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<title>1623/161 Kaninchenh&ouml;hle exploration history
</title>
<META name="author" content="Andy Waddington">
<META name="date" content="2000.09.06">
<META name="description" content="Kaninchenh&ouml;hle (1623/161) history of, and index to all recorded trips">
</head>
<frameset cols="175,*">
<frame name="index" src="../../smkridge/161/years.htm" marginwidth=1 marginheight=1>
<frame name="year" src="../../smkridge/161/2000.htm" marginwidth=1 marginheight=1>
</frameset>
<noframes>
Your browser doesn't seem to have frames enabled - please click
<a href="../../smkridge/161/2000.htm">here</a> to see the 2000 history
without frames, and
<a href="../../smkridge/161/hnotes.htm">here</a> (using "open in new window")
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<head>
<title>CUCC 2000 Expedition Goals</title>
</head>
<body>
<h2><center>CUCC Austria 2000 - Mission statement</center></h2>
<p>2000 sees the twenty fourth annual summer expedition to Austria by the
Cambridge University Caving Club and the last one of the current Millennium.
A number of major goals are set out for this year's expedition, along with a
great deal of other work both on new projects and continuing documentation of
previous exploration.
<hr width=50%>
<h3>Recent History</h3>
<p>For twelve successive summer expeditions, C.U.C.C., and its post-graduate
sister club ex-Cambridge Speleologists, have been exploring the
<a href="../../smkridge/161/top.htm">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</a> cave system in
the Totes Gebirge of Austria (about 80 km east of Salzburg).
<p>To the south of Kaninchenh&ouml;hle lies another major cave, the southern
Schwarzmooskogel system including the stunningly beautiful ice-cave
<a href="../../noinfo/smkridge/40.htm">Schwarzmooskogeleish&ouml;hle.</a>
Parts of this were explored as long ago as 1938, but the major central part
of the cave, <a href="../../smkridge/41/41.htm">Stellerwegh&ouml;hle</a>, was
explored by CUCC in 1980-85, to a depth of 973m and a length of some 7km.
Other parts of the cave have been explored by both French and German groups,
and the total length of this cave was over 22km in 1999.
<p>In 1997 Kaninchenh&ouml;hle was linked with a deep shaft system,
<a href="../../smkridge/161/136.htm">Steinschlagschacht</a>, first explored
by the club in 1983, giving an increased depth of 507m for the combined
system. Steinschlagschacht was not rigged in 1998, as the expedition was a
small one, and work concentrated on a reconnaissance of the nearest points of
Schwarzmooskogeleish&ouml;hle to the passages in Steinschlagschacht. This
revealed a few leads, but no connection. Other members of the 1998 trip
pushed Kaninchenh&ouml;hle itself, achieving a new deep point at -534m.
<p>After 1997, the gap between Steinschlagschacht and the Eish&ouml;hle was
about 130m, in passages at much the same level. The 1999 trip returned to
Steinschlagschacht, finding a major way on with surprising ease via a lead
overlooked when derigging the
<a href="../../smkridge/161/136.htm#footlight">Footlights Traverse</a> in
1997.
<p>This area of the cave, <a href="../../smkridge/161/chile.htm">Chile,</a>
totalled 2&frac12; kilometres with a deep point 440m below
Steinschlagschacht, but, amazingly, ran parallel to the known trend of the
southern Schwarzmooskogel system, and only narrowed the gap to some 80m, with
no immediately obvious likely connection point.
<p>Linking the two systems would involve us not only in further exciting new
exploration, but also in a great deal of tie-up surveying to establish
definitive figures for the length and depth of the combined system. Current
survey information suggests that the linked cave would be well over 47 km
long and 1056m deep, making it the third or fourth longest cave in Austria.
This would also put it among both the fifty or so deepest caves in the world
<b>and</b> the fifty or so longest. Few caves make it so far up both the long
<u>and</u> deep lists - truly a cave of world significance.
<p>Elsewhere in 1999, a new cave,
<a href="../../smkridge/204.htm">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle,</a> was found
beyond the known extent of Kaninchenh&ouml;hle to the north. This shows many
similarities to the caves further south, and reached a depth of 226m at the
head of a big black pitch of 40m or so. There is great hope that this cave
will drop into the same major horizontal development seen in
Kaninchenh&ouml;hle, and eventually produce an easier route into the remotest
parts of the cave, as well as adding its own length and 28m of depth to the
main system.
<hr>
<h3 align=center>2000 CUCC Expedition Goals</h3>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
Continue exploration of Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle from -226m. This is
CUCC's highest significant entrance, and a connection with
Kaninchenh&ouml;hle would add 28m to the latter's depth.<br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
Much old documentation has come to light on passages off Schneevulkanhalle
in the Eish&ouml;hle - some quite promising areas have been revealed, and
there is a significant amount of survey to be done, as well as continuing
to push the Persistence of Vision leads found in 1999. Any stone left
unturned here has potential for someone else to walk in easily and link
the systems !<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">Schotterland 50m pitch to big passage - right by the entrance<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">Push POV<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">Good leads in Plastic<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">Leads at Kalter Gang end<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">Wahnsinnssch&auml;chte resurvey<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">Connect survey to old cave<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">Find other entrances<br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
Further pushing of numerous leads in Chile with a view to connecting
to the nearby southern Schwarzmooskogel system, with a
potential length/depth in excess of 47km/1056m.<br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
Push a number of other areas of Kaninchenh&ouml;hle:<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
over 250 documented ways on<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
revisit Far North, now that it is less remote<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
Regurgitation area needs 1999 finds surveying and pushing<br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
Photography and other documentation work. Many caves need a rudimentary
survey or sketch, and description and a photo.<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">Survey to B4 (on col by top camp - only 1 or 2 legs) - already documented<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">Survey-to and draw 172,174,175,176. Tagged - in a row out from top camp.<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">Survey-to 96-02,03,04 group close to hinter (already documented and tagged).<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">Find and identify non-CUCC 1980s caves (Eish&ouml;hle area) from survey data: Grunstein Eish&ouml;hle, Schwarzblatth&ouml;le, Kuppelh&ouml;hle, Lamperlh&ouml;hle<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">Connect up East and West surface surveys near 163<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">Try to work out where Seniorenschacht and Braunsteinh&ouml;le are (near one of the Eish&ouml;hle entrances)<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">Draw pictures for the 147 survey!<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">A few caves are still missing and need searching out....177, 178, 181, 187, 192, 193<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif"><br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
There are loose ends in some older CUCC discoveries which may be useful
to pursue to tie surveys in:<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
New work in 1623/144 (this may be taken over by Arge ?)<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
Cave <a href="../../smkridge/140.htm">140</a> was noted on a surface walk in
1998, and the description is suggestive that ends were inconclusive. The
finding of Chile places this in an even more key position between the two
major systems, and a reexploration (and a good survey) is in order.<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
In the same area, but lower down, <a href="../../smkridge/158.htm">158</a>
(also seen during surface work recently) is also intriguing and inconclusive.
