expo/expoweb
1
0
Fork 0
mirror of https://expo.survex.com/repositories/expoweb/.git/ synced 2026-04-21 12:59:37 +01:00
Code Issues Packages Projects Releases Wiki Activity

[svn r3779] Added HTML files.

Browse Source
This commit is contained in:
olly
2001-08-15 20:29:27 +02:00
commit 34e8e85d36
1559 changed files with 107968 additions and 0 deletions
Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

BIN
years/1977/106.gif Normal file
View File

Binary file not shown.
Side by Side

After

Width:  |  Height:  |  Size: 19 KiB

157
years/1977/771649.htm Normal file
View File

@@ -0,0 +1,157 @@
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
<html lang=en>
<!-- from CTS 77.1649 -->
<head>
<title>
1977: Nick Thorne's Belfry Bulletin report
</title>
</head>
<body>
<center><font size=-1>Bristol Exploration Club Belfry Bulletin 354 pp 96-98</font>
<h2>TOTES GEBIRGE<br>1977</h2>
<p>by Nick Thorne</center>
<p>It is many years since Britain could offer open potholes for pioneers to
explore, and now even Europe is fast running out of areas of genuinely virgin
limestone. One area where almost no work has been done however is the Totes
Gebirge in Austria. Cambridge University Caving Club had a short expedition
to that area in 1976 and I went with them when they paid their second visit
in the summer of 1977. Since, in their past, the B.E.C. have shown an active
interest in Austria, I thought that members might like to know how things
went.
<p>C.U.C.C. set up camp by a lake in Alt Aussee, a sleepy little village some
80Km (50 miles) east of Salzburg. The scenery is spectacular in the extreme.
On the opposite side of the lake to our camp stood the Trisselwand, a sheer
rock wall six times taller than the Avon gorge. Our interest was focussed on
the nearby Loser Plateau, a sharply undulating plain nearly 2000m (6,600ft)
above sea level. Until recently the plateau was inaccessible to anyone with
anything short of a helicopter. However, a few years ago, a road up there was
built for the skiers and the plateau is now a brisk three quarters of an
hours' walk along dubious tracks from where the road ends. The road itself is
no trifling effort but a great autobahn affair zigzagging its way up the
hillside. Near the top, it has a heart-stopping hang gliders' take-off ramp.
The road is a toll road, and a car plus four people would cost about £5.50
per trip. Before we parted with cash, however, a curious aspect of local
attitudes was utilised. Cavers in Austria, and I believe in other parts of
the continent too, are regarded as real heroes. The words "Hohlen Forscher"
were all that we needed to gain us free tolls, reduced camping fees and even
free beer!
<p>Once on the plateau, we began prospecting. The tens of miles of lapiaz
have rather daunted Carl, the only local caver. He welcomed our extra
manpower, pointed us in the right direction and essentially said "Explore
whatever takes your fancy!" I found that after the British caving scene, some
adjustment of scale was necessary, both above and below ground. Looking
across the plateau the Schonberg looked to be within spitting distance, but
in fact it would have been a long days' very tough walking. Crossing the
lapiaz was a real headache. Unlike Yorkshire, this stuff is faulted, folded,
overfolded and has patches of tough, hardy vegetation growing all over it.
The plateau can be a very unfriendly place with its abundance of snakes and
its very changeable weather. In two minutes, prospectors can have their
surtbthing (Oh! what a giveaway!) interrupted by some very spectacular
thunder and lightning and be pummelled by hailstones as big as marbles. The
run-off from these thunderstorms is so fast as to be almost comforting. I am
sure that if one were caught underground in a floodable passage (of which
there are thankfully very few!) and not be drwoned instantly, one could
almost hold ones breath until the flood subsided!
<p>When it comes to the caves themselves, finding the deep ones requires a
little thought and a lot of luck. At first we looked at big open shafts, and
found many fine and undescended examples. Some were up to 4Om (150ft) deep,
but they were invariably choked or plugged with snow. A much better type of
entrance to look for is the horizontal type. A short section of horizontal
development is all that is needed to protect subsequent shafts from the
debris that chokes the open pots. An additional clue for a good site we
learned was the presence of a draught. So healthy an indication of good
things is a draught that we even hammered out the entrance to one cave - a
Yorkshire trick that leaves the continentals absolutely staggered! The
subsequent hole led to a fine series of shafts before becoming too tight at
about 25Om (820ft) depth. Although deep, this is nothing to what Loser could
