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Separating out training weekends from logbooks

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<li><a href="../2016/thingsfor2017.html">Things needed for 2017</a></li>
<li><a href="stuffbought.html">Things bought 2017</a></li>
<li><a href="sponsors.html">Sponsors 2017 </a></li>
<li><a href="training-weekends.html">Training Weekends/Mission</a></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Post-Expo Documentation</span></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="logbook.html">Logbook</a><a href="../../expofiles/writeups/2017/logbook.pdf">(PDF scan)</a></li>
<li><a href="logbook.html">Logbook</a>
<li><a href="../../expofiles/writeups/2017/logbook.pdf">Logbook PDF scan</a></li>
<li>Caver's Forum expo report Postings<a href="ukcaving/index.html">(local copy)</a>, <a href="http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=22020.0">(original on forum)</a></li>
<li><a href="topcamplist.html">Things left at Top Camp 2017</a></li>
<li><a href="krakencamplist.html">Things left at Kraken Camp 2017</a></li>

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@@ -18,110 +18,11 @@ Exported on 2022-12-17 Sat using control panel webpage and exportlogbook() in tr
<h2>See also: <a href="https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?threads/rope-sponsor-entry-cucc-austria.22020/">UK CAVING ILLUSTRATED BLOG 2017</a> </h3>
<p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2017_s01_blog">2017-05-23</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rob Watson</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Caving in the Schwarzmooskogelhohle System, Blog post 1</div>
<div class="bbWrapper"><b>Caving in the Schwarzmooskogelhohle System, Loser Plateau, Austria with CUCC, 1976?2017</b><br>
<br>
Since 1976, CUCC have been visiting the Loser Plateau near Bad Aussee, Austria, to explore the Schwarzmooskogelhohle cave system. As of 2016, the cave is now over 120km long and over 1000m deep, making it one of the largest in Europe. The expedition is one of the largest and longest running student expeditions in the UK, and is one of the leading training grounds for students new to alpine caving to learn how to explore new alpine caves safely and scientifically.<br>
<br>
<div class="bbImageWrapper js-lbImage" title="IMG_1018.JPG" data-src="http://expo.survex.com/photos/2016/ChrisDensham/IMG_1018.JPG" data-lb-sidebar-href="" data-lb-caption-extra-html="" data-single-image="1" data-fancybox="lb-post-279195" data-caption="<h4>IMG_1018.JPG</h4><p><a href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ukcaving.com&#x2F;board&#x2F;index.php?threads&#x2F;rope-sponsor-entry-cucc-austria.22020&#x2F;#post-279195&quot; class=&quot;js-lightboxCloser&quot;>nobrotson · May 23, 2017 at 3:21 PM</a></p>" style="cursor: pointer;">
<img src="/years/2017/./ukcavingblog_files/IMG_1018.JPG" data-url="http://expo.survex.com/photos/2016/ChrisDensham/IMG_1018.JPG" class="bbImage" data-zoom-target="1" style="" alt="IMG_1018.JPG" title="" width="" height="" loading="lazy">
</div>
<br>
<i>Frank Tully striding heroically towards Top Camp, with the Loser Plateau and Braunenzinkel in the background looking out towards the Dachstein Plateau in the far distance. Photo: Chris Densham.</i><br>
<br>
There are a huge number of known entrances to the system, but there are four which stand out as key to understanding the history of exploration. The first major breakthrough came in 1983, when an entrance called Stellerweg (or entrance number 115/201) was pushed deep to find a sump close to the altitude of the resurgence in Alt Aussee lake, suggesting little potential for further exploration at this depth. Therefore, exploration began to focus on finding higher entrances to the cave system. In 1988, Kaninchenhoehle (161) was found and thus began extensive horizontal discoveries along with vertical gain, suggesting that connecting up entrances across the system was a viable exploratory goal. After potential from 161 began to wane, a new entrance was duly found: Steinbruckenhoehle (204), in 1999. In 2001 a new deep level called the Subway was pushed to find a streamway called Razordance ? a rarity in this cave system. In that year, we also established our current top camp bivvy site beneath a natural stone bridge next to one of the entrances to 204. Five years later in 2006, the entrance 258 was found, which led to a cave now known as Tunnocksschacht. This cave has been described as the ?corporation of Schwarzmooskogel? because it keeps absorbing the smaller caves around it and has so far been key to unlocking a number of phreatic levels in the system. <br>
