Becka suggested a wander up Treeumphant to Chocolate Salty Balls. It's very nice passage; we poked around for a while before heading -out. On the way back, had a stare at what may be QM 00-34C - it's rubbish, a tube at roof level which might be climbable into with one or +out. On the way back, had a stare at what may be QM 00-34C – it's rubbish, a tube at roof level which might be climbable into with one or two bolts, but all the rock is awful.
NB The roof tube below Mystery Wind could do with a bolt and a sling or something as a handline - climbing out of it +
NB The roof tube below Mystery Wind could do with a bolt and a sling or something as a handline – climbing out of it on the downstream side is very awkward if you don't get yourself into the right orientation to start with. (I did a bizarre Superman-style dive out of it which could have been very nasty. Fortunately I succeeded in landing on the tacklesack!)
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ dive out of it which could have been very nasty. Fortunately I succeeded in land after rigging Yeast pitch. Dour bolted the traverse while Mark quickly dropped the pitch on naturals. The continuation at stream level was really nasty. So we voted for the high traverse, which goes into a level with a real floor, The Nordic Traverse. We surveyed into this, eventually reaching a small climb/pitch down (approx 5m). This was duly rigged and it lands in a small chamber, Thirteen Year -Itch. From here a further pitch of 18m was dropped back into the streamway. This pitch, Pepper Pot, was a real stunner - best +Itch. From here a further pitch of 18m was dropped back into the streamway. This pitch, Pepper Pot, was a real stunner – best pitch in the cave (imho)! Below the pitch, the rift continues in the same awkward style. By now it was 16:30 so we quickly surveyed the pitches and then headed out. Mark was out 20:15, Dour at about 22:45. See my note from the previous trip about Dour needing a foot jammer! @@ -333,20 +333,20 @@ Takes ~2hrs from bottom.Finally ready to roll pushing: looked at 03-29A rigged handline to edge of large chamber - no rope so leave that, plus +
Finally ready to roll pushing: looked at 03-29A rigged handline to edge of large chamber – no rope so leave that, plus 03-30B which needs a high-level traverse. (See our 22nd July trip.)
Ticked off + surveyed 03-28B, 03-27B and 03-26B. I think 03-25B can be downgraded to a "C" QM. Then up to -crystal pool. Surveyed chamber at 03-31B. Nial climbed up to the mud filled pocket on the left of the chamber - apparently choked +crystal pool. Surveyed chamber at 03-31B. Nial climbed up to the mud filled pocket on the left of the chamber – apparently choked with mud. The small pit in the floor of the chamber is blind except for a miserable boulder-filled hole whcih you can get to the other side of from a small passage on the opposite side of the passage as 03-25B. There is a hole over your head in the chamber but Nial said the banks of mud would make it very hard to get into, plus a miserable little hole on the opposite wall. Then surveyed from 03-21B to 03-22C to complete a small loop. 03-20B doesn't exist, just mud-filled, though there is a miserable thin rift in the floor of the chamber it's in. 03-19C is still there (actually there are two roof tubes but the more promising, higher one would be tough to get -into). Re-checked 03-23C - not at all promising, and 03-24C likewise - a v.steep climb.
+into). Re-checked 03-23C – not at all promising, and 03-24C likewise – a v.steep climb.That seemed to tick off all the horizontal leads in Sirens (boo-hiss) so we went back to Eeyore and Earl started to bolt 03-3B. -Whilst he started, I checked 03-5B - it's a blind pit, only 4m down. I also went down to 03-4B - it's a smallish pitch/rift +Whilst he started, I checked 03-5B – it's a blind pit, only 4m down. I also went down to 03-4B – it's a smallish pitch/rift whcih looks like it would connect to 03-2B + big, chossy boulders at the top. Once again not at all enticing. Neither 03-7C or 03-6C look to be much.
@@ -354,5 +354,177 @@ or 03-6C look to be much.[Extensively annotated copy of 2003 Underworld survey with ticked-off leads noted.]
+Wandered over col beyond 204 towards Grie&eszet; Kogel then back round on plateau side. Put in two tags on new caves:
+ +We also found (but didn't tag as didn't seem promising enough!)
+We also re-found 2002-04.
+ +Dave wanted to learn how to drill bolts so down to Earl's drill in the Underworld ... but first we surveyed + derigged Eeyore. Then +Dave derigged the 26m that Earl + Stuart had started to rig along the traverse in Sirens yesterday (they'd hoped to get to 03-18B). Took +all the junk to the end of Quiz Rift then Earl supervised Dave rigging 03-29A which went down the mud ramp then a Y-hang (bolt + boulder) +then a rebelay bolt then drop down to sloping ledge (~10m) to rebelay off a small knobble then down to floor. Another pitch +beyond this which Dave bolted but didn't have enough rope to descend.
