Nial put some extra bolts (3) into the entrance pitch then showed us -some of the high level horizontal stuff and the top of the main Gaffered -pitch.
- -Snow greeted us on a snowy cold, misty damp bivy morning. Most of us -(except Aaron - who kept emphasising how great his sleeping bag was) had -spent the night shivering away and Nial in his £20 Argos sleeping bag -was up at 6.30am preparing the stove and everyone slowly emerged. As was -I, unfortunately discovered (after mustering all the courage in me - and -counter my instinct - crawling out of my sleeping bag) that I didn't -have my furry. Great! :( had left it at base camp in the tent where I'd -used it as a pillow. So Aaron and I spent a cold day taking turns -rigging the tarps (intermittantly taking turns to rewarm our fingers). I -was soooo annoyed not to be caving and having to spend my time in -the cold bivy - am glad to be back at basecamp - am glad to be back at -basecamp in warm hut after having shower :)
- -It's raining... AGAIN! We are about to walk up the hill
- -
Makes 8 large/12 small or 4 superlarge plate sized
-500g flour
-1 packet germ/heffe - yeast
-125g butter
-100g sugar
-3 eggs
-Jam: powidl (damson)
-poppy seeds
-icing/caster sugar
- -Combine butter + sugar + eggs in pan - heat, with care to avoid -making an omelette (in Aaron style!) In a separate bowl put the flour -and yeast. Once the butter etc has melted pour the flour/yeast mixture -into it, take off heat and mix until no lumps remain. Put in a warm -place to rise for 1hr. Divide into the number of required portions, -shape into circles, and form a dip in the middle of each. Then put a max -of a tablespoon of jam into the dough circle, and fold the edges over to -cover the hole.
- -Put the finished knoedel into a warm place for 1hr ish then steam - -super large for about 40mins-1hr, large/small for 20 mins (using -collander over pan of water). Pour melted butter over then icing sugar -and poppy seeds.
- -Those who know their expo lore will be aware of the fun and games I -endured whilst attempting to tow a decrepit trailer accorss Europe in -1995. Since then I've been pouring money into various European breakdown -schemes without further incident - so I was about due for a return on my -investment. Somewhere north of Hamburg I noticed that my bonnet seemed -to be flapping around quite a lot. Having established that it was -actually shut, I ignored the problem for 5 hours until it had clearly -got worse. It turns out that the corrosion on the bit of bonnet that the -catch was attached to had got so bad that it was in danger of completely -unattaching itself - in which case the bonnet could spring open. At this -point, I decided to make use of my breakdown cover. To make this a trad. -style breakdown I didn't have a mobile with me, so I spent a nostalgic 2 -hours sitting in a Gasthof - completely unaware of what (if anything) -was happening reminiscing about similar experience at the side of -various European motorways all those years ago. Eventually the mechanic -turned up, laughed at the state of my bonnet, bolted it together through -the remaining bits of good metal and gaffered it shut. Overall I was -only delayed by about 2.5 hours, and made it to Austria without further -incident.
- -Tramped along the Stogerweg armed with a GPS location for 115. -Neither of us had been there before, but I recalled seeing a marking -showing the way to the cave from the main 204 path. This we duly found -and wandered off in the direction of the arrow. Spotted a small entrance -which we (erroneously) took as a sign that we were very close to the -main entrance. Spent 30 mins thrashing around in bunde and teetering -down cliffs whilst the distance to the cave remained stuck at around 30m -according to the GPS. We suspected we were too high, and eventually got -low enough down that we could see the entrance.
- -Went in for about 5 mins, through a crawl which enlarges to a small -chamber before a climb down. The radon detector is hung in an alcove on -the right (on the way in) in this chamber to keep it out of the -(considerable) draught. Satisfied with our day's work, we headed off to -the Loserhütte for a jar.
- -
After quite a few trains and 6 days cycling in Italy I ended up in -Venice. Pottered around for a day and a half, then got a sleeper train. -Only covering was a sheet, which meant sleeping on the actual bed -without anything separating you from the carpet-like covering on the -bed. Very comfortable and cooling ... Got up at 5am to be greeted by the -guard bearing my breakfast tray (only two Semmel and a cuppa but still - -service!). Train from Attnang Puchheim to Bad Aussee, where Dour was -waiting next to a Citroen van which was looking significantly more -battered than a week ago ...
- -For the past 3 days, four friendly Hungarians who got in touch with -us through Stuart Bennett have visited us. Thery accomplished a tourist -trip dopwn to Kiwi Suit, and carried enough gear to camp self -sufficiently. More notably, they carried a substantial volume of -intoxicating liquids - enough to keep top camp happy for a night or two. -In the interest of maintaining contact with these amiable cavers and -discovering a potential future source of life-sustaining fluid, their -contact emails are: gabor dot losonci at gmail dot com and adam dot -panker at gmail dot com. tel. 00-36-20-5200-665.
- -We left a bag of stuff stored at the bivi cave, most of it survived -intact. A mouse appeared to have had a nibble at the food box but -failed to get through the gaffer tape, let alone open the lid. It also -nibbled the Tunnocks that we accidentally left. We left a tent and lilo -in a drybag. The elastic in the tent poles is no longer very stretchy, -presumably due to the cold?
- -We went looking for a 'back door' into 97. Olly found a promising -looking shaft (2007-70) which he descended. 2007-70 is located on a -slight rise on the edge of a stretch of pavement just beyond 97. The -entrance is a approximately 1.5m diameter shaft with a horizontal -connection to an adjacent (larger) shaft a few metres down. At the -base, an icy snow slope drops away before the roof comes down - possibly -passable with less ice/snow. Above this end, and ice fall comes in from -a small passage up which I couldn't easily get to. The larger adjacent -shaft doesn't have any leads. While walking back Olly noticed a low -entrance (2007-71) in a slope. We took it in turns moving rocks out of -the way, and Olly went in. It drafts out a fair amount, though not as -much as Draft Bitter. I went back to the bivy (twice because I was -forgettful in my excitement at finding a new cave) to get my caving gear -and we went underground.
- -After the low wriggly start it improved to walking/stooping/crawling -passage. There is a currently undescended pitch early on the right, -another at the current end, and a yet to be explored side passage. I -have high hopes that it will be a significant cave in its own right, or -else connect with 97 or 76...
- -Went back to look at 148, 20 years after it was last explored. -Crawling entrance to a squeeze and climb into a larger passage, so far -the same as the old description and similar to the old survey if you -rotate it by about 56 degrees. Then at the junction right doesn't -actually choke - there is a way on doubling back that ends at a diggable -sandy crawl. Left at the previous junction was missing the snow from -1987 and led to a pitch which you could reach either approximately 10m -from the bottom of 20m up. Daylight just about comes in from above along -with lots of drips presumably a snow plug on the surface above a big -pitch very close to the 204 path.
- -I got really cold cos it drafted a lot and I was only wearing one lot -of thermals under my furry. At the base of the pitch left went to loose -boulders, a low continuation and before that another pitch. The other -way didn't go very far, low down, but level with the lower entry the -pitch continued. Olly went here till he got to a big aven/chamber/pitch -type thing, and I sat and got cold cos my arm hurt where I scalded it in -the morning. We surveyed half of it on the way out and found some old -survey notes on the floor - we plan to photo them before moving them out -of the cave.
- -Jenny was (uncharacteristically) not feeling well so she sat in what -little shade there was, while I went underground. First, at Cairn cave I -put in a tag spit, then used that plus a thread backup and two -protectors to descend. The pitch head is awkward, then bells out to -land on a rubble floor with a dirty snowplug. A chink of light enters -upslope from a nearby shaft, while downslope the roof lowers and chokes. -This is the source of the outward draft noted at the entrance.
- -Then onto 148- I entered in thermals plus oversuit and drilled and -set two spits for the pitch which bypasses the squeeze and climb. Then -surface surveyed from 148 to 2006-70.
- -Set off at 3pm following the first wave who had gone in to rig as far -as the bottom of Ariston. Met James C in Wolpertinger Way, he was -heading out because he was cold, and caught up with the others at the -head of Steel Toe Cap. Mark D rigged the last Ariston pitch, I rigged -the first Kiwi Suit pitch, then wibbled on the start of the traverse to -the second for long enough that Mark D took over again - pausing only to -spit in a pot at the head of the fourth Kiwi Suit pitch, i.e. the Brown -Trouser Pitch head. Mission accomplished we headed out.
- -The previous day's team had rigged to GLAD (God Loves a Drunk). Our -plan was to continue the rig as near to the pushing front as possible, -so that a later team could come in and do a quick push. We also -intended to install some radon detectors and tidy up various bits of -rigging. I put in a higher bolt on the last hang in Ariston and was -preparing to descend Kiwi Seat when Mark's bottom exploded. He elected -to carry on and caught up with me at the bottom of the first Kiwi Suit -pitch where I was installing an extra traverse bolt. Our next job was a -bolt for a handline on Dave Dives. Mark drilled a hole, at which point -we found that the Hilti pot was missing. It turned out that I had left -them at the side of the previous bolts - fortunately they were retrieved -by a later party - so the second wave could use the drill. Dumped the -drill at GLAD, and continued rigging through Tun and Copper. Put in a -handbolt for a deviation on Yeast which looks to have sorted out the rig -a treat. At that pitch we called it a day and headed out, meeting the -second wave at GLAD. Out at 19.30 and bolted down the hill.
- -Dave introduced us novices to exploration in Rhino Rift. This began -by exploring a few QM's, giving dull outcomes. 03-57C became too tight -after 3 metres, 03-60C looped back into the passage (with a dead hole in -the roof), and 03-70A connected to Grater. We then ventured into the -seemingly maze-like Piccadilly Junction and tried 03-66B. This led on -in a fairly tight phreatic manner, cutting back under itself and -twisting into a more rifty character, before coming across a steep -slope. This was all surveyed in record time thanks to Dr Phil -Underwood's wonderful Shetland Attack Pony - a loveable device apart -from its eyeburning laser. This "Shanks Pony Passage" led to "Shetland -Incline", at which point Dave grew increasingly excited, rigging in an -increasingly swift and worrying manner. We found a muddy rift passage to -the right descending this pitch, complete with footprints! Holes in the -floor prevented further access, but Dave suspected this to be a link -with "Uncomformity" ...
- -We then decided to get out, but found ourselves to be racing against -a 22.00hr call out. Dave and I cut a deal whereby he carried the tackle -sack along the passage and I pulled it up the pitches. The 204e -entrance pitch at 21.50 thus left me a sweaty blob. We got back to the -Stone Bridge at 21.59 after an 11 hour trip!
- -Leads uncovered by the trip included C at the bottom of pitch -descended by Dave and an aven in the roof. This was at the bottom left, -looking down the sloping pitch. At the head of this sloping pitch was a -B lead similar leads existed on the right and at the bottom. A C lead -existed from the muddy footsteps passage.
- --
On the 13th the three of us went pushing the end of Crowning Glory, -an A grade lead. As a starry eyed novice, I was expecting a kilometre -of passage leading either to Tunnockschacht, a new entrance or -Kaninchenhoehle. Instead, the passage just fizzled out! It rapidly -became too tight, although we did find an impressive aven on the left, -which didn't lead anywhere. On the way back, we bolted and descended a -new pitch. A 20 metre descent led to a squeeze down into a chamber that -looked like it needed a handline.
- -On the 15th Kathryn and I, went back and went back into this chamber: -turned out to be a 6m pitch with a very dodgy squeeze onto the pitch -head. The chamber led nowhere but had a hole in the ground. Standing in -the hole, the floor started to vanish beneath us, revealing a deep -looking rift which unfortunately looks too tight to descend.
- -Andreas joined us, all the way from Sweden, hunting meteorites, in -order to check out our link from the previous day. A couple of survey -legs swiftly led to where we had been. Dave was thus revealed as a -prophet of some considerable power and cemented the respect of us novice -cavers. Rather an easy task compared to the 200m surveying and rigging -task of the previous day. A and B leads are thought to extend from the -top of a pitch linking "Uncomformity" to the passage linking "Shetland -Incline".
- -We progressed to explore 03-90A. This involved Dave cutting our old -(2003) 11mm rope into lots of teeny bits. We dropped down a very -satisfyingly shaped (rounded cross section) pitch onto a stony floor. A -climb led to a further pitch. Andreas and I were left here whilst Dave -and Ollie went back to peer at some other QM's. As I became bored, I -climbed up to watch Andreas rig. I observed that one natural in his -Y-hang was not a solid column of rock, but instead two rocks entirely -disconnected from anything. Dave had started rigging from it and now -Andreas was rigging from it. Andreas later admitted feeling considerable -fear when I wriggled the rock he was rigging off! After a change of plan -we descended. The end was dull, but Andreas kicked some mud. This -impromptu dig was hastened by the sound of water "a sump" Andreas -claimed. In fact a tiny grim loose chamber with a 2cm squared puddle! We -got out having discovered this "Spitters End". Less than the previous -day's 200 metres of survey, but still satisfying.
- -After an 11 hour and a 9 hour trip, Ollie and I fancied a day off. -We travelled to Rundereisehoehle with Aaron in order to wire and start -some data loggers. We had installed thermistors 3 days before, Aaron and -I not setting a call out and thus prompting a rescue to begin at -nightfall! The weather was scorching (hence Ollie's radiation burns all -over) in contrast to last week's snow. We did well, apart from Aaron -falling and filling his USB cable with dirt, rendering it useless to -start data loggers.
- -Later in the day Ollie and I went surface prospecting. We found a -promising hole on the ridge just behind 03-01. We now consider this a -rediscovery of 2003-02. Our journey onwards was not fruitful, but on our -return leg, not a couple of hundred metres from the bivi, we came across -an area riddled with uncharted cave. We tagged 2007-01 and Ollie sent me -down (I was geared up). A vertical climb down opened into a hollow -plate a few metres down. A boulder floor made the "C" QM in the floor -dangerous. An edge exit was too tight. Many vertical openings existed -in a similar place. We tagged one, 2007-02, but did not descend.
- -Given previous Rhino Rift and surface prospecting exploits, I allowed -myself to be tempted into a deeper expedition by Nial, despite wise seer -Dave's protestations that I wouldn't find much onward in the -Underworld.
- -We firstly took a promising lead from Terra Firma. I was 'on notes' -for the first time and had no clue what was going on. It disapointingly -linked quickly to Quiz Rift.
- -We then moved on to peering down a pitch from Quiz Rift. This -continued over a ledge to a rocky downward, becoming a muddy upward, as -is the way with the Underworld. A sharp rocky crawl led up and back to -the pitch and a downward squeeze, deemed too tight without capping, -seemed to lead downward onto a pitch.
- -Miserable squirmings led to the bottom of a pitch which Nial climbed -up, making me promise to catch him if he fell. Bastard. He then spied -two hard-to-reach 'C' leads up there and a further pitch close by. Two -tiny holes linked the bottom of our pitch with this further pitch. I -tried digging the lower of these and failed. Thus Nial told Kathryn to -squeeze feet first through the tiny upper one, into a 2m drop. Bastard. -Sure enough, this led nowhere. We labelled this 'Dangerous Dig and the -Gut-Busters'. A rubbish bit of nasty cave.
- -Sure enough Nial made it worse by then forcing me up an earlier lead. -This had a squeeze which involved removing SRT kit and hammering off -protruberances. The passage grew rifty before becoming too tight.
- -We surveyed a reasonable bit, but I resolve to charge Nial a 'shit -cave tax' for his transgressions. The upward pitches went on for ever, -Gaffered itself being especially epic with horrid rebelay. Lower -pitches mud on rope requires manual manipulation of jamming cams. We -finally got out for noodles and hot chocolate (mixed with vile spirit -Unicum - not as tasty as ejaculate) after an exhasting 13hr trip.
- -The plan was to rig to the underworld in one trip, so with over 300m -of rope between us (200m of 11mm in Big Bertha - which was a mistake!) -we set off. The rigging went quite fast and several improvements over -the old rig were found. However, we had accidentally left all the spits -and cones on the surface. When we reached Trihang and decided it needed -a new bolt therefore, we had no option but to turn back. The return trip -was much easier given we no longer had any rope to carry! The round trip -was 7.5hrs at an easy pace.
- -After the previous rigging trip I decided that the Gaffered rig could -be greatly improved with a few extra bolts. With lots of novices keen to -learn to bolt and an abundance of hand bolting gear (well, 3 sets) this -seemed like the perfect opportunity to sort the rig out once and for -all. Myself and Edvin went ahead to re-rig the Eyehole and Trihang -leaving the others to practice some bolting and rigging by installing a -traverse line between Gaffer Tape and Tape Worm. Edvin installed two new -spits at the top of the Eyehole pitch meaning you no longer have to -squeeze through the eyehole. This rig is perfect! Why was it not rigged -like this in the first place!? While Edvin did this, I put in an -additional spit at the top of Trihang in order to allow it to be rigged -as a Trihang (how was this done before?). Further improvements to the -rig include a deviation on Gaffer Tape just below the first re-belay -(this looks a bit strange, but it stops the rope rubbing when you swing -across for the second re-belay). A deviation on the Lx pitch also makes -staying out of the slot above the re-belay easier.
- -Having finished the rigging Edvin and I started pushing leads in the -Underworld. We started with 04-15B, now called "Shprinkles Pitch." This -is a ~15m pitch down leading to a sharp rifty passage which is too -tight. One wall of the pitch is made entirely of mud, which rains down -on you as you descend - hence the name. We were then joined by Djuke who -had left the other two bolting and had come to join us. The three of us -went to look at 03-14B (which looks to be the same lead as 03-15B). This -is a steeply sloping tube (-50deg) down near the start of Sirens -traverse. It descended for ~15m before becoming vertical. It has a -strong draft and looks like a promising lead! However, we were out of -time and headed back. the whole trip took 12 1/4 hours.
- -Meanwhile at the bottom of Gaffer Tape.....
- -Kathryn Sarah and Djuke started to bolt the traverse between -the bottom of Gaffer Tape and the Tape Worm pitch. The traverse had not -previously been protected, but a slip there could be very serious, so it -was decided that a rope was a good idea. None of the the three of us had -much experience bolting, and so we had many aborted attempts. We only -had one bolting kit between the three of us, and this meant we got quite -cold, so Djuke decideded to find Edvin and Nial in the Underworld. Sarah -and Kathryn eventually placed 4 bolts of varying quality and rigged the -traverse, by which time it was too late to join the others pushing in -the Underworld, and so they headed out.
- -
Notes
- -- Pitches 4-8 can all be strung together with 150-160m rope
- -- 11mm rope is preferable due to the large amounts of mud
- -- Take a scrubbing brush to the bottom of Trihang for washing -ascenders and wellies
- -- Tying the bottom of the Cerberus pitch rope to something would be a -good idea - it is easy to pull up the end with you!
- -- Possible QM above Trihang pitch head. Up and behind the pitch head -appears to be a tube heading left. Requires bolting up to (although only -a couple of metres).
- -Tourist trip down 204a as far as Razordance to show our Hungarian -visitors around Steinbrucken. They all seemed very impressed, especially -with the pitches. However, one was overhead to say that there was too -much prussiking! Trip took 6hrs. The temperature in Kiwi Suit was -0.4°C.
- -The Hungarians were very keen to see more of the cave so I took Dodo -and Gabor on a through trip from 204e to 204d. The snow was low so the -climb out of d was easy. A top trip, I had forgotten how good it -was!
- -We are all invited to go caving in Hungary. If you fancy it then -contact Gabor by email.
- -Surface prospecting northwest of 204e. Descended surface shaft - -which panned out as follows:
- -
The pitch lands in a largish chamber 'Professor Rushton's Lecture -Hall'. At one end a small room is choked and at the other s a very -narrow rift (impassable) from which the draft comes.
- -We got underground at 9:30 and made rapid progress down to God Loves -a Drunk, Mark pausing en-route to swap his radon detectors. Regrouping -at GLAD we brewed up a couple of packets of soup and a dehydrated meal -to fuel us up for the push.
- -At 1pm we reached the front and started to rig and survey onwards. -Mark wielded the drill, I weilded the pencil and Dour brought up the -rear with a shetland attack pony.
- -Four and a half hours later we had descended five pitches and were -looking down a sixth, with no hiltis left and precious few hangers, so -we headed out via another very welcome soup at GLAD.
- -According to the survey data, 204 now has a vertical range of 599.99m.
- -
Went back to 148 with a drill and more rope. Went to the previous -pitch and traversed over it to what was 'the pitch' in 1987 nice big -aven & pitch Olly found a nice rig down and into a little rift -> thus -avoiding the loose choss at the top. Looked at the Ice Castle foute -first, this roughtly goes back under the higher shaft past some very -cool ice formations (big icicles) and very old snow plugs -> one section -the snow plug essentially filled the entire passage except for a small -crawl underneath it which I found a bit unnerving. More ice & snow, -including a snow plug with clear Summer / Winter layering, I saw at -least 30 layers (and it continued high up as well, so the oldest snow -was older than me!). This passage ended at an up pitch maybe 15m high. -Surveyed back along this (noting that the hanging death in the ceiling -was quite varied -- rocks, snow and ice. Back at the 20ish m pitch we -took the continuation passage, initially promising -- a huge rift -heading for 107, but soon turns a corner and chokes (as noted in 1987). -I climbed up before the choke and over the top and sadly no continuation -visable. Olly poked under the choke and you could see into the blackness -inside...
- -Surveyed this and left the cave.
- -It was a bit cloudy so decided that surface shaft might be feasible. -Went to look at an entrance Olly spotted in 2005 roughly above Pancake -Chips aven. It draughts slightly out and is sloping down on the side of -a shakehole. Needed to move some rocks out of the way to get in. Sadly -it didn't go much more than 10m, the draught comes out of a 5-10cm wide -rift, which appears after a few metres to open up. There is another -route lower down which checked and didn't draught. Surveyed this and -surface surveyed this to Ice Curtain cave and on to 99. Went out to look -for 102 to tie it into the surface survey as the GPS fix is old and -thought to be suspect. Sadly failed to find it so will have to -return.
- -Headed in with 2 smallish bags of rope. Met Dour and MSD at God Loves -A Drunk, where we heard the grim tales of Mark's loose bowels and Dour's -missing hiltis which I had picked up at Kiwi Suit (thanks to Sarah for -spotting the pot lying on a rock).
- -We decided to ditch the 94m pushing rope and continue in with the -drill and rope for known pitches. This was a lovely idea but forgot to -take into account the bag of rope sitting at Yeast pitch.
- -Some shuttling of stuff through the rift soon saw the pitches rigged -as far as Pepper Pot. Here we managed to totally miss Paster of Muppets -pitch and rig the traverse with that rope instead.
- -Andreas did the drilling to improve the traverse at the 2004 limit. -As luck would have it we got as far as the pitch and the drill -completely ran out of juice so we headed out.
- -Thought I'd make myself useful by re-tagging and photoing some -entrances. First stop was Skinny Festerers, which has now been tagged -with its kataster number 244. We also photoed the entrance. Would make a -reasonable shitting grike for those who don't mind a slightly longer -walk.
- -Further down the backside of the Hinter we GPSed a small hole at the -foot of a cliff. Body-sized entrance led to a small chamber with a -too-tight rift and a choked shaft. Not long enough to be a proper cave. -Possibility that this is something previously noted by Sunks. Yep. GPS -confirms that we re-found 2002-x09.
- -Getting a bit out of sequence here, forgot to say that we tried and -failed to find 247, had a hunt where the GPS said it was but no luck. -Will study the entrance photo and try again.
- -Found and photoed 2003-01, which doesn't seem to have been allocated -a kataster number yet, not sure why. 248 has now been tagged as such and -photoed. Wen to Rock'n'Roll Hoehle and photoed the entrance. Found a -tagged marked 2001-04B, not 239. No knowing that the A and B entrances -are in the same shakehole we assumed that the nearest large hole was -239A. In fact this is probably 2003-X16, Earl and Becka's cave 7.
- -Went and hid in the shade of the bridge for a bit then walked to 242 -and took pics. Anthony set off in search of a hole near 204D that needed -re-tagging then changed his mind. On the way down the hill he put the -correct tag on Artischokenhoehle. All photos (with notes) on computer -under photos/Julia.
- -Went to 161d partly to place a radon detector for Mark D and because -I wanted to see what KH was like. Walked up to the col to get onto the -161 path, it was really hot and horribly humid. The path was fairly -clear up to where the Vord path goes up - perhaps this is used as a -walkers path to the summit? Path was then less defined and many cairns -had collapsed. I thought (wrongly it turned out) that we were too high -up the Vord side and we could see a faint path with cairns leading up -towards the Hinter. Followed this for a bit uphilll to the crest of the -ridge and then down a bit to 161d. Already running out of water and it -was so hot. Finally got to VD1 and the path down to 161d. This bit of -the path wasn't as bad as I had feared but took a while as a lot of the -carins had collapsed and Olly had only been here once before and me -never. Finaly got to the entrance after hours.
- -The draught was amazing and nice and refreshing. Followed in to -Triassic Park. Amazing cave, nice and big and stil a noticeable draught. -We so need to find something like this in 76, in fact the only thing 76 -does better is the hanging death - the Guillotene isn't even trying. -
- -Walked up to the top of Knossos (noticed a hibernating bat on the -way) admiring the huge passage. Were able to refill the water bottle at -a drip which was very nice. Returned leaving the radon detector in TP -qauite near the Guillotene (about 3m from the conservation tape and -reflective marker we placed). Had a look at Staud'nwirt Palace and into -Zombie Slime which no longer has a ladder in situ (as suggested on the -website). Returned looking at the skull in Golgotha on the way.
- -Surfaced to find it getting dark and a BIG thunderstorm in progress. -Decided the walk/climb back in the dark and rain would be unpleasant and -might well result in us being lost on a ledge somewhere. Figured it -would be best to wait underground till either the storm stopped or the -sun rose. Found a sheltered alcove in Mothshag and moved some rocks to -make a "bed", made a mattress from the rope, my rucksack and our wellies -and both got into a survival bag. Waited couple of hours till we got -pretty cold and noticed the drips had decreased. It had stopped raining -and was a clear starry night!
