From 309e3fb3721a24db681c2bb60b345e72db8318e8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: expouser
Back in ropeless Olly rigged along rigged along the traverse with more +
Back in ropeless Olly rigged along the traverse with more rope and more hangers than last year. Instead of the free climbed traverse at the end we dropped down to a ledge off to the left. This led to two short segments of passage each of which ended looking down on the @@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ drop back down to me leaving him ‘rope free’ hence the name. I threw the rope back and Olly put in a bolt.
We clambered down the other side into a drafty chamber. A too tight hole -in the floor as the source of part if the draft. The rest seems to come +in the floor is the source of part if the draft. The rest seems to come out of a tight rift. We surveyed the chamber and the passage going off for a bit but we were both very cold. I decided that we were too cold to survey as thoroughly as I felt the chamber warranted, so we decided to @@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ return tomorrow.
Headed back into the chamber beyond Rope Free to chase the draft and complete the survey. First I tried in the lower level of the rift – I -could squeeze through rift (without SRT kit on) and appeared in a +could squeeze through just (without SRT kit on) and appeared in a widening that led to a pitch – I couldn’t get too close without gear. I surveyed back out to the chamber and we tried higher up in the rift. Olly got through a squeeze (above where I had been) and then to @@ -106,8 +106,8 @@ another – he pulled some rocks out so we could (just) fit through. We came out at the top of a rift that we could climb/slither down, leading on a ledge above a pitch that we carefully traversed around.
-We followed the draft into big passage, at first we followed it to a -rift lvel, climbing over big boulders – this led to a hole in the +
We followed the draft into big passage, at first we followed it at a +high level, climbing over big boulders – this led to a hole in the floor, so we went back and followed at the base of the passage, past some pretty mud, down a climb and some more mud. We eventually got to a pitch that we had no gear to descend or cross. The draft and passage @@ -124,15 +124,15 @@ appear to continue. Surveyed out.
Took the drill and rigging gear in, Olly removed some more rocks from the squeezy bit (pushing the envelope) and we realised that we could bypass the first squeeze by being high up. Olly then put in a rope as -protection on the shorter down, this made me happy because there is +protection on the slither down, this made me happy because there is quite a pitch below and we removed quite a few of the footholds last time (to clatter down the pitch).
Went to the pushing front and rigged over the pitch, following the -draft. Shortly after the passage mad a sharp right hand turn into +draft. Shortly after the passage made a sharp right hand turn into passage that was much more phreatic in character ~2m wide. We then hit another rift was also strongly drafted, doubling the strength of the -draft in the passage heading for ICH – it is seriously cold and windy. +draft in the passage heading for KH – it is seriously cold and windy. This is “The Coldest Place in Earth”.
There is a short drop which I traversed over to see another pitch @@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ This is “The Coldest Place in Earth”.
rope and Olly rigged it across the traverse and down the short pitch to a gloopy muddy pool below. We continued along the rift beyond, which headed fairly persistently east. We stopped when another pitch -blocked our way on. This looked like a long traverse was needed then +blocked our way on. This looked like a longer traverse was needed then we had rope for. We surveyed out getting colder and colder as we went. @@ -152,22 +152,22 @@ went.Back into Sleepless, re-rigging some ropes along the way to free up -what we needed for later. Got the The Coldest place in Earth, Olly is -going first, and he discoveres what happens if you use a rack, it +what we needed for later. Got to the The Coldest place in Earth, Olly is +going first, and he discovers what happens if you use a rack, it isn’t locked off and you don’t keep hold of the down rope. Fortunately the pitch is only ~5m high, he was already down 1m and he landed in soft squelchy mud. Still it was a very scary few moments for both of us…
-
Got to yesterdays pushing front and Olly preceeded to bolt down the -pitch into passage beyond. To keep watm I drew the elevation that got +
Got to yesterdays pushing front and Olly proceeded to bolt down the +pitch into passage beyond. To keep warm I drew the elevation that got missed yesterday. After traversing over the pitch we followed the walking size rift on (with the draft), over a short climb and a hole and to a widening. This time the way on is down a short pitch to some more squelchy mud pools and sadly another pitch that we don’t have rope for.