<br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
Liaison with other groups working in the area now and in the past<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
Cooperation with Arge to fix a number of key points on the surface by
accurate theodolite survey. This is being arranged for 2000.<br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
High quality publication via the World Wide Web, CD-ROM and on paper<br>
<hr>
<h3>Dates:</h3>
<p><b>The main Expo 2000 dates are July 15th to August 19th inclusive.</b>
However, Wookey joined Arge's initial 2000 trip at the end of May (the Spring
bank-holiday week), on which a kilometre of passage, mainly in the old part
Eish&ouml;hle, was surveyed. A few leads were pushed, and
<a href="prexpo.htm">a report</a> is on the site. This work wasn't expected
to push closer to making a link, and no work in Kaninchenh&ouml;hle or
Steinschlagschacht took place on this trip.
<p>For the main expo, it would be useful to have people who are interested in
Eish&ouml;hle (but didn't go in May) out during the first week, as it looks
like that will be our only overlap with Arge's main summer trip. However, as
always, dates are flexible according to when people want to go/leave.
Typically there are people arriving/leaving on every weekend so it is
entirely possible to go for as long or as little time as you like.
<p>Transport is pooled to minimise cost, but overall costs are variable and
difficult to be precise about since it depends on factors such as how long
you go for and how much beer you drink. As a guide - over the last 3 years it average out at &pound;200 + &pound;40/week.<br>
1 week = &pound;240<br>
2 weeks = &pound;280<br>
3 weeks = &pound;320<br>
4 weeks = &pound;360<br>
5 weeks = &pound;400
<p>The &pound;200 gets you there and back and use of the gear, the
&pound;40/week covers food, camping, insurance and typical bier
consumption...
<h3>Expo Committee:</h3>
<p>The Expo 2000 committee are:
<p>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
Leader: Mark Shinwell<br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
Treasurer: Mark Byers<br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
Sponsorship: Earl Merson<br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
Transport: Martin Green<br>
<p>Most up to date information is available on the student website at
<a href="http://mrs30.quns.cam.ac.uk/expo/">http://mrs30.quns.cam.ac.uk/expo/</a>
<p>The southern Schwarzmooskogel system link is an ambitious project - 2.5 km
to a depth of 440m in 1999 was a good result, even if a link wasn't achieved.
This is probably more passage than we expected to find making the link, all
from one easy lead among the first to be looked at. There is no reason to
believe that 2000 won't be at least as successful - Chile just emphasises how
much passage can easily be found in a part of the mountain that we thought
was pretty much explored. A 50km/1000m+ system could still be ours before the
millennium ends ! Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle also has the potential to go
deep and long, so there will be plenty of scope for hard caving and new
exploration. But those 250-plus other leads include easy ones near entrances,
and much of the other work will not need mega-hard caving talent, so there
should be plenty of enjoyable caving and walking for everyone, regardless of
fitness or experience.
<hr>
<!-- LINKS -->
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
1999 Expedition info:<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<a href="../1999/index.htm">Index</a> (more complete than this list)<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<a href="../1999/log.htm">Logbook</a><br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
Expedition <a href="../1999/report.htm">Report</a> 1999<br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="index.htm">Index</a> to 2000 expedition info<br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
2000 <a href="prexpo.htm">Pre-expo report</a><br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="../../pubs.htm">Index</a> to all publications<br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="../../sponsr.htm">Current year's</a> sponsors<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>
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<head>
<title>2000 Expo: index</title>
</head>
<body>
<h2 align=center>2000 Expo documentation index</h2>
<p>The 2000 expo has now returned and log book and draft report are
integrated on the site. This page provides quick links to the evolving
documentation:<br>
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
2000 Expedition info:<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
Expo <a href="goals.htm">mission statement</a><br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<a href="prexpo.htm">Pre-expo Report (with Arge)</a><br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<a href="report.htm">Main expo Report</a><br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<a href="log.htm">Logbook</a> (70k)<br>
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
All the 161 trips written up in the logbook are
<a href="161.htm">indexed</a> in the history page.<br>
(40 and 204 trips will be indexed soon)<br>
<!-- that index is only the 161 trips - we need 204 and 40 indices too -->
<img alt="---&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/1.gif">
<br>
<hr>
<!-- LINKS -->
<img alt="&gt;" src="../../../icons/lists/0.gif">
<a href="../../pubs.htm">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>
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<head>
<title>2000 Expo: Pre-expo report</title>
</head>
<body>
<h2 align=center>Pre-expo trip 27 May- 3 July 2000</h2>
<P>This trip was an Arge-organised trip to which CUCC were invited.
