@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ Worked very well offline so failed to get lost at all. Had 4hrs kip en-route.
Very hot all the way here until thunderstorms from Reid in Imkreis -onwards. _Very_ wet. Got to Bad Aussee having heard that there was a +onwards. Very wet. Got to Bad Aussee having heard that there was a big concert on but traffic had cleared. Main Rd to Grundlesee was closed & we were sent the back way, only to find it was totally packed with drenched pedestrians & vehicles coming the other way. Eventually @@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ My spanner made a descent of the 2nd pitch, at which point I went out
Popped down the hole to top of Fat Cat. Jess pointed me towards Emmas alternative hole, using backup of Fat Cat started on a quick pootle -downhill. Realised quite quckly I'd been sandbagged into a hard +downhill. Realised quite quickly I'd been sandbagged into a hard bolting nightmare. No slings so cut end off rope to make one and head down in tight rift.
@@ -230,9 +230,9 @@ soaked but it was passable.
20 mins later, after a pause durig which they finished bolting a traverse and me and Emma sang and cackled and chatted, we headed back to the chamber.
-Wookey immediately walked over the boulders (ignoring the black spaces beneath which we'd found so offputting) straight into a horizontal continuation on the left of the chamber. A 2m climb down, requiring one bolt and a natural was reached. Me and Emma surveyed while this was bolted, and Wookey had a quick scsoop ahead (tut tut!).
+Wookey immediately walked over the boulders (ignoring the black spaces beneath which we'd found so offputting) straight into a horizontal continuation on the left of the chamber. A 2m climb down, requiring one bolt and a natural was reached. Me and Emma surveyed while this was bolted, and Wookey had a quick scoop ahead (tut tut!).
-Small, mud floored, mostly hands and knees or stoping phreatic passage was reached, which after a couple of minutes opened out into a large chamber - Cirque du Soleil.
+Small, mud floored, mostly hands and knees or stooping phreatic passage was reached, which after a couple of minutes opened out into a large chamber - Cirque du Soleil.
Me and Emma leapfrogged Dour and Wookey (who were now surveying) and started surveying the chamber. Its V.V. big... amd a big draft... Large pillar in centre, a big drippy pitch to the south (QMA), some holes upslope between the pitch and entrance which we thought we could see the others' lights through (QMA,QMA), and four more pitches, 2 on each side of the chamber (4xQMB).
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ Pussy Riot: QMA - Down pitch on R of climb up into chamber ~15m? ~20m? hard to t Cirque du Soleil: QMB - Pitch on L as enter chamber QMA - Hole in wall up slope on R as enter chamber QMA: hole in wall up slope on R as enter chamber - QMA: Big drippy pitch in south side of chamber, drafts strngly in (down pitch) + QMA: Big drippy pitch in south side of chamber, drafts strongly in (down pitch) QMB: Pitch on R by wall just before slope down into trunk passage QMB: Pitch on L by slope down into trunk passage QMA: Big drippy pitch at end of trunk passage POSSIBLY FINAL PITCH OF KIWI SUIT @@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ Cirque du Soleil: QMB - Pitch on L as enter chamberHolly was so kind to take us down this year's route via 204a, King Carbide, Brians Phat Shaft and Pussy Prance to Fat Cat. I was a bit slow and had to get used to all this SRT business again, but eventeually we were all sat at the top of the Fat Cat pitch and made up a plan. Wookey and Holly wanted to look at a climb up from a ledge most of the way down, and Rob and myself were sent off to some scrotty B-lead at the bottom of the pitch. Or rather at the bottom of a little side-pitch right underneath the ledge, but still quite a way above the real bottom of Fat Cat. The last bit from the ledge to our lead was fairly clean washed white limestone, and after a little deviation, Rob and I climbed up over the boulder named Boris, then through a little squeeze to a small "chamber", where we could almost stand upright. Emma and Holly had left a survey station 7 there, we didn't spot their number 8, though. Also, a small passage that I considered "too tight" went on to an aledged A-lead, but I was only told about this on the way out (I hadn't really paid much attention earlier). Anyway, from the small chamber, a small passage with a little water-filled trench at the bottom was heading back up sharply to the right, and behind some boulders a light-connection to the bottom of the pitch could be made. We ignored that (too tight) and rather went down a bit, then up a slope on the other side to crawl underneath a big boulder. Several holes are going up to the left, but an easier way to their top was found from around the corner at the mud choked end of the passage. We now started climbing up, leaving two holes in the floor behind us. They appeared to join up in a lower level horizontal passage leading further on as a QMB. At our survey station 5, we climbed up through a small window and now made steady vertical progress up a pitch full of rock flakes. After about 5 more metres, we reached a ledge with another mud-choked passage leading off and another window going on further up in a similar climbing manner to another QMB. We put our last survey station 8 on the wall and broke off some more popcorn on the way out. Rob and Wookey decided to put in another bolt at the ledge in Fat Cat, while Holly and I started heading out. When I reached the bottom of Painted Lady, someone suddenly turned on a waterfall coming in from a hole in the ceiling. Rather scary ! Brians Phat Shaft was rather drippy to begin with, quite wet further up, but still nothing but a little tease, compared to the showerbath of King Carbide, the horrors of the upper part of King Carbide, and the floods coming down the entrance pitch. I hate wet caves !
+Holly was so kind to take us down this year's route via 204a, King Carbide, Brians Phat Shaft and Pussy Prance to Fat Cat. I was a bit slow and had to get used to all this SRT business again, but eventually we were all sat at the top of the Fat Cat pitch and made up a plan. Wookey and Holly wanted to look at a climb up from a ledge most of the way down, and Rob and myself were sent off to some scrotty B-lead at the bottom of the pitch. Or rather at the bottom of a little side-pitch right underneath the ledge, but still quite a way above the real bottom of Fat Cat. The last bit from the ledge to our lead was fairly clean washed white limestone, and after a little deviation, Rob and I climbed up over the boulder named Boris, then through a little squeeze to a small "chamber", where we could almost stand upright. Emma and Holly had left a survey station 7 there, we didn't spot their number 8, though. Also, a small passage that I considered "too tight" went on to an aledged A-lead, but I was only told about this on the way out (I hadn't really paid much attention earlier). Anyway, from the small chamber, a small passage with a little water-filled trench at the bottom was heading back up sharply to the right, and behind some boulders a light-connection to the bottom of the pitch could be made. We ignored that (too tight) and rather went down a bit, then up a slope on the other side to crawl underneath a big boulder. Several holes are going up to the left, but an easier way to their top was found from around the corner at the mud choked end of the passage. We now started climbing up, leaving two holes in the floor behind us. They appeared to join up in a lower level horizontal passage leading further on as a QMB. At our survey station 5, we climbed up through a small window and now made steady vertical progress up a pitch full of rock flakes. After about 5 more metres, we reached a ledge with another mud-choked passage leading off and another window going on further up in a similar climbing manner to another QMB. We put our last survey station 8 on the wall and broke off some more popcorn on the way out. Rob and Wookey decided to put in another bolt at the ledge in Fat Cat, while Holly and I started heading out. When I reached the bottom of Painted Lady, someone suddenly turned on a waterfall coming in from a hole in the ceiling. Rather scary ! Brians Phat Shaft was rather drippy to begin with, quite wet further up, but still nothing but a little tease, compared to the showerbath of King Carbide, the horrors of the upper part of King Carbide, and the floods coming down the entrance pitch. I hate wet caves !