- -Made our way back to the car, managed the scrambles and climbs OK -without handlines and Ol navigated very well. Got to base camp at about -6am ....
- -Have at least got our annual long walk in the dark over with early in -the expo and it was made much better by the amazingly bright Princeton -Tech headtorch that could spot carins miles away. And us being at 161d -with our waterproofs at 76 solved the water shortage nicely as well.
- -T/walking: lots ...
- -It all began with one rock, one pitch, a stopwatch and a certain lack -of imagination on the part of those naming the pitch. It should at this -point be noted that it actually rattles for longer than 11 seconds. But -I digress. Armed with 105m of rope, Richard, Sarah and I began the -arduous task of negotiating Chocolate Salty Balls on the way to the -11SR, with the minor detour of liberating 33m of rope from 'Taking the -Piss.' This rope had clearly been affected by its opressor as it was the -fastest rope I have ever witnessed. Still, I got my own back by using a -full turn round my breaking krab and twisting the hell out of it.
- -After rigging the short pitch above the 11SR with a deviation -Superman himself would have difficulty passing thanks to a school of -rigging that involves ignoring obvious spits and letting the location of -naturals decide the path the rig will take, we finally met the -proverbial 11 second rattle.
- -Having carried a full suite of power-bolting equipment with us it -seemed sensible to put in a Y-hang with the drill. It is often noted -that problems between the keyboard and chair are the main source of -computer problems, in this case I suppose the problem existed between -the muddy floor and the trigger, when we found that the drill was not -nearly as effective in reverse. I blame my thermodynamics lectures for -teaching me that reversible systems are most efficient and my education -at Cambridge for leaving me with no common sense. With a new burst of -enthusiasm after realising our mistake, and the drill firmly switched to -forwards we continued to drill. It is indicative of the human ability -for learning that during the second attempt at a hole we noted more -quickly that the drill was still in reverse.
- -One and a half holes later the drill decided that all this changing -direction was a bit too much and refused to go on.
- -We went all Old Skool on the hole's ass and cracked out the hand -bolting gear. One perfectly placed spit later, and we continued on our -journey. I abseiled down a few metres to place a survey station whilst -Sarah and Richard admired my beautiful spit placement, awe-stricken at -its poise, dedication and charm. One survey leg for good measure later, -and it was time to go home. Nothing would prepare us for the following -day's events. To be continued ...
- -We continued pushing the lead that Djuke, Edvin and Nial started on -14th July (03-14/C) armed with a little more rope. the lead is in -steeply sloping tube - it starts as a scramble down and then quickly -becomes too steep and a rope is needed. After this steep section, the -gradient becomes shallower, and it is possible to get off the rope and -scramble down again. Exploration ended when we reached the end of our -rope (~50m) and the passage became too steep to be able to climb up. At -this point we reached where the passage widened and split into multiple -holes - "like cheese" according to Djuke. The hole was still strongly -drafting - it was very cold surveying.
- -The plan was to rig down then push an A-grade lead for a bit on the -Flat Worm level. So obviously things were never quite going to pan out -that way. We got down to the Underworld without incident (although -tacklesakcs are an absolute bastard to carry). Nial started rigging -Gardener's World and Universally Challenged [sic - University Challenge] -(who thinks of these names, seriously!) before realising we didn't have -enough rope of the right length. After a bit of cheeky rebolting and -jiggling of ropes we managed to get down. A few minutes scrambling -around through some pretty passage brought us to the next pitch. It -probably has a stupid name [Chalk and Cheese]. Nial rigged this on some -11mm rope so slow you could abseil down it without a stop, and you still -wouldn't need a braking crab. The rope was kind of just about long -enough. We got to Thin Rift and as far as the previous pushing front -where a [lack of] handline had prevented the previous explorers getting -any further. Unfortunately, 5m later we realised we needed either a -traverse line over the top of the rift along a ledge or another handline -down to the bottom. So we only rigged to do an extra 2 survey legs, but -the rift was still going so we were keen to go back. Nial will now put -the new Gardener's World rigging guide below ....
- -(mwah ... hah ... ha ... I nicked your space [different handwriting]
- -damn you Mundy [Edvin's handwriting; note no rigging guide!]
- -Having forgotten the misery of my last trip down to the Underworld -(cold, mud, tightness, nastiness), I allowed myself to be dragged down -there by Djuke. Kathryn had wisely decided to abandon this lead.
- -The chute itself is steep, tight and horrid. A cold wind blows up it -and a wet mud transfers itself all over you. Sharp "popcorn" exists -everywhere and has rpped the arse from my oversuit.
- -Surveying with the Pony I was becoming rapidly fed up, even given -some interesting phreatic passage branching off. Eventually we were -rewarded for our eforts when the shute tipped into the top of a chamber, -The Happy Hippocampus". Some bolting warmed me nicely and I soon -dangled onto a boulder floor set in mud slopes. Other passages led in to -the chamber ceiling (circa 15m up) and other leads included a boulder -choke and a steep mud and boulder climb down. The chamber is around 10m -in diameter. We decided to leave further exploration for when we have -courage, so beat an exhausting retreat.
- -We returned to the lead Edvin and Nial started on the 19th (Thin Rift -off Dead Good Bat chamber in Fat Worm). At the pushing front there was -the option of a pitch down or rigging a traverse across the rift. We -opted for the pitch option, hoping it would drop into the bottom of the -same rift as the traverse rift - unfortunately there was no way on at -the bottom of the pitch, so we rigged the traverse instead:
- -
[rigging diagram - flake then big loop of slack for hand line down slope then thread then -traverse tied off at end. 20m rope just enough]
- -After the traverse the passage continued and there was a side passage -off to the right (returned to later). The rift continued upwards and to -the right until it reached a "toilet bowl" shaped [undecipherable word - -underrig?] where we climbed down and doubled back on ourselves to a -shallow pool of water. Through the pool to the right led to a climb down -into a rift (returned to later). At this point Edvin and Nial went to -survey the side passage mentioned earlier (ended in a QM D) while I -started to bolt the pitch down the hole that we previously traversed -across. At the bottom of the pitch (Flush Pitch), to the right -through a crawl (Ballcock Bypass), back to the bottom of the -chamber with the pool (The Cistern). We then returned to the -climb down across the other side of the pool - this dropped into a rift -(Now Wash Your Hands) which went both ways. First we went left -down the rift, which was a little awkward and tight - we passed a side -pasage at floor level (QM B) and exploration ended at a pitch down (QM -A). The passage appeared to continue across the other side of the pitch -(QM A), but a traverse line is needed to get across safely. We then -explored the rift in the other direction (right after the climb down -from the Cistern). This also ended in a pitch and passed a small, -upward-sloping tube on the left (QM A).
- -Having been down the hill and acquired a picture of the 247 entrance -I went back to where the GPS said it should be and there it was, I'd -been stood right on top of it the last time. So 247 now has its correct -tag.
- -Then I went to 2002-09 and tagged it. The entrance is about 30cm by -30cm and goes in at a bearing of 165°. There's one small chamber with a -too-tight rift and choked shaft. Don't think this should be assigned a -kataster number as it is v. small. The tag is above the entrance, a -photo showing the location of the tag is on the computer.
- -
Next I went to Earl and Becka's cave 7 and tagged it as 2003-16. -Photos on the computer. The freeclimable entrance was very tempting but -in the end I didn't risk it as I was on my own. Will hopefully get to -stick my nose down there before going home.
- -Finally retagged Rock'n'Roll Hoehle (B) with the correct 239B and -checked that the A entrance was tagged correctly which it be. Photos of -both entrances on the computer. Yes, this was a very boring logbook -entry but that's just tough.
- -The previous trip down Razor Dance had returned with tales of a deep -pool that they had started traversing around to where they could see -into a perpendicular rift with running water audible. Could this be the -bottom? The target for this trip was to continue the traverse into the -side rift to find out whether the sound of water was a continuation or -an inlet.
- -Set off down at 10:30 with Dunks in the lead. I was therefore -surprised (and a little perturbed) to arrive at the pushing front to -find no sign of him. I soon heard him thrutching through the rift. It -turns out that he had missed the traverse level below Yeast pitch had -had thrashed through at stream level to emerge at a ~15-20m pitch with -no rope on it - presumably where the water drops in at Pepper Pot.
- -Before continuing the traverse we opted to try one of the -self-heating meals provided by Andrew that the Welsh diggers 'swear by -not at'. After following the instructions to the letter and waiting the -requisite 15 minutes, it was still stone cold, so we scoffed it -anyway.
- -Duncan then started work on the traverse. Andreas had bolted along a -ledge on the right-hand wall (opposite the cross-rift). Duncan elected -to take out his last two bolts and bolt on the left-hand wall instead, -then he bridged across the (narrower) cross rift. Some time later I -followed, hating every minute of it (so I took the opportunity to spit -into a pot).
- -It turns out that the sound of water in the side rift comes from an -inlet, and that the deep pool is a sump - so 204 is now 622m deep. A bit -disappointing that it didn't go deeper, but at least we've bottomed the -bastard.
- -The inlet is keyhole passage with ~3m round phreatic part elongate -along the dip direction, and a trench that is typically 5m deep, -trending upwards at 25°. We surveyed up this for ~70m before running -out of time. Our last survey station is by a junction where the main -route continues for ~40m to a climb which may or may not be climbable, -and an inlet rift that is passable for some distance. With that we -headed out with the drill and spare metalwork at a sedate pace (set by -my), pausing for a food stop at GLAD. Duncan emerged at 04:50, and I got -out at 06:20.
- -Duncan had a suspicion that the inlet contained water from the -Midnight in Moscow series. Survex reinforced this suspicion: if you -project the inlet up at its current angle for ~100m along and ~25m up, -it will hit the bottom of Rasputin in 161 - so hopes are high for a -connection, which would be a satisfactory 2nd prize after its failure to -go very deep.
- -The trip was originally intended to compose of Andreas, James -and myself, but unfortunately James was feeling a touch ill, and so Mark -stepped in to take his place. The weather was looking a little overcast, -but still dry and we made a late-ish start at 11:00am. All went smoothly -until we reached the top of Copper pitch where we heard an ominous -rumble/whistling noise in the distance. Although we all heard this noise -we stayed quiet until we reached the following pitch whereupon it became -obvious that the water levels were rising. A couple of minutes later the -water levels had reached impressive heights! After a brief discussion we -decided to press on into the drier part of the rift.
- -Although the lower pitches were a bit damp none of them proved too -wet so we carried on to do some pushing. At the top of the long slippery -ramp that Dunks and Dour had explored two days previously we took a left -turn into a steeply ascending dry passage. We followed this up 10-15 -short free climbs, via some quite nice formations. Eventually we reached -a phreatic tunnel which levelled out, and then started to head downhill. -Sensing that a connection with KH was imminent we ditched the -instruments and went for a poke around.
- -A low sandy crawl emerged 2m up the wall of what was clearly a very -large passage. Unfortunately the climb down was a bit on the suicidal -side so we tried a lower crawl that emerged a bit closer to the floor. -Although still a little on the loose and necky side we all reached the -bottom and set up off the large 6m diameter tunnel. Downslope a stream -could be heard (Midnight in Moscow?) and upslope gave us some fine long -survey legs until an impressive echo started to sound. The source of the -echo was a ~40m diameter chamber which was greeted with much whooping. -Several leads go off from this and after we did a few survey legs across -it we headed out.
- -Again all went smoothly, we stopped for some food at GLAD, until we -reached Mystery Wind pitch where it became clear that the cave was -flooding again, only this time rather more so. It was some relief that -we reached the bottom of Kiwi Suit which was very cool, windy and wet. -The amount of water now flowing down RD was at least 10 x that of when -we had entered. I couldn't help thinking that we had got out just in the -nick of time. After a long and tedious prussik we all eventually all -reached the surface at 00:30 -> 01:00. An excellent trip!
- -
"The Widowmaker" by Sarah White
-Abandon hope all ye who enter here.
- -versus
- -"The Reliant Swede" by Andreas Forsberg
-Rigging diagram - 3 rebelays and 5 deviations
- -The previous page illustrates the work done on our trip of 23rd July. -We adapted the 11 Second Rattle rig to one that can be descended without -"Brown Alert" ensueing.
- -Andreas commented that "this is the worst shaft that I have ever -seen" (for rigging difficulty), yet proceeded to reduce Sarah's 7 rope -to one trivial one.
- -Andreas then helped us to descend "The Super Fun Happy Slide" -into "Wet Dry World" - via the placement of a bolt using his -skyhook and much discomfort.
- -The slide is a phreatic tube downward at 45°ree;. A pretty bit of -cave, dropping into the roof of Wet Dry World, a chamber with a -rocky/bouldery floor, a boulder choke, many holes in the ceiling, some -squeezes in the walls and some water dripping down one wall.
- -On the 24th we had a day of top camp festering. Sarah and I completed -a Rundreisehoehle-204a surface survey started by Ollie and me -previously.
- -On the 25th we went caving, surveying the slide, Wet Dry World and -its link into [undecipherable word - Wtong's ?] Fortress. We derigged it -in record time, then taking a peer at "Gosser Streamway" and at "Wot No -Butcombe" before our return.
- -I think it's called Tressenstein, will check in the morning with the -map. But if you're at Base Camp it's the hill you see (on the right) if -you look down the road (towards Bad Aussee) with the radio mast on top -(ungrammatical). Anyway, it's a nice walk with amazing views. If you -walk/cycle to the "Bad Aussee" town sign there are paths on the right, -you want path no. 19. The sign says 2 hours, it took me 1 1/2 hours -steady uphill (slowish compared to most) to the top. You can't really -see base camp or Grundlsee, but you do get utterly fantastic panoramic -views of Altausee and Loser on one side and Bad Aussee on the other -side.
- -The path is signed. I took a couple of wrong turns but made it in the -end. Chickened out of climbing the mast but I bet you'd get a good view -of Grundlsee from there. If you're festering at base camp and 2 1/2 - 3 -hours to spare walk up this hill!! It's rude not to! Seriously good -views, well worth the effort.
- -We returned to the new stuff we'd found to push it some more. We had -cleverly decided to look at the most miserable lead: a narrow rift -leading off "Now Wash Your Hands" which needed rigging as a traverse -across a hole or down the hole. We got to the pushing front without -incident, adding a handline to the climb down to Now Wash Your Hands -(how on earth did we ever free climb it?!).
- -I bolted and rigged a traverse across a hole (now know as Don't Worry -Pee Happy) whilst Nial and Kathryn surveyed a miserable QM which went -nowhere (actually it carried on - now a QM C - Kathryn). Over the -traverse we surveyed round in a loop back to the traverse, passing a QM -which needs rigging but almost certainly links in to the bottom of Don't -Worry Pee Happy.
- -Nial rigged Don't Worry Pee Happy, a ~20m pitch. He forgot to take -rigging gubbins down the pitch with him so when he realised a rebelay -was needed we slid slings, bolts, etc down the rope. There were two ways -on at the bottom. The first went down a pit before stopping. The second -required reigging and went down a further ~10m down to a miserable -looking duck/wet crawl which looked thoroughly uninspiring. We decided -not to go through, but Aven tells us that it's only 6-7m away from the -Subway level so might be worth another look.
- -Went to MM [Marilyn Munroe] with the aim of surveying and finishing -everything below the 48m rope so we could de-rig it and rig it in 76. -Headed down and checked out the 3rd option from the bottom of the pitch -(noted in 1987 to end at an ice climb). Smallish rift passage apparently -directly underneath the passage above with a boulder floor/ceiling -inbetween. Olly climbed up to the 1st squeeze and decided he would need -to remove his helmet so retreated. I had a look and got through, and -wriggled up the next climb and attempted the next squeeze which had a -boulder in the way. I could get all of me through except one leg (could -get either leg through, but not both). I got very annoyed and eventually -gave up. I believed I could see where the ice climb was - this year it -was just wet, but appears to take you back to the passage above (the -survey confirms this). So getting through the squeeze wouldn't achieve -much.
- -Survey this and joined together the hanging surveys from the previous -week (which made me happy) and surveyed out, derigging the 48m en route. -Paused in the survey to look at the remaining lead (the pitch roughly -below the aven with daylight). Olly went some way down, confirming that -the draught does come from here and that it appears to continue.
- -Incidentally, the survey suggests that the aven with daylight is ~5m -from the 204 path, so please don't throw rocks down shafts in this area -....
- -Finally got to 76, Olly rigged down to The Ledge and I followed half -an hour later to take a bag of rope through to BNW for the next trip and -the radon detectors to place. The radon detectors were placed in the -side lead in the test tubes roughly opposie the 99 connection. Surface -surveyed 102 to 103. Tagged 1998-X01 and Ice Curtain.
- -Went into BNW with the drill and rigging gear to start looking at the -pitch leads close to QM 05- because it had been raining hard for hours -and it looked to be the driest option - in fact it was very dry, only a -few slightly drippy bits. Olly traversed across the lip of the Pleasant -But Pointless pitch, because of all the gear he was carrying it became a -bolt traverse this year, not a bold traverse that it was in 2005 when I -first saw the pitch. Olly got through to the pitch having scrambled -through the rocks (this is called Scrabble) and bolted down the -first short drop. This was a little drippy but the water disappeared -through the rocky floor. A ramp comes in from above (?perhaps this -connects with the boulder choke in Loopy?). This continues into a rift -with various holes and rock bridge that all connect, gviing it its name, -Sea Of Holes. Olly rigged an excellent Y-hang to a level with -solid ledges and started down the next pitch. We ran out of hangers, -slings and warmth before the pitch ended, so surveyed out. I coped -better with the traverse on the way out.
- -Sea of Holes has nice, solid rock, isn't too wet, doesn't have much -choss and draughts fairly strongly (given the size) outwards which is -very cool. On the way out we noticed the draught had reversed (around -11pm to midnightish), hopefully this won't affect the radon -detecting.
- -Went back down Plugged Shaft to The Ledge. I went in to the test -tubes to change the radon detector (incidentally the draught was back to -normal today). Olly heroically bolted across from the ledge on the -opposite side of the test tubes looking for my hypothesised continuation -the other side of Plugged Shaft. Sadly it didn't exist, which was a -great shame - it was just a big ledge in an alcove with an aven above. -Olly managed to reverse the climb/traverse removing the gear as he went -(I was very impressed!).
- -We exited the cave with Olly adding a deviation and switching two -hangers on the way. The drill started to go flat having done 17 holes -and been up the hill for ages.
- -Walked down the hill via lots of places - put permanent tags on Lardy -Festerers and 250, calibrated the instruments at old TC [Top Camp]. Then -walked up to Mystery Plus [?not Plus?] cave. I went in and discovered it -choked less than a metre beyond where I had been without a light in -2006. Surveyed it and then surface survey down to a part-drilled spit -hole near the cole. I hated the surface survey lots.
- -We had meant to get underground before 9.00am, but unfortunately -Andreas and myself were feeling rather sleepy in the morning and so we -managed to get underground shortly after 11:00am. We had a smooth 4 and -a bit hour journey down to the pushing front, slowed down slightly by -Andrew A's enormous camera case (which was later left in 'The Silk -Road').
- -We commenced the surveying by re-doing a couple of the legs in 'The -Forbidden City' that had gone pear-shaped on the previous visit. We also -had had a quick look down some sandy crawls at the base of the chamber, -but they would all seem to offer only long term digging prospects. We -surveyed up the large loose passage at the top of the chamber for -approximately 100m. There is a climb there where care needs to be taken -not to slip! It appeared as though the passage was going to crap out, -but a low crawl led to a complex junction. We chose the RH passage as it -was heading towards KH, but the LH passage looked excellent too. A few -survey legs with good formations led us to a junction with a passage -with a very small trickle of water flowing down it, where we decided to -call it a day. Our highest point is now 118m above the sump level. -Another uneventful if tiring, journey out had us at the surface at -1.00am ish. Lots more question marks!
- -In preparation for climbing Trisselwant at some point (YIKES) the -four of us set off on a slightly cloudy and humid July morning. Via an -absolute fluke we got to the carpark we were aiming for: right -underneath the Burgstall (874m; take first right after avalanche tunnel) -just by Purg. So there we were, 4 numpties in sandals ... and then it -went wrong when we turned left half way up a via ferrata and then tried -right over an extremely shoddy path which was nicely exposed. Anyway we -got to a face about 5m wide with a "path" running across the front on -which you could fit 1 sandal at a time which made belaying really -fun;-)!
- -Whilst Nial set off on something with Dave L, Stuart climbed up a 4+ -at a corner. well the climbing bit was fine until he took a lead fall, -his first. Climbers seem to talk things up, but after trying to also get -up this thing and failing, I too was convinced it must've been harder, -or at least more shiny than when it was first ascended. Stuart's lead -fall was interesting for me as well as I flew into some briers and -Stuart landed in a tree shortly followed by his ankle hitting the ground -at a dodgy angle which led to consistent "au"'s whilst walking.
- -So after the rubbish section that made us feel weak and feeble and -getting me more and more lethargc in hot, sticky, lethargic weather -myself and Stuart eventually toddled back down the dodgy "path" and -after aimlessly wandering for 1/2 hour or so we found 2 backpacks and 2 -pairs of sandals underneath some staples. Nial and Dave were nowhere in -sight. It seemed sensible to have lunch and follow the staples up as we -didn't have the guide book and were sorely hoping they had chosen a -route we could actually climb rather than the tat we had seen -earlier.
- -As they say, up is the only way ... sure was as we soon realised we -were doing a superb multi-pitch route. Stuart started and soon we were -in a fairly smooth rhythm of alternating leading and seconding. Well, -"smooth" except for when we would realise (whilst leading) we were on -the middle of a slab of rock with no belay opportunities and no quick -draws left :-(. Loose boulders, wasps nests, falling rocks, crossing via -ferrataists and 2 very thirsty climbers we got to the top where Dave was -sitting, grinning, rock boots off having previously done mainly indoor -climbing.
- -We were exceptionally happy when it absolutely started rodding it -down ... not so much because it was raining but more so becuase it was -raining whilst we were NOT on the climbing route. Nial and Dave -had the highly intelligent idea of taking their rock boots off whilst -walking back to the car/bags which was fine until they go to the gravel -path down past a railway station (!). Crossing the railway tracks we -didn't have a dry piece of clothing left on our bodies ... indeed the -Austrian climbers sheltering under an overhang looked most bemused at -our antics. We decided to spare Tony R's car a bath and pretty much -stripped off before getting in (Dave L in his underpants, me driving -with a bra on, shirt off, etc). Despite our repeated offerings Dave L -rudely refused to let us drive straight to the station in Bad Aussee to -pick up his girlfriend who was arriving that same night.
- -Once again we returned to the Convenience Series hoping to find -further horizontal passage. Kathryn and I were first down and started by -bolting the short pitch down from "Now Wash Your Hands". When Pete and -Edvin turned up we sent them to investigate a QM back from the pitch -head. This turned out to connect into the cave we were about to push and -how now been named "Shit Chute".
- -Meanwhile Kathryn and I finished descending the pitch and found large -horizontal passages leading off. All of these ended in large pitches -which we did not have the rope to descend. One pitch was descended -entirely on naturals (and a deviation using the donkey's dick on the -tackle sack). This led to a large passage filled with boulders. It -rapidly became too steep to descend (and looked horrendous to rig -anyway).
- -I began to bolt another pitch but decided hand bolting it would take -too long. Instead we left the new passage (now named "Engaged") and -returned to "Out Of Order Rift" to look at a small QM "Urinal Cakes". -After ~30m of tight rift this led into a chamber with lots of vertical -leads heading off. The chamber, now called "Indecent Exposure", also had -one horizontal lead which we pushed for 20m until it ended in a small -chamber.
- -Photo trip to Eishoehle. Excellent cave, although I was very glad -that I wore my Buffalo jacket under my furry! Some good photos were -taken by Mark S, hopefully our sponsors will appreciate our efforts!
- -Olly's guts weren't very happy so we picked an objective that would -never put us far from an entrance. We decided to survey 81 and 85 and -check for leads. We started with a quick look into 82 to look at the ice -stal and train tunnel passage. No ice this year at all and very little -snow. Train tunnel passage as impressive as ever, we noticed a -stooping/walking passage on the right which we followed (just a hole in -the floor and a lower passage) to the entrance of 83 - hurray, a -connection!
- -Also discovered another hole in the same doline as 85 which had -another 2 entrances (at least) and appears in the 81 doline. Surveyed 81 -and looked for leads - the only one was a climb up an aven which turned -out to be an inlet only.
- -Surface surveyed 81 to 81b to 85 tags and went home - will complete -the other surveying soon. This is an interesting area with a phreatic -level not far from the surface. If some of it heads under the -Vord-Hinter ridge (like 82) it should be very cool.
- -Decided it was time for a final trip in 148 to push the remaining -lead to a conclusion and derig. So we packed all the rope in the bivi -into a very full bag and set off.
- -We used a boulder and a spike as backups, then I climbed down the -rift, used another spike as a backup and stuck in a spit for the hang. -This got me down to where I'd been already via the alternate tight -thrutchy route. A rebelay off a thread reached the boulder-strewn -chamber floor. I followed the rift off the far side, round a corner to -the left, and it ended, far too tight. Shouted to Jenny that it was -over, then returning noticed a tight hold down into the rift, partly -hidden by the nose of a huge slab of fallen rock. A really strong icy -draught blasted up from it! Jenny sounded a little disappointed that it -wasn't really over.
- -A y-hang on spits and some awkward squirming reached a nicely -proportioned pitch. At the base, the floor was mostly clean-washed rock, -with a gravel bank to one side. The water flowed down a small hole, but -a climb up regained the rift. Round the corner to the left, the floor -dropped away. Stones rattle down the initial rift, then freefall for -perhaps 4 seconds (starting to whistle) then hit something solid, then -fell for another similar length of time. Hard to judge the total depth, -but a substantal pitch, and the 44m rope we had left wasn't going to -reach, so we surveyed out and planned to go back to base for more -rope.