-Olly comes up with the mad idea that I reassessed the reascend the +
Olly comes up with the mad idea that I reascend the previous pitch, throw him the rope so he can see what happens on the next pitch. I took both slings up with me to aid with me getting the rope back. Amazingly the mad plan worked. Olly ascertained that the @@ -183,19 +183,19 @@ passage and draft continued below and we both got safely back up.
Yet again back into sleepless and heading ever closer to KH. Took -more rope, and last of our hangers and the last drill battery to the -pushing front. Rigged 2 short pitches with one larger rope and headed +more rope, and the last of our hangers and the last drill battery to the +pushing front. Rigged 2 short pitches with one longer rope and headed on. The passage is now much riftier and less obvious what level to be at. We stay at the level of the bottom of the pitch, not the floor trench and traverse along until we have to drop down a bit. A bit further on the passage widens and we rig a short rope to get to a lower -level. A pitch drops deeper but we continue a long with the draft. We +level. A pitch drops deeper but we continue along with the draft. We stay either at the base of the rift or <4m above mostly and work our way along. Sadly we then get to another pitch in the way.
Olly rigged round, it took him a while as each time he hammered to dress the rock, flake fell and boomed down the pitch. I kept telling myself it -was a really short pitch that echoed alot... There was nowhere to wait +was a really short pitch that echoed a lot... There was nowhere to wait out of the draft and I started to wonder why I had used up nearly a whole years worth of annual leave to sit and shiver in Austria. Fortunately Olly got to the other side with 1 hanger left to rig there. @@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ jammer too far away from me to undo with cold fingers and I got increasingly unhappy.
I finally made it to the other side where I told Olly this was the worse -thing he had ever rigged and that we might die when we have to retun to +thing he had ever rigged and that we might die when we have to return to get out the cave. Fortunately he took it as a compliment...
We continued on with the draft (which might be a bit weaker), until we @@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ out but we were keen to survey back before we went down the hill.
As luck would have it we didn't die on the way out but I still whimpered quite a lot despite trying to be brave. This is called Too Bold for this Spit as Olly lifted a Hilti out on the way back. We got the Makita drill -and batteries out of the cave, and surveyed back to the previous dat, +and batteries out of the cave, and surveyed back to the previous day, Also we made our call out and nearly got to the car park in time, where Julian was patiently waiting to take us down the hill.
@@ -522,7 +522,7 @@ with the drill and thrubolts (having run out of Hiltis 2 days ago). -* Dour: "Can you remember those numbers while I get my bok out?" +
* Dour: "Can you remember those numbers while I get my book out?" Chris: "Maybe. Distance 6.66, Clino +66, Ooer!"
At the bottom was a 3s drop down a dribbly shaft, but we eschewed this is favour of a @@ -667,12 +667,12 @@ ropeless. Dropped straight down here and did some loopy bits to connect stuff. together. There are now no leads here.
Went back along ropeless towards the passage heading to 76. I spotted a roof tube which I -climbed up into. It reconnected a few meters on, nut then continued. We followed the passage +climbed up into. It reconnected a few meters on, but then continued. We followed the passage up until it rejoined where the rope comes in. Surveyed back.
Went to the lead towards 76. Clambered down and then traversed along at a widening above floor level. It was tight at first then became more keyhole like. The floor/rift trench turned off -to the right and the phreas (which was getting bigger) went stragiht on. Followed the big +to the right and the phreas (which was getting bigger) went straight on. Followed the big phreas called Wonderland. We got to a couple of junctions turned right each time (towards 76!). Eventually the passage got smaller and full of soil.
@@ -856,7 +856,7 @@ across the border and the sat nav locked in. Eventually arrived at base camp aroEarly in the morning (CUCC time) myself and Martin set out for Bullet 2nd Hohle with 150m @@ -1036,8 +1036,7 @@ parallel rift) and another climb/pitch heading north. Decided to leave that unti more gear.
