From 5e99a7a7cd4922229d5ee15ca530524817a8851d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Andy Waddington on Loser Date: Sat, 5 Jul 2014 18:32:37 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] More typos fixed in 2012 log Noted that top camps page referred to the "two decades" that CUCC has been here. It's now almost four ! --- tcamps.htm | 6 +++--- years/2012/logbook.html | 24 ++++++++++++------------ 2 files changed, 15 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-) diff --git a/tcamps.htm b/tcamps.htm index e28d3fb61..dc108f57d 100644 --- a/tcamps.htm +++ b/tcamps.htm @@ -12,13 +12,13 @@ expedition camps on the Loser Plateau" />

CUCC's high camps on Loser

-

Over the couple of decades for which CUCC have been visiting the Over the almost four decades during which CUCC have been visiting the Loser-AugstEck plateau, they have found it essential to camp nearer the caves than the base camps in Altaussee (1976-82) and Grundlsee (1983 to present). The 1978 accident demonstrated the foolishness of trying to conduct long explorations without a -high camp. Several people have been benighted on the plateau over the years +high camp. Several people have been benighted on the plateau over the years and the two rescues in 1989 show the value of rapid assistance from Top Camp in the event of a mishap underground. Numerous people have been assisted quickly by cavers based at Top Camp in the years since, thus avoiding any more serious @@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ campsites were found by people who did not even know of the existence of the previous ones. At some time, virtually every camp has been called "Camp 1" by someone or other ! Note that camping is not allowed without permission, and we have recently been informed that since 1993 it has been illegal to camp - within the Nature Reserve (Naturschutzgebiet) +within the Nature Reserve (Naturschutzgebiet) area.

1977 Advance Camp

diff --git a/years/2012/logbook.html b/years/2012/logbook.html index a0cc95c70..7f2e59ab1 100644 --- a/years/2012/logbook.html +++ b/years/2012/logbook.html @@ -461,9 +461,9 @@ Olly did a great job bolting over the pitch and on. I took a few photos and even
Olaf, Wookey
Prospecting and walking to Appelhaus
-

We had a trip booked in the Appelhaus area to visit some of our neighbouring cave systems. So first we had to contour hit across from Top camp. And as I didn't like the idea of walking back to the Stöger-Steig, I came up with a plan to go around northwards from Topcamp. We followed the path to Tunnocks for a start and then headed off into inknown territory north from there. We crossed some large bowl following a ridge on its western rim. After crossing some snowfields the ridge eventually ended and we got to a large depression with a hole in its northwestern corner (UTM 33T 0411876 528324). Appears to be a reltively deep shaft of approx 25m, but with little to no draught. Anyway, its a cave either on its own right and also its very close to March of the Penguins and Bullethöhle (exploration started [illegible]). We tried to look down the shaft, but some bolting and rope seem to be necessary to get anywhere.

+

We had a trip booked in the Appelhaus area to visit some of our neighbouring cave systems. So first we had to contour hit across from Top camp. And as I didn't like the idea of walking back to the Stöger-Steig, I came up with a plan to go around northwards from Topcamp. We followed the path to Tunnocks for a start and then headed off into inknown territory north from there. We crossed some large bowl following a ridge on its western rim. After crossing some snowfields the ridge eventually ended and we got to a large depression with a hole in its northwestern corner (UTM 33T 0411876 528324). Appears to be a relatively deep shaft of approx 25m, but with little to no draught. Anyway, its a cave either on its own right and also its very close to March of the Penguins and Bullethöhle (exploration started [illegible]). We tried to look down the shaft, but some bolting and rope seem to be necessary to get anywhere.

-

We therefore continued our tour and just a bit further to the north we found the next interesting hole (UTM 33T 0411904 5283600). This one appeared to be a bit of underground passage with a collapsed roof and lots of rubble on the floor. However, the passage appeared to continue towards the south and again the lack of rope stopped us from getting there. Probably only about 5m climb/rope needed. We instead continued walking to the next col and then started heading down one valley further north, where the ski route is marked on some maps. This route took us awfully close to the BS16-BS19 entrances, and we probably also spotted a good bivy site which may have been used during the UBSS expedition. And of course we stmbed across another cave, which must have been described by UBSS somewhere. Entrance is at 33T 0412332 5283988. The entrance is a 2m diameter horizontal passage in the side of the cliffs and Wookey walked inside for a couple of minutes, across some shelf, turning right, and then turning around where the passage got smaller. Again a lack of draught, but quite a bit of cave anyway. Down in the valley we had to struggle a bit with what is not called Bunde, but it was easily possible to reach a real forest, Wildenseealm and eventually Appelhaus

