2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
|
2004-05-05 19:39:28 +01:00
|
|
|
<html>
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<head>
|
2022-06-22 22:59:33 +01:00
|
|
|
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf8" />
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<title>1995: C.U.C.C. preliminary report</title>
|
2004-04-21 10:35:34 +01:00
|
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../css/main2.css" />
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
</head>
|
|
|
|
|
<body>
|
|
|
|
|
<h1>Expo 1995 - summary for CUCC use.</h1>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3>Wookey</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>CUCC's 1995 expedition proved to be much more exciting than could be
|
|
|
|
|
reasonably expected.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Those of you who have been following the saga of Kaninchenhöhle (or
|
|
|
|
|
even taking part in it), will have noted a certain grim determination
|
|
|
|
|
creeping into things, replacing the dynamic enthusiasm of the first few
|
|
|
|
|
years. Despite the fact that the people change, the monotony of the same
|
|
|
|
|
miserable hole in the ground for 8 years was beginning to get to expo.
|
|
|
|
|
However, the events of 1995 have put an exciting new spin on things,
|
|
|
|
|
prompting a return of that sense of excitment and anticipation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Things got off to a slow start after initial difficulties with the
|
|
|
|
|
(France) entrance being under 10ft of snow. A shovel was bought and a few
|
|
|
|
|
exploratory holes dug, but to no avail. They had to wait until it melted
|
|
|
|
|
enough to show where to go. Equally the top camp water hole proved hard to
|
|
|
|
|
find.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>The other thing that caused difficulty was the trailer that had been
|
|
|
|
|
borrowed (as someone has nicked expo's trailer). This proved to be a bit
|
|
|
|
|
rusty and generally not caver-proof, with 3 blowouts on the way there, the
|
|
|
|
|
last resulting in axle collapse on the Pötschen pass. This meant the
|
|
|
|
|
trip took 38 hours, and made the trailer towers (Nick Proctor & Anthony
|
|
|
|
|
Day - Ex-pres, for those who don't know) very miserable!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Being unable to get into France, people started down 'Main Entrance', as
|
|
|
|
|
it has become known. They wandered off to the host of question marks in the
|
|
|
|
|
new section beyond Vestabule, and below Gnome II, accessed by the miserably
|
|
|
|
|
muddy & catchy 'Stomping' passage. Here various holes were pushed, mostly
|
|
|
|
|
in rather grotty rift. Classic austrian cave with hading rift & tight
|
|
|
|
|
pitchheads. Four new bits of cave 'Limo's revenge', 'Splattery', 'Oral
|
|
|
|
|
series', and 'Doubting Thomas' (after Mike TA pronounced that it 'definitely
|
|
|
|
|
wouldn't go'). Doubting in fact went down about 110m to the same level as
|
|
|
|
|
Knossos, before getting too miserable. All these bits & bobs came to
|
|
|
|
|
about 400m.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Once the snow melted enough to sqeeze past, people went prodding around in
|
|
|
|
|
France and found some stuff; another route into Twintubs below Algeria ('Daz
|
|
|
|
|
Automatic'), a big chamber at end of Mohr im Hemd 'Regurgitation', a choked
|
|
|
|
|
pitch at end of Mississipi 'Black Suspender', but nothing went very big, and
|
|
|
|
|
a number of things even stopped (eg. bottom of totally huge Sultans of Swing
|
|
|
|
|
pitch in Algeria!). The radios also failed to work after Julian Haines had
|
|
|
|
|
fettled them quite a lot so he was dead pissed off. In revenge he built a new
|
|
|
|
|
drill battery out of an aerial pole which seems to be both practical,
|
|
|
|
|
effective & robust. It may even prove to be reliable!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Mike TA welded the trailer back together (typical CUCC response - bring a
|
|
|
|
|
welder & angle grinder to Austria, rather than pay an Austrian garage).