Wookey was the only CUCC member able and willing to attend, so he spent
the week <strike>surrounded by Germans,</strike> sorry, cementing
international relations</p>
<p>There were 16 people, 15 trips and almost 1km surveyed</p>
<p>There was a great deal of chopping and changing of travel arrangements
as various people changed plans. I flew to <span lang="de">Thilo
(M&uuml;ller)'s</span> house in <span lang="de">Stuttgart</span> and was
going to go with him to <span lang="de-at">Loser,</span> but <span
lang="de">Thilo</span> found he had to do three days work so couldn't come
till Wednesday which meant I had to go in someone else's car. However the
allotted one broke down the day before so I ended up getting taken to a
service station somewhere in Germany by <span lang="de">Thilo</span> to get a
lift from <span lang="de">Jens (Freigang).</span> None of this was actually
my problem so that was OK :-), but I think <span lang="de">Thilo</span> had a
rather frazzled few days. On Sat morning <span lang="de">Thilo</span> and I
took the opportunity to sort out the dataset somewhat in the 115/41 area.</P>
<p>The drive was uneventful, with a bit of German practice, but by the end
<span lang="de">Jens'</span> English was doing much better than my German. By
about midweek almost everyone's English had improved to (or was already at)
the point where there was no point me murdering their language and nearly all
comms was done in English. Oh well, - I tried.</P>
<p>On Saturday evening we arrived in a miserably foggy, damp, windy, freezing
cold <span lang="de-at">Loser</span> carpark with a 10m high snow wall
looming out of the murk! Most of the far end of the car park was full of snow
and the cavers were huddled miserably in the lee of the <span
lang="de">Bergrestaurant.</span> There was a rapid jack to the <span
lang="de-at">Loserh&uuml;tte</span> after introductions, apart from MarkM and
Flo who had a nice camper van to hide in.</P>
<p>The rest of us ate and drank well and kipped in the warm. Nice, but still
a tenner a night; twenty-odd by the time you've had dinner and a couple
of beers. Sunday dawned hot and lovely and I had to get my shit
together. Having no particular abode was a bit of a problem and my gear
rapidly became distributed between the <span
lang="de-at">Loserh&uuml;tte</span> back room, Mark's van and Jens' car,
whilst my food was in Fritz and Tobi's car. Less than ideal, but there you
go.</P>
<p>On the first day Flo and <span lang="de">J&ouml;rg</span> did a 20-hour
trip into 115 with the <b lang="de">Benzinbohrmachine</b> (petrol drill)
re-rigging the big shaft out of the water and finding 300m of passage off the
big stuff <span lang="de">(Zweistromland)</span> at the bottom: <b
lang="de">Nebudkanezar,</b> which headed right out to the side of the hill -
they found dead moths, but no exit. They also pushed <span
lang="de">Zweistromland</span> a bit following the mental draught but were
stopped by a pitch after ~60m.</P>
<p>After putting in the data from this and poring over GPS correction
offsets, I got my stuff together on a small patch of carpark that wasn't
running with meltwater and we traipsed over over the snow.
<span lang="de-at">Loser</span> is very different in May compared to July,
and on the whole the going is much easier with most of the holes filled with
snow. However the rapid melting means you have to be very careful of big
holes (and small holes), and it gets less easy each day as more rock is
uncovered.</P>
<p>Much peering at the GPS runes led to working out some co-ordinates,
re-referenced at the actual 115 entrance and Jens and Flo finding a new
entrance in the right place which draughts but needs digging.</P>
<P>2000.05.28 (Sunday): <span lang="de">Fritz Mammel,</span> Wookey, Mark
Morgan, <span lang="de">Richie Gesserer</span></P>
<P>Wook's first trip in <b lang="de">Stellerweg.</b> Entrance is a 5m
snow-tunnel slide which was entertaining. Went along upper ramps to <b
lang="de">Megaloschlinger</b> then down <b lang="de">Warm Dusche Rampe</b> to
<b lang="de">Neues Gl&uuml;ck.</b> Took 1st QM on left, which proved to be
200-odd m of very complicated interconnecting passages, connecting to known
cave in 3 places, and having a few more QMs. It's ridiculously easy to find
loads of new cave here, 40 minutes from the entrance. CUCC really were a bit
slack when we first explored this! Richie (who is 60-something) unfortunately
jacked on the way in, feeling he would slow us down (I blame Mark for not
waiting for him). Bumped into Goldie's trip towards the end of our trip as
they were coming out. 41 has lots of nice easy caving in it if you want some,
although I also guarantee you lots of surveying. I also got to try out my new
fluorescent lamp which was 'quite good', but resulted in rather too much crap
on one helmet (fluorescent, Oldham, carbide, fluorescent electronics and a
6-12V converter box!)</P>
<P>TU 5hrs (Richie 45mins)</P>
<p><STRONG>Cave description:</STRONG><br>
From Start of <span lang="de">Neues Gl&uuml;ck,</span> up ramp on careful
traverse past damp ~15m shaft (QMB). Ahead is a 3m wall. Water falls from an
aven and down a hole at the foot of the wall. This hole appears to connect
back to the shaft just passed. The wall is passed by climbing up under and
around a boulder on the right. Here a small hole in the floor goes back to
join the other water. Here, and 2m higher, a pair of passages head off (and
join after ~4m) connecting to the 'Coffin Level' rift after 10m. The Jade
ramp continues steeply until it splits at the top. Left joins back into WDR
after 5m. Right closes down to a steeply ascending ~1m diameter tube accessed
by a 3m climb. (A choked tube goes off left for 4m at the bottom of this).
The tube goes sharp right and then left into a joint-developed passage. 3m
along here a stream comes in from above and goes down a small 7m pitch.