+

We therefore continued our tour and just a bit further to the north we found the next interesting hole (UTM 33T 0411904 5283600). This one appeared to be a bit of underground passage with a collapsed roof and lots of rubble on the floor. However, the passage appeared to continue towards the south and again the lack of rope stopped us from getting there. Probably only about 5m climb/rope needed. We instead continued walking to the next col and then started heading down one valley further north, where the ski route is marked on some maps. This route took us awfully close to the BS16-BS19 entrances, and we probably also spotted a good bivy site which may have been used during the UBSS expedition. And of course we stumbled across another cave, which must have been described by UBSS somewhere. Entrance is at 33T 0412332 5283988. The entrance is a 2m diameter horizontal passage in the side of the cliffs and Wookey walked inside for a couple of minutes, across some shelf, turning right, and then turning around where the passage got smaller. Again a lack of draught, but quite a bit of cave anyway. Down in the valley we had to struggle a bit with what is not called Bunde, but it was easily possible to reach a real forest, Wildenseealm and eventually Appelhaus

T/U = 3 mins (Wook)
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@ Olly did a great job bolting over the pitch and on. I took a few photos and even
Uure Kalmback, Olaf, Wookey, Thomas Holder (ARGE), Ulid Aike
Hochdruckblasi (Woising)
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We had to walk to some "Woising Camp" from Appelhaus, which took about 2 hours. Then we got changd and walked another 8 minutes to a little entrance shaft. Following a series of pitches (very steep passages mostly) we eventually reached a horizontal level at 1640m above sea level. We explored that for a while, then went to another pitch going down some more steep passages to the current pushing front of the cave. A strong wind was blowing up this, and probably another horizontal level can be reached with little effort. Given the information from other caves in the area, this horizontal level is expected at 1550m, but as this was mostly a touristy trip, we soon turned around and left the cave. The exit, different from the entrance, was rather spectacular high up in the cliffs at the northern edge of the Totes Gebirge with an impressive view and a nice little via ferrata to get back to the Woising Camp and Appelhaus. Overall the system is a lot smaller than SMK, but appears to be very interesting and it probably has exactly the same development history.

+

We had to walk to some "Woising Camp" from Appelhaus, which took about 2 hours. Then we got changed and walked another 8 minutes to a little entrance shaft. Following a series of pitches (very steep passages mostly) we eventually reached a horizontal level at 1640m above sea level. We explored that for a while, then went to another pitch going down some more steep passages to the current pushing front of the cave. A strong wind was blowing up this, and probably another horizontal level can be reached with little effort. Given the information from other caves in the area, this horizontal level is expected at 1550m, but as this was mostly a touristy trip, we soon turned around and left the cave. The exit, different from the entrance, was rather spectacular high up in the cliffs at the northern edge of the Totes Gebirge with an impressive view and a nice little via ferrata to get back to the Woising Camp and Appelhaus. Overall the system is a lot smaller than SMK, but appears to be very interesting and it probably has exactly the same development history.

T/U: 5½ hours
@@ -510,7 +510,7 @@ Scrambled in 107 on the way back and saw a similar looking snow plug. Down the h
15/8/12
Becka, Julian, Wookey + Olaf
-
Schöbergsystem - Glitzerdom -> Conference excursion
+
Schönbergsystem - Glitzerdom -> Conference excursion

We assembled outside the Ischlerhutte where we slept the night + marched off at 8.30 sharp. Up the mars[?] track ~10min then on a decent path steeply up to a v.short cave (almost an arch) with snow + on up to the main entrance (55c) with a locked gate. We had 2 guides + 8 of us - 4 CUCC, 2 from Arge Grabbenstetten (Stefan + Ilya), one girl from the Appelhaus group + a guy from the Vienna group using carbide - a while since I've seen that. We abseiled down Glitzerdom -> Deikenkarrengang + got to the Wandgang, Halle des Müde Bruden + through Trepfsteingang, were shown Satan's Gang where the Raucherkarhöhle + Feuertalhöhle systems were connected in 2007, Gigantendom + then Langegang to SchachtbrückenHalle with dodgy polypro blue bridge then out again. All at a pleasant dawdly pace. Very jolly. Back to Ischlerhutte + down the boring track route to Blaa Alm (the Nagelstegweg is more direct + more scenic though v.steep) @@ -521,7 +521,7 @@ Scrambled in 107 on the way back and saw a similar looking snow plug. Down the h

14/8/12
Becka + Julian
-
Walk from Lower Bergrestaurant -> Ischler Hutte via the Schöberg
+
Walk from Lower Bergrestaurant -> Ischler Hutte via the Schönberg