|
|
|
|
|
In fact the trailer only made it back as far as the Czech Republic before
|
|
|
|
|
giving up the ghost, and being given to National Breakdown to bring back - we
|
|
|
|
|
may see it sometime this year...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>There were relatively few people in Austria this year. Students: Steve
|
|
|
|
|
Bellhouse (new CUCC pres), Kate Janossy, Nick, Anthony, Duncan, Paul.
|
|
|
|
|
Lags (in order of seniority): JulianH & his mate Hugh, Andy Atkinson,
|
|
|
|
|
Wookey, Mike TA, Waddington. Students from London: Scout (Dave Collins), and
|
|
|
|
|
Dave Johnson. Finally Penny turned up for a festering trip (no caving gear),
|
|
|
|
|
and a pleasant re-orientation from clients & power-dressing, to expo
|
|
|
|
|
squalor. However, everyone there did their bit (despite severe inexperience
|
|
|
|
|
in a couple of cases), and 750 hours of caving got done.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Me & Andy Atkinson arrived at the end of week 3 and went down RH route
|
|
|
|
|
to check out a QM near bungalow, and maybe go on to Siberia, but we got
|
|
|
|
|
sidetracked and climbed up between Garden Party & squeeze - found some
|
|
|
|
|
more cave higher in the rift. Did some jolly joke rigging and interesting
|
|
|
|
|
climbs. Then went on to Bungalow and found that passage here went on over
|
|
|
|
|
pitch, then down another pitch (18m), then to the head of an 80m odd rift.
|
|
|
|
|
Fucknose where this goes - it's above the Flapjack area, but not really close
|
|
|
|
|
enough to be the same pitch..
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Meanwhile Nick was being hard and decided to check out Gob rift
|
|
|
|
|
continuation (below the end of Yapate). He had rigged the RH route, and took
|
|
|
|
|
novice after novice down to Gob, wearing them all out one by one. Things
|
|
|
|
|
failed to go well (mike TA jacked at the crap bit - citing 'old man's
|
|
|
|
|
privilege', and Duncan was keen but simply too fat to get through). Thus he
|
|
|
|
|
finally got to rig it on his last trip, getting down 40m? in big, but rather
|
|
|
|
|
wet pitch. Oh well - maybe next time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Then me, AndyA & JulianH went on the trip to end all trips. First we
|
|
|
|
|
checked out 'The Forbidden Land' which is the most appalling bit of cave
|
|
|
|
|
ever in the whole world. Tiny (wet, muddy) thrutch (at end of
|
|
|
|
|
Missisippi/Rocky Horror - ie. southernmost point of cave) comes out in
|
|
|
|
|
bottom of boulder choke. All muddy and shitty and desperately loose. We all
|
|
|
|
|
traversed this terribly carefully (about a 15m climb in total) and got into
|
|
|
|
|
big space. It turned out to be a huge hading rift running approx NNE/SSW
|
|
|
|
|
which is just full of mega-rocks. (one wall solid, one collapsed). We went
|
|
|
|
|
about 60m in either direction, but whilst doing this there was a horrible
|
|
|
|
|
rumble from the hole we climbed in through and we were sure that the end was
|
|
|
|
|
nigh and we were entombed here for the foreseeable future. In fact only a
|
|
|
|
|
couple of rocks had rolled down it and we lived, but its probably the
|
|
|
|
|
scaredest I have been, and definitely the scaredest JulianH has ever been.
|
|
|
|
|
We are <u><b>NOT</b></u> going back, even though it is big stuff that goes
|
|
|
|
|
south off the end - towards Stellerweg - there has to be another way in
|
|
|
|
|
somewhere...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>So we started looking for said way in, going back up along bottom of Rocky
|
|
|
|
|
Horror, poking into every available cranny. Soon found a significant pitch
|
|
|
|
|
that no-one had been down, and a passage over the top - trivial traverse.
