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handbook/update.htm
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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<title>CUCC Expedition Handbook: Updating the website</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../css/main2.css" />
</head>
<body>
<h2 id="tophead">CUCC Expedition Handbook</h2>
<h1>Updating the website - HOWTO</h1>
Please refer to <a href="http://www.srcf.ucam.org/caving/wiki/Expo_website_manual" target="_blank">the latest web updating guide in CUCC website</a>
<h2 id="tophead">CUCC Expedition Handbook</h2>
<h1>Updating the website - HOWTO</h1>
<p>Please refer to <a href="http://www.srcf.ucam.org/caving/wiki/Expo_website_manual" target="_blank">the latest web updating guide in CUCC website</a></p>
<hr />
<p>DExpo data is kept in a number of different locations.</p>
<dl> <dt>Loser</dt> <dd>Contains the survex data. Mercurial repository ssh://expo@seagrass.goatchurch.org.uk/loser</dd> <dt>Expoweb</dt> <dd>Contains the current website. Mercurial repository ssh://expo@seagrass.goatchurch.org.uk/expoweb</dd> <dt>Tunnel data</dt> <dd>Contains the tunnel data. Mercurial repository ssh://expo@seagrass.goatchurch.org.uk/tunneldata</dd> <dt>Troggle</dt> <dd>Contains the unfinished Django based website. Mercurial repository https://goatchurch@troggle.googlecode.com/hg/ troggle</dd> <dt>Scanned notes</dt> <dd>Scans of survey notes and drawn up surveys. Can be got via rsync.</dd> </dl>
<p>Mercurial is a distributed revision control system. On expo this means that many people can edit and merge their changes with each other either when they can access the internet. Mercurial is over the top for scanned survey notes, which do not get modified, so they are kept as a plain directory of files.</p>
<p>If you run windows, you are recommended to install <a href="http://bitbucket.org/tortoisehg/stable/wiki/Home">Tortoise Hg</a>, which nicely interfaces with windows explorer.</p>
<h2>Get the repositories</h2>
<h3>Mercurial</h3>
<h4>Linux</h4>
<p>hg clone RepositoryURL</p>
<h4>Windows</h4>
<p>Install<a href="http://bitbucket.org/tortoisehg/stable/wiki/Home">Tortoise Hg</a>. In windows explorer right click, select Tortoise Hg .. and click Clone repository. <br />Set the source path to RepositoryURL <br />Set the destination to somewhere on your local harddisk. <br />Press clone.</p>
<h3>RSync</h3>
<h4>Linux</h4>
<p>rsync -av expoimages expo@seagrass.goatchurch.org.uk:</p>
<h4>Windows</h4>
<p>Not sure yet</p>
<h2>The website conventions bit</h2>
<p>This is likely to change with structural change to the site, with style changes which we expect to implement and with the method by which the info is actually stored and served up.</p>
<p>... and it's not written yet, either :-)</p>
<ul>
<li>Structure</li>
<li>Info for each cave &ndash; automatically generated by <tt>make-indxal4.pl</tt></li>
<li>Contents lists &amp; relative links for multi-article publications like journals. Complicated by expo articles being in a separate hierarchy.</li>
<li>Translations</li>
<li>Other people's work - the noinfo hierarchy.</li>
<li>Style guide for writing cave descriptions: correct use of boldface (<em>once</em> for each passage name, at the primary definition thereof; other uses of the name should be links to this, and certainly should not be bold.) </li>
</ul>
<hr />
Expo data is kept in a number of different locations.
<dl>
<dt>Loser</dt>
<dd>Contains the survex data. Mercurial repository ssh://expo@seagrass.goatchurch.org.uk/loser</dd>
<dt>Expoweb</dt>
<dd>Contains the current website. Mercurial repository ssh://expo@seagrass.goatchurch.org.uk/expoweb</dd>
<dt>Tunnel data</dt>
<dd>Contains the tunnel data. Mercurial repository ssh://expo@seagrass.goatchurch.org.uk/tunneldata</dd>
<dt>Troggle</dt>
<dd>Contains the unfinished Django based website. Mercurial repository https://goatchurch@troggle.googlecode.com/hg/ troggle</dd>
<dt>Scanned notes</dt>
<dd>Scans of survey notes and drawn up surveys. Can be got via rsync.</dd>
</dl>
<p>Mercurial is a distributed revision control system. On expo this means that
many people can edit and merge their changes with each other either when they can access
the internet. Mercurial is over the top for scanned survey notes, which do not get modified, so
they are kept as a plain directory of files.
<p>If you run windows, you are recommended to install
<a href="http://bitbucket.org/tortoisehg/stable/wiki/Home">Tortoise Hg</a>, which nicely interfaces with
windows explorer.
<h2>Get the repositories</h2>
<h3>Mercurial</h3>
<h4>Linux</h4>
hg clone RepositoryURL
<h4>Windows</h4>
Install<a href="http://bitbucket.org/tortoisehg/stable/wiki/Home">Tortoise Hg</a>.
In windows explorer right click, select Tortoise Hg .. and click Clone repository.
<br>Set the source path to RepositoryURL
<br>Set the destination to somewhere on your local harddisk.
<br>Press clone.
<h3>RSync</h3>
<h4>Linux</h4>
rsync -av expoimages expo@seagrass.goatchurch.org.uk:
<h4>Windows</h4>
Not sure yet
<h2>The website conventions bit</h2>
<p>This is likely to change with structural change to the site, with style
changes which we expect to implement and with the method by which the
info is actually stored and served up.</p>
<p>... and it's not written yet, either :-)</p>
<ul>
<li>Structure</li>
<li>Info for each cave &ndash; automatically generated by <tt>make-indxal4.pl</tt></li>
<li>Contents lists &amp; relative links for multi-article publications like
journals. Complicated by expo articles being in a separate hierarchy.</li>
<li>Translations</li>
<li>Other people's work - the noinfo hierarchy.</li>
<li>Style guide for writing cave descriptions: correct use of boldface
(<i>once</i> for each passage name, at the primary definition thereof; other
uses of the name should be links to this, and certainly should not be bold.)
</ul>
<hr />
<ul id="links">
<li><a href="index.htm">Expedition Handbook</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="survey/index.htm">Surveying guide</a> - Overview</li>
<li><a href="look4.htm">Prospecting guide</a> &ndash; Overview</li>
<li><a href="rescue.htm">Rescue guide</a></li>
<li><a href="rigit.htm">Rigging guide</a></li>
<li><a href="photo.htm">Photography guide</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="../infodx.htm">Index to info/topics pages</a></li>
<li><a href="../indxal.htm">Full Index to area 1623</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="../areas.htm">Area/subarea descriptions</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="../index.htm">Back to Expedition Intro page</a></li>
<li><a href="../../index.htm">Back to CUCC Home page</a></li>
</ul>
</body>
</html>

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</li>
</ul>
<h2>Current data</h2>
<p>Data for display with aven.<p>
<ul>
<li><a href="noinfo/all.3d">All caves</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Everything</h2>
<ul>

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</head>
<body>
<center><img src="../i/cfour.jpg" width=600 height=400></center>
<p>Steve Bellhouse at <b>Carrefour</b> - a major junction beyond Knossos in
<p>Richie Perrotton at <b>Carrefour</b> - a major junction beyond Knossos in
Kaninchenh&ouml;hle. At a depth of 283m from the 161a entrance, this marks
the start of Yapate Inlet and the route into the farthest northern area of
the cave.

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</head>
<body>
<img src="../i/yapate.jpg" width=600 height=400>
<p><b>Yapate Inlet</b>, the major north-trending passage leading to the
remotest parts of Kaninchenh&ouml;hle.
<p><b>Chicken Flied Nice</b>, the upper part of major north-trending passage leading to the
remotest parts of Kaninchenh&ouml;hle. Cavers are Richie Perotton, Aggy Finn and
Wookey.
<br><font size=-1>Photo &copy; Andy Atkinson, July 1992.</font>
<!-- Scanned on Coolscan 900x600 at 675 dpi, 1997.08.08 AERW -->

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#LOGFILE=~expo/logs/cronlog
#echo "Starting expo website update script"
echo "<html><head><title>updateweb script log output</title></head><body><pre>"
echo `date`
echo "Changing to directory: ~expo/expoweb"
cd ~expo/troggle
echo -e "Running 'hg update for troggle'\n-------------"
hg update
cd ~expo/loser
echo -e "Running 'hg update for loser'\n-------------"
hg update
cd ~expo/expoweb
echo -e "Running 'hg update'\n-------------"
echo -e "Running 'hg update for expoweb'\n-------------"
hg update
echo -e "Regenerating website\n-------------"
make
make
echo "</pre></body></html>"

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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<title>1977: Cambridge Underground report</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../css/main2.css" />
</head>
<body>
<center><font size=-1>CTS 78.2018: Cambridge Underground 1978 pp 30-48</font>
<h1>The Austrian Expedition 1977</h1></center>
<h3>Introduction</h3>
<p>The Austrian Expedition, which happened between August 5th and 24th, was
based throughout at the campsite at <span lang="de-at">Altaussee</span>,
beneath the <span lang="de-at">Loser</span> Plateau. All our finds, indeed
all our prospecting, were confined to this area, although we did manage a few
tourist trips in other areas (there being no previously known caves on <span
lang="de-at">Loser</span>). Since the cavers present fell naturally into
three subsets our account of the expedition follows a similar structure.
There follows some pontification by Nick on the geological nature and caving
potential of the <span lang="de-at">Loser</span> plateau area, and we
conclude with a short account of other systems visited.
<p>(a) Team Youth : Simon Farrow, Nick Thorne, Andy Waddington
<br>(b) Team Enthusiast : Julian Griffiths, Steve Perry, Nick Reckert
<br>(c) Team Geriatric : Vic Brown, Dave Fox, Julia Kostelnyk, Carole Leach,
Rod Leach, Jont Leach, Mike Perryman
<p>Note that membership of (b) did not preclude potential eligibility for
(c) and vice versa. In most cases, team (c) members combined the finer
qualities of both (a) and (b). Members of (a), who could be recognised by
the enormous pile of sugar outside their tent, frequently had the qualities
required for membership of (b), but never the other way round. (b) members
could be picked out by the large pile of SRT gear always by their tents
(never on the plateau), and (c) by the smell of haute cuisine emanating from
their mess tent, or by the presence of slippers warming by the camp fire.
<p>Our thanks go to <span lang="de-at">Karl Gaisberger</span> who gave us the
benefit of his enormous experience of the area and arranged free passage for
us up the toll road to the plateau; to <span lang="de-at">Fritz
Madlmeier</span> at the campsite for his hospitality and cheap beer (to
encourage us to drink more, he continually lowered the price of it until it
was eventually free !); to <span lang="de-at">Bar Fischer</span> where we
drank and ate <span lang="de-at">Schlagg</span> each evening; and to the
waitress at <span lang="de-at">Blaa-Alm</span> ... her schnitzels were
magnificent.
<p>Chronologically events occurred as follows - dates refer to August 1977:
<blockquote>
3 Geriatrics take <span lang="de-at">Altaussee</span> by storm<br>
5 <span lang="de-at">Naglstegh&ouml;hle</span><br>
6 <span lang="de-at">Brandgrabenh&ouml;hle</span><br>
7 <span lang="de-at">Naglstegh&ouml;hle</span> again. Enthusiasts arrive<br>
8 <span lang="de-at">Hirlatz</span><br>
9 Youths arrive. Prospecting on plateau commences<br>
See below<br>
20 <span lang="de-at">Reiseneish&ouml;hle</span> - a show cave on the
<span lang="de-at">Dachstein</span> Massif<br>
21 <span lang="de-at">Elmh&ouml;hlensystem</span>, Totes Gebirge<br>
22 Derigging of the major pots 97 and 76. All tackle removed from plateau
</blockquote>
<hr />
<h3><a name="geriatric">Report of team Geriatric</a></h3>
<p>Team Geriatric had two advantages - a high standard of living compared
with the soya bean boys, thanks to Carole and Julia, and knowledge of the
area from the previous year. Disadvantages were old age breeding lethargy, a
readiness to 'diversify', particularly into canoeing, and an addiction to all
forms of cake '<span lang="de-at">mit Schlagg</span>' ! We took as our patch
on the plateau, therefore, the area nearest the col (old age privilege) and
ended up concentrating on an area no more than 10 minutes NE of the col. The
holes explored were numbered in red as follows:
<p><b>80</b>: Found after five minutes on the plateau. A direct descent of
14m to a choke, and the hole was abandoned.
<p><b>81</b>: Found two minutes later, this turned out to be a short section
of horizontal passage 5m below the surface with two entrances but no way on.
<p><b>82</b>: We took bearings of this cave -
<span lang="de-at">Br&auml;uning Nase</span> 247,
<span lang="de-at">Sch&ouml;nberg</span> 341. All other Geriatric pots are
within a stones' throw of this obvious entrance. Found five minutes later,
this was to occupy most of our caving time.
<p><b>Trip 1</b>. An obvious entrance (see cover of 1978 Journal !) led
across a short snow slope to a large, boulder-strewn passage ending in a
climb down with daylight entering 20m above through an aven. A scramble over
boulders led to a 6m pitch (<span lang="de-at">Apfelschacht</span>) with
dangerous loose boulders near the pitch head. This was descended and led
almost immediately to a 3m climb down to the head of a 20m pitch (<span
lang="de-at">Orangenschacht</span>) with a trickle of water entering halfway
down. From the foot, a fine keyhole passage was followed to a choice of
routes of which the most promising was a 10m pitch. The three present exited
to gather more tackle and better caving gear than T-shirts and a single
light.
<p><b>Trip 2</b>. A demolition job was done on the boulders of the first
pitch and a bolt placed to give a safer hang. The third pitch (<span
lang="de-at">Bierschacht</span>) was descended over stal. flow to an awkward
crawl which looked likely to fizzle out. Instead it suddenly led directly on
to a 15m pitch (<span lang="de-at">Nocheinbierschacht</span>) needing bolts
as there was no natural belay. The pitch hung impressively free and suddenly
the cave was spacious again. At the foot, voice connection was established
with a phreatic passage above the third pitch that had ended in a big hole.
Ahead was a phreatic tunnel that choked and a very large black emptiness. 25m
of ladder were fed into this (<span lang="de-at">Viermalbierschacht</span>)
and the pitch was found to be made up of four steps of about 6m each
connected by small ledges. At the foot, the stream plunged over a tiny ledge
(one and a half men big) into blackness. A small stone thrown over was not
heard to land, but panic was avoided on the basis that the stone was small
and the pitch noisy with the sound of the cascading stream. On the way out to
collect SRT gear, the early part of the cave was surveyed.
<p><b>Trip 3</b>. Bolts were placed at the head of
<span lang="de-at">Viermalbierschacht</span> and over the new hole. Vic (it
says 'our tame idiot' on the scrap of paper in front of me - Ed.) was kicked
over the edge and stopped 50m lower down. The pitch (<span
lang="de-at">Besoffene</span>) hangs freer than Juniper for all but the last
8m - most impressive. Heavy water, inefficiency over getting tackle to the
front and a further pitch needing bolts forced an early exit. Spare time was
used following passages nearer the surface to their conclusions, and carrying
out more surveying.
<p><b>Trip 4</b>. More organised this time, one pair went down in heavy
water (run off response was very rapid) and reached the head of the next
pitch by traversing above a steeply dropping stream canyon. Bolts were
placed above a sloping platform to give a pitch of about 17m to the stream
floor which continued to drop steeply to a broken 6m pitch. A climb out of
the streamway here showed a good spot for rigging a freehanging pitch out of
the water. This was bolted by the second pair and descended to a depth of
30m. To our general surprise and great disappointment, a sump rapidly
followed.
<p><b>Trip 5</b>. Final surveying and derigging was completed with Steve
being drafted in to prove that we hadn't made it all up. This final trip
took just five hours.
<h4>Comments</h4>
<p>The pot is about 220m deep, and it seems likely that the sump is perched
or perhaps even a temporary sump in highish water. However, no bypass could
be found so the depth is unlikely to be increased. No major phreatic
development was reached. Such phreatic passages as were found all choked
rapidly and the overall impression is of a larger than life Yorkshire pot
cutting through old phreatic developments. Like Yorkshire too, heavy water
makes the big pitches very serious and the fourth trip assumed epic
proportios at times, with one pair ascending most of the big rift in
darkness, including transferring prussiking gear on a tiny ledge over 50m of
exposure.
<p><img alt="82 survey - 28k gif" width=640 height=1300
src="../../plateau/others/82.png">
<p>Pitches :<blockquote>
1 - 6m <span lang="de-at">Apfelschacht</span><br>
2 - 20m <span lang="de-at">Orangenschacht</span><br>
3 - 10m <span lang="de-at">Bierschacht</span><br>
4 - 15m <span lang="de-at">Nocheinbierschacht</span><br>
5 - 25m <span lang="de-at">Viermalbierschacht</span><br>
6 - 50m <span lang="de-at">Bessofene</span><br>
7 - 17m<br>
8 - 6m<br>
9 - 30m</blockquote>
<p><b>83</b>: Found 200m north of 82. A 13m freeclimb dropped on to a steep
snow slope requiring a line. This was descended for a further 10m to a steep
boulder slope which funnelled down to a small hole through which stones fell
free a long way. The large amounts of scree made the descent most
uninviting. Back up the boulder slope, a phreatic passage was entered and
quickly led to a big hole in the floor.
<p>A second visit with Marlow and bolts was made to descend the big hole in
the floor. Apart from the wedges being too big, things went smoothly and the
bolts held OK. A fine free-hanging pitch of 36m got us quite excited.
Unfortunately no way on could be found from the boulder-strewn floor. The
phreatic passage continues beyond the pitch head (bolts or a lack of
imagination requred for the traverse) but it is trending uphill and does not
look very promising.
<p><b>84</b>: A draughting tube WNW of 83 led to a small chamber. A further
small tube led off, still draughting but it was deemed impenetrable by the
caver concerned on account of him wearing only shorts and T-shirt.
<p><b>85</b>: Strangely, we had missed this although it was within 20m of 82
and we had walked past it every day on the way to the plateau. A descent of
this turned out to be quite entertaining - a series of short free-climbs of
varying complexity led to a depth of at least 50m with no tackle required
anywhere. An impenetrable fissure barred further progress.
<p><b>86</b>: This was a rift on the high ground just SE of 82 and didn't
look too promising as it seemed snow-plugged. Ladder was fed down and a
descent made to -25m before the gap between the snow and the rock got too
small.
<p><img alt="sketch surveys of smaller caves - 16k gif" width=640 height=800
src="../../plateau/others/80-86.png">
<hr />
<h3><a name="enthusiast">Team Enthusiast's</a> Report</h3>
<p>None of our pots have accurate coordinates, a reflection partly on the
recurrent low cloud and partly on our belief that we were sighting on a peak
called the <span lang="de-at">Br&auml;uning Sattel</span>. A '<span
lang="de-at">Sattel</span>', we later learnt, is a pass&nbsp;! All our pots
are marked in red paint.