(QMB). At the end the roof rises and there are several holes through to a
damp 3m diameter, 7m deep shaft. This is the same shaft reached at the end of
<span lang="de">Schnick Schnack Schabernack.</span> Someone could usefully
connect the surveys...</P>
<P>In WDR, 5m after the way off to Jade on the left, is another wide way on
to the left. This leads into a high, wide area (not properly
surveyed/explored?). At the lower end of this the 'Coffin Level' rift goes
off on 040&deg;. And 2m above at the same point is another passage on
070&deg;, <b lang="de">Altes Pech.</b> This ascends for 9m to come into a 7m
drippy shaft on the joint. There is a continuation opposite that may be
accessible (QMB) and it clearly goes at the bottom (QMA). Just before this
shaft you can climb up 3m on the left wall. It goes up another few to a small
chamber. There are three crappy QMs here (up, left and right). All 'C'.</P>
<P>Coffin level starts over some boulders. You can climb back
under these boulders to arrive by a stream in the ceiling, probably where
the water comes in from the roof in Jade. The rift descends steeply to
where a hole in the floor connects to the roof of Jade, and 3m below the
passage from Jade joins. Ahead a c3 up leads into gently descending passage
which goes for 20m to a nice dry p10 (QMA), with a continuation opposite
which can probably reached with a lined traverse (QMB).</P>
<hr>
<p>The evening was OK whilst we had dinner, but then it started raining
again and most decamped to the <span lang="de-at">Loserh&uuml;tte</span>
again. I got out my bivi bag and kipped under the
<span lang="de">Bergrestaurant</span> eaves. This proved to be poor cover
from the rain and I was rather too hot so had to leave the zip open, which
meant the water got in. It wasn't particularly miserable, but it was very
handy to be able to dry gear out in the hut - more than one night in a row
like that would be rubbish.</p>
<p><EM>Monday</EM>
In the morning the rain held off enough to have breakfast out the side of
Mark's excellently converted-for-camping van. As he's Welsh (and therefore
speaks perfect English, and understands sarcasm) and seemed to have a
proper attitude to outdoor camping I attached myself to his van for the
next couple of days (until he went home).</p>
<p>Jens and Fritz when back to the 'new 115 entrance-to-be' (in the rain,
whilst everyone else skived at the <span lang="de-at">Loserh&uuml;tte)</span>
to do a couple more hours very soggy digging, but still didn't get in. A
very interesting spot - as a new entrance into the bottom of 115 would avoid
the 100m pitch and rather a lot of caving. There is one short surface abseil
needed to get to the spot on the surface, despite it being in the very steep
area on the side of the Vord.</p>
<p>Monday is the <span lang="de-at">Loser</span> Hut's day off, so we had the
key and slacked about there all day, sorting out data and looking at the
rain. They were remarkably tolerant of us taking up the place so long as we
bought some beer and at least some of us were staying there.</p>
<p>I kept having to borrow clothes and money as I had lost my yellow
fleece in someone's car and didn't have any Austrian dosh, and couldn't
find my wallet to go and get any Austrian dosh. I didn't have a spare
sweatshirt as I had been trying hard to keep the weight of gear down due
to flying by plane (I still had ~34Kg and 41 on the way back (wet stuff +
donated surveys and journals)). Eventually (Wednesday) I worked
out that on the first morning when I was all disorganised having just
arrived and people wanted data processing on computers and it had been
hot I must have taken my fleece off (containing my wallet) and put it
in/on <span lang="de">J&ouml;rg</span>'s van, who had then gone home. A phone
call determined that this had been spotted and was under control; the next
arrival on pre-expo (Thursday) was bringing it back; it would have fixed
itself without me having even worked out what went wrong :-).</p>
<p>Being based at the <span lang="de-at">Loserh&uuml;tte</span> I found an
excellent bivi spot under the front balcony, with a marvelous view of <span
lang="de-at">Altaussee,</span> and almost complete shelter from the rain.
Some handy logs made a good flat shelf above the nettles - recommended.</p>
<p><EM>Tuesday</EM>
Finally the rain cleared so we could go caving. I was keen to go to <span
lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> so everyone went there, splitting into two
teams. </p>
<p>The first lot <span lang="de">(Jens Freigang, Winni Wichmann, Florian
Gruner)</span> were supposed to be going down the 50m shaft near the entrance
to <span lang="de">Schotterland,</span> but instead got distracted by the
last big entrance before you get to 40e (70m along from 40e). We thought this
was the one that goes in to SVH via the <span lang="de">Eisgang</span>
(normally blocked by ice), but it turned out not to be. They found about a
50m cave going over <span lang="de">Elephantengang</span> and dropping down
above <span lang="de">Wahnsinsch&auml;chte</span> but choked. This was duly
called <b lang="de">Nichts 50.</b></p>
<P>2000.05.30 (Tuesday). <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle.</span> 6hrs. Uncle
Tom Cobbly and all go to <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> for a poke.</P>
<P>Wook, <span lang="de">Fritz Mammel,</span> Mark Morgan, <span
lang="de">Tobi Tr&auml;nkler.</span> Went in 40e to check out the QM by <span
lang="de">Kalter Gang</span> entrance A1998-40-05&nbsp;B.</P>
<P>Summary: Wook abbed down off an ice screw and 'welded-on lump of
ice' belay. QM was indeed as described down edge of ice and
<span lang="de">Kalter Gang</span> is <u>definitely</u> not currently
enterable without some digging. Something, presumably water, must have moved
crap back in to the hole since the mid-80s. We went in for a look between the
clear ice wall (you can see several feet into it in places) and the rock.
Crawling though a few boulders gets into a huge high space with a big ice
wall at the top and sloping down to a large (in May at least) waterfall at
the bottom end coming out of a passage 15-20m up. The area seems to just be a
huge boulder choke below the floor level of <span
lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> with one side being the solid wall of
<span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> continuing down. Our geologist
(MarkM) siad this was definitely a fault. We spent a while wandering through
all the boulders following faint draughts but finding everything choked or
too tight, so then we surveyed about 100m and boogied out. I confirmed that
SV69 is not the station that the <span lang="de">Kalter Gang</span> survey
starts at (they are a few metres apart), but forgot that we needed to survey
between them - bum).</P>
<p><STRONG>Cave Description:</STRONG>
<br>It follows the wall round in a narrow gap between wall and ice, then
through a few boulders into a large space at least 20m high, <b>Express
Finish.</b> It is the bottom of a deep canyon, partly infilled by rocks and
ice from the south. The upper wall is steep ice, presumably from <span
lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> above, but perhaps there is passage up
there? The ice is about 60-70 degrees and thus could be climbed, but it's a
long way off the floor! The floor consists of boulders and descends steeply
to the towards the large (in may) waterfall at the end. A 3m climb at the
bottom reaches the foot of the waterfall. Progress can be made beyond the
canyon at various levels. All of this seems to be scrotting about in the gaps
between the ice and boulders against the solid northern wall. No ways on were
found in a thorough search. At the top, next to the ice you can climb up and
round for about 15m until the ice closes down against the wall.</P>
<P>There are two holes at the foot of the north wall, the upper one pleasant,
the smaller rather scrotty. These lead to two large levelish spaces,
connected by a 2m icy climb (down only!). You can climb up from the top level
to the left, and down from the bottom to the left (all choked). At the left
end of the lower level is a far too tight blowing hole and a marginally
desperate tight canyon, just too small even for Wook (due to a corner - you
can physically get in the first metre or so). This has a draught - its
smallness is frustrating! To the right of this a climb down leads to a small
(0.8m) icy canyon. After two 2m downclimbs in succession it closes down. At
the right hand end of this level you can climb up back to the huge canyon via
the scrotty hole, or down into more interstices. The water from the waterfall
can be heard through the wall here. There seems to be a draught but after
climbing down about 10m through the choke against the wall it is lost.</P>
<p><em>Wednesday</em>
Wednesday was another slack day. Almost everyone jacked as it was raining
again. Me, Tobi and Fritz went into town to get money and buy sweeties,
ask about expo mobile phones, visit <span lang="de-at">Toplitzsee</span>
(Tobi's uncle was the Jewish printer who did the Nazi's forged-note printing,
so he was interested to see the place and read the history). Cooked tea in a
handy Autrian bus-stop. These Germans don't really seem to do tea at every
available opportunity - very odd!</p>
<p><em>Thursday</em>
Wook got to take a couple of volunteers to see the joys of <b>Persistence of
Vision</b> - by far the closest point of approach between
<span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> and
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle,</span> found last year, but a bit of an
Atkinson/Wook special. On the whole they thought it was hard work, the bolt
traverse was really rather scary and the 'expo rigging' was pretty poor too.