|
|
|
|
|
This was small and soon shrank to a nasty squeeze which I pushed ('the
|
|
|
|
|
Brownie's Cunt', after the Nun's Cunt, but off Fudge Brownie..). JulianH had
|
|
|
|
|
a miserable time getting back out until we moved some of the rocks out of the
|
|
|
|
|
bottom, 'cos he is a fat bastard. This came into bigger (3m wide) passage. We
|
|
|
|
|
ran down this in various directions. Again I got lucky, and after finding a
|
|
|
|
|
choke climbed 5m up a hole, which led into totally huge space (Staud'n'wirt
|
|
|
|
|
palace). Wandering along from this was beautiful white-floored passage, and
|
|
|
|
|
lots of batshit (!? - a first for KH). This was 7-10m wide and windy!
|
|
|
|
|
following the breeze I came into an even bigger passage (hard to see far side
|
|
|
|
|
- 'Triassic Park'). At this point I felt I had to go back and get the others,
|
|
|
|
|
and we proceeded to walk 250m down this huge stuff before getting cave
|
|
|
|
|
overload & going home happy bunnies!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Next trip Steve & Duncan & Kate surveyed another 350m on the end -
|
|
|
|
|
still no sign of an obstacle!, and it was awfully close to the edge of the
|
|
|
|
|
mountain (far side of Hinter). Then me and Andy came back up the hill,
|
|
|
|
|
surveyed the bit we found down RH route near bungalow (semi-detached) and
|
|
|
|
|
derigged all RH route (6 tacklesacks + the coax that has been there since
|
|
|
|
|
1989).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Next day we decided it was time to find a new entrance so we went in and
|
|
|
|
|
followed the batshit & breeze (the other way - downwind). We found three
|
|
|
|
|
dead bats and some dead moths and a skull of something else (bird?) so the
|
|
|
|
|
surface must be close, but wind went into a big choke and tiny impassable
|
|
|
|
|
passage, until andy disappeared down 'obviously choked' bit and found loads
|
|
|
|
|
of extra-scrotty passage, almost full of rocks except for top foot or so.
|
|
|
|
|
After loads of this (in a significant gale) we got to a place where distant
|
|
|
|
|
huge waterfall could be heard.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>After a bit of prodding we realised that in fact the noise was the howling
|
|
|
|
|
of the wind through a tiny bit of passage at roof level. I would have given
|
|
|
|
|
up here (yep, it was that bad...) but Andy was determined that the surface
|
|
|
|
|
was moments away and forced himself into this wind-tunnel (stopping the wind
|
|
|
|
|
very effectively). This was only 'jolly' small, but had a bulge at the end
|
|
|
|
|
which turned it into a total bastard (thus 'Battle of the Bulge'). I took my
|
|
|
|
|
belay belt off (our SRT gear was left at the bottom of the rope in Algeria
|
|
|
|
|
:-), it was so crap. Beyond the passage size increased and we found a chamber
|
|
|
|
|
with loads of moths, mostly shagging. A few metres beyond this we had the
|
|
|
|
|
enormous pleasure of running out into the open air on the side of the Hinter.
|
|
|
|
|
Huge grins, and major excitement!!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>We had left the survey book at the choke, so we had to remember some
|
|
|
|
|
bearings on mountains (to find it again) and then went back and spent some
|
|
|
|
|
time discovering two different other ways back (one each) which avoided the
|
|
|
|
|
crap stuff after Battle of the Bulge. We also noted, whilst surveying, that
|
|
|
|
|
there were two places, one either side of BOTB where there were very
|
|
|
|
|
similar-looking chokes of small rocks in big passage, which could conceivably
|
|
|
|
|
be the same spot - thus a potential BOTB bypass - necessary for this to be a
|
|
|
|
|
useful route in for non-skinny cavers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>We decided to leave our SRT gear and try walking back to France up the
|
|
|
|
|
outside. This proved to be pretty fucking exciting. There is a 30m cliff
|
|
|
|
|
above the new entrance - 161d, known as Scarface as there has been a big
|
|
|
|
|
rockfall recently from the cliff above, which has removed all the bunde in
|
|
|
|
|
the area, making it easy to find. This cliff either requires an exciting
|
|
|
|
|
climb (Andy's route) or some appalling vertical bunde bashing (my route).