- -Nipped into 76 to change radon detectors. All the rain was easting at -the larger remaining snow plug which made me a little nervous but I -figured it would last a bit longer so continued. I hope it goes when I -am not nearby ... changed detectors and came out - reversed pulsing -draught today.
- -Back down Razordance to take another look at the Far East. Uneventful -journey down. Jon took a look at the tubes at the bottom of the -Forbidden City. After ¬Ω hour working with a crowbar we decided that it -was a long-term job to dig through. We also looked downhill at the end -of the Silk Road. After descending a ~6m drop a shortish passage leads -to the top of a pitch. This is almost certainly the same pitch which can -be reached from below 'Carry on the Khyber' by following the water. -After that we continued along the phreatic passage above the Forbidden -City (the 'Gobi Trail') to the first major junction. Left here was -unsurveyed so we surveyed in, clocking up ~100m of new passage to a -point where a vadose canyon intersected. Right (up) led to a 6m aven, -reasonably climbable with some gear. Left led, via a climb down, to a -continuing rift which heads towards the left zipper/right zipper area in -Razordance. The phreas clearly continues over the top of the vadose -canyon but would require some effort to reach it. Finally we tidied up a -few minor leads. Closing a loop which led back to the Gobi Trail at the -climb (where we had previously rigged a hand line). Then out. A long -hard struggle back up Razordance and all of us ran out of puff in the -Ariston series. Ollie got slightly lost at Wolpertinger Way, but it was -his first trip in the cave. Given that he has only been caving a year -this trip was a major step up for him and all the rest of us thought he -did BLOODY WELL. We can expect HARD BASTARD exploits from this chap in -the future. Hats off!
- -Walked over to 161d. Mark and Phil went in to collect radon detector -from the Guillotene. We then picked our way down to the Stogerweg. On -the way down we found a promising looking entrance. Unfortunately Mark -found that it was a ~30m long through-trip! Going back along the path we -made a detour to Schnellzuhoehle. Mark and George went in and collected -another radon detector. After that a return to the carpark and down to -the Loserhutte with Djuke, Tony and Emma for a meal and beer.
- -Sarah and I thought we'd try the Loser via ferrata. Nobody died -(almost though). The end. [Sarah writes:] But I enjoyed the last part. -Sarah. - -
Frank Tully (for a bit)
- -Down Gaffered to explore chamber ("The Happy Hippocampus") below -Slimy Sludge Shute (a right hand lead just before Sirens Traverse). -Found out I should improve future rigging. Happy (aka stresful, muddy, -in small, sharp passageway derigging the Slimy Sludge Shute.
- -Then went into the Subsoil levels (turning down existing A-lead, -right hand side as you come down Chalk and Cheese pitch). As expected, -bolting down into the chamber at the end of the A lead confirmed that it -also emerged in the "Happy Hippocampus" chamber hence joining the -Underworld and Subsoil levels :-). YAY.
- -Surface prospecting and cave tagging in the northern most area of -CUCC territory. Tagged one of Anthony Day's cave finds. Also found a new -one and then the GPR ran out of battery and we walked back. In addition -to doing the Loser via ferrata and walking up to top camp this ended a -nicely varied day!!!
- -A fine diversion as a warm-up for our carry-up to Top Camp. Checked -out the cave at the base - graffiti dating back to 1800's - and the very -small (5m) cave on the left at the start of the escape route - doesn't -go.
- -Bimbled down Gaffered, all looking very familiar. Before that, had to -scrounge rope from the pitch into On A Mission and a bag from the top of -Gosser Streamway as there was all of 1.8m of rope left at Top Camp. -Rigged from Gardener's World down and then up into the Wares. Andrew -slung a rope down QM 04-23C and reported it as short passage to ~8m -pitch (QM B) then we went into Software and continued QM 05-73A. Wookey -put in a marginal-to-the-point-of-scary rig on small naturals down ~10m -to a small chamber. He and Julian surveyed a Quaking-esque tube, -drafting slightly, heading down, leaving it as a tight QM C with sound -of water. Andrew and I headed left, back parallel to the main Wares -passage in gradually smaller passage down to a flat-out wriggle but then -it headed up steeply and into a small chamber. Left here probably linked -back to near the start of the Wares passage. Right was a steeply -descending rift, QM B. Unfortunately the strong draft coming out of -Software that had drawn me back there seems to come from the roof rubes -above the pitch. Uneventful trundle out, taking out all the rope we'd -brought in. Oh yes - had Phil's Pony to survey with and its the bee's -knees.
- -Woken up by Andrew to the news that we were going down Razordance. -Hmm, really? I was prussiking out of 204E at 10pm last night + fancied a -bit of a mellow, shallow shufty. Still, now or never as the derig loomed -+ Wookey was keen. Then Julian astounded us all by muttering that he'd -come along. He went off for a dump whilst we consulted Andrew who was -going to have to shepherd us down there. Why not? says Andrew, so we -were underground by 10am feeling a bit old, unfit + generally fragile -for all of this lark. Slowly down the pitches then into the rift. And -more rift. And more sodding rift, ye gods. Only Andrew had been through -before (+ then only once) so we got lost a couple of times, particularly -trying to find the oxbow thing but finally we hit the sump + the -unfeasible traverse. Don't worry, its easier this direction says Andrew. -Hmm, reassuring. Quick chocky stop + off up lots of scrambly climbs - -not too bad but it felt a long way from home by now. What's all this -about? asks Wookey. We have to go up 120m now says Andrew. Bloody hell. -Wish we'd looked at the survey a bit more carefully before setting off - -except that would probably have discouraged us from all this nonsense. -This is wasting my valuable getting-out energy grumbles Julian. Picked -up Andrew's camera case + did some 4-flash shots in the big chamber then -split with Andrew + Julian taking photos and Wookey + I continuing -Andrew, George + Andreas' Gobi Trail survey ~ SW for 130m including -plenty of diddly 2m legs in mainly crawly / stoopy tubes with sand or -pebble floor. A reasonable draft heading in with us. It was all quite -cosy + friendly and we could easily have notched up a few more hours -surveying but Wookey decided that enough was enough so we took some -cheesy group shots + left things at a complex junction wuth 2 QM A's and -a QM B with sound of water. One to a Razordance-like rift with water, -the other with a strong draft coming out + heading up steeply. Derigged -the hand line + I picked up the tacklesack of unrigged rope + back to -the sump to put on our SRT gear. I failed to palm off the tacklesack on -anyone + set off to the start of the traverse. I'd heard Dunks muttering -that cutting the rope for the traverse without leaving a tail down to -the sump level had been a bit overkeen on scrimping with the rope + the -muddy slope from the end of the traverse down had been awkward on the -way there but, hey, nobody had actually fallen off it yet. Andrew had -mentioned it was easier high but with the tacklesack I didn't want to -slither a long way down so I gingerly teetered forward on muddy ledges + -eyed up the slot in the sump, wondering if it was narrow enough that I -couldn't possibly fall down it. Yes I thought + promptly my foot slid + -I decided to check it out. 'Shit'. Then I've got one foot under the -water + the other braced on the far wall with the tacklesack dangling -like a Mafioso's cement sack from my waist + some serious knee shake. -'Andrew's coming' shouts Wookey. He gets his long cows tail into the -traverse + I manage to clip my cow's tail into his footloops + then do a -flailing prussik up him and onto the traverse. Still nobody -volunteered to take the fucking tacklesack. I hauled myself across the -traverse trying to maintain enough stress that my 8pm spit sample on the -far side was a good 'un. Right, that was my low point, literally as well -as figuratively. Andrew derigged the traverse whilst collecting his spit -+ gobs as soon as he gets over. Were you holding the spit pot whilst you -derigged? asked Wookey. Er, he's good but even Andrew probably didn't -have a spare hand there. Tootled up the rift - not as bad as feared, -route-finding easier than on the way down + it didn't seem any more -energetic than on the way down, especially as all the pitches are nice + -bite sized. I didn't let anyone have a cup-of-soup at the camp as we -didn't deserve it. On + on, I'd forgotten all the pitches by now. I -managed to do an awkward section right at the bottom whilst everyone -else wandered around trying to find the way higher up. Then a really -long pitch, followed by another largish one. I got a bit concerned as -Julian would be slow on this + I knew Razordance started with an awkward -section + a couple of short pitches so we must still have quite a long -way to go in the rift... Andrew came up swearing at his dysfunctional -jammer. How many more pitches? I asked. 12. OK altogether, but how many -to go? Well, we've done 1 or 2. No, but the first ones in Razordance are -short... ah! You mean I'm not in the rift any more??? Great news - -halfway up Kiwi Suit before I knew it. No time out from here. Andrew + I -got out + rehydrated, went to bed + Julian + Wookey came out a couple of -hours later. Julian did an ad hoc spit sample just to see what euphoria -hormones look like (though how he gets his 4am baseline comparison I -don't know). A fine trip - once in a lifetime, literally, for Julian at -least... Combined age of 4 team members = 152 years, what's the -retirement age for this kind of nonsense?
- -Andrew and I decided to get a bit of gentle exercise so did a walk -towards 161d/g and found not v. many promising holes for quite a lot of -stomping.
- -1 2007-03 Elev 1747m 36970 82767 Horizontal entrance to ~3m pitch, -slight draft out. Not very promising.
- -2 2007-04 Elev 1750m 37017 828845 Low, wide entrance at base of 3m -cliff - a dig!
- -3 2007-05 Elev 1758m 37070 82945 5m deep surface hole with two -horizontal entrances at either end. The most likely-looking lead -probably.
- -4 2007-06 Elev 1810m 36931 83264 20m deep surface shaft - possible -way off from base, to SE.
- -5 2007-07 Elev 1873m 36916 83559. Horizontal tube sloping down, ends -after 10m, no draft.
- -Despite getting up at a reasonable time, lots of faffing (mostly by -Pete) meant we didn't get underground till after midday. There was a -serious lack of enthusiasm as we crawled through Germknoedel's Revenge. -I had knackered my knee on the previous day's walk up the hill and the -trip got off to a slow start as I limped my way down Treeumphant. -Eventually we arrived at Engaged in the Convenience series and began to -feel a bit more enthused about the trip. Unfortunately, Pete had taken a -wrong turn and had dragged the heavy bag of rope down Out of Order rift -- silly bugger! By the time he arrived I had put in the bolts for a -Y-hang at the top of the pitch series we were planning to rig. I was -extremely pleased to find that the power drill we had dragged down there -worked perfectly. Four rebelays later and I found myself at the bottom -of a very drippy and cold shafter. It didn't go anywhere, but did have -two sumps at the bottom. Unfortunately it turned out that me power -bolting is considerably faster than Pete and Sarah surveying (despite -the fact that they had a Pony and a disto!) so I had to sit and freeze -for 1 1/2 hours at the bottom while they caught up. When they finally -arrived they were hypothermic too and had failed to finish surveying the -shaft. I set off back up the ropes and left them to finish their survey -and derig. This took much longer than expected since Pete had forgotten -his spanner and in an attempt to give him hers, Sarah dropped it down -the pitch! Pete managed tot derig most of it using a maillon but in the -end I had to abseil back down to the first rebelay and give him my -spanner. Having been sat at the top of the pitch for over two hours, -Sarah and I were once again hypothermic so set off out as soon as Pete -arrived.
- -We stopped briefly in Dead Good Bat chamber for soup, but due to the -passing of time we were starting t come close to our 9am callout so we -didn't stop for long. At the bottom of Cerberus I left the other two -(and my tackle sack) in order to get out in time for our callout and -extend it for the others. I was extremely glad of Wookey's double -strength Ibuprofen which made prussiking with my dodgy knee bearable. I -surfaced at 7am and Sarah and Pete emerged at 11am. A ridiculously long -trip considering the amount of progress we had made.
- -Things that went wrong:
-- had to derig Dave and Djuke's rope - which got stuck
-- Sarah lost her foot jammer
-- Sarah's chest tape broke
-- My foot jammer broke
-- We all got freezing
-- Pete didn't have a spanner and Sarah dropped hers
-All in all a great trip :-)
- -Pitch series is now called S.L.T.R. for reasons known only to its surveyors.
- --
-
(+ Duncan Collis, Mark Dougherty, Richard Mundy + George North) - -which somehow have to fit into this schema
- -Left basecamp for an 'early start' at (maybe) 10am. (Duncan + Mark -had been talking about a R.D. trip the day before...) Got to Stone -Bridge early afternoon. JonT was itching for a RD derigging trip - -already up there for a few days, wanted a 'decent' trip. Aaron + I -pulled on our gear quickly, & then the three of us set off down 204A... -Duncan & Mark to follow after a few hours.
- -My second trip in Austria, first one was with Aaron to do some -science stuff in a shallow cave. This RD trip turned out to be quite -vertical. Not much horizontal caving, at least to start with. Stopped -briefly for my 2pm spit sample. We carried on downwards (later learnt -that this was the Kiwi series).
- -After a couple of hours we hit Razor Dance. Much more horizontal & -quite tight. Had a few problems finding the correct level - it's quite a -deep vertical rift in a few/most places. Lots of grunting. JonT: 'flow -with the rock, not against it'.
- -Got to final pitch before sump at bottom. Jon + Aaron already down. -Just as I was half-way down, Jon shouts for me to start going back up. -What the fuck? Shouts that it's getting very wet. Bloody hell, he's got -a point, this little RD stream has got a lot wetter. Better had -get out. Oops, no chest jammer on central MR (in dangly bag) - have to -go right down. Thunderstorm?
- -Put chest jammer on. Jon volunteers to derig - yes please! Start -heading out, followed by Aaron then Jon. Bottom pitches very wet - get -quite soaked. After a while, bump into Duncan & Mark. Good to see them. -Say they've re-rigged Paster of Muppets pitch 'cause it's a bit damp. -Follow Duncan up to top of Pepper Pot. Duncan, Mark & I wait there for -an hour (damn cold!) until Aaron & Jon turn up. Given heavy -tacklesack full of wet rope, carry on pushing up through RD. Duncan goes -on ahead.
- -Turns out that it's quite a mission to push a tackle sack through -tight, vertical rift. Almost leave it a couple of times. Arms tired. -Actually, there is a technique to it. Push it ahead and wedge it, -then follow.
- -Got to basic 'camp' (stove + food) called 'God Loves a Drunk' [GLAD -in other write-ups] - passed straight through on way down. Hot food, -courtesy of Duncan. Richard & George also there! Set off again after a -bit, following Jon. Hear him now & then at top of pitches.
- -Leave tacklesack at bottom of Kiwi Suit next to Jon's. Start up, -bloody hard work. See Duncan following at the bottom of pitches. Should -have brought more chocolate bars. Find my discarded water bottle on way -up - very thirsty, quite welcome! Also a flap-jack cache :)
- -Eventually got to the surface at 2am. 'Job's a good 'un'. Food then -sleep. Won't do that again in a hurry. Appears there was a ~7pm -thunderstorm.
- -Finis.
- -Down 10am. Wookey + I fetched the tackle sack of rope from Mystery -Wind + derigged the two pitches. By the time we were back at the bottom -of Kiwi Suit Andrew had unbagged all the rope and done paella number one -(and two) up the first pitch by himself... at which point we were -committed... to 9 more paella stacks until the last one emerged onto the -slabs outside of Top Camp. Ollie came along to help when we were on the -big pitch below Wolpertinger Way, which made life easier (down to only -one tackle bag each) and on the final pull we had an excellent surface -support party of Aaron, Richard, John + Jon to do all the hard work. -Rope dried overnight, coiled the next day so all the RD derigged in 2.5 -trips - not bad.
- -Neither of us had been before but the magic of GPS and a good set of -cairns got us to the entrance. John then whinged all the way down the -entrance pitch about rubs. I just thought he was seeing some standard -CUCC rigging but as I went down it went rub, twang, rub along with a -hail of loose rocks. On the way out we realized that some of the problem -were that the snow level was way down on last year‚ but we'd also not -been warned about the three rope protectors needed. After that comes a -small sloping crawl. Should I take the tacklesack? Asks John. No, it's -OK if you just roll it ahead says I. Oh no - you OK? Er, do you want to -go check out this QMC down this little shaft? Fortunately John could get -down & reported it kept going as a QM B‚ and fetched the tacklesack. We -then looked at 06-19A which looked an excellent lead. After some -gardening there was no time left to survey so nosed around the rest of -the passage there and then out. Be a lovely cave if someone with a drill -rigged the entrance more creatively.
- -(Maybe others not listed)
- -Some of the people at top camp decided that caving was effort. They -were right. Therefore we decided to look at some hole we had walked past -on a previous slack day showing newcomers where Tunnocks is.
- -We passed 204 E to find some reasonably deep but snow filled holes. -Armed with a drill Nial bolted our way down a hole. Our team (Nial, Pete -and Sarah) was joined by Jon after Pete had descended and decided we -didn't have enough rope. Aided by Jon what we decided was 2007.03 was -descended to a snow plug and a slot followed by Jon. We surveyed down -the slot to a choke. It turns out this place was probably already -explored in 2002. Frank laddered down a hole that had a vital connection -to where we had been. Sarah and I looked [continued 3 pages later: -'Quarries continued'] in another hole that had a bolt already in place -and found no leads. Sarah + Jon looked at some other places further in -the Tunnocks direction which one of them will have to write about. To -conclude: Time wasted - 1 day.
- -Having failed to find 2004-04 the previous afternoon we had another -go and it was still hidden sadly. Then went to look for 84 which we also -failed to find, I guess it is either well hidden or not close to 83 to -the WNW.
- -Found an interesting looking hole (2007-73) walking entrance down a -snow slope which then went down a bit to a chamber. Olly looked at the -continuation which was a bit snowy & small. We will return later in -expo.
- -Went over to survey the connection with 85. Shortly into the -connection is an aven up to the surface a new higher entrance! As we -surveyed we could hear very loudly a thunderstorm overhead, and a -waterfall appeared near the 85 entrance. Olly had a look at the -continuation of 85 but thought the climb wasn't freeclimbable due to the -current snowline position.
- -It had rained a lot overnight + was still raining so decided the -pitch in 148 might be unpleasant, so decided on 76 instead. Went to the -end of the Boiling Tubes where we left 3 leads in 2004. None of the -leads looked great, but we started with 04-62B, the straight-on lead. -This was crawling then wiggling to a boulder which was followed shortly -by a stal blockage - unusual for Austria. The stals weren't huge, but -neither was the passage. I surveyed back while Olly took notes, and -sadly my promising lead heading straight for 2007-71 was no more. (There -was a small red spider there).
- -Olly removed some soil from the RH lead 04-63C and discovered that -the soil continued for quite some way, so we left off that and looked at -the final crap lead (04-04C). After moving some rocks I crawled down, -slightly downhill and over rocks. I was really hoping that I would be -able to turn around at some point as I wasn't looking forward to -reversing back.
- -Then I noticed the passage was echoing. In my experience so far, -small crawls tend not to make large echos. This made me excited and -optimistic that I might be able to turn round. After a few more metres -the crawl enlarged enough that I could just turn round, yay! Rocks -dropped down the pitch went for ~2.5s then bounced a bit more. Shame it -would be a crap place to carry gear.
- -Returned to BUW[BNW?, bivi?] and looked at 04-25C, surveyed down to -where it got small - is very easy to move rocks though. It looks like it -connects with Loopy so probably easier to get through from the -south.
- -Finally looked at 04-26B, scramble in (easily) [something] - the A+ -pitch ledges into a narrow walking height passage followed this up to a -T junction, left is low crawling and right a bit larger - both are C -grade leads. The RH one may join 04-41C perhaps. Surveyed this and left, -removing the radon detectors on route.
- -Went back to 81 to survey the new stuff. Not a hugely long cave but a -lot of entrances (which we have put hiltis in for the tags and for 82b -tag). There are still a couple of leads to look at later as well. What -we surveyed was mostly walking passage and quite pleasant.
- -Our hopes of an early start were sabotaged by the realisation that -the drill battery was (a) flat and (b) broken. Several hours of charging -and some gaffer later, we got underground around noon.
- -At the pushing front, James + I cowered damply while Andreas rigged -the pitch with a Y-hang + rebelay 2m further down. This landed in an -elongated rift chamber, with a fairly narrow but ruler-straight slot -leading off. Andreas went ahead with the bolting gear while we started -surveying.
- -The slot widened out somewhat + a scramble up onto a ledge led to a -keyhole-type phreatic tunnel + slot in the floor. Andreas rigged a -traverse where the slot began to widen + reached a stance overlooking a -deep, dark pool of water.
- -Andreas attempted to answer the question 'is this a sump?' by -traversing out along the ledge to see round a corner, but ran out of -battery. So we headed out, leaving the depth certainly over 600m.
- -We felt like a short trip so went to try & tick off some annoying QMs -in the Insignificant area.
- -01-3C is clearly too tight.
- -01-7C went to a short crawl & climb up into a tall passage. This went -maybe 10m to a big pitch (probably Pleasuredome). Side passages high & -low on the right led to the same pitch.
- -A window just before the pitch was some more crawls & a steep ramp -down to a complex loopy junction. On the right is another big drop -(Pleasuredome again?). On the left various tubes lead off. QM C.
- -New passage is 'Swiss Cheese'.
- -At this point I gave up in disgust realising that my goal of making -the survey easier to draw was clearly hopeless, and we exited via No -Pain No Gain (modulo getting lost after turning left instead of right on -hitting 110 A Day).
- -Niall felt it was time to attempt the trisselwand again, 15 years -after the last disastrous attempt. Wookey 'Volunteered' as a previous -incumbent, and Andrew was mugged into coming too. Packed in advance -with trepidation and got up by 6am to omlette already made by Andrew. -Hiked in to bottom from Sattel to start by 9am. To find the start go -down a bit (30m?) after the heli-landing zone open area & just follow -obvious path. We went off up wrong scre slope & wasted half an hour -faffing. First couple of hundred metres is just scrmabling up path to -start.
- -We decidefd o do 'Hoferweg' route (5) as it is in guidebook with -topo. Previpous trips have done the easier 'Stügerweg' route -(3-4+). Wook led 1st couple of pitches, getting a bit lost on 2nd. -Then Andrew took over for the next couple of pitches back into the -gulley. We wizzed up there, mostly moving together. Chilly in the -shade. Had lunch at 1pm above pitch 8. We were overtaken by 3 groups -further down - 2 heading up 'seeblick' sport route & one pair going -our way. They had no gear beyond extenders - using body belay or -italian hitch for belay!, but were clearly mch better climbers than -us. Soon we were at the headwall where there really is a bench fixed -in place to look at view from.
- -Next bit was obvisouly hard so we send niall first. Turned into -proper climbing at this point. 1st pitch (#12, 4-) OK, Next really -quite tricky - a fine lead. System we used was 2 half-ropes, leader -had no sack, both seconds carried rucksacks, on easy pitches both -seconds moved together. Pitch 14 was nasty-looking overhang - not as -bad as it looked btill scary & with desperate slab back into gulley, -not designed for short-arses (drop onto tiny ledge from one handhold. -wobbly piton for pro). more gulley & a couple of slabs, now quite hot -after 3½ hours in the sun. Andrew suffering from sun but saved by -cave at stance for pitch 18.
- -Now quite strung out with 2 hard pitches right at the top; tired, -hot. Having the hard stuff at the end like this is really rather -unhelpful. 2 more fine leads from Niall - bloody good job we brought -him along! nasty move out from cave, and marvellously exposed climb -round overhang looking right down 800m to lake, finally gets you off -horrible cliff to marvellous views that you could have had by walking -up.
- -very tedious 1&quarter;hrs trog back down to well-earned beer. -Niall liked the hard bits on good rock (& really didn't like the -chossy pitches). Wook and Andrew hated those and liked the easy bits -on shitty rock. Finshed at 6:10pm.
- -9hrs on the rock. ~13hrs total trip.
- -Not epic, but bloody hard work & quite scary; - -
The previous night I had been down to 'God Loves A Drunk' with George -North. On the 3rd I therefore hurt and my caving gear was thoroughly -soaked through. Given no sun to dry it, a day of top camp festering -ensued. I erased the memories of prussiking through 2 deg C Razordance -waterfalls ("the wettest I have ever seen it" - Mark D) by going on a -mission for Dave L; a quest to BS17.
- -BS17 is about a 1h10 walk away, with no heavy pack in ordinary -clothes. One travels over the ridge behind the bivvy and over two -subsequent hills, before coming across a fairly low ridge, perhaps 500m -long and running E-W. On the far (North) side of the ridge, the -limestone takes the form of a series of 5m cliffs up the slope.
- -Organhoehle, BS17, is likely to be one of the many holes in these -cliffs. The GPS point did not correspond to one exactly, but there were -half a dozen possibilities within 50m. The area around the ridge appears -very promising for caves. The limestone is not very broken-up and there -are holes, big & small, everywhere. The side of the ridge is -particularily nice in that it offers many horizontal entrances.
- -I took my photographs using Ollie S's camera before stumbling back in -thick fog, hoping the GPS did not pack-up.
- -My caving gear still wet & cold, we set off to the 'Wot no Butcombe' -end of the 'Rhino Rift' area of 204. We rigged pitch 03-79A; a phreatic -pitch wead [sic] tackled nicely with a single backed-up bolt. The -fortuitous bolt placement occured purely by chance.
- -03-76B leads out from the opposite side of the pitch head, but would -require a handful of bolts to access. Aaron took some time rigging, at -one point succeeding in incorporating his chest tape into the rig -accidentally. We descended the pitch, now named 'Hollow Sausage.' It is -phreatic in character, with a shelf around halfway down before the shaft -balloons out, then contracts again.
- -At the bottom of this 9m pitch, one finds one's body in a small -widening of a tall, narrow, and windy rift. This had a small stream at -the bottom and had been named "Dover's Last Stand". The crawl to the -pitchhead is likewise rocky.
- -A boulder choke prevents one travelling far downhill the rift. Uphill -there are fine mud formations on the left wall. A 4m climb leads to a -narrowing of the rift. It gets too tight, but there seems to be a route -above of B/C QM calibre. This is tough and may qualify as being a pitch. -Would be better explored downhill.
- -Ollie, Aaron and I went for a 2.5 hour jaunt down 204e. The main -purpose was to place some thermistors in Chocolate Salty Balls for -Aaron.