+ +Meanwhile Becka was hand bolting a traverse to get to 03-30B - three naturals and five (yes, far too many) bolts later I got to the +muddy up-slope only to be told there was no time to check it out because I had to survey Dave's pitch. Actually I was pooped by the having +spent half an hour suspended 5m above the floor in a rift far too wide to bridge, trying to get to the far side. I tried prusiking up my +own long cowstail, putting slings for extra footloops into cowstails + sheer brute ignorance. It was also pretty exciting (i.e. dynamic) +getting back - a free-hanging traverse. Surveyed Dave's pitches. Names: my traverse will be The Generation Game, Dave's first pitch +is Gardeners' World, and his next one is University Challenge. Way out up Gaffered was way, way, way too +muddy - I'd had to do a welly-brake on the way down + both my hand + my chest jammer were slipping on the way up ... but I didn't have +nearly as much fun as Dave who became an incandescent Mr. Angry + ended up prusiking twice as far as the rest of us. I left him to Earl's +calming tongue. [I think my jammers are knackered - the teeth don't bite like they used to.—DL].
+ +Walked back up to our bivvy in the sun; when we got there, Olly wasn't feeling too well, so we decided that I'd explore 99 whilst Olly +sat on the surface and patched his oversuit. I went down rigged off the v.dubious tag bolt and a spike. It went down an inclined rift with +snow on the floor for a bit less than 10m then wiggled round right and then left to be below itself again. Here there were 2 old spits, +teh first of which I rebelayed too. After this a draft was coing through a small ice-covered rift heading roughly towards the appropriate +part of Brave New World. I kicked lots of snow out of the way and attempted to fit through the pitch head; I got roughly half way before +feeling it was a bit too tight and committing, and dediced to come out, which was easier said than done.
+ +After a while of fruitless wiggling I got a bit scared and asked Olly to put his caving gear on to come + help. As soon as Olly left I +found a foothold and freed myself sufficiently to escape, but at least Olly had practice at getting into caving gear quickly! I came out, +leaving the ice squeeze for either a day later on in expo with less ice, or a day with a hammer.
+ +We went down 76 to push the pitch lead near the start of the "Test Tubes". It was unclear if the pitchhead was perched rocks or solid, +so I used a mostly convincing thread as a backup, and put in a traverse spit, then a Y hang out in the rift. The rift was a good 1.5m +wide, and tall so things looked promising. I descended and traversed upstream, but just round the corner was a pitch up. Downstream +dropped away and got narrower. Two rebelays later we were in the top of the rift, with a barely feasible squeeze into a lower level. The +bottom appeared to drop into blackness through a small hole - small stones dropped for a second or two if they got through the hole. The +position is such that this is very likely to be dropping into the original 70s pitch series, so there wasn't much motiviation for +desperate squeezes. Jenny tried to get through at a lower level, but that didn't work. So we surveyed out to connect to the previous Brave +New World survey and went home. Jenny put in a better placed spit for the ledge end of the pendule on the way out.
+ +Pete and I had failed to walk up the previous evening so an 8am rising and a run to the bus stop was in order. Waiting in Bad Aussee +allowed a random German bloke to approach and ask us if we could "show him the caves". Julia's powers of dissuasion are clearly lacking +because this random person proceeded to follow me and Peter from the top of the toll road to the plateau and on to the stone bridge (Julia +had lunch with Dour so didn't walk with us). Upon arriving he asked where the toilet was, "I need a big one", so I showed him the shitting +grike. Thankfully his aim was true and no further flies were attracted to mal-aimed turds. He then had two cups of hot chocolate, took +photos, and translated the phone message. We bid farewell at the entrance to Hauchhöhle, and despite my best efforts at looking for a +corpse on the next walk down I found none and must assume he made it. Lucky really given his nice Nikon camera and the pictures of me and +Peter on his 35mm film...
+ +Julia had asked people to look at Hauchhöhle so Pete and I decided to have a poke. A survey was produced showing the main way on +to be to the left at the bottom of the (first) pitch. Pete rigged the pitch and followed my bad advice of rethreading the rope around the +natural backup because we only had one sling. Dour had told me a deviation was needed to stop the rope rubbing and he was indeed correct. +So I spent the next half hour putting in a spit and getting groin injuries, while Pete scrotted around in every unpromising lead he could +find. At one point the digested aroma of shrimp noodles à la Blue Dragon chased him out of such a passage and the Flatulence Series +was born.
+ +By the time I had finished bolting, he had unfortunately found a tight rift that appeared to go, culminating in a climb that I had to +convince Peter to descend (with the aid of 2 slings lark's-footed around a natural). After that it was all downhill as each unsurveyed bit +of passage led to a further junction with two new leads. We pushed all the leads we could for several hours, with Pete pushing a +particular oxbow several times (Clifton's Circuit). Then we ran away to the Stone Bridge and recounted tales of our great adventure +and miles of cave passage to whoever would listen.
+ +Pete + Olly had returned to camp the previous day with tales of caverns measureless to man, and nothing surveyed. So I jumped at the +chance to go and practice my survey note-taking, hoping to go on to bolt down the pitches (or rather show Olly how).