While Olly derigged Stuart looked at a roof tube above which looks promising but needs a -drill. Moved on to the Coldest place in Earth to take the rope to the start of the traverse. On the way out we had a -look at getting into the roof tubes level with the top of the short pitch. Stuart traversed +drill. Moved on to the Coldest place in Earth to take the rope to the start of the traverse. On the way out we had a look at getting into the roof tubes level with the top of the short pitch. Stuart traversed across from the pitch and I climbed from the bottom further along. The climb up was easy and I got to a similar level to Stuart. I knocked off a few loose holds and climbed up further. Suddenly I was falling down the rift, briefly I had a calm sense of inevitability, @@ -1060,13 +1059,13 @@ so we decided on a surface day. We started at laser5 and headed ~ parallel to th path but west of it.
After not long Stuart found a slightly drafty hole 2012-SW-01. He climbed down into it -and therutched into a rift. It didn’t go. I photographed the entrance while he did a sketch survey +and thrutched into a rift. It didn’t go. I photographed the entrance while he did a sketch survey and got a GPS reading. Carried on north. It is very bunde-y – I think the best prospecting is either close to the 204 path or near the plateau/ridge fault. Stuart ended up at the latter and found another climbable entrance that looked promising 2012-SW-02, sadly it got too small. Again Stuart drew a survey while we photoed + GPS-ed.
-Walked back to camped, Stuart walked up to 209 to borrow a hand bolting kit so I could +
Walked back to camped, Stuart walked up to 204 to borrow a hand bolting kit so I could 2012-SW-01. Went and tagged 2007-70 and 2007-71 and took photos.
China continued beyond where we entered, but not for long. At the north end is a wall of choss. Stuart climbed part way up + it looks like there is a continuation higher up. There is a passage/window on the East wall, but this just connects back to the bottom of the -pitch. While we finished the survey to the pitch we set Stuart off to chase the draft and +pitch. While we finished the survey to the pitch we sent Stuart off to chase the draft and find us a continuation.
He duly obliged and found a pitch through rocks north of the pitch down. We were @@ -1131,11 +1130,11 @@ appears to be at least one poor surface survey in this region.
Back to 107 to derig and look at a few leads. Collected bags and slowly brought them out derigging and drawing elevations as we went. At the bottom of the rift pitch I clambered and wriggled down the rift which got increasingly echoy. I got to a pitch down that looked like -it belled out a lot. I didn’t have survey kit but estimate pitches 20-25m deeps and very +it belled out a lot. I didn’t have survey kit but estimate pitch is 20-25m deep and very interesting in its location relative to China. There is a lot of cave still to find here! Grade 1 surveyed back and continued to de-rig to the end of Sleepless. I bolted up into the roof tube. A couple of short climbs lead to a taller aven, which might be free climbable. Surveyed -this and continued to derig and bag carry. We got all five bafs of gear, plus survey kit +this and continued to derig and bag carry. We got all five bags of gear, plus survey kit through Pushing the Envelope. Too one bag out each to the entrance chamber.
