Chi's pounding D and B: very motivating. In my slightly delirious state I tried to rescue a dropped chocolate bar from a slanted rift after Wallace. I would like to state I succeeded in rescuing it, but then my foot loop betrayed me and I ended up stuck head first laughing at myself. Chi rescued me in turn.
<divclass="triptitle">basecamp - Zac Breaks the log book</div>
Zac did break the log book, while waiting around. But Phil got very grumpy about it so he replaced his awesome styling and text with this very boring message.
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[Ed. This action has the approval of the Troggle software maintenance board. :-) ]
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Lift up with Nat, Sarah and Zac, they went off to topcamp and from the col I wandered down and around the near plateau photographing whatever entrances and tags I could find.<br>
<p>Met Becka at about 14:00 at the cairn at 1623-80 on her way back to car park. I noodled a bit more and got back at 15:25 in time for a lift with Phil B and Sandy.<br>
So, you may have noticed I have been eating, so I am slightly less of my normal Grump… The phrase 'type 2 fun' gets thrown around often when discussing caving, where an activity that is not enjoyable at the time becomes enjoyable in retrospect. As it stands today, I am desperately hoping that I will say the same after being your expedition leader.
<p>
I am joking, of course. This is my third year now on the CUCC expedition after first hearing about it many many years ago when I was a shy fresher in DUSA, and so it really has been an honor to be able to give something back to the cause that gave me so much over the years. I won’t lie, it has been tough at times though, especially when some of you seem allergic to opening your emails or turning up to meetings!
I sometimes think of Expo as some weird Tolkienesque Lord of the Rings marathon. We are all here for what normally is five weeks of some rather adventurous and testing environments but as he said,
Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea.
<p>
I am merely one very small cog in the clockwork. I have often struggled to find a word to describe us, and I think 'dysfunctional family' is definitely the best one; though that would make me the Mummy, so maybe not.
<p>
To quote Isaac, “Are we like the Gemsa? Gracefully making their way across the plateau. They have adapted themselves to a hospitable environment, ensuring they prosper. They are hardy, agile. Or are we like the bunde? Steadfast and reliable. Yes, it can be prickly and rough if you force yourself against it, but also a valued handhold of support. An appreciated sight when traversing the airy segments of the plateau.”
In all seriousness, I am actually incredibly proud of what we have achieved this year. We have a brand-new tarp in a camp that is barely being used, we have a too-small tarp in a camp that’s being used too much and expanded above its capacity. We have a new communications system in its Alpha phase, with the possibilities of 24/7 communications and wifi! New drills that actually can do more than three holes, and of course a ridiculous amount of gear. 2024 has definitely had its challenges, from illness to a smaller team at the start rigging what are now two very deep caves, but we ever push forward to our main goal: to connect to the Dashstein.
<p>
We are all exploring one of the last final frontiers. We have seen and explored places no person has ever seen in the history of humanity, and we are building on what is nearly 50 years of experience and work of this expedition.
Austria is not like the five caving regions of the UK: Wales, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Scotland, and Portland. So, I encourage everyone to tread carefully. Do not go gentle, however, into that good night, but check every crevice, A, B, and C lead and then come back for a Gosser.
<p>
I may not act like it or I hide it well, but I am genuinely proud of everyone here in front of me today and what we have achieved.
Godspeed to you all in our endeavors, both here in Austria and in your lifes themselves.
<p>
Yours in Caving,
Jono
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<divclass="triptitle">topcamp - Top camp bounce</div>
Sarah, Nat, Zac and Phil drove up the loser. We then hiked up to the Col. It being Sarah, Nat and Zac's first time up since the installation of the new cable car, we were quite taken unawares by the new path from the car park. From there it was plain hiking up to the col. Once at the Col, Phil s parted ways and headed off on his own adventures. Sarah, Nat and Zac, meanwhile hiked on to top camp. Once there we caught Becka as she was leaving and James W and Colin as they were thinking about leaving. After a little faffing and some noodles, we rang down to base camp to ask what kit we should carry down. We were told only some some roll mats and camp beds for Garlic. Packing these, alongside some tackle sacks from a recent Balkon trip (See report), we began to head down. Zac Lagged behind a lot of the way as his new shoes were wearing on his feet. But eventually we reached the loser car park where we all packed, tightly, into Sarah's car and drove down the hill.