- -Meanwhile, Ollie and I looked at some QMs 01-39 C should be -downgraded to a D lead. It seems to be boulder choked.
- -The nearby B lead, if it corresponds to the hole in the floor, looks -really very tight and very steep.
- -01-36C was pushed. It turns right, then becomes too tight.
- -It is worth noting that Andrew 'Andy' Atkinson and co have replaced -the handline in Cave tree chamber with some red 2006 9mm. I would have -put in some 2003 myself, but don't ultimately care.
- -Top Camp is now home to:
--30 massively fat and well fed insulted mice.
--THE FLAPJACK BEAST
- -Frank has scored a victory over the mice by altering the food -hammock, rendering it inaccessible to them.
- -However, we saw THE FLAPJACK BEAST (a small squirrel thingy) access -the hammocks via running upside down across the Stone Bridge roof. This -animal will thus prove hard to defeat.
- -Needed an easy trip in order to walk down hill for Trisselwand, so -picked a QM on the survey which was interestingly above the huge aven in -Hippocratic Oath. QM 06-7A at the end of Goesser Streamway. Also took in -a rope to replace 1996 traverse line in Cave Tree Chamber (9mm bit of -2006 red stuff ~15m).
- -Discovered that top of line was tied to 2 large but loose boulders. -One moved 3 feet with a slight touch! Took opportunity to get rare -photos of large falling boulder. 2nd shot (boulder) was great. Put in 2 -bolts to make it safe, using opportunity to teach John B how to put in -drill bolts.
- -Rigged down - cave is not quite like survey. Actually p3 & p6 after -~4m and then ~p8 after ~12m then ~30m of streamway to final p29. Got to -end to find [?bury] bolt on far side of pitch but no back-up bolts / -threads / anything. Someone had been very necky. Put in 2 bolts for -traverse to pitch (drills are great) and dropped to bottom. Nice winding -passage sadly went nowhere: solid rock at one end, deepish (0.6m) pool -and impenetrable rift [?inuing king] stream, at the other end. Surveyed -(2 legs, ~38m) and derigged and went home with big fat bag of rope.
- -Did the Seemond - Klettersteig. No helicopter involved. Takes about -5 hrs on the face and hours walk either end and cable car down. Bloody -hard work but magnificent situations.
- -NB This is not the same as the Johann-Klettersteig. It is about the -same grade but 780m long while Johann is about 500m. Starts from the -Kessel spring near Hallstalt, and goes to Gjoid Alm.
- -FWIW If you are going to do this you must leave early - sun will hit -you at 2pm ish, and last cable car down is 5pm.
- -TW (Time wired) 5hrs
- -The previous day, we walked to 2007-04 with Wookey. On the 8th we -pushed and surveyed this. The cave is in a loose depression on the ridge -behind the bivi. It has plenty of snow in the entrances and dramatic -slabs of rock hovering above it.
- -The north entrance leads to 'Slackwell's Stumble', a boulder choked -passage with bouldery floor.
- -The other entrance leads to a snowy slide down into ' John's Winter -Wonderland' or alternatively a precarious 3m climb leading to a boring -chamber or a bouldery passage into 'Quick wee chamber', with a ledge on -the opposite side.
- -Quick wee has a high entrance inaccessible to us. John's winter -wonderland has a too tight passage that echoes and feels as if it may -'go' under the snow.
- -2007-04 has been tagged by us as such.
- -We had several 'brown alert' moments on climbs, due to slipperiness -and looseness. Another memorable time was when I put in a crap spit, -then reached to hang a sling from a natural. The snow under me -collapsed, dropping me 4m. Luckily onto more snow. I slid down the -snow towards the Winter Wonderland, before the rope became taut and -caught me. Worrying.
- -Given light rucksacks and a nice day decided to investigate doing 161 -from 204 and thus check out the practicality of route. Walked to 161d -without much faffing. Decided to have a tourist in cags and headtorches -and to show John fine passage off triassic park. Nice trip for about 50 -mins, including some photos.
- -Then continued along traverse to 161 e and f. Found a large entrance -sloping in, untagged and unmarked. Assumed it was 161e but later -research showed that it was further north than 161f which we came across -a few mins later. The entrance must be known? Later marked bivi site -cave list to say 161e is not tagged/marked, but seems that is confusion -not fact.
- -Continued following traverse which was generally easy to follow. Bit -of bunde cutting would make it lovely. Got out from below cliff after -45 mins but then got into complex area of shelves. Not sure best route -to take as we had no GPS. Ridge looks completely different from the -back side. Very hard to tell which peak is which and a hole load of -extra peaks appear. ridge is not really a ridge at all and is about 500m -wide. Eventually struck due west and came out 300m North of the -bivi.
- -Found a couple of caves en-route. 1st explored enthusiastically by -John B despite not being good in Tshirts and shorts (low, crawly). -Slight draft. Unfortunately due to no GPS we won't find it again for -years.
- -Also found large hole 200m from bivi, described in 'slippery hole' -entry.
- -With all the aving and sub-optimal walk whole walk from car park took -about 5 1/2 hrs. From 161d it is probably about 2hrs to 204 by sensible -route. 1 1/2 to nearer entrance. Route needs some serious honing to -make practical for trips, but we confirmed that cliff traverse part is -not a problem (in fact its the nicest bit).
- -Andrew took photo gear, Wook took tackle & rigging gear, Becka -took survey gear. Went in to far end to rig traverse over '17s rattle,' -via a couple of metres of entrance ice.
- -Andrew rigged traverse and we threw lots of big rocks, reckoning main -pitch to be 45m with prob another similar below. Traverse just led to -other views down pitches. Not clear if all three holes are same pitch or -not. Put in a couple more spits to tidy rig, surveyed & went back to -lead below climb up to cobble pile. Pitch down but c3 into passage went -about 50m to another large pitch.
- -Big draught.
- -Next went to horizontal QM N of cobble pile. This was nice & -flat. Andrew left for 2nd photo trip of day in 82. Becka & Wookey -surveyed over 250m of stonking passage "Rhubarb Crumbly". Exceptionally -fine trip - lots of QM's. Eventually gave up, utterly sated by too many -QMs - chamber with two going off E, NE, NW.
- -Laser surveying is the way forward -- but keep batts away from SAP.
- -Back to bag some more horizontal cave, despite having to walk back -down (Wook). All underground by 9.30. 1hr to pushing front. Off -resolutely North, past some very fine pretties for Austria. Then chamber -with pitch below and choice of A-leads. Took northerly one - soily -passage, then rift chamber, then descending phreatic, past a tricky c3 -up into soily, wide place with passages down ahead and on right -(draughting towards us). Another off on L, draughting away. Main lead -down terminated at a clean aven & 4m passage blocked by soil choke. -Crawls continue. Air probably goes up aven.
- -Lead on R from soily place in huge passage almost full of soil. -Strong draught, goes to smallish aven then peters out in steeply -ascending tubes. Aven may be climable.
- -Lead on L goes only about 30m to pitch.
- -So went back to major lead at pitch chamber. Passage ascending at -consistent 23°ress; to East. Ollie came to join us as we started up -here & did a bit of ferreting. Did about 100m of this before Wook -had to start long journey home. Others continued, determined to clock up -at least 500m.
- -Passage was up to 1825m (60m below entrance). Wook out in a little -over an hour, just in time to get thunderstormed on along with Jon and -Morven (who had no cags & got soaked to skin).
- -Got underground 1pm with intention to head south. After ticking off -06-11C and 06-20C, realized our progress was cut short without any rope -to descend the p9. Aaron set off to find Andy, Wook & Becka in South -Tunnocks to swipe some rope. Find them he did, and returned with more -than he bargained for - Big Bertha complete with drill, misc gear & -rope. After much to-ing and fro-ing S to N, following objectives -accomplished: Surveyed & derigged 2 pitches Duncan had dropped in N off -of big chamber (now called 'Secret Squirrel' and 'Fat Rat'). Frank & -Pete left to go down hill at this point. Ollie & Aaron rigged p9 in -Sauerkraut; could only find one spit in wall & no naturals, so put -another in as considered this a tad dodgy. Dropped 06-31A, to be -surveyed next trip. Has another pitch and horizontal QMB at bottom & -provisionally called the 'Pantin Sales Pitch.' Also bolted pitch into -big chamber in N [traverse into Caramel Catharsis] (where Secret -Squirrel begins) which had hung off impressive natural but was awkward -to mount / dismount, now much better. Pete and Frank out ~7pm? Aaron and -Ollie out 12pm.
- -With one datalogger installed in Germkndel's Revenge already -(upcoming writeup), we set off to install 3 more: 2 in chocolate salty -balls (1 hobo(?) with 4 thermistors, 2 wet/dry pairs, 1 easysense with -temp, RH, and barometric pressure) and 1 in crowning glory.
- -[diagram of where stuff is]
- -Also ticked off QMs 01-40C and 0139C.
- -After a few hours of fiddling with his homel(?) new sonic anemometer -using a picoscope and laptop at the bridge, Aaron threw up his hands and -decided to solder the finicky thing into a datalogger and whack it to -the bottom of E entrance. The allen key needed to open the logger was -conveniently in a peli case in chocolate salty balls. While Aaron was -already resigned to bringing laptop and scope underground because -anemometer needed to be adjusted after export, trying to solder -underground seeme like crossing the line. So Aaron went down to get key -and brought a well-calibrated Ollie to put in a spit to mount the -anemometer on. On the surface again, Aaron failed to get the logger and -anemometer to play nice together and decided to abandon the enterprise -until a later date, in the UK or on Expo08.
- -Down to tick off some leads & start the derig. Nial rigged his "worst -ever pitch" - for his sake, I hope it is true - rope slung round a -boulder at the pitch head, past a wriggle through loose choss and a few -rub points and down to a spit he put in with a 20cm long vertical crack -above it. This dropped us down to where the Engaged pitch landed and -from there Martin attempted to outdo Nial by rigging the next pitch on -even more choss. Got very cold waiting and I was mighty relieved to -find, after the first spit had gone in, that we'd run out of hangers (we -accidentally only had brought two in total!) & could go out. Andrew took -a few photos through the trip and he and I surveyed two shortish QM's -whilst Nial and Martin headed out. We then derigged the rope in -Convenience and Chalk & Cheese and then I took a tacklesack out leaving -just a 55m pushing rope to fish out at the bottom of Gaffered. Overtook -Martin and Nial before Gaffered and slowly we all trundled out. -Super-muddy Gaffered rope plus a heavy tacklesack is a crap -combination.
- -My first ever cave in Austria, descended down very loose boulder -slopes to large pile of snow at bottom of pitches, fun sledging down. -First ever injury in Austria soon followed, jumping to avoid boulder -fall and landed on lovely smooth icy floor, same effect as banana skin! -A fun but painful trip followed. Found Apfelstrudel section of cave; -best bit was a chute that looked like a bob sleigh run, great going -down, tricky on the way out. Ended survey at exciting junction, pitch on -one side, stomping passage on the other. Back up pitches & down to top -camp for introduction to Holy Hand Grenade [Hungarian-donated alcoholic -beverage].
- -(Ollie Stevens brief cameo appearance) - -
Surveying trip down 'great, draughty lead'--left after Wikinki Beach -boulders, then second left along passage. Phreatic tube leads down and -W. Becoming increasing boulder-filled & uninspiring towards -end--[illegible] of large avens though, maybe where ‚---nght comes down. -Named "Dubious Pleasure". Morven's back was playing up in cold, so left -after few hrs.
- -Basically I'm working in Scotland so on the Fridat I drove from -Glasgow to Bristol. However, it was very very wet.
- -Took 5 hours to get to Manchester then the M6 slowed down to creep -speed. I forgot it was the first weekend of the summer holidays so -every caravan in the UK was on the move.
- -Torrential rain so eventually got to south of Birmingham by 6.30 - -another 6 hours driving. Continued driving at snails pace however all -was not looking good.
- -By 8.00 the slow lane north of Tewkesbury was 8" deep in water. By -9.30 the fast lane was 6" deep and the slow lane was too deep for -lorries. There were cars broken down on the hard shoulder with the -water up to their windows.
- -I was approx 150 cars back from the point where the police closed the -M5.
- -Then the highways agency took over... The rain stopped at 11pm but it -took the highways agency another six hours to notice. I was released -back onto the motorway at 05.30. Got an hours kip.
- -Then to start packing - bit of a rush considering I was to pick up Mr -Underwood in Reading. However, the railways were closed south of -Birmingham.
- -So at the last possible minute Phil found a train that was going to -stansted.
- -Anyway, it all came together. Packed in 2 hours - drove to Stansted - -found Phil and George. Drove to M25-A12 juntion found Pete. Got to -Dover hour late - no problem. Drove to Austria in 12 hours. MCE.
- -Went to surface shaft Frank & I found a few days ago - a phreatic -tube ending in a big bowl of choss, above quarries uphill of bivvy site. -[Voed?] ladder & lifeline to survey, only small, loose cave, [blasted?]. -Boulders, ah well. Named Pink Wafer Biscuit Cave as it was really only -worth looking at after looking at all the other entrances.
- -Went to 81 for an easy day to tick off the crap lead near the RH -route from 81b. To me it looked like a tight, loose & awkward route -through a boulder choke that obviously didn't go. Only went in cos Olly -thought it was "interesting". Having moved the loosest rocks out of the -way I wriggled through and it opened up into a rift. The boulders looked -less bad from below, so Olly came through as well. Got into a rift with -various holes in the floor to a lower passage in the same rift. I -traversed right to the end to where it was easy to climb down. This got -us down to the top of a lot of ice which formed a floor to the rift -chamber.
- -Walked carefully around on the ice we saw some cool curved ice -formations. At the end of the ice there appeared to be a pitch down -between the ice and rock. We were without gear so steered clear, but -hypothesized it might drop into the ice castle passage in 148. Surveyed -out (checking that the outer lead didn't do anything interesting)..
- -Walked up to Laser 0/5 and had a look for 1987-02. Scrambled up the -hill for a way and didn't see any horizontal entrances. Got fairly near -the crest of the ridge, so headed back down by a different route. Olly -spotted a draughting out shaft which we numbered 2007-7[MISSING], -GPS[MISSING]. Carried on down and got to a hidden valley with a low -horizontal entrance with a HUGE out draft. Walked inside and got some -big passage going straight on and right, both of which led to pitches. -Reading the old logbook suggests this must be 1987-02 (from the U/G and -entrance location descriptions).
- -Surface surveyed this to Laser 0/5/
- -Oh, in the morning had a look at another new entrance (that has -probably been seen before). Collapsed valley entrance with a couple of -leads, one might go but not without an oversuit & kneepads. Second lead -is a crawling / stooping phreatic passage for ~10m till it chokes. This -is 2007-7[MISSING] GPS[MISSING]
- -Olly looked down the surface shaft near 148 first - down to the snow -plug then the ledge to where a narrow rift heads down presumably into -the aven in 148. Didn't push down this yet as we have the other route -rigged.
- -We were going to push the pitch shaft in 148 but I was feeling sick -so we went back to 81 to tie up a surveying loose end. Olly concocted a -plan whereby I sat at the entrance and felt ill, and Olly went down the -rift shaft and bolted the hypothesized 148 connection. I figured he -would have a hard time with the rope, drill & survey left on his own -through the rift & climbs, so I came too & felt ill & whinged a lot. -Olly bolted down the pitch at the end of the ice and sadly it didn't go -far. We surveyed it and while I derigged Olly looked for other pitches -we had missed.
- -Back at the other end a tight grovel through ice led to a small rift -and a pitch. This dropped into 148! Right where we built a cairn which -was cool. Surveyed out passing Nial & Andrew photoing ice and -raisins.
- -Headed into 148 with way too much gear, but not enough crabs or -maillons. Got to the [saw?] pitch and the water levels rose considerably -making it very nasty & wet. Oh well, at least the rigging will be good -in high water ... Olly rigged a backup & bolt to get down the narrow bit -then got to a ledge where he rigged a nice Y-hang and went down through -a tight bit and then opened up lots to a deviation. This carried on down -to a big blackness with sadly no routes to drop down. It was quite [no -word here] by this point (especially for the power drill) so we came -back up - next time we need to rig it further out I guess. Came out of -the cave surveying a poxy side bit on the way. Came out in the dark and -clag - reflective markers are ace.
- -Went to survey & explore 1987-02. Headed to the RH pitch first. It -had a bolt which, combined with a couple of naturals & fending off from -the wall, got us down. Pitch lands at a junction, left (as you look down -the pitch) is BIG phreas with another way in from a little vertical -oxbow. This goes for a while then gets smaller and lower (but still 5m -wide). Eventually the gap between the rubble and roof becomes too low. -Would be diggable but doesn't draught. Back at the base of the pitch a -daylight aven comes in from straight on. To the right soon becomes a -rift, climbing high ends up choking, low down gets to a narrow -meandering rift turning left through which a howling draught blows out. -We both went a few metres in and noted that it echoes and is a bit tight -- the most promising a tight rift could be I guess. Again, back at the -pitch, kind of back underneath, is a phreatic passage that ends in a -hanging death choke that again draughts. Back at the entrance the other -way on drops into the same passage as the other one. Daylight comes in -from another shaft. Very interesting to get big phreas here ~1/2 way -between 76 and 161 ... worth prospecting in the area next year I -think.
- -Another trip involving ping-ponging to and fro from the North & South -of Tunnocks. Went North to derig traverse past scree slope & commandeer -rope. Returned through Sauerkraut, surveyed 06-31A which turned out to -be an exceptionally smooth p30 duly named the Pantin Sales Pitch. -Checked out little horizontal passage to left which didn't go, and then -dropped the next pitch, yet unnamed, which surveyed to about 45m. -Exciting to find that we had been standing on a wedged pile of boulders -suspended above an airy rift. Single hang & backup got us to bottom -where it choked. Very likely way on (marked QMB) by traversing around to -right into spacious rift ~15m down the p45. Ollie suffered a bout of the -keenness so we went back north to meet Becka and Martin who were on -their way out and survey continuation of Flying High. Didn't manage very -much (~30m) before Aaron had had about enough. Avoiding stals / pretties -while maintaining our precarious position high in the rift while -surveying involved a form of Vedic Levitation. Rift got smoother & -wider; looks like next trip will need to drop down to (easily walkable) -rift floor & climb up again shortly. Blows a gale in there though.
- -Pootled to the Wares & headed off for a QM I'd been hankering after -checking. QM 04-49A. We'd left it as a steep ramp needing a handline in -2004. I rigged a handline up (needs ~25m rope) using 2 naturals then -hand bolted a spit on the left wall then a very fine thread on -the left wall then tied off on dodgy naturals at the top. Surveyed up to -find an extensive horizontal level - yippee. Sadly this was a derig trip -so we surveyed as much as we could, as far as a complex chamber with -several pitches, and we had to run out leaving lots of QMA's. Aaron's -light played up then fell apart and he couldn't find his spare -batteries, "I think I've learnt a lesson about redundancy today" says he -... Then slog, slog, slog, up the derig. Martin set off first with a -tacklesack & then pulled a second sack up Gaffered, I derigged & Aaron -did a tacklesack shuffle. We ended up getting 3 tacklesacks all the way -out, one at the bottom of E entrance pitch & one tied to the bottom of -Gaffered pitch so a pretty good job.
- -I got to the lowest rebelay on Gaffered & hauled up the tacklesack -tied to the bottom then derigged & Martin & I took out a tacklesack each -whilst Aaron switched his data loggers.
- -Second trip of the day: our reward for finishing the Gaffered derig. -Hadn't much time (set off from camp at 4pm) so we headed for a nearby -lead; the drafting hole halfway along the traverse down Ribs with -Knödel. This quickly opened into a steeply sloping, sizeable -passage heading steeply up (Stone Monkey). We surveyed until I was cold -and it was teatime, leaving QMA's and B's en route and finding large -ongoing passage.
- -Off down to the MP/Flying High junction and surveyed the walking -passage on the right (after ticking off a QM just before Dubious -Pleasure). This was fine, roomy walking passage. A large passage -underneath linked back to the main Maximum Pleasure passage. Our passage -went in fine style to a large aven with a smallish passage … with snow -… and pine cones and leaves … I got really excited by the potential -of an entrance which Martin was perplexed by, since I'd been unimpressed -by all the old stal that he'd been getting excited about. We kept -surveying past the aven and then it headed up a ramp & gradually became -smaller and less exciting before we left it at a c2 in a drippy aven. I -checked the snowy passage at the aven; it was small & headed up steeply -but the snow was rotten with holes in and it looked a bit dodgy so we -left it. We then went back to the MP/Flying High junction & did a QMA -near to it, on the left. This headed down steeply to a chamber with -large lumps of flowstone. It was really drafty and we were too cold to -face more so we headed out.
- -A fine, sunny morning so we hung around until all our gear was dry in -an attempt to have a warmish survey trip in Tunnockschacht. We started -by doing the left lead just after the traverse in Ribs with Knödel -[just beyond Caramel Catharsis]. This was extremely drafty & rapidly led -to a large pitch. We then headed to Maximum Pleasure, taking some snaps -en route. We surveyed from where Martin and I had left off yesterday, in -the flowstone chamber. We went past a large pitch & down to another, -smaller pitch then surveyed a small passage on the left and then did a -couple of legs up smaller passages to reconnect to the flowstone -chamber, making us feel virtuous. Martin and Olly turned up and we -pointed them to the remaining horizontal lead (which turned out to stop -after only ~30m). I then dragged Julian to the far end of Maximum -Pleasure to double-check that there were no other good leads to the -North. Nothing looked very tempting but I persuaded Julian to continue -the passage on the right where Wookey, Andrew and I had left off. This -headed up into awkward crawls and ceiling tubles and leads of 2-3m legs. -Unfortunately there was no good reason to stop so we just plodded on -until, thanks be, it finally, gradually lost the draft & fizzled out to -too-tight ceiling tubes.
- -We were feeling a bit tired so put off the 148 trip by another day -and went to tie up some loose ends in the 81/82 area. Started with a -surface survey from 81b to 148 in hope of improving the loop closure, -also tied in the 82 tag to 85.
- -Surveyed the remaining passage in 81 and checked out all the leads - -except for anything we missed there are no longer any leads. There was -nearly yet another entrance but it was blocked with rocks, doesn't seem -worth opening it up as 81 has more than its store of entrances -already.
- -Went into 82 to resurvey the upper level and check out the 'drafting -tube' noted in 1977 - it drafted lots and lots out and whilst it is very -tight the floor is muddy/sandy and could easily be dug. It is heading -for the similarly big phreas in 1987-02 and less than 200m away.
- -drawn by Duncan
- -
Decided to derig 76 so we at least only had one cave left rigged. -Didn't take the drill in to conserve battery power for 148 so couldn't -push deeper. Nice going through the testtubes with only SRT kits to -carry. Successful derig. To get to The Ledge needs 16 + 16 + 28 m of -rope.
- -Running out of time so could no longer put off the final trip 148 -trip. Only had to carry in the drilling stuff + the survey kit, so got -to the big pitch quite efficiently. Sorted out gear we had left there -and Olly sety off down. I sat on the ledge at the Y-hang and shivered as -I watch Olly getting father away, and every so often there'd be some -tarzaning around for the rig. I noticed that Olly seemed to be quite -near the water - today it was essentially just water running / trickling -down the wall. I hoped it wouldn't rain.
- -Eventually it was my turn to descend, got down to where Olly was at a -huge jammed boulder which made a floor for a bit. There the rift seemed -to go 2 ways - rocks went for a long way down the straight-on-left -route, but a stronger draft seemed to come from the right. This led -shortly down to a bouldery floor. The rift continued over a jammed rock, -a big draught comes from here. Olly went some way down - it doesn't -trivially join the other route and rocks also fall a long way...
- -I was cold and Olly had done a lot of rigging so we decided to start -the derig. It didn't go too badly (even the tight rift bits) and we got -all four tackles out before it got too tiring.
- -148 rigging
-
the rigging in Some Like it Pot needs some adaption in case it rains, -but currently would be more unpleasant than suicidal.
- -Hauled datalogger and thermistor out of CSB, along with a tackle sack -of rope left from earlier derig. Aaron reprogrammed CSB logger to log -for coming year (recording once per hour, memory fills in 387 days). -Plunged back down E, replaced the CSB logger and Pete derigged E on the -way out.
- -Pete, Aaron and Dunks had already done a monster carry yesterday, -leaving the 7 of us a mere double carry today - we got everything down -in 17 loads, packing up the bivi inbetween and heading down the second -time at 8 pm with the final rays of sunset pinkening the slabs.
- -Tony and Djuke had back to collect spit so gave us a hand and Jenny -and Olly came down the hill with their rope so, thankfully, there were -decent numbers for the mammouth rope washing, checking, chopping and -labeling + assorted scrubbing.
- -I started drawing up surveys at 7am. Around 10 people were starting -to emerge after last nights deep fat fried glove extravaganza. The -conversation idly turned to ferry times as Tony et al set off home. -Dunks decided when on the 19th his ferry went and came back and asked -the date. "The 17th". "My ferry leaves in 12 hours." "The 19th is when I -fly to China." Fine-honed expo machine spluttered into action and within -the hour the wheels were on the trailer, it was filled with rope and the -tarps strapped on, Martin had been working from his hung-over lie in, -their gear was packed up, they'd been fed a cooked breakfast, sandwiches -packed and they were on the road... With a good chance of making the -ferry. After this firestorm we slumped for a while then started cleaning -and I sketched until 3am, by which time I only had Pete for company who -was on a one bender trying to beat Nials beer tally. The last bits of -plan for maximum pleasure were a bit ropy but I got there in the end -ready for a 7.30 start to catch our train to Italy.
- -
Nial put some extra bolts (3) into the entrance pitch then showed us +some of the high level horizontal stuff and the top of the main Gaffered +pitch.