Original plan was me, Andrew + Ollie finishing yesterday's traverse while Rob + Holly pushed leads in Cirque de Soleil but Holly discovered a hole in the bottom bobbin of her Stop at the top of Brian's Phat Shaft so she gave up and went out + Rob joined us. Ollie + I started my first ever PDA + DistoX survey - not a great location to practise on, a teetery traverse with Andrew bolting the next traverse, only just in earshot as I bawled out endless questions "How do I calibrate the screen?", "Why are some splays in dotted lines?" etc. There was only one point where I got a "Not now" which was shortly before a huge lump of rock fell off the traverse leaving a brown smear down the rock face. The survey caught up to Andrew just as he got finished and ..... da-narrr..... found the final survey station from last year's KH trip - whoo-hoo, made the connection. Rob then caught up with us + Andrew & I were going to look up the passage but he'd forgotten about the up pitch so I did the bad step traverse withut protection for no reason + then was stuck there until Rob got some gear to give me a sling to get back. Then Rob + Andrew rigged a traverse to avoid the up pitch whilst Ollie + I went to the top of Fat Cat + surveyed the traverse - Dog Days - he'd done with Serena + then up the climb that Andrew had shinned up on the way down + left a skanky rope on it. This led to horizontal drafting passage, yippee + a chamber with several A-leads off ... having already had a very fine trip making the connection we decided to leave them for another day. Met Andrew + Rob on return. On Brian's Phat Shaft, Andrew went up first then as Ollie got about halfway a rock came whistling past me. "What was that from?" "Don't think it was me" says Ollie ... then another came down "Shit, the rebelays breaking up". Rob + I cowered as best we could + Ollie said there was only an inch of rock left on the nose the rebelay was on so we decided it was best if he took it out (the one at the bottom of the first long hang). Rob + I then teetered up past some razor sharp edges + the knot pass + the crab got wedged on Rob so the rope got incredibly tight but, hey, we survived.
+Original plan was me, Andrew + Ollie finishing yesterday's traverse while Rob + Holly pushed leads in Cirque de Soleil but Holly discovered a hole in the bottom bobbin of her Stop at the top of Brian's Phat Shaft so she gave up and went out + Rob joined us. Ollie + I started my first ever PDA + DistoX survey - not a great location to practise on, a teetery traverse with Andrew bolting the next traverse, only just in earshot as I bawled out endless questions "How do I calibrate the screen?", "Why are some splays in dotted lines?" etc. There was only one point where I got a "Not now" which was shortly before a huge lump of rock fell off the traverse leaving a brown smear down the rock face. The survey caught up to Andrew just as he got finished and ..... da-narrr..... found the final survey station from last year's KH trip - whoo-hoo, made the connection. Rob then caught up with us + Andrew & I were going to look up the passage but he'd forgotten about the up pitch so I did the bad step traverse without protection for no reason + then was stuck there until Rob got some gear to give me a sling to get back. Then Rob + Andrew rigged a traverse to avoid the up pitch whilst Ollie + I went to the top of Fat Cat + surveyed the traverse - Dog Days - he'd done with Serena + then up the climb that Andrew had shinned up on the way down + left a skanky rope on it. This led to horizontal drafting passage, yippee + a chamber with several A-leads off ... having already had a very fine trip making the connection we decided to leave them for another day. Met Andrew + Rob on return. On Brian's Phat Shaft, Andrew went up first then as Ollie got about halfway a rock came whistling past me. "What was that from?" "Don't think it was me" says Ollie ... then another came down "Shit, the rebelays breaking up". Rob + I cowered as best we could + Ollie said there was only an inch of rock left on the nose the rebelay was on so we decided it was best if he took it out (the one at the bottom of the first long hang). Rob + I then teetered up past some razor sharp edges + the knot pass + the crab got wedged on Rob so the rope got incredibly tight but, hey, we survived.
Early morning negotiation with Julian who was driving to expo meant I was given the all clear for a last day of caving + I really wanted to see the new connection stuff. We took Emma's camera to get some shots of the traverses for Anthony's conference talk on Sat + took other shots later on. Headed off down the huge drafting passage to the climb that Wookey + Rob had stopped at on their trip 2 days ago. Rob shinned up this then rigged it + then he rigged the short pitch down to Holey Low whilst Andrew + I shivered in the howling gale. Finally we got to our lead, Blown Away, marked as 300m to Eislufthoehle on Julian's mini-survey. The last survey station was at the start of a strightforward traverse that Andrew waltzed across whilst Rob + I started the survey then Andrew took over the DistoX as Rob had shaky hands + we rattled down 150m or so of lovely phreatic passage with a strong draft until, BUM, all the air disappeared up a poxy aven. This left a pitch drafting out which Rob freeclimbed to the head of but we called it a day + derigged the traverse. Andrew put bolts in for the up-climb on Holey Low on the return + also bolts for the tiny traverse on the far side of Mordor. Then plodded on out, a good end to 5 days caving!
+Early morning negotiation with Julian who was driving to expo meant I was given the all clear for a last day of caving + I really wanted to see the new connection stuff. We took Emma's camera to get some shots of the traverses for Anthony's conference talk on Sat + took other shots later on. Headed off down the huge drafting passage to the climb that Wookey + Rob had stopped at on their trip 2 days ago. Rob shinned up this then rigged it + then he rigged the short pitch down to Holey Low whilst Andrew + I shivered in the howling gale. Finally we got to our lead, Blown Away, marked as 300m to Eislufthoehle on Julian's mini-survey. The last survey station was at the start of a straightforward traverse that Andrew waltzed across whilst Rob + I started the survey then Andrew took over the DistoX as Rob had shaky hands + we rattled down 150m or so of lovely phreatic passage with a strong draft until, BUM, all the air disappeared up a poxy aven. This left a pitch drafting out which Rob freeclimbed to the head of but we called it a day + derigged the traverse. Andrew put bolts in for the up-climb on Holey Low on the return + also bolts for the tiny traverse on the far side of Mordor. Then plodded on out, a good end to 5 days caving!