<p>Ar ddiwrnod cinio'r expo ymgasglodd grŵp tag rag o ogofa o dan darp y cwt tatty. Roedd yr ogofwyr hyn i gyd yma am y rhesymau anghywir i gyd. Yn gyntaf, roedd y goruchaf arweinydd a'r cynllunydd teithiau Marie wedi mechnïo ar ogofa yn hytrach na golchi ei danwisg. Nesaf mae gennym Wassil a oedd yn gohirio ei draethawd meistr ac yn teimlo trueni drosto'i hun am ladd ei dennyn ei hun. Yn olaf mae gennym Dickon a benderfynodd fynd ar alldaith ogofa er ei fod yn casáu ogofa, ac o ganlyniad yn cael ei ethol yn mynd canyoning. Wrth fwrw ymlaen â ffurfio'r triawd gogoneddus hwn, penderfynodd Chi ddangos ei wyneb yn dilyn taith wersylla anghysbell na arweiniodd at wersyll yn digwydd ac a oedd ar ben colled. Mae'n debyg bod Marie, Wassil, a Dickon yn edrych fel grŵp addas i fynd â'r ceunant gyda nhw a rhywsut fe benderfynon nhw y byddai Chi yn gyd-chwaraewr addas.</p>
<p>
<p>Er iddi ddeffro am naw am a gadael am ddeg, llwyddodd Marie rywsut i faffio am ddwy awr. O ganlyniad i'r rhuthr i baratoi, ni astudiwyd y disgrifiad llwybr o'r canyon a ddewiswyd y noson gynt (er efallai na ddylai fod wedi cael cyfrifoldeb llawn y sefydliad o ystyried mai hon oedd ei thrydedd daith canyon erioed). Ar ôl tri stop pwll ar gyfer hetiau, sbaneri a hwmws post-canyoning (nid yn y drefn honno - bydd y drefn a'r cyfuniad yn cael eu gadael fel ymarfer i'r darllenydd), nid oedd Marie bellach yn edrych fel y mwyaf garw ar y daith. Yn anffodus, symudodd y bai yn ôl i Marie pan fu'n rhaid i Dickon yrru am gyfnod heb ei ddatgelu i lawr y ffordd i gael rhyngrwyd i lawrlwytho'r disgrifiad o'r llwybr fel ein bod yn gwybod beth oedd ar y gweill.</p>
<p>
<p>Gan fod Dickon yn delio â llanast Marie, gwisgodd Chi ei siwt wlyb a'i sanau gwlyb. Yn anffodus, roedd yr archeb yn is-optimaidd, ac roedd angen ei haddasu. Byddai hyn yn gofyn am gyfnod hir o noethni, a fyddai'n amlygu celciau beicwyr i ddyndod Chi ei hun. Ar ben hynny, byddai fflachio Dickon wedi newid deinameg y grŵp fel y byddai Marie a minnau'n teimlo ein bod ni'n drydydd a phedwaredd olwyn.</p>
<p>
<p>Ar y daith gerdded i fyny, cyflawnwyd bondio grŵp wrth i Wassil rannu ei ofn dwfn o dyllau gwlyb bach, a cheisiodd ei wynebu trwy fynd i mewn i dwll o'r fath (pibell ddraenio dan rod). Ar wahân i t, ni ddigwyddodd dim o unrhyw ddiddordeb ar y daith gerdded i fyny. Cyraeddasom ben y canyon, pan benderfynasom ein bod yn glaf o gerdded wrth ymyl y streamweay a disgyn i mewn iddo.</p>
<p>
<p>O ganlyniad i anghofio popeth a ysgrifennwyd yn y canllaw (cawsom ychydig o sesiwn darllen grŵp), roedd y Canyon yn llif cyson o syrpreisys. Roedd y diffyg gwybodaeth hwn yn atal ein gallu i neidio, gan ein gorfodi i droi at abseilio yn lle hynny. Un rhaeadr arbennig, Wassil abseilio gyntaf (nid yw'n hoffi dŵr cymaint â hynny mewn gwirionedd). Yna holodd Chi ynghylch dyfnder y pwll, ac atebodd Wassil "dau fetr", mewn gwirionedd yn golygu "o leiaf dau fetr". Y gwir yw, mae ofn dŵr dwfn ar Wassil ac nid oedd wir eisiau plymio ymhellach nag 20cm.</p>
<p>
<p>Aeth y Canyon yn ei flaen gyda set o feysydd diddorol ond technegol gan gynnwys rhaeadr ddwbl gyda throbwll a achosir gan hypothrtmia a llinell groesi hynod o uchel a rwystrodd Marie rhag gadael y pwll a grybwyllwyd. Ar ôl cael ei llusgo allan o'r pwll, nid oedd Marie bellach yn marw o hypothermia. Roedd ail gam y rhaeadr ddwbl yn cynnwys yr hyn a oedd yn edrych fel naid ond a ystyriwyd yn rhy dwp i Chi hyd yn oed roi cynnig arni. Er mwyn llywio hyn yn ddiogel bu'n rhaid abseilio i tua 3m oddi ar y dŵr ac yna disgyn yn rhydd. Ni chafodd Wassil y neges, gan arwain at dorri ei benelin ar silff fechan. Roedd yn ymddangos yn eithaf trist am hyn ac roedd angen cyfres o sesiynau cwtsh gourp i atal hypothrtmia yn ei siwt wlyb fer (pam fyddech chi'n canyon mewn hosrt wetsuit? - mae Wassil yn dadlau bod undersuit a oversuit yn gwella hyn. Nid yw'n gwneud hynny.)</p>
<p>
<p>Roedd yr ychydig leiniau nesaf yn llawer symlach ac ni hawliodd unrhyw anafiadau pellach. Fe wnaethom bhowever, aros yn eithaf oer a dechrau awydd diwedd y daith. Ar y ffordd daethom o hyd i rannau amrywiol o gloddio wedi'u gwasgaru ar draws y ceunant ac yn y diwedd cyrhaeddwyd y brif afon. Ar ôl taith gerdded fer yn ôl i'r car, gwledd a ffaff hwmw, penderfynodd Dickon fod yr arwyddion llwybr ceffyl yn amlwg wedi'u bwriadu ar gyfer cerbydau modur, er mawr siom i bawb arall yn llythrennol. Gan gynnwys cerddwyr. Dangosodd tri beiciwr eu diolchgarwch ar ffurf ystumiau wyneb amrywiol ac yn ystod ein hantur aethom drwy dwnnel diddorol a phontydd lluosog nad oedd yn ymddangos yn addas ar gyfer car o bedwar. Er gwaethaf protestiadau'r teithwyr, ni wnaeth Dickon droi o gwmpas ac roedd yn bendant bod ei "l</p>wybr" yn gyflymach. Daeth i'r amlwg bod ei "lwybr" mewn gwirionedd 6 munud yn gyflymach ac fe gyrhaeddon ni gyd i'r pryd expo ar amser.