produce with its maximum depth potential being in the order of 900m (2,950ft)
<p>As an example of the type of caves that we were finding, I include a
survey of one of the caves with which I was personally involved. We are
provisionally calling our find the Eisluft Hohle. The official Austrian
number designated to a cave initially is only worth superceding by a name
when the cave reaches some 150m (490ft) depth. The cave draughts outwards.
This we find very puzzling as the cave temperature is considerably lower than
that outside. The draught varies with the temperature of the atmosphere -
implying a convection draught as opposed to a stream driven one - and there
are no higher entrances that draught in. Indeed, no entrances on the plateau
seem to take an inblowing draught. We are still thinking this one out and
would welcome any suggestions.
<p>The cave has three entrances that each share the draught. These soon unite
above a snow slope. A handline descent of this leads to the top of Plugged
Shaft which is over two hundred feet deep and broken by numerous but very
small ledges. The icy draught is at its strongest at the top of the shaft and
on a good day difficulty was found in keeping carbide lamps alight. Sound
natural belays are scarce as all good looking flakes and threads just come
off in your hand, so bolting was the order of the day. This was very slow as
the limestone is very hard and rock anchors soon blunted. Half an hour's
hammering in the cooling breeze and the snow at the top of Plugged Shaft was
nothing if not soul-destroying.
<p>The shaft descends through snow plugs to a very dubious platform of dirty
snow. It was while standing on this that we began to wonder about the degree
by which the caver's presence alters the cave environment. ("I don't want to
worr you chaps - but it's melting!") Further down, the shaft enlarges and a
small rock bridge is met. Behind the bridge is some horizontal passage to a
shaft. Time was short, we left this undescended and followed the draught down
the main shaft. The shaft ends at a chamber and some short horizontal passage
that thankfully marks the end of the snow. Saved Shaft was descended to a
chamber and a fearful looking boulder choke. The draught filtered enticingly
through the ruckle and, prudence lost, we crawled through to a rift beyond.
We reached a pitch and descended 32m (105ft) and pushed on to the head of
another shaft, when we realised that we had lost the draught. We therefore
left this next shaft undescended anc returned and traversed over the pitch
head to another up which the faithful old draught was blowing. We then
descended 30m (98ft) down this one, past a ledge to a rift passage. This
enlarged to a reasonable sized chamber with a choice of routes onwards. We
had just about run out of tackle and, with the expedition nearing its end,
time was short too. We started the awesome task of de-rigging. (Yes, we were
on ladders!)
<p>We've left the cave with enough promise and question marks that I am sure
will draw us back to it next year. If you think that I've been a little rash
in telling you of this unfinished find, then I might warn the would-be pirate
that the plateau is very, very big and the Eisluft Hohle, like many of
Loser's caves, cannot be seen from more than five yards away! And, whilst on
his wanderings across the unexplored lapiaz, the pirate might just find
something better than the Eisluft Hohle. How about it ? "Noch ein Bier,
bitte!"
<dl>
<dt>References:
<dd><a href="../1976/report.htm">Cambridge Underground 1977</a>
for details of C.U.C.C. finds in 1976
<dd><a href="report.htm">Cambridge Underground 1978</a> to be published
next spring/summmer for details of finds on the 1977 expedition.
</dl>
<hr>
<!-- LINKS -->
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
1977 Expedition info:<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<a href="log.htm">Logbook</a> (currently missing)<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
Andy Waddington's <a href="andylg.htm">Logbook</a><br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<a href="report.htm">Expo report, Cambridge Underground 1978</a><br>
<!-- <img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<a href="bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves &amp; Caving Report</a><br> -->
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
Eislufth&ouml;hle - <a href="descnt.htm">from Descent 40</a><br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="../../pubs.htm#1977">Index</a> to all publications<br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="../../index.htm">Back to Expeditions intro page</a><br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="../../../index.htm">CUCC Home Page</a>
</body>
</html>