-This cave is right by the path to 204 ~ opposite 157. one day this cave would have had a long section of big passage heading for 107, but is today missing much of it's roof. Off this main 'passage' are several short sections of cave heading off. Sadly they all either get too small, end, or are choked with rocks. Surveyed most of it - will go back and finish off later. +This cave is right by the path to 204 ~ opposite 157. One day this cave would have had a long section of big passage heading for 107, but is today missing much of it's roof. Off this main 'passage' are several short sections of cave heading off. Sadly they all either get too small, end, or are choked with rocks. Surveyed most of it - will go back and finish off later.
(The cave name is because we saw a pair of gemse twice on the way).
@@ -461,7 +461,7 @@ Olly did a great job bolting over the pitch and on. I took a few photos and even
We had a trip booked in the Appelhaus area to visit some of our neighbouring cave systems. So first we had to contour hit across from Top camp. And as I didn't like the idea of walking back to the Stöger-Steig, I came up with a plan to go around northwards from Topcamp. We followed the path to Tunnocks for a start and then headed off into inknown territory north from there. We crossed some large bowl following a ridge on its western rim. After crossing some snowfields the ridge eventually ended and we got to a large depression with a hole in its northwestern corner (UTM 33T 0411876 528324). Appears to be a relatively deep shaft of approx 25m, but with little to no draught. Anyway, its a cave either on its own right and also its very close to March of the Penguins and Bullethöhle (exploration started [illegible]). We tried to look down the shaft, but some bolting and rope seem to be necessary to get anywhere.
+We had a trip booked in the Appelhaus area to visit some of our neighbouring cave systems. So first we had to contour to it across from Top camp. And as I didn't like the idea of walking back to the Stöger-Steig, I came up with a plan to go around northwards from Topcamp. We followed the path to Tunnocks for a start and then headed off into unknown territory north from there. We crossed some large bowl following a ridge on its western rim. After crossing some snowfields the ridge eventually ended and we got to a large depression with a hole in its northwestern corner (UTM 33T 0411876 528324). Appears to be a relatively deep shaft of approx 25m, but with little to no draught. Anyway, its a cave either on its own right and also its very close to March of the Penguins and Bullethöhle (exploration started [illegible]). We tried to look down the shaft, but some bolting and rope seem to be necessary to get anywhere.
We therefore continued our tour and just a bit further to the north we found the next interesting hole (UTM 33T 0411904 5283600). This one appeared to be a bit of underground passage with a collapsed roof and lots of rubble on the floor. However, the passage appeared to continue towards the south and again the lack of rope stopped us from getting there. Probably only about 5m climb/rope needed. We instead continued walking to the next col and then started heading down one valley further north, where the ski route is marked on some maps. This route took us awfully close to the BS16-BS19 entrances, and we probably also spotted a good bivy site which may have been used during the UBSS expedition. And of course we stumbled across another cave, which must have been described by UBSS somewhere. Entrance is at 33T 0412332 5283988. The entrance is a 2m diameter horizontal passage in the side of the cliffs and Wookey walked inside for a couple of minutes, across some shelf, turning right, and then turning around where the passage got smaller. Again a lack of draught, but quite a bit of cave anyway. Down in the valley we had to struggle a bit with what is not called Bunde, but it was easily possible to reach a real forest, Wildenseealm and eventually Appelhaus
@@ -617,7 +617,7 @@ LIST OF ROPES LEFT - Far From Support double traverseCave pre-rigged. Descended entrance, King Carbide, Brian's Phat Shaft uneventfully and proceeded to Dog Days near top of Fat Cat to examine possible leads and survey with distoX + PDA. Dog Days contains many steep, unstable sandy slopes and a boulder choke with some unstable parts. A quick search of the boulder choke revealed no worthwhile leads - StuW found a narrow rift and what was thought to be a pitch but turned out to be the chamber floor. Andrew found an area with scary unstable boulders. The area was then surveyed, as was another area at the other end of the chamber which contained ground that turned white when walked on. StuW operated the disto but sometimes had trouble with shaking arms. Disto ran out of power half way through and was recalibrated by Andrew. A section of cave was surveyed yielding some leads. Cave was then exited with Andrew rebolting a Y hang on the traverse before Dog Days (Fat Cat?) and Stuw finding some slack and moving it along to make the Y hang descendable. StuW got exhausted during the exit and became slow at prussiking, (due to equipment config and strength) leaving Andrew to take cover in the bothy bag below Fat Cat. StuW's route finding was bad - cave exited by Andrew followed by StuW (somewhat later) at araound 10 pm. Mike TA took photos then exited prior to Fat Cat traverse.
+Cave pre-rigged. Descended entrance, King Carbide, Brian's Phat Shaft uneventfully and proceeded to Dog Days near top of Fat Cat to examine possible leads and survey with distoX + PDA. Dog Days contains many steep, unstable sandy slopes and a boulder choke with some unstable parts. A quick search of the boulder choke revealed no worthwhile leads - StuW found a narrow rift and what was thought to be a pitch but turned out to be the chamber floor. Andrew found an area with scary unstable boulders. The area was then surveyed, as was another area at the other end of the chamber which contained ground that turned white when walked on. StuW operated the disto but sometimes had trouble with shaking arms. Disto ran out of power half way through and was recalibrated by Andrew. A section of cave was surveyed yielding some leads. Cave was then exited with Andrew rebolting a Y hang on the traverse before Dog Days (Fat Cat?) and Stuw finding some slack and moving it along to make the Y hang descendable. StuW got exhausted during the exit and became slow at prussiking, (due to equipment config and strength) leaving Andrew to take cover in the bothy bag below Fat Cat. StuW's route finding was bad - cave exited by Andrew followed by StuW (somewhat later) at around 10 pm. Mike TA took photos then exited prior to Fat Cat traverse.
It was too hot to make my escape to base camp in the morning, so somehow it seemed like the agreed idea to explore on the surface and give people a rest so they could take Becka caving the next day. Maybe we could find a cave entrance and sit in it. MotP is in an isolated mound of limestone higher than the entrance, and there must be a way into it from the surface. This area is paydirt. I quickly found a cave entrance on the edge, whcih drafted on account of the hole it came out of 12m away. I still have the cuts and scratches from the through trip no one will ever do again because it is now tagged to show the next person who finds it that they did not discover it. Poked around a snow plug. Found some deeper holes that rattle a long time to the east of the area, encouraged Noel to check out another hole with SRT rigged from the hole drilled for the tag, and then surveyed Bat Slot [?] Cave (all 4 legs). A lot of holes here. Very tantalising.