<p>On the day of expo dinner a rag-tag group of cavers gathered under the tatty hut tarp. These cavers were all here for all the wrong reasons. Firstly, supreme leader and trip planner Marie had bailed on caving in preference of washing her undersuit. Next we have Wassil who was both procrastinating his masters thesis and feeling sorry for himself about killing his own lead. Finally we have Dickon who decied to go on a caving expedition despite hating caving, and as a result elected do go canyoning. Proceeding the formation of this glorious trio, Chi decided to show his face following a disasterous camping trip which did not result in a camp occurring and was at a lost end. Apparently Marie, Wassil, and Dickon looked like a suitable group to go canyoning with and somehow they decided Chi would be a suitable accomplice.</p>
<p>Despite waking up at nine at and leaving at ten, Marie somehow managed to faff for two hours. As a result of the "rush" to get ready, the route description of the canyon selected the night before was not studied (although perhaps she should not have been given full responsability of the organisation given it was her third ever canyoning trip). After three pit stops for hats, spanners and post-canyoning hummus (not respectively - the order and combination will be left as an exercise to the reader), Marie was no longer looking like the faffiest on the trip. Unfortunately, the blame shifted back to Marie when Dickon had to drive for an undisclosed period of time down the road to get signal to download the route description so that we knew what was in store.</p>
<p>As Dickon was dealing with Marie's mess, Chi put on his wetsuit and his wetsocks. Unfortunately, the ordering was sub-optimal and required modification. This would require an elongated period of nudity, which would expose the hoardes of cyclists to Chi's own manhood. Furthermore, flashing Dickon would have shifted the group dynamics such Marie and Wassil would feel like they were third and fourth wheeling.</p>
<p>On the walk up, group bonding was achieved by Wassil's sharing of his deep fear of small wet holes, which he tried to confront by entering such a hole (drainage pipe under rode). Apart from that, nothing of any interest happened on the walk up. We reached the top of the canyon when we decided that we were sick of walking next to the streamweay and dropped into it.</p>
<p>As a result of having forgotten everything written in the guide (we had a little group reading session), the canyon was a constant stream of surprises. This lack of knowledge inhibited our ability to jump, thus forcing us to resort to abseiling instead. At one particular waterfall, Wassil abseiled first (he does in fact not like water that much). Chi then inquired as to the depth the pool, to which Wassil answered "two meters", actually meaning "at least two meters". The truth is, Wassil is scared of deep water and did not really want want to dive further than 20cm.</p>
<p>The canyon proceeded with a set of interesting but technical pitches including a double-waterfall with a built in hypothermia-inducing whirlpool and enormously high traverse line which prevented Marie's exit from the aformentioned pool. Upon being being dragged out of the pool, Marie was no longer dying of hypothermia. The second stage of the double waterfall was comprised of what looked like a jump but was deemed too stupid for even Chi to attempt. In order to navigate this safely one had to abseil to about 3m off the water and then free-fall. Wassil did not get the message, resulting a in his elbow being smashed on a small ledge. He seemed quite sad about this and required a series of group cuddle sessions to stave off hypothermia in his short wetsuit (why would you canyon in a short wetsuit? - Wassil argues that an undersuit and oversuit remedies this. It does not.)</p>
<p>The next few pitches were far simpler and did not claim any further injuries. We did however, stay quite cold and began to desire the end of the trip. En-route we discovered various excavator parts strewn across the canyon and eventually reached the main river. After a brief walk back to the car, houmous feast and faff, Dickon decided that the bridleway signs were clearly intended for motorised vehicles, much to the dismay of literally everyone else, including pedestrians. Three cyclists showed their gratitude in the form of various facial expressions and during our adventure we passed through an interesting tunnel and multiple bridges which did not appear suited for a car of four. Despite the passengers' protests, Dickon did not turn around and was adamant that his "route" was faster. It would transpire that his "route" was in fact 6 minutes faster and we all made it to the expo meal on-time.</p>
<divclass="triptitle">Plateau - Crossing for expo dinner</div>
After our first stay up on the plateau we made a crossing back across the plateau after some breakfast. Got a bit disorientated and lost trying to follow the markers and Gaia on the way back but eventually got back en route. Our bodies were in pain from the vast change of physical exercise they had endured. We met an adder which started heading towards Aidan. Aidan hopped onto a rock and tried to keep track of it for me. I was not a fan at all and took a very roundabout way around. It started raining towards the end and we made a dash to the car. My Achilles heel is playing up which is quite hard on the plateau! We got back in time for a swim and a wash before a lovely dinner.