<p>Numbers 90 to 94 are all situated on the southern edge of the karren
field, more or less below an obvious and dramatic breach in the
<span lang="de-at">Br&auml;uning</span> wall.
<p><b>90</b>: Rift entrance in scrub, just below talus and pasture. Chokes
at -20m
<p><b>91</b>: Snow-fed rift in open lapiaz. Chokes at -20m
<p><b>92</b>: Distinct from its neighbours in several respects. Firstly, it
was deep in scrub yet the entrance was not over-vegetated. Secondly, by
virtue of its small horizontal entrance, it was unlikely to be blocked by
thermoclastic scree. Thirdly it draughted slightly. With all these points in
its favour, it was annoying to find that the interior was as loose as a dose
of Delhi-belly. Everywhere we looked were vast, poised boulders, and one of
our ropes was severed when NR dislodged a piece of wall by breathing too
hard. It was not too much of a disappointment to find that it choked at
-90m.
<p><img alt="92 survey - 12k gif" width=640 height=900
src="../../plateau/others/92.png">
<p><b>93</b>: Long rift north of 91. Chokes at -35m.
<p><b>94</b>: A little further north still. A spiralling free-climb choking
at -35m.
<p>At this point we realized what we should have known from the start: in
this area pots aren't worth bothering with unless they:
<blockquote>(1) have vast entrances or<br>
(2) have tiny entrances<br>
(3) draught</blockquote>
<p>So we abandoned the area under the <span lang="de-at">Br&auml;uning</span>
Wall. But before we go down to serious prospecting we decided to have a look
at a pot recommended to us by <span lang="de-at">Karl Gaisberger</span>. In
fact we had already been camping within 50m of it without noticing ! It was
situated on a raised bank near the sink and huts on the west side of the
<span lang="de-at">Schwarzmoos Sattel</span>, just off the path that we
followed to reach the plateau from the car park. In fact Pot 96 was found
first, but JG being an accountant, his tiny brain gets acutely perplexed by
blunders in numbering.
<p><b>95</b>: A 10m climb to an unpushed and unpromising tube. Descended
only for the sake of form and to restore numerical sequence.
<p><b>96</b>: An unusual pot in that the entrance was the only good clean
shaft which we found in pasture. A series of short, solid pitches in a high
rift led to an apparent end in a chamber where the water sank. However, the
upper level of a small rift was found to lead to an abandoned passage.
Several free-climbs, each muddier than the last, then a squeeze, brought us
to a sordid little sump, although an air current (but not SP) seemed to
vanish along an inaccessible passage above the final crawl. We were rather
disappointed by the omens, as last year's major discovery, the <span
lang="de-at">Fledermaush&ouml;hle</span>, had also ended in a sump. Would
every pot end in a perched sump ? Well the next pot was to be a revelation.
Depth 105m.
<p><img alt="96 survey - 13k gif" width=640 height=900
src="../../br-alm/96/96.png">
<p><b>97</b>: The pot that restored the status quo to Team Enthusiast
(otherwise known as Team Ireland, Team Trials Marina, Team Thin Geriatric,
Team Gunge etc., etc.) We had been looking for a hole which we could name
<span lang="de-at">Konstantinopolitanischerstra&szlig;enbahnf&uuml;hrerinassistentineninexpeditionnenzehnhundertsiebenundsiebsigtropfsteineish&ouml;hlensystem</span>,
but it would have had to be at least 50 km long for the name to fit on the
survey ! So we settled for the name <span
lang="de-at">Schneewindschacht</span> instead. Within spitting distance of
<span lang="de-at">Eislufth&ouml;hle</span>, it was distinguished by a
narrow, draughting entrance, with an encouraging rustle of water within.
(Incidentally, all the draughting holes we found this year blew OUT: we never
came up with a reasonable explanation, despite much speculation about
localised barometric inversion, water generated and ionised air currents, but
just took it for granted that such holes were more promising than pots with
no draught at all.)
<p>Team Fat Geriatric jeered at us for applying Yorkshire tactics in the
land of the big shaft, but we returned next day with a hammer and enlarged
the entrance to passable proportions. Two climbs of 10m and 5m led to a
chamber with two exits, of which NR chose the drier. A sordid grovel doubled
itself and passed directly under the wetter hole, which dribbled ferociously
through his tatty Spock-suit. Obviously a diver was needed ! JG obligingly
continued along the grovel for a further 5m, finding it about as tight as
Baptistry crawl with a constricted pitch head on the far side. 15m below,
the explorers reached the head of a very deep-sounding rift, which was
initially descended only to a ledge at 20m. Due to the awkwardness of the
entrance crawl, it was necessary to remove all SRT gear and clip it to the
pitch head before exiting, hence the name Vestry. The crawl itself, which
henceforward was entered and left by the wet entrance, was baptised the
Nun's C***: partly on account of the shape of the orifice, partly on account
of its tightness, but mainly because it was so desperately in need of
banging.
<p>Discovery progressed slowly, largely because every pitch had to be bolted:
also, it was essential to be off the lapiaz by nightfall or resign oneself to
an overnight trip, thus denying oneself the statutory five glasses of <span
lang="de-at">Reininghaus</span> at the <span lang="de-at">Bar Fischer</span>.
The survey is fairly self-explanatory. Traversing over a '<span lang=fr>Puits
en baionnette</span>' took one down the Bottomless Abbess to a point where
the cave turned horizontal and stream-like for a short stretch. But it still
went on down, dropping - rather surprisingly - into an abandoned series of
dry, dusty phreatic tubes, which sloped down at a steady five degrees. The
tantalising sight of a large cave-type passage leading off beyond a 3m ladder
climb almost made it seem likely that a giant fossil system had been reached.
Alas, it was impossible to traverse over to it, so SP was tied onto a piece
of string and forced down the next pitch.
<p>A fine clean shaft of 25m, it started unpromisingly, but soon belled out
into a magnificent trench passage. Traversing over a gully led shortly to a
succession of piddling little climbs and a final lovely pitch, The
Dissolution. Here the water sank in an impenetrable crack, the draught
having already vanished.
<p>An excellent pot - even if it would have been impossible to rescue anyone
from - but why did it stop so soon ? And would the traverse have led to
further pitches ? The answer is almost certainly yes. Still, there's the
rest of the plateau to be looked at yet, so we probably won't return to the
<span lang="de-at">Schneewindschacht</span>. Depth 265m.
<img alt="97 survey - 22k gif" width=582 height=1335
src="../../plateau/others/97.png">
<!-- survey needs rescanning, as that is a hand-held scan and is not
linear in the y-direction. -->
<hr />
<h3><a name="youth">'Youth Section'</a> Report</h3>
<p>The 'Youth Section' comprised the three undergraduate members of the
expedition present this year, Simon Farrow, Nick Thorne &amp; Andy
Waddington. We arrived a few days later than the bulk of the expedition and
immediately started prospecting. It took us about two days of exploring small
shafts in the karren with depths of 10-20m before we found a very promising
area. Two shafts of 30 and 40m were descended, but these were of the large
open type and inevitably choked. The shafts were numbered as found:
<p><b>100</b>: A small shaft on the line of a fault, about 15m deep but
ending in a tight wet crack with very sharp rock.
<p><b>101</b>: Near a large fault scarp, but apparently not associated with
it. A small freeclimb down led to a horizontal passage which led in both
directions, the northward branch led out into the face of the scarp (101A)
while south led to a short pitch and then a small crawl led on. This dropped
into a larger crawl, a meandering phreatic tube which went for 40m or so
until a window in the right wall led to the base of an aven. The continuing
crawl was too small, and the aven appeared to choke after a climb down. The
total depth was probably 30-40m.
<p><b>102</b>: About 30m west of 101, a straight shaft of 20m to a snow plug.
<p><b>103</b>: About 15m north of 102, in the face of the same fault scarp
as 101A, but aligned on a joint perpendicular to the fault. A very broken
shaft of 30m to a choke - distinctly tight and awkward with lots of wedged
rock.
<p><b>104</b>: Moving east to a new area below the <span
lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel</span>, we found a large open shaft in the
dense spruce. This was rigged from a bolt in a large erratic boulder, and
found to be 30m deep. It was rather broken and inevitably choked.
<p><b>105</b>: A much cleaner shaft nearby, started as a handline descent of
9m to a ledge from which a pitch was rigged. It seemed likely to be loose
from here down, but in fact proved to be a very fine shaft in clean
bluish-white limestone, 32m to a flat gravel floor.
<p><b>106</b>: The rest of the account is taken up by our major discovery,
which occupied us for the rest of the trip.
<p>It was while we were derigging 105 that a small hole sloping downwards
for about 5m was noticed. The entrance was invisible from 5m away and only
attracted attention because the air around it was noticeably cooler than
elsewhere. A closer examination revealed that the hole led down over a small
ice slope and then stepped sideways so that stones could not be thrown down
any further.
<p>The next day, a handline was rigged to a spruce at this entrance and a
descent was commenced. Andy soon discovered that the ice was rather hard and
slippery and his descent was not too well controlled. At the bottom of the
initial slope, two small passages led off, and a further ice slope went down
a narrow rift. This was descended more carefully, and a small chamber was
entered. At the far end, another hole led on and from this emerged the
draught which at this point was powerful enough to blow out a carbide lamp
flame. This hole was a pitch head and a temporary retreat was made. We were
obviously on to something good, and the entrance was labelled 106. The two
small side passages were investigated and both found to lead out into the
bottom of nearby dolines, both carrying part of the draught. One of these
dolines was subsequently used as the normal entrance (106A).
<p>Tackle was quickly collected from the surface and Andy and Nick returned
to the ice slope, where a short ladder was rigged for safety. No natural
belays were apparent, so the next ladder was put down the pitch belayed to
the first, while Nick tied on to a dubious flake. The pitch dropped about 9m
onto a large snow platform from where two ways on were possible. Andy
descended the larger and found himself climbing round and under a large snow
and ice plug. Below this was another platform and round the corner, the
pitch continued into blackness, with another snow ledge visible some way
below. All this snow prevented stones from being thrown far down the shaft,
but we were obviously onto something big so we retreated for more tackle.
<p>Our main priority on the next trip was to put some bolts in and descend
the next section of the pitch, and having shown someone else where our
entrance was, we were all able to descend the pot simultaneously. The shaft
continued, getting bigger all the time, and we were soon 40m below the
second snow platform on a large ledge. At this stage we started to find that
the shaft was not giving up its secrets easily as the ladder started getting
caught up on the numerous ledges, making it very difficult to climb. This
necessitated considerable delay while we rerigged the shaft, putting in
various bolts on the way.
<p>On the next trip after rerigging, we got everyone down to the large ledge
"Yesterday's Terminus" and rigged the next pitch from yet another bolt. Nick
abseiled into the unknown and the pitch proved to be 13m onto another large
patch of snow, but this time things were somewhat different, since the snow
occupied one half of the floor of a large chamber forming the base of a huge
aven soaring beyond the range of our lights. We were now at a depth of about
90m and soon found that the way on was a further pitch in a rift to one side
of this chamber. We were able to rig this quickly as the large boulders in
the floor gave us our first safe natural belays. Nick and Simon descended
another 13m pitch into a small chamber at the far end of which was a large
boulder blockage.
<p>The obstacle comprised three huge boulders, one above another, with the
gaps filled by several smaller blocks and at first seemed insuperable. Andy
descended and a brief discussion ensued. After an initial attempt to climb
over the choke, thwarted because each of the large blocks had various amounts
of loose grubble on top, attention focussed on a small hole from which the
draught seemed mainly to be coming. A lot of loose rubble was pushed through
the hole and then Andy ventured to peer through. The hole was short and led
out into a narrow rift type passage with a floor of jammed rubble. After
throwing various lumps of rock at the floor, Andy descended and moved forward
on a lifeline. A gap in the floor was noted and a small stone dropped in. The
result was both worrying and encouraging, as after a delay of a couple of
seconds, an echoing crash was heard. Further forward, the explorer was able
to demolish the false floor which fell with loud crashing and booming noises
into the pitch below. Eventually enough of the rubble was removed to judge
the pitch head safe, but it appeared to be too narrow to descend except at
the far end where it seemed to widen slightly.
<p>The descent of the pitch had to wait until the next trip when a bolt was
placed above the takeoff and a traverse line rigged over the pitch head. All
the available ladder was put down the pitch which was estimated at 40m, and
by the sound of stones dropped seemed likely to hang free. In fact, when
descended it proved to be 31m in a fine wide shaft, but against the wall all
the way by virtue of the takeoff having been chosen right at the far side of
the shaft. A heavy drip landed on the large boulder strewn ledge and then
the pitch continued. Stones dropped suggested a broken pitch of perhaps 15m,
but the pitch proper was hidden round a corner and the lifeline had run out.
It was noticed that while the next pitch was small, no draught was
noticeable. This later led to the shaft being named the 'Keg Series'.
<p>A retreat had now to be made, since insufficient tackle was available to
continue, and the pitch was derigged. While pulling ladders up the pitch, a
large rock fell out of the pitch head and crashed onto the ladder some 15m
below, smashing most of the way through one of the wires. Sitting at the top
of the pitch coiling ladders, it was noticed that while the pitch ended
directly below, the rift continued beyond, and investigation of this led to
the discovery of a draught coming from an awkward hole between chockstones
in the continuing rift. As soon as all the tackle was coiled, Andy set off
through the hole to find a climb down to the enlarging continuation of the
passage. After a short distance, the gradient steepened and another pitch
head materialised, this time in an apparently roomy shaft starting some way
above. Derigging the pot was abandoned and another return trip planned.
<p>Next day all the tackle was ferried forward and put down the new pitch
rigged from a convenient wedged boulder. Nick descended to a ledge 16m down
and found that the pitch continued. This section proved to be 14m to a solid
floor from which a vadose type passage led onwards. He set off to investigate
and soon came to a chamber below a large aven from which a heavy drip fell.
A passage could be seen beyond, as well as a rift in the floor which seemed
to be the start of another passage about 5m below the floor of the chamber.
The chamber could not reasonably be crossed by a lone explorer on carbide
because of the heavy drip from the roof, so Nick retreated to report the
good news. On the way he noticed a small passage which led back parallel to
the way he had come, and following this he came upon another large shaft in
the floor with an estimated depth in excess of 15m. He could see a passage
beyond the pitch but could not cross it so returned to the final pitch.
<p>After discussion about whether the lifeline could be safely returned down
the pitch, Simon and Andy descended and repeated the exercise, noting in
addition that the draught in the final chamber seemed to be distributed,
some going to the pot that we had explored, and some going to the passage
on the far side, suggesting yet another inlet to the system. A single
photograph was taken and the pair returned to the final pitch.
<p>The trip was clearly the limit of our tackle, and time for the expedition
was running short, so we started to derig, getting as far as Yesterday's
Terminus before leaving the job for a final trip on the last day of the
expedition. On this final trip, we were assisted by Rod Leach, while Andy
stayed on the surface. Behind a rock bridge about halfway up Plugged Shaft,
a passage was found leading off, and this was followed to the head of yet
another pitch which descended into the unknown, another lead to be followed
next year. Nearby on the surface, another draughting entrance was found and
descended down a climb to a side-step leading to a pitch. This was
investigated only by the dropping of stones, but seems to be about 10m to a
snow ledge. This pot was labelled 99 to fill a gap in the numbering
sequence.
<p>During the expedition, all the finds had been allocated numbers in
accordance with the official Austrian recording system, and only on the
return trip did we decide to name our pot "<span
lang="de-at">Eislufth&ouml;hle</span>", since on drawing our rough survey, we
found its depth to be 150m, the depth which we had been taking as the minimum
for naming a pot.
<p><img alt="106 survey - 19k gif" width=640 height=860 src="106.png">
<hr />
<h3><a name="nicknotes">Some Notes</a> on the <span lang="de-at">Loser</span>
Plateau</h3>
<p>In the absence, as we are given to understand, of any detailed study of
the <span lang="de-at">loser/Sch&ouml;nberg</span> plateau, it is difficult
to write with any authority on the hydrology and geology of the area. We were
further handicapped by a lack of adequately contoured large-scale maps from
which spot heights could be assessed. Still, the following points may be of
interest.
<p>The part of the plateau with which we were concerned takes the rough form
of a wide and shallow cirque, bounded to the south by the impervious
(dolomitic?) shales of the <span lang="de-at">Br&auml;uning</span> Wall, to
the east by the peaks of the <span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel</span> and
<span lang="de-at">Augsteck</span>, and to the north by the <span
lang="de-at">Sch&ouml;nberg</span>. The slope - and as far as we could judge
- the general dip are WSW, and the bulk of the plateau falls within the
altitude range 1600-1800m. Several sizeable valleys appear to coalesce in the
centre of the plateau, but in the short time available to us we were only
able to explore a small area within about 1&nbsp;km from the <span
lang="de-at">Schwarzmoos-Sattel</span>. Given the size of the plateau, its
patches of dense scrub, and its orogenetic and morphogenetic complexity we
can only guess at the character of the parts left unexplored, but we think it
very unlikely that there will be any integrated surface flow or stream sinks.
<p><img alt="sketch map of area - 20k gif" width=735 height=940
src="map.png">
<p><span lang="de-at">Karl Gaisberger</span> informed us that a dye-test in
the <span lang="de-at">Augstsee</span> (a small lake near our route up to the
plateau) had given a positive trace to the water mains of <span
lang="de-at">Bad Ischl</span>, some 12km to the west. Unfortunately, <span
lang="de-at">Bad Ischl</span> is fed by several tapped springs and it had not
been possible to identify the exact one. We do know though (1) that a spring
near or in <span lang="de-at">Naglstegh&ouml;hle</span> has been tested from
the <span lang="de-at">Steyrer-See</span> near <span
lang="de-at">Tauplitz</span>, a trace distance of about 30km. Since the <span
lang="de-at">Loser</span> Plateau lies on this traceline it is a simplistic
but fair assumption that the water from our discoveries also resurges there.
<p>A corollary of this particular series of tests is that the drainage of the
<span lang="de-at">Totes Gebirge</span> mountains in shown to be essentially
radial. The main sinks dyed fed resurgences around a circumference of 75km,
an area delineated by <span lang="de-at">Bad Mitterndorf, Bad Aussee, Bad
Ischl, Ebensee, Grunan, Hinterstoder</span> and <span
lang="de-at">Liezen</span>. This extraordinary radial drainage makes it
unlikely that the <span lang="de-at">Loser</span> pots join a vadose
dendritic system. Far more likely is an extensive and sluggish phreas. Again,
it is unfortunate that we have no flow through times to substantiate the
theory.