+It was too hot to make my escape to base camp in the morning, so somehow it seemed like the agreed idea to explore on the surface and give people a rest so they could take Becka caving the next day. Maybe we could find a cave entrance and sit in it. MotP is in an isolated mound of limestone higher than the entrance, and there must be a way into it from the surface. This area is paydirt. I quickly found a cave entrance on the edge, which drafted on account of the hole it came out of 12m away. I still have the cuts and scratches from the through trip no one will ever do again because it is now tagged to show the next person who finds it that they did not discover it. Poked around a snow plug. Found some deeper holes that rattle a long time to the east of the area, encouraged Noel to check out another hole with SRT rigged from the hole drilled for the tag, and then surveyed Bat Slot [?] Cave (all 4 legs). A lot of holes here. Very tantalising.
Antony has already written a short piece regarding this trip, but going to add some additional detail regarding the Inner Flap push. After Antony had a peak at the lead, he declared that this was a two-man survey job & headed off to the 39 steps to rig the pitch there. After ~3-4 hours of surveyng winding narrow rift - we eventually reached what I was hoping would happen ~> the rift opens out and a void below can be seen. Sending Rob ahead with his bright light, he lit up the pitch below - where we could see a puddle at the bottom. Rob also thought he could see a window part way down the pitch. Lowering the tape measure down, the bottom of the pitch was not reached after 20m! Poop !
+Antony has already written a short piece regarding this trip, but going to add some additional detail regarding the Inner Flap push. After Antony had a peak at the lead, he declared that this was a two-man survey job & headed off to the 39 steps to rig the pitch there. After ~3-4 hours of surveying winding narrow rift - we eventually reached what I was hoping would happen ~> the rift opens out and a void below can be seen. Sending Rob ahead with his bright light, he lit up the pitch below - where we could see a puddle at the bottom. Rob also thought he could see a window part way down the pitch. Lowering the tape measure down, the bottom of the pitch was not reached after 20m! Poop !
Now what letter lead is this ? If it was me I would label this as a QMA! I believe there's a faint draft, although Rob wasn't convinced (maybe it was wishful thinking on my part). However, having seen some piccies of the Razor Dance pitches, it seems quite likely that there will be another rift at the bottom - so lets go for a QMB lead (and don't forget the potential window!)
@@ -763,13 +763,13 @@ The pitch heads are nasty and tight, but things look better deeper down. Got outAfter realising that there wasn't enough gear to go around, I abandoned my trip to the pitch at the end of Inner Flap & joined Andrew on his pushing trip to the pitch at 39 Steps (Antony's previous trip). At the pushing front I handed Andrew the drill, as I would be having drilling fun when I would drop the pitch in I.F. (although sadly this was not to be the case - but there's always next year!) I was very happy at this decision as the pitch turned out to be chossy & what rock there was, was cracked. After much hammering of rock, Andrew managed to rig the pitch with a free-hanging rebelay. As Andrew progressed to the ledge (~15-20m down?) I would hear shocked exclamations followed by loud bangs as Andrew gardened the pitch. At the ledge Andrew realised that we were a few metres short of rope! AGH! (My 42m rope was actually 32m - my fantastic maths!) Fortunatey I knew of a short bt of rope that had been placed on the way in for a traverse line that wasn't entirely necessaary, so as I went to retriene it, Andrew placed some more bolts & rigging.
+After realising that there wasn't enough gear to go around, I abandoned my trip to the pitch at the end of Inner Flap & joined Andrew on his pushing trip to the pitch at 39 Steps (Antony's previous trip). At the pushing front I handed Andrew the drill, as I would be having drilling fun when I would drop the pitch in I.F. (although sadly this was not to be the case - but there's always next year!) I was very happy at this decision as the pitch turned out to be chossy & what rock there was, was cracked. After much hammering of rock, Andrew managed to rig the pitch with a free-hanging rebelay. As Andrew progressed to the ledge (~15-20m down?) I would hear shocked exclamations followed by loud bangs as Andrew gardened the pitch. At the ledge Andrew realised that we were a few metres short of rope! AGH! (My 42m rope was actually 32m - my fantastic maths!) Fortunatey I knew of a short bit of rope that had been placed on the way in for a traverse line that wasn't entirely necessary, so as I went to retrieve it, Andrew placed some more bolts & rigging.
-When I returned, we began surveying & headed to the bottom of the pitch. At the ledge there is an aven in which water trickles in. Here Andrew had placed a rebelay Y-hang and we added the extra rope - so a fn hanging knot by-pass had been added ~4m from the floor! So including Antony's rigging from previous trip, rigging topo as follows:
+When I returned, we began surveying & headed to the bottom of the pitch. At the ledge there is an aven in which water trickles in. Here Andrew had placed a rebelay Y-hang and we added the extra rope - so a fun hanging knot by-pass had been added ~4m from the floor! So including Antony's rigging from previous trip, rigging topo as follows:
At the bottom a narrow passage that soon opened into a large chamber was found & surveyed. This contained a rather steep boulder slope, of various sized boulders. I opted to go first - my attempt at being brave, but was followed by girlie squeals as I tried very daintily to climb the slope. I was followed quickly by Andrew, who stomped up, throwing bouldefrs down vigourously. I need more practice! The large chamber contained 2 high avens, of which water came in from one of them, and two windows higher up in the chamber. One, in the northern part of the chamber, looked rather promising given that it looked relatively easy to climb. However, we were out of rope, so Andrew looked longingly at the climb for a couple of minutes & then we headed out.
+At the bottom a narrow passage that soon opened into a large chamber was found & surveyed. This contained a rather steep boulder slope, of various sized boulders. I opted to go first - my attempt at being brave, but was followed by girlie squeals as I tried very daintily to climb the slope. I was followed quickly by Andrew, who stomped up, throwing boulders down vigourously. I need more practice! The large chamber contained 2 high avens, of which water came in from one of them, and two windows higher up in the chamber. One, in the northern part of the chamber, looked rather promising given that it looked relatively easy to climb. However, we were out of rope, so Andrew looked longingly at the climb for a couple of minutes & then we headed out.
It was Rob's last caving trip, so off we headed to the chamber that Andrew & I had surveyed the previous day. The aim was to climb up the 'easy' climb to the window up the northern end of the chamber. The climb ened up not being as easy as expected & an hour pater Noel was finally at the top, with two very cold cavers at the bottom. Noel rigged a pitch down & Rob & I went up to have a peak. As this was to be a short caving trip (as we were to walk down the hill that evening) we had a very quick look. I declared it a death trapped - another slope of death boulders. Rob had a quick peak up slope - which he stated was choked - hurrah. A small tube at the head of the pitch lead to a spil-filled tube-dig. With limited time we abandoned surveying & the derig for another time.