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<divclass="triptitle">basecamp - Bread making part 2</div>
After a great deal of consideration (7 beers) I decided to give bread making a second crack. This time I followed the "Numpty Dumpty bakes a loaf of expo bread 2016 version" by Antony Day, and I will confidently say they are by far the best version of the instructions present at the hut!
<p>
I am very proud of my loaf, and indeed Marie said that in her opinion it was "the best bread so far"! Jono reports however that Marie told him she hated it... So I guess the question that remains is:
<divclass="triptitle">Plateau - Return to Garlic Camp</div>
We waited until the evening due to the hot weather to go up to Garlic camp. This was James' first crossing of the plateau and he got very sweaty but had a really good pace. Mine and Aidan's bags were heavy carrying across ropes and bolts. Having got very drunk the evening previous our bodies were feeling a bit sluggish. The weather was hot but lovely weather and clear views. I enjoyed introducing James to the camp and plateau life. We prepared for our trip the following morning.
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<divclass="triptitle">Eishoehle - Cooling off on a hot day</div>
We weren't going to have time to go properly caving, and we had heard good things about the ice cave. So, armed with Shinwell and Wookeys expert guidance, we set off to find what we were hoping was going to be an impressive chamber.
<p>
The walk started off simply, and we soon found the bolt to mark the divergence from the official paths. The route description got us up to the Bunters Bulge, with the absence of any red markings mentioned. From here, the red markings were still not present, but there is a smattering of cairns to lead the way. A small amount of being lost later, and we were scrambling down to the original entrance, an impressively large entrance. The scramble towards Elephant entrance was helped by some stemples, and we soon found ourselves in the frigid draft, looking at a snow plug.
<p>
Kitted up with ice axes and crampons, we headed down the snow slope and into the Schneevulkanhalle. Wow, just Wow... The chamber itself would be impressive enough, but the ice formations were incredible. We wandered around and spent some time photographing the place. Some scrambling around, we found various pools of water in the glacier which we decided to not fall into. The far end of the chamber had an impressive false floor, which i walked over to to go underneath it, but was stopped by the ice under my feet sounding quite hollow, so I noped out of there. The next adventure was Harry and I climbing up the snow volcano, with Aila looking on disapprovingly at the Boys being Morons. I stopped half way up, deciding that it was quite steep. Harry, with less of a sense of self preservation, made it to the top, and some more photos were taken. Harry had a fun time coming down, the only time I've heard him admit to being scared.
<p>
After this, we headed back, creating a GPX track to make it easier for future expoers to find. We were told that sadly, impressive as it was, the formations were a shadow of their former selves. Go sooner rather than later.
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<divclass="triptitle">Homecoming - Bolting and descending pitch</div>
Myself and Aidan wanted to return to homecoming to explore our leads above Radagast further.Our main aim was to descend a pitch we have named 'tiered gherkin' into the stream way we could see below. The pitch was drippy with a few re-belays required. Unsure of how passable pitch will be in wet weather. Some 'fuck no's from Aidan when bolting as the wall made some dull noises when hit with a hammer. Whilst Aidan was bolting myself and James M tried out our opera singing skills with a range of languages. We initially descended down the left side of the pitch as it was drier but there was not an obvious way down to the streamway so Aidan went to bolt in the other direction. Whilst he was doing this I tried to climb down via a few routes however overcommitted and got myself jammed in a rift for a good while. Lengths of pitches were recorded and a couple of extra bits of survey data was collected to solidly connect our surveying from a few days ago to the main data. Aidan is to explore Banana Boat Stream way with James M and Colin on Monday.
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I was so excited to go back into Homecoming after six years, and Harry promised caverns measureless down Watershed. A camp was needed to make it more pleasant, so off we went with sleeping bags and mats. Faff ensued, with Aila breaking her toe at Garlic, and us having picked the wrong sleeping bag up, We got underground at middayish in the end.
<p>
The entrance series flew by, and I was having a great time reminiscing. Soon we headed up the small pitch into Propane Nightmares, and pressed on through the crawling (I had been promised minimal crawling), down and up some pitches and climbs, until we got to a patch of mud (I had also been promised no mud.) Not long after this, we got to Strained by Gravity.
<p>
At the bottom of this epic pitch series, I saw Harry and Ailas lights disappear down a passage, so I headed to it, finding a traverse that Aila would not have done without loud complaining, so I turned back. Chi told me that the way on was down below, so I opted to climb down an alternate way. Suddenly, my head was below my feet, and I tumbled 3m down a climb, landing on a bouldery floor. A distinct amount of swearing occurred whilst I tried to figure out what was broken. Chi rounded a corner at speed, highly concerned about my wellbeing. Rescue from here would not be fun. Although I was in a not insignificant amount of pain, nothing seemed to be broken, Chi fed me some sweets, and we pressed on.