<p>If the assumption is correct, the possibility of a master cave of sorts is
not necessarily ruled out. It would necessarily date from the late Tertiary
period (the most important in Austrian speleogenesis) and would probably be
situated several hundred metres above the current resurgence level. This
supposes a series of deep vertical shafts dropping into a large, abandoned
main drain, with further shafts, representing a more recent and predominantly
vertical genetic phase, dropping further still to near-static sumps.
<p>Although the nearby <span lang="de-at">Rauherkarh&ouml;hle</span> (c. 700m
deep) does little to bear out this theory, being a highly complex and gently
sloping cave system, a comparison between it and, say, the <span
lang="de-at">Schneewindschacht</span>, will show enough points of difference
to invalidate strict parallels. A glance at a cross-section of the plateau
with the <span lang="de-at">Schneewindschacht</span> superimposed will
demonstrate graphically that some sort of horizontal trend must be expected
shortly. Moreover, the pattern of large horizontal galleries feeding (and
sometimes fed by) shaft systems is common enough in Austria already; the
<span lang="de-at">Geldloch</span>, the <span
lang="de-at">Dachsteinmammuth&ouml;hle</span> and, more recently, the <span
lang="de-at">Ahnenschacht</span> (2) are examples.
<p>Several trips were made into <span lang="de-at">Naglstegh&ouml;hle</span>,
attempting to bolt across to an inlet at the far end. If we had persevered -
either in this, or in investigating local resurgences - it is conceivable
that we might have found a good length of passage heading towards <span
lang="de-at">Rauherkarh&ouml;hle</span> or under the plateau. Food for
thought !
<p>One further point of interest is the <span
lang="de-at">Stellerwegh&ouml;hle</span>, whose approximate position is
marked on the area map. This cave was discovered in 1951 and was found to end
in a deep shaft. This shaft has still to be descended ! A partial descent and
a plumbline revealed a depth of 220m plus. That alone must speak volumes for
the potential of the area.
<p>References:<br>
(1) Herak, M. &amp; Stringfield, V.T. (Editors) Karst, p 242<br>
(2) Spelunca, 1975, no. 3, p 23
<hr />
<h3><a name="other">Other Caving</a></h3>
<h4><span lang="de-at">Naglstegh&ouml;hle</span> Bolting</h4>
<p>Last year's inspection of this small system found that a possible way on
was visible at the top of the ramp at the highest point of the cave. Mike
and Vic performed an exposed traverse to a ledge, where a rusted piton
was found in the rock with the initials WA inscribed next to it. There
was no evidence of anyone having got beyond this point. We bolted a
further climb of 4m to a passage above from which a one metre diameter
phreatic tube leads off in the roof at about 60 degrees. This is about 4m
up, and may need a bolt as well as more enthusiasm to reach.
<h4>The <span lang="de-at">Brandgrabenh&ouml;hle</span> Fiasco</h4>
<p>This is a resurgence cave about 50m below the entrance to <span
lang="de-at">Hirlatz</span>. It was rumoured to be desperately wet by
Austrian standards, so a wetsuited team sweated up the 300m climb to the
entrance to do a spot of pushing for them. About 50m into the cave we were
stopped by a 10m pitch into a deep lake. Not having thought of bringing any
ladders, we lowered Dave down into the pool. Dangling just above the water he
announced that he could see that the passage sumped further along and didn't
need to get himself wet to prove it. He ascended amidst jeers from the other
three who were peering over the ledge. But since nobody else wanted to go
down, we exited planning to return with a ladder. On our return to <span
lang="de-at">Altaussee</span>, Karl informed us that the passage does indeed
sump off here in the summer, but that in winter over 1km of streamway can be
followed.
<h4><span lang="de-at">Hirlatz</span> bashing</h4>
<p>Julian and Mike dismissed this vast and impressive system in just over
three hours. The cave as far as camp 1 with its rotting canvas tent and
renowned supply of naughty magazines was described in last year's expedition
account. The only aspects of the cave's entrance series of note were the
uninspiring state of the fixed ladders (about a dozen had to be negotiated
throughout the cave), and the incredible current of air blowing through the
entrance crawl. The Wind Tunnel in <span lang=eu>Betzula</span> just doesn't
compare with the gale that was roaring out that day, and it was with some
trepidation that we groped in through the iron gate and under the draught
doors that revent the entrance icing up in winter.
<p>Beyond Camp 1 the cave splits after a chamber with initials smoked on the
walls. To the left the passage passed a fixed ladder, then got progressively
smaller until we came out above a streamway with waterfall facing us.
Retracing our steps for a few metres we were able to drop down 10m through
boulders to a traverse above the stream. A 5m climb up through water on
minimal holds led to a further 5m fixed ladder climb up, and we called a halt
where the water appeared as spray from a 60m aven.
<p>Back at the 10m fixed ladder we climbed up to an old deserted phreatic
passage and soon arrived at Camp 2 - an elaborate but squalid set-up with
carbide, food, pots and plates all over the place. Beyond a waterfall, a
small stream was reached. From here the passage closed down and rapidly
developed into a vadose trench for a hundred metres or so. It degenerated to
a point where we decided to proceed no further in claggies. A stinky gonk in
the stream proeceded a sprint out to daylight.
<h4><a name="elmh" lang="de-at">Elmh&ouml;hlensystem</a></h4>
<p>An ascent to the <span lang="de-at">P&uuml;hringer</span> Hut by Team
Geriatric was combined with a trip into the <span
lang="de-at">Elmh&ouml;hlensystem</span>, described in detail in last year's
journal. We entered by the <span lang="de-at">Kleines Windloch</span> and
proceeded into the ice-section as far as the <span lang="de-at">Grosses
Windloch</span> shaft. Rod and Jont took lots of piccies. The rest of us
hurled snowballs or went toboganning! On to a splendid evening meal at the
Hut (where chamois was on the menu), and a bed for the night.
<h4>Some notes in conclusion</h4>
<ol>
<li>We will undoubtedly return to the area in 1978 .... we have still
hardly begun on the plateau, and we have no competitors as yet.
<li>Lots of bolts and drivers are essential - there are few natural
belays and the rock is very hard.
<li>SRT rope could be taken down larger pots in long lengths and then cut
underground to the lengths required.
<li>Ladder or SRT ? Clearly SRT is faster on a long trip, but we found that
using mixed tackle avoided unnecessary bolting for the free-hang required by
SRT. For example, <span lang="de-at">Viermalbierschacht</span> would have to
be rebelayed in three places on SRT. There still seems, for exploratory work
- at any rate where pitches are descended and ascended many times during the
exploration - to be a strong case for mixed tackle and flexibility on the
part of cavers.
<li>Size of party - 82 was our first major exploration involving depth and
uncertain rescue facilities. Consequently we were fairly inefficient. Ideally
teams of two or perhaps three should go down at intervals of an hour or so -
this allows a party to get down, rig the next pitch (bolts almost inevitable)
assess the situation beyond, and then return quickly, passing on their
information to the next group. This avoids long trips, something none of us
fancied.
<li>Get fairy floats for canoes if VB or DF have offered to take you on an
'easy' river.
<li>Give up caving and take up skiing...
<li>Don't have two plates of <span lang="de-at">schlagg</span> washed down
only by beer...etc., etc.
<li>A tip for new members - the club dinghy CAN be rolled should you
capsize, provided you have tied yourself in first.
</ol>
<h3>END OF EXPEDITION REPORT</h3>
<hr />
<span>CTS 78.2018: Cambridge Underground 1978 pp 30-48</span>
<h1>The Austrien Expedition 1977</h1>
<h3>Introduction</h3>
<p>The Austrian Expedition, which happened between August 5th and 24th, was based throughout at the campsite at <span lang="de-at">Altaussee</span>, beneath the <span lang="de-at">Loser</span> Plateau. All our finds, indeed all our prospecting, were confined to this area, although we did manage a few tourist trips in other areas (there being no previously known caves on <span lang="de-at">Loser</span>). Since the cavers present fell naturally into three subsets our account of the expedition follows a similar structure. There follows some pontification by Nick on the geological nature and caving potential of the <span lang="de-at">Loser</span> plateau area, and we conclude with a short account of other systems visited.</p>
<p>(a) Team Youth : Simon Farrow, Nick Thorne, Andy Waddington <br />(b) Team Enthusiast : Julian Griffiths, Steve Perry, Nick Reckert <br />(c) Team Geriatric : Vic Brown, Dave Fox, Julia Kostelnyk, Carole Leach, Rod Leach, Jont Leach, Mike Perryman</p>
<p>Note that membership of (b) did not preclude potential eligibility for (c) and vice versa. In most cases, team (c) members combined the finer qualities of both (a) and (b). Members of (a), who could be recognised by the enormous pile of sugar outside their tent, frequently had the qualities required for membership of (b), but never the other way round. (b) members could be picked out by the large pile of SRT gear always by their tents (never on the plateau), and (c) by the smell of haute cuisine emanating from their mess tent, or by the presence of slippers warming by the camp fire.</p>
<p>Our thanks go to <span lang="de-at">Karl Gaisberger</span> who gave us the benefit of his enormous experience of the area and arranged free passage for us up the toll road to the plateau; to <span lang="de-at">Fritz Madlmeier</span> at the campsite for his hospitality and cheap beer (to encourage us to drink more, he continually lowered the price of it until it was eventually free !); to <span lang="de-at">Bar Fischer</span> where we drank and ate <span lang="de-at">Schlagg</span> each evening; and to the waitress at <span lang="de-at">Blaa-Alm</span> ... her schnitzels were magnificent.</p>
<p>Chronologically events occurred as follows - dates refer to August 1977:</p>
<blockquote>3 Geriatrics take <span lang="de-at">Altaussee</span> by storm<br /> 5 <span lang="de-at">Naglstegh&ouml;hle</span><br /> 6 <span lang="de-at">Brandgrabenh&ouml;hle</span><br /> 7 <span lang="de-at">Naglstegh&ouml;hle</span> again. Enthusiasts arrive<br /> 8 <span lang="de-at">Hirlatz</span><br /> 9 Youths arrive. Prospecting on plateau commences<br /> See below<br /> 20 <span lang="de-at">Reiseneish&ouml;hle</span> - a show cave on the <span lang="de-at">Dachstein</span> Massif<br /> 21 <span lang="de-at">Elmh&ouml;hlensystem</span>, Totes Gebirge<br /> 22 Derigging of the major pots 97 and 76. All tackle removed from plateau</blockquote>
<hr />
<h3><a name="geriatric">Report of team Geriatric</a></h3>
<p>Team Geriatric had two advantages - a high standard of living compared with the soya bean boys, thanks to Carole and Julia, and knowledge of the area from the previous year. Disadvantages were old age breeding lethargy, a readiness to 'diversify', particularly into canoeing, and an addiction to all forms of cake '<span lang="de-at">mit Schlagg</span>' ! We took as our patch on the plateau, therefore, the area nearest the col (old age privilege) and ended up concentrating on an area no more than 10 minutes NE of the col. The holes explored were numbered in red as follows:</p>
<p><strong>80</strong>: Found after five minutes on the plateau. A direct descent of 14m to a choke, and the hole was abandoned.</p>
<p><strong>81</strong>: Found two minutes later, this turned out to be a short section of horizontal passage 5m below the surface with two entrances but no way on.</p>
<p><strong>82</strong>: We took bearings of this cave - <span lang="de-at">Br&auml;uning Nase</span> 247, <span lang="de-at">Sch&ouml;nberg</span> 341. All other Geriatric pots are within a stones' throw of this obvious entrance. Found five minutes later, this was to occupy most of our caving time.</p>
<p><strong>Trip 1</strong>. An obvious entrance (see cover of 1978 Journal !) led across a short snow slope to a large, boulder-strewn passage ending in a climb down with daylight entering 20m above through an aven. A scramble over boulders led to a 6m pitch (<span lang="de-at">Apfelschacht</span>) with dangerous loose boulders near the pitch head. This was descended and led almost immediately to a 3m climb down to the head of a 20m pitch (<span lang="de-at">Orangenschacht</span>) with a trickle of water entering halfway down. From the foot, a fine keyhole passage was followed to a choice of routes of which the most promising was a 10m pitch. The three present exited to gather more tackle and better caving gear than T-shirts and a single light.</p>
<p><strong>Trip 2</strong>. A demolition job was done on the boulders of the first pitch and a bolt placed to give a safer hang. The third pitch (<span lang="de-at">Bierschacht</span>) was descended over stal. flow to an awkward crawl which looked likely to fizzle out. Instead it suddenly led directly on to a 15m pitch (<span lang="de-at">Nocheinbierschacht</span>) needing bolts as there was no natural belay. The pitch hung impressively free and suddenly the cave was spacious again. At the foot, voice connection was established with a phreatic passage above the third pitch that had ended in a big hole. Ahead was a phreatic tunnel that choked and a very large black emptiness. 25m of ladder were fed into this (<span lang="de-at">Viermalbierschacht</span>) and the pitch was found to be made up of four steps of about 6m each connected by small ledges. At the foot, the stream plunged over a tiny ledge (one and a half men big) into blackness. A small stone thrown over was not heard to land, but panic was avoided on the basis that the stone was small and the pitch noisy with the sound of the cascading stream. On the way out to collect SRT gear, the early part of the cave was surveyed.</p>
<p><strong>Trip 3</strong>. Bolts were placed at the head of <span lang="de-at">Viermalbierschacht</span> and over the new hole. Vic (it says 'our tame idiot' on the scrap of paper in front of me - Ed.) was kicked over the edge and stopped 50m lower down. The pitch (<span lang="de-at">Besoffene</span>) hangs freer than Juniper for all but the last 8m - most impressive. Heavy water, inefficiency over getting tackle to the front and a further pitch needing bolts forced an early exit. Spare time was used following passages nearer the surface to their conclusions, and carrying out more surveying.</p>
<p><strong>Trip 4</strong>. More organised this time, one pair went down in heavy water (run off response was very rapid) and reached the head of the next pitch by traversing above a steeply dropping stream canyon. Bolts were placed above a sloping platform to give a pitch of about 17m to the stream floor which continued to drop steeply to a broken 6m pitch. A climb out of the streamway here showed a good spot for rigging a freehanging pitch out of the water. This was bolted by the second pair and descended to a depth of 30m. To our general surprise and great disappointment, a sump rapidly followed.</p>
<p><strong>Trip 5</strong>. Final surveying and derigging was completed with Steve being drafted in to prove that we hadn't made it all up. This final trip took just five hours.</p>
<h4>Comments</h4>
<p>The pot is about 220m deep, and it seems likely that the sump is perched or perhaps even a temporary sump in highish water. However, no bypass could be found so the depth is unlikely to be increased. No major phreatic development was reached. Such phreatic passages as were found all choked rapidly and the overall impression is of a larger than life Yorkshire pot cutting through old phreatic developments. Like Yorkshire too, heavy water makes the big pitches very serious and the fourth trip assumed epic proportios at times, with one pair ascending most of the big rift in darkness, including transferring prussiking gear on a tiny ledge over 50m of exposure.</p>
<p><img src="../../plateau/others/82.png" alt="82 survey - 28k gif" width="640" height="1300" /></p>
<p>Pitches :</p>
<blockquote>1 - 6m <span lang="de-at">Apfelschacht</span><br /> 2 - 20m <span lang="de-at">Orangenschacht</span><br /> 3 - 10m <span lang="de-at">Bierschacht</span><br /> 4 - 15m <span lang="de-at">Nocheinbierschacht</span><br /> 5 - 25m <span lang="de-at">Viermalbierschacht</span><br /> 6 - 50m <span lang="de-at">Bessofene</span><br /> 7 - 17m<br /> 8 - 6m<br /> 9 - 30m</blockquote>
<p><strong>83</strong>: Found 200m north of 82. A 13m freeclimb dropped on to a steep snow slope requiring a line. This was descended for a further 10m to a steep boulder slope which funnelled down to a small hole through which stones fell free a long way. The large amounts of scree made the descent most uninviting. Back up the boulder slope, a phreatic passage was entered and quickly led to a big hole in the floor.</p>
<p>A second visit with Marlow and bolts was made to descend the big hole in the floor. Apart from the wedges being too big, things went smoothly and the bolts held OK. A fine free-hanging pitch of 36m got us quite excited. Unfortunately no way on could be found from the boulder-strewn floor. The phreatic passage continues beyond the pitch head (bolts or a lack of imagination requred for the traverse) but it is trending uphill and does not look very promising.</p>
<p><strong>84</strong>: A draughting tube WNW of 83 led to a small chamber. A further small tube led off, still draughting but it was deemed impenetrable by the caver concerned on account of him wearing only shorts and T-shirt.</p>
<p><strong>85</strong>: Strangely, we had missed this although it was within 20m of 82 and we had walked past it every day on the way to the plateau. A descent of this turned out to be quite entertaining - a series of short free-climbs of varying complexity led to a depth of at least 50m with no tackle required anywhere. An impenetrable fissure barred further progress.</p>
<p><strong>86</strong>: This was a rift on the high ground just SE of 82 and didn't look too promising as it seemed snow-plugged. Ladder was fed down and a descent made to -25m before the gap between the snow and the rock got too small.</p>
<p><img src="../../plateau/others/80-86.png" alt="sketch surveys of smaller caves - 16k gif" width="640" height="800" /></p>
<hr />
<h3><a name="enthusiast">Team Enthusiast's</a> Report</h3>
<p>None of our pots have accurate coordinates, a reflection partly on the recurrent low cloud and partly on our belief that we were sighting on a peak called the <span lang="de-at">Br&auml;uning Sattel</span>. A '<span lang="de-at">Sattel</span>', we later learnt, is a pass&nbsp;! All our pots are marked in red paint.</p>
<p>Numbers 90 to 94 are all situated on the southern edge of the karren field, more or less below an obvious and dramatic breach in the <span lang="de-at">Br&auml;uning</span> wall.</p>
<p><strong>90</strong>: Rift entrance in scrub, just below talus and pasture. Chokes at -20m</p>
<p><strong>91</strong>: Snow-fed rift in open lapiaz. Chokes at -20m</p>
<p><strong>92</strong>: Distinct from its neighbours in several respects. Firstly, it was deep in scrub yet the entrance was not over-vegetated. Secondly, by virtue of its small horizontal entrance, it was unlikely to be blocked by thermoclastic scree. Thirdly it draughted slightly. With all these points in its favour, it was annoying to find that the interior was as loose as a dose of Delhi-belly. Everywhere we looked were vast, poised boulders, and one of our ropes was severed when NR dislodged a piece of wall by breathing too hard. It was not too much of a disappointment to find that it choked at -90m.</p>
<p><img src="../../plateau/others/92.png" alt="92 survey - 12k gif" width="640" height="900" /></p>
<p><strong>93</strong>: Long rift north of 91. Chokes at -35m.</p>
<p><strong>94</strong>: A little further north still. A spiralling free-climb choking at -35m.</p>
<p>At this point we realized what we should have known from the start: in this area pots aren't worth bothering with unless they:</p>
<blockquote>(1) have vast entrances or<br /> (2) have tiny entrances<br /> (3) draught</blockquote>