<br>
One of these caves was Balkonhoehle, which was re-discovered in 2014 and has been a focus of exploration alongside Tunnocks ever since (it was connected to Tunnocks in 2015). Recent exploration in Tunnocks has been focused on going to deeper phreatic levels in the cave, along a nylon highway of ropes down pitches such as String Theory, Procrastination, Number of the Beast, Inferno and Kraken, which have all been discovered in the last 5 years. In 2015, exploration of leads at the bottom of Kraken was becoming a bit much with 15?20 hour trips required if going on the bounce. Therefore, in 2016 it was decided that we would erect a camp in an excellent sandy site close to some water at the base of Kraken pitch (around ?650m). From here, exploration of deep phreatic levels proved extremely successful, with over 3.5km being found over the course of 7 camping trips (typically lasting 48 hours, though one ended up lasting longer than intended after an incident dubbed ?Indian Rope Trick?). One of these discoveries was an unprecedentedly large river passage ramping steeply down to a depth of -903m, and which is still not fully explored. Students made up a contingent of every camping trip.&nbsp; <br>
<br>
<div class="bbImageWrapper js-lbImage" title="iZwW03zl.jpg" data-src="http://i.imgur.com/iZwW03zl.jpg" data-lb-sidebar-href="" data-lb-caption-extra-html="" data-single-image="1">
<img src="/years/2017/./ukcavingblog_files/iZwW03zl.jpg" data-url="http://i.imgur.com/iZwW03zl.jpg" class="bbImage" data-zoom-target="1" style="" alt="iZwW03zl.jpg" title="" width="" height="" loading="lazy">
</div>
<br>
<i>Wob Rotson, Katey Bender and Chris Densham at Underground Camp. Photo: Ian Peachey.</i><br>
<br>
<b>The plan for this year<br>
</b><br>
2017 holds a lot of promise for extensive vertical and horizontal discoveries in the cave system, and will run for 6 weeks from 9th July?20th August. We have a roughly triple-headed plan of attack for this year:<br>
<br>
?Go back to Camp Kraken and push the deep leads. This is the main objective of the expedition, as we left the camp fully rigged from the year before and after this year it seems unlikely that we will return there. There is around another 200m of depth potential in this area before hitting the level of the sump in Stellerweg. In 2016, the camp was set up for 3 weeks, with a team always underground on a rota. We would aim to do the same again this year.<br>
?Head into blank space in Balkonhohle. This cave is an excellent place for novice alpine cavers to explore: it is not a long trip to most of the pushing fronts, the caving is very pleasant but the exploration still feels challenging and exciting. In 2016, an area of Balkonhohle called ?Hilti-a-Plenty? yielded excellent potential for big discoveries, with a vast black chamber, ?Galactica?, being discovered on a final push-and-derig trip.<br>
?Return to Organhohle. This cave was explored in the 1980s and 1990s over 2 trips by UBSS (who form a substantial exped contingent along with ULSA) and is in a different part of the plateau to Tunnocks. It is close to the Schoenberg system which is explored by German cavers annually. The deepest phreatic level explored here seems to offer potential for similar phreatic development to Tunnocks. The cave is more testing by most accounts than the other two objectives, and will require a separate camp near the entrance (less walking and also less strain on top camp), along with a sustained rebolting effort. Improvements in lighting and a focus on horizontal exploration this time should yield exciting discoveries.<br>
<br>
<b>The long-term plan for exploration</b><br>
<br>
The discovery of water at such great depths in Tunnocks has prompted a renewed interest in the streamways found in other parts of the system, namely in Stellerweg and Razordance/the Subway. In 2018, there is a tentative plan to return to the Subway, which will require some considered planning as it is quite deep in the cave.&nbsp; There has also been discussion of returning to 115 to rebolt and explore the cave again, as it is now a long time since it was visited with comparatively primitive kit. However, this will require quite a lot of resources and a willing team. Deep leads in other parts of Tunnocks, namely Champagne on Ice and Clayton?s Cock-up, would also merit further exploration to see if we can push them to a satisfactory conclusion, though this will require a lot of rope as both leads go to around -500m. <br>
<br>
<div class="bbImageWrapper js-lbImage" title="ZXAMtBxl.jpg" data-src="http://i.imgur.com/ZXAMtBxl.jpg" data-lb-sidebar-href="" data-lb-caption-extra-html="" data-single-image="1">