Stuart rejoined us for the final derig. Got the gear to ropeless junction and had a quick
side trip to show Stuart Wonderland and look at the roof tube there. Frustratingly after
getting all the gear in, the fully charged, unused drill battery did half a hole. I
-suggested that Olly tried to lasso a spike as a belay which he dilgently did after several
+suggested that Olly tried to lasso a spike as a belay which he diligently did after several
attempts. Sadly the spike then came down the pitch, so the lead is still going… Finished
derigging + hauled the 6 bags up the entrance pitch and carted them back to camp. There
are a lot of great leads in 107 and possible connections with 101 and 76 still to be
From 3b823457ef2efae2a8c6f825646d9178f468b587 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: expouser Joe on his 3rd day of looking for 107. This time armed with a text message from Wookey at the computer, sent @ 3am, saying to find Wookey's caving gear stash and thus 148, then 107 was 120m away on 220(degrees). Unfortunately this was copied from an area diagram(?) from 107, not to 107, so was backwards. Thus Joe & Aled spent about 3 hrs looking in the wrong place untul Wookey arrived from base camp with a map. Armed with correct info 83 was quickly found (has apit but no tag) and thus 107. Joe on his 3rd day of looking for 107. This time armed with a text message from Wookey at the computer, sent @ 3am, saying to find Wookey's caving gear stash and thus 148, then 107 was 120m away on 220(degrees). Unfortunately this was copied from an area diagram(?) from 107, not to 107, so was backwards. Thus Joe & Aled spent about 3 hrs looking in the wrong place until Wookey arrived from base camp with a map. Armed with correct info 83 was quickly found (has spit but no tag) and thus 107. TA-DAA! Then it thunderstormed (hail) whilst Aled and Joe werer collecting rope from stash at edge of plateau. Aled had left cag at 148 so had to hide in bivvi bag (correction - survival bag) for 30 minutes - "toasty" Then it thunderstormed (hail) whilst Aled and Joe were collecting rope from stash at edge of plateau. Aled had left cag at 148 so had to hide in bivvi bag (correction - survival bag) for 30 minutes - "toasty" Finally got underground around 3pm. 107 is a nice cave & O+J get full marks for documentation (rigging guide + desc + QMs + survey). Rigging and route-finding went well. Joe shimmied the ropeless traverse without gear. Aled followed with T-sacks before realising that a) this was foolish & b) he needed to come back & give Wookey hangers for rigging. Short period of excitement was survived. Rigged down to Ropefree before going home. Cave is v. cold due to strong draught throughout. Bring woolies! Lovely trip, partly as I had thick fleece furry instead of thin one so much warmer, but also [something, something] as 2 independent trips, with Joe rigging ahead & Wook following, sorting the `economical' rigging to ad backups to one-bolt-wonders & swap 51m rope on ropeless traverse(?) for 39m one. Joe came back to report squeeze then ran off again to keep warm. Wook followed to be confused by implausibly tight crawl with rope for Austria. Wookey's handwriting, at this point, is causing me incredible eyestrain :P. There are two more reports following this that need to be included in future. Underground by 11 this time, with 3 batts & plenty of keenies. Joe headed for point again, whilst Wookey & AndyA came along as rigging fairies to fix up the dodgy Olly rigging, particularly his propensity for knee-high pitch head bolts. Fixed up entrance stuff the we had left for Aled the day before as he'd gone down the hill, then on to add back-up bolts, and often pitch head bolts too. Caught up with Joe at "Too bold for this spit" when he had managed to scare himself rigging due to having to fish out sling halfway across with a big leg-trembler. He was pleased to see some company. Wook went over and rigged back about 2m higher to turn a horrow into a nice travers. (Fine bit of traversing by O/J). Aled turned up at this point having come up from base and solo-caved to find us 4-some now continued to big Korea pitch, where we had [something] of the recommended 64m. Andrew rigged it tight and added 2 bolts and skipped two to just reach the floor whilst the rest checked out Land of Confusion QMs. Wook ticked off 13-LC-9C, 13-LC-7C, 13-LC-8X. 13-LC-6C is a C1.5(!) down to a fairly short pitch into China. Joe & Aled decided 13-LC-16A was worth a look. We all went down to be impressed by China 13-LC-10B across the Korea pitch-head really is a 20-30m blank wall bolting project - too [something]. 13-CH-4B at the bottom is not inspiring. It probably doesn't go, but hard to be sure. Needs a bolt or two to. [is there a page missing here?] Fortunately Austrian couple in posh camper in carpark were able to provide beer, the might of phone [something] and a phone to call for rescue. Julian came and saved me. Doh. That really was quite dim.