+It was Rob's last caving trip, so off we headed to the chamber that Andrew & I had surveyed the previous day. The aim was to climb up the 'easy' climb to the window up the northern end of the chamber. The climb ended up not being as easy as expected & an hour later Noel was finally at the top, with two very cold cavers at the bottom. Noel rigged a pitch down & Rob & I went up to have a peak. As this was to be a short caving trip (as we were to walk down the hill that evening) we had a very quick look. I declared it a death trapped - another slope of death boulders. Rob had a quick peak up slope - which he stated was choked - hurrah. A small tube at the head of the pitch lead to a soil-filled tube-dig. With limited time we abandoned surveying & the derig for another time.
As all three of us needed to head down the hill, we opted for a quick de-rig of all the leads in the North end of Tunnocks. Holly's Inner Flap & the climb/pitch at the end of Penguin Acrobatics - now called Suicidal Vampire as we are close to the surface here & are looking for daylight. This name soon turned out to be doubly-apt!!!
-To save time & be efficient we decided to detackle on two fronts, with Holly heading to der-rig Inner Flap, & Becka & myself heading to pull-through derig the S.V. bolt climb, after surveying it. Up the climb, all the leads were surveyed in 4 legs, with neither of us opting to head further up the horribly loose boulder slope above towards what appeared to be the underside of a massive choke.
+To save time & be efficient we decided to detackle on two fronts, with Holly heading to de-rig Inner Flap, & Becka & myself heading to pull-through derig the S.V. bolt climb, after surveying it. Up the climb, all the leads were surveyed in 4 legs, with neither of us opting to head further up the horribly loose boulder slope above towards what appeared to be the underside of a massive choke.
Once surveyed, we pulled through, Becka abseiling on the single ring hanger first (slightly nervous moment).
-After this, we could hear Holly on the P.A. pitch having finished her own de-rig. Becka headed down the terrible boulder sope to the foot of the pitch where a dislodged stone fell & hit her arm. Fortunately this turned out to be none too serious and the exit continued. After Becka's call of "rope free" I started to head down the slope to the pitch. And here is where disaster struck.
+After this, we could hear Holly on the P.A. pitch having finished her own de-rig. Becka headed down the terrible boulder slope to the foot of the pitch where a dislodged stone fell & hit her arm. Fortunately this turned out to be none too serious and the exit continued. After Becka's call of "rope free" I started to head down the slope to the pitch. And here is where disaster struck.
-Walking carefully down the slope, a small stone rolled past me. This seemed okay until more stones started rolling, & then the slope under my feet started sliding. This was one of those "million thoughsts in one secnd" moments where time seems to slow down. I first tried to brace against the wall of the rift the boulder slope runs into, in order to stop the movement under my feet, but it soon became apparent that large things were becoming undercut & starting to move above me. Then the whole slope seemed to turn fluid. I managed to step off the moving part onto a single boulder that wasn't moving yet. The point I had just been stood on went roaring down the slope with lots of giant boulders following. I ran as quickly up the remaining still boulders as possible, as these too started moving. The whole slope had now turned into a giant un-stable overhang of death, with me at the top. The crashing & booming ended & the others were shouting down to see if I was OK. Okay, but not safe yet as a further collapse took a large part of the floor in a side passage where I again narrowly avided getgting pulled in as everything around started sliding.
+Walking carefully down the slope, a small stone rolled past me. This seemed okay until more stones started rolling, & then the slope under my feet started sliding. This was one of those "million thoughsts in one second" moments where time seems to slow down. I first tried to brace against the wall of the rift the boulder slope runs into, in order to stop the movement under my feet, but it soon became apparent that large things were becoming undercut & starting to move above me. Then the whole slope seemed to turn fluid. I managed to step off the moving part onto a single boulder that wasn't moving yet. The point I had just been stood on went roaring down the slope with lots of giant boulders following. I ran as quickly up the remaining still boulders as possible, as these too started moving. The whole slope had now turned into a giant un-stable overhang of death, with me at the top. The crashing & booming ended & the others were shouting down to see if I was OK. Okay, but not safe yet as a further collapse took a large part of the floor in a side passage where I again narrowly avoided getting pulled in as everything around started sliding.
It took a while for the massive adrenaline rush to subside, where I shakily returned to what used to be the slope to see how I could escape. The slope was now an overhanging loose wall, with small bits constantly dropping out. A new problem was that if I didn't get out soon, any further collapse would block the way out, so I grit my teetch & quickly scampered down an edge of the "wall", ran to the rift & jumped/thrutched high up the rift to escape further collapse. Phew. Then a shaky exit leaving me feeling rather exhausted after the adrenaline come down.
@@ -820,7 +820,7 @@ The pitch heads are nasty and tight, but things look better deeper down. Got outUneventful and relatively quick descent to woo woo land, taking sandy passage on right to [blank left to fill in]. Found several leads in boulder choke not on survey and explored one of them. Encountered tight Mendip style muddy/scrotty passage (to Serena's delight) while Stuart B dropped / bolted a nearby pitch with the drill. The passage ended in a 5m(ish) pitch choked with boulders but draughting and a C lead which was half filled with water. Not wanting to get wet due to the temperature we rejoined Stuart B down his pitch (which crapped out) and surveyedit. Stu W went ahead with the drill while StuB / Serena derigged. Stu W got out of the cave just as a storm was starting and ended up ditching the drill (in waterproof bag) half way back to top camp. Stuart B and Serena reported being met with a torrent of water at the last pitch or two and could hear thunder. Stuart B ran back to top camp leaving the rope in the cave entrance. Serena tried to wait out the storm but then decided to move back to camp. Storm was the worst anyone had seen but bivy held up well.
+Uneventful and relatively quick descent to woo woo land, taking sandy passage on right to [blank left to fill in]. Found several leads in boulder choke not on survey and explored one of them. Encountered tight Mendip style muddy/scrotty passage (to Serena's delight) while Stuart B dropped / bolted a nearby pitch with the drill. The passage ended in a 5m(ish) pitch choked with boulders but draughting and a C lead which was half filled with water. Not wanting to get wet due to the temperature we rejoined Stuart B down his pitch (which crapped out) and surveyed it. Stu W went ahead with the drill while StuB / Serena derigged. Stu W got out of the cave just as a storm was starting and ended up ditching the drill (in waterproof bag) half way back to top camp. Stuart B and Serena reported being met with a torrent of water at the last pitch or two and could hear thunder. Stuart B ran back to top camp leaving the rope in the cave entrance. Serena tried to wait out the storm but then decided to move back to camp. Storm was the worst anyone had seen but bivy held up well.