+ +However I had somewhat underestimated the amount! Eleven hours later we crawled out, knackered, with 58 legs of survey in the book even +ignoring all the oxbows and loops, and more passage still going. (Olly had put one bolt in the pitch before getting caught up in the +surveying as well.)
+ +A complex plan emerged over breakfast. Team keen (Dave + Becka) would go in and do some more surveying; team fester (Olly + Earl) would +bolt the pitch; and team artistic (Pete) would take some photos. At 11.30 team science (Dour) would shout dow surface hole 2002-02 so we +could check if it connected to the daylight aven in the main Hauchhöhle trunk. At 5pm the underground teams would meet up; Olly, Pete +and I would bugger off down the hill and Earl + Becka would keep on caving.
+ +This complex plan worked surprisingly well. 2002-02 does connect. Pete got his photos. Becka + I surveyed some existing stuff; Becka +found a bypass to Tacklesack Blues via a roof tube. Then Becka spotted a traverse over the head of one of our pitches. After a quick +detour to collect the rope, and using a sling larks-footed around my belt as an improvised cowstail, we were across. Hey presto, yet more +passage! (Sweet Sight passage.) Stomp stomp stomp for 150m or so. Walked down the hill with 28 legs more survey in my pocket, in +addition to the previous day.
+ +[Continuation in Becka's handwriting] Earl kept rigging the pitch but the drill battery ran out after the pitchhead + deviation +bolts (part way through a Y-hang ~20m down from the pitchhead - probably another 15m drop beyond here). We then went back to Sweet Sight +passage + went up the left-hand roof tube QM just after the drippy aven with the bat skeleton. We surveyed 8 legs up there, past a tight +thrutch into an aven with water coming in and a too tight rift off. Out + home.
+ +We decided that today we would continue down the 70s route and see how far we could get with the rope + hangers we had. I wanted to +play with the drill, so set off down to the current end of the rigging (the next ledge on from the Test Tube passage) and put in a nice +Y-hang. Meanwhile Olly swung around on the snow plugs below to retrieve my spanner he had lost. The pitch was really nice - the best so +far, a lovely hang in a huge shaft, on down to the next ledge + some 1970s spits, one of which was used as part of the Y, a deviation +later and I was at the bottom of "Plugged Shaft" on a bouldery floor with a huge bit of scaffold bar longer than I am! The next pitch +wasn't far away, and as we weren't certain how solid the floor was we continued the rope round - this is where the 112m rope ended, so we +tied on the 85m and Olly bolted down "Saved Shaft" with, as is typical of this cave, a deviation. We now arrived at a HUGE boulder pile, +with at least one boulder bigger than a car! The way on was under these with the draft. The boulders actually looked quite wedged, but it +is probably worth trying to get over the top sometime (a) to see if it goes anywhere new and (b) in the hope that it is safer. Olly rigged +a traverse line through the boulders, as once on the other side you are in a rift with veg in the floor [that's what I think this +says] dropping away into "Keg Series" 30 odd metres below. Olly rigged down this after doing some gardening of rocks at the pitch +head, including one ~1m across... Olly got to the bottom of the first pitch and carried on down. I set off down this pitch, being really +careful of all the loose stuff still there, and reached the bottom just as Olly had reached the end of the rope below. The pitch was quite +drippy by the end, and perhaps needs rigging differently for times of rain. Anyway, with no rope, one hanger and no maillons left we +decided to survey out, pulling the rope up to the top of the pitch so we can garden more next time. We wanted to survey with a plumb leg, +but the pitch wasn't quite free hanging, so the plan was for Olly to go up, and swing across to where it would plumb from. This worked +well until Olly dislodged a small rock with his foot which fell 12m to me below. As I was looking up at the tape it did not bounce off my +helmet but hit me on the top of my nose / bottom of my forehead. It hurt lots and I screamed lots thinking I was properly broken. After a +bit I realised Olly was asking in quite a concerned way if I was OK, so I thought for a bit if I was, my nose hurt lots, but there was +only a very small bit of blood, and once I opened my eyes I realised that I could see alright, so I shouted back that I was OK, and cried +some more until the pain died away a bit. We did a bit of surveyeing. Then decided to give up until we had done more gardening and +rigging, and went back to teh base of Saved Shaft. We surveyed back till it connected at The Ledge and went home.
+ +Olly fettled the rigging in the entrance to add a tight guide line above the rock bridge, and we went into the Test Tube, and onto +Brave New World, this time turning right to the pitch, traversing round it (which I found scary as it was loose) and itno the oxbow on the +left, from here we followed walking passage past some calcite and gypsum pretties until we hit a T-junction with an even bigger passage. +We followed this right and came to another junction, in from of us was a pitch down, with a passage appearing to continue over it, and +passage heading off left, as we had no tackle we followed this to a junction / chamber. Here a very small passage went left, a pitch went +down in front and a smallish passage went right. We decided to survey back from here till it joined with the 1st Brave New World +survey.
+ +Walked up to 204 in the evening to see where it was and say "hi" to Earl + Becka. 204 bivvy is ~45mins from our bivvy, but I don't walk +very fast.
+ +