+
+
+
+ Arriving at Holey Cow, we finally found something that needed rigging. Rob W rigged down the little climb, then put in a hanger to protect the walk across the ridge to the little traverse on the other side. It turns out that this bolt is pretty good since when Rob made it to the location of the y-hang bolts, the ledge he was standing on disappeared and he took a swing and smacked into the ridge. After that bit of excitement, we headed off to the Runnel Stone. Survey station 56 looked like the most promising area: there is an undescended pitch with a faint draught. Climbing up into the roof (looks like we are in the bottom of a keyhole) to see if the passage continues at roof level might also be worth a try. The survey puts us 23m laterally and at the same level as a parallel passage to Chicken Flied Nice, so there are a few possibilities here for cutting a significant chunk off the commute. Next we went to the end of Bundestrasse. The continuing rift at the end goes to a pitch after ~15m. There is a draught, but it is small compared to that in the phreatic passage. This suggests that most of the draught disappears up the aven, which looks like a phreatic tube and Rob A believes might be climbable. By now it was getting very late, so we returned to the junction at the end of [something] Republic and ditched the rope. From here it took about 5 hours to get out, with the only significant delay being to install a sling on a greasy climb in Sudelenland that we had waltzed past on the way down. Emerged to steady rain at 03:50. We were very glad of the extra reflectors that had been installed on the walk out during the soggy walk back. Arrived at Top Camp at 05:00 in time for a dawn curry. By now it was getting very late, so we returned to the junction at the end of Larchen Republic and ditched the rope. From here it took about 5 hours to get out, with the only significant delay being to install a sling on a greasy climb in Sudelenland that we had waltzed past on the way down. Emerged to steady rain at 03:50. We were very glad of the extra reflectors that had been installed on the walk out during the soggy walk back. Arrived at Top Camp at 05:00 in time for a dawn curry. Attempts to go caving from base camp are not a great idea if you want to be underground at a reasonable hour... Rather a lot of faffing and a diversion to the mobile phone shop later, we were en route to 107 and underground at ~1:30pm. It was Elaine & Sophie's first expo caving trip. Progress was somewhat slow, and since it took 4 hours to reach a point just before TOO BOLD FOR THIS SPIT, the decision was taken to turn round at 5:30 pm. Elaine and David decided to retrieve the hand bolting kits which were left just before Pop Across. David grabbed the kits then D&E caught up with M&S who were making their way out. Once M&S had gone past the squeeze, E derigged the pitch which bypasses the squeeze while D. rebolted & rerigged the traverse at the bottom of said pitch to make it safer. All reached the surface at ~9:45pm. D&E decided to go ahead to top camp to cancel the callout and outrun the thunderstorm which was snapping at our heels. S&M arrived, rather damp, 1.5h later. After a later start than was intended (due to my extensive faffinf abilities), we were underground by 11:45. By 1:30pm we had reached "Too bold". This being Elaines 2nd trip of expo, and only her 6th SRT trip, she was not quite so confident on the larger pitches, so we reached the bottom of China by around 3pm. The climb which Wookey had rigged was somewhat precarious to say the least, so we sat on the other side of the choss pile at the bottom in a group shelter until each of us had ascended the climb. Aled & David got to the top and I decided to come up. About halfway up (~2m above the deviation) I felt a massive draught kicking out of a slanting rift in the wall: the lead! The others had gone too high. David dropped down with the drill after I had had a look down the hole, a slanting rift for ~5m which opens out over the top of a reasonable freehang (~20m). The pitch was subsequently dropped by David, who shouted enthusiastically up for someone to follow. I had the survey kit in my bag so I followed on. After some rigging adjustments, I dropped into a rather large passage with a humongous draught at the end. Very excited! We went round the corner to where Dave had looked to and began surveying. However after 3 legs Dave discovered a survey station which wasn't ours. Strange! This lead us to believe that it was not new passage. We