We initially proceeded to explore some QMs in 204 using the d entrance but failed to locate this successfully as we could not find a tag (we later found the entrance we suspected was 204d in fact was). After a detour to 2003-9 where we took a few photos lighting up the impressive water ice with a [?scirion?]. After exiting we stumbled across a new undescended shaft which was drafting slightly and had a small entrance which rattled for several seconds when a stone was thrown down. Frank taught StuW how to hand bolt to put the tag on and then descended 2012-JS1 while handbolting. Rob joined us after recovering from his late night trip the day before and StuW, Jess went and did some prospecting, splitting up after a short while. StuW found some interesting areas to return to later and marked on GPS. Jess was injured while climbing across the plateau and blacked out for afew seconds after hurting her head and middle finger (and hands) when a hand hold failed. She made it back to Rob, was walked back to top camp and attended to by first aiders before being walked to hospital by Martin. She had a broken middle finger but was otherwise OK. Meanwhile StuW returned to the top of 2012-JS1, gave Rob the GPS to look at the interesting area and was offered a chance to go down into the cave but declined after hearing it crapped out promptly and was rather wet. Cave was derigged and surveyed using rope lengths afterwards.
+We initially proceeded to explore some QMs in 204 using the d entrance but failed to locate this successfully as we could not find a tag (we later found the entrance we suspected was 204d in fact was). After a detour to 2003-9 where we took a few photos lighting up the impressive water ice with a [?scirion?]. After exiting we stumbled across a new undescended shaft which was drafting slightly and had a small entrance which rattled for several seconds when a stone was thrown down. Frank taught StuW how to hand bolt to put the tag on and then descended 2012-JS1 while handbolting. Rob joined us after recovering from his late night trip the day before and StuW, Jess went and did some prospecting, splitting up after a short while. StuW found some interesting areas to return to later and marked on GPS. Jess was injured while climbing across the plateau and blacked out for a few seconds after hurting her head and middle finger (and hands) when a hand hold failed. She made it back to Rob, was walked back to top camp and attended to by first aiders before being walked to hospital by Martin. She had a broken middle finger but was otherwise OK. Meanwhile StuW returned to the top of 2012-JS1, gave Rob the GPS to look at the interesting area and was offered a chance to go down into the cave but declined after hearing it crapped out promptly and was rather wet. Cave was derigged and surveyed using rope lengths afterwards.
Following a prospecting report, Frank, StuW took 70 ish metres of rope and a hand bolting kit to 2011-01 using a GPS borrowed from Rob. The cave was found after taking a long winded route and had some evidence of bolting of unknown origin (Emma and Martin et al who found the cave couldn't remember it being there). The bolts were in odd locations but found to be fairly solid. The cave was descended and two/three more hand bolts were added by Frank before we reached turnaround time and left, leaving the cave rigged and finding an easier route back to tpo camp. This cave appears to be quite high up, serves as the drainage area for a large area (so can get very wet very quickly) draughts lots and appears to go down quite a long way. Is currently quite far off but could potentially extend Tunnocks further north and the system higher due to the entrance being high (QMA).
+Following a prospecting report, Frank, StuW took 70 ish metres of rope and a hand bolting kit to 2011-01 using a GPS borrowed from Rob. The cave was found after taking a long winded route and had some evidence of bolting of unknown origin (Emma and Martin et al who found the cave couldn't remember it being there). The bolts were in odd locations but found to be fairly solid. The cave was descended and two/three more hand bolts were added by Frank before we reached turnaround time and left, leaving the cave rigged and finding an easier route back to to camp. This cave appears to be quite high up, serves as the drainage area for a large area (so can get very wet very quickly) draughts lots and appears to go down quite a long way. Is currently quite far off but could potentially extend Tunnocks further north and the system higher due to the entrance being high (QMA).
A day's prospecting and tagging in previously noted areas yielded 3 tagged caves. First the shaft on the way to Tunnocks was visited, labeled 20120SW01 with a handbolting kit and found to be 8-10m deep and chossed up at the bottom. It wasn't descended due to lack of rope but this could be done in the future and will only need to be done once, so was worth tagging for this reason. Returning to anoher point on my GPS and bolted it with the tag 2012-SW02. It was then descended via a slippery free climb and eventually ended with a rift and an ice sheet (ice sump?) On the way back I stumbled acaross a third cave - a shaft with a two second drop from a tennis ball sized/shaped piece of rock. The shaft was (about) wide enough to fit a small car into and I could not see the bottom as it was deep / steep sided. It is likely to be chossed up but remains undescended and is labelled with tag 2012-SW03.
+A day's prospecting and tagging in previously noted areas yielded 3 tagged caves. First the shaft on the way to Tunnocks was visited, labeled 20120SW01 with a handbolting kit and found to be 8-10m deep and chossed up at the bottom. It wasn't descended due to lack of rope but this could be done in the future and will only need to be done once, so was worth tagging for this reason. Returning to anoher point on my GPS and bolted it with the tag 2012-SW02. It was then descended via a slippery free climb and eventually ended with a rift and an ice sheet (ice sump?) On the way back I stumbled across a third cave - a shaft with a two second drop from a tennis ball sized/shaped piece of rock. The shaft was (about) wide enough to fit a small car into and I could not see the bottom as it was deep / steep sided. It is likely to be chossed up but remains undescended and is labelled with tag 2012-SW03.
It was my turn to keep Becka company on a trip into 161. Since we had decided we were going to tick off horizontal leads we had no drills or other gear to carry, so zipped down to the Runnel Stone in 3 hrs flat. We then proceeded to work back along the passage ticking off leads as we went.
-First stop was an A lead on the south side of the passage. This led almost immediately to a steep slope down covered in sand that leadsback into Runnel Stone chamber with a pitch immediately beyond. I had an entertaining time slithering up and down this.
+First stop was an A lead on the south side of the passage. This led almost immediately to a steep slope down covered in sand that leads back into Runnel Stone chamber with a pitch immediately beyond. I had an entertaining time slithering up and down this.
-Next, we proved that the adjacent B lead connected to the obvious C lead round the corner before heading to the next B lead that went somewhere, a draughting passage heading uphill to the north. We quickly reached a junction where most of the draught was coming from the right, which quickly led to a pitch presumed to go back into Runnel Stone chamber. The warmer brach headed north for a while, past a small inlet with specks of mud on the wall (hence "Polka Dot Passage") ending at a pitch that the survey places close to the end of Julian and Becka's find from the previous day.
+Next, we proved that the adjacent B lead connected to the obvious C lead round the corner before heading to the next B lead that went somewhere, a draughting passage heading uphill to the north. We quickly reached a junction where most of the draught was coming from the right, which quickly led to a pitch presumed to go back into Runnel Stone chamber. The warmer branch headed north for a while, past a small inlet with specks of mud on the wall (hence "Polka Dot Passage") ending at a pitch that the survey places close to the end of Julian and Becka's find from the previous day.