+ +Snow greeted us on a snowy cold, misty damp bivy morning. Most of us +(except Aaron - who kept emphasising how great his sleeping bag was) had +spent the night shivering away and Nial in his £20 Argos sleeping bag +was up at 6.30am preparing the stove and everyone slowly emerged. As was +I, unfortunately discovered (after mustering all the courage in me - and +counter my instinct - crawling out of my sleeping bag) that I didn't +have my furry. Great! :( had left it at base camp in the tent where I'd +used it as a pillow. So Aaron and I spent a cold day taking turns +rigging the tarps (intermittantly taking turns to rewarm our fingers). I +was soooo annoyed not to be caving and having to spend my time in +the cold bivy - am glad to be back at basecamp - am glad to be back at +basecamp in warm hut after having shower :)
+ +It's raining... AGAIN! We are about to walk up the hill
+ +
Makes 8 large/12 small or 4 superlarge plate sized
+500g flour
+1 packet germ/heffe - yeast
+125g butter
+100g sugar
+3 eggs
+Jam: powidl (damson)
+poppy seeds
+icing/caster sugar
+ +Combine butter + sugar + eggs in pan - heat, with care to avoid +making an omelette (in Aaron style!) In a separate bowl put the flour +and yeast. Once the butter etc has melted pour the flour/yeast mixture +into it, take off heat and mix until no lumps remain. Put in a warm +place to rise for 1hr. Divide into the number of required portions, +shape into circles, and form a dip in the middle of each. Then put a max +of a tablespoon of jam into the dough circle, and fold the edges over to +cover the hole.
+ +Put the finished knoedel into a warm place for 1hr ish then steam - +super large for about 40mins-1hr, large/small for 20 mins (using +collander over pan of water). Pour melted butter over then icing sugar +and poppy seeds.
+ +Those who know their expo lore will be aware of the fun and games I +endured whilst attempting to tow a decrepit trailer accorss Europe in +1995. Since then I've been pouring money into various European breakdown +schemes without further incident - so I was about due for a return on my +investment. Somewhere north of Hamburg I noticed that my bonnet seemed +to be flapping around quite a lot. Having established that it was +actually shut, I ignored the problem for 5 hours until it had clearly +got worse. It turns out that the corrosion on the bit of bonnet that the +catch was attached to had got so bad that it was in danger of completely +unattaching itself - in which case the bonnet could spring open. At this +point, I decided to make use of my breakdown cover. To make this a trad. +style breakdown I didn't have a mobile with me, so I spent a nostalgic 2 +hours sitting in a Gasthof - completely unaware of what (if anything) +was happening reminiscing about similar experience at the side of +various European motorways all those years ago. Eventually the mechanic +turned up, laughed at the state of my bonnet, bolted it together through +the remaining bits of good metal and gaffered it shut. Overall I was +only delayed by about 2.5 hours, and made it to Austria without further +incident.
+ +Tramped along the Stogerweg armed with a GPS location for 115. +Neither of us had been there before, but I recalled seeing a marking +showing the way to the cave from the main 204 path. This we duly found +and wandered off in the direction of the arrow. Spotted a small entrance +which we (erroneously) took as a sign that we were very close to the +main entrance. Spent 30 mins thrashing around in bunde and teetering +down cliffs whilst the distance to the cave remained stuck at around 30m +according to the GPS. We suspected we were too high, and eventually got +low enough down that we could see the entrance.
+ +Went in for about 5 mins, through a crawl which enlarges to a small +chamber before a climb down. The radon detector is hung in an alcove on +the right (on the way in) in this chamber to keep it out of the +(considerable) draught. Satisfied with our day's work, we headed off to +the Loserhütte for a jar.
+ +
After quite a few trains and 6 days cycling in Italy I ended up in +Venice. Pottered around for a day and a half, then got a sleeper train. +Only covering was a sheet, which meant sleeping on the actual bed +without anything separating you from the carpet-like covering on the +bed. Very comfortable and cooling ... Got up at 5am to be greeted by the +guard bearing my breakfast tray (only two Semmel and a cuppa but still - +service!). Train from Attnang Puchheim to Bad Aussee, where Dour was +waiting next to a Citroen van which was looking significantly more +battered than a week ago ...
+ +For the past 3 days, four friendly Hungarians who got in touch with +us through Stuart Bennett have visited us. Thery accomplished a tourist +trip dopwn to Kiwi Suit, and carried enough gear to camp self +sufficiently. More notably, they carried a substantial volume of +intoxicating liquids - enough to keep top camp happy for a night or two. +In the interest of maintaining contact with these amiable cavers and +discovering a potential future source of life-sustaining fluid, their +contact emails are: gabor dot losonci at gmail dot com and adam dot +panker at gmail dot com. tel. 00-36-20-5200-665.
+ +We left a bag of stuff stored at the bivi cave, most of it survived +intact. A mouse appeared to have had a nibble at the food box but +failed to get through the gaffer tape, let alone open the lid. It also +nibbled the Tunnocks that we accidentally left. We left a tent and lilo +in a drybag. The elastic in the tent poles is no longer very stretchy, +presumably due to the cold?
+ +We went looking for a 'back door' into 97. Olly found a promising +looking shaft (2007-70) which he descended. 2007-70 is located on a +slight rise on the edge of a stretch of pavement just beyond 97. The +entrance is a approximately 1.5m diameter shaft with a horizontal +connection to an adjacent (larger) shaft a few metres down. At the +base, an icy snow slope drops away before the roof comes down - possibly +passable with less ice/snow. Above this end, and ice fall comes in from +a small passage up which I couldn't easily get to. The larger adjacent +shaft doesn't have any leads. While walking back Olly noticed a low +entrance (2007-71) in a slope. We took it in turns moving rocks out of +the way, and Olly went in. It drafts out a fair amount, though not as +much as Draft Bitter. I went back to the bivy (twice because I was +forgettful in my excitement at finding a new cave) to get my caving gear +and we went underground.
+ +After the low wriggly start it improved to walking/stooping/crawling +passage. There is a currently undescended pitch early on the right, +another at the current end, and a yet to be explored side passage. I +have high hopes that it will be a significant cave in its own right, or +else connect with 97 or 76...
+ +Went back to look at 148, 20 years after it was last explored. +Crawling entrance to a squeeze and climb into a larger passage, so far +the same as the old description and similar to the old survey if you +rotate it by about 56 degrees. Then at the junction right doesn't +actually choke - there is a way on doubling back that ends at a diggable +sandy crawl. Left at the previous junction was missing the snow from +1987 and led to a pitch which you could reach either approximately 10m +from the bottom of 20m up. Daylight just about comes in from above along +with lots of drips presumably a snow plug on the surface above a big +pitch very close to the 204 path.
+ +I got really cold cos it drafted a lot and I was only wearing one lot +of thermals under my furry. At the base of the pitch left went to loose +boulders, a low continuation and before that another pitch. The other +way didn't go very far, low down, but level with the lower entry the +pitch continued. Olly went here till he got to a big aven/chamber/pitch +type thing, and I sat and got cold cos my arm hurt where I scalded it in +the morning. We surveyed half of it on the way out and found some old +survey notes on the floor - we plan to photo them before moving them out +of the cave.
+ +Jenny was (uncharacteristically) not feeling well so she sat in what +little shade there was, while I went underground. First, at Cairn cave I +put in a tag spit, then used that plus a thread backup and two +protectors to descend. The pitch head is awkward, then bells out to +land on a rubble floor with a dirty snowplug. A chink of light enters +upslope from a nearby shaft, while downslope the roof lowers and chokes. +This is the source of the outward draft noted at the entrance.
+ +Then onto 148- I entered in thermals plus oversuit and drilled and +set two spits for the pitch which bypasses the squeeze and climb. Then +surface surveyed from 148 to 2006-70.
+ +Set off at 3pm following the first wave who had gone in to rig as far +as the bottom of Ariston. Met James C in Wolpertinger Way, he was +heading out because he was cold, and caught up with the others at the +head of Steel Toe Cap. Mark D rigged the last Ariston pitch, I rigged +the first Kiwi Suit pitch, then wibbled on the start of the traverse to +the second for long enough that Mark D took over again - pausing only to +spit in a pot at the head of the fourth Kiwi Suit pitch, i.e. the Brown +Trouser Pitch head. Mission accomplished we headed out.
+ +The previous day's team had rigged to GLAD (God Loves a Drunk). Our +plan was to continue the rig as near to the pushing front as possible, +so that a later team could come in and do a quick push. We also +intended to install some radon detectors and tidy up various bits of +rigging. I put in a higher bolt on the last hang in Ariston and was +preparing to descend Kiwi Seat when Mark's bottom exploded. He elected +to carry on and caught up with me at the bottom of the first Kiwi Suit +pitch where I was installing an extra traverse bolt. Our next job was a +bolt for a handline on Dave Dives. Mark drilled a hole, at which point +we found that the Hilti pot was missing. It turned out that I had left +them at the side of the previous bolts - fortunately they were retrieved +by a later party - so the second wave could use the drill. Dumped the +drill at GLAD, and continued rigging through Tun and Copper. Put in a +handbolt for a deviation on Yeast which looks to have sorted out the rig +a treat. At that pitch we called it a day and headed out, meeting the +second wave at GLAD. Out at 19.30 and bolted down the hill.
+ +Dave introduced us novices to exploration in Rhino Rift. This began +by exploring a few QM's, giving dull outcomes. 03-57C became too tight +after 3 metres, 03-60C looped back into the passage (with a dead hole in +the roof), and 03-70A connected to Grater. We then ventured into the +seemingly maze-like Piccadilly Junction and tried 03-66B. This led on +in a fairly tight phreatic manner, cutting back under itself and +twisting into a more rifty character, before coming across a steep +slope. This was all surveyed in record time thanks to Dr Phil +Underwood's wonderful Shetland Attack Pony - a loveable device apart +from its eyeburning laser. This "Shanks Pony Passage" led to "Shetland +Incline", at which point Dave grew increasingly excited, rigging in an +increasingly swift and worrying manner. We found a muddy rift passage to +the right descending this pitch, complete with footprints! Holes in the +floor prevented further access, but Dave suspected this to be a link +with "Uncomformity" ...
+ +We then decided to get out, but found ourselves to be racing against +a 22.00hr call out. Dave and I cut a deal whereby he carried the tackle +sack along the passage and I pulled it up the pitches. The 204e +entrance pitch at 21.50 thus left me a sweaty blob. We got back to the +Stone Bridge at 21.59 after an 11 hour trip!
+ +Leads uncovered by the trip included C at the bottom of pitch +descended by Dave and an aven in the roof. This was at the bottom left, +looking down the sloping pitch. At the head of this sloping pitch was a +B lead similar leads existed on the right and at the bottom. A C lead +existed from the muddy footsteps passage.
+ ++
On the 13th the three of us went pushing the end of Crowning Glory, +an A grade lead. As a starry eyed novice, I was expecting a kilometre +of passage leading either to Tunnockschacht, a new entrance or +Kaninchenhoehle. Instead, the passage just fizzled out! It rapidly +became too tight, although we did find an impressive aven on the left, +which didn't lead anywhere. On the way back, we bolted and descended a +new pitch. A 20 metre descent led to a squeeze down into a chamber that +looked like it needed a handline.
+ +On the 15th Kathryn and I, went back and went back into this chamber: +turned out to be a 6m pitch with a very dodgy squeeze onto the pitch +head. The chamber led nowhere but had a hole in the ground. Standing in +the hole, the floor started to vanish beneath us, revealing a deep +looking rift which unfortunately looks too tight to descend.
+ +Andreas joined us, all the way from Sweden, hunting meteorites, in +order to check out our link from the previous day. A couple of survey +legs swiftly led to where we had been. Dave was thus revealed as a +prophet of some considerable power and cemented the respect of us novice +cavers. Rather an easy task compared to the 200m surveying and rigging +task of the previous day. A and B leads are thought to extend from the +top of a pitch linking "Uncomformity" to the passage linking "Shetland +Incline".
+ +We progressed to explore 03-90A. This involved Dave cutting our old +(2003) 11mm rope into lots of teeny bits. We dropped down a very +satisfyingly shaped (rounded cross section) pitch onto a stony floor. A +climb led to a further pitch. Andreas and I were left here whilst Dave +and Ollie went back to peer at some other QM's. As I became bored, I +climbed up to watch Andreas rig. I observed that one natural in his +Y-hang was not a solid column of rock, but instead two rocks entirely +disconnected from anything. Dave had started rigging from it and now +Andreas was rigging from it. Andreas later admitted feeling considerable +fear when I wriggled the rock he was rigging off! After a change of plan +we descended. The end was dull, but Andreas kicked some mud. This +impromptu dig was hastened by the sound of water "a sump" Andreas +claimed. In fact a tiny grim loose chamber with a 2cm squared puddle! We +got out having discovered this "Spitters End". Less than the previous +day's 200 metres of survey, but still satisfying.
+ +After an 11 hour and a 9 hour trip, Ollie and I fancied a day off. +We travelled to Rundereisehoehle with Aaron in order to wire and start +some data loggers. We had installed thermistors 3 days before, Aaron and +I not setting a call out and thus prompting a rescue to begin at +nightfall! The weather was scorching (hence Ollie's radiation burns all +over) in contrast to last week's snow. We did well, apart from Aaron +falling and filling his USB cable with dirt, rendering it useless to +start data loggers.
+ +Later in the day Ollie and I went surface prospecting. We found a +promising hole on the ridge just behind 03-01. We now consider this a +rediscovery of 2003-02. Our journey onwards was not fruitful, but on our +return leg, not a couple of hundred metres from the bivi, we came across +an area riddled with uncharted cave. We tagged 2007-01 and Ollie sent me +down (I was geared up). A vertical climb down opened into a hollow +plate a few metres down. A boulder floor made the "C" QM in the floor +dangerous. An edge exit was too tight. Many vertical openings existed +in a similar place. We tagged one, 2007-02, but did not descend.
+ +Given previous Rhino Rift and surface prospecting exploits, I allowed +myself to be tempted into a deeper expedition by Nial, despite wise seer +Dave's protestations that I wouldn't find much onward in the +Underworld.
+ +We firstly took a promising lead from Terra Firma. I was 'on notes' +for the first time and had no clue what was going on. It disapointingly +linked quickly to Quiz Rift.
+ +We then moved on to peering down a pitch from Quiz Rift. This +continued over a ledge to a rocky downward, becoming a muddy upward, as +is the way with the Underworld. A sharp rocky crawl led up and back to +the pitch and a downward squeeze, deemed too tight without capping, +seemed to lead downward onto a pitch.
+ +Miserable squirmings led to the bottom of a pitch which Nial climbed +up, making me promise to catch him if he fell. Bastard. He then spied +two hard-to-reach 'C' leads up there and a further pitch close by. Two +tiny holes linked the bottom of our pitch with this further pitch. I +tried digging the lower of these and failed. Thus Nial told Kathryn to +squeeze feet first through the tiny upper one, into a 2m drop. Bastard. +Sure enough, this led nowhere. We labelled this 'Dangerous Dig and the +Gut-Busters'. A rubbish bit of nasty cave.
+ +Sure enough Nial made it worse by then forcing me up an earlier lead. +This had a squeeze which involved removing SRT kit and hammering off +protruberances. The passage grew rifty before becoming too tight.
+ +We surveyed a reasonable bit, but I resolve to charge Nial a 'shit +cave tax' for his transgressions. The upward pitches went on for ever, +Gaffered itself being especially epic with horrid rebelay. Lower +pitches mud on rope requires manual manipulation of jamming cams. We +finally got out for noodles and hot chocolate (mixed with vile spirit +Unicum - not as tasty as ejaculate) after an exhasting 13hr trip.
+ +The plan was to rig to the underworld in one trip, so with over 300m +of rope between us (200m of 11mm in Big Bertha - which was a mistake!) +we set off. The rigging went quite fast and several improvements over +the old rig were found. However, we had accidentally left all the spits +and cones on the surface. When we reached Trihang and decided it needed +a new bolt therefore, we had no option but to turn back. The return trip +was much easier given we no longer had any rope to carry! The round trip +was 7.5hrs at an easy pace.
+ +After the previous rigging trip I decided that the Gaffered rig could +be greatly improved with a few extra bolts. With lots of novices keen to +learn to bolt and an abundance of hand bolting gear (well, 3 sets) this +seemed like the perfect opportunity to sort the rig out once and for +all. Myself and Edvin went ahead to re-rig the Eyehole and Trihang +leaving the others to practice some bolting and rigging by installing a +traverse line between Gaffer Tape and Tape Worm. Edvin installed two new +spits at the top of the Eyehole pitch meaning you no longer have to +squeeze through the eyehole. This rig is perfect! Why was it not rigged +like this in the first place!? While Edvin did this, I put in an +additional spit at the top of Trihang in order to allow it to be rigged +as a Trihang (how was this done before?). Further improvements to the +rig include a deviation on Gaffer Tape just below the first re-belay +(this looks a bit strange, but it stops the rope rubbing when you swing +across for the second re-belay). A deviation on the Lx pitch also makes +staying out of the slot above the re-belay easier.
+ +Having finished the rigging Edvin and I started pushing leads in the +Underworld. We started with 04-15B, now called "Shprinkles Pitch." This +is a ~15m pitch down leading to a sharp rifty passage which is too +tight. One wall of the pitch is made entirely of mud, which rains down +on you as you descend - hence the name. We were then joined by Djuke who +had left the other two bolting and had come to join us. The three of us +went to look at 03-14B (which looks to be the same lead as 03-15B). This +is a steeply sloping tube (-50deg) down near the start of Sirens +traverse. It descended for ~15m before becoming vertical. It has a +strong draft and looks like a promising lead! However, we were out of +time and headed back. the whole trip took 12 1/4 hours.
+ +Meanwhile at the bottom of Gaffer Tape.....
+ +Kathryn Sarah and Djuke started to bolt the traverse between +the bottom of Gaffer Tape and the Tape Worm pitch. The traverse had not +previously been protected, but a slip there could be very serious, so it +was decided that a rope was a good idea. None of the the three of us had +much experience bolting, and so we had many aborted attempts. We only +had one bolting kit between the three of us, and this meant we got quite +cold, so Djuke decideded to find Edvin and Nial in the Underworld. Sarah +and Kathryn eventually placed 4 bolts of varying quality and rigged the +traverse, by which time it was too late to join the others pushing in +the Underworld, and so they headed out.
+ +
Notes
+ +- Pitches 4-8 can all be strung together with 150-160m rope
+ +- 11mm rope is preferable due to the large amounts of mud
+ +- Take a scrubbing brush to the bottom of Trihang for washing +ascenders and wellies
+ +- Tying the bottom of the Cerberus pitch rope to something would be a +good idea - it is easy to pull up the end with you!
+ +- Possible QM above Trihang pitch head. Up and behind the pitch head +appears to be a tube heading left. Requires bolting up to (although only +a couple of metres).
+ +Tourist trip down 204a as far as Razordance to show our Hungarian +visitors around Steinbrucken. They all seemed very impressed, especially +with the pitches. However, one was overhead to say that there was too +much prussiking! Trip took 6hrs. The temperature in Kiwi Suit was +0.4°C.
+ +The Hungarians were very keen to see more of the cave so I took Dodo +and Gabor on a through trip from 204e to 204d. The snow was low so the +climb out of d was easy. A top trip, I had forgotten how good it +was!
+ +We are all invited to go caving in Hungary. If you fancy it then +contact Gabor by email.
+ +Surface prospecting northwest of 204e. Descended surface shaft - +which panned out as follows:
+ +
The pitch lands in a largish chamber 'Professor Rushton's Lecture +Hall'. At one end a small room is choked and at the other s a very +narrow rift (impassable) from which the draft comes.
+ +We got underground at 9:30 and made rapid progress down to God Loves +a Drunk, Mark pausing en-route to swap his radon detectors. Regrouping +at GLAD we brewed up a couple of packets of soup and a dehydrated meal +to fuel us up for the push.
+ +At 1pm we reached the front and started to rig and survey onwards. +Mark wielded the drill, I weilded the pencil and Dour brought up the +rear with a shetland attack pony.
+ +Four and a half hours later we had descended five pitches and were +looking down a sixth, with no hiltis left and precious few hangers, so +we headed out via another very welcome soup at GLAD.
+ +According to the survey data, 204 now has a vertical range of 599.99m.
+ +
Went back to 148 with a drill and more rope. Went to the previous +pitch and traversed over it to what was 'the pitch' in 1987 nice big +aven & pitch Olly found a nice rig down and into a little rift -> thus +avoiding the loose choss at the top. Looked at the Ice Castle foute +first, this roughtly goes back under the higher shaft past some very +cool ice formations (big icicles) and very old snow plugs -> one section +the snow plug essentially filled the entire passage except for a small +crawl underneath it which I found a bit unnerving. More ice & snow, +including a snow plug with clear Summer / Winter layering, I saw at +least 30 layers (and it continued high up as well, so the oldest snow +was older than me!). This passage ended at an up pitch maybe 15m high. +Surveyed back along this (noting that the hanging death in the ceiling +was quite varied -- rocks, snow and ice. Back at the 20ish m pitch we +took the continuation passage, initially promising -- a huge rift +heading for 107, but soon turns a corner and chokes (as noted in 1987). +I climbed up before the choke and over the top and sadly no continuation +visable. Olly poked under the choke and you could see into the blackness +inside...
+ +Surveyed this and left the cave.
+ +It was a bit cloudy so decided that surface shaft might be feasible. +Went to look at an entrance Olly spotted in 2005 roughly above Pancake +Chips aven. It draughts slightly out and is sloping down on the side of +a shakehole. Needed to move some rocks out of the way to get in. Sadly +it didn't go much more than 10m, the draught comes out of a 5-10cm wide +rift, which appears after a few metres to open up. There is another +route lower down which checked and didn't draught. Surveyed this and +surface surveyed this to Ice Curtain cave and on to 99. Went out to look +for 102 to tie it into the surface survey as the GPS fix is old and +thought to be suspect. Sadly failed to find it so will have to +return.
+ +Headed in with 2 smallish bags of rope. Met Dour and MSD at God Loves +A Drunk, where we heard the grim tales of Mark's loose bowels and Dour's +missing hiltis which I had picked up at Kiwi Suit (thanks to Sarah for +spotting the pot lying on a rock).
+ +We decided to ditch the 94m pushing rope and continue in with the +drill and rope for known pitches. This was a lovely idea but forgot to +take into account the bag of rope sitting at Yeast pitch.
+ +Some shuttling of stuff through the rift soon saw the pitches rigged +as far as Pepper Pot. Here we managed to totally miss Paster of Muppets +pitch and rig the traverse with that rope instead.
+ +Andreas did the drilling to improve the traverse at the 2004 limit. +As luck would have it we got as far as the pitch and the drill +completely ran out of juice so we headed out.
+ +Thought I'd make myself useful by re-tagging and photoing some +entrances. First stop was Skinny Festerers, which has now been tagged +with its kataster number 244. We also photoed the entrance. Would make a +reasonable shitting grike for those who don't mind a slightly longer +walk.
+ +Further down the backside of the Hinter we GPSed a small hole at the +foot of a cliff. Body-sized entrance led to a small chamber with a +too-tight rift and a choked shaft. Not long enough to be a proper cave. +Possibility that this is something previously noted by Sunks. Yep. GPS +confirms that we re-found 2002-x09.
+ +Getting a bit out of sequence here, forgot to say that we tried and +failed to find 247, had a hunt where the GPS said it was but no luck. +Will study the entrance photo and try again.
+ +Found and photoed 2003-01, which doesn't seem to have been allocated +a kataster number yet, not sure why. 248 has now been tagged as such and +photoed. Wen to Rock'n'Roll Hoehle and photoed the entrance. Found a +tagged marked 2001-04B, not 239. No knowing that the A and B entrances +are in the same shakehole we assumed that the nearest large hole was +239A. In fact this is probably 2003-X16, Earl and Becka's cave 7.
+ +Went and hid in the shade of the bridge for a bit then walked to 242 +and took pics. Anthony set off in search of a hole near 204D that needed +re-tagging then changed his mind. On the way down the hill he put the +correct tag on Artischokenhoehle. All photos (with notes) on computer +under photos/Julia.
+ +Went to 161d partly to place a radon detector for Mark D and because +I wanted to see what KH was like. Walked up to the col to get onto the +161 path, it was really hot and horribly humid. The path was fairly +clear up to where the Vord path goes up - perhaps this is used as a +walkers path to the summit? Path was then less defined and many cairns +had collapsed. I thought (wrongly it turned out) that we were too high +up the Vord side and we could see a faint path with cairns leading up +towards the Hinter. Followed this for a bit uphilll to the crest of the +ridge and then down a bit to 161d. Already running out of water and it +was so hot. Finally got to VD1 and the path down to 161d. This bit of +the path wasn't as bad as I had feared but took a while as a lot of the +carins had collapsed and Olly had only been here once before and me +never. Finaly got to the entrance after hours.
+ +The draught was amazing and nice and refreshing. Followed in to +Triassic Park. Amazing cave, nice and big and stil a noticeable draught. +We so need to find something like this in 76, in fact the only thing 76 +does better is the hanging death - the Guillotene isn't even trying. +
+ +Walked up to the top of Knossos (noticed a hibernating bat on the +way) admiring the huge passage. Were able to refill the water bottle at +a drip which was very nice. Returned leaving the radon detector in TP +qauite near the Guillotene (about 3m from the conservation tape and +reflective marker we placed). Had a look at Staud'nwirt Palace and into +Zombie Slime which no longer has a ladder in situ (as suggested on the +website). Returned looking at the skull in Golgotha on the way.
+ +Surfaced to find it getting dark and a BIG thunderstorm in progress. +Decided the walk/climb back in the dark and rain would be unpleasant and +might well result in us being lost on a ledge somewhere. Figured it +would be best to wait underground till either the storm stopped or the +sun rose. Found a sheltered alcove in Mothshag and moved some rocks to +make a "bed", made a mattress from the rope, my rucksack and our wellies +and both got into a survival bag. Waited couple of hours till we got +pretty cold and noticed the drips had decreased. It had stopped raining +and was a clear starry night!
+ +Made our way back to the car, managed the scrambles and climbs OK +without handlines and Ol navigated very well. Got to base camp at about +6am ....