This was Olaf's idea so I'd got all keen then he dropped out (having had a hard time walking to Appelhaus from Top Camp) so that left me to bully poor Julian into coming along. By the time we'd dropped off Julia at the train station to head home to Norway + braved the Bad Aussee traffic jam a second time as we'd forgotten our toll booth pass it was 11 am before we set off. We split Julian's caving gear between us for the walk to Top Camp + had lunch + I packed my caving gear there then set off up Tunnocks to the saddle then followed the German's cairns - excellent route up slabs. From there we were on our own until we hit the 228 main path up the Schönberg which is ridiculously well marked in red + white. To get there we contoured round east side of the Große Grieskogel + E of the Große Wildkogel. By the time we hit the path Julian was feeling really ill so I shuttled the rucksacks one at a time up to the Schönberg + then at the top I put all the heavy stuff in my bag + left Julian to go to the Ischlerhutte hoping Wookey + Olaf would be there to persuade to fetch Julian's. No such luck so I dumped my bag + left him lying groaning in the path. Eventually he made it down, threw up + went to bed. Oh dear, seem to have broken him. We think he may have had heat stroke though we had plenty of water + it wasn't that hot. Anyway this is an excellent walk if you aren't carrying a full set of caving gear each + highly recommended as a pre-dinner route from Top Camp with stunning views from the Schönberg ridge. Guides were Harald <- Chief geek for Schönberg + Wig (for Ludwig, who's surveyed 47 km in Schönberg). @@ -617,17 +617,17 @@ LIST OF ROPES LEFT - Far From Support double traverse

204a

T/U: 12hrs?

-

Cave pre-rigged. Descended entrance, Kng Carbide, Brian's Phat Shaft uneventfully and proceeded to Dog Days near top of Fat Cat to examine possible leads and survey with distoX + PDA. Dog Days contains many steep, unstable sandy slopes and a boulder choke with some unstable parts. A quick search of the boulder choke revealed no worthwhile leads - StuW found a narrow rift and what was thought to be a pitch but turned out to be the chamber flor. Andrew found an area with scary unstable boulders. The area was then surveyed, as was another area at the other end of the chamber which contained ground that turned white when walked on. StuW operated the disto but sometimes had trouble with shaking arms. Disto ran out of power half way through and was recalibrated by Andrew. A section of cave was surveyed yielding some leads. Cave was then exited with Andrew rebolting a Y hang on the traverse before Dog Days (Fat Cat?) and Stuw finding some slack and moving it along to make the Y hang descendable. StuW got exhausted during the exit and became slow at prussiking, (due to equipment config and strength) leaving Andrew to take cover in the bothy bag below Fat Cat. StuW's route finding was bad - cave exited by Andrew followed by StuW (somewhat later) at araound 10 pm. Mike TA took photos then exited prior to Fat Cat traverse.

+

Cave pre-rigged. Descended entrance, King Carbide, Brian's Phat Shaft uneventfully and proceeded to Dog Days near top of Fat Cat to examine possible leads and survey with distoX + PDA. Dog Days contains many steep, unstable sandy slopes and a boulder choke with some unstable parts. A quick search of the boulder choke revealed no worthwhile leads - StuW found a narrow rift and what was thought to be a pitch but turned out to be the chamber floor. Andrew found an area with scary unstable boulders. The area was then surveyed, as was another area at the other end of the chamber which contained ground that turned white when walked on. StuW operated the disto but sometimes had trouble with shaking arms. Disto ran out of power half way through and was recalibrated by Andrew. A section of cave was surveyed yielding some leads. Cave was then exited with Andrew rebolting a Y hang on the traverse before Dog Days (Fat Cat?) and Stuw finding some slack and moving it along to make the Y hang descendable. StuW got exhausted during the exit and became slow at prussiking, (due to equipment config and strength) leaving Andrew to take cover in the bothy bag below Fat Cat. StuW's route finding was bad - cave exited by Andrew followed by StuW (somewhat later) at araound 10 pm. Mike TA took photos then exited prior to Fat Cat traverse.