537
years/1977/andylg.htm Normal file
View File

@@ -0,0 +1,537 @@
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>1977: Andy's own Logbook</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" background="../../../backings/rings.gif">
<table><tr><td width=44></td><td width="*">
<h2>Cambridge University Caving Club Expedition to the Totes Gebirge
massif, Austria 1977</h2>
<p>It had begun to seem that we would be unable to get any transport to
Austria when Dave Harrison came along and offered us a lift. Plans were
quickly made and equipment bought, then Dave disappeared... a return of his
nervous complaint so he would obviously be unable to drive to the continent.
Given the impetus to go we hurriedly made our own arrangements to go out by
train to Salzburg. We finally got the tickets on Saturday August 6th, to
travel on Moday August 8th.
<p>Simon and I arranged for food and some gear to be sent out with various
other members. We met Nick at Victoria station and then set off by train to
Dover, there to catch the ferry to Ostend. From Ostend we got a train through
Brussels, Aachen, Cologne, Bonn, up the Rhine valley, Bavaria and Munich and
then, as we approached the border with Austria, mountains appeared. These
were viewed and piccied enthusiastically before we crossed the border. Five
more minutes and we were in Salzburg.
<p>Nick was enthusiastically pushed forward to speak German at the locals and
we soon found ourselves on a bus to Bad Ischl. From here a train took us
round the edge of Halstatter See and some very spectacular views of the
Trippenstein and Dachstein were eagerly snapped up by my camera. The train
carried on up the valley of the Traun and into Bad Aussee. One last bus took
us up to Altaussee where a friendly Austrian directed us to the campsite
without being asked for info. We arrived and it was immediately obvious we
were in the right place because of the large squalid camp, with 6 canoes and
an English car. We were greeted by Dave Fox and Vic Brown who informed us
that everyone else had gone up to the plateau to camp.
<p>We unloaded, unpacked and settled in. The camp was next to the lake, on
the far side of which towered the massive Trisselwand, an enormous clean
limestone face 600m high. Nick and Simon went off to speak to the man in
charge while I rerigged my tent which had been mis-erected by team Leach.
<p>Almost immediately after we had put up the 'Joke tent' and cooked a meal,
it started to rain, a serious change from the glorious sunshine on our
arrival. This soon developed into the most spectacular and noisy thunderstorm
I have ever seen, and continued for some considerable time. We retired to our
pits to catch up on sleep lost on the train. After a while a vehicle arrived,
and Reckert's voice drifted across the campsite. His tent wasn't waterproof
and was last seen with an inch of water on its tray groundsheet!
<p>After some time the rain eased off and we all headed for Fischers bar, the
normal sequence of events for all subsequent evenings. Next day the weather
was still poor and more of the expedition returned leaving only Mike and
Julia on the plateau. Getting more and more bored, I eventually decided to
borrow a canoe and ended up by canoeing 7 miles on the lake.
<p>Next day was better and we set off up to the plateau. We discovered that
the way up the mountain was by toll road, and that the toll would be about
&pound;3 a time for the average vehicle we were taking up. Luckily we had had
a free passage negotiated on our behalf by Karl, our Austrian contact. On
about the seventh hairpin, we noticed that the alitude was 1348m, putting us
higher than Britain.
<p>From the car park at the top we walked for about 20 minutes, mainly fairly
level, until we arrived at the campsite where Mike and Julia were. From here,
we walked for another 20 minutes or so to a col from where the plateau was
visible. An enormous area of sparsely vegetated karren stretching for about
three miles into the distance greeted us. A small area just in front of us
had been looked at last year, while Nick, Steve and Julian were working over
to the left and Team Leach with Mike and Vic and Dave were working to the
right. We struck off into the centre.
<p>Very shortly we found an east west rift with water sinking nearby. The
shaft seemed to be about 20m deep so we decided to start exploring. The
prospecting technique we had been advised to use was one person exploring,
one supporting, and the other prospecting for more holes. Simon had elected
to be surface Martyr, so I prepared to descend while Nick rigged the pitch.
<p>The ladder went down for about 15m to a sloping boulder floor where I
untied. I descended the boulders and climbed down a hole. A small sharp crawl
led off. I followed the crawl for about 3m and then met water. This came down
as a heavy drip from the roof and disappeared into a narrow slot in the
floor. There was no way on. I retreated to the pitch and reascended, noting
where a window from the hole next door to the west came in. The total depth
was about 20m, and we decided it was worth numbering. We started our sequence
with number 100. I photographed the entrance, and wrote down the details of
the hole.
<p>Simon had been looking for the sound of water nearby and had been
frightened by a snake, so had moved to a more open area with various holes.
He had already found one deep hole with a long stone-rattle, but this had a
number, B11. We later found that this descended 55m to a choke. Somewhat
further on, we found a colossal hole with a huge snow plug, and a possible
hole going down at the far end. We knew we were in an area which had been
looked at, so we decided to ask about it before investigating any further.
Shortly later, we found a large hole with a snow plug and a passage leading
off. This came to a pitch head, and we were looking for belays when we
eventually spotted the number - B9 in an obvious place, but almost invisible
after a year. On later occasions we found that the number can only be seen on
dry rock and vanishes under the mottling of lichen when it is wet. Further on
still we passed B8, so we decided to head directly away from the col until we
found something new.
<p><a name="1977-101-1">After some time</a>, we climbed down a small fault
scarp onto a dipping area of rock and I found a small rifty entrance a few
feet long with an obvious climb down inside. I descended this and found two
ways on. To the left was a short pitch, while to the right was a short crawl