+ +Have at least got our annual long walk in the dark over with early in +the expo and it was made much better by the amazingly bright Princeton +Tech headtorch that could spot carins miles away. And us being at 161d +with our waterproofs at 76 solved the water shortage nicely as well.
+ +T/walking: lots ...
+ +It all began with one rock, one pitch, a stopwatch and a certain lack +of imagination on the part of those naming the pitch. It should at this +point be noted that it actually rattles for longer than 11 seconds. But +I digress. Armed with 105m of rope, Richard, Sarah and I began the +arduous task of negotiating Chocolate Salty Balls on the way to the +11SR, with the minor detour of liberating 33m of rope from 'Taking the +Piss.' This rope had clearly been affected by its opressor as it was the +fastest rope I have ever witnessed. Still, I got my own back by using a +full turn round my breaking krab and twisting the hell out of it.
+ +After rigging the short pitch above the 11SR with a deviation +Superman himself would have difficulty passing thanks to a school of +rigging that involves ignoring obvious spits and letting the location of +naturals decide the path the rig will take, we finally met the +proverbial 11 second rattle.
+ +Having carried a full suite of power-bolting equipment with us it +seemed sensible to put in a Y-hang with the drill. It is often noted +that problems between the keyboard and chair are the main source of +computer problems, in this case I suppose the problem existed between +the muddy floor and the trigger, when we found that the drill was not +nearly as effective in reverse. I blame my thermodynamics lectures for +teaching me that reversible systems are most efficient and my education +at Cambridge for leaving me with no common sense. With a new burst of +enthusiasm after realising our mistake, and the drill firmly switched to +forwards we continued to drill. It is indicative of the human ability +for learning that during the second attempt at a hole we noted more +quickly that the drill was still in reverse.
+ +One and a half holes later the drill decided that all this changing +direction was a bit too much and refused to go on.
+ +We went all Old Skool on the hole's ass and cracked out the hand +bolting gear. One perfectly placed spit later, and we continued on our +journey. I abseiled down a few metres to place a survey station whilst +Sarah and Richard admired my beautiful spit placement, awe-stricken at +its poise, dedication and charm. One survey leg for good measure later, +and it was time to go home. Nothing would prepare us for the following +day's events. To be continued ...
+ +We continued pushing the lead that Djuke, Edvin and Nial started on +14th July (03-14/C) armed with a little more rope. the lead is in +steeply sloping tube - it starts as a scramble down and then quickly +becomes too steep and a rope is needed. After this steep section, the +gradient becomes shallower, and it is possible to get off the rope and +scramble down again. Exploration ended when we reached the end of our +rope (~50m) and the passage became too steep to be able to climb up. At +this point we reached where the passage widened and split into multiple +holes - "like cheese" according to Djuke. The hole was still strongly +drafting - it was very cold surveying.
+ +The plan was to rig down then push an A-grade lead for a bit on the +Flat Worm level. So obviously things were never quite going to pan out +that way. We got down to the Underworld without incident (although +tacklesakcs are an absolute bastard to carry). Nial started rigging +Gardener's World and Universally Challenged [sic - University Challenge] +(who thinks of these names, seriously!) before realising we didn't have +enough rope of the right length. After a bit of cheeky rebolting and +jiggling of ropes we managed to get down. A few minutes scrambling +around through some pretty passage brought us to the next pitch. It +probably has a stupid name [Chalk and Cheese]. Nial rigged this on some +11mm rope so slow you could abseil down it without a stop, and you still +wouldn't need a braking crab. The rope was kind of just about long +enough. We got to Thin Rift and as far as the previous pushing front +where a [lack of] handline had prevented the previous explorers getting +any further. Unfortunately, 5m later we realised we needed either a +traverse line over the top of the rift along a ledge or another handline +down to the bottom. So we only rigged to do an extra 2 survey legs, but +the rift was still going so we were keen to go back. Nial will now put +the new Gardener's World rigging guide below ....
+ +(mwah ... hah ... ha ... I nicked your space [different handwriting]
+ +damn you Mundy [Edvin's handwriting; note no rigging guide!]
+ +Having forgotten the misery of my last trip down to the Underworld +(cold, mud, tightness, nastiness), I allowed myself to be dragged down +there by Djuke. Kathryn had wisely decided to abandon this lead.
+ +The chute itself is steep, tight and horrid. A cold wind blows up it +and a wet mud transfers itself all over you. Sharp "popcorn" exists +everywhere and has rpped the arse from my oversuit.
+ +Surveying with the Pony I was becoming rapidly fed up, even given +some interesting phreatic passage branching off. Eventually we were +rewarded for our eforts when the shute tipped into the top of a chamber, +The Happy Hippocampus". Some bolting warmed me nicely and I soon +dangled onto a boulder floor set in mud slopes. Other passages led in to +the chamber ceiling (circa 15m up) and other leads included a boulder +choke and a steep mud and boulder climb down. The chamber is around 10m +in diameter. We decided to leave further exploration for when we have +courage, so beat an exhausting retreat.
+ +We returned to the lead Edvin and Nial started on the 19th (Thin Rift +off Dead Good Bat chamber in Fat Worm). At the pushing front there was +the option of a pitch down or rigging a traverse across the rift. We +opted for the pitch option, hoping it would drop into the bottom of the +same rift as the traverse rift - unfortunately there was no way on at +the bottom of the pitch, so we rigged the traverse instead:
+ +
[rigging diagram - flake then big loop of slack for hand line down slope then thread then +traverse tied off at end. 20m rope just enough]
+ +After the traverse the passage continued and there was a side passage +off to the right (returned to later). The rift continued upwards and to +the right until it reached a "toilet bowl" shaped [undecipherable word - +underrig?] where we climbed down and doubled back on ourselves to a +shallow pool of water. Through the pool to the right led to a climb down +into a rift (returned to later). At this point Edvin and Nial went to +survey the side passage mentioned earlier (ended in a QM D) while I +started to bolt the pitch down the hole that we previously traversed +across. At the bottom of the pitch (Flush Pitch), to the right +through a crawl (Ballcock Bypass), back to the bottom of the +chamber with the pool (The Cistern). We then returned to the +climb down across the other side of the pool - this dropped into a rift +(Now Wash Your Hands) which went both ways. First we went left +down the rift, which was a little awkward and tight - we passed a side +pasage at floor level (QM B) and exploration ended at a pitch down (QM +A). The passage appeared to continue across the other side of the pitch +(QM A), but a traverse line is needed to get across safely. We then +explored the rift in the other direction (right after the climb down +from the Cistern). This also ended in a pitch and passed a small, +upward-sloping tube on the left (QM A).
+ +Having been down the hill and acquired a picture of the 247 entrance +I went back to where the GPS said it should be and there it was, I'd +been stood right on top of it the last time. So 247 now has its correct +tag.
+ +Then I went to 2002-09 and tagged it. The entrance is about 30cm by +30cm and goes in at a bearing of 165°. There's one small chamber with a +too-tight rift and choked shaft. Don't think this should be assigned a +kataster number as it is v. small. The tag is above the entrance, a +photo showing the location of the tag is on the computer.
+ +
Next I went to Earl and Becka's cave 7 and tagged it as 2003-16. +Photos on the computer. The freeclimable entrance was very tempting but +in the end I didn't risk it as I was on my own. Will hopefully get to +stick my nose down there before going home.
+ +Finally retagged Rock'n'Roll Hoehle (B) with the correct 239B and +checked that the A entrance was tagged correctly which it be. Photos of +both entrances on the computer. Yes, this was a very boring logbook +entry but that's just tough.
+ +The previous trip down Razor Dance had returned with tales of a deep +pool that they had started traversing around to where they could see +into a perpendicular rift with running water audible. Could this be the +bottom? The target for this trip was to continue the traverse into the +side rift to find out whether the sound of water was a continuation or +an inlet.
+ +Set off down at 10:30 with Dunks in the lead. I was therefore +surprised (and a little perturbed) to arrive at the pushing front to +find no sign of him. I soon heard him thrutching through the rift. It +turns out that he had missed the traverse level below Yeast pitch had +had thrashed through at stream level to emerge at a ~15-20m pitch with +no rope on it - presumably where the water drops in at Pepper Pot.
+ +Before continuing the traverse we opted to try one of the +self-heating meals provided by Andrew that the Welsh diggers 'swear by +not at'. After following the instructions to the letter and waiting the +requisite 15 minutes, it was still stone cold, so we scoffed it +anyway.
+ +Duncan then started work on the traverse. Andreas had bolted along a +ledge on the right-hand wall (opposite the cross-rift). Duncan elected +to take out his last two bolts and bolt on the left-hand wall instead, +then he bridged across the (narrower) cross rift. Some time later I +followed, hating every minute of it (so I took the opportunity to spit +into a pot).
+ +It turns out that the sound of water in the side rift comes from an +inlet, and that the deep pool is a sump - so 204 is now 622m deep. A bit +disappointing that it didn't go deeper, but at least we've bottomed the +bastard.
+ +The inlet is keyhole passage with ~3m round phreatic part elongate +along the dip direction, and a trench that is typically 5m deep, +trending upwards at 25°. We surveyed up this for ~70m before running +out of time. Our last survey station is by a junction where the main +route continues for ~40m to a climb which may or may not be climbable, +and an inlet rift that is passable for some distance. With that we +headed out with the drill and spare metalwork at a sedate pace (set by +my), pausing for a food stop at GLAD. Duncan emerged at 04:50, and I got +out at 06:20.
+ +Duncan had a suspicion that the inlet contained water from the +Midnight in Moscow series. Survex reinforced this suspicion: if you +project the inlet up at its current angle for ~100m along and ~25m up, +it will hit the bottom of Rasputin in 161 - so hopes are high for a +connection, which would be a satisfactory 2nd prize after its failure to +go very deep.
+ +The trip was originally intended to compose of Andreas, James +and myself, but unfortunately James was feeling a touch ill, and so Mark +stepped in to take his place. The weather was looking a little overcast, +but still dry and we made a late-ish start at 11:00am. All went smoothly +until we reached the top of Copper pitch where we heard an ominous +rumble/whistling noise in the distance. Although we all heard this noise +we stayed quiet until we reached the following pitch whereupon it became +obvious that the water levels were rising. A couple of minutes later the +water levels had reached impressive heights! After a brief discussion we +decided to press on into the drier part of the rift.
+ +Although the lower pitches were a bit damp none of them proved too +wet so we carried on to do some pushing. At the top of the long slippery +ramp that Dunks and Dour had explored two days previously we took a left +turn into a steeply ascending dry passage. We followed this up 10-15 +short free climbs, via some quite nice formations. Eventually we reached +a phreatic tunnel which levelled out, and then started to head downhill. +Sensing that a connection with KH was imminent we ditched the +instruments and went for a poke around.
+ +A low sandy crawl emerged 2m up the wall of what was clearly a very +large passage. Unfortunately the climb down was a bit on the suicidal +side so we tried a lower crawl that emerged a bit closer to the floor. +Although still a little on the loose and necky side we all reached the +bottom and set up off the large 6m diameter tunnel. Downslope a stream +could be heard (Midnight in Moscow?) and upslope gave us some fine long +survey legs until an impressive echo started to sound. The source of the +echo was a ~40m diameter chamber which was greeted with much whooping. +Several leads go off from this and after we did a few survey legs across +it we headed out.
+ +Again all went smoothly, we stopped for some food at GLAD, until we +reached Mystery Wind pitch where it became clear that the cave was +flooding again, only this time rather more so. It was some relief that +we reached the bottom of Kiwi Suit which was very cool, windy and wet. +The amount of water now flowing down RD was at least 10 x that of when +we had entered. I couldn't help thinking that we had got out just in the +nick of time. After a long and tedious prussik we all eventually all +reached the surface at 00:30 -> 01:00. An excellent trip!
+ +
"The Widowmaker" by Sarah White
+Abandon hope all ye who enter here.
+ +versus
+ +"The Reliant Swede" by Andreas Forsberg
+Rigging diagram - 3 rebelays and 5 deviations
+ +The previous page illustrates the work done on our trip of 23rd July. +We adapted the 11 Second Rattle rig to one that can be descended without +"Brown Alert" ensueing.
+ +Andreas commented that "this is the worst shaft that I have ever +seen" (for rigging difficulty), yet proceeded to reduce Sarah's 7 rope +to one trivial one.
+ +Andreas then helped us to descend "The Super Fun Happy Slide" +into "Wet Dry World" - via the placement of a bolt using his +skyhook and much discomfort.
+ +The slide is a phreatic tube downward at 45°ree;. A pretty bit of +cave, dropping into the roof of Wet Dry World, a chamber with a +rocky/bouldery floor, a boulder choke, many holes in the ceiling, some +squeezes in the walls and some water dripping down one wall.
+ +On the 24th we had a day of top camp festering. Sarah and I completed +a Rundreisehoehle-204a surface survey started by Ollie and me +previously.
+ +On the 25th we went caving, surveying the slide, Wet Dry World and +its link into [undecipherable word - Wtong's ?] Fortress. We derigged it +in record time, then taking a peer at "Gosser Streamway" and at "Wot No +Butcombe" before our return.
+ +I think it's called Tressenstein, will check in the morning with the +map. But if you're at Base Camp it's the hill you see (on the right) if +you look down the road (towards Bad Aussee) with the radio mast on top +(ungrammatical). Anyway, it's a nice walk with amazing views. If you +walk/cycle to the "Bad Aussee" town sign there are paths on the right, +you want path no. 19. The sign says 2 hours, it took me 1 1/2 hours +steady uphill (slowish compared to most) to the top. You can't really +see base camp or Grundlsee, but you do get utterly fantastic panoramic +views of Altausee and Loser on one side and Bad Aussee on the other +side.
+ +The path is signed. I took a couple of wrong turns but made it in the +end. Chickened out of climbing the mast but I bet you'd get a good view +of Grundlsee from there. If you're festering at base camp and 2 1/2 - 3 +hours to spare walk up this hill!! It's rude not to! Seriously good +views, well worth the effort.
+ +We returned to the new stuff we'd found to push it some more. We had +cleverly decided to look at the most miserable lead: a narrow rift +leading off "Now Wash Your Hands" which needed rigging as a traverse +across a hole or down the hole. We got to the pushing front without +incident, adding a handline to the climb down to Now Wash Your Hands +(how on earth did we ever free climb it?!).
+ +I bolted and rigged a traverse across a hole (now know as Don't Worry +Pee Happy) whilst Nial and Kathryn surveyed a miserable QM which went +nowhere (actually it carried on - now a QM C - Kathryn). Over the +traverse we surveyed round in a loop back to the traverse, passing a QM +which needs rigging but almost certainly links in to the bottom of Don't +Worry Pee Happy.
+ +Nial rigged Don't Worry Pee Happy, a ~20m pitch. He forgot to take +rigging gubbins down the pitch with him so when he realised a rebelay +was needed we slid slings, bolts, etc down the rope. There were two ways +on at the bottom. The first went down a pit before stopping. The second +required reigging and went down a further ~10m down to a miserable +looking duck/wet crawl which looked thoroughly uninspiring. We decided +not to go through, but Aven tells us that it's only 6-7m away from the +Subway level so might be worth another look.
+ +Went to MM [Marilyn Munroe] with the aim of surveying and finishing +everything below the 48m rope so we could de-rig it and rig it in 76. +Headed down and checked out the 3rd option from the bottom of the pitch +(noted in 1987 to end at an ice climb). Smallish rift passage apparently +directly underneath the passage above with a boulder floor/ceiling +inbetween. Olly climbed up to the 1st squeeze and decided he would need +to remove his helmet so retreated. I had a look and got through, and +wriggled up the next climb and attempted the next squeeze which had a +boulder in the way. I could get all of me through except one leg (could +get either leg through, but not both). I got very annoyed and eventually +gave up. I believed I could see where the ice climb was - this year it +was just wet, but appears to take you back to the passage above (the +survey confirms this). So getting through the squeeze wouldn't achieve +much.
+ +Survey this and joined together the hanging surveys from the previous +week (which made me happy) and surveyed out, derigging the 48m en route. +Paused in the survey to look at the remaining lead (the pitch roughly +below the aven with daylight). Olly went some way down, confirming that +the draught does come from here and that it appears to continue.
+ +Incidentally, the survey suggests that the aven with daylight is ~5m +from the 204 path, so please don't throw rocks down shafts in this area +....
+ +Finally got to 76, Olly rigged down to The Ledge and I followed half +an hour later to take a bag of rope through to BNW for the next trip and +the radon detectors to place. The radon detectors were placed in the +side lead in the test tubes roughly opposie the 99 connection. Surface +surveyed 102 to 103. Tagged 1998-X01 and Ice Curtain.
+ +Went into BNW with the drill and rigging gear to start looking at the +pitch leads close to QM 05- because it had been raining hard for hours +and it looked to be the driest option - in fact it was very dry, only a +few slightly drippy bits. Olly traversed across the lip of the Pleasant +But Pointless pitch, because of all the gear he was carrying it became a +bolt traverse this year, not a bold traverse that it was in 2005 when I +first saw the pitch. Olly got through to the pitch having scrambled +through the rocks (this is called Scrabble) and bolted down the +first short drop. This was a little drippy but the water disappeared +through the rocky floor. A ramp comes in from above (?perhaps this +connects with the boulder choke in Loopy?). This continues into a rift +with various holes and rock bridge that all connect, gviing it its name, +Sea Of Holes. Olly rigged an excellent Y-hang to a level with +solid ledges and started down the next pitch. We ran out of hangers, +slings and warmth before the pitch ended, so surveyed out. I coped +better with the traverse on the way out.
+ +Sea of Holes has nice, solid rock, isn't too wet, doesn't have much +choss and draughts fairly strongly (given the size) outwards which is +very cool. On the way out we noticed the draught had reversed (around +11pm to midnightish), hopefully this won't affect the radon +detecting.
+ +Went back down Plugged Shaft to The Ledge. I went in to the test +tubes to change the radon detector (incidentally the draught was back to +normal today). Olly heroically bolted across from the ledge on the +opposite side of the test tubes looking for my hypothesised continuation +the other side of Plugged Shaft. Sadly it didn't exist, which was a +great shame - it was just a big ledge in an alcove with an aven above. +Olly managed to reverse the climb/traverse removing the gear as he went +(I was very impressed!).
+ +We exited the cave with Olly adding a deviation and switching two +hangers on the way. The drill started to go flat having done 17 holes +and been up the hill for ages.
+ +Walked down the hill via lots of places - put permanent tags on Lardy +Festerers and 250, calibrated the instruments at old TC [Top Camp]. Then +walked up to Mystery Plus [?not Plus?] cave. I went in and discovered it +choked less than a metre beyond where I had been without a light in +2006. Surveyed it and then surface survey down to a part-drilled spit +hole near the cole. I hated the surface survey lots.
+ +We had meant to get underground before 9.00am, but unfortunately +Andreas and myself were feeling rather sleepy in the morning and so we +managed to get underground shortly after 11:00am. We had a smooth 4 and +a bit hour journey down to the pushing front, slowed down slightly by +Andrew A's enormous camera case (which was later left in 'The Silk +Road').
+ +We commenced the surveying by re-doing a couple of the legs in 'The +Forbidden City' that had gone pear-shaped on the previous visit. We also +had had a quick look down some sandy crawls at the base of the chamber, +but they would all seem to offer only long term digging prospects. We +surveyed up the large loose passage at the top of the chamber for +approximately 100m. There is a climb there where care needs to be taken +not to slip! It appeared as though the passage was going to crap out, +but a low crawl led to a complex junction. We chose the RH passage as it +was heading towards KH, but the LH passage looked excellent too. A few +survey legs with good formations led us to a junction with a passage +with a very small trickle of water flowing down it, where we decided to +call it a day. Our highest point is now 118m above the sump level. +Another uneventful if tiring, journey out had us at the surface at +1.00am ish. Lots more question marks!
+ +In preparation for climbing Trisselwant at some point (YIKES) the +four of us set off on a slightly cloudy and humid July morning. Via an +absolute fluke we got to the carpark we were aiming for: right +underneath the Burgstall (874m; take first right after avalanche tunnel) +just by Purg. So there we were, 4 numpties in sandals ... and then it +went wrong when we turned left half way up a via ferrata and then tried +right over an extremely shoddy path which was nicely exposed. Anyway we +got to a face about 5m wide with a "path" running across the front on +which you could fit 1 sandal at a time which made belaying really +fun;-)!
+ +Whilst Nial set off on something with Dave L, Stuart climbed up a 4+ +at a corner. well the climbing bit was fine until he took a lead fall, +his first. Climbers seem to talk things up, but after trying to also get +up this thing and failing, I too was convinced it must've been harder, +or at least more shiny than when it was first ascended. Stuart's lead +fall was interesting for me as well as I flew into some briers and +Stuart landed in a tree shortly followed by his ankle hitting the ground +at a dodgy angle which led to consistent "au"'s whilst walking.
+ +So after the rubbish section that made us feel weak and feeble and +getting me more and more lethargc in hot, sticky, lethargic weather +myself and Stuart eventually toddled back down the dodgy "path" and +after aimlessly wandering for 1/2 hour or so we found 2 backpacks and 2 +pairs of sandals underneath some staples. Nial and Dave were nowhere in +sight. It seemed sensible to have lunch and follow the staples up as we +didn't have the guide book and were sorely hoping they had chosen a +route we could actually climb rather than the tat we had seen +earlier.
+ +As they say, up is the only way ... sure was as we soon realised we +were doing a superb multi-pitch route. Stuart started and soon we were +in a fairly smooth rhythm of alternating leading and seconding. Well, +"smooth" except for when we would realise (whilst leading) we were on +the middle of a slab of rock with no belay opportunities and no quick +draws left :-(. Loose boulders, wasps nests, falling rocks, crossing via +ferrataists and 2 very thirsty climbers we got to the top where Dave was +sitting, grinning, rock boots off having previously done mainly indoor +climbing.
+ +We were exceptionally happy when it absolutely started rodding it +down ... not so much because it was raining but more so becuase it was +raining whilst we were NOT on the climbing route. Nial and Dave +had the highly intelligent idea of taking their rock boots off whilst +walking back to the car/bags which was fine until they go to the gravel +path down past a railway station (!). Crossing the railway tracks we +didn't have a dry piece of clothing left on our bodies ... indeed the +Austrian climbers sheltering under an overhang looked most bemused at +our antics. We decided to spare Tony R's car a bath and pretty much +stripped off before getting in (Dave L in his underpants, me driving +with a bra on, shirt off, etc). Despite our repeated offerings Dave L +rudely refused to let us drive straight to the station in Bad Aussee to +pick up his girlfriend who was arriving that same night.
+ +Once again we returned to the Convenience Series hoping to find +further horizontal passage. Kathryn and I were first down and started by +bolting the short pitch down from "Now Wash Your Hands". When Pete and +Edvin turned up we sent them to investigate a QM back from the pitch +head. This turned out to connect into the cave we were about to push and +how now been named "Shit Chute".
+ +Meanwhile Kathryn and I finished descending the pitch and found large +horizontal passages leading off. All of these ended in large pitches +which we did not have the rope to descend. One pitch was descended +entirely on naturals (and a deviation using the donkey's dick on the +tackle sack). This led to a large passage filled with boulders. It +rapidly became too steep to descend (and looked horrendous to rig +anyway).
+ +I began to bolt another pitch but decided hand bolting it would take +too long. Instead we left the new passage (now named "Engaged") and +returned to "Out Of Order Rift" to look at a small QM "Urinal Cakes". +After ~30m of tight rift this led into a chamber with lots of vertical +leads heading off. The chamber, now called "Indecent Exposure", also had +one horizontal lead which we pushed for 20m until it ended in a small +chamber.
+ +Photo trip to Eishoehle. Excellent cave, although I was very glad +that I wore my Buffalo jacket under my furry! Some good photos were +taken by Mark S, hopefully our sponsors will appreciate our efforts!
+ +Olly's guts weren't very happy so we picked an objective that would +never put us far from an entrance. We decided to survey 81 and 85 and +check for leads. We started with a quick look into 82 to look at the ice +stal and train tunnel passage. No ice this year at all and very little +snow. Train tunnel passage as impressive as ever, we noticed a +stooping/walking passage on the right which we followed (just a hole in +the floor and a lower passage) to the entrance of 83 - hurray, a +connection!
+ +Also discovered another hole in the same doline as 85 which had +another 2 entrances (at least) and appears in the 81 doline. Surveyed 81 +and looked for leads - the only one was a climb up an aven which turned +out to be an inlet only.
+ +Surface surveyed 81 to 81b to 85 tags and went home - will complete +the other surveying soon. This is an interesting area with a phreatic +level not far from the surface. If some of it heads under the +Vord-Hinter ridge (like 82) it should be very cool.
+ +Decided it was time for a final trip in 148 to push the remaining +lead to a conclusion and derig. So we packed all the rope in the bivi +into a very full bag and set off.
+ +We used a boulder and a spike as backups, then I climbed down the +rift, used another spike as a backup and stuck in a spit for the hang. +This got me down to where I'd been already via the alternate tight +thrutchy route. A rebelay off a thread reached the boulder-strewn +chamber floor. I followed the rift off the far side, round a corner to +the left, and it ended, far too tight. Shouted to Jenny that it was +over, then returning noticed a tight hold down into the rift, partly +hidden by the nose of a huge slab of fallen rock. A really strong icy +draught blasted up from it! Jenny sounded a little disappointed that it +wasn't really over.
+ +A y-hang on spits and some awkward squirming reached a nicely +proportioned pitch. At the base, the floor was mostly clean-washed rock, +with a gravel bank to one side. The water flowed down a small hole, but +a climb up regained the rift. Round the corner to the left, the floor +dropped away. Stones rattle down the initial rift, then freefall for +perhaps 4 seconds (starting to whistle) then hit something solid, then +fell for another similar length of time. Hard to judge the total depth, +but a substantal pitch, and the 44m rope we had left wasn't going to +reach, so we surveyed out and planned to go back to base for more +rope.
+ +Nipped into 76 to change radon detectors. All the rain was easting at +the larger remaining snow plug which made me a little nervous but I +figured it would last a bit longer so continued. I hope it goes when I +am not nearby ... changed detectors and came out - reversed pulsing +draught today.