<img src="/years/2017/./ukcavingblog_files/ZXAMtBxl.jpg" data-url="http://i.imgur.com/ZXAMtBxl.jpg" class="bbImage" data-zoom-target="1" style="" alt="ZXAMtBxl.jpg" title="" width="" height="" loading="lazy">
</div>
<br>
<i>Katey Bender in Das Lieden von der Erde (Song of the Earth), a huge river passage found last year. A full report of this trip is available <a href="https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=21209.0" class="link link--internal">here</a>. Photo: Ian Peachey.</i><br>
<br>
<b>Why would CUCC?s expo benefit from the rope?</b><br>
<br>
As can be seen, a lot of the current leads in this cave require vast amounts of string to rig them. Last year, a de-rigging team using the paella (Pulling An Extremely Long Length Altogether) technique removed well in excess of 1km of rope from Tunnocks alone in one trip. The expedition is also a focal point for novice university cavers to learn alpine caving techniques: this year, there are around 10 student cavers attending the expedition who have no prior alpine caving experience. To ensure the expedition is successful in both finding new cave and training new cavers, we would really benefit from additional resources so that a number of leads can be explored simultaneously and easily. Currently, the expedition has somewhere in the region of 1500m of rope, but another kilometre or so is likely to be required to fully achieve our objectives. As such, an additional 300m would be immensely beneficial. The amount of use and muddy conditions in these caves also mean that rope in this system wears particularly quickly, so we need to replace rope at a faster rate than, for example, when caving in the UK.<br>
<br>
<div class="bbImageWrapper js-lbImage" title="IMG_6289_kraken%20paella_ian_katy.JPG" data-src="http://expo.survex.com/photos/2016/FleurLoveridge/IMG_6289_kraken%20paella_ian_katy.JPG" data-lb-sidebar-href="" data-lb-caption-extra-html="" data-single-image="1">
<img src="/years/2017/./ukcavingblog_files/IMG_6289_kraken paella_ian_katy.JPG" data-url="http://expo.survex.com/photos/2016/FleurLoveridge/IMG_6289_kraken%20paella_ian_katy.JPG" class="bbImage" data-zoom-target="1" style="" alt="IMG_6289_kraken%20paella_ian_katy.JPG" title="" width="" height="" loading="lazy">
</div>
<br>
<i>Peachey and Katey with a pile of rope for just one of the 8 monster pitches which are required to reach Camp Kraken. Photo: Fleur Loveridge.</i><br>
<br>
<b>What will we offer?</b><br>
<br>
Our base camp in Bad Aussee has extensive computer facilities, with ?the Potato Hut? offering the opportunity for blogging throughout the expedition (though the survey geeks will be unhappy at further time not spent drawing up!). Members have written blogs in the past (eg <a href="https://daysyearoff.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/the-kraken-wakes/" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">https://daysyearoff.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/the-kraken-wakes/</a>) and we have some quite budding photographers on the team. We hope you will consider us for sponsorship and look forward to hearing from you.<br>
<br>
Website: <a href="http://expo.survex.com/" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">http://expo.survex.com/</a><br>
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/cucc_expo" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">https://twitter.com/cucc_expo</a><br>
<br></div>
<div class="js-selectToQuoteEnd">&nbsp;</div>
Blog Author: nobrotson
<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-11a">2017-07-11</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rob Watson</u>, Luke Stangroom, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Rigging trip #1: Entrance Series</div>
<br /><br />After a slow start at base camp, Luke, Brendan, Nathan and myself went up the hill so Brendan could have lunch. This done, we had to go caving, myself and Luke tasked with rigging Tunnocks, using Anthony’s 2015 rigging topo as a guide for the entrance series. The rig was very faffy and not much grease had been used on the derig last year which didn’t help. After much faff, we reached the snow slope which was sporting some very large icicles at the bottom. Out and back for 9pm.
<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-11b">2017-07-11</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Nathan Walker</u>, Brendan Hall, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - rigging trip</div>
<br /><br />Rigged Balcony entrance series with 100m + 20m rope following <i>[Ed Nathanael’s]</i> 2016 rigging topo.