went through a squeeze after a sandy crawl after following a phreatic passage with a gravelly floor, this reached a massive rift with a dodgy looking climb or a dodgy looking traverse [tried doing the traverse but it was a silly idea with us being 2 rather inexperienced cavers on the wrong side of a possibly new bit of passage. We therefore turned round and backsurveyed 8 legs from previous station 18 to the top of the pitch David dropped. By this time, it was getting on for 8pm & with a 12 (midnight) callout we decided it was time to turn round, Aled & Elaine having already headed out. Carrying the drill, bolting kit etc progress was more taxing than expected and we reached the surface around 10:30. After some faff and route finding issues we returned to top camp at 11:40pm cutting callout a wee bit fine. Heavy rain in the morning meant Andrew's proposed walk up the hill at 6:30am was postponed enough for Aled to wake up and decide he also wanted to go caving. An early start on the Plateau walk was hampered by shitty weather (lots of rain) and traffic in the form of cows and sheep. upon reaching 107, Aled was happy to find his SRT kit had helpfully been brought down from the bunde-hill from the day before by Matt & co, so caving could commence! Ominous sounds of water echo through the cave, but waterfalls confined to predicted places, most notably the "Easy Traverse", but Andrew's previous fettling of the rope to make it tighter kept us out of the worst of the water - phew! An hour and a half into the cave saw us reach the far end of "Too Bold for This Spit", where the new route into China was mostly hidden by torrential water. Aled's proposed lead drop was quickly found (it is an A lead, after all), and would be great if it dropped into China as it was BONE DRY. Unfortunately, the rigging gear Aled & Matt dropped off the previous day had been unhelpfully moved to the bottom of "Nipped Down" so basically out of practical reach. Andrew - "You could go down to fetch it, but you wont be coming back" Looking at the dropped pitch at the end of "Too Bold for This Spit", Aled quickly agreed. Headed out feeling cheated :-( Slightly later start than anticipated as Aled had to first fetch his gear from 107. It didn't help that the Plateau Monster bit him on the way back to Top Camp. Entrance series was a great selection of rebelays, which - as far as the writer is aware - is different from previous years, but as it was the first time down Tunnocks for Aled, everything was brand new. Neil provided helpful hints throughout the descent. After much traipsing and sliding about, the two-and-a-half musketeers arrived at the desired location (which the writer believes was Champagne on Ice), only to decide the proposed pitch should be dropped from teh other side. I can only then assume we backtracked and headed to Hedonism Highway as by this point I hadn't a bloody clue where I was. Sat at the top of the pitch, Neil got ready for some serious drilling and rigging while Andrew & Aled sat patiently. At some point Andrew headed down after Neil as it went very quiet and dark - Aled was now huddled up in his survival bag and couldn't see anything anyway. Some time passed, and Andrew arrived back declaring we should go off to "cross off some of those fucking leads". Many holes squeezed through, precarious climbs climbed, rocks replaced, boulders shuffled, and mud clawed away, and we have discovered the following: 07-770: Soil filled phreatic passage. Filled to roof, no draft. Probably worth 1 session (with a shovel). 07-99C: 5m to complete rockfill - draft out. 07-79X: Climb to soil filled slot, dig, finishes in small rock hole, draft out. Roof looks to be immature, closes down. 07-85C + 07-83C plus unlabelled roof tube to west of 85 and 83: Climbs up and joins in larger rift, everything above too tight. Headed back to Neil, who I believe accomplished his task, munched some chocolate and headed out. Neil & Andrew insisted on Aled leading - big mistake. Sat idly by whenever he headed in wrong direction. Bluffed at one particular passage causing much confusion for Aled, then sneaked off when his back was turned; "C***S!" Tiring climb out for Aled, crawled to surface like a beaten house-elf about half an hour after Neil & Andrew. Face down on the limestone, Aled is asked if he wants to go back down with Becka & Rob who arrives; "Hahaha... nope!" (cries)Drawing of rigging guide (TUNNOCKS ENTRANCE RIG, 2014, PART ONE)
+Drawing of rigging guide (TUNNOCKS ENTRANCE RIG, 2014, PART TWO)
+
+