<p>So we abandoned the area under the <span lang="de-at">Br&auml;uning</span> Wall. But before we go down to serious prospecting we decided to have a look at a pot recommended to us by <span lang="de-at">Karl Gaisberger</span>. In fact we had already been camping within 50m of it without noticing ! It was situated on a raised bank near the sink and huts on the west side of the <span lang="de-at">Schwarzmoos Sattel</span>, just off the path that we followed to reach the plateau from the car park. In fact Pot 96 was found first, but JG being an accountant, his tiny brain gets acutely perplexed by blunders in numbering.</p>
<p><strong>95</strong>: A 10m climb to an unpushed and unpromising tube. Descended only for the sake of form and to restore numerical sequence.</p>
<p><strong>96</strong>: An unusual pot in that the entrance was the only good clean shaft which we found in pasture. A series of short, solid pitches in a high rift led to an apparent end in a chamber where the water sank. However, the upper level of a small rift was found to lead to an abandoned passage. Several free-climbs, each muddier than the last, then a squeeze, brought us to a sordid little sump, although an air current (but not SP) seemed to vanish along an inaccessible passage above the final crawl. We were rather disappointed by the omens, as last year's major discovery, the <span lang="de-at">Fledermaush&ouml;hle</span>, had also ended in a sump. Would every pot end in a perched sump ? Well the next pot was to be a revelation. Depth 105m.</p>
<p><img src="../../br-alm/96/96.png" alt="96 survey - 13k gif" width="640" height="900" /></p>
<p><strong>97</strong>: The pot that restored the status quo to Team Enthusiast (otherwise known as Team Ireland, Team Trials Marina, Team Thin Geriatric, Team Gunge etc., etc.) We had been looking for a hole which we could name <span lang="de-at">Konstantinopolitanischerstra&szlig;enbahnf&uuml;hrerinassistentineninexpeditionnenzehnhundertsiebenundsiebsigtropfsteineish&ouml;hlensystem</span>, but it would have had to be at least 50 km long for the name to fit on the survey ! So we settled for the name <span lang="de-at">Schneewindschacht</span> instead. Within spitting distance of <span lang="de-at">Eislufth&ouml;hle</span>, it was distinguished by a narrow, draughting entrance, with an encouraging rustle of water within. (Incidentally, all the draughting holes we found this year blew OUT: we never came up with a reasonable explanation, despite much speculation about localised barometric inversion, water generated and ionised air currents, but just took it for granted that such holes were more promising than pots with no draught at all.)</p>
<p>Team Fat Geriatric jeered at us for applying Yorkshire tactics in the land of the big shaft, but we returned next day with a hammer and enlarged the entrance to passable proportions. Two climbs of 10m and 5m led to a chamber with two exits, of which NR chose the drier. A sordid grovel doubled itself and passed directly under the wetter hole, which dribbled ferociously through his tatty Spock-suit. Obviously a diver was needed ! JG obligingly continued along the grovel for a further 5m, finding it about as tight as Baptistry crawl with a constricted pitch head on the far side. 15m below, the explorers reached the head of a very deep-sounding rift, which was initially descended only to a ledge at 20m. Due to the awkwardness of the entrance crawl, it was necessary to remove all SRT gear and clip it to the pitch head before exiting, hence the name Vestry. The crawl itself, which henceforward was entered and left by the wet entrance, was baptised the Nun's C***: partly on account of the shape of the orifice, partly on account of its tightness, but mainly because it was so desperately in need of banging.</p>
<p>Discovery progressed slowly, largely because every pitch had to be bolted: also, it was essential to be off the lapiaz by nightfall or resign oneself to an overnight trip, thus denying oneself the statutory five glasses of <span lang="de-at">Reininghaus</span> at the <span lang="de-at">Bar Fischer</span>. The survey is fairly self-explanatory. Traversing over a '<span lang="fr">Puits en baionnette</span>' took one down the Bottomless Abbess to a point where the cave turned horizontal and stream-like for a short stretch. But it still went on down, dropping - rather surprisingly - into an abandoned series of dry, dusty phreatic tubes, which sloped down at a steady five degrees. The tantalising sight of a large cave-type passage leading off beyond a 3m ladder climb almost made it seem likely that a giant fossil system had been reached. Alas, it was impossible to traverse over to it, so SP was tied onto a piece of string and forced down the next pitch.</p>
<p>A fine clean shaft of 25m, it started unpromisingly, but soon belled out into a magnificent trench passage. Traversing over a gully led shortly to a succession of piddling little climbs and a final lovely pitch, The Dissolution. Here the water sank in an impenetrable crack, the draught having already vanished.</p>
<p>An excellent pot - even if it would have been impossible to rescue anyone from - but why did it stop so soon ? And would the traverse have led to further pitches ? The answer is almost certainly yes. Still, there's the rest of the plateau to be looked at yet, so we probably won't return to the <span lang="de-at">Schneewindschacht</span>. Depth 265m. <img src="../../plateau/others/97.png" alt="97 survey - 22k gif" width="582" height="1335" /> <!-- survey needs rescanning, as that is a hand-held scan and is not linear in the y-direction. --></p>
<hr />
<h3><a name="youth">'Youth Section'</a> Report</h3>
<p>The 'Youth Section' comprised the three undergraduate members of the expedition present this year, Simon Farrow, Nick Thorne &amp; Andy Waddington. We arrived a few days later than the bulk of the expedition and immediately started prospecting. It took us about two days of exploring small shafts in the karren with depths of 10-20m before we found a very promising area. Two shafts of 30 and 40m were descended, but these were of the large open type and inevitably choked. The shafts were numbered as found:</p>
<p><strong>100</strong>: A small shaft on the line of a fault, about 15m deep but ending in a tight wet crack with very sharp rock.</p>
<p><strong>101</strong>: Near a large fault scarp, but apparently not associated with it. A small freeclimb down led to a horizontal passage which led in both directions, the northward branch led out into the face of the scarp (101A) while south led to a short pitch and then a small crawl led on. This dropped into a larger crawl, a meandering phreatic tube which went for 40m or so until a window in the right wall led to the base of an aven. The continuing crawl was too small, and the aven appeared to choke after a climb down. The total depth was probably 30-40m.</p>
<p><strong>102</strong>: About 30m west of 101, a straight shaft of 20m to a snow plug.</p>
<p><strong>103</strong>: About 15m north of 102, in the face of the same fault scarp as 101A, but aligned on a joint perpendicular to the fault. A very broken shaft of 30m to a choke - distinctly tight and awkward with lots of wedged rock.</p>
<p><strong>104</strong>: Moving east to a new area below the <span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel</span>, we found a large open shaft in the dense spruce. This was rigged from a bolt in a large erratic boulder, and found to be 30m deep. It was rather broken and inevitably choked.</p>
<p><strong>105</strong>: A much cleaner shaft nearby, started as a handline descent of 9m to a ledge from which a pitch was rigged. It seemed likely to be loose from here down, but in fact proved to be a very fine shaft in clean bluish-white limestone, 32m to a flat gravel floor.</p>
<p><strong>106</strong>: The rest of the account is taken up by our major discovery, which occupied us for the rest of the trip.</p>
<p>It was while we were derigging 105 that a small hole sloping downwards for about 5m was noticed. The entrance was invisible from 5m away and only attracted attention because the air around it was noticeably cooler than elsewhere. A closer examination revealed that the hole led down over a small ice slope and then stepped sideways so that stones could not be thrown down any further.</p>
<p>The next day, a handline was rigged to a spruce at this entrance and a descent was commenced. Andy soon discovered that the ice was rather hard and slippery and his descent was not too well controlled. At the bottom of the initial slope, two small passages led off, and a further ice slope went down a narrow rift. This was descended more carefully, and a small chamber was entered. At the far end, another hole led on and from this emerged the draught which at this point was powerful enough to blow out a carbide lamp flame. This hole was a pitch head and a temporary retreat was made. We were obviously on to something good, and the entrance was labelled 106. The two small side passages were investigated and both found to lead out into the bottom of nearby dolines, both carrying part of the draught. One of these dolines was subsequently used as the normal entrance (106A).</p>
<p>Tackle was quickly collected from the surface and Andy and Nick returned to the ice slope, where a short ladder was rigged for safety. No natural belays were apparent, so the next ladder was put down the pitch belayed to the first, while Nick tied on to a dubious flake. The pitch dropped about 9m onto a large snow platform from where two ways on were possible. Andy descended the larger and found himself climbing round and under a large snow and ice plug. Below this was another platform and round the corner, the pitch continued into blackness, with another snow ledge visible some way below. All this snow prevented stones from being thrown far down the shaft, but we were obviously onto something big so we retreated for more tackle.</p>
<p>Our main priority on the next trip was to put some bolts in and descend the next section of the pitch, and having shown someone else where our entrance was, we were all able to descend the pot simultaneously. The shaft continued, getting bigger all the time, and we were soon 40m below the second snow platform on a large ledge. At this stage we started to find that the shaft was not giving up its secrets easily as the ladder started getting caught up on the numerous ledges, making it very difficult to climb. This necessitated considerable delay while we rerigged the shaft, putting in various bolts on the way.</p>
<p>On the next trip after rerigging, we got everyone down to the large ledge "Yesterday's Terminus" and rigged the next pitch from yet another bolt. Nick abseiled into the unknown and the pitch proved to be 13m onto another large patch of snow, but this time things were somewhat different, since the snow occupied one half of the floor of a large chamber forming the base of a huge aven soaring beyond the range of our lights. We were now at a depth of about 90m and soon found that the way on was a further pitch in a rift to one side of this chamber. We were able to rig this quickly as the large boulders in the floor gave us our first safe natural belays. Nick and Simon descended another 13m pitch into a small chamber at the far end of which was a large boulder blockage.</p>
<p>The obstacle comprised three huge boulders, one above another, with the gaps filled by several smaller blocks and at first seemed insuperable. Andy descended and a brief discussion ensued. After an initial attempt to climb over the choke, thwarted because each of the large blocks had various amounts of loose grubble on top, attention focussed on a small hole from which the draught seemed mainly to be coming. A lot of loose rubble was pushed through the hole and then Andy ventured to peer through. The hole was short and led out into a narrow rift type passage with a floor of jammed rubble. After throwing various lumps of rock at the floor, Andy descended and moved forward on a lifeline. A gap in the floor was noted and a small stone dropped in. The result was both worrying and encouraging, as after a delay of a couple of seconds, an echoing crash was heard. Further forward, the explorer was able to demolish the false floor which fell with loud crashing and booming noises into the pitch below. Eventually enough of the rubble was removed to judge the pitch head safe, but it appeared to be too narrow to descend except at the far end where it seemed to widen slightly.</p>
<p>The descent of the pitch had to wait until the next trip when a bolt was placed above the takeoff and a traverse line rigged over the pitch head. All the available ladder was put down the pitch which was estimated at 40m, and by the sound of stones dropped seemed likely to hang free. In fact, when descended it proved to be 31m in a fine wide shaft, but against the wall all the way by virtue of the takeoff having been chosen right at the far side of the shaft. A heavy drip landed on the large boulder strewn ledge and then the pitch continued. Stones dropped suggested a broken pitch of perhaps 15m, but the pitch proper was hidden round a corner and the lifeline had run out. It was noticed that while the next pitch was small, no draught was noticeable. This later led to the shaft being named the 'Keg Series'.</p>
<p>A retreat had now to be made, since insufficient tackle was available to continue, and the pitch was derigged. While pulling ladders up the pitch, a large rock fell out of the pitch head and crashed onto the ladder some 15m below, smashing most of the way through one of the wires. Sitting at the top of the pitch coiling ladders, it was noticed that while the pitch ended directly below, the rift continued beyond, and investigation of this led to the discovery of a draught coming from an awkward hole between chockstones in the continuing rift. As soon as all the tackle was coiled, Andy set off through the hole to find a climb down to the enlarging continuation of the passage. After a short distance, the gradient steepened and another pitch head materialised, this time in an apparently roomy shaft starting some way above. Derigging the pot was abandoned and another return trip planned.</p>
<p>Next day all the tackle was ferried forward and put down the new pitch rigged from a convenient wedged boulder. Nick descended to a ledge 16m down and found that the pitch continued. This section proved to be 14m to a solid floor from which a vadose type passage led onwards. He set off to investigate and soon came to a chamber below a large aven from which a heavy drip fell. A passage could be seen beyond, as well as a rift in the floor which seemed to be the start of another passage about 5m below the floor of the chamber. The chamber could not reasonably be crossed by a lone explorer on carbide because of the heavy drip from the roof, so Nick retreated to report the good news. On the way he noticed a small passage which led back parallel to the way he had come, and following this he came upon another large shaft in the floor with an estimated depth in excess of 15m. He could see a passage beyond the pitch but could not cross it so returned to the final pitch.</p>
<p>After discussion about whether the lifeline could be safely returned down the pitch, Simon and Andy descended and repeated the exercise, noting in addition that the draught in the final chamber seemed to be distributed, some going to the pot that we had explored, and some going to the passage on the far side, suggesting yet another inlet to the system. A single photograph was taken and the pair returned to the final pitch.</p>
<p>The trip was clearly the limit of our tackle, and time for the expedition was running short, so we started to derig, getting as far as Yesterday's Terminus before leaving the job for a final trip on the last day of the expedition. On this final trip, we were assisted by Rod Leach, while Andy stayed on the surface. Behind a rock bridge about halfway up Plugged Shaft, a passage was found leading off, and this was followed to the head of yet another pitch which descended into the unknown, another lead to be followed next year. Nearby on the surface, another draughting entrance was found and descended down a climb to a side-step leading to a pitch. This was investigated only by the dropping of stones, but seems to be about 10m to a snow ledge. This pot was labelled 99 to fill a gap in the numbering sequence.</p>
<p>During the expedition, all the finds had been allocated numbers in accordance with the official Austrian recording system, and only on the return trip did we decide to name our pot "<span lang="de-at">Eislufth&ouml;hle</span>", since on drawing our rough survey, we found its depth to be 150m, the depth which we had been taking as the minimum for naming a pot.</p>
<p><img src="106.png" alt="106 survey - 19k gif" width="640" height="860" /></p>
<hr />
<h3><a name="nicknotes">Some Notes</a> on the <span lang="de-at">Loser</span> Plateau</h3>
<p>In the absence, as we are given to understand, of any detailed study of the <span lang="de-at">loser/Sch&ouml;nberg</span> plateau, it is difficult to write with any authority on the hydrology and geology of the area. We were further handicapped by a lack of adequately contoured large-scale maps from which spot heights could be assessed. Still, the following points may be of interest.</p>
<p>The part of the plateau with which we were concerned takes the rough form of a wide and shallow cirque, bounded to the south by the impervious (dolomitic?) shales of the <span lang="de-at">Br&auml;uning</span> Wall, to the east by the peaks of the <span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel</span> and <span lang="de-at">Augsteck</span>, and to the north by the <span lang="de-at">Sch&ouml;nberg</span>. The slope - and as far as we could judge - the general dip are WSW, and the bulk of the plateau falls within the altitude range 1600-1800m. Several sizeable valleys appear to coalesce in the centre of the plateau, but in the short time available to us we were only able to explore a small area within about 1&nbsp;km from the <span lang="de-at">Schwarzmoos-Sattel</span>. Given the size of the plateau, its patches of dense scrub, and its orogenetic and morphogenetic complexity we can only guess at the character of the parts left unexplored, but we think it very unlikely that there will be any integrated surface flow or stream sinks.</p>
<p><img src="map.png" alt="sketch map of area - 20k gif" width="735" height="940" /></p>
<p><span lang="de-at">Karl Gaisberger</span> informed us that a dye-test in the <span lang="de-at">Augstsee</span> (a small lake near our route up to the plateau) had given a positive trace to the water mains of <span lang="de-at">Bad Ischl</span>, some 12km to the west. Unfortunately, <span lang="de-at">Bad Ischl</span> is fed by several tapped springs and it had not been possible to identify the exact one. We do know though (1) that a spring near or in <span lang="de-at">Naglstegh&ouml;hle</span> has been tested from the <span lang="de-at">Steyrer-See</span> near <span lang="de-at">Tauplitz</span>, a trace distance of about 30km. Since the <span lang="de-at">Loser</span> Plateau lies on this traceline it is a simplistic but fair assumption that the water from our discoveries also resurges there.</p>
<p>A corollary of this particular series of tests is that the drainage of the <span lang="de-at">Totes Gebirge</span> mountains in shown to be essentially radial. The main sinks dyed fed resurgences around a circumference of 75km, an area delineated by <span lang="de-at">Bad Mitterndorf, Bad Aussee, Bad Ischl, Ebensee, Grunan, Hinterstoder</span> and <span lang="de-at">Liezen</span>. This extraordinary radial drainage makes it unlikely that the <span lang="de-at">Loser</span> pots join a vadose dendritic system. Far more likely is an extensive and sluggish phreas. Again, it is unfortunate that we have no flow through times to substantiate the theory.</p>
<p>If the assumption is correct, the possibility of a master cave of sorts is not necessarily ruled out. It would necessarily date from the late Tertiary period (the most important in Austrian speleogenesis) and would probably be situated several hundred metres above the current resurgence level. This supposes a series of deep vertical shafts dropping into a large, abandoned main drain, with further shafts, representing a more recent and predominantly vertical genetic phase, dropping further still to near-static sumps.</p>