-Back in the main passage, we established that a couple of B leads connected to each other before hitting on the next A lead, a substantial draughting passage heading south. This looked most promising, and so it proved. We quickly reached a junction and threw a few legs up the north-going passage which looked as though it was heading back to the main passage (this was confirmed the following day). Then we happily stomped off south in big draughting phreas - the "Lärchen Republic" - past some very nice crystals (of gypsum??). Eventually the phreas turned into a rift where the draught got weaker, which we presumed was because it was going up into the rof. We weren't in the mood for climbing and time was getting on, so we headed out.
+Back in the main passage, we established that a couple of B leads connected to each other before hitting on the next A lead, a substantial draughting passage heading south. This looked most promising, and so it proved. We quickly reached a junction and threw a few legs up the north-going passage which looked as though it was heading back to the main passage (this was confirmed the following day). Then we happily stomped off south in big draughting phreas - the "Lärchen Republic" - past some very nice crystals (of gypsum??). Eventually the phreas turned into a rift where the draught got weaker, which we presumed was because it was going up into the roof. We weren't in the mood for climbing and time was getting on, so we headed out.
Since the last week of expo looked like it was going to be low on manpower, we elected to start the 204 derig while there were still a few people about. First, however, there was some pushing to do. Becka installed some conservation tape in Lärchen Republic whilst Holly and I went to the end to play hunt the draught. The lower level of the rift seemed just as dead as the previous day, so Holly climbed up to the top. This seemed not to go very far apart from to a pitch back into the lower level, and there didn't seem to be any draught, so we electd to try our luck elsewhere. Round the corner is another rift parallel to but not connected to the first. It was my turn to shin up into it, and an easy 6m climb led to a high level rift passage with a draught - much more promising, so we fished out the survey gear.
+Since the last week of expo looked like it was going to be low on manpower, we elected to start the 204 derig while there were still a few people about. First, however, there was some pushing to do. Becka installed some conservation tape in Lärchen Republic whilst Holly and I went to the end to play hunt the draught. The lower level of the rift seemed just as dead as the previous day, so Holly climbed up to the top. This seemed not to go very far apart from to a pitch back into the lower level, and there didn't seem to be any draught, so we elected to try our luck elsewhere. Round the corner is another rift parallel to but not connected to the first. It was my turn to shin up into it, and an easy 6m climb led to a high level rift passage with a draught - much more promising, so we fished out the survey gear.
This area proved to be quite complicated. The obvious route led quickly to a pitch. Back near the start, a short climb on the right led to another rift passage which led to the same pitch at roof level. There may be a continuation on the far side. Whilst surveying this high level passage, I spotted a roof tube doubling back over our point of entry. Becka climbed into this and found another climb up into a roof tube doubling back again to head over the pitch - hence this area is "Spiral Staircase".
@@ -914,9 +914,9 @@ Walked/bridged along the rift passage until we hit a boulder choke. I hypothesisJulian + I rolled into basecamp at 8.30 am after driving all night from Cambridge. I treid to sleep but failed so Anthny + I went up the hill getting horribly snarled in Bad Aussee en route (a crane was blocking the bridge, building the replacement bridge). Lunch + underground 2 pm. Down to where Julian + I had left off on the 19th with no rigging gear so we were hoping for horizontal . . . and we lucked out. We started with the easiest-looking lead as I was feeling severely sleep deprived + trippy. This was a drafting phreatic comfortable walking passage which soon hit a junction. We followed the main draft left + soon got to a pitch head with the sound of a substantial stream + what looked like a lot of space though we couldn't see properly from our eyrie.
+Julian + I rolled into basecamp at 8.30 am after driving all night from Cambridge. I tried to sleep but failed so Anthony + I went up the hill getting horribly snarled in Bad Aussee en route (a crane was blocking the bridge, building the replacement bridge). Lunch + underground 2 pm. Down to where Julian + I had left off on the 19th with no rigging gear so we were hoping for horizontal . . . and we lucked out. We started with the easiest-looking lead as I was feeling severely sleep deprived + trippy. This was a drafting phreatic comfortable walking passage which soon hit a junction. We followed the main draft left + soon got to a pitch head with the sound of a substantial stream + what looked like a lot of space though we couldn't see properly from our eyrie.
-Back to the junction there was again a draft... hum, we're heading back to where we started said Anthony. His sketch turned out to be spot on - at the next leg I spotted our tacklesack + we emerged from a slot which I'd failed to notice when Julian + I had surveyed it. With time to spare we were then fored to check out the less appealing options - the climb down chossy rocks at the end looked too hazardous without gear + the bottom didn't seem too promising either, so we traversed on a slopy mud ledge to the left to an obvious passage. This soon closaed down but the draft came from a more obscure phreatic tube above + at the start of our passage, up an easy free climb. This led along an attractive thick cracked mud floor to ... another large chamber with the sound of much water. We though this might well be the same chamber we'd encountered on our initial survey though when the data went in we were less convinced as the two ends were 43m apart but it is still plausible. Decided to pack up the survey then (fortunately as the derig ended up taking longer than we'd expected) + headed out. Derigged everything in Dog Days (see rigging topo, PTO) + beyond (so including the short traverse + the up-climb which are oth q. easy to free climb) + the pitch + traverse before the main Puss in Bolts traverse but we left in Puss in Bolts. Derigged Painted Lady but left in Cat Flap (as its an up pitch). Anthony took all bolts + knots from Brian's Phat Shaft ready for tomorrow + at last I could go to bed.
+Back to the junction there was again a draft... hum, we're heading back to where we started said Anthony. His sketch turned out to be spot on - at the next leg I spotted our tacklesack + we emerged from a slot which I'd failed to notice when Julian + I had surveyed it. With time to spare we were then forced to check out the less appealing options - the climb down chossy rocks at the end looked too hazardous without gear + the bottom didn't seem too promising either, so we traversed on a slopy mud ledge to the left to an obvious passage. This soon closed down but the draft came from a more obscure phreatic tube above + at the start of our passage, up an easy free climb. This led along an attractive thick cracked mud floor to ... another large chamber with the sound of much water. We though this might well be the same chamber we'd encountered on our initial survey though when the data went in we were less convinced as the two ends were 43m apart but it is still plausible. Decided to pack up the survey then (fortunately as the derig ended up taking longer than we'd expected) + headed out. Derigged everything in Dog Days (see rigging topo, PTO) + beyond (so including the short traverse + the up-climb which are both q. easy to free climb) + the pitch + traverse before the main Puss in Bolts traverse but we left in Puss in Bolts. Derigged Painted Lady but left in Cat Flap (as its an up pitch). Anthony took all bolts + knots from Brian's Phat Shaft ready for tomorrow + at last I could go to bed.