leading to another entrance in the face of a small scarp. Nick kitted up and
while he did so, I traversed over the pitch to a smaller climb down with a
tiny tube leading back to the base of the pitch. I retreated and put a ladder
on the pitch. Descending this led over a gravel floor and over an awkward
rock into a tube. This led on for some way to the top of a climb down into
what promised to be a larger passage but turned out to be a similar tube with
a floor slot. This slot closed down and I was forced to crawl at roof level
in the tube. This continued with occasional steep sections, descending for
some way until finally, the floor slot became aparent again and turned left
sharply. At this point there was a window on my right which led out via a 2m
climb down onto boulders at the base of a large aven. There were holes in the
boulder floor and a descent at the far side would have been perhaps 5m onto
what appeared to be more boulders. I retreated and Nick went down for a look.
I don't think he went as far as I did, but we both agreed that if we did find
anything down there, carrying tackle would be a severe problem, so we decided
to leave it. We labelled the original entrnce 101, and the second entrance
101A. About 50m away, Simon had found another shaft which descended for some
way, by the sound of stones, so we laddered it and I set off once again to
explore. This time it was a smallish joint-orientated shaft which descended
almost exactly 20m to a solid choke with a small amount of snow. We labelled
it 102.
<p>Prospecting was now going more slowly and we all joined forces to
investigate various nearby holes until Nick and Simon decided on a rifty
semi-horizontal entrance not far from 102. We had, however, run out of time,
so we dumped most of the gear and headed back for the col. On the way we
passed various holes which we thought held considerable promise and we
congratulated ourselves on finding a promising area.
<p>Next day we attempted to walk directly to our area, but were soon
frustrated by a large area of spruce. Nick and Simon attempted to bypass it
on the left while I went off to the right. It was some considerable time
before we remet, and we were still separated by a large patch of dense bush.
Between us lay a large horizontal cave entrance which Nick and Simon
investigated as a horizontal tube which bifurcated and then choked.
<p>By taking bearings on the local mountains, we deduced that we were a long
way from where we should be, and in precisely the opposite direction from
what we expected. We set off, still separated by a band of bush, until we
were nearer the place where we ought to be. We then split up again to try to
find the OAV pole which had seemed an obvious landmark when we were at our
entrances. Eventually I spotted it and was soon at the entrance to 101. It
took Nick and Simon about half an hour to arrive despite their being only
about 100m away. We had lunch.
<p>Nick and Simon rigged their hole - 103 - and both descended in what proved
to be a narrow rift with ledges. Simon had to go half way down to line Nick
to the bottom. It choked.
<p>We were fast coming to the conclusion that this area was not too good so
we set off to the right (as seen from the col) to look at some of the holes
we had seen the day before. We failed to find any. The scar we were walking
along seemed to be a fault and obviously quite a bit of water sank there, but
everything looked very choked. Eventually we emerged at the top of a slope
down to an area which looked very heavily jointed and which had numerous
large holes in it. As we might have expected, everything seemed choked.
<p>Since the area was fairly clear of bush, we decided to dump our gear here
and prospect the surrounding area which looked as though it could hold
something and was also likely to be fairly easy to find since some large
erratics formed an unusual landmark... we had learnt that landmarks needed to
be visible from afar&nbsp;!
<p>We split up and started wandering across the karren finding various open
holes which obviously choked and several horizontal entrances which had to be
looked at more closely. Nick and Simon found most of these but they all
choked.
<p>Eventually we ended up a long way from where we had started and Nick and
Simon called me over to them as Simon had found a long narrow rift entrance
with no loose scree near it which looked promising. Nick and Simon fetched
tackle (some of it) and Nick and I started to rig it while Simon meanwhile
found more holes.
<p>Though awkward to rig, Nick was soon descending only to find it getting
too tight with a way down visible. Since the depth was only about 10m, we did
not number the hole. Time was running out so further investigation was
delayed for a while...
<p>Back on the karren again the next day, we had less trouble in finding our
holes, though at some stage in the proceedings I got thoroughly lost
retrieving gear from the heavily jointed area where it had been left. We
turned our attention now to Hohle 104 which Simon had found. There was
nothing resembling a belay for this, but a very large erratic perched about
10' from the lip provided a secure point to which we attached a bolt. While
this was being done, I was prospecting for the tackle left a long way away. I
got very lost again and almost ended up back at 101 before realising. When I
got back with the gear, I found that Nick had found another hole down which
stones rumbled for a long time; things were looking up&nbsp;!
<p>Simon was fed down 104 and descended for some time, freeing ladder on his
way. He was instructed to count the rungs on the way up and by this means we
found that the hole was 32m deep, our deepest so far, but as usual it choked.
<p>We began to suspect that 105 would choke the same way, so while it was
being rigged by Simon and Nick, I started prospecting again. The only thing I
found was a small horizontal entrance in a scar, but on entering this I was
amazed to find I was in a large black space. Walking in carefully I seemed to
be in a large flat-roofed chamber about 2-3m high and 10m wide. At the far
side was a very exciting black space leading on. To my left, daylight came in
through a small hole in the roof. After a few seconds, my eyes started to
adjust to the light and I saw to my great disappointment that the far end of
the chamber ended in a solid wall. The floor was solid boulders and scree
with no obvious place to look for a way on. I climbed out of the hole in the
roof and returned to the others to find that they too had visited it.