|
|
|
|
|
The next day we tried some different down-routes, but these were even worse,
|
|
|
|
|
as the bunde makes it impossible to pick your route sensibly from above.
|
|
|
|
|
Finally, on the way home, I tried walking down to the Stogerweg & around
|
|
|
|
|
the Vord., but that was pretty grim too, as I did miles of bunde bashing
|
|
|
|
|
with a huge sack and then had an hour's walk back to the restaurant. However
|
|
|
|
|
I reckon that a sensible route does exist from this direction - but it could
|
|
|
|
|
take some time to find.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>So in summary we have removed all that nasty SRT from the cave (it is
|
|
|
|
|
currently a welsh caving trip!) but have made the walk-in rather more
|
|
|
|
|
exciting.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>After the success of the 'today we will find a new entrance' trip, we set
|
|
|
|
|
out on a 'today we will survey a kilometer' trip, but this proved less
|
|
|
|
|
sucessful, as Triassic Park stopped after another 250m (800m total). In fact
|
|
|
|
|
you can see it continuing about 15m up in the roof, so we have another
|
|
|
|
|
Staircase 36 to do 1st trip next year. In the opposite direction at the
|
|
|
|
|
T-junction near the end (Trifucation) there is a big 25m+ pitch, a bigger
|
|
|
|
|
(70m+) pitch, and a 15m drop to a rocky slope which is about 99% certain to
|
|
|
|
|
be the back corner of Knossus!! - looks like nobody ever had a good enough
|
|
|
|
|
light to notice this - we could have been here 6 years ago.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>All very interesting stuff, and there are 72 new QMs on the 1995 list! So
|
|
|
|
|
in the last 9 days of expo another 1500m was surveyed, bringing he year's
|
|
|
|
|
total to 2km, and the cave to just over 14km.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>I confidently predict that a good selection of old lags is likely to make
|
|
|
|
|
an appearance in the light of the above: 'No SRT you say?', 'Miles of
|
|
|
|
|
horizontal passage?'. All we have to do is work out where to put the campsite
|
|
|
|
|
for 1996.
|
|
|
|
|
|
2004-04-29 16:24:54 +01:00
|
|
|
<hr />
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<!-- LINKS -->
|
2011-06-01 09:55:49 +01:00
|
|
|
<ul id="links">
|
2004-04-29 16:24:54 +01:00
|
|
|
<li>1995 Expedition info:
|
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="index.htm">Index</a> (more detail than in this list)</li>
|
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="log.htm">Logbook</a></li>
|
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="report.htm">Cambridge Underground report</a></li>
|
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves and Caving</a> Report</li>
|
|
|
|
|
<li>This year's <a href="sponsr.htm">Sponsors</a></li>
|
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="exponl.htm">From Expo Novice to Expo Leader</a>:
|
2005-06-19 22:38:10 +01:00
|
|
|
The tale of my Decline</li>
|
2004-04-29 16:24:54 +01:00
|
|
|
</ul></li>
|
2005-06-19 22:38:10 +01:00
|
|
|
<li><a href="../../pubs.htm#pubs1995">Published accounts</a></li>
|
2004-04-29 16:24:54 +01:00
|
|
|
<li><a href="../../index.htm">Back to Expedition intro page</a></li>
|
2005-06-19 22:38:10 +01:00
|
|
|
<li><a href="../../../index.htm">CUCC Home page</a></li>
|
2004-04-29 16:24:54 +01:00
|
|
|
</ul>
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
|
|
|
</html>
|