2012-08-17
Olaf, Becka + Julian
-
Hirlatzhehle Excursion
+
Hirlatzhoehle Excursion

T/U: 6½hrs

-

A team of 10 led by Gottfried met at 8.15. It's a 40 min steep slog up from the carpark at the Simony Denkmal above Hallstatt to the entrance on a small footpath next to a fresh landslide then up a 4m ladder into the gated entrance with a gale coming out of it. Gottfried said it was even tronger in the winter - the whole cave drafted more than any I've known I think. The first section to the Zul??nger is common to all trips - there are 5 entrances to the Hirlatz system but the others have sumps or are difficult to access. Q. slow going with a large group up lots of aluminium ladders + then down until a final ladder to a major junction where wenwent left to the Alter Teil whilst the main W and E sections of the system are off to the right. Left soon brought us to a stream rift + a traverse left then up more ladders + past 2 campsites to Bachschwinde where a few of us traversed along the final narrow Streamway until it got crawly. Met the 2 other groups as we returned and then 3 of us headed towards Nordriften which was fun rifty streamway. Mark took some shots of the traverse + I wasn't allowed to go on further excursions as Mark had had enough so out to the sunshine. Our trips were the first in there since February, amazing. A fine trip - several kilometres of huge borehole.

+

A team of 10 led by Gottfried met at 8.15. It's a 40 min steep slog up from the carpark at the Simony Denkmal above Hallstatt to the entrance on a small footpath next to a fresh landslide then up a 4m ladder into the gated entrance with a gale coming out of it. Gottfried said it was even stronger in the winter - the whole cave drafted more than any I've known I think. The first section to the Zul??nger is common to all trips - there are 5 entrances to the Hirlatz system but the others have sumps or are difficult to access. Q. slow going with a large group up lots of aluminium ladders + then down until a final ladder to a major junction where we went left to the Alter Teil whilst the main W and E sections of the system are off to the right. Left soon brought us to a stream rift + a traverse left then up more ladders + past 2 campsites to Bachschwinde where a few of us traversed along the final narrow Streamway until it got crawly. Met the 2 other groups as we returned and then 3 of us headed towards Nordriften which was fun rifty streamway. Mark took some shots of the traverse + I wasn't allowed to go on further excursions as Mark had had enough so out to the sunshine. Our trips were the first in there since February, amazing. A fine trip - several kilometres of huge borehole.

@@ -636,7 +636,7 @@ LIST OF ROPES LEFT - Far From Support double traverse
Looking for BS17 (Organhöhle)

T/U: negligible

-

Went for a stroll over the back of the Hohes AugstEck ridge in search of Organhöhle, the cave found by UBSS in 1989/90. We didn't find it, though it looks as though Wookey & Olaf found something that closely matches the description on the following day. We spent a while looking around where the GPS says BS17 should be, until Duncan noticed that the UBSS map placed BS17 almost due east of the summit of the Hohes AugstEck, which was significantly further south - so we tried our luck in that area. The cave that Wookey and Olaf found is actually much closer to the GPS point.

+

Went for a stroll over the back of the Hohes AugstEck ridge in search of Organhöhle, the cave found by UBSS in 1989/90. We didn't find it, though it looks as though Wookey & Olaf found something that closely matches the description on the following day. We spent a while looking around where the GPS says BS17 should be, until Duncan noticed that the UBSS map placed BS17 almost due east of the summit of the Hohes AugstEck, which was significantly further south - so we tried our luck in that area. The cave that Wookey and Olaf found is actually much closer to the GPS point.

Although we didn't find BS17, we did find several entrances, all of which have been documented on the expo computer. The most interesting of these are:

@@ -644,7 +644,7 @@ LIST OF ROPES LEFT - Far From Support double traverse
2012-dd-05:
Horizontal entrance that quickly leads to a short pitch. Carries a draught, and well worth a return visit. This is close to the GPS point for BS16 but does not match the description in the UBSS report.
2012-dd-06:
-
Another horizontal entrance leading to short pitch. This cave contains evidence of previous exploration: we found an old zoom flatpack and an empty packet of "Big D" brand peanuts with a 1988 sell-by date, which is after the LUSS expeditions but before the UBSS expeditions. However, since the cave is much closer to the UBSS area, we suspect that UBSS are more likely to have explored it, usng out-of-date peanuts for sustenance. There is no sign of any painted number and the cave does not seem to match any of the descriptions of UBSS or LUSS finds.
+
Another horizontal entrance leading to short pitch. This cave contains evidence of previous exploration: we found an old zoom flatpack and an empty packet of "Big D" brand peanuts with a 1988 sell-by date, which is after the LUSS expeditions but before the UBSS expeditions. However, since the cave is much closer to the UBSS area, we suspect that UBSS are more likely to have explored it, using out-of-date peanuts for sustenance. There is no sign of any painted number and the cave does not seem to match any of the descriptions of UBSS or LUSS finds.
2013-dd-07:
A well hidden hole that looks like a rock shelter until you are standing right next to it. A low, wide phreatic passage leads downhill along the bedding to a choke. The modest draught appears to go up a climbable aven a short way back. Close to 2012-dd-06.
2012-dd-08:
@@ -659,7 +659,7 @@ LIST OF ROPES LEFT - Far From Support double traverse
Pushing leads in the north of Tunnocks