<p>
The traverses were alright for my long legs, but Ailas short legs didn't enjoy them at all. We soon got to Camp, and set up the tent and sleeping bags. It was less than ideal, but we could squeeze in four. Then it was back up the pitch to start down Flowstone Canyon (thrutchy and awkward), Alpine Showers (traversy and awkward) and down some pitches (with awkward pitchheads) to the pushing front.
<p>
Chi set about bolting a traverse whilst Harry, Aila and I got the surveying kit out, finding a numbered station. The disto was produced, and I started to get ready to shoot the first leg, but noticed that the Disto was in calibration mode. Shit. We tried to get it into the proper mode but nothing we did worked. Double shit.
<p>
We deliberated on what to do, and finally settled on scooping and then coming back to survey at a later date. Aila was trained in surveying, with Harry showing her how to take notes, and me making up numbers, leading to a very odd cave. Chi dropped a pitch, which I followed him down, but the bottom led to more pitch, so Aila and I decided to head to camp. It was a long slog back to camp, and we arrived at 2330. Some pasta was had, and we turned in. Harry and Chi came back at 0100, and told us they'd dropped some more pitches and killed the lead. Arse. All that for nothing.
<p>
The next morning, we slowly got ready, dismantling camp. It was going to be a long slog up, and starting on the traverses was a tiring way to start. Strained by Gravity went by vaguely quickly, and soon we stopped to fill up bottles and have noodles. We got up the entrance series relatively quickly and exited finally around 1730 on the 28th. Not the best trip, but no one died. I'm sure there will be other trip reports for this trip.
<divclass="timeug">T/U: 31.0 hours</div>
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walked to garlic. once at homecoming it started pissing with rain. then landscaped garlic as the weather was too shit to prospect. had an incident with the garlic grike involving some lost underwear and a large amount of soil and grass being used as cover up. walked down the hill commando!
<divclass="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
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I woke up excited for a day of prospecting for the first time but instead had a very disheartened day with pretty low morale as the plateau was full of mist and it being determined unsafe to go off exploring the plateau as well as making the task more challenging. Colin decided we may do some prospecting but we'd find the caves earlier than expected by falling down the holes.
Got permission to descend to base camp that evening due to a large number of blisters on my hands and low morale. Due to James W becoming unwell he joined me on the journey to be collected by Jono and Christopher.
Turning up at expo on the night of The Dinner, I had expected a few days of festering, fettling, and carrying, but found myself agreeing to a 4 day camp with Nat D after he spotted me inspecting the Balcony map.
<p>
The next day we faffed and faffed some more, then set off well after noon in Sarah's car. The day was hot. I soaked myself in the waterfall to start the walk,carrying all of my camping and caving kit with trepidation. I loudly announced to the group that heat gives me diarrhoea- already feeling quite unsettled in the tummy. My previous walks in 2022 had left me dreading the length of the plateau walk. Fortunately the dread made the reality feel shorter than remembered. A breeze kept us cool as me Nat Sarah and Zak slowly trundled to top camp, nattering with Nat about all sorts of gossip.
<p>
We faffed some more at top camp, waiting for Jacob and Lara to join us from garlic camp, and I sat on the gryke hoping to shit as much as possible pre cave.
<p>
We set off for balcony in the early evening, and struggled under the heavy loads. We split into 2 teams: Nat Lara and I, Zac Jacob and Sarah (SEE ZAC'S REPORT OF HIS TRIP - FEATURING HAND JAMMERS AT HIGH VELOCITY). I said farewell to the light and was VERY happy to find the big balcony pitch rope thinner than 2022's - the Stop cramp only had to be relived every 40 seconds!
<p>
Then began the wiggling, sliding, slipping, and thrutching, descending and changing, clipping and crawling.
<p>
I had a mixed relationship with my 2 tackle bags, which I named The Toddler (small red) and The Teeneger (Becka's massive bag that matched my oversuit and apparently looked just like me - CAN I ADD A PICTURE HERE?). We had many disagreements in the crawls, and they enjoyed resting upsidedown on every ledge. NAt's 'purple juice' (meths) was resting at the very top of the teenager, and I've no idea what miracle kept it flying out onto Lara below. It defied gravity until it finally slipped out at rest at the very bottom of Mongol Rally.
<p>
We reached the camp sometime around midnight. I was shattered and provided very little help to Nat's attempt to bolt in 2 hammocks. The wind steamed down the passage and stole any remaining heat. By the time the other 3 turned up I was shivering strongly.
<p>
Then the first 'accident' was discovered. I had been putting off my urgent need for a poo for all evening. We looked around for the poo drum... kept looking... kept looking. And no one had it. We looked at our supplies. Resealable freezdried meal bags: perfect for shitting in. Porridge sashes: sort of papery. Deciding they made a decent 'glove' for wiping, we emptied all the porridge bags. Only after walking 10m up the passage did I discover the pile of biobags left there! Still the porridge sashes were required. I would not review them highly: more plastic than paper, but desperate times....