<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2017_s03_blog">2017-07-11</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Elaine</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Food and prep. Blog post 2</div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Food and prep. and Traungold Stash</div>
<div class="bbWrapper">Drills batteries and computers have been fettled, Cambridge Sainsbury's has been bought out of couscous, milk powder and packet soups (apart from the mushroom flavour, yuk), and the CUCC expedition vanguard is now crossing the Alps. Unlike Hannibal, we are not furnished with elephants, although rumours abound of (inflatable) orcas and flamingos that may also have seen active service on a certain Irish caving expedition this year. <br>
<br>
@@ -199,7 +100,7 @@ Blog Author: CavingPig
<div class="tripdate" id="2017_s04_blog">2017-07-15</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rob Watson</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Week 1, Blog post 3</div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Week 1</div>
<div class="bbWrapper">So, the first week of CUCC Austria 2017 is over. It has been a slightly uncertain ride, with not many experienced CUCC members being around to coordinate the youth. Luckily, The Professor <i>aka</i> Mark Dougherty showed us what he?s made of by motorcycling for 2 days from central Sweden to be here and show us all the ropes in between G?ssers (the beverage of choice in Austria, tasty and cheap). After Brendan, Nathan, Luke and George had arrived after dehydrating themselves and, in George?s case, sustaining an annoying ankle niggle Via Ferrataing in the Dolomites, Base Camp (the hut that ?keeps the computers dry?) was set up and supplies were brought up to the Top Camp, with more being dug out of their storage in a big iceplug. Brendan in particular enjoys these trips up to Top Camp as they give him a much-needed excuse to eat more than one lunch (for Brendan life is just a succession of lunches broken up by playing with spreadsheets in his role as CHECC Treasurer). The guys got on with setting up the bivvy, installing the water collection system and setting up the main tarp. <br>
<br>
@@ -315,13 +216,13 @@ Blog Author: nobrotson
<div class="tripdate" id="2017_s05_blog">2017-07-18</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Elaine</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Food, Blog post 4</div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Food on a budget as tight as a hipster's trousers</div>
<div class="bbWrapper"><u><b>On Calories.</b></u><br>
<br>
Last year, a few days before setting off on a week-long hike, I found myself in a Canadian supermarket weighing up the pros and cons of different energy bars. ?Look,? I squealed excitedly to my companion, ?this one has almost a THIRD more calories per 100g! YES PLEASE!? ?CavingPig,? she laughed, ?that's the exact opposite of what any girl I know would say!?<br>
<br>
Gender stereotypes aside, eating enough is a hugely important consideration for any sport, and caving expeditions are certainly no exception. When you could be expending upwards of 6000 calories a day, you need to consume as much food as you can force down, and preferably in a form that?s incredibly simple to prepare. Haute cuisine is the last thing on your mind when you?re feeling absolutely shagged after a 16-hour surveying mission, but in a bivouac two hours? hike from the nearest roadhead (or an underground camp several hours? journey further on from that), chips with everything just isn?t an option ? lightweight and compact is very much the order of the day. Throw into the mix the fact that as a student expedition, we?re on a budget as tight as a hipster?s trousers ? what?s a hard-up undergrad to do?<br>
Gender stereotypes aside, eating enough is a hugely important consideration for any sport, and caving expeditions are certainly no exception. When you could be expending upwards of 6000 calories a day, you need to consume as much food as you can force down, and preferably in a form that?s incredibly simple to prepare. Haute cuisine is the last thing on your mind when you?re feeling absolutely shagged after a 16-hour surveying mission, but in a bivouac two hours? hike from the nearest roadhead (or an underground camp several hours? journey further on from that), chips with everything just isn't an option ? lightweight and compact is very much the order of the day. Throw into the mix the fact that as a student expedition, we're on a budget as tight as a hipster's trousers ? what's a hard-up undergrad to do?<br>
<br>
<a href="https://flic.kr/p/WDJryZ" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">
<img src="/years/2017/./ukcavingblog_files/35870256541_63744b937c.jpg" data-url="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4300/35870256541_63744b937c.jpg" class="bbImage " loading="lazy" style="" width="" height="">
@@ -344,7 +245,7 @@ For the curious, here?s a typical day of Top Camp?s finest gourmet cuisine. Do y
Instant porridge is a firm favourite. Comes in several flavours, can have syrup/spices added for extra taste sensations. Sprinkle over some optional Choco Muesli for an even wilder ride.<br>
<br>
<u><b>Second breakfast</b></u><br>