<p>Although the nearby <span lang="de-at">Rauherkarh&ouml;hle</span> (c. 700m deep) does little to bear out this theory, being a highly complex and gently sloping cave system, a comparison between it and, say, the <span lang="de-at">Schneewindschacht</span>, will show enough points of difference to invalidate strict parallels. A glance at a cross-section of the plateau with the <span lang="de-at">Schneewindschacht</span> superimposed will demonstrate graphically that some sort of horizontal trend must be expected shortly. Moreover, the pattern of large horizontal galleries feeding (and sometimes fed by) shaft systems is common enough in Austria already; the <span lang="de-at">Geldloch</span>, the <span lang="de-at">Dachsteinmammuth&ouml;hle</span> and, more recently, the <span lang="de-at">Ahnenschacht</span> (2) are examples.</p>
<p>Several trips were made into <span lang="de-at">Naglstegh&ouml;hle</span>, attempting to bolt across to an inlet at the far end. If we had persevered - either in this, or in investigating local resurgences - it is conceivable that we might have found a good length of passage heading towards <span lang="de-at">Rauherkarh&ouml;hle</span> or under the plateau. Food for thought !</p>
<p>One further point of interest is the <span lang="de-at">Stellerwegh&ouml;hle</span>, whose approximate position is marked on the area map. This cave was discovered in 1951 and was found to end in a deep shaft. This shaft has still to be descended ! A partial descent and a plumbline revealed a depth of 220m plus. That alone must speak volumes for the potential of the area.</p>
<p>References:<br /> (1) Herak, M. &amp; Stringfield, V.T. (Editors) Karst, p 242<br /> (2) Spelunca, 1975, no. 3, p 23</p>
<hr />
<h3><a name="other">Other Caving</a></h3>
<h4><span lang="de-at">Naglstegh&ouml;hle</span> Bolting</h4>
<p>Last year's inspection of this small system found that a possible way on was visible at the top of the ramp at the highest point of the cave. Mike and Vic performed an exposed traverse to a ledge, where a rusted piton was found in the rock with the initials WA inscribed next to it. There was no evidence of anyone having got beyond this point. We bolted a further climb of 4m to a passage above from which a one metre diameter phreatic tube leads off in the roof at about 60 degrees. This is about 4m up, and may need a bolt as well as more enthusiasm to reach.</p>
<h4>The <span lang="de-at">Brandgrabenh&ouml;hle</span> Fiasco</h4>
<p>This is a resurgence cave about 50m below the entrance to <span lang="de-at">Hirlatz</span>. It was rumoured to be desperately wet by Austrian standards, so a wetsuited team sweated up the 300m climb to the entrance to do a spot of pushing for them. About 50m into the cave we were stopped by a 10m pitch into a deep lake. Not having thought of bringing any ladders, we lowered Dave down into the pool. Dangling just above the water he announced that he could see that the passage sumped further along and didn't need to get himself wet to prove it. He ascended amidst jeers from the other three who were peering over the ledge. But since nobody else wanted to go down, we exited planning to return with a ladder. On our return to <span lang="de-at">Altaussee</span>, Karl informed us that the passage does indeed sump off here in the summer, but that in winter over 1km of streamway can be followed.</p>
<h4><span lang="de-at">Hirlatz</span> bashing</h4>
<p>Julian and Mike dismissed this vast and impressive system in just over three hours. The cave as far as camp 1 with its rotting canvas tent and renowned supply of naughty magazines was described in last year's expedition account. The only aspects of the cave's entrance series of note were the uninspiring state of the fixed ladders (about a dozen had to be negotiated throughout the cave), and the incredible current of air blowing through the entrance crawl. The Wind Tunnel in <span lang="eu">Betzula</span> just doesn't compare with the gale that was roaring out that day, and it was with some trepidation that we groped in through the iron gate and under the draught doors that revent the entrance icing up in winter.</p>
<p>Beyond Camp 1 the cave splits after a chamber with initials smoked on the walls. To the left the passage passed a fixed ladder, then got progressively smaller until we came out above a streamway with waterfall facing us. Retracing our steps for a few metres we were able to drop down 10m through boulders to a traverse above the stream. A 5m climb up through water on minimal holds led to a further 5m fixed ladder climb up, and we called a halt where the water appeared as spray from a 60m aven.</p>
<p>Back at the 10m fixed ladder we climbed up to an old deserted phreatic passage and soon arrived at Camp 2 - an elaborate but squalid set-up with carbide, food, pots and plates all over the place. Beyond a waterfall, a small stream was reached. From here the passage closed down and rapidly developed into a vadose trench for a hundred metres or so. It degenerated to a point where we decided to proceed no further in claggies. A stinky gonk in the stream proeceded a sprint out to daylight.</p>
<h4><a lang="de-at" name="elmh">Elmh&ouml;hlensystem</a></h4>
<p>An ascent to the <span lang="de-at">P&uuml;hringer</span> Hut by Team Geriatric was combined with a trip into the <span lang="de-at">Elmh&ouml;hlensystem</span>, described in detail in last year's journal. We entered by the <span lang="de-at">Kleines Windloch</span> and proceeded into the ice-section as far as the <span lang="de-at">Grosses Windloch</span> shaft. Rod and Jont took lots of piccies. The rest of us hurled snowballs or went toboganning! On to a splendid evening meal at the Hut (where chamois was on the menu), and a bed for the night.</p>
<h4>Some notes in conclusion</h4>
<ol>
<li>We will undoubtedly return to the area in 1978 .... we have still hardly begun on the plateau, and we have no competitors as yet. </li>
<li>Lots of bolts and drivers are essential - there are few natural belays and the rock is very hard. </li>
<li>SRT rope could be taken down larger pots in long lengths and then cut underground to the lengths required. </li>
<li>Ladder or SRT ? Clearly SRT is faster on a long trip, but we found that using mixed tackle avoided unnecessary bolting for the free-hang required by SRT. For example, <span lang="de-at">Viermalbierschacht</span> would have to be rebelayed in three places on SRT. There still seems, for exploratory work - at any rate where pitches are descended and ascended many times during the exploration - to be a strong case for mixed tackle and flexibility on the part of cavers. </li>
<li>Size of party - 82 was our first major exploration involving depth and uncertain rescue facilities. Consequently we were fairly inefficient. Ideally teams of two or perhaps three should go down at intervals of an hour or so - this allows a party to get down, rig the next pitch (bolts almost inevitable) assess the situation beyond, and then return quickly, passing on their information to the next group. This avoids long trips, something none of us fancied. </li>
<li>Get fairy floats for canoes if VB or DF have offered to take you on an 'easy' river. </li>
<li>Give up caving and take up skiing... </li>
<li>Don't have two plates of <span lang="de-at">schlagg</span> washed down only by beer...etc., etc. </li>
<li>A tip for new members - the club dinghy CAN be rolled should you capsize, provided you have tied yourself in first. </li>
</ol>
<h3>END OF EXPEDITION REPORT</h3>
<hr />
<!-- LINKS -->
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<li>Cambridge Underground 1978
<a href="../../../jnl/1978/index.htm">Table of Contents</a></li>
<li>1977 Expedition info:
<ul>
<li><a href="log.htm">Logbook</a> (currently missing)</li>
<li>Andy Waddington's <a href="andylg.htm">Logbook</a><br>
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<li>Eislufth&ouml;hle - <a href="descnt.htm">from Descent 40</a></li>
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3
years/1992/log.htm
View File

@ -1022,7 +1022,8 @@ we lugged heaved hauled and surveyed. Laugh.
<hr />
<a id="id1992-161-15">29/7/1992| 161 - Bladerunner - Hole below pitch below squeeze | <u>David F</u>
<a id="id1992-161-15">29/7/1992| 161 - Bladerunner - Hole below pitch
below squeeze | <u>David F</u></a>
<p>[missing date -- JGT]

6
years/1995/log.htm
View File

@ -628,7 +628,7 @@ of inadvertantly becoming drunk that evening at the expo dinner.
<a href="#id1995-161-13">Next trip</a> /
<a href="#id1995-161-11">Dreaming of Limo trip</a> (same day)
<hr /><a id="id1995-161-15a">21/7/95? | 161 - Hobnob passage - Pushing 94-65 | <u>Duncan</u>, Kate
<hr /><a id="id1995-161-15a">21/7/95?</a> | 161 - Hobnob passage - Pushing 94-65 | <u>Duncan</u>, Kate
<p>After small amount of faffing over bolting kit (which we had left at
surface, and so we had to get one of from down Sultan's.) we thwacked a
@ -878,7 +878,7 @@ gluppy KH mud. Hole to be named "Death's Door II", climb inside choke
Next trips: <a href="#id1995-161-23">Regurgitation</a> /
<a href="#id1995-161-22">Stairway to Hell &amp; Triassic Park</a>
<p><a id="id1995-161-18">23/7/95 | 161 - France | Dave J </a>, <u>Kate's</u>
<p><a id="id1995-161-18">23/7/95<a/> | 161 - France | Dave J, <u>Kate's</u>
<p>Waited ages for Dave (he was having a shit on the surface.) Got bored, +
went down hole in floor. Went down rift off chamber + found rope which Dave +
@ -896,7 +896,7 @@ scrotty connection to an adjacent wettish shaft bottom.
Next trips: <a href="#id1995-161-23">Regurgitation</a> /
<a href="#id1995-161-22">Stairway to Hell &amp; Triassic Park</a>
<p><a id="id1995-161-19">23/7/96 | 161 - France | Andy A, <u>Steve</u>
<p><a id="id1995-161-19">23/7/96</a> | 161 - France | Andy A, <u>Steve</u>
<p>We surveyed the passage which Kate &amp; Dunc found earlier. A nice
passage which looks like it ought to go a long way but unfortunately doesn't.

245
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View File

@ -1,190 +1,71 @@
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<h2><center>CUCC Austria 2002 - Mission statement</center></h2>
<p>2002 sees the twenty sixth annual summer expedition to Austria by the
Cambridge University Caving Club. A number of major goals are set out for
this year's expedition, along with a great deal of other work both on new
projects and continuing documentation of previous exploration.
<hr width=50%>
<h3>Recent History</h3>
<p>In the last 3 years C.U.C.C., and its post-graduate sister club ex-Cambridge
Speleologists have concentrated <a href="../../smkridge/204/204.html"><span
lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle,</span></a> was found beyond the known
extent of <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> to the north. This shows
many similarities to the caves further south, and reached a depth of 226m at
the head of a big black pitch. In 2000 this went to a narrow stream outlet at
-368m. Other parts of the cave yielded a couple of shaft systems both ending
after 100m or so, and some unexpected horizontal development which in 2001
was explored to extend the cave by 2.5km to 5km. There is still great hope
that this cave will drop into the same major horizontal development seen in
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle,</span> and eventually produce an easier
route into the remotest parts of the cave.</p>
<p>From 1988 to 2000 we explored the <a
href="../../smkridge/161/top.htm"><span
lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span></a> cave system in the <span
lang="de-at">Totes Gebirge</span> of Austria (about 80 km east of <span
lang="de-at">Salzburg)</span>, but work here is currently in abeyance as Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle, Steinschlagschacht and Schwarzmooskogeleish&ouml;hle absorb all our manpower. There are still 250 leads waiting for us to get back to.</p>
<p>To the south of <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> lies another
major cave, the southern <span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel</span> system
including the stunningly beautiful ice-cave
<a href="../../noinfo/smkridge/40.htm"><span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogeleish&ouml;hle.</span></a>
Parts of this were explored as long ago as 1938, but the major central part
of the cave,
<a href="../../smkridge/41/41.htm"><span lang="de">Stellerwegh&ouml;hle,</span></a>
was explored by CUCC in 1980-85, to a depth of 973m and a length of some 7km.
Other parts of the cave have been explored by both French and German groups,
and the total length of this cave was over 22km in 1999.1997.</p>
<p>In 1997 <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> was linked with
a deep shaft system,
<a href="../../smkridge/161/136.htm"><span lang="de">Steinschlagschacht</span></a>,
first explored by the club in 1983, giving an increased depth of 507m for
the combined system. 1998's small expedition concentrated on a
reconnaissance of the nearest points of
<span lang="de">Schwarzmooskogeleish&ouml;hle</span> to the passages in
<span lang="de">Steinschlagschacht,</span> revealing a few leads, but no
connection. Meanwhile <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> itself
went to a new deep point at -534m.1997.</p>
<p>After 1997, the gap between <span lang="de">Steinschlagschacht</span>
and the <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> was about 130m, in passages
at much the same level. The 1999 trip returned to
<span lang="de">Steinschlagschacht,</span> finding a major way on with
surprising ease via a lead overlooked when derigging the
<a href="../../smkridge/161/136.htm#footlight">Footlights Traverse</a> in
1997.1997.</p>
<p>This area of the cave, <a href="../../smkridge/161/chile.htm">Chile,</a>
totalled 2&frac12; kilometres with a deep point 440m below
<span lang="de">Steinschlagschacht,</span> but, amazingly, ran parallel
to the known trend of the southern <span lang="de">Schwarzmooskogel</span>
system, and only narrowed the gap to some 75m, with no immediately obvious
likely connection point.</p>
<p>The 2000 expedition concentrated on the <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> side,
narrowing the gap to approximately zero horizontally, in passage now 20m
below <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle,</span> and with avens above, though no obvious leads
remained in KH itself above this area. In 2001 avens were pushed to get above the KH passage hoping to drop in from above, and more accurate GPS information on entrance locations and some corrections to the data adjusted the relative positions of the two caves. At the end of 2001 the drafting, but tight end of Eish&ouml;hle was some 40m above Elin Algor in Kaninchenh&ouml;hle.</p>
<p>Work towards linking the two systems has already generated a great deal of
tie-up surveying to establish definitive figures for the length and depth of
the combined system. Current survey information, both our own and that of our
colleagues from <span lang="de">Stuttgart</span> working in the <span lang="de">Stellerweg</span> part of the cave,
suggests that the linked cave would be well over 47 km long and 1056m deep,
making it the third or fourth longest cave in Austria. This would also put it
among both the fifty or so deepest caves in the world <b>and</b> the fifty or
so longest. Few caves make it so far up both the long <u>and</u> deep lists -
truly a cave of world significance.</p>
<hr />
<h3 align=center>2002 CUCC Expedition Goals</h3>
<ul>
<li>Continue exploration of <span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span> from -368m and push
horizontal development in the upper part of the system. This is
CUCC's highest significant entrance, and a connection with
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> would add 28m to the latter's depth.</li>
<li>In 2002 we will initially work on the remaining leads in <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span>:concentrate on the <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> side, accessed via Steinschlagschacht or 161d.<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.png">Ol's leads<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.png">Upper leads in POV<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.png">Good leads in Plastic Hell</li>
<li>Further pushing of numerous leads in <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> via <span lang="de">Steinschlagschacht</span>, and 161d. This will follow the easiest line and see where we pop out rather than trying to head through solid rock or miserable tight bits to forge a connection. Caves are where you find them!
<ul>
<li>Trace draught in <span lang="de">Elin Algor</span> (this must lead to the surface at the
same sort of level as the <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> entrances)</li>
<li>Other good leads at N end of Elin Algor.</li>
<li>Push pitches and drafting bedding in Hall of the Mounting Choss</li>
<li>Leads in Chile</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Push a number of other areas of <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle:</span>
<ul>
<li>over 250 documented ways on</li>
<li>revisit Far North, now that it is less remote</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Photography and other documentation work. Many caves need a rudimentary
survey or sketch, and description and a photo.<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.png">Find and identify
non-CUCC 1980s caves <span lang="de">(Eish&ouml;hle</span> area) from survey data: <span lang="de">Grunstein
Eish&ouml;hle, Schwarzblatth&ouml;le, Kuppelh&ouml;hle, Lamperlh&ouml;hle</span><br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.png">Connect up East and West surface surveys near 163<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.png">Try to work out where
<span lang="de">Seniorenschacht</span> and <span lang="de">Braunsteinh&ouml;le</span> are (near one of the
<span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> entrances)<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.png">Draw pictures for the 147 survey!<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.png">A few caves are still missing and need searching out....177, 178, 181, 187, 192, 193<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.png"></li>
<li>There are loose ends in some older CUCC discoveries which may be useful
to pursue to tie surveys in:
<ul>
<li>New work in 1623/144 (this may be taken over by Arge ?)</li>
<li>Cave <a href="../../smkridge/140.htm">140</a> was noted on a surface walk in
1998, and the description is suggestive that ends were inconclusive. The
finding of Chile places this in an even more key position between the two
major systems, and a reexploration (and a good survey) is in order.</li>
<li>In the same area, but lower down, <a href="../../smkridge/158.htm">158</a>
(also seen during surface work recently) is also intriguing and inconclusive.
</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Liaison with other groups working in the area now and in the past
<ul>
<li>Cooperation with Arge - a number of key points on the surface were fixed by
accurate GPS in 2000 and surveys linked up. Liaison to continue</li>
</ul></li>
<li>High quality publication via the World Wide Web, CD-ROM and on paper, which has got a bit behind due to moving to a new server. Ensure everything is upto date at least as far as end Expo 2001 by end expo 2002.<br>
<hr />
<h3>Dates:</h3>
<p>Expo 2002 runs from 27th July until 31st August.
<p>For the main expo, it would be useful to have people who are interested in
<span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> pick dates which overlap with Arge's main summer trip. However,
as always, dates are flexible according to when people want to go/leave.
Typically there are people arriving/leaving on every weekend so it is
entirely possible to go for as long or as little time as you like.
<p>Transport is pooled to minimise cost, but overall costs are variable and
difficult to be precise about since it depends on factors such as how long
you go for and how much beer you drink. As a guide - over the last 3 years it average out at &pound;200 + &pound;40/week.<br>
1 week = &pound;240<br>
2 weeks = &pound;280<br>
3 weeks = &pound;320<br>
4 weeks = &pound;360<br>
5 weeks = &pound;400
<p>The &pound;200 gets you there and back and use of the gear, the
&pound;40/week covers food, camping, insurance and typical bier
consumption...