<p>
I woke in the night even more uncomforatble than before, with a feeling of dread. I visited the 'toilet' and found blood every where. O dear. I hadn't been due my period for 2 weeks but life has its ways of punishing you. Explains how awful I felt the day before, and then. 4am wasn't the time to deal with this fact, so I returned to me sleeping bag, shattered, and restless for everyone to get up.
<p>
Get up they did, and I brought up my inconvenient fact. I felt mixed feelings to learn that Nat, Sarah and the first aid kit had a handful of tampons between them. I had never used a tampon. I did not think I would learn to use them in a grubby cold cave 100s of meters under ground. It did not go very well.
<p>
Feeling exhausted, sick, pained and cramping, I dragged myself through the day. I followed Nat and Lara to push an A lead in the north of Southern Pitstop
(SEE ZAC'S REPORT FOR THE OTHER TEAM'S DAY OF PUSHING). My attempt to do my bit was far more of a burden than a help, and I had tampon related disasters through the day, as well as the dreaded period poos, greatly exceeding the quota of 1.5 porridge sashes a day.
<p>
I did however bolt properly for the first time. I should probably have said no when Nat asked me to bolt a descent but I said alright. I suspended awkwardly over a large drop, struggling to find the arm strength to hold the drill out and install 3 bolts. I'm sure the others were very cold by the time I got to the bottom but it was, at least, a good learning experience.
<p>
I got changed for a piss by the waterfall - this would come back to haunt me later, then we ascended up the other side.
<p>
More slipping an thrutching. I was ready to turn around, but held on to the pushing front. We had some noddles and began to survey.
<p>
Despite sometimes hating caving, I do in fact love surveying. Although I probably failed to give the impression that day, I was very happy to take part in the surveying of 'Tampon turnaround' - aptly named for events there - with the honour of painting the red splodges. We turned an A lead into lots of Bs and Cs, but it kept going. I was very very close to my limit, and kept saying I would head back soon. After point 23 I pushed ahead a little bit, and a little bit more, and found the high passage narrowing to a puddle, and over the puddle to a toddler sized crawl. This final push ripped my PVC oversuit :,( and I was definitely beyond my limit, and decided to head out.
<p>
A rest at the snake stop, then I plodded back, struggling up the slopes under the weight of the drill. It crossed my mind that I normally find it hard to move with my stop on my D ring. I looked down. My stop was not on my D ring. Ah shit.
<p>
I trudged back to the snack stop - no sign yet of Lara and Nat, looked through all the bags. No stop. I headed back through the rifts, up the slopes. No stop. I looked again through the drill bag. No stop.
<p>
Ah well. Strongly suspecting (hoping) what had happened, there was nothing for it but to head to the rope and down prussick. Down prussicking was NOT fun. The rope was thick with mud, and every movement took an age to free my jammers. I had a small private cry halfway, for my period pain, but made it down. There was my stop, thanks be, at the point I had changed earlier.
<p>
Onwards, up the rope: stand, yank through the chest ascender, sit, repeat, with jammers refusing to grip. By this point Nat and Lara had caught up, so I waited and incredibly kindly they offered to take my bag.
<p>
I headed on as they derigged. This was my next mistake. 'Don't get lost' Nat said. I got lost. After the white aven there were many ways on. I follwed the muddy footsteps across and up, but grew suspicous. I decided it was safest to turn around. I turned around but did not find myslef back at the white aven. Two more tries and I was at a slope that looked familiar, so I headed up and reached two ways. I followed the muddy footsteps up, but grew suspicous. On your own it is very hard to trust yourself. I turned around, shattered, concerned. And, thank goodness, met Lara and Nat. I took back a tackle bag and we headed up the other junction, which we soon realised was wrong and returned up my way. Trudge, sigh, plod.
<p>
We reached the camp. The others were there already. Dinner. Jacob kindly said that, if no one else was willing, he would be happy to go out with me a day early. I was so grateful as there was no way I could stay longer. Shivering. Bed. (waking for toilet visits :,( )
<p>
Rising at 9:40, the plan was revised: Zac would also leave too, using a microtraction as a jammer (having lost both hand jammer and pantin). Porridge. Noodles. Packing. Washing our gear in the muddy puddle. We headed off. I somehow managed to get lost finding the bottom of mongol rally, but eventually did. I heard zac calling from above, in pain. It took an age to dig out the ibruprofen, and I was shocked how slow I could prussick. It was misreable. Pantin uterly useless. Rope refusing to feed. Stand. Drag thtough chest asecnder. Sit. Ascenders slip. Ascenders grip. Repeat. I haven't prussicked this slowly since my first time. My tackle bag tangled itself in the down rope at a rebelay and I had to down prussick, to some strong words. A shocking anount of time later I reached zac on his ledge and got him the ibruprofen. And he taught me how to properly frog, and drag the rope through with your feet. I'm an idiot for never having learnt to do that before. Mongol Rally was slighlty improved.
<p>
We headed up, and up, and up, and finally huddled in the bivvy at the top. Hangman's was impressive (and cold). Honeycomb was much longer than I remember. Debating the way, succesfully, I was rather shocked to realise we were at the junction with hilti a plenti. I hadn't thought to imagine reaching the end.