T/U: 10hrs

-

I tagged onto Holly and Rob's trip to Tunnocks - the first time I've been in this cave. The shallow levels are certanly most civilized. Followed Holly and Rob's heels to the pushing front at the Inner Flap (or whichever part of the vulva it is named after). Rob went on ahead and declared that the rift was passable for sufficiently far to warrant a survey. Since this was clearly a two-man job, I was dispatched to a pitch level in 39 steps. Navigated there without much difficulty, apart from one moderately tricky climb that I had to do twice after kicking the tacklesack down on the first attempt. I spent a while convincing myself that I was in the right place, and thought I had been sold a dud since the pitch didn't look all that promising from the top. There are two holes here that go to the same place, so I dropped the first one on a couple of naturals to find a black space ~4m down that was quite breezy, at which point I felt much happier. It looked like the continuing pitch would be hard to rig from here, so I put in a couple of handbolts to descend the other hole. By this point I had pretty much run out of gear, so Holly and Rob's reappearance was timely. Apparently they had surveyed ~40m of rift passage leading to a pitch. With that, I followed Holly and Rob's heels out again.

+

I tagged onto Holly and Rob's trip to Tunnocks - the first time I've been in this cave. The shallow levels are certainly most civilized. Followed Holly and Rob's heels to the pushing front at the Inner Flap (or whichever part of the vulva it is named after). Rob went on ahead and declared that the rift was passable for sufficiently far to warrant a survey. Since this was clearly a two-man job, I was dispatched to a pitch level in 39 steps. Navigated there without much difficulty, apart from one moderately tricky climb that I had to do twice after kicking the tacklesack down on the first attempt. I spent a while convincing myself that I was in the right place, and thought I had been sold a dud since the pitch didn't look all that promising from the top. There are two holes here that go to the same place, so I dropped the first one on a couple of naturals to find a black space ~4m down that was quite breezy, at which point I felt much happier. It looked like the continuing pitch would be hard to rig from here, so I put in a couple of handbolts to descend the other hole. By this point I had pretty much run out of gear, so Holly and Rob's reappearance was timely. Apparently they had surveyed ~40m of rift passage leading to a pitch. With that, I followed Holly and Rob's heels out again.

2012-08-16
@@ -667,7 +667,7 @@ LIST OF ROPES LEFT - Far From Support double traverse
204 -> 161 -> pitch level of March of the Ents ("No sign of Sauron")

T/U: 13hrs

-

Headed down 204 and into 161 via the new connection - a fine piece of work by Andrew. Our target was a pitch lead heading west from March of the Ents with a howling draught coming out of it. Rob wielded the drill with occasional helpful advice from yours truly. It took a while to find some decent rock so by the time Rob had rigged the pitch head I was freezing, so went for a quick tourist to Mordor - all very impressive. When I returned, Rob was rigging a rebelay from where he descended to the floor. The pitch is a fine circulara shaft, about 5m round, but unfortunately the way on at the bottom is rather uninspiring immature rift. We surveyed into this for a bit until we got to an arbitrary point where the rift got a bit narrower and packed it in. The rift continues but there is no draught - QMB. With that we surveyed out and derigged. There is a possible continuation across the pitch head that could be reached by an easy traverse (2-3 bolts) but it is not obvious if there really is any passage there (QMB). It appears that the considerable draught comes down some aven above the pitch.

+

Headed down 204 and into 161 via the new connection - a fine piece of work by Andrew. Our target was a pitch lead heading west from March of the Ents with a howling draught coming out of it. Rob wielded the drill with occasional helpful advice from yours truly. It took a while to find some decent rock so by the time Rob had rigged the pitch head I was freezing, so went for a quick tourist to Mordor - all very impressive. When I returned, Rob was rigging a rebelay from where he descended to the floor. The pitch is a fine circular shaft, about 5m round, but unfortunately the way on at the bottom is rather uninspiring immature rift. We surveyed into this for a bit until we got to an arbitrary point where the rift got a bit narrower and packed it in. The rift continues but there is no draught - QMB. With that we surveyed out and derigged. There is a possible continuation across the pitch head that could be reached by an easy traverse (2-3 bolts) but it is not obvious if there really is any passage there (QMB). It appears that the considerable draught comes down some aven above the pitch.

At this point we packed up the drill and most of the gear that had been stashed at this relatively inaccessible location to make a tacklebag each to lug out. I made exceptionally heavy weather of the prussik out, not helped by having left my foot jammer behind at the top of the new pitch.