Julian + I headed to Brian's Phat Shaft with a crowbar + after pulling up + bagging the rope in CUCC's only decent-sized tacklesack, Big Bertha, we tried to lever out the wedged boulder at the pitch head which had gradually looked less + less stable as expo progressed. However, appearances were deceptive + despite black space around most of it it seemed quite well wedge so we left it though it'd be worth another go if the itch is ever rigged again. Also did some gardening at the head of the final section of the King Carbide pitch which drops into the Pleasure Dome but, again, thre's more loose rock there that really needs to go + it would also probably be better rebolting the pitch head using more solid rock in the ceiling. Julian headed out with Big Bertha + Anthony turned up having retrieved the reflectors left marking the optional route from King Carbide through No Pain No Gain + up Thread Pitch which apparently is tight + awkward. We had 2 tacklesacks but these were CUCC's dainty handbags which are stuffed to the gunnels given even the shortest length of muddy 11mm so we ended up with rope coiled + bursting out the top but eventually it was all out + liad out on the slabs to dry ready for the afternoon carry.
+Julian + I headed to Brian's Phat Shaft with a crowbar + after pulling up + bagging the rope in CUCC's only decent-sized tacklesack, Big Bertha, we tried to lever out the wedged boulder at the pitch head which had gradually looked less + less stable as expo progressed. However, appearances were deceptive + despite black space around most of it it seemed quite well wedge so we left it though it'd be worth another go if the pitch is ever rigged again. Also did some gardening at the head of the final section of the King Carbide pitch which drops into the Pleasure Dome but, again, thre's more loose rock there that really needs to go + it would also probably be better rebolting the pitch head using more solid rock in the ceiling. Julian headed out with Big Bertha + Anthony turned up having retrieved the reflectors left marking the optional route from King Carbide through No Pain No Gain + up Thread Pitch which apparently is tight + awkward. We had 2 tacklesacks but these were CUCC's dainty handbags which are stuffed to the gunnels given even the shortest length of muddy 11mm so we ended up with rope coiled + bursting out the top but eventually it was all out + laid out on the slabs to dry ready for the afternoon carry.
DOG DAYS -> BIG BOULDER CHAMBER RIGGING
@@ -964,7 +964,7 @@ Had an explore, realised the 1978 survey has the wrong angle for the side passagWalked down from our bivi to meet the others at the Stogerweg junction. Walked (slowly) to Eishöhle. It was very hot and took hours, eventually got to the Ice Tunnel entrance which had less ice than Olly remembered. The bolts were almost out of reach! All got down and admired the ice.
-On the way back removed the deviation hangs from the old 40A bivi. It took a long time, and we got back to the car as it got dark. Stuart kindly took Terry + Annette back to basecamp, while we walked back to our bivi. Got caught in a big thundestorm - hail stones nearly 1 cm &Oslah; - fortunately we had helmets on!
+On the way back removed the deviation hangs from the old 40A bivi. It took a long time, and we got back to the car as it got dark. Stuart kindly took Terry + Annette back to basecamp, while we walked back to our bivi. Got caught in a big thunderstorm - hail stones nearly 1 cm &Oslah; - fortunately we had helmets on!
Still too wet to derig 148, so back in 107 with drill and our remaining rope (17, 12, 11 and 5m long). Started at the short loose drop north of the entrance pitch. Olly rigged down to the stream, upstream led to a boulder choke and downstream led to the 2nd pitch. Went back up the pitch and Olly climbed up the ramp opposite (left permanently rigged). This led to some phreatic stuff, mostly in a fault plane. Rigged down another short drop, then a climb. Short section of horizontal led t another short pitch, so we surveyed out.
+Still too wet to derig 148, so back in 107 with drill and our remaining rope (17, 12, 11 and 5m long). Started at the short loose drop north of the entrance pitch. Olly rigged down to the stream, upstream led to a boulder choke and downstream led to the 2nd pitch. Went back up the pitch and Olly climbed up the ramp opposite (left permanently rigged). This led to some phreatic stuff, mostly in a fault plane. Rigged down another short drop, then a climb. Short section of horizontal led to another short pitch, so we surveyed out.
Still too wet to derig 148 so back to 107 to look at yesterday's lead and to derig. Olly rigged the 12m rope down the drop. Part way down was a window across into a pitch, presumably the main way on (you could hear water). Scrambled down a bit further until things got a bit steep. Olly rigged the 11 dwn and across, then the 5m rope. This got us to no gear left, but on a ledge. I traversed across (~ north) until the ledge ran out, fortunately the floor was now close (only 4m away) and I could traverse back underneath and down to the floor. I checked out whether the passage went (it did) and helped Olly down too. Continued along in the same direction we had been traversing, got to a short drop, climbed that then another short one. Ended up in a ~25m high aven with drips coming in. Aven quite big, but pitch on was quite small - couldn't realy get to it without gear, so left it for now and surveyed back to near the end of the traverse. Looked down the lead on the right (heading out) and it led to loads of rifty passage. A few little climbs down got us to a junction, we went left first, got to an aven where up looked to the start of the traverse (from the survey data). Rift continued until it hit a cross rift which we think is higher in the rift of the route used in 1978 to get to the big pitch.
+Still too wet to derig 148 so back to 107 to look at yesterday's lead and to derig. Olly rigged the 12m rope down the drop. Part way down was a window across into a pitch, presumably the main way on (you could hear water). Scrambled down a bit further until things got a bit steep. Olly rigged the 11 down and across, then the 5m rope. This got us to no gear left, but on a ledge. I traversed across (~ north) until the ledge ran out, fortunately the floor was now close (only 4m away) and I could traverse back underneath and down to the floor. I checked out whether the passage went (it did) and helped Olly down too. Continued along in the same direction we had been traversing, got to a short drop, climbed that then another short one. Ended up in a ~25m high aven with drips coming in. Aven quite big, but pitch on was quite small - couldn't realy get to it without gear, so left it for now and surveyed back to near the end of the traverse. Looked down the lead on the right (heading out) and it led to loads of rifty passage. A few little climbs down got us to a junction, we went left first, got to an aven where up looked to the start of the traverse (from the survey data). Rift continued until it hit a cross rift which we think is higher in the rift of the route used in 1978 to get to the big pitch.
Back at the previous junction, right led under a low muddy/wet crawl into more passage, which led to another cross rift. Right was an inlet that didn't go, left continued, but would probably need something to be rigged first. Surveyed out, derigging as we went.
@@ -1028,7 +1028,7 @@ Had an explore, realised the 1978 survey has the wrong angle for the side passagVery quick down 157 to see if the snw plug had melted more - especially given the location in 107 we found on the 27th (also, 2 hrs of caving would get us to our magic 100hrs of caving!)
+Very quick down 157 to see if the snow plug had melted more - especially given the location in 107 we found on the 27th (also, 2 hrs of caving would get us to our magic 100hrs of caving!)
There was still snow, but you could get to the floor. Next to the base of the pitch was an aven-climb with a small rift off (which is v. close to the way down we tried at the start of expo). Sadly no route to 107, so we surveyed and derigged.