<p>
Sarah's weather report had predicted a thunder storm that evening. We were fully prepared to huddle at the bottom of the entrance. But, to happy suprise, the drips were slow. I went last (regretting this offer, and desperately uncomfortable). But I had lot of time to sing as Jacob and Zac ascended. The happiest feeling of all, to see the shadow of light from the penultimate pitch, to haul off the final rope, to crawl out into a blue sky.
<p>
The evening was utterly beautiful. The forecast was wrong. Pink light filled the horizon, silhouetting mountains. The evening air still warm. Why would you go underground from this? To appreciate it more I suppose.
I was dizzy trudging back, Jacob kindly, patiently accompanying my stumbling. We reached Stoney Bridge as the light faded and stars brightened. Big Tom and Becka in residence, and Tom a saint making us food. Unbelievably happy to bin the tampon I had been using for far too long (I will never use one again - awful things!) and have some proper toilet paper.
We slept out under the shooting stars and milky way. Every time I woke, relieved, to have escaped balcony, and see brightness in the night's dark, under starlight.
<divclass="triptitle">Balkonhoehle - Who needs ascenders anyway?</div>
<p><i>Lucy having already covered much of the trip in <ahref="logbookentry/2024-07-28/2024-07-28e#"></a> I will only fill in the gaps alluded to</i></p>
<p>
<h1>The entering</h1>
<p>Sarah, Jacob and I gave the other group a decent head start into Balkon which we soon extended by getting 'navigationally challenged' at the bottom on the entrance series. However, over-coming this we powered on towards the trident and honey-combe. There was a small incident just before the water refilling station where, due to our bags being so overly packed, a gas canister rolled out the top of Sarah's tackle sack. It stopped on it's own before I could grab it but still gave everyone involved a minor heart attack. There was some minor faffigating after the trident but we soon found the top of Honey-combe. From there it was a nylon highway. I struggled a little at the bottom of Honey combe and need Sarah to reel me in. We then extended the rope to make the next descent easier. It was at the bottom of hangmans that the trouble started. I had just done the traverse and was using my hand jammer to ascend to the crawl. I then unclipped it and moved it the next traverse line (as I had my hand jammer on my long cows). I then removed my long cows tail and watched in horror as my nice golden hand jammer plummeted onto the slop and slid down into the giant hole. There were a couple of seconds before I heard a loud 'chink'. Reconvening after the crawl (made fucking difficult by having to haul a giant over stuffed tackle sack) we agreed to keep going and possibly drop the hole tomorrow to look for my jammer.
It was then a short stroll to the top of Mongol Rally, which starts quite nicely but soon becomes several large pitches over a titanic drop. It was at the last rebelay that I had my next incident. When unclipping my foot loop from my snap gate, I had forgotten that I had my pantin on the same snap and so watched, again, in horror as another of my ascenders plummeted into a giant hole.
Absolutely furious at having lost over £100 (new) of kit I stormed into camp with the others to find Nat fettling with the hammocks.
After some noodles and smash, I all but passed out into a fitful nights sleep.
</p>
<h1>The 'A' lead</h1>
<p>Having arrived into camp at 1:30 the night before, needles to say it was a late start the next day, made even later by all the faffing. Me, Jacob and Sarah would push a more vertical lead while Nat, Lucy and Lara would push a more horizontal one.
Kit assembled, the three of us headed out along the piss soaked Southern Pit-stop. Then was some Faffigating and a few wrong turns before we reached our lead. Jacob set the first two bolts leading to the pitch while I then took over and bolted and rigged the Y hang at the top of the pitch. It took ages to find two spots suitable amongst the cheese like rock. But once we had, and Sarah had re-tied my Y hang, I descended to the ledge bellow. Here I swiftly put in another bolt and fixed it with a fig-8 before clearing some space for Sarah to follow. Together we then looked for a suitable place for the next bolt to finish the Y hang and begin drop the next small pitch. The first bolt I tried set was fucked by virtue of the fact that the bolt it's self bent as I was hammering it in (probably because I was hammering at a different angle to the one I drilled). The bottom of this pitch didn't go anywhere save for a narrow horizontal rift. Surveying time. I had to ascend both legs to fulfil my role as dog and mark the first survey station. From there, I slowly re-descended with Jacob in tow operating the SAP. Once at the bottom again, I shimmied into the rift and was near frozen by the dramatic draft. The rift tightened after five meters into a sideways crawl which led into a narrow squeeze. I gardened some rubble out of the way to get this far. Beyond the squeeze was an even narrower (too narrow to pass) hole in the floor. This was the source of the draft. I dropped some rocks down and heard them clatter for ages. I even swear I heard one splosh. Once the survey was complete, we headed back up, Jacob de-rigging. Unfortunately, two of the bolts at the top of the pitch couldn't be loosened, even with a pair of pliers. This meant we lost two hangers.