<p>105 was being rigged from a ledge about 6m down where Simon had climbed on
a handline. A lot of ladder was being put down, but time seemed to be running
out again. It was fully rigged but not descended before we returned to the
cafe.
<p>My diary for the next day read 'Fed/Festered/Farted', and this sums up our
rest day except to mention that I canoed round the lake, then across the
lake, and then part way across the lake, about seven or eight miles
altogether.
<p>Monday the 15th saw us back on the plateau to investigate a small
draughting hole which I had found on our way back last time, but first there
was the small matter of 200' of ladder down 105...
<p>From the first ledge, the place looked very loose, but after a final bit
of gardening, I started to descend in what proved to be a fine shaft in clean
white limestone. The ladder was caught on a couple of ledges on the way down,
and the shaft sidestepped onto a parallel joint about halfway down. The whole
place was very roomy and clean, but landed on a damp, level and very finally
choked floor at a depth of 41m. The view up the shaft to the daylight at the
top was superb. I coiled the remaining ladder and set off back up, tieing
back onto the lifeline (which was too short) about 5m up from the floor.
Since the rock was rather knobbly and there were several ledges, I pulled the
ladder up at each one and coiled it. This meant that derigging was pretty
efficient and we quickly moved over to the draughting hole.
<p><a name="1977-76-1">The</a> entrance which was next to a patch of Bunde
was vertical for about 6m to what sounded like a snow ledge. It was pretty
narrow with some snow in it, so I descended on a handline. This proved rather
sporting since the snow was only a centimetre or so deep over hard ice, so I
slid down rather rapidly.
<p>At the bottom of this first section was the expected snow ledge, and
leading off were two passages. The way on, though, was neither of these, but
a steep ice slope in a narrow rift from which came the enticing draught. I
again descended rather less than elegantly, but a good deal more carefully,
to find a small chamber with a window at the far end from which roared a
powerful gale. I looked out of this and to my delight saw a pitch of about 6m
onto another snow platform. I returned with some difficulty to the first snow
ledge and then investigated one of the side passages which carried some of
the draught and emerged at the base of a nearby doline. This was to become
the normal entrance to the cave.
<p>Elated by the find, we had lunch and set off to rig the cave safely, by
putting a ladder on the ice slope above the pitch. There were few belays to
be found, but once rigged it was a good deal safer. There were even fewer
belays for the pitch, and eventually we rigged it from the handline and a
dubious flake. We put 20m of ladder down and I descended.
<p>The window led onto a pleasant pitch of 6m free onto the centre of a large
snow plug down the sides of which were two holes. I fed the ladder down the
larger and descended. This proved rather awkward, against crystalline snow
and round a spiral which made communications difficult. I dropped down onto a
further snow platform just before the end of the ladder. Off the edge of the
snow, the pitch continued round a corner to the left. I looked down this and
could discern more snow about 20m down with more black space beyond. I
retreated rapidly.
<p>The excitement at this stage was intense, but we could obviously not
proceed further without better belays, so a temporary exit was made. Nick
went down and put in a bolt at the top of the ice slope, and for the next
attempt, the bottom of the first ladder was used as a belay. We still needed
more bolts however, so further progress was postponed.
<p>On the surface, Nick and Julian wandered by, having given their area up as
being generally loose and choked. We next saw them in the campsite where they
said that they had found a draughting hole about 100m beyond ours, but it was
too small to enter. In typical Northern Branch dedicated fashion, they
proposed to apply mechanical persuasion with a lumphammer to the entrance.
Team fat geriatric jeered at the idea, but the results certainly justified
the means.
<p><a name="1977-76-2">Next</a> day we were back at 106 and a bolt was put in
at the head of the pitch, and Nick descended, with 60m of ladder on the
pitch. Lifelining at the pitch head proved to be the most desperate part of
the exercise, with a very powerful wind (enough to blow a carbide out) coming
up the pitch at freezing temperature.
<p>About 12m below the snow platform below which the pitch continued as a
steep snow slope into which steps could be kicked. This went down for 9m to a
rock lip below which it was somewhat awkward to climb as it had got caught
below. A further twelve metres down, the ladder went down a 'rift' with one
wall of snow and one of rock. This choked off about four metres down and Nick
had to climb back out. The rift proved to be a sort of mini-bergschrund, and
he was able to climb over a snow pile and descend the far side for 8m to a
large ledge below which the ladder had been catching while he was climbing
the last section. Below the ledge the pitch still continued, turning left
again. Dropping rocks, Nick estimated the depth to be about 20m onto yet more
snow, but throwing rocks further out indicated a floor of considerable
extent. We had no more tackle to continue, and it was becoming obvious that
we needed to get more people further down. This would entail the placing of
several bolts and rigging for abseil/self-line.
<p><a name="1977-76-3">Next</a> day we showed our entrance to Nick and Julian
again, and they showed us theirs, so we could act as mutual call-outs. I
descended to put a second bolt at the head of the pitch, Simon put a bolt at
the -18m snow platform, but this went wrong. I then placed a bolt on the rock
bridge. For most of this time, Nick was at the bottom where he had taken an
extra 20m of ladder. Simon exitted and I descended to the bottom
(Yesterdays's Terminus) where Nick and I put another bolt in, not realising
that it was now very late. When we eventually exitted, the ladder proved very
knackering to climb as it kept getting caught. We emerged into an incredible
hailstorm (at least, Nick did - five minutes later or less, when I arrived,
it had all finished) and rushed down to the car park as quickly as possible,
noting the 6" banks of hailstones on the way. After this epic we decided to