Tobi promised that 'he would like it tomorrow, once he had got out'.</p>
<P>2000.06.01 Wookey, <span lang="de">Fritz Mammel, Tobi
Tr&auml;nkler.</span> 7hrs <span lang="de">(Tobi &amp; Fritz,</span> 6.5
Wook). Looked at low passage in <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> -
but the 1-2 inch deep pool of icy water and the very low roof, and no
draught, meant that we left it for another trip - it looked fairly
horrid.</P>
<P>Went into Persistence of Vision and rigged the pitches with Arge rope and
hangers. Stole a couple from the rigging en-route in order to be able to
continue but by the time we got part way down the pitches (1st rope ran out)
we only had half an our before exit-time. Tobi and Fritz waited (somewhat
concerned by the rigging and the thought of returning through the crappy
rifts and epic traverses), but I was determined to have a look having come
this far. Got to the bottom and thrashed about in the annoying rift at the
end. Determined that it does go, without hammering (it's plenty wide enough),
but the pitch-head access is world-class annoying. You need to go down 1m,
and across 1m to get onto the rope. With my 3-light arrangement my hat was
far too awkward. Bolting it will be tedious, but a reasonable rig should be
possible. My light wouldn't reach the bottom of the pitch below, but then it
was only doing about 15m with my hammerited reflector. Pissed off out, with a
short faff to put rigging back and fettled Hooked on Classics to be slightly
less shit. Out at 8.15pm, walked back in 1hr 4mins, not quite needing a zoom
- perfect timing.</P>
<p></em>Friday</em>
Much narging and emailing between me and <span lang="de">Thilo</span> and
<span lang="de">Franz Lindenmayr,</span> one
of the stalwarts of the 1980's <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> work, and
peering through old write-ups and survey data meant that we had managed to
'explore' a couple of QMs just sitting at the computer. One of the most
significant of these was a 50m pitch very close to the entrance (before
<span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle)</span> which led into big passage,
apparently with an A-grade QM at one end. We resolved to go and check this
out and get a proper survey done.</p>
<P>2000.06.02 Wookey, <span lang="de">Gaspard Nagorkinos.
Schotterland.</span> 4 &frac34; hrs. Overlapped with earlier <span
lang="de">Schotterland</span> trip <span lang="de">(Jens, Gunter, Gitte,
Alois)</span> who did the mainline survey. We did the climbs and side
passages. 50m up the south-going side is a climb up a ramp for about 30m.
Cairn at the end shows someone has been there before. It closes down. At the
opposite end of the passage everything is thoroughly choked with glacial fill
except a hole in the roof out of which comes a spout of water. The nature of
this leads to the name <b lang="de">Pissen Schacht.</b> Wook shinned up the
hole with the aid of a few slings, carefully avoiding (most of) the water.
Above is canyon, dry to the west, and wet to the SE. The roof can be shinned
up to at various levels but it always choked with rocks - probably the floor
of SVH.</P>
<P>Checked out short passage that is 'third leg' from the pitch. Chokes after
about 30m. There is a strong draught from a hole in one corner but there it
is full of medium-sized rocks. It would be an ace dig in Britain :-). Finally
we surveyed the sopping wet pitch (my Oldham filled up - that's how wet it
was!), derigged and went out.</P>
<P>Outside I redid the VFHO survey legs at the entrance to work out where
their 'SV0' station must have been. It is neither of the other stations used,
so we connected them with a leg. From apparent position of SV0 to point in
cave that everyone else has used: 1.70m -16 356</P>
<P>Dinner in the <span lang="de-at">Loserh&uuml;tte)</span> again, on the
terrace, watching distant lightning, then back to <span
lang="de">parkplatz</span> for a bit of <span lang="de">schnapps</span> and
tea before bed. <span lang="de">Thilo</span> slacked around in the sunshine
all day, suffering from too much sun the day before (He had spent the day
trying to dig his way into <span lang="de">Gr&uuml;ner Eingang</span> which
was under several metres of snow. A great deal of effort had made a
remarkably small hole :-)</P>
<P>2000.06.03 Last trip. Much of team slacked off to the lake for the day,
leaving Wook, <span lang="de">Jens, Gaspard</span> and <span
lang="de">Gunter</span> keen. <span lang="de">Gaspard</span> wanted to take
photos but Wook wanted to survey connection to old <span
lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle,</span> so we ended up with two understaffed teams.