+ +Back down Razordance to take another look at the Far East. Uneventful +journey down. Jon took a look at the tubes at the bottom of the +Forbidden City. After ¬Ω hour working with a crowbar we decided that it +was a long-term job to dig through. We also looked downhill at the end +of the Silk Road. After descending a ~6m drop a shortish passage leads +to the top of a pitch. This is almost certainly the same pitch which can +be reached from below 'Carry on the Khyber' by following the water. +After that we continued along the phreatic passage above the Forbidden +City (the 'Gobi Trail') to the first major junction. Left here was +unsurveyed so we surveyed in, clocking up ~100m of new passage to a +point where a vadose canyon intersected. Right (up) led to a 6m aven, +reasonably climbable with some gear. Left led, via a climb down, to a +continuing rift which heads towards the left zipper/right zipper area in +Razordance. The phreas clearly continues over the top of the vadose +canyon but would require some effort to reach it. Finally we tidied up a +few minor leads. Closing a loop which led back to the Gobi Trail at the +climb (where we had previously rigged a hand line). Then out. A long +hard struggle back up Razordance and all of us ran out of puff in the +Ariston series. Ollie got slightly lost at Wolpertinger Way, but it was +his first trip in the cave. Given that he has only been caving a year +this trip was a major step up for him and all the rest of us thought he +did BLOODY WELL. We can expect HARD BASTARD exploits from this chap in +the future. Hats off!
+ +Walked over to 161d. Mark and Phil went in to collect radon detector +from the Guillotene. We then picked our way down to the Stogerweg. On +the way down we found a promising looking entrance. Unfortunately Mark +found that it was a ~30m long through-trip! Going back along the path we +made a detour to Schnellzuhoehle. Mark and George went in and collected +another radon detector. After that a return to the carpark and down to +the Loserhutte with Djuke, Tony and Emma for a meal and beer.
+ +Sarah and I thought we'd try the Loser via ferrata. Nobody died +(almost though). The end. [Sarah writes:] But I enjoyed the last part. +Sarah. + +
Frank Tully (for a bit)
+ +Down Gaffered to explore chamber ("The Happy Hippocampus") below +Slimy Sludge Shute (a right hand lead just before Sirens Traverse). +Found out I should improve future rigging. Happy (aka stresful, muddy, +in small, sharp passageway derigging the Slimy Sludge Shute.
+ +Then went into the Subsoil levels (turning down existing A-lead, +right hand side as you come down Chalk and Cheese pitch). As expected, +bolting down into the chamber at the end of the A lead confirmed that it +also emerged in the "Happy Hippocampus" chamber hence joining the +Underworld and Subsoil levels :-). YAY.
+ +Surface prospecting and cave tagging in the northern most area of +CUCC territory. Tagged one of Anthony Day's cave finds. Also found a new +one and then the GPR ran out of battery and we walked back. In addition +to doing the Loser via ferrata and walking up to top camp this ended a +nicely varied day!!!
+ +A fine diversion as a warm-up for our carry-up to Top Camp. Checked +out the cave at the base - graffiti dating back to 1800's - and the very +small (5m) cave on the left at the start of the escape route - doesn't +go.
+ +Bimbled down Gaffered, all looking very familiar. Before that, had to +scrounge rope from the pitch into On A Mission and a bag from the top of +Gosser Streamway as there was all of 1.8m of rope left at Top Camp. +Rigged from Gardener's World down and then up into the Wares. Andrew +slung a rope down QM 04-23C and reported it as short passage to ~8m +pitch (QM B) then we went into Software and continued QM 05-73A. Wookey +put in a marginal-to-the-point-of-scary rig on small naturals down ~10m +to a small chamber. He and Julian surveyed a Quaking-esque tube, +drafting slightly, heading down, leaving it as a tight QM C with sound +of water. Andrew and I headed left, back parallel to the main Wares +passage in gradually smaller passage down to a flat-out wriggle but then +it headed up steeply and into a small chamber. Left here probably linked +back to near the start of the Wares passage. Right was a steeply +descending rift, QM B. Unfortunately the strong draft coming out of +Software that had drawn me back there seems to come from the roof rubes +above the pitch. Uneventful trundle out, taking out all the rope we'd +brought in. Oh yes - had Phil's Pony to survey with and its the bee's +knees.
+ +Woken up by Andrew to the news that we were going down Razordance. +Hmm, really? I was prussiking out of 204E at 10pm last night + fancied a +bit of a mellow, shallow shufty. Still, now or never as the derig loomed ++ Wookey was keen. Then Julian astounded us all by muttering that he'd +come along. He went off for a dump whilst we consulted Andrew who was +going to have to shepherd us down there. Why not? says Andrew, so we +were underground by 10am feeling a bit old, unfit + generally fragile +for all of this lark. Slowly down the pitches then into the rift. And +more rift. And more sodding rift, ye gods. Only Andrew had been through +before (+ then only once) so we got lost a couple of times, particularly +trying to find the oxbow thing but finally we hit the sump + the +unfeasible traverse. Don't worry, its easier this direction says Andrew. +Hmm, reassuring. Quick chocky stop + off up lots of scrambly climbs - +not too bad but it felt a long way from home by now. What's all this +about? asks Wookey. We have to go up 120m now says Andrew. Bloody hell. +Wish we'd looked at the survey a bit more carefully before setting off - +except that would probably have discouraged us from all this nonsense. +This is wasting my valuable getting-out energy grumbles Julian. Picked +up Andrew's camera case + did some 4-flash shots in the big chamber then +split with Andrew + Julian taking photos and Wookey + I continuing +Andrew, George + Andreas' Gobi Trail survey ~ SW for 130m including +plenty of diddly 2m legs in mainly crawly / stoopy tubes with sand or +pebble floor. A reasonable draft heading in with us. It was all quite +cosy + friendly and we could easily have notched up a few more hours +surveying but Wookey decided that enough was enough so we took some +cheesy group shots + left things at a complex junction wuth 2 QM A's and +a QM B with sound of water. One to a Razordance-like rift with water, +the other with a strong draft coming out + heading up steeply. Derigged +the hand line + I picked up the tacklesack of unrigged rope + back to +the sump to put on our SRT gear. I failed to palm off the tacklesack on +anyone + set off to the start of the traverse. I'd heard Dunks muttering +that cutting the rope for the traverse without leaving a tail down to +the sump level had been a bit overkeen on scrimping with the rope + the +muddy slope from the end of the traverse down had been awkward on the +way there but, hey, nobody had actually fallen off it yet. Andrew had +mentioned it was easier high but with the tacklesack I didn't want to +slither a long way down so I gingerly teetered forward on muddy ledges + +eyed up the slot in the sump, wondering if it was narrow enough that I +couldn't possibly fall down it. Yes I thought + promptly my foot slid + +I decided to check it out. 'Shit'. Then I've got one foot under the +water + the other braced on the far wall with the tacklesack dangling +like a Mafioso's cement sack from my waist + some serious knee shake. +'Andrew's coming' shouts Wookey. He gets his long cows tail into the +traverse + I manage to clip my cow's tail into his footloops + then do a +flailing prussik up him and onto the traverse. Still nobody +volunteered to take the fucking tacklesack. I hauled myself across the +traverse trying to maintain enough stress that my 8pm spit sample on the +far side was a good 'un. Right, that was my low point, literally as well +as figuratively. Andrew derigged the traverse whilst collecting his spit ++ gobs as soon as he gets over. Were you holding the spit pot whilst you +derigged? asked Wookey. Er, he's good but even Andrew probably didn't +have a spare hand there. Tootled up the rift - not as bad as feared, +route-finding easier than on the way down + it didn't seem any more +energetic than on the way down, especially as all the pitches are nice + +bite sized. I didn't let anyone have a cup-of-soup at the camp as we +didn't deserve it. On + on, I'd forgotten all the pitches by now. I +managed to do an awkward section right at the bottom whilst everyone +else wandered around trying to find the way higher up. Then a really +long pitch, followed by another largish one. I got a bit concerned as +Julian would be slow on this + I knew Razordance started with an awkward +section + a couple of short pitches so we must still have quite a long +way to go in the rift... Andrew came up swearing at his dysfunctional +jammer. How many more pitches? I asked. 12. OK altogether, but how many +to go? Well, we've done 1 or 2. No, but the first ones in Razordance are +short... ah! You mean I'm not in the rift any more??? Great news - +halfway up Kiwi Suit before I knew it. No time out from here. Andrew + I +got out + rehydrated, went to bed + Julian + Wookey came out a couple of +hours later. Julian did an ad hoc spit sample just to see what euphoria +hormones look like (though how he gets his 4am baseline comparison I +don't know). A fine trip - once in a lifetime, literally, for Julian at +least... Combined age of 4 team members = 152 years, what's the +retirement age for this kind of nonsense?
+ +Andrew and I decided to get a bit of gentle exercise so did a walk +towards 161d/g and found not v. many promising holes for quite a lot of +stomping.
+ +1 2007-03 Elev 1747m 36970 82767 Horizontal entrance to ~3m pitch, +slight draft out. Not very promising.
+ +2 2007-04 Elev 1750m 37017 828845 Low, wide entrance at base of 3m +cliff - a dig!
+ +3 2007-05 Elev 1758m 37070 82945 5m deep surface hole with two +horizontal entrances at either end. The most likely-looking lead +probably.
+ +4 2007-06 Elev 1810m 36931 83264 20m deep surface shaft - possible +way off from base, to SE.
+ +5 2007-07 Elev 1873m 36916 83559. Horizontal tube sloping down, ends +after 10m, no draft.
+ +Despite getting up at a reasonable time, lots of faffing (mostly by +Pete) meant we didn't get underground till after midday. There was a +serious lack of enthusiasm as we crawled through Germknoedel's Revenge. +I had knackered my knee on the previous day's walk up the hill and the +trip got off to a slow start as I limped my way down Treeumphant. +Eventually we arrived at Engaged in the Convenience series and began to +feel a bit more enthused about the trip. Unfortunately, Pete had taken a +wrong turn and had dragged the heavy bag of rope down Out of Order rift +- silly bugger! By the time he arrived I had put in the bolts for a +Y-hang at the top of the pitch series we were planning to rig. I was +extremely pleased to find that the power drill we had dragged down there +worked perfectly. Four rebelays later and I found myself at the bottom +of a very drippy and cold shafter. It didn't go anywhere, but did have +two sumps at the bottom. Unfortunately it turned out that me power +bolting is considerably faster than Pete and Sarah surveying (despite +the fact that they had a Pony and a disto!) so I had to sit and freeze +for 1 1/2 hours at the bottom while they caught up. When they finally +arrived they were hypothermic too and had failed to finish surveying the +shaft. I set off back up the ropes and left them to finish their survey +and derig. This took much longer than expected since Pete had forgotten +his spanner and in an attempt to give him hers, Sarah dropped it down +the pitch! Pete managed tot derig most of it using a maillon but in the +end I had to abseil back down to the first rebelay and give him my +spanner. Having been sat at the top of the pitch for over two hours, +Sarah and I were once again hypothermic so set off out as soon as Pete +arrived.
+ +We stopped briefly in Dead Good Bat chamber for soup, but due to the +passing of time we were starting t come close to our 9am callout so we +didn't stop for long. At the bottom of Cerberus I left the other two +(and my tackle sack) in order to get out in time for our callout and +extend it for the others. I was extremely glad of Wookey's double +strength Ibuprofen which made prussiking with my dodgy knee bearable. I +surfaced at 7am and Sarah and Pete emerged at 11am. A ridiculously long +trip considering the amount of progress we had made.
+ +Things that went wrong:
+- had to derig Dave and Djuke's rope - which got stuck
+- Sarah lost her foot jammer
+- Sarah's chest tape broke
+- My foot jammer broke
+- We all got freezing
+- Pete didn't have a spanner and Sarah dropped hers
+All in all a great trip :-)
+ +Pitch series is now called S.L.T.R. for reasons known only to its surveyors.
+ ++
+
(+ Duncan Collis, Mark Dougherty, Richard Mundy + George North) - +which somehow have to fit into this schema
+ +Left basecamp for an 'early start' at (maybe) 10am. (Duncan + Mark +had been talking about a R.D. trip the day before...) Got to Stone +Bridge early afternoon. JonT was itching for a RD derigging trip - +already up there for a few days, wanted a 'decent' trip. Aaron + I +pulled on our gear quickly, & then the three of us set off down 204A... +Duncan & Mark to follow after a few hours.
+ +My second trip in Austria, first one was with Aaron to do some +science stuff in a shallow cave. This RD trip turned out to be quite +vertical. Not much horizontal caving, at least to start with. Stopped +briefly for my 2pm spit sample. We carried on downwards (later learnt +that this was the Kiwi series).
+ +After a couple of hours we hit Razor Dance. Much more horizontal & +quite tight. Had a few problems finding the correct level - it's quite a +deep vertical rift in a few/most places. Lots of grunting. JonT: 'flow +with the rock, not against it'.
+ +Got to final pitch before sump at bottom. Jon + Aaron already down. +Just as I was half-way down, Jon shouts for me to start going back up. +What the fuck? Shouts that it's getting very wet. Bloody hell, he's got +a point, this little RD stream has got a lot wetter. Better had +get out. Oops, no chest jammer on central MR (in dangly bag) - have to +go right down. Thunderstorm?
+ +Put chest jammer on. Jon volunteers to derig - yes please! Start +heading out, followed by Aaron then Jon. Bottom pitches very wet - get +quite soaked. After a while, bump into Duncan & Mark. Good to see them. +Say they've re-rigged Paster of Muppets pitch 'cause it's a bit damp. +Follow Duncan up to top of Pepper Pot. Duncan, Mark & I wait there for +an hour (damn cold!) until Aaron & Jon turn up. Given heavy +tacklesack full of wet rope, carry on pushing up through RD. Duncan goes +on ahead.
+ +Turns out that it's quite a mission to push a tackle sack through +tight, vertical rift. Almost leave it a couple of times. Arms tired. +Actually, there is a technique to it. Push it ahead and wedge it, +then follow.
+ +Got to basic 'camp' (stove + food) called 'God Loves a Drunk' [GLAD +in other write-ups] - passed straight through on way down. Hot food, +courtesy of Duncan. Richard & George also there! Set off again after a +bit, following Jon. Hear him now & then at top of pitches.
+ +Leave tacklesack at bottom of Kiwi Suit next to Jon's. Start up, +bloody hard work. See Duncan following at the bottom of pitches. Should +have brought more chocolate bars. Find my discarded water bottle on way +up - very thirsty, quite welcome! Also a flap-jack cache :)
+ +Eventually got to the surface at 2am. 'Job's a good 'un'. Food then +sleep. Won't do that again in a hurry. Appears there was a ~7pm +thunderstorm.
+ +Finis.
+ +Down 10am. Wookey + I fetched the tackle sack of rope from Mystery +Wind + derigged the two pitches. By the time we were back at the bottom +of Kiwi Suit Andrew had unbagged all the rope and done paella number one +(and two) up the first pitch by himself... at which point we were +committed... to 9 more paella stacks until the last one emerged onto the +slabs outside of Top Camp. Ollie came along to help when we were on the +big pitch below Wolpertinger Way, which made life easier (down to only +one tackle bag each) and on the final pull we had an excellent surface +support party of Aaron, Richard, John + Jon to do all the hard work. +Rope dried overnight, coiled the next day so all the RD derigged in 2.5 +trips - not bad.
+ +Neither of us had been before but the magic of GPS and a good set of +cairns got us to the entrance. John then whinged all the way down the +entrance pitch about rubs. I just thought he was seeing some standard +CUCC rigging but as I went down it went rub, twang, rub along with a +hail of loose rocks. On the way out we realized that some of the problem +were that the snow level was way down on last year‚ but we'd also not +been warned about the three rope protectors needed. After that comes a +small sloping crawl. Should I take the tacklesack? Asks John. No, it's +OK if you just roll it ahead says I. Oh no - you OK? Er, do you want to +go check out this QMC down this little shaft? Fortunately John could get +down & reported it kept going as a QM B‚ and fetched the tacklesack. We +then looked at 06-19A which looked an excellent lead. After some +gardening there was no time left to survey so nosed around the rest of +the passage there and then out. Be a lovely cave if someone with a drill +rigged the entrance more creatively.
+ +(Maybe others not listed)
+ +Some of the people at top camp decided that caving was effort. They +were right. Therefore we decided to look at some hole we had walked past +on a previous slack day showing newcomers where Tunnocks is.
+ +We passed 204 E to find some reasonably deep but snow filled holes. +Armed with a drill Nial bolted our way down a hole. Our team (Nial, Pete +and Sarah) was joined by Jon after Pete had descended and decided we +didn't have enough rope. Aided by Jon what we decided was 2007.03 was +descended to a snow plug and a slot followed by Jon. We surveyed down +the slot to a choke. It turns out this place was probably already +explored in 2002. Frank laddered down a hole that had a vital connection +to where we had been. Sarah and I looked [continued 3 pages later: +'Quarries continued'] in another hole that had a bolt already in place +and found no leads. Sarah + Jon looked at some other places further in +the Tunnocks direction which one of them will have to write about. To +conclude: Time wasted - 1 day.
+ +Having failed to find 2004-04 the previous afternoon we had another +go and it was still hidden sadly. Then went to look for 84 which we also +failed to find, I guess it is either well hidden or not close to 83 to +the WNW.
+ +Found an interesting looking hole (2007-73) walking entrance down a +snow slope which then went down a bit to a chamber. Olly looked at the +continuation which was a bit snowy & small. We will return later in +expo.
+ +Went over to survey the connection with 85. Shortly into the +connection is an aven up to the surface a new higher entrance! As we +surveyed we could hear very loudly a thunderstorm overhead, and a +waterfall appeared near the 85 entrance. Olly had a look at the +continuation of 85 but thought the climb wasn't freeclimbable due to the +current snowline position.
+ +It had rained a lot overnight + was still raining so decided the +pitch in 148 might be unpleasant, so decided on 76 instead. Went to the +end of the Boiling Tubes where we left 3 leads in 2004. None of the +leads looked great, but we started with 04-62B, the straight-on lead. +This was crawling then wiggling to a boulder which was followed shortly +by a stal blockage - unusual for Austria. The stals weren't huge, but +neither was the passage. I surveyed back while Olly took notes, and +sadly my promising lead heading straight for 2007-71 was no more. (There +was a small red spider there).
+ +Olly removed some soil from the RH lead 04-63C and discovered that +the soil continued for quite some way, so we left off that and looked at +the final crap lead (04-04C). After moving some rocks I crawled down, +slightly downhill and over rocks. I was really hoping that I would be +able to turn around at some point as I wasn't looking forward to +reversing back.
+ +Then I noticed the passage was echoing. In my experience so far, +small crawls tend not to make large echos. This made me excited and +optimistic that I might be able to turn round. After a few more metres +the crawl enlarged enough that I could just turn round, yay! Rocks +dropped down the pitch went for ~2.5s then bounced a bit more. Shame it +would be a crap place to carry gear.
+ +Returned to BUW[BNW?, bivi?] and looked at 04-25C, surveyed down to +where it got small - is very easy to move rocks though. It looks like it +connects with Loopy so probably easier to get through from the +south.
+ +Finally looked at 04-26B, scramble in (easily) [something] - the A+ +pitch ledges into a narrow walking height passage followed this up to a +T junction, left is low crawling and right a bit larger - both are C +grade leads. The RH one may join 04-41C perhaps. Surveyed this and left, +removing the radon detectors on route.
+ +Went back to 81 to survey the new stuff. Not a hugely long cave but a +lot of entrances (which we have put hiltis in for the tags and for 82b +tag). There are still a couple of leads to look at later as well. What +we surveyed was mostly walking passage and quite pleasant.
+ +Our hopes of an early start were sabotaged by the realisation that +the drill battery was (a) flat and (b) broken. Several hours of charging +and some gaffer later, we got underground around noon.
+ +At the pushing front, James + I cowered damply while Andreas rigged +the pitch with a Y-hang + rebelay 2m further down. This landed in an +elongated rift chamber, with a fairly narrow but ruler-straight slot +leading off. Andreas went ahead with the bolting gear while we started +surveying.
+ +The slot widened out somewhat + a scramble up onto a ledge led to a +keyhole-type phreatic tunnel + slot in the floor. Andreas rigged a +traverse where the slot began to widen + reached a stance overlooking a +deep, dark pool of water.
+ +Andreas attempted to answer the question 'is this a sump?' by +traversing out along the ledge to see round a corner, but ran out of +battery. So we headed out, leaving the depth certainly over 600m.
+ +We felt like a short trip so went to try & tick off some annoying QMs +in the Insignificant area.
+ +01-3C is clearly too tight.
+ +01-7C went to a short crawl & climb up into a tall passage. This went +maybe 10m to a big pitch (probably Pleasuredome). Side passages high & +low on the right led to the same pitch.
+ +A window just before the pitch was some more crawls & a steep ramp +down to a complex loopy junction. On the right is another big drop +(Pleasuredome again?). On the left various tubes lead off. QM C.
+ +New passage is 'Swiss Cheese'.
+ +At this point I gave up in disgust realising that my goal of making +the survey easier to draw was clearly hopeless, and we exited via No +Pain No Gain (modulo getting lost after turning left instead of right on +hitting 110 A Day).
+ +Niall felt it was time to attempt the trisselwand again, 15 years +after the last disastrous attempt. Wookey 'Volunteered' as a previous +incumbent, and Andrew was mugged into coming too. Packed in advance +with trepidation and got up by 6am to omlette already made by Andrew. +Hiked in to bottom from Sattel to start by 9am. To find the start go +down a bit (30m?) after the heli-landing zone open area & just follow +obvious path. We went off up wrong scre slope & wasted half an hour +faffing. First couple of hundred metres is just scrmabling up path to +start.
+ +We decidefd o do 'Hoferweg' route (5) as it is in guidebook with +topo. Previpous trips have done the easier 'Stügerweg' route +(3-4+). Wook led 1st couple of pitches, getting a bit lost on 2nd. +Then Andrew took over for the next couple of pitches back into the +gulley. We wizzed up there, mostly moving together. Chilly in the +shade. Had lunch at 1pm above pitch 8. We were overtaken by 3 groups +further down - 2 heading up 'seeblick' sport route & one pair going +our way. They had no gear beyond extenders - using body belay or +italian hitch for belay!, but were clearly mch better climbers than +us. Soon we were at the headwall where there really is a bench fixed +in place to look at view from.
+ +Next bit was obvisouly hard so we send niall first. Turned into +proper climbing at this point. 1st pitch (#12, 4-) OK, Next really +quite tricky - a fine lead. System we used was 2 half-ropes, leader +had no sack, both seconds carried rucksacks, on easy pitches both +seconds moved together. Pitch 14 was nasty-looking overhang - not as +bad as it looked btill scary & with desperate slab back into gulley, +not designed for short-arses (drop onto tiny ledge from one handhold. +wobbly piton for pro). more gulley & a couple of slabs, now quite hot +after 3½ hours in the sun. Andrew suffering from sun but saved by +cave at stance for pitch 18.
+ +Now quite strung out with 2 hard pitches right at the top; tired, +hot. Having the hard stuff at the end like this is really rather +unhelpful. 2 more fine leads from Niall - bloody good job we brought +him along! nasty move out from cave, and marvellously exposed climb +round overhang looking right down 800m to lake, finally gets you off +horrible cliff to marvellous views that you could have had by walking +up.
+ +very tedious 1&quarter;hrs trog back down to well-earned beer. +Niall liked the hard bits on good rock (& really didn't like the +chossy pitches). Wook and Andrew hated those and liked the easy bits +on shitty rock. Finshed at 6:10pm.
+ +9hrs on the rock. ~13hrs total trip.
+ +Not epic, but bloody hard work & quite scary; + +
The previous night I had been down to 'God Loves A Drunk' with George +North. On the 3rd I therefore hurt and my caving gear was thoroughly +soaked through. Given no sun to dry it, a day of top camp festering +ensued. I erased the memories of prussiking through 2 deg C Razordance +waterfalls ("the wettest I have ever seen it" - Mark D) by going on a +mission for Dave L; a quest to BS17.
+ +BS17 is about a 1h10 walk away, with no heavy pack in ordinary +clothes. One travels over the ridge behind the bivvy and over two +subsequent hills, before coming across a fairly low ridge, perhaps 500m +long and running E-W. On the far (North) side of the ridge, the +limestone takes the form of a series of 5m cliffs up the slope.
+ +Organhoehle, BS17, is likely to be one of the many holes in these +cliffs. The GPS point did not correspond to one exactly, but there were +half a dozen possibilities within 50m. The area around the ridge appears +very promising for caves. The limestone is not very broken-up and there +are holes, big & small, everywhere. The side of the ridge is +particularily nice in that it offers many horizontal entrances.
+ +I took my photographs using Ollie S's camera before stumbling back in +thick fog, hoping the GPS did not pack-up.
+ +My caving gear still wet & cold, we set off to the 'Wot no Butcombe' +end of the 'Rhino Rift' area of 204. We rigged pitch 03-79A; a phreatic +pitch wead [sic] tackled nicely with a single backed-up bolt. The +fortuitous bolt placement occured purely by chance.
+ +03-76B leads out from the opposite side of the pitch head, but would +require a handful of bolts to access. Aaron took some time rigging, at +one point succeeding in incorporating his chest tape into the rig +accidentally. We descended the pitch, now named 'Hollow Sausage.' It is +phreatic in character, with a shelf around halfway down before the shaft +balloons out, then contracts again.
+ +At the bottom of this 9m pitch, one finds one's body in a small +widening of a tall, narrow, and windy rift. This had a small stream at +the bottom and had been named "Dover's Last Stand". The crawl to the +pitchhead is likewise rocky.
+ +A boulder choke prevents one travelling far downhill the rift. Uphill +there are fine mud formations on the left wall. A 4m climb leads to a +narrowing of the rift. It gets too tight, but there seems to be a route +above of B/C QM calibre. This is tough and may qualify as being a pitch. +Would be better explored downhill.