have a gonk-day.
<p>Nick, Julian and Steve had by now extended their hole (97) to about -75m,
including one very tight bit called the Nun's C**t on account of its needing
banging.
<p>Our gonk-day unfortunately turned into two gonk-days on account of some
nasty low cloud and rain. We were fairly pissed off with the shaft (Plugged
Shaft) which was proving so awkward to rig, but by next day we were keen to
get to the next pitch down (Saved Shaft).
<p><a name="1977-76-4">We</a> found that the abseil/self-line technique was
proving very effective as we all descended to Yesterday's Terminus in about
ten minutes at most. Nick abseiled down the next pitch which proved to be
about 14m onto a snow slope descending a few metres further into a big
circular chamber whose roof soared out of sight even to Nick's electric. The
floor was composed of large angular limestone blocks and one of these
provided us with a belay for the next pitch which was a rift to one side of
the chamber which appeared to be about 15m to a rock floor. Nick and Simon
rigged the pitch while I took piccies, and then they both descended. From the
top of the pitch they didn't sound happy: they had descended 16m into a small
chamber, the far side of which was composed of huge limestone blocks, from
beneath which the draught emerged. There was no way to climb over and boulder
chokes are not the nicest things to meet when in such an isolated spot.
<p>I descended to see the choke, and soon discovered that climbing over was a
poor idea since the large blocks all supported piles of loose grubble which
fell off when used as handholds. I then turned my attention to the small hole
through which most of the draught appeared to come. This was directly under a
very large block, and had a floor of more loose grubble. I pushed lots of
grubble through the hole to make it larger and more stable, and then crawled
into it on a lifeline. I discovered that the choke ended immediately and led
out into a rifty passage with a choked floor of jammed rocks and muck.
Kicking various amounts of grubble out of the way I was able to descend onto
this floor, remaining jammed in the rift in case it wasn't stable. I started
to clear some of the muck from the choke to make it easier, and dropped a
rock down a hole in the floor. To my surprise there was silence. I was
reaching for another lump when there was a loud crash with lots of echo. More
rocks followed with the same effect. I traversed forward to a place where the
floor seemed to end and dropped rocks down here. We estimated a pitch of at
least 30m in a very roomy shaft, and from the lack of bouncing it seemed to
be free-hanging. The floor obviously needed gardening a lot before we went
down the pitch, and anyway the top looked rather tight. Nick had a look and
then we made our way out.
<p><a name="1977-76-5">The</a> next day - Sunday 21st - we rapidly reached
the head of the new pitch, and I went as far forward as possible, again on a
line, and started to remove the floor of the rift. This proved fairly easy as
it was not very thick and after about half an hour or so, I had shifted most
of it. A bolt was put in at the far end of the pitch and a traverse line
rigged to it, the ladder belayed and Simon tied on to lifeline me. The pitch
head needed a bit more gardening as I descended, and proved very awkward
being so narrow, but the shaft below widened immediately, and was not
free-hanging at all. In fact I was climbing a very easy pitch against the
wall, which started at this side of the pitch, explaining why it had sounded
free hanging from the other end of the traveerse. The shaft was oval in shape
and quite large. I descended 32m passing only one small ledge, and then the
lifeline became tangled at the top. This was very frustrating since I was
only about 1m above a large ledge and had just come under a heavy drip. Once
I got a bit of slack, I crossed the ledge and the pitch continued round to
the left, though it sounded very broken. We had no tackle to investigate this
with, so reluctantly I reascended, finding Simon with the lifeline in a huge
tangle hanging down the pitch in my way. When it was eventually sorted out
Simon left and I derigged. When only about 15m of ladder remained in the
hole, a large chunk of the pitch-head decided to go in for free-fall caving.
A sudden jerk on the ladder at the same time as the crash from below
indicated that we had smashed a ladder and indeed it proved that one of the
exCS ladders had a wire smashed three-quarters through. It was retired from
service.
<p>Considering the size of the hole and the power of the draught we were
following, it seemed a little odd that I could not detect it so I looked
round a bit. The rift continued beyond me, but since the pitch below didn't,
something odd was obviously going on. Simon came back across the traverse to
help with the tackle so I got him to line me while I investigated the rift.
There were a few loose rocks, so I climbed up and found a hole over a
chockstone which led out onto a traverse about ten feet up in the rift. I
found a place to descend and this quickly led to an enlargement and then a
pitch head. The draught came through the hole, so the way on was open again.
This meant that we would not be derigging, so we ferried the tackle forward
and Nick came through. We were now running out of carbide, and as my light
was about to go out, it seemed reasonable not to refill it until necessary.
Accordingly, I waited in the Boulder Chamber with no light while Nick
descended the pitch. It was 18m to a large ledge and Nick estimated another
20m to the bottom, so we had to retreat to get another lifeline.
<p><a name="1977-76-6">We</a> were now getting left behind as the Team
Enthusiast hole 'Schneewindschacht' had reached over 200m and was still
going, while our deepest point was about 145m. We realised that we would not
be able to get much further unless we found some gently descending passage
with lots of short climbs, but next day saw us with another lifeline obtained
from H&ouml;hle 82 - Team Geriatric's 220m find.
<p>We were intrigued, particularly on this trip, to note that the draught was
becoming very variable and even reversed for a couple of minutes at one
stage. Back at the new pitch, Nick descended to the large ledge and then
continued down what proved to be only 14m to a passage leading gently
downwards&nbsp;!
<p>This vadose passage led to a large chamber and numerous possible leads,
but unfortunately had a heavy drip which made exploration by one person on