<span lang="de">Jens</span> 'quick-change' went to check out entrance above
where <span lang="de">Thilo</span> had been digging for <span
lang="de">Gruner Eingang.</span> It went about 30m with a 3m pitch before
choking. Needs surveying properly.</P>
<P>After that diversion we went in 40e and rigged
<span lang="de">Elephantengang</span> pitch, taking the better of the bits of
blue polyprop rope there with us. Got to the climb up to
<span lang="de">Gr&uuml;ner Eingang</span> passage and whilst Wook was
getting <span lang="fr">etriers</span> and ice axes ready
<span lang="de">Jens</span> shinned up the rock corner. I passed him up 3 ice
screws and the rope and he finished the climb without even using any
crampons, which seemed a bit keen. However this did mean I kept my promise to
Tess not to do anything silly :-). Rigged the ancient polyprop from a boulder
and went in to havalook. Wook followed wind to
<span lang="de">Gr&uuml;ner,</span> but it was indeed completely full of
snow. Then followed gale through ice-slush pond(!) down smallish canyon to
where you could look down 3 or 4m into big passage. Unfortunately it was too
overhanging to climb (presumably there was more ice here in 1938 for the
original explorers to get up here), and we had no more rope, nor time to go
back to <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> for some even older
polyprop. So, we surveyed out getting <u>very</u> cold in the smallest,
windiest part. There are a couple of QMs in here (a very narrow shaft and a
climbable aven). Nice bit of cave. Wizzed out leaving the
<span lang="de">Gr&uuml;ner</span> climb rigged, although you need to be
careful to keep low at the top or the sling might come off its boulder, and
there's no back-up.. (apparently there is a spit up there somewhere).</P>
<P>Took a few photos on the snowslope and left. Total electric failure for
Wook on ice-slope - no idea why, but about as well-timed as such an event can
be. Entrance crawl even more tedious then usual with a carbide that goes out
when you knock it. Slogged back in sunshine with all our shit in 1&frac14;
hrs.</P>
<P>Then drove around <span lang="de-at">Grundlesee</span> in thunderstorm to
find others. Passed them in the rain but didn't recognise <span
lang="de">Thilo's (Heinz's)</span> car so ended up driving to <span
lang="de-at">Bad Mittendorf</span> to meet having found new clubhouse by
interrogating people in bars. Swapped journals and surveys and info with
<span lang="de-at">Robert Seebacher</span> <span lang="la">et al,</span> then
went for a pizza. Kipped in <span lang="de">Vereinsheim</span> and went home
on Sunday.</P>
<p>Members: <span lang="de">Markus B&ouml;lzle, G&uuml;nther Forstmaier, Jens
Freigang, Heinz Frey, Richard Geserer, Flo Gruner, J&ouml;rg Haussmann,
Gaspard Magarinos, Fritz Mammel, Mark Morgan, Thilo M&uuml;ller, Alois+Gitte
Sp&ouml;tzl, Tobias Tr&auml;nkle, Winni Wichmann,</span> Wookey</p>
<H2>Appendices</H2>
<p>GPS numbers for 115 entrance and end point near possible new entrance</p>
<P>115 entrance possible new entrance in <span lang="de">Nutzenlos.</span> If
co-ordinates of 115 <span lang="de">Eingang</span> are: 5411141 5281638 then
co-ords of end pt are 5411588 5281674 (but I don't think either of these are
right)</P>
<P>GPS, map, cave co-ordinate conversions, as confirmed for 115 entrance.</P>
<P>GPS (German grid, WGS84) -&gt; Map <span lang="de">(Alpenverein)</span>
-&gt; <span lang="de">H&ouml;hle</span></P>
<P>Easting (10,000GPS -&gt; 35000)</P>
<P>GPS -&gt; +306 -&gt; Map -&gt; -1326 -&gt; <span lang="de">H&ouml;hle</span></P>
<P>GPS -&gt; -1020 -&gt; <span lang="de">H&ouml;hle</span></P>
<P>Northing (82000GPS -&gt; 81000)</P>
<P>GPS -&gt; -379 -&gt; Map -&gt; +25529 -&gt; <span lang="de">H&ouml;hle</span></P>
<P>GPS -&gt; +25150 -&gt; <span lang="de">H&ouml;hle</span></P>
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<h1>CUCC Expo 2000</h1>
<h2>Introduction</h2>
<p>In the summer of 2000, Cambridge University Caving Club ("CUCC")
held its 24th annual expedition to the <span lang="de-at">Loser</span>
Plateau in the <span lang="de-at">Totes Gebirge</span> region of Austria.</p>
<p>There were twenty-three expedition members; as has been the norm for the
past years the expedition lasted for five weeks. The
<a href="../../bcamps.htm">base camp</a> was at
<span lang="de-at">Gasthof Staud'n Wirt, Bad Aussee,</span> where the
Club is annually made very welcome by <span lang="de-at">Hilde</span> and
<span lang="de-at">Karin Wilpernig</span> and family.</p>
<h2>The story so far</h2>
<p>Under the<a href="../../smkridge/index.htm">
<span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel</span> ridge,</a> which is
situated to the south-east of the <span lang="de-at">Loser</span> plateau,
lie the large cave systems of
<a href="../../smkridge/161/top.htm"><span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span></a>
and <a href="../../smkridge/41.htm"><span lang="de-at">Stellerwegh&ouml;hle,</span></a>
each 24km in length. The
<span lang="de-at">Stellerwegh&ouml;hlensystem,</span> which includes
entrances such as
<a href="../../noinfo/smkridge/88.htm"><span lang="de">L&auml;rchenschacht</span></a> and
<a href="../../smkridge/41/115.htm"><span lang="de">Schnellzugh&ouml;hle,</span></a>
has been explored by Austrian, German and CUCC groups since the 1970s. CUCC
has not explored here for many years; instead the Club's exploration has been
concentrated in <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle,</span> which was first
entered on the 1988 CUCC expedition.</p>
<p>Connected to the <span lang="de-at">Stellerwegh&ouml;hlensystem</span> is
the <span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel Eish&ouml;hle,</span> discovered in
1929. This is a large ice cave including the vast chamber of
<span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle,</span> the largest ice-bearing chamber
in western Europe. This chamber is significant as the distance between
passages leading off from <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> and
passages in <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> is very short.</p>
<p>This tantalising prospect of connecting two large systems---which, if
joined, would be high in the list of caves in the world with a great length
<i>and</i> depth---has excited explorers from CUCC for the past few years. At
the start of this year's expedition the distance between the systems was
approximately 75m. Major discoveries on the
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> side had been made in 1999 via the
deep shaft entrance of <span lang="de">Steinschlagschacht,</span> but no way
through had been found. Thus searching for a passage to forge the link was a
major objective of this year's expedition.</p>
<p>Further out around the <span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel</span> ridge,
downslope from the summit of the <span lang="de-at">Hinterer
Schwarzmooskogel,</span> lies the system of
<span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle.</span> This cave was discovered
by CUCC in 1999 and stood at 224m deep---with a wide open lead at the
bottom---at the end of the 1999 expedition. The second major aim of this
year's expedition was to continue exploration here.
<span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span> lies in a potentially
important position, 500m north of <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle.</span>
It was postulated that the cave might lead to an easier way into the Far
North areas of <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle,</span> where deep
shafts lie unexplored.</p>
<p>A significant amount of time on CUCC expeditions is spent on
documenting known and new caves, surveying (both underground and on
the surface), experimenting with the use of techniques such as GPS
(Global Positioning System) and related activities. The Expo web site
provides comprehensive information about the caves of the
<span lang="de-at">Loser</span> Plateau and it is highly
important that this is kept up-to-date with the latest knowledge.</p>
<h2>Aims of the Expedition</h2>
<p>The aims of the 2000 Expo are summarised below.