+ +Ollie, Aaron and I went for a 2.5 hour jaunt down 204e. The main +purpose was to place some thermistors in Chocolate Salty Balls for +Aaron.
+ +Meanwhile, Ollie and I looked at some QMs 01-39 C should be +downgraded to a D lead. It seems to be boulder choked.
+ +The nearby B lead, if it corresponds to the hole in the floor, looks +really very tight and very steep.
+ +01-36C was pushed. It turns right, then becomes too tight.
+ +It is worth noting that Andrew 'Andy' Atkinson and co have replaced +the handline in Cave tree chamber with some red 2006 9mm. I would have +put in some 2003 myself, but don't ultimately care.
+ +Top Camp is now home to:
+-30 massively fat and well fed insulted mice.
+-THE FLAPJACK BEAST
+ +Frank has scored a victory over the mice by altering the food +hammock, rendering it inaccessible to them.
+ +However, we saw THE FLAPJACK BEAST (a small squirrel thingy) access +the hammocks via running upside down across the Stone Bridge roof. This +animal will thus prove hard to defeat.
+ +Needed an easy trip in order to walk down hill for Trisselwand, so +picked a QM on the survey which was interestingly above the huge aven in +Hippocratic Oath. QM 06-7A at the end of Goesser Streamway. Also took in +a rope to replace 1996 traverse line in Cave Tree Chamber (9mm bit of +2006 red stuff ~15m).
+ +Discovered that top of line was tied to 2 large but loose boulders. +One moved 3 feet with a slight touch! Took opportunity to get rare +photos of large falling boulder. 2nd shot (boulder) was great. Put in 2 +bolts to make it safe, using opportunity to teach John B how to put in +drill bolts.
+ +Rigged down - cave is not quite like survey. Actually p3 & p6 after +~4m and then ~p8 after ~12m then ~30m of streamway to final p29. Got to +end to find [?bury] bolt on far side of pitch but no back-up bolts / +threads / anything. Someone had been very necky. Put in 2 bolts for +traverse to pitch (drills are great) and dropped to bottom. Nice winding +passage sadly went nowhere: solid rock at one end, deepish (0.6m) pool +and impenetrable rift [?inuing king] stream, at the other end. Surveyed +(2 legs, ~38m) and derigged and went home with big fat bag of rope.
+ +Did the Seemond - Klettersteig. No helicopter involved. Takes about +5 hrs on the face and hours walk either end and cable car down. Bloody +hard work but magnificent situations.
+ +NB This is not the same as the Johann-Klettersteig. It is about the +same grade but 780m long while Johann is about 500m. Starts from the +Kessel spring near Hallstalt, and goes to Gjoid Alm.
+ +FWIW If you are going to do this you must leave early - sun will hit +you at 2pm ish, and last cable car down is 5pm.
+ +TW (Time wired) 5hrs
+ +The previous day, we walked to 2007-04 with Wookey. On the 8th we +pushed and surveyed this. The cave is in a loose depression on the ridge +behind the bivi. It has plenty of snow in the entrances and dramatic +slabs of rock hovering above it.
+ +The north entrance leads to 'Slackwell's Stumble', a boulder choked +passage with bouldery floor.
+ +The other entrance leads to a snowy slide down into ' John's Winter +Wonderland' or alternatively a precarious 3m climb leading to a boring +chamber or a bouldery passage into 'Quick wee chamber', with a ledge on +the opposite side.
+ +Quick wee has a high entrance inaccessible to us. John's winter +wonderland has a too tight passage that echoes and feels as if it may +'go' under the snow.
+ +2007-04 has been tagged by us as such.
+ +We had several 'brown alert' moments on climbs, due to slipperiness +and looseness. Another memorable time was when I put in a crap spit, +then reached to hang a sling from a natural. The snow under me +collapsed, dropping me 4m. Luckily onto more snow. I slid down the +snow towards the Winter Wonderland, before the rope became taut and +caught me. Worrying.
+ +Given light rucksacks and a nice day decided to investigate doing 161 +from 204 and thus check out the practicality of route. Walked to 161d +without much faffing. Decided to have a tourist in cags and headtorches +and to show John fine passage off triassic park. Nice trip for about 50 +mins, including some photos.
+ +Then continued along traverse to 161 e and f. Found a large entrance +sloping in, untagged and unmarked. Assumed it was 161e but later +research showed that it was further north than 161f which we came across +a few mins later. The entrance must be known? Later marked bivi site +cave list to say 161e is not tagged/marked, but seems that is confusion +not fact.
+ +Continued following traverse which was generally easy to follow. Bit +of bunde cutting would make it lovely. Got out from below cliff after +45 mins but then got into complex area of shelves. Not sure best route +to take as we had no GPS. Ridge looks completely different from the +back side. Very hard to tell which peak is which and a hole load of +extra peaks appear. ridge is not really a ridge at all and is about 500m +wide. Eventually struck due west and came out 300m North of the +bivi.
+ +Found a couple of caves en-route. 1st explored enthusiastically by +John B despite not being good in Tshirts and shorts (low, crawly). +Slight draft. Unfortunately due to no GPS we won't find it again for +years.
+ +Also found large hole 200m from bivi, described in 'slippery hole' +entry.
+ +With all the aving and sub-optimal walk whole walk from car park took +about 5 1/2 hrs. From 161d it is probably about 2hrs to 204 by sensible +route. 1 1/2 to nearer entrance. Route needs some serious honing to +make practical for trips, but we confirmed that cliff traverse part is +not a problem (in fact its the nicest bit).
+ +Andrew took photo gear, Wook took tackle & rigging gear, Becka +took survey gear. Went in to far end to rig traverse over '17s rattle,' +via a couple of metres of entrance ice.
+ +Andrew rigged traverse and we threw lots of big rocks, reckoning main +pitch to be 45m with prob another similar below. Traverse just led to +other views down pitches. Not clear if all three holes are same pitch or +not. Put in a couple more spits to tidy rig, surveyed & went back to +lead below climb up to cobble pile. Pitch down but c3 into passage went +about 50m to another large pitch.
+ +Big draught.
+ +Next went to horizontal QM N of cobble pile. This was nice & +flat. Andrew left for 2nd photo trip of day in 82. Becka & Wookey +surveyed over 250m of stonking passage "Rhubarb Crumbly". Exceptionally +fine trip - lots of QM's. Eventually gave up, utterly sated by too many +QMs - chamber with two going off E, NE, NW.
+ +Laser surveying is the way forward -- but keep batts away from SAP.
+ +Back to bag some more horizontal cave, despite having to walk back +down (Wook). All underground by 9.30. 1hr to pushing front. Off +resolutely North, past some very fine pretties for Austria. Then chamber +with pitch below and choice of A-leads. Took northerly one - soily +passage, then rift chamber, then descending phreatic, past a tricky c3 +up into soily, wide place with passages down ahead and on right +(draughting towards us). Another off on L, draughting away. Main lead +down terminated at a clean aven & 4m passage blocked by soil choke. +Crawls continue. Air probably goes up aven.
+ +Lead on R from soily place in huge passage almost full of soil. +Strong draught, goes to smallish aven then peters out in steeply +ascending tubes. Aven may be climable.
+ +Lead on L goes only about 30m to pitch.
+ +So went back to major lead at pitch chamber. Passage ascending at +consistent 23°ress; to East. Ollie came to join us as we started up +here & did a bit of ferreting. Did about 100m of this before Wook +had to start long journey home. Others continued, determined to clock up +at least 500m.
+ +Passage was up to 1825m (60m below entrance). Wook out in a little +over an hour, just in time to get thunderstormed on along with Jon and +Morven (who had no cags & got soaked to skin).
+ +Got underground 1pm with intention to head south. After ticking off +06-11C and 06-20C, realized our progress was cut short without any rope +to descend the p9. Aaron set off to find Andy, Wook & Becka in South +Tunnocks to swipe some rope. Find them he did, and returned with more +than he bargained for - Big Bertha complete with drill, misc gear & +rope. After much to-ing and fro-ing S to N, following objectives +accomplished: Surveyed & derigged 2 pitches Duncan had dropped in N off +of big chamber (now called 'Secret Squirrel' and 'Fat Rat'). Frank & +Pete left to go down hill at this point. Ollie & Aaron rigged p9 in +Sauerkraut; could only find one spit in wall & no naturals, so put +another in as considered this a tad dodgy. Dropped 06-31A, to be +surveyed next trip. Has another pitch and horizontal QMB at bottom & +provisionally called the 'Pantin Sales Pitch.' Also bolted pitch into +big chamber in N [traverse into Caramel Catharsis] (where Secret +Squirrel begins) which had hung off impressive natural but was awkward +to mount / dismount, now much better. Pete and Frank out ~7pm? Aaron and +Ollie out 12pm.
+ +With one datalogger installed in Germkndel's Revenge already +(upcoming writeup), we set off to install 3 more: 2 in chocolate salty +balls (1 hobo(?) with 4 thermistors, 2 wet/dry pairs, 1 easysense with +temp, RH, and barometric pressure) and 1 in crowning glory.
+ +[diagram of where stuff is]
+ +Also ticked off QMs 01-40C and 0139C.
+ +After a few hours of fiddling with his homel(?) new sonic anemometer +using a picoscope and laptop at the bridge, Aaron threw up his hands and +decided to solder the finicky thing into a datalogger and whack it to +the bottom of E entrance. The allen key needed to open the logger was +conveniently in a peli case in chocolate salty balls. While Aaron was +already resigned to bringing laptop and scope underground because +anemometer needed to be adjusted after export, trying to solder +underground seeme like crossing the line. So Aaron went down to get key +and brought a well-calibrated Ollie to put in a spit to mount the +anemometer on. On the surface again, Aaron failed to get the logger and +anemometer to play nice together and decided to abandon the enterprise +until a later date, in the UK or on Expo08.
+ +Down to tick off some leads & start the derig. Nial rigged his "worst +ever pitch" - for his sake, I hope it is true - rope slung round a +boulder at the pitch head, past a wriggle through loose choss and a few +rub points and down to a spit he put in with a 20cm long vertical crack +above it. This dropped us down to where the Engaged pitch landed and +from there Martin attempted to outdo Nial by rigging the next pitch on +even more choss. Got very cold waiting and I was mighty relieved to +find, after the first spit had gone in, that we'd run out of hangers (we +accidentally only had brought two in total!) & could go out. Andrew took +a few photos through the trip and he and I surveyed two shortish QM's +whilst Nial and Martin headed out. We then derigged the rope in +Convenience and Chalk & Cheese and then I took a tacklesack out leaving +just a 55m pushing rope to fish out at the bottom of Gaffered. Overtook +Martin and Nial before Gaffered and slowly we all trundled out. +Super-muddy Gaffered rope plus a heavy tacklesack is a crap +combination.
+ +My first ever cave in Austria, descended down very loose boulder +slopes to large pile of snow at bottom of pitches, fun sledging down. +First ever injury in Austria soon followed, jumping to avoid boulder +fall and landed on lovely smooth icy floor, same effect as banana skin! +A fun but painful trip followed. Found Apfelstrudel section of cave; +best bit was a chute that looked like a bob sleigh run, great going +down, tricky on the way out. Ended survey at exciting junction, pitch on +one side, stomping passage on the other. Back up pitches & down to top +camp for introduction to Holy Hand Grenade [Hungarian-donated alcoholic +beverage].
+ +(Ollie Stevens brief cameo appearance) + +
Surveying trip down 'great, draughty lead'--left after Wikinki Beach +boulders, then second left along passage. Phreatic tube leads down and +W. Becoming increasing boulder-filled & uninspiring towards +end--[illegible] of large avens though, maybe where ‚---nght comes down. +Named "Dubious Pleasure". Morven's back was playing up in cold, so left +after few hrs.
+ +Basically I'm working in Scotland so on the Fridat I drove from +Glasgow to Bristol. However, it was very very wet.
+ +Took 5 hours to get to Manchester then the M6 slowed down to creep +speed. I forgot it was the first weekend of the summer holidays so +every caravan in the UK was on the move.
+ +Torrential rain so eventually got to south of Birmingham by 6.30 - +another 6 hours driving. Continued driving at snails pace however all +was not looking good.
+ +By 8.00 the slow lane north of Tewkesbury was 8" deep in water. By +9.30 the fast lane was 6" deep and the slow lane was too deep for +lorries. There were cars broken down on the hard shoulder with the +water up to their windows.
+ +I was approx 150 cars back from the point where the police closed the +M5.
+ +Then the highways agency took over... The rain stopped at 11pm but it +took the highways agency another six hours to notice. I was released +back onto the motorway at 05.30. Got an hours kip.
+ +Then to start packing - bit of a rush considering I was to pick up Mr +Underwood in Reading. However, the railways were closed south of +Birmingham.
+ +So at the last possible minute Phil found a train that was going to +stansted.
+ +Anyway, it all came together. Packed in 2 hours - drove to Stansted - +found Phil and George. Drove to M25-A12 juntion found Pete. Got to +Dover hour late - no problem. Drove to Austria in 12 hours. MCE.
+ +Went to surface shaft Frank & I found a few days ago - a phreatic +tube ending in a big bowl of choss, above quarries uphill of bivvy site. +[Voed?] ladder & lifeline to survey, only small, loose cave, [blasted?]. +Boulders, ah well. Named Pink Wafer Biscuit Cave as it was really only +worth looking at after looking at all the other entrances.
+ +Went to 81 for an easy day to tick off the crap lead near the RH +route from 81b. To me it looked like a tight, loose & awkward route +through a boulder choke that obviously didn't go. Only went in cos Olly +thought it was "interesting". Having moved the loosest rocks out of the +way I wriggled through and it opened up into a rift. The boulders looked +less bad from below, so Olly came through as well. Got into a rift with +various holes in the floor to a lower passage in the same rift. I +traversed right to the end to where it was easy to climb down. This got +us down to the top of a lot of ice which formed a floor to the rift +chamber.
+ +Walked carefully around on the ice we saw some cool curved ice +formations. At the end of the ice there appeared to be a pitch down +between the ice and rock. We were without gear so steered clear, but +hypothesized it might drop into the ice castle passage in 148. Surveyed +out (checking that the outer lead didn't do anything interesting)..
+ +Walked up to Laser 0/5 and had a look for 1987-02. Scrambled up the +hill for a way and didn't see any horizontal entrances. Got fairly near +the crest of the ridge, so headed back down by a different route. Olly +spotted a draughting out shaft which we numbered 2007-7[MISSING], +GPS[MISSING]. Carried on down and got to a hidden valley with a low +horizontal entrance with a HUGE out draft. Walked inside and got some +big passage going straight on and right, both of which led to pitches. +Reading the old logbook suggests this must be 1987-02 (from the U/G and +entrance location descriptions).
+ +Surface surveyed this to Laser 0/5/
+ +Oh, in the morning had a look at another new entrance (that has +probably been seen before). Collapsed valley entrance with a couple of +leads, one might go but not without an oversuit & kneepads. Second lead +is a crawling / stooping phreatic passage for ~10m till it chokes. This +is 2007-7[MISSING] GPS[MISSING]
+ +Olly looked down the surface shaft near 148 first - down to the snow +plug then the ledge to where a narrow rift heads down presumably into +the aven in 148. Didn't push down this yet as we have the other route +rigged.
+ +We were going to push the pitch shaft in 148 but I was feeling sick +so we went back to 81 to tie up a surveying loose end. Olly concocted a +plan whereby I sat at the entrance and felt ill, and Olly went down the +rift shaft and bolted the hypothesized 148 connection. I figured he +would have a hard time with the rope, drill & survey left on his own +through the rift & climbs, so I came too & felt ill & whinged a lot. +Olly bolted down the pitch at the end of the ice and sadly it didn't go +far. We surveyed it and while I derigged Olly looked for other pitches +we had missed.
+ +Back at the other end a tight grovel through ice led to a small rift +and a pitch. This dropped into 148! Right where we built a cairn which +was cool. Surveyed out passing Nial & Andrew photoing ice and +raisins.
+ +Headed into 148 with way too much gear, but not enough crabs or +maillons. Got to the [saw?] pitch and the water levels rose considerably +making it very nasty & wet. Oh well, at least the rigging will be good +in high water ... Olly rigged a backup & bolt to get down the narrow bit +then got to a ledge where he rigged a nice Y-hang and went down through +a tight bit and then opened up lots to a deviation. This carried on down +to a big blackness with sadly no routes to drop down. It was quite [no +word here] by this point (especially for the power drill) so we came +back up - next time we need to rig it further out I guess. Came out of +the cave surveying a poxy side bit on the way. Came out in the dark and +clag - reflective markers are ace.
+ +Went to survey & explore 1987-02. Headed to the RH pitch first. It +had a bolt which, combined with a couple of naturals & fending off from +the wall, got us down. Pitch lands at a junction, left (as you look down +the pitch) is BIG phreas with another way in from a little vertical +oxbow. This goes for a while then gets smaller and lower (but still 5m +wide). Eventually the gap between the rubble and roof becomes too low. +Would be diggable but doesn't draught. Back at the base of the pitch a +daylight aven comes in from straight on. To the right soon becomes a +rift, climbing high ends up choking, low down gets to a narrow +meandering rift turning left through which a howling draught blows out. +We both went a few metres in and noted that it echoes and is a bit tight +- the most promising a tight rift could be I guess. Again, back at the +pitch, kind of back underneath, is a phreatic passage that ends in a +hanging death choke that again draughts. Back at the entrance the other +way on drops into the same passage as the other one. Daylight comes in +from another shaft. Very interesting to get big phreas here ~1/2 way +between 76 and 161 ... worth prospecting in the area next year I +think.
+ +Another trip involving ping-ponging to and fro from the North & South +of Tunnocks. Went North to derig traverse past scree slope & commandeer +rope. Returned through Sauerkraut, surveyed 06-31A which turned out to +be an exceptionally smooth p30 duly named the Pantin Sales Pitch. +Checked out little horizontal passage to left which didn't go, and then +dropped the next pitch, yet unnamed, which surveyed to about 45m. +Exciting to find that we had been standing on a wedged pile of boulders +suspended above an airy rift. Single hang & backup got us to bottom +where it choked. Very likely way on (marked QMB) by traversing around to +right into spacious rift ~15m down the p45. Ollie suffered a bout of the +keenness so we went back north to meet Becka and Martin who were on +their way out and survey continuation of Flying High. Didn't manage very +much (~30m) before Aaron had had about enough. Avoiding stals / pretties +while maintaining our precarious position high in the rift while +surveying involved a form of Vedic Levitation. Rift got smoother & +wider; looks like next trip will need to drop down to (easily walkable) +rift floor & climb up again shortly. Blows a gale in there though.
+ +Pootled to the Wares & headed off for a QM I'd been hankering after +checking. QM 04-49A. We'd left it as a steep ramp needing a handline in +2004. I rigged a handline up (needs ~25m rope) using 2 naturals then +hand bolted a spit on the left wall then a very fine thread on +the left wall then tied off on dodgy naturals at the top. Surveyed up to +find an extensive horizontal level - yippee. Sadly this was a derig trip +so we surveyed as much as we could, as far as a complex chamber with +several pitches, and we had to run out leaving lots of QMA's. Aaron's +light played up then fell apart and he couldn't find his spare +batteries, "I think I've learnt a lesson about redundancy today" says he +... Then slog, slog, slog, up the derig. Martin set off first with a +tacklesack & then pulled a second sack up Gaffered, I derigged & Aaron +did a tacklesack shuffle. We ended up getting 3 tacklesacks all the way +out, one at the bottom of E entrance pitch & one tied to the bottom of +Gaffered pitch so a pretty good job.
+ +I got to the lowest rebelay on Gaffered & hauled up the tacklesack +tied to the bottom then derigged & Martin & I took out a tacklesack each +whilst Aaron switched his data loggers.
+ +Second trip of the day: our reward for finishing the Gaffered derig. +Hadn't much time (set off from camp at 4pm) so we headed for a nearby +lead; the drafting hole halfway along the traverse down Ribs with +Knödel. This quickly opened into a steeply sloping, sizeable +passage heading steeply up (Stone Monkey). We surveyed until I was cold +and it was teatime, leaving QMA's and B's en route and finding large +ongoing passage.
+ +Off down to the MP/Flying High junction and surveyed the walking +passage on the right (after ticking off a QM just before Dubious +Pleasure). This was fine, roomy walking passage. A large passage +underneath linked back to the main Maximum Pleasure passage. Our passage +went in fine style to a large aven with a smallish passage … with snow +… and pine cones and leaves … I got really excited by the potential +of an entrance which Martin was perplexed by, since I'd been unimpressed +by all the old stal that he'd been getting excited about. We kept +surveying past the aven and then it headed up a ramp & gradually became +smaller and less exciting before we left it at a c2 in a drippy aven. I +checked the snowy passage at the aven; it was small & headed up steeply +but the snow was rotten with holes in and it looked a bit dodgy so we +left it. We then went back to the MP/Flying High junction & did a QMA +near to it, on the left. This headed down steeply to a chamber with +large lumps of flowstone. It was really drafty and we were too cold to +face more so we headed out.
+ +A fine, sunny morning so we hung around until all our gear was dry in +an attempt to have a warmish survey trip in Tunnockschacht. We started +by doing the left lead just after the traverse in Ribs with Knödel +[just beyond Caramel Catharsis]. This was extremely drafty & rapidly led +to a large pitch. We then headed to Maximum Pleasure, taking some snaps +en route. We surveyed from where Martin and I had left off yesterday, in +the flowstone chamber. We went past a large pitch & down to another, +smaller pitch then surveyed a small passage on the left and then did a +couple of legs up smaller passages to reconnect to the flowstone +chamber, making us feel virtuous. Martin and Olly turned up and we +pointed them to the remaining horizontal lead (which turned out to stop +after only ~30m). I then dragged Julian to the far end of Maximum +Pleasure to double-check that there were no other good leads to the +North. Nothing looked very tempting but I persuaded Julian to continue +the passage on the right where Wookey, Andrew and I had left off. This +headed up into awkward crawls and ceiling tubles and leads of 2-3m legs. +Unfortunately there was no good reason to stop so we just plodded on +until, thanks be, it finally, gradually lost the draft & fizzled out to +too-tight ceiling tubes.
+ +We were feeling a bit tired so put off the 148 trip by another day +and went to tie up some loose ends in the 81/82 area. Started with a +surface survey from 81b to 148 in hope of improving the loop closure, +also tied in the 82 tag to 85.
+ +Surveyed the remaining passage in 81 and checked out all the leads - +except for anything we missed there are no longer any leads. There was +nearly yet another entrance but it was blocked with rocks, doesn't seem +worth opening it up as 81 has more than its store of entrances +already.
+ +Went into 82 to resurvey the upper level and check out the 'drafting +tube' noted in 1977 - it drafted lots and lots out and whilst it is very +tight the floor is muddy/sandy and could easily be dug. It is heading +for the similarly big phreas in 1987-02 and less than 200m away.
+ +drawn by Duncan
+ +
Decided to derig 76 so we at least only had one cave left rigged. +Didn't take the drill in to conserve battery power for 148 so couldn't +push deeper. Nice going through the testtubes with only SRT kits to +carry. Successful derig. To get to The Ledge needs 16 + 16 + 28 m of +rope.
+ +Running out of time so could no longer put off the final trip 148 +trip. Only had to carry in the drilling stuff + the survey kit, so got +to the big pitch quite efficiently. Sorted out gear we had left there +and Olly sety off down. I sat on the ledge at the Y-hang and shivered as +I watch Olly getting father away, and every so often there'd be some +tarzaning around for the rig. I noticed that Olly seemed to be quite +near the water - today it was essentially just water running / trickling +down the wall. I hoped it wouldn't rain.
+ +Eventually it was my turn to descend, got down to where Olly was at a +huge jammed boulder which made a floor for a bit. There the rift seemed +to go 2 ways - rocks went for a long way down the straight-on-left +route, but a stronger draft seemed to come from the right. This led +shortly down to a bouldery floor. The rift continued over a jammed rock, +a big draught comes from here. Olly went some way down - it doesn't +trivially join the other route and rocks also fall a long way...
+ +I was cold and Olly had done a lot of rigging so we decided to start +the derig. It didn't go too badly (even the tight rift bits) and we got +all four tackles out before it got too tiring.
+ +148 rigging
+
the rigging in Some Like it Pot needs some adaption in case it rains, +but currently would be more unpleasant than suicidal.
+ +Hauled datalogger and thermistor out of CSB, along with a tackle sack +of rope left from earlier derig. Aaron reprogrammed CSB logger to log +for coming year (recording once per hour, memory fills in 387 days). +Plunged back down E, replaced the CSB logger and Pete derigged E on the +way out.
+ +Pete, Aaron and Dunks had already done a monster carry yesterday, +leaving the 7 of us a mere double carry today - we got everything down +in 17 loads, packing up the bivi inbetween and heading down the second +time at 8 pm with the final rays of sunset pinkening the slabs.
+ +Tony and Djuke had back to collect spit so gave us a hand and Jenny +and Olly came down the hill with their rope so, thankfully, there were +decent numbers for the mammouth rope washing, checking, chopping and +labeling + assorted scrubbing.
+ +I started drawing up surveys at 7am. Around 10 people were starting +to emerge after last nights deep fat fried glove extravaganza. The +conversation idly turned to ferry times as Tony et al set off home. +Dunks decided when on the 19th his ferry went and came back and asked +the date. "The 17th". "My ferry leaves in 12 hours." "The 19th is when I +fly to China." Fine-honed expo machine spluttered into action and within +the hour the wheels were on the trailer, it was filled with rope and the +tarps strapped on, Martin had been working from his hung-over lie in, +their gear was packed up, they'd been fed a cooked breakfast, sandwiches +packed and they were on the road... With a good chance of making the +ferry. After this firestorm we slumped for a while then started cleaning +and I sketched until 3am, by which time I only had Pete for company who +was on a one bender trying to beat Nials beer tally. The last bits of +plan for maximum pleasure were a bit ropy but I got there in the end +ready for a 7.30 start to catch our train to Italy.
+ +