carbide very risky. Nick returned and reported what he had found, and we then
had an argument on the safety of two people going down at once. Nick reckoned
he could return the lifeline to the ledge but no further, but as there was
room on the ledge for two people, we decided it would be safe to go down as a
pair. Simon and I descended and made our way forward to the chamber, where
the following leads were noted -
<ol> <li>Large holes in the floor dropped about 10m to what appeared to be a
passage continuing below carrying the stream from the huge aven above.
<li>A large rift on the far side of the chamber appeared to continue the line
of the passage by which we had entered.
<li>Nick had found a small lead which came to an abrupt halt at a large
circular shaft in the floor, at the far side of which the passage continued.
</ol>
<p>While not at all certain, it appeared that the draught came out of the
holes in the floor and went up the passage we had come down, and also up the
passage on the far side. With all these leads, there must be something there,
though a somewhat better equipped party with at least some electric light
will be essential next year.
<p>A photo was taken for posterity and we retreated, performing a grade three
survey on the way out. The final series was not named. We derigged as far as
Yesterday's Terminus, where we belayed all the tackle in a huge pile and
exitted.
<p>There was a huge amount of rain during the night, but somehow I was
persuaded to go on a two-man trip with Nick Reckert down Schneewindschacht to
derig the bottom half after it had ended too tight at a CUCC record -265m.
<p>On entering the shake where the entrance lay, it was noticeable that a lot
of water was around. Ignoring this, we descended the entrance which is quite
thrutchy and leads out onto an easy free-climb and thence to the
'Baptistry'-like tight bit. A lot of water fell down this at the start but
was soon lost in the narrow slot below. The head of the first pitch was
festooned with SRT gear, and Nick and I descended the first three pitches in
rapid succession. The takeoffs were interesting....
<p>The first pitch was an easy takeoff once out of the crawl, the second was
rigged from below a small stream gully and involved traversing on a rather
small ledge whilst clipped into the bolt, while the third involved chimneying
out above the pitch to reach a bolt which looked as if it had been placed by
a spider, but which was fairly easy to clip into the pitch itself. Below this
came an awkward step over a Puits en Baionette which led to a sizeable ledge
which was the first point out of the substantial waterfall (Slit Pot sized)
which accompanied the first three pitches of 55m total. Here Nick decided
that the pot was rather too wet for a complete descent, especially for a
comparative novice in SRT such as myself. Accordingly we retreated, leaving a
rather massive task for Nick, Julian and Steve the next day.
<p><a name="1977-76-7">Next</a> day was the last day, so all derigging had to
be completed, and everyone went up to the plateau to help carry gear back
down. Team enthusiast had made a very early start, and I was jacking since
all my gear was wet. Accordingly, Rod Leach went down 106 to assist. I
remained on the surface with Jont and we investigated another draughting hole
nearby, but this came to a pitch with ice very quickly so we left it for next
year, pausing only to number it 99. To our surprise, when we went over to
look at 97, we found a Perry emerging, after only six hours underground.
Shortly later we were pulling 300m of rope out of the hole, all uncoiled to
get it through the Nun's C**t. Nick emerged to find that he was trapped in
his harness by the well known properties of Clog krabs and we all had a good
laugh before Steve managed to free him. Upon wandering back to 106, we found
the first of the team emerging from 106a with the first of the gear, and
learned that a new extension had been made behind the rock bridge in Plugged
Shaft. Dropping onto the snow behind the bridge led to a descent into a
passage which soon ran out over another shaft - no draught. This is yet
another lead to be investigated next year... five in all.
<p><a href="../1978/log.htm#1978-76-1">Eislufth&ouml;hle next trip</a>
<p>The assembled multitude now returned to the col via 82, where yet more
tackle was picked up and I got given a saturated Marlow rope which weighed
more than what I was already carrying. The walk back with all the gear was
somewhat epic.
<hr>
Packing and camp-derigging was next, and then paying for the campsite,
which, though at a reduced rate, was still somewhat expensive. Next day -
Thursday, we set off with our huge loads of rucksacks plus a large kitbag and
caught the bus to Bad Aussee, train to Bad Ischl, bus to Salzburg (the buses
are marked 'standing room 37' and this seems to be what was being attempted
most of the way - we were never told whose turn it was to breathe.) and then
a long wait in Salzburg during which time I took the opportunity to go and
wander round the old part of the city and take photgraphs while the others
festered eating butties and beer.
<p>The train journey was less comfortable than on the way out, but we still
got back home OK. Simon and I got the train to Preston and then got taken
home by car, having got back home about twice as quickly as the other members
of the expedition and about twice as expensively!
<hr>
<!-- LINKS -->
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
1977 Expedition info:<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<a href="log.htm">Logbook</a> (currently missing)<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<a href="report.htm">Expo report, Cambridge Underground 1978</a><br>
<!-- <img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<a href="bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves &amp; Caving Report</a><br> -->
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
Eislufth&ouml;hle - <a href="descnt.htm">from Descent 40</a><br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
Nick Thorne's write-up in <a href="771649.htm">Belfry Bulletin 354</a><br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="../../pubs.htm#1977">Index</a> to all publications<br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="../../index.htm">Back to Expeditions intro page</a><br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="../../../index.htm">CUCC Home Page</a>
</td></tr></table>
</body>
</html>