<hr />
<!-- LINKS -->
<li>2002 Expedition info:
<ul>
<li><a href="../2000/index.htm">Index</a> (more complete than this list)</li>
<li><a href="../2000/log.htm">Logbook</a></li>
<li>Expedition <a href="../2000/report.htm">Report</a> 2001</li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="index.htm">Index</a> to 2002 expedition info</li>
<li><a href="../../pubs.htm">Index</a> to all publications</li>
<li><a href="../../sponsr.htm">Current year's</a> sponsors</li>
<li><a href="../../index.htm">Back to Expeditions intro page</a></li>
<li><a href="../../../index.htm">CUCC Home Page</a></li>
<h2>CUCC Austria 2002 - Mission statement</h2>
<p>2002 sees the twenty sixth annual summer expedition to Austria by the Cambridge University Caving Club. A number of major goals are set out for this year's expedition, along with a great deal of other work both on new projects and continuing documentation of previous exploration.</p>
<hr />
<h3>Recent History</h3>
<p>In the last 3 years C.U.C.C., and its post-graduate sister club ex-Cambridge Speleologists have concentrated <a href="../../smkridge/204/204.html"><span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle,</span></a> was found beyond the known extent of <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> to the north. This shows many similarities to the caves further south, and reached a depth of 226m at the head of a big black pitch. In 2000 this went to a narrow stream outlet at -368m. Other parts of the cave yielded a couple of shaft systems both ending after 100m or so, and some unexpected horizontal development which in 2001 was explored to extend the cave by 2.5km to 5km. There is still great hope that this cave will drop into the same major horizontal development seen in <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle,</span> and eventually produce an easier route into the remotest parts of the cave.</p>
<p>From 1988 to 2000 we explored the <a href="../../smkridge/161/top.htm"><span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span></a> cave system in the <span lang="de-at">Totes Gebirge</span> of Austria (about 80 km east of <span lang="de-at">Salzburg)</span>, but work here is currently in abeyance as Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle, Steinschlagschacht and Schwarzmooskogeleish&ouml;hle absorb all our manpower. There are still 250 leads waiting for us to get back to.</p>
<p>To the south of <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> lies another major cave, the southern <span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel</span> system including the stunningly beautiful ice-cave <a href="../../noinfo/smkridge/40.htm"><span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogeleish&ouml;hle.</span></a> Parts of this were explored as long ago as 1938, but the major central part of the cave, <a href="../../smkridge/41/41.htm"><span lang="de">Stellerwegh&ouml;hle,</span></a> was explored by CUCC in 1980-85, to a depth of 973m and a length of some 7km. Other parts of the cave have been explored by both French and German groups, and the total length of this cave was over 22km in 1999.1997.</p>
<p>In 1997 <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> was linked with a deep shaft system, <a href="../../smkridge/161/136.htm"><span lang="de">Steinschlagschacht</span></a>, first explored by the club in 1983, giving an increased depth of 507m for the combined system. 1998's small expedition concentrated on a reconnaissance of the nearest points of <span lang="de">Schwarzmooskogeleish&ouml;hle</span> to the passages in <span lang="de">Steinschlagschacht,</span> revealing a few leads, but no connection. Meanwhile <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> itself went to a new deep point at -534m.1997.</p>
<p>After 1997, the gap between <span lang="de">Steinschlagschacht</span> and the <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> was about 130m, in passages at much the same level. The 1999 trip returned to <span lang="de">Steinschlagschacht,</span> finding a major way on with surprising ease via a lead overlooked when derigging the <a href="../../smkridge/161/136.htm#footlight">Footlights Traverse</a> in 1997.1997.</p>
<p>This area of the cave, <a href="../../smkridge/161/chile.htm">Chile,</a> totalled 2&frac12; kilometres with a deep point 440m below <span lang="de">Steinschlagschacht,</span> but, amazingly, ran parallel to the known trend of the southern <span lang="de">Schwarzmooskogel</span> system, and only narrowed the gap to some 75m, with no immediately obvious likely connection point.</p>
<p>The 2000 expedition concentrated on the <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> side, narrowing the gap to approximately zero horizontally, in passage now 20m below <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle,</span> and with avens above, though no obvious leads remained in KH itself above this area. In 2001 avens were pushed to get above the KH passage hoping to drop in from above, and more accurate GPS information on entrance locations and some corrections to the data adjusted the relative positions of the two caves. At the end of 2001 the drafting, but tight end of Eish&ouml;hle was some 40m above Elin Algor in Kaninchenh&ouml;hle.</p>
<p>Work towards linking the two systems has already generated a great deal of tie-up surveying to establish definitive figures for the length and depth of the combined system. Current survey information, both our own and that of our colleagues from <span lang="de">Stuttgart</span> working in the <span lang="de">Stellerweg</span> part of the cave, suggests that the linked cave would be well over 47 km long and 1056m deep, making it the third or fourth longest cave in Austria. This would also put it among both the fifty or so deepest caves in the world <strong>and</strong> the fifty or so longest. Few caves make it so far up both the long <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> deep lists - truly a cave of world significance.</p>
<hr />
<h3>2002 CUCC Expedition Goals</h3>
<ul>
<li>Continue exploration of <span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span> from -368m and push horizontal development in the upper part of the system. This is CUCC's highest significant entrance, and a connection with <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> would add 28m to the latter's depth.</li>
<li>In 2002 we will initially work on the remaining leads in <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span>:concentrate on the <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> side, accessed via Steinschlagschacht or 161d.<br /> <img src="../../icons/lists/1.png" alt="---&gt;" />Ol's leads<br /> <img src="../../icons/lists/1.png" alt="---&gt;" />Upper leads in POV<br /> <img src="../../icons/lists/1.png" alt="---&gt;" />Good leads in Plastic Hell</li>
<li>Further pushing of numerous leads in <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> via <span lang="de">Steinschlagschacht</span>, and 161d. This will follow the easiest line and see where we pop out rather than trying to head through solid rock or miserable tight bits to forge a connection. Caves are where you find them!
<ul>
<li>Trace draught in <span lang="de">Elin Algor</span> (this must lead to the surface at the same sort of level as the <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> entrances)</li>
<li>Other good leads at N end of Elin Algor.</li>
<li>Push pitches and drafting bedding in Hall of the Mounting Choss</li>
<li>Leads in Chile</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Push a number of other areas of <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle:</span>
<ul>
<li>over 250 documented ways on</li>
<li>revisit Far North, now that it is less remote</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Photography and other documentation work. Many caves need a rudimentary survey or sketch, and description and a photo.<br /> <img src="../../icons/lists/1.png" alt="---&gt;" />Find and identify non-CUCC 1980s caves <span lang="de">(Eish&ouml;hle</span> area) from survey data: <span lang="de">Grunstein Eish&ouml;hle, Schwarzblatth&ouml;le, Kuppelh&ouml;hle, Lamperlh&ouml;hle</span><br /> <img src="../../icons/lists/1.png" alt="---&gt;" />Connect up East and West surface surveys near 163<br /> <img src="../../icons/lists/1.png" alt="---&gt;" />Try to work out where <span lang="de">Seniorenschacht</span> and <span lang="de">Braunsteinh&ouml;le</span> are (near one of the <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> entrances)<br /> <img src="../../icons/lists/1.png" alt="---&gt;" />Draw pictures for the 147 survey!<br /> <img src="../../icons/lists/1.png" alt="---&gt;" />A few caves are still missing and need searching out....177, 178, 181, 187, 192, 193<br /> <img src="../../icons/lists/1.png" alt="---&gt;" /></li>
<li>There are loose ends in some older CUCC discoveries which may be useful to pursue to tie surveys in:
<ul>
<li>New work in 1623/144 (this may be taken over by Arge ?)</li>
<li>Cave <a href="../../smkridge/140.htm">140</a> was noted on a surface walk in 1998, and the description is suggestive that ends were inconclusive. The finding of Chile places this in an even more key position between the two major systems, and a reexploration (and a good survey) is in order.</li>
<li>In the same area, but lower down, <a href="../../smkridge/158.htm">158</a> (also seen during surface work recently) is also intriguing and inconclusive. </li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Liaison with other groups working in the area now and in the past
<ul>
<li>Cooperation with Arge - a number of key points on the surface were fixed by accurate GPS in 2000 and surveys linked up. Liaison to continue</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>High quality publication via the World Wide Web, CD-ROM and on paper, which has got a bit behind due to moving to a new server. Ensure everything is upto date at least as far as end Expo 2001 by end expo 2002.<br />
<hr />
<h3>Dates:</h3>
<p>Expo 2002 runs from 27th July until 31st August.</p>
<p>For the main expo, it would be useful to have people who are interested in <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> pick dates which overlap with Arge's main summer trip. However, as always, dates are flexible according to when people want to go/leave. Typically there are people arriving/leaving on every weekend so it is entirely possible to go for as long or as little time as you like.</p>
<p>Transport is pooled to minimise cost, but overall costs are variable and difficult to be precise about since it depends on factors such as how long you go for and how much beer you drink. As a guide - over the last 3 years it average out at &pound;200 + &pound;40/week.<br /> 1 week = &pound;240<br /> 2 weeks = &pound;280<br /> 3 weeks = &pound;320<br /> 4 weeks = &pound;360<br /> 5 weeks = &pound;400</p>
<p>The &pound;200 gets you there and back and use of the gear, the &pound;40/week covers food, camping, insurance and typical bier consumption...</p>
<hr />
<!-- LINKS --><br />
<ul>
</ul>
Expedition <a href="../2000/report.htm">Report</a> 2001</li>
<li><a href="index.htm">Index</a> to 2002 expedition info</li>
<li><a href="../../pubs.htm">Index</a> to all publications</li>
<li><a href="../../sponsr.htm">Current year's</a> sponsors</li>
<li><a href="../../index.htm">Back to Expeditions intro page</a></li>
<li><a href="../../index.htm">CUCC Home Page</a></li>
</ul>
</body>
</html>

2
years/2008/logbook.html
View File

@ -645,7 +645,7 @@ we'll have a look at when we go to derig the rest of the cave.</p>
<div class="trippeople">Julian, Frank </div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - crossword passage</div>
<p>Rain and misery at the Stone bridge. Beck and Steve left early to do [space left], while Frank faffed and Julian enjoyed the hours of no being in the cave while at the same time looking forward to trying out his inspiration of pouring boiling water into his wetsocks. The first lot was poured out after a long soak and the fear that too many nasty bugs would have been breeding. Frank asked if I was using custard. The second filling scalded my toes. As Frank considered completing the whole cave in nice dry woolley socks, I realised I had made a mistake and had soggy wet feet for the whole trip. Frank rigged 2 pitches until scared off while I froze and took an action picture of the wrong drill. I looked into Andy As horrid lead at the north end. We derigged. I strolled down from starfish junction to [space left] where Becka and Steve had dropped a pitch (blind) and now had rigged a free-hanging traverse across to a second pitch. I crossed, stupidly, and found rope on next pitch heading down at 45 degrees (it was pulled tight to get down next pitch) and shouted. Not much conversation with echoes. Frank arrived. I told him to go away as I crossed the 9mm rope traverse to prevent him from lighting the space below me. Technique was to have short cows tail from one bolt to next due to lack of faith in skinny rope. Took some funky pictures of self on ice shelf. Returned in the dark. Becka and Steve arrived within 10 mins of their callout.</p>
<p>Rain and misery at the Stone bridge. Becka and Steve left early to do Gravity Always Wins, while Frank faffed and Julian enjoyed the hours of not being in the cave while at the same time looking forward to trying out his inspiration of pouring boiling water into his wetsocks. The first lot was poured out after a long soak and the fear that too many nasty bugs would have been breeding. Frank asked if I was using custard. The second filling scalded my toes. As Frank considered completing the whole cave in nice dry woolly socks, I realised I had made a mistake and had soggy wet feet for the whole trip. Frank rigged 2 pitches until scared off while I froze and took an action picture of the wrong drill. I looked into Andy As horrid lead at the north end. We derigged. I strolled down from starfish junction to Blind and Broken where Becka and Steve had dropped a pitch (blind) and now had rigged a free-hanging traverse across to a second pitch. I crossed, stupidly, and found rope on next pitch heading down at 45 degrees (it was pulled tight to get down next pitch) and shouted. Not much conversation with echoes. Frank arrived. I told him to go away as I crossed the 9mm rope traverse to prevent him from lighting the space below me. Technique was to have short cows tail from one bolt to next due to lack of faith in skinny rope. Took some funky pictures of self on ice shelf. Returned in the dark. Becka and Steve arrived within 10 mins of their callout.</p>
<p>[Frank continues...]

149
years/2011/logbook.html
View File

@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
<p></p>
<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
--end of fragment-->
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-18">2011-07-18</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-18a">2011-07-18</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Chris Smith</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">Chris Rescues a sheep</div>
<p>On our first carry up we
@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ sheepish, emerged clutching a grateful-looking and apparently
unharmed sheep.</p>
<div class="timeug">T/U: 2mins</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-19-">2011-07-19</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-19a">2011-07-19</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Djuke Veldhuis</u>, Kathryn Hopkins</div>
<div class="triptitle">204 rigging</div>
<p>Our intrepid explorers
@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ played/fought with the tarps for a while, sorted rope, got bored and
walked down. YAY CAVING = GREAT. </p>
<div class="timeug">T/U: 3.5 hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-21">2011-07-21</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-21a">2011-07-21</div>
<div class="trippeople">Nial Peters, <u>Edvin Deadman</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">Rigging down 204e</div>
<p>Up at 5.45am after a
@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ cheese and our campsite. Mission accomplished. Prussiking out was
tiring with tacklesacks full of tacklesacks in tow! TU = 11 hrs</p>
</p>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-21">2011-07-21</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-21b">2011-07-21</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Djuke Veldhuis</u>, Kathryn Hopkins, Jess Stirrups</div>
<div class="triptitle">Campsite kit carting trip</div>
<p>We stirred in our damp
@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ snow slope before heading out in tat order.</p>
<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-24_26">Sun 2011-07-24 to Tue 2011-07-26</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-24a">Sun 2011-07-24 to Tue 2011-07-26</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Djuke Veldhuis</u>, Jess Stirrups, Nial Peters</div>
<div class="triptitle">204 camping</div>
<p>In preparation for the day-shift of the Butlins camping team (the
@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ type&ellip;</p>
<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-28">2011-07-28</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-28a">2011-07-28</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Djuke Veldhuis</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">- VIA FERRATA - <b>Grober Donnerogel</b>, 2054 m,
Grade D (Intersport Klettersteig, Tour 28, p 120 Klettersteig book).</div>
@ -431,7 +431,7 @@ down. A great day, despite the clag and a trip I would recommend to
those interested in ferrata.</p>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-26">2011-07-26</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-26a">2011-07-26</div>
<div class="trippeople">Neil Pacey, Aiora Zabala and <u>Fernando</u> Abarquero</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnockschact Entrance Series up to the Balcony</div>
<p>Neil showed Fer and Aio the secrets of Tunnocks
@ -442,7 +442,7 @@ saw on the entrance, so it looks safer now.
<div class="timeug">T/U: 8hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-27">2011-07-27</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-27a">2011-07-27</div>
<div class="trippeople">Aiora Zabala and <u>Fernando</u> Abarquero</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnockschact Entrance Series up to the Balcony</div>
<p>
@ -453,7 +453,7 @@ others to keep going down
<div class="timeug">T/U: 6 hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-29">2011-07-29</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-29a">2011-07-29</div>
<div class="trippeople">Kathryn Hopkins, Aiora Zabala and <u>Fernando</u> Abarquero</div>
<div class="triptitle">204 Sandpit</div>
<p>
@ -465,7 +465,7 @@ out
<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-30">2011-07-30</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-30a">2011-07-30</div>
<div class="trippeople">Holly, Aiora and <u>Fer</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnockschact up to Crossword passage</div>
<p>
@ -476,7 +476,7 @@ Holly tested how warm a storm shelter is with a candle inside.
<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-31">2011-07-31</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-31a">2011-07-31</div>
<div class="trippeople">Neil Pacey, Aiora Zabala, <u>Fernando</u> Abarquero and Rob Adams</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnockschact up to Crossword passage</div>
<p>
@ -488,7 +488,7 @@ Crossword are connected.
<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-01">2011-08-01-</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-01a">2011-08-01-</div>
<div class="trippeople">Becka Lawson, Aiora Zabala and <u>Fernando</u> Abarquero</div>
<div class="triptitle">204 Pingu pitch - bottom left</div>
<p>
@ -499,7 +499,7 @@ by mud and sand.
<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-02">2011-08-02</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-02a">2011-08-02</div>
<div class="trippeople">Olaf Kaehler, Aiora Zabala and <u>Fernando</u> Abarquero</div>
<div class="triptitle">204 Pingu pitch - bottom right</div>
<p>
@ -514,7 +514,7 @@ keep bolting) to throw that pitch down. Turned back.
<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-03">2011-08-03</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-03a">2011-08-03</div>
<div class="trippeople">Olaf Kaehler, Gareth, Aiora Zabala and <u>Fernando</u> Abarquero</div>
<div class="triptitle">204 Pingu pitch - bottom right</div>
<p>Back in Pingu Pitch with the drill and lots of rope
@ -529,7 +529,7 @@ for a little bit longer :(
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-23">2011-07-23</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-23a">2011-07-23</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Andy Chapman</u>, Neil Pacey</div>
<div class="triptitle"></div>
<p>Neil rebolted and adjusted entrance, including rebolting traverse on left hand wall at scree level. We then continued to start of snow slope (melted) and swapped 11mm rope used for entrance with 9mm. Andy rebolted slope, ensuring cavers could not slip down chasm. CARE!!!
@ -541,7 +541,7 @@ One person on pitch at a time, moving together.
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-24_27">2011-07-24 to 2011-07-27</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-24b">2011-07-24 to 2011-07-27</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u> Edvin Deadman</u>, Kathryn Hopkins, Holly Bradley</div>
<div class="triptitle">the butlins night shift</div>
<p>
@ -583,7 +583,7 @@ Slept will from 7am till 5pm, as we'd been very tired. Decided on a day out in t
<div class="timeug">T/U: 60 hours</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-26">2011-07-26</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-26b">2011-07-26</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Neil Pacey</u>, Fer Abarquero, Aiora Zabala</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks</div>
<p>Nice trip showing Fer and Aiora the way down to String Theory. Got
@ -593,7 +593,7 @@ a bit lost at Ykikikiki beach, almost ended up at starfish junction. Made our wa
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-26">2011-07-26</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-26c">2011-07-26</div>
<div class="trippeople">Andy Chapman, Noel Snape and Rob Adams
</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks</div>
@ -602,7 +602,7 @@ a bit lost at Ykikikiki beach, almost ended up at starfish junction. Made our wa
<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-27">2011-07-27</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-27b">2011-07-27</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Neil Pacey</u>, Andy Chapman and Rob Adams</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks</div>
<p>Quick trip as far as String Theory, continued rigging down the 100m pitch, had difficulty finding last years bolts. Finally rigged pitch, Andy and Rob sheltered in bivy shelter. At the bottom made our way back up the balcony climb to "Leaky Chamber", limit of last year, all climbed down tight rift and looked at potential climb up, looking very good can see up 10meters to a scalloped roof. Rigged a traverse line to bypass shite rift and placed both at bottom of climb. Left climbing rope and etriers in situ, ready for next assault. Made our way back out. From the survey "leaky chamber" is approx 26meters vertically and 5m horizontally away from "Where O ware in Steinbruckenhohle making this an excellent lead.
@ -614,7 +614,7 @@ a bit lost at Ykikikiki beach, almost ended up at starfish junction. Made our wa
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-28">2011-07-28</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-28b">2011-07-28</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Noel Snape</u> and Rob Adams</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks</div>
<p>Re-bolted parts of String Theory, replacing 1 shit bolt and 2 extra bolts to make Y-hangs. Also placed a few bolts on the 5th rebelay to try to get a Y but they all failed, no Y needed. Looked up passage at floor level at start of climb up to balcony in String Theory, this leads via a rift to a dodgy climb up. At top survey marks from "popcorn rift" found. We followed the draft to a too tight slot in the wall in "West Side Story" but way on found by climbing into traverse round corner (not surveyed). This carried on to climbs down to a 20m? pitch with large rift passage visible continuing over the top.
@ -623,7 +623,7 @@ a bit lost at Ykikikiki beach, almost ended up at starfish junction. Made our wa
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-29">2011-07-29</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-29b">2011-07-29</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Jess Stirrups</u> and Alex Crow</div>
<div class="triptitle">204 Tourist trip</div>
<p>Walked up in the morning, and decided to give Alex and introductory tour of the upper levels of 204 while scouting out a lead for the next day. Went down to boulder coaster, but got a little lost, so went back to entrance pitch, then to Gaffered and out of 204D via swings and roundabouts. Interesting entrance climb, chimneying up the side of snow plug, and very glad that the permanent handlines were still there!