Surveying done, we headed back to camp where we were the first back. To occupy ourselves, me and Jacob looked for loose rocks we could use to cover the mud slopes around camp. Unfortunately, when the others returned our efforts did not receive the thanks we had anticipated.</p>
<h1>Up and Out</h1>
<p>It was another late start the following day. Having made the effort of getting down there (and scared to ascend) I wanted to try for another day, but Lara pointed out that I looked fucked, and, to be fair, I was. So I joined Lucy and Jacob on their early ascent. Using a Micro-traction I'd borrowed from Sarah as a hand jammer, we packed what we needed and set off to the wash spot. I led the way but after the first two pitches of Mongol Rally had to stop as my arms were killing me. I removed my Elbow pads as they were limiting my movement and then waited for Lucy to catch up so I could pinch some Painkillers. They worked wonders and it felt like no time at all before we reached the top of Mongol rally.
All our cleaning work was undone by the small crawl to the base of Hangman. I also had a look down the hole that swallowed my hand-jammer only to find that it was far to deep to drop. We then made our way out mostly at my pace. The rigging on Honey combe being a particular bastard for passing up. It also seemed to go on much longer than I remembered. From there it felt like a quick jaunt to the entrance series, the second pitch of which was a right bastard after 50 hours underground.
I was so happy to find that we had made it out in time to catch the sun and spent the night out sleeping on the plateau.</p>
<divclass="timeug">T/U: 50.0 hours</div>
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Having been addicted to minesweeper previously in life, to the point of dreaming about it, I decided to take on the challenge of beating Hagrid. Between writing up Logbook entries and swimming in a lake, I defeated all records on all sizes of board. All top 10 on 8x8 are mine, sub 10s, 5s being the top. On 16x16 all 10 records are mine, the best being 46s. No one else has tried the 30x16 board, but my record is 2mins 36s. I throw down the gauntlet to anyone who wants a go.
<p>
I am a very sad man with too much time on his hands...
<divclass="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
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I was sold a nice easy surveying trip with a short pootle down a stream way. little did I know how wrong we were. we packed a single drill battery some short ropes and a few hangers just in case a few short drops were encountered. Once underground I was given the guided tour of what was known as the below Radagast series. James and I surveyed what we thought was the final pitch while Aidan added a deviation. I complained greatly while surveying much to Aidan's entertainment who had bolted it. Once in the stream way bolting kit was packed up as we prepared for an easy surveying waltz down a stream way. Aidan found another pitch where I asked if I could bolt. Of I went expecting a short pitch nice and easy. I got to a re-belay and started yelling it keeps going as there was another hole below me little did we know how big it actually was. I got to the ledge and started to prepare to abseil into a rift bolted the pitch head and then went why am I doing this walked over to the edge of the ledge to set up a much nicer hang, very scary. I shouted at James and Aidan that its huge and keeps going and we don't have enough rope. Neither quite realised how big. I kept asking if Aidan wanted a look and he seemed uninterested until I pestered him enough where he promptly looked over the edge where he told us that we didn't realise how cool our find was as we had found a 80m hypo-genic tube. Our 30m rope got barely a 1/3 of the way down. I was sent out of the cave to tell people of our find and collect food, water bolts, batteries and rope. With eguipment acquired I ran back to homecoming to see the others exiting. Bags were packed flapjack was eaten, cooling down was required and once everything was ready to go I had to try and get a call out. After much hair pulling and phoning round I got a call-out so we were good to go. James had decided he wanted to go back to base which was probably a sensible decision so me and Aidan pushed on. Aidan added an extra bolt to the top of the eye of Sauron where he handed me all the heavy bolting kit in case he needed to prussik out. Our 40m rope which was now down the pitch was still very short so a 30m rope was taken down by Aidan. Much bullying was required to get Aidan to go down the pitch as he was being a wus his words not mine he thanked me alter so its all good. Once the rope was free it was my turn where I was equally terrified but couldn't back down after bullying Aidan down. Descending was relatively straightforward until the knot pass. Doing a knot pass 40m below a pitch head and 20m above the floor makes a simple manoeuvrer terrifying. At the bottom of the pitch Aidan asked me to swing over a boulder where I was like, what do you mean, as I'm hanging in free space. I descended onto solid floor which was a relief where we clambered onto the boulder to make another pitch down into another big chamber with a false floor. The new pitch head was bolted with a combination of me and Aidan resulting in lightning bolting. This is where we decided to call the series Welsh Engineering due to all the people bar James, sorry James, were from a Welsh university. At the next pitch another deep hole opens out into nothing where we has high hopes of going deeper than the rest of the cave which was not to be. midway down the next pitch as I was looking for a re-belay. I spied a bolt in front of my face to much confusion and annoyance. I quickly realised I had been here before as I was at the bolt traverse I had pushed with Dickon 2 days before. I proceeded to have a 5 minute tantrum that our lead did a big loop collected myself and dropped to the bottom of the pitch to say I was at the bottom. This bottom bit was bolted badly due to my frustration although it is still safe. We promptly called it a day and ran out of the cave trying to conserve energy. Exiting at 11:30. The eye of Sauron is pleasantly easy on the way out even with the knot pass. Resulting in an exit in less than 45 minutes. Once at garlic we clattered around trying to get to bed as quickly as possible waking Adam and disturbing Fiona s
<divclass="timeug">T/U: 10.0 hours</div>
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