81
years/1977/descnt.htm Normal file
View File

@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>1977: Mike Perryman's report in Descent 38</title>
</head>
<body>
<font size=-1>CTS 78.2027: Descent 38 (March/April 1978) p 34</font>
<h2>Cambridge push the hard pots of Altaussee</h2>
<p align=right><i>Mike Perryman, CUCC</i>
<p>FOR THE SECOND YEAR running, Cambridge Cavers, somewhat disillusioned
after several summers prospecting in the Pyrenees, made a visit to the karst
regions of western Austria in 1977. The 1976 expedition (full details in the
current <a href="../1976/report.htm"><i>Cambridge Underground</i></a>) did
important foundation work in the area, and even though little of note was
found, sufficient knowledge was gained to make our prospecting last summer
easier and more rewarding. It also found the Dachstein/Totesgebirge area
excellent for tourist trips into the huge phreatic systems that abound, but
attention was focussed on the extensive lapiaz plateau above Altaussee,
where the caves have turned out to be of a very different nature.
<p>Until recently access to it had been difficult and the area consequently
remained unexplored, but a toll road now serves this limestone mass nearly
3300ft above the nearest valley floor. Although prospecting now involves a
mere one and a half hours walk, one arrives much poorer!
<p>The depth potential of this region is of the order of 3300ft, but serious
dye-testing has yet to be carried out. Rumours this summer of a 2300ft+ pot
discovered further east on the Tauplitz plateau by a French team lifted
morale even further. If confirmed this find would displace
Gruberhornh&ouml;hle as the deepest in Austria. Then bear in mind that
serious prospecting in the mountains has only just begun!
<p>Our finds have been more modest - amongst numerous small pots they include
those now catalogued as holes 82, 97 and 106. The first of these would not be
out of place in Yorkshire, with a stream cascading in at -130ft. After an
awkward 65ft crawl, a series of wet pitches in progressively larger rifts
reaches a sump at -754ft.
<p>97 is equally sporting with a tight entrance series leading to a
succession of smallish pitches again in large rift passage. At 886ft it
suddenly closes down and becomes too constricted.
<p>106 was not pushed to definite conclusion due to lack of time, but a team
reached 460ft in a series of enormous shafts.
<p>Exploration of these and other smaller shafts went rather slowly - partly
because of their location in relation to our camp, and partly due to their
nature. We were rather surprised to find the systems wet and responding
rapidly to rain, and cold even by English standards. And almost without
exception the pitches had to be bolted due to the scarcity of good natural
belays.
<p>But we have returned with valuable knowledge of the region, and more than
enough enthusiasm to organise another visit.
<hr>
<!-- LINKS -->
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
1977 Expedition info:<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<a href="log.htm">Logbook</a> (currently missing)<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
Andy Waddington's <a href="andylg.htm">Logbook</a><br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<a href="report.htm">Expo report, Cambridge Underground 1978</a><br>
<!-- <img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<a href="bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves &amp; Caving Report</a><br> -->
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
Nick Thorne's write-up in <a href="771649.htm">Belfry Bulletin 354</a><br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="../../pubs.htm#1977">Index</a> to all publications<br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="../../index.htm">Back to Expeditions intro page</a><br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="../../../index.htm">CUCC Home Page</a>
</body>
</html>

38
years/1977/log.htm Normal file
View File

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
<html lang=en>
<head>
<title>
1977: Logbook
</title>
</head>
<body>
<h4>Sadly, the original of the 1977 logbook seems to be missing</h4>
There is evidence that the club had it in 1988, when in Austria, but
I suspect that this may be a red herring and references to "1977/8 in
the 1977 logbook" are really references to "B8" from 1976.
<a name="1977-76" href="../1978/log.htm#1978-76-1">Eislufth&ouml;hle next trip</a>
<hr>
<!-- LINKS -->
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
1977 Expedition info:<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
Andy Waddington's <a href="andylg.htm">Logbook</a><br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<a href="report.htm">Expo report, Cambridge Underground 1978</a><br>
<!-- <img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<a href="bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves &amp; Caving Report</a><br> -->
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
Eislufth&ouml;hle - <a href="descnt.htm">from Descent 40</a><br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
Nick Thorne's write-up in <a href="771649.htm">Belfry Bulletin 354</a><br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="../../pubs.htm#1977">Index</a> to all publications<br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="../../index.htm">Back to Expeditions intro page</a><br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="../../../index.htm">CUCC Home Page</a>
</body>
</html>

BIN
years/1977/map.gif Normal file
View File

Binary file not shown.
Side by Side

After

Width:  |  Height:  |  Size: 20 KiB

738
years/1977/report.htm Normal file
View File

@@ -0,0 +1,738 @@
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>1977: Cambridge Underground report</title>
</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.gif">
<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.gif">
<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.gif">
<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.gif">
<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.gif">
<!-- 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.gif">
<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.gif">
<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>
<!-- LINKS -->
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
Cambridge Underground 1978
<a href="../../../jnl/1978/index.htm">Table of Contents</a><br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
1977 Expedition info:<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<a href="log.htm">Logbook</a> (currently missing)<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
Andy Waddington's <a href="andylg.htm">Logbook</a><br>
<!-- <img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<a href="bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves &amp; Caving Report</a><br> -->
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
Eislufth&ouml;hle - <a href="descnt.htm">from Descent 40</a><br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
Nick Thorne's write-up in <a href="771649.htm">Belfry Bulletin 354</a><br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="../../pubs.htm#1977">Index</a> to all publications<br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="../../index.htm">Back to Expeditions intro page</a><br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="../../../index.htm">CUCC Home Page</a>
</body>
</html>