@ -633,7 +633,7 @@ a bit lost at Ykikikiki beach, almost ended up at starfish junction. Made our wa
<div class="timeug">T/U: 3.5hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-29">2011-07-29</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-29c">2011-07-29</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Noel Snape</u> and Rob Adams</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks</div>
<p>String Theory -&gt; surveying finds from yesterday. Also looked around Konnisberg etc. We shone Robs Scurrion into chamber at String Theory and there looks like a large rift continuing off at the top of a scree/ boulder slope to the right of the balcony - i.e. climb up slope/ gully to wall and bottom of balcony handline and follow the wall up right. Ropes on String Theory re-rigged onto new bolts placed yesterday.
@ -642,7 +642,7 @@ a bit lost at Ykikikiki beach, almost ended up at starfish junction. Made our wa
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-29">2011-07-29</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-29d">2011-07-29</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka Lawson</u> and Holly Bradley</div>
<div class="triptitle">Steinbrucken - Convenience series - channel 5</div>
<p>Down to camp and picked up a survey and worked our way down to the lead
@ -655,7 +655,7 @@ from the day trip to recharge. Good steady trip.
<div class="timeug">T/U: 13hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-29_01">2011-07-29 to 2011-08-01</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-29d">2011-07-29 to 2011-08-01</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Edvin Deadman</u>, Kathryn Hopkins, Nial Peters</div>
<div class="triptitle"></div>
<p>Underground at 1.30pm on Friday, after stalling Nial for as long as
@ -697,7 +697,7 @@ possible. Down to camp to drop off food then back up to the Wares to drop the pi
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-30_01">2011-07-30 to 2011-08-01</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-30b">2011-07-30 to 2011-08-01</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>, Chris Smith and Djuke Veldhuis</div>
<div class="triptitle">Steinbrucken - night shift</div>
<p>In 7pm and out 3am for me and 5am for others
@ -711,7 +711,7 @@ possible. Down to camp to drop off food then back up to the Wares to drop the pi
<div class="timeug">T/U: 32hrs (Becka)<br>T/U: 34hrs (Chris, Djuke)</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-30">2011-07-30</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-30c">2011-07-30</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Neil Pacey</u> and Andy Chapman</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Leaky Chamber - Bob on</div>
<p>
@ -720,7 +720,7 @@ Returned to Leaky Chamber to start bolt climb, Andy climbed initial 5m climb wit
<div class="timeug">T/U: 11hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-30">2011-07-30</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-30d">2011-07-30</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Jess Stirrups</u> and Alex Crow</div>
<div class="triptitle">204- pingu</div>
<p>Returned to the lead scouted in previous evening and started rigging it. Took a long time, and needed more bolts as there were many rubs (but no drill ....) got to the end of the previous survey then headed out for dinner and scavenge more deviation tat and crabs.
@ -728,7 +728,7 @@ Returned to Leaky Chamber to start bolt climb, Andy climbed initial 5m climb wit
<div class="timeug">T/U: 7hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-31">2011-07-31</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-31b">2011-07-31</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Neil</u>, Fer Abarquero , Aiora Zabala and Rob Adams</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Crossword Passage</div>
<p>Went to assist Fer with rigging pitch in Crossword passage, managed to find decent rockl on right wall. Fer drilled two holes and dropped the short pitch only to find survey station and spits at teh bottom. Rob explored crawl further up passage and found survey crawl. Placed another spit at top of next pitch but did not rig shaft. Confused as we are still unsure if this pitch has been dropped. Derriged initial pitch.
@ -736,7 +736,7 @@ Returned to Leaky Chamber to start bolt climb, Andy climbed initial 5m climb wit
<div class="timeug">T/U: 8.5hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-31">2011-07-31</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-07-31c">2011-07-31</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Jess</u>, Alex Crow, Holly Bradley and Noel Snape</div>
<div class="triptitle">204e - pingu</div>
<p>
@ -752,7 +752,7 @@ Back to Pingu again, this time with a more experienced 2nd option for the riggin
<div class="timeug">T/U: 4hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-01">2011-08-01</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-01b">2011-08-01</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka Lawson</u>, Aiora Zabala, Fer Abarquero</div>
<div class="triptitle">204e - Pingu</div>
<p>After 4 hours sleep this was a lovely, mellow trip. We did some re-rigging of Alex and Jess's rig then finally got beyond nials last (2008?) station and dropped a pitch and then a climb down that looked like it was going to head off on a big, phreatic tube - very exciting... but it choked with mud after 2 legs. Some lovely fossils (including an ammanite?) at the bottom.
@ -760,7 +760,7 @@ Back to Pingu again, this time with a more experienced 2nd option for the riggin
<div class="timeug">T/U: 8hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-01">2011-08-01</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-01c">2011-08-01</div>
<div class="trippeople">Gareth Philips, Holly Bradley, <u>Emma Wilson</u> and Olaf Kahler</div>
<div class="triptitle">Underworld</div>
<p>Went down 204E with the aim of seeing the camp and carrying some things out. Found Edvin, Kathryn and Nial derigging Gardeners World and carrying out masses of tackle sacks, took some tackle sacks off them (but sadly they still had a large pile) and headed out. Once out went back to relieve them of more tackle sacks. Good trip, my first time down 204E and Gaffered - nice pitch.
@ -768,7 +768,7 @@ Back to Pingu again, this time with a more experienced 2nd option for the riggin
<div class="timeug">T/U: 8hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-01">2011-08-01</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-01d">2011-08-01</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Neil Pacey</u>, Andy Chapman and Noel Snape</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Above and Beyond</div>
<p>Returned to Bob-on passage and Noel rigged pitch into big chamber, Above and Beyond. Floor of chamber has steep slope down to the Northern end, explored and surveyed chamber. Numerous QMA's including traverse over pitch in the north and several deep shafts in southern end, all leads are in the vicinity of Steinbruckenhole and should be the 'Key' to the connection. Andy did a dodgy climb up loose wall to explore a rift, ending in another deep shaft.
@ -776,7 +776,7 @@ Back to Pingu again, this time with a more experienced 2nd option for the riggin
<div class="timeug">T/U: 11hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-02">2011-08-02</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-02b">2011-08-02</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Emma Wilson</u>, Becka Lawson and Neil Pacey</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks, Down String Theory - konnisberg - TenthousandBusStops</div>
<p>Went down String Theory to have a look at how possible hand bolting rift pitch down West Side Story would be - decided it was more of a drill project. On way back towards String Theory met Gareth and Rob who had been planning to rig down Procrastination - the had managed to drop the drill bit, but Neil had a bit for through bolts so we swapped the hand bolting kit for a drill :-) and went down Konnisberg to the big chamber (above and beyond). Neil bolted pitch/ traverse at bottom end of chamber. After short pitch/ traverse dropped into sandy chamber with boulders. Got prematurely excited that we had found the connection to 204 when we saw loads of footprints - turned out to be the bottom of Pigeons in Flight. On the way back popped into a side passage on left (one way out) this led to a pitch (QMA). I made a "very" good job of learning and finding the way out. Good trip.
@ -784,7 +784,7 @@ Back to Pingu again, this time with a more experienced 2nd option for the riggin
<div class="timeug">T/U: 10hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-02">2011-08-02</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-02c">2011-08-02</div>
<div class="trippeople">Aiora Zabala , Fer Abarquero , <u>Olaf Kahler</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">204e Pingu pitch</div>
<p>We went to the bottom of Pingu pitch, where Fer and Aiora had been with Becca the day before. Brought hand bolting stuff and about 30m of rope, as we were hoping to descend one of teh holes at that place. Tying a Y hang that Fer and Aiora bolted the day before, we went down and slightly right into a rather narrow slot (deviation) and found a suprisingly big pitch. We placed two more bolts, verified that another small hole with a trickle of water joined the big pitch, and decided that we wouldn't want to bolt and decent the big pitch on our own that day.
@ -792,7 +792,7 @@ Back to Pingu again, this time with a more experienced 2nd option for the riggin
<div class="timeug">T/U: 8hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-02">2011-08-02</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-02d">2011-08-02</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Anthony</u>, Wookey, Olly Madge, Adrian Horrel</div>
<div class="triptitle">Rigging 161g</div>
<p>The plan was to rig into 161 as far as Repton, then push the roof tube in Repton left going by Wookey and Andrew A in 2009. However, after a very late start from the bivi this proved to be too ambitious. Took 200m of new 10mm with the intention of cutting it up as required as we went along. Olly christened his new drill by placing an extra re-belay bolt on the entrance pitch to split up the big hang - also put in a new bolt at the head of the short second pitch. By the time we got to the head of the knosses pitch call-out was looming, so Adrian and I headed out whilst Wookey tried to work out a sensible way to improve the rig, he eventually gave up and followed us out.
@ -801,7 +801,7 @@ Back to Pingu again, this time with a more experienced 2nd option for the riggin
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-03">2011-08-03</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-03b">2011-08-03</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Emma Wilson</u>, Becka Lawson and Neil Pacey</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Leads in higher level above Sting Theory, So Vein and IntoThinAir</div>
<p>Looking at pitch in so Vein and also at the end of flying high.
@ -813,7 +813,7 @@ Back to Pingu again, this time with a more experienced 2nd option for the riggin
<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-03">2011-08-03</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-03c">2011-08-03</div>
<div class="trippeople">Aiora Zabala, Fer Abarquero, <u>Olaf Kahler</u>, Gareth Philips</div>
<div class="triptitle">204e Pingu pitch</div>
<p>Returned to Pingu pitch with a drill and Gareth. While Gareth, Fer and the drill went down to the big new pitch from the day before, Aiora and Olaf put in 2 more deviations to the lower end of Pingu pitch, to avoid rubbing ropes and to practice hand bolting. Later on, Gareth came up with drill, while Aiora and Olaf went down. A deviation and rebelay later we arrived at the bottom of the pitch, which was rather dissapointing. The trickle of water disapeared in a puddle and the passage was desperatly narrow rift bit filled with rocks. Surveyed on the way out and derriged the whole pitch series. Unfortunately got stuck at the last rebelay, so we left one tackle sack full of rope and rigging gear behind to be picked up another day.
@ -821,7 +821,7 @@ Back to Pingu again, this time with a more experienced 2nd option for the riggin
<div class="timeug">T/U: 8hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-03">2011-08-03</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-03d">2011-08-03</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Kathryn Hopkins</u>, Edvin Deadman and Nial Peters</div>
<div class="triptitle">Final trip to finnish derig of 204</div>
<p>Quick trip to pick up ~300m of rope that we had left at the top of Gaffered after the main derig after the final camping trip. 204 is now derigged apart from the entrance pitch (which is left rigged to allow high level leads to be pushed).
@ -829,7 +829,7 @@ Back to Pingu again, this time with a more experienced 2nd option for the riggin
<div class="timeug">T/U: 1hr</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-03">2011-08-03</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-03e">2011-08-03</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Anthony Day</u>, Wookey and Rob Adams</div>
<div class="triptitle">161- Pushing lead in roof of Repton</div>
<p>This time, with a slightly earlier start from the bivy, we managed to execute the plan from the previous day. We also took the precaution of setting a morning call out, which proved to be a wise move. Having lost Olly and Adrian to injury and tiredness, Rob chose to tag along.
@ -849,7 +849,7 @@ Back to Pingu again, this time with a more experienced 2nd option for the riggin
<div class="timeug">T/U: 11.5hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-05">2011-08-05</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-05a">2011-08-05</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Olaf Kahler </u>, Cat Hulse, Amy Matthews, Adam Henry, Nial Peters</div>
<div class="triptitle">204 Pingu derigging trip and tour of the cave</div>
<p>
@ -858,7 +858,7 @@ Went up to top camp after the expo dinner and had a short trip to 204. First we
<div class="timeug">T/U: 4hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-05">2011-08-05</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-05b">2011-08-05</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka Lawson</u>, Andy Chapman and Rob Adams</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Thirty Nine Steps (beyond flying high)</div>
<p>
@ -867,7 +867,7 @@ The post dinner hangovers were bad but - as ever Rob was keen to squeeze in a fi
<div class="timeug">T/U: 7hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-06">2011-08-06</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-06a">2011-08-06</div>
<div class="trippeople">Becka Lawson and <u>Julian Todd</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">161 - Old Men to conservation tape</div>
<p>Having arranged to take over Djuke's camp bed and space, someone who thought I was not coming up made sure it was packed and sent down with her. So there was an unfortunate scrabble to find somewhere that wasn't bare rocks. Frank's hole had a badly rigged tarp with a pool of water touching the floor. Olly and I reriged it to form a diagonal shelter off the incorrect side. I retired early in a mood. Noone had the energy to pop round to see how things were doing, even though I could hear them chatting for hours about all the trips they did have the energy to do in the next several days. Things went badly when it started to rain heavily through the night as the wall under the tarp drizzled as much water as if there hadn't been a tarp. I rerigged it all in the morning, this time with the dry side under the shelter, but the mood was not seriously deteriorated and was being sternly ignored.
@ -877,7 +877,7 @@ The post dinner hangovers were bad but - as ever Rob was keen to squeeze in a fi
<div class="timeug">T/U: 11hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-06">2011-08-06</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-06b">2011-08-06</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Olaf Kahler</u> and Olly Madge</div>
<div class="triptitle">161 Old Men bolting trip</div>
<p>We joined Becka, Julian, Wookey and Nial for a long trip to the far end of KH. Wookey and Anthony had discovered a large phreatic passage at a pitch bolt climbed up by Andrew A two years ago, the 'Country for Old Men'. All six of us scrambled along for 3hrs in a long tour through Iceland, Roast Beef, Knosses, Block Towers, Yapate, Chicken Flied Nice, and finally to Repton, where the newly climbed passage started. After a short rifty bit, we turned left into a wider passage and after a short bit of passage came to 'the junction'. There were we split into groups of two, with Wookey and Nial rigging a tyrolean at Strange Acrossfall, Becka and Julian placing conservation tape and surveying a side passage, and Olly and Olaf went north to a pitch at the end of what Wookey had surveyed a few days before. Olly started drilling his way down but quickly ran out of rope. Olaf placed a handbolt for a top traverse of the pitch and later Olly placed two more bolts up there. We ran out of time though, and left two unfinished rigs behind. It was still a looooong way back to the entrance, which we did between the two of us, and we almost did not get lost at all. On the way back to the bivy we were racing the flashes and thunder, and eventually got home dry.
@ -885,7 +885,7 @@ The post dinner hangovers were bad but - as ever Rob was keen to squeeze in a fi
<div class="timeug">T/U: 11hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-06">2011-08-06</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-06c">2011-08-06</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wookey</u> and Nial Peters</div>
<div class="triptitle">KH, Country for Old Men - Tyrolean Rigging</div>
<p>Part of the Becka, Julian, Olaf, Olly M trip
@ -901,7 +901,7 @@ The post dinner hangovers were bad but - as ever Rob was keen to squeeze in a fi
<div class="timeug">T/U: 8hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-06">2011-08-06</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-06d">2011-08-06</div>
<div class="trippeople">Neil Pacey, Andy Chapman, <u>Emma Wilson</u> and Gareth Philips</div>
<div class="triptitle">Surface Prospecting North of Tunnocks</div>
<p>GPS for Entrance: elev: 1938, 33 T0411995 5283601/(utm)<br>
@ -912,7 +912,7 @@ Much of the area between Tunnocks and the area we found the cave was quite shatt
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.5hrs (Emma)</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-06">2011-08-06</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-06e">2011-08-06</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Jess Stirrups</u>, Alex Crow, Cat Hulse, Amy Matthews and Adam Henry</div>
<div class="triptitle">204 - Brians Phat Shaft</div>
<p>Rigging and bolting trip to Brians Phat Shaft
@ -933,7 +933,7 @@ Much of the area between Tunnocks and the area we found the cave was quite shatt
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-07">2011-08-07</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-07a">2011-08-07</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Andy Chapman</u>, Neil Pacey and Emma Wilson</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks, Bob on Passage</div>
<p>Down to Bob On via Pigeons in Flight. Neil and I set up to climb the up pitches whilst Emma derigged all the pitches in leaky chamber. Neil and I climbed the three pitches but found the way on upwards was too tight so decided to leave it for future generations.
@ -943,7 +943,7 @@ Much of the area between Tunnocks and the area we found the cave was quite shatt
<div class="timeug">T/U: 12hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-07">2011-08-07</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-07b">2011-08-07</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Julian Todd</u>, Alex Crow, Jess Stirrups</div>
<div class="triptitle">161 Old Men South route</div>
<p>
@ -954,7 +954,7 @@ at the tyrolean, which turned out to be just as crap in the other direction when
<div class="timeug">T/U: 11hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-07">2011-08-07</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-07c">2011-08-07</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Olaf Kahler </u>, Stefan, Thomas (two German guests from ARGE Grabenstatten)</div>
<div class="triptitle">161 Old Men Continued</div>
<p>The new stuff in 161 was quite exciting, so there were three trips going there that day. Wookey, Cat and Adam went ahead early, Julian, Jess and Alex went next, and Anthony, Becka and Olaf waited a bit longer for the two German guests Stefan and Thomas. Team C entered the cave last, but we just about met team B on the entrance pitch. We caught up with them at Knossos and Strange Acrossfall, where we eventually had a queue and reorganisation of the teams. The Tyrolean did not really work so going down and up again was the easiest solution. We finally got to the 'Country for Old Men' and team German (Olaf, Stefan and Thomas) went to the north and with the half rigged pitch. Wookey, Cat and Adam had completed the traverse line but not got much beyond. The downwards way that Olly and Olaf started bolting down the day before was still unfinished. Thomas took the drill and rope and went off. After reaching the first ledge, a 45deg slope, he added another rebelay and dropped to the bottom. Stefan and Olaf then surveyed the whole leg to a length of 29m. As the bottom was very exciting again Olaf went back to call Becka and Anthony. They started surveying a small rifty passage going downwards, whereas we continued the main phreatic tube, carefully avoiding some beautiful erosion patterns. The passage was heading more Eastwards and uphill for about 50m, then turned back northwards. There was another small pitch up there but we could easily pass by it via a narrow gully in the ground, doing a sharp northward turn a level below the main passage. Only a small 3m climb was in the way, so we placed another bolt for a handline. As it was getting late we fetched Becka and Anthony and all headed out together Along the way with all the pitches we split with Thomas and Olaf going first, Becka catching up and Anthony and Stefan meeting us at the entrance. Luckily it was dry on the way back to top camp, but it had been raining the best part of the day.