<ul>
<li>Push leads in the <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> to attempt
to forge the link between the
<span lang="de-at">Stellerwegh&ouml;hlensystem</span> and
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle.</li>
<li>Push leads in <span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle.</span></li>
<li>Continue exploration in <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span>
---there are over 200 documented ways on.</li>
<li>Document and survey every new passage discovered.</li>
<li>Continue surface surveying and documentation work from previous
years, in parallel with prospecting for new caves on the plateau.</li>
<li>Fix positions of cave entrances more accurately using GPS (now
that the Selective Availability accuracy restriction has been lifted
by the US Government).</li>
</ul></p>
<h2>And so to Austria</h2>
<p>With the tackle having been prepared and packed, five cavers set off
from England on the weekend of the 15th July. Others who had set off
previously joined this contingent in Austria and Base Camp was established
over the next couple of days.</p>
<p>The caving area is situated on the Loser plateau at an altitude of 1600m,
some 800m higher than Base Camp. A toll road ascends the mountainside to a
restaurant and car park at the top. From here it is approximately a
45-minute walk to Top Camp on the plateau, more if one has hundreds of metres
of rope and other caving gear on one's back!</p>
<p>Initially this year the weather was poor but Top Camp was finally set up
after a few days and the rope and tackle ferried there.</p>
<p>The next few sections of this report detail the work which was undertaken
in each of the major target areas of work for the expedition.</p>
<h2>Discoveries in the <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span></h2>
<img src="ice.jpg" width=500 height=375 hspace=10 vspace=10 align=left>
<p>Initially much work was undertaken to document the
<span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> entrances and other holes in the region.
The main entrances to the <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> side of
the <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> lie in a "portal row" together with
other, unconnected entrances to small caves. Two of the latter were
investigated and some naming ambiguities resulting from the decades of
<span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> exploration (the cave was first
discovered in 1929) were resolved.</p>
<p>There had been rumours before the expedition that the "40h"
entrance, which provides a quick way into
<span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle,</span> was open
(rather than being blocked by snow as is usual). CUCC had not
explored from this entrance before and there was some confusion as to
exactly which entrance it was.</p>
<p>Cavers from CUCC found a Spit (a self-drilling anchor placed
in the rock to use as a belay point for descent) in a large entrance
partly plugged with snow. A small ice-floored tube blowing a
formidable and very cold draught led off from the bottom. This was
descended and <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> entered after less
than five minutes from the start of the descent.</p>
<h3>Mission Impossible</h3>
<p>The first aim in <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> was to bolt up
alongside a frozen waterfall, which had been identified previously by
geologists as being in an important location. This is because of the
proximity to <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> and the fact
that the passage seen at the top of the climb is believed to be on the
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> side of the large fault plane
which bounds <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> on its northern side.
No other passages of any significance are known which cross this plane.</p>
<img src="climb.jpg" width=350 height=528 hspace=10 vspace=10 align=right>
<p>The climb was bolted quickly and led at the top to a climb round an
ice buttress and a 24m pitch, the start of <b>Mission Impossible</b>.
It is believed that this point may have been reached many years
earlier by a French group (using an alternative route up when the ice
was in a different state from at present). However, at the bottom of
the pitch an icy duck led to a further 3 second drop. This was
certainly in undiscovered cave and the new shaft was quickly rigged.</p>
<p>Forty-five metres lower, large chambers and passages were encountered.
These led precisely towards <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle!</span>
However, despite much searching, no ways on were found at the end, save for
some large avens rising above. This year there was insufficient manpower to
bolt upwards; the series hence stopped 20m below
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> and virtually underneath (plus or
minus survey error).</p>
<p>Wookey and Atkinson bolted across the top of the 45m pitch to enter a
parallel shaft, which unfortunately, although of impressive
proportions, did not lead to a closer point to
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle.</span> Additionally, the area in the
region above <b>Mission Impossible</b> in
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> was thoroughly searched but no
ways down were found.</p>
<p>Although Mission Impossible did not lead in itself to a connection, it
has proved that significant development exists in the gap between
<span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> and
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle.</span></p>
<h3>Night Manipulations Series</h3>
<p>Whilst the bolting up to Mission Impossible was in progress, a very
low wet crawl under a side wall of <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span>
led to further passages, believed to have been partially explored previously.
This led to approximately 200m of passage including a connection through to a
point half-way up the Radio 3 pitch in the <b>Persistence of Vision</b>
series (discovered in 1999). Despite filling in a significant gap on the
survey this series did not unfortunately lead to any passages closer to
<span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle.</span></p>
<h3>Persistence of Vision</h3>
<p>In 1999 the <b>Persistence of Vision</b> series was discovered---to
quote the words of the original explorers:<br>
... An interesting series off <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle,</span> with
some tortuous small passage of a highly "Mendip" nature, including tight
bends, squeezes, ridiculous climbs, insane bolt traverses, and bizarre hading
rift. This connects a selection of rifts and pitches which are largely
blocked at the bottom. The passages trend steeply up between the pitches.
There is an awful lot of "varied caving" in the 400m of passage found so
far...</p>
<p>In 2000 further exploration was conducted at the very end of the
series, where a tight slot led to a further pitch down and
unfortunately became too tight. Some of the series was derigged, but
there is still an interesting lead part way along which could trend
towards <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle.</span></p>
<h3><span lang="de">Kalter Gang</span> and
<span lang="de">Spinnenfriedhof</span></h3>
<p>On the last day of exploration in the
<span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> the blocked squeeze
through into <span lang="de">Kalter Gang</span> (surveyed by VfHM in 1984)
was excavated and the passage beyond re-explored. This area is approximately
200m ENE of Mission Impossible. A lack of rope prevented descent to the
bottom of the continuing rift; this will almost certainly be looked at again
in 2001 to check that no passage was left unexplored by the original
explorers.</p>
<h2>Discoveries in <span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span></h2>
<p>As mentioned previously
<a href="../../smkridge/204.htm"><span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span></a>
stood at 224m deep at the end of the 1999 expedition. Unfortunately work
early in this year's expedition was hindered by the discovery of a large
amount of snow at the bottom of the entrance pitch. This necessitated work to
find an alternative route down; at one stage it was feared that the whole
cave might be inaccessible but thankfully a new shaft was found, bypassing
the old second and third pitches and the snow plug too.</p>
<p>Exploration then continued apace and after some effort the cave was
been rigged down to -224m. In parallel with this rigging other
exploration was conducted. This alone led to two large pitch series
of approximately 100m depth each, with shafts of large diameters.
