Base camp - the potato hut - is where the expo as a whole is organised from.
+We do not have a centre of operations in the UK during expo.
+
Shopping for food and equipment during expo is centered at base camp,
+not least because this is where we have the beer fridge.
+
Records kept at Base Camp
+
+
Obviously it is vital for safety that we know where everyone is and to ensure that
+callout times are set and cancelled for every caving trip.
+
We also have to keep formal, legal records of who is staying at the Staudnwirt Gasthof campsite and when
+because (a) we pay the Gasthof for every person-night and (b) it is a legal requirement
+because of tourist tax payments.
+
These records are kept in two bound paper books which are pre-printed and bound
+(including the names of all expoers) before the expo begins.
+
Your next of kin, insurance and emergency contact details will need to be manually written onto your page of one of these
+(the bierbook) on first arrival at base camp as a double-check that we have the latest correct information.
+
Base camp logbook
+
We have a hard-cover book where we record every caving or surface exploration trip that has departed or returned to base camp. This includes
+sketched SRT rigging guides and some cave survey notes - in addition to those recorded in the waterproof underground surveying notebooks.
+
The text in the logbook is typed up trip by trip as the expo progresses (e.g. see the
+2017 logbook). The sketches are scanned on the scanner in the potato hut.
+
Base camp callout book
+
We have a hardcover book recording who has left base camp to go directly on a caving or surface trip, when they are expected back
+ and the callout time: the time at which rescue preparations will begin if they have not returned.
+
Communications with top camp
+
+Base camp and top camp both have phones using highly-reliable, low-bandwidth Austrian phone company SIMs.
+We use phone calls and text messages to coordinate callout times for
+caving trips. See these instructions for using these and for renewing the SIM each year.
+
+
Whiteboards
+
There is a whiteboard in the potato hut and another in the Steinbrückhöhle top camp.
+
+These show current important and urgent information: what needs to be brought up to top camp from base, what we have run out of and needs buying
+(hangers, custard powder, drill batteries...), what has broken and needs fixing, who is planning to come down the mountain.
+The top camp board also records who is out on which caving trips and when they are expected back; and also promising leads to be checked out
+in the coming days.
+
+
Base camp bike
+
We also have a bike which we use for shopping when all the cars are up the toll road and there are only
+a handful of people at base.
+
+
Computer, printer and scanner
+
We have a complex installation of internet-connected computer hardware and WiFi in the potato hut - all running on donated or loaned gear.
+This is primarily for recording the surveys of the cave we discover during expo. See base camp computers for more details.
+
+
History of base camps
+
See our photo gallery of base camp through the years. We have been
+at Staudnwirt Gasthof since 1983.
+
+
+
Many essential records at base camp are recorded in the "Bier Book" and the "Sesh Book".
@@ -31,7 +30,7 @@ This is used to record vital information:
Nights camping
-We use this book to record where everyone spends the night. This is important because this is used to record our tax liability which is part of our camping fee for the Gasthof. We have been visited by tax inspectors int he past, so this is not just a "nice to have".
+We use this book to record where everyone spends the night. This is important because this is used to record our tax liability which is part of our camping fee for the Gasthof. We have been visited by tax inspectors in the past, so this is not just a "nice to have".
This also records the number of nights spent at the bivvy and underground camp. We really do use this data to help us plan the food needed up the mountain for future expeditions.
@@ -49,17 +48,7 @@ Getting infomation on the number of people attending dinner is always difficult.
Both expo communal expenses and shared group expenses should be entered into your Bank of Expo online account. When you have typed it in, make a written note "BoE done" against that line in the book. (If you don't do this the expo treasurer will
have to do it. And you want to keep the expo treasurer happy don't you?)
diff --git a/handbook/bike.html b/handbook/bike.html
index 037d0254b..a22def0f4 100644
--- a/handbook/bike.html
+++ b/handbook/bike.html
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
It is a Scott Reflex 40 and it is probably worth nearly £300. It is stored in the loft of the Potato Hut
between expos.
It is perfectly capable of being ridden up the panoramastrasse to the car park. Some people do this "for fun".
+
More sensible people have ridden the bike (with a rucksack of gear) to the bottom of the toll road at Bla Alm and
+hitched up from there. It's still hard work - especially from Alt Aussee to Bla Alm.
Bike Lock
@@ -17,7 +19,8 @@ Lock code: 1241
This is easily remembered if you just recall that this is the year that the Mongols invaded
Poland.
-
+
Lights and basket
+
There are no bike lights (use a couple of head-torches, one with red LEDs facing backwards) and no basket or paniers. Use a rucksack.
History
A few years ago (2016?) we found a bike in Grundlesee lake.
It was reported to the police and after a year they told us
diff --git a/handbook/index.htm b/handbook/index.htm
index d14228137..e2d1bd6f9 100644
--- a/handbook/index.htm
+++ b/handbook/index.htm
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@
diff --git a/handbook/lights.html b/handbook/lights.html
index e830b5ef0..a2d64956f 100644
--- a/handbook/lights.html
+++ b/handbook/lights.html
@@ -22,18 +22,10 @@ You need to bring your own USB charger cable for your phone (typically big USB t
Phone recharging battery
If you are doing a lot of surface prospecting, and especially if you are using your phone for GPS location, you will want to bring a spare battery which re-charges your phone, e.g.
one of these.
+
+
-We use this book to record where everyone spends the night. This is important because this is used to record our tax liability which is part of our camping fee for the Gasthof. We have been visited by tax inspectors int he past, so this is not just a "nice to have".
+We use this book to record where everyone spends the night. This is important because this is used to record our tax liability which is part of our camping fee for the Gasthof. We have been visited by tax inspectors in the past, so this is not just a "nice to have".