@ -965,7 +965,7 @@ at the tyrolean, which turned out to be just as crap in the other direction when
<div class="timeug">T/U: 12hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-07">2011-08-07</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-07d">2011-08-07</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka Lawson</u> and Anthony Day</div>
<div class="triptitle">KH, 161 - Country for Old Men</div>
<p>Shepparded Olaf, Thomas and Stefan through the cave and ended up in Tyrolean log jams with Jess getting strung up trying to get on it. Thomas and I managed to use it but pretty strenuous. Found Wookey's team surveying where we'd intended going, having found nothing over the traverse at the far end and being too cold to descend the pitch there so we set Olaf, Stefan and Thomas off rigging the pitch with the drill whilst Anthony and I put in a natural and hand bolt for the traverse over the pitch at the far end of the Chocolate River. I'd just finished crossing it and using the huge obvious naturals when Olaf returned to say they'd found big stuff so we shuttled off and looked at their lead and left them to survey the big stuff north whilst Anthony and I threw a few legs to the south in thin, twisty rift till it was time to go. Poor Stefan wasn't feeling well on the exit but at least everyone else was out of the cave so the exit wasn't too slow and then a plod back up the hill where, surprisingly, the Tunnocks gang were still up having just returned.
@ -973,7 +973,7 @@ at the tyrolean, which turned out to be just as crap in the other direction when
<div class="timeug">T/U: 12hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-07">2011-08-07</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-07e">2011-08-07</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wookey</u>, Cat Hulse and Adam Henry</div>
<div class="triptitle">KH Country for Old Men/ Massive for Mendip</div>
<p>First team into KH with cast of thousands expected. My allotted ouigees turned out to be very competent and enthusiastic so we had a top trip. Went right to the end to complete the climb into the phreas continuation that Olly M had bolted most of the day before. Re-rigged rope so it was long enough and decided on the quick and light approach - i.e. no drill and paraphernalia - just a climb on a c-rigged stop, trailing a line to pull stuff up afterwards. Climb was muddy (thin layer over rock), steep enough to be worrying, short on good holds and over a big drop. I could see why Olly decided to leave it. Still with some pinch holds and mud-step cutting and a rather tense few minutes, I made it up without taking a massive flight. Only to find that it didn't go at all! It was a dead end, with another hold down to the pitch we'd just traversed around. Grrr. Pulled drill up and put bolt in so I could get back down/across. Took one leg up climb to position it. No-one else had turned up yet so we had a choice of go down pitch or look at horizontal lead back as previous junction. Cat and Adam wanted to learn to survey so we went for horizontal lead. Windy, but not huge. Surveying we taught/learned as we proceeded down soily passage which soon turned sharp right (west) with a slippery c3 climb up then a traverse over a hole. Here the draught disappears up into holes in roof then passage opens up into high chamber 3m wide, 8m high, 20m long.
@ -983,7 +983,7 @@ at the tyrolean, which turned out to be just as crap in the other direction when
<div class="timeug">T/U: 10hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-08">2011-08-08</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-08a">2011-08-08</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka Lawson</u>, Anthony Day and Thomas</div>
<div class="triptitle">KH - Country for Old Men</div>
<p>Only 3 of us in KH today so despite enthusiasm failure due to the incessant rain we had a slick and productive trip. Entrance pitch miserably wet but dried off on the commute. Down to the huge phreatic lead Olaf, Thomas and Stefan had left yesterday and had a handful of fine, long legs in big stuff then it all drizzled out in what initially looked like a mud choke but a steep - down phreatic tube blowing a gale in our faces soon lead us to a pitch head which has to be an A++ lead. Back in the main passage where we'd started surveying I spotted a small passage on the right wall which drafted strongly and led straight to another small pitch - another A lead. Having only hand-bolting gear (we'd taken the two drill batteries out yesterday) we left that too and back to the pitch to the big lead on the right. This went in fine style with lots of ?gypsum? crystals to a climb which we left when it looked like it needed protecting. A side lead on the right just before the climb started with many crystals on the floor then past a freshly dead bad (wings still in tact) and got smaller (crawling) then ended on an easy looking pitch (just too steep to free climb). Draft but not very strong. Thomas took some photos then decided to call it a day. Had a grim, grim time on the entrance pitch with water pouring down especially at the new rebelay - needs FIXING. I was nearly hypothermic by the time Anthony got up so did the walk on my own in the driving rain - thank god for PVC oversuits, cairns and reflectors.
@ -991,7 +991,7 @@ at the tyrolean, which turned out to be just as crap in the other direction when
<div class="timeug">T/U: 9hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-08">2011-08-08</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-08b">2011-08-08</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wookey</u>, Amy Matthews and Stefan</div>
<div class="triptitle">204 Brians Phat pitch rerig</div>
<p>I had promised to apply my expertise to this dauntingly deep shaft
@ -1017,7 +1017,7 @@ bit, but is untested, so might rub. Got to pitch top at 5.20ish as promised but
<div class="timeug">T/U: 8hrs (wook), 7hrs (Amy and Stefan)</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-08">2011-08-08</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-08c">2011-08-08</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Emma Wilson</u>, Neil Pacey, Cat Hulse and Adam Henry</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks, March of the Penguins</div>
<p>Went to QMA lead north out of 39 steps chamber. Low passage out of chamber led to low crawl past boulder choke. After passage opens out into nice Phreas with narrow floor canyon. Followed passage past interesting ceiling level Phreas - needs bolting up but passage appears significant (QMA). From here followed main passage down to junction, way back on oneself (sharp left) leads to pitch head (QMA). Back to junction we took left passage, leading through good Phreatic canyon. Followed main passage past QMB, QMC, QMA leads (explored on subsequent trip). Passage ended in frost shattered loose boulder choke.
@ -1025,7 +1025,7 @@ bit, but is untested, so might rub. Got to pitch top at 5.20ish as promised but
<div class="timeug">T/U: 10hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-09">2011-08-09</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-09a">2011-08-09</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Jess Stirrups</u>, Alex Crow, Adam Henry</div>
<div class="triptitle">204 De-rig back to entrance pitch</div>
<p>Trip to pick up last of Brians Phat Shaft kit and rope and derig All Roads. Bit cold waiting, but all went smoothly, popped out of entrance just as Martin G and Noel were walking past en route to Tunnocks.
@ -1034,7 +1034,7 @@ bit, but is untested, so might rub. Got to pitch top at 5.20ish as promised but
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-09">2011-08-09</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-09b">2011-08-09</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Emma Wilson </u> and Neil Pacey</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks: March of the Penguins</div>
<p>Back to March of the Penguins exploring side passages found on 8/8/11. Started off from QMA at far end of passage - led up slope to p10 QMB with possible continuation QMB+. Most passages ended in loose boulder chokes with some signs of being near the surface. Complicated interconnected part of the cave - all horizontal leads explored.
@ -1043,7 +1043,7 @@ bit, but is untested, so might rub. Got to pitch top at 5.20ish as promised but
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-10">2011-08-10</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-10a">2011-08-10</div>
<div class="trippeople">Becka Lawson, <u>Olaf Kahler </u> and Holly Bradley</div>
<div class="triptitle">KH - Country for Old Men</div>
<p>We returned to the Country for Old Men to take a look at some of the horizontal leads. After a slick journey all the way in (2.5hrs), we went down the first pitch in the main passage and then left into the rift that Becka and Anthony had started surveying. After a few legs with a gentle right turn we arrived in another rift passage following something like a fault line clearly visible in the ceiling. The way downwards continued across a small hole in the ground and some nice mud formations and then reached a short climb up. Beyond, the rift was continuing uphill and shortly reached a small chamber (2m wide, 4m long, 6m high) with some decorations. Two passages continued along the fault line, but re-join later at two places, the second of witch was a small chamber again. A 3m climb down got Becka to the floor of the chamber where she squeezed through a gap continuing the passage. Apparently there is another short climb down and it still goes beyond, but we had enough of the rift and called it a day.
@ -1054,7 +1054,7 @@ bit, but is untested, so might rub. Got to pitch top at 5.20ish as promised but
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-10">2011-08-10</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-10b">2011-08-10</div>
<div class="trippeople">Emma Wison, Neil Pacey, Gareth Phillips and <u>Noel Snape</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks: Above and Beyond</div>
<p>We returned to Above and Beyond to have another look up Andy's climb and survey up. Is much easier now there is a rope on. At the top, a further Phreatic tube was spotted above, after a slightly hair-raising climb (1 bolt, no ets) a rope was rigged (p5 up) to gain a very draughty horizontal tube. Emma and Neil set about surveying whilst Gareth and I ran off to explore up 'Frontier Land' and 'Blackpool Sands' gained a side passage and the main passage ended at a pitch. Pitch dropped ('Ee Bah Gum') 20m into bottom of rift which appeared to continue in same direction as 'Blackpool Sands'. Another passage continued back under Blackpool Sands (walking passage). A quick look around then exit due to the surveyors having too much to catch up.
@ -1065,7 +1065,7 @@ bit, but is untested, so might rub. Got to pitch top at 5.20ish as promised but
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-11">2011-08-11</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-11a">2011-08-11</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Olaf Kahler</u> and Adrian Horrell</div>
<div class="triptitle">KH - Where the Wind Blows</div>
<p>Not many around were keen on KH that day. Also, as Olaf wanted to go down later on to leave the next day, we organised a short trip into KH. Becka, Wookey and Anthony mentioned a passage close to the entrance, where noone ever managed to find all the drafty holes, but still a noticeable gale was blowing. Olaf led the way, we found the passage as described and the climb on the right hand side but there was no rope in place. It seemed free climbable but not very inviting, especially on the way down. So we decided to turn round still not knowing where the wind blows. After a short trip Olaf packed his stuff to go down the hill whilst Adrian stayed at the stone bridge.
@ -1074,7 +1074,7 @@ bit, but is untested, so might rub. Got to pitch top at 5.20ish as promised but
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-11">2011-08-11</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-11b">2011-08-11</div>
<div class="trippeople">Wookey, Noel Snape, Holly Bradley and <u>Becka Lawson</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Konnisberg - that's the way to do it. CONNECTION of 258 -> 204</div>
<p>Despite sore knees we talked ourselves into another deep trip in Tunnocks. Wookey and Noel Whipped in ahead with the drill to start the pitches that were found off Above and Beyond yesterday, whilst Holly and I started to survey down Eh Bah Gum pitch and then to a small draft rift opposite their pitches. This rapidly poped out to a window into what we assume is The Beast again - stones thrown out beyond the immediate ledge dropped free for 4-5s - a project for another year. The others were still bolting so we surveyed a QMB i'd spotted at the base of Eh Bah Gum. This was another small, drafty rift which, again popped out into The Beast but this time we could get out onto a wide ledge so we started surveying along the left wall with various tubes on the left. "Holly did you walk down that mud bank", "No, I thought that looked like footprints" I peered again - it could be due to rock fall, but it did look very like footprints..... and then I saw two more - we've definitely got to somewhere people have been before. I walked over with tape and straight to survey station 23 and we finished the survey then went for a run to see where we were. We traced the footprints back and into a small muddy tube. Holly and I muttered to each other that this looked very like The Wares - but we didn't want to count our chickens so on we ran until "Oooh" said Holly pointing at a nondescript mud bank we had to crawl over "I've been here - for sure - its The Wares - WE'VE CONNECTED we shrieked at each other, had a hug then Holly showed me what she'd pushed on her 204 camping trip. We went back to the others where Wookey had pit in 3 short pitches with minimalist rigging and they were surveying back so we yelped them our news then helped them to finish their survey and showed them the connection then steadily out with some gear. Great final trip of Expo for me.
@ -1087,7 +1087,7 @@ bit, but is untested, so might rub. Got to pitch top at 5.20ish as promised but
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-12">2011-08-12</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-12a">2011-08-12</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wookey</u>, Cat Hulse and Adam Henry</div>
<div class="triptitle">KH - Pushing the end of Old Man (Mordor)</div>
<p>Wookey was keen to get back to the end of KH. Most people were
@ -1146,7 +1146,7 @@ massage is 'March of the Ents'.
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-13">2011-08-13</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-13a">2011-08-13</div>
<div class="trippeople">Andrew Atkinson and <u>Julian Todd</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">161 - Beyond Wookey's pitch, Mordor</div>
<p>Having cursed Julian with a painful bout of caving keenness before clearing off on another caving expedition to Voodoo Canyon with her fancy friends, Becka got Andrew to swear over 7 bottles of Gosser to take him on a not-completely-waste-of-time caving trip for once. She was going to stay up with the all night session to make sure he drank it all until assertively reminded of the notion that after 3 weeks of neglect and one change-over day basking unadulterated caving glory plus dinner with the Germans, things were getting mighty sulky. Luckily, Neil was around to keep him occupied throughout the night with interesting conversation and brass music until he passed out under the awning with the foot of his sleeping bag in the rain. Inside the hut Andrew was among the debris on the floor. He accepted a mug of strong coffee from me. We drove up, walked across the plateau in the rain finding Wookey and his side kicks coming down from gerry-rigging pitch at the far end of Old Men to lots of horizontal passage which they'd pushed and explored in every direction until 3 in the morning because that's what they were there for. He'd passed a sketch to Olly of all the grade A leads (most of which were pitches or traverses), as he was going on ahead.
@ -1158,7 +1158,7 @@ massage is 'March of the Ents'.
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-13">2011-08-13</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-13b">2011-08-13</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Emma Wilson</u> and Olly Madge</div>
<div class="triptitle">161- Beyond Mordor</div>
<p>Down Mordor to QMA traverse lead at north that had been left by Wook, Cat and Adam from the previous day. Used 11m rope and good natural to get to bottom of breakdown pitch/ traverse/ chamber then clambered up the other side. Passages lead off both right and left. Olly and I took the left branch whilst Andrew and Julian went right (which didn't go far). Reasonable horizontal passage led to a traverse (needed rigging) into a chamber with lots of holes in the floor. Across the chamber led to a drippy pitch with possible horizontal continuation across pitch. This point is v.close to Fat Cat in 204, traverse across pitch looks fairly technical and hard - approx 10m or so across a wall with not so many features. Left as all leads needed rigging work and we were now ropeless and it was rather late (getting near 10pm). Headed out to good clear night. First time for me down KH - impressive.
@ -1181,7 +1181,7 @@ massage is 'March of the Ents'.
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-15">2011-08-15</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-15a">2011-08-15</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Holly Bradley</u>, Emma Wilson (and Noel Snape)</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Thats the way to do it</div>
<p>A last long-ish trip before the end of expo, resulted in a trip down to the 258-204 connection in order to give Emma a tour and start the derig. Had a fairly early start (11am!) and managed to miss the rain (Tunnocks was very drippy). String theory was a lot friendlier the second time round and then Noel showed Emma and Holly the top of Procrastination - which is where we left him. The two of us carried on down the the connection, which isn't quite as exciting the second time round! in fact it was a little sad, as after looking at the 204 survey for the Wares, I realised that the 'connection chamber' was in fact a chamber I had already been in on a previous 204 trip with Edvin and Kathryn (25-7-11) where we were following an A-lead. If only we'd gone for the B-lead!
@ -1192,7 +1192,7 @@ massage is 'March of the Ents'.
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-15">2011-08-15</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-15b">2011-08-15</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Noel Snape</u>, (and Holly Bradley and Emma Wilson)</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Procrastination Pot</div>
<p>After Holly and Emma left me at the top of 'Procrastination Pot' (still not descended to the bottom even though it was started in 2010). Initial traverse was followed by first decent of 18m to final bolt. I added a bolt to make a Y-hang, rigged short traverse and rebelay at a bouldery ledge about halfway down with a nice free-hang Y-hang placed just below. Pitch used 110m of rope approx. Large stream entered halfway down due to very wet weather, but hang avoided most water (except for a few 'drips' at the bottom). At the bottom and airy step over another pitch (QMA p15m) taking stream led to a bouldery chamber. Rift passage appears to continue at northern end (QMA p10) and a small chamber could be gained at East end via a 5m pitch (QMB p5m). Surveyed and de-rigged out to meet the girls near the top where we derigged to the top of String Theory. Excellent pitch.
@ -1204,7 +1204,7 @@ massage is 'March of the Ents'.
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-16">2011-08-16</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-16a">2011-08-16</div>
<div class="trippeople">1st team Martin Green and Emma Wilson, 2nd team Noel Snape, Holly Bradley and <u>Andy Chapman</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks derig finish</div>
<p>Martin and Emma picked the bags up from the top of String Theory, missioned it back to the entrance to meet the 2nd team who went to derig Caramel Catharsis followed by the entrance, stopping for naughty words and frayed tempers from Andy at the Y-hang. Out for tea and curry
@ -1215,7 +1215,7 @@ massage is 'March of the Ents'.
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-16">2011-08-16</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-16b">2011-08-16</div>
<div class="trippeople">Andrew Atkinson, Cat Hulse and <u>Julian Todd</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">161, Holey Cow</div>
<p>We intended to bounce down to Base camp to change Andrew's phone to sort out his courtesy car, which is a pretty lame excuse to slip a day when things are going well but my body really wasn't going to take a 3rd day anyway. Down at base camp washing up was piled sky high. Olly said it wasn't his problem, and anyway he had spent all day yesterday in bed with a bad tummy. He then did it while I made chips. At 4.30 when we were intending to go up, the rain was hammering down, and I had a headache and felt that I had caught Olly's cold. We changed plan to go up in the morning. I slept the rest of the afternoon then spent the evening printing out maps of the 30m now between 161 and 204, along with route description to Phat Shaft and Fat Cat, in an attempt to entice people go rig down there with the rope they were pulling from Tunnocks. All focus on the connection could have got it done. Had Neil the connection wizard been there, it would have happened. And when both sides were either side of the big hole that would require 14 bolts to traverse around I had a reel of strong thread that we could throw across to the other team to set up the Tyrolean of life so that the 161 people could come out a much shorter way. But it was not to be, the derigging momentum was in full flow and they only thing that could have interrupted it was a bad accident at the far end.
@ -1228,13 +1228,26 @@ massage is 'March of the Ents'.
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-17">2011-08-17</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-17a">2011-08-17</div>
<div class="trippeople">Cat Hulse, Andrew Atkinson and <u>Julian Todd </u></div>
<div class="triptitle">161 derig</div>
<p>Considered my excuse because I couldn't face climbing through Tower Blocks again. They let me wait at the top of Knossus pitch to take out a tackle sack. I derigged the entrance pitch. We carried down a huge load at the hottest part of the day. Fighter jets tore the sky overhead. Caught sight of one. It was a delta-wing, so was probably one of those 'stealth' bombers on its way to liberate the oil in Libya.
</p>
<div class="timeug">T/U: 3hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-??a">2011-08-??</div>
<div class="trippeople">Cat Hulse, <u>Wookey</u>, Adam Henry, Therese Stolle</div>
<div class="triptitle">Via Ferrate - Bad Goisern</div>
<p>Needs writing up...</p>
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2011-08-??a">2011-08-??</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wookey</u>, Adrian, OllyM, Adam, Cat, Alex,
Jess, Amy</div>
<div class="triptitle">Bolt testing</div>
<p>Needs writing up...</p>
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0</div>
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