Unfortunately both stopped: one in a too-tight rift and another in a
boulder choke.</p>
<p>The shaft visited in 1999 was pushed from -224m; unfortunately no
horizontal level (as postulated in 1999) was found; instead, the
series of shafts continued until an eventual end at -368m, where a
tight stream passage led off. It is possible that further passage
could be found here, but it does not appear especially promising. In
addition, the lead requires a large amount of tackle to reach, which
could possibly be better used in other areas.</p>
<img src="sb.jpg" width=594 height=387 hspace=10 vspace=10 align=left>
<p>Throughout the expedition two of the members new to Expo spent a
considerable amount of time pushing a series of crawls leading off
from <b>110 A Day</b> in the upper levels of
<span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle.</span> These alone led to the
discovery of a significant amount of passage, but in the last few days of the
expedition a very significant discovery was made here: large horizontal
passage trending northwards.</p>
<p>In this direction lies terrain not explored by CUCC; 1500m further west
lies the great system of <span lang="de-at">Raucherkarh&ouml;hle,</span>
80km in length. The new passage in
<span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span> will be pushed in 2001
to investigate the extent of the horizontal development at this level. This
will form part of a general shift to a larger amount of exploration around
the <span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span> area in general, both
above and below ground.</p>
<h2>Discoveries in <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span></h2>
<p>In addition to the major work being carried out in the
<span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle</span> and
<span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle,</span> a team set off to explore
the <b>Regurgitation</b> area of <span lang="de">Kaninchenh&ouml;hle.</span>
This is an interesting area, explored from a large chamber at the bottom of a
huge wet aven. A winding stream rift descends steeply from the chamber; this
was explored and surveyed for a considerable distance. There is still the
possibility of further discoveries at the bottom but the amount of water
descending the shafts may begin to pose a problem.</p>
<h2>Surface work and other caves</h2>
<p>As is usual for modern-day CUCC expeditions, a large amount of surface
work was undertaken. This year this included surface surveys to known
and new entrances, prospecting for new caves and documenting some
earlier finds whose documentation had been lacking in some respect.
Other follow-up work on previous surveys was also undertaken.</p>
<p>Caves are tagged with discreet aluminium tags and new minor
discoveries (of which there were several this year) are documented,
surveyed to and surveyed inside. The most significant of these
discoveries this year was <b lang="de">Traungoldh&ouml;hle</b>, opposite the
entrance to <span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span> and with seven
entrances. Two entrances lie underneath the rock bridge which gave
<span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span> its name, portrayed in
Figure 3 above. The new cave was fully explored to 200m in length.</p>
<h2>Other work</h2>
<p>Much work was conducted using GPS receivers to fix cave entrances and
other navigational landmarks. New coordinate conversion software
enables translations between Austrian grid and latitude/longitude
coordinates to be made with reasonable accuracy. A map was prepared
of the GPS fixes and surface survey points which helped to resolve
some inaccuracies.</p>
<p>In addition some design work on a new version of the surveying
software <i>Survex</i>, designed and written by CUCC members, was
undertaken. The new release is expected by the end of 2001 and will
greatly enhance the software's capabilities, with a modular
architecture and a fully graphical user interface. Details of the
project, nicknamed <i>Project Spud</i>, are available from the
<a href="http://www.survex.com/spud.html">Survex web site</a>.</p>
<h2>Follow-up work</h2>
<p>The usual follow-up work in Cambridge and elsewhere is continuing even
as you read this report. Survey data is processed on computer using
<i>Survex</i>. Surveys have to be drawn up and passage descriptions
written.</p>
<p>The CUCC Expo documentation archive, maintained as a Web site, is
currently being updated with the finds from Expo 2000. This
comprehensive cross-referenced resource provides an excellent
knowledge base of information for future expeditions.</p>
<p><a href="../../index.htm">The archive can
be viewed on the Web here.</a></p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>A total of 2.5km of cave was discovered this year; the length and
depth of <span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span> were extended to approximately 2.5km and -368m respectively. The prospects for further
discoveries leading off from the newly-discovered large horizontal level in
<span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle</span> are good. Significant
systems such as <span lang="de">Organh&ouml;hle</span> lie in the direction
in which this passage trends; there are certainly more discoveries to be made
here.</p>
<p>The expedition in 2001 will continue the work of previous years, again
searching for the elusive
<span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle---Kaninchenh&ouml;hle</span> connection and
also prospecting around the area of
<span lang="de">Steinbr&uuml;ckenh&ouml;hle;</span> many large surface shafts
lie unexplored here. It is possible that an attack on the connection will be
made from <span lang="de">Steinschlagschacht</span> and the nearby Hall of
the Mounting Choss. Here there are at least two deep unexplored shafts and
other descending question marks. Although these could not drop directly into
the currently-known parts of the <span lang="de">Eish&ouml;hle,</span> they
may drop into passages nearby. The discovery of Mission Impossible this year
has shown that significant cave passage does lie in the gap between the two
systems; it seems increasingly likely that any connection which exists will
not be in a direct line across the gap.</p>
<p>Planning for the forthcoming 2001 expedition has now begun in earnest.
Any enquiries should be directed to the Expedition Leader,
<a href="mailto:mjg54@cam.ac.uk">Martin Green</a>, Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge.</p>
<h2>Thanks</h2>
<p>Thanks go to the following for their gracious sponsorship of Expo 2000:
<ul>
<li><b>Thomas Tunnock Ltd.</b> for Tunnock Bars;
<li><b>Finlay McKinlay, Chemists</b> in Glossop and
their suppliers for first aid and photographic supplies;
<li><b>The Ghar Parau Foundation</b> for their support.
</ul></p>
<p><span lang="de-at">Hilde, Karin</span> and the other folk at
<span lang="de-at">Staud'n Wirt</span> must be thanked for
their excellent food and hospitality and the use of their campsite and
hut. Finally the expedition members are also thanked for their
individual contributions to this year's expedition.</p>
<p><a href="mailto:Mark.Shinwell@cl.cam.ac.uk">Mark Shinwell</a> --
Expedition Leader 2000<br>
Queens' College, Cambridge, England. CB3 9ET</p>
<p>19th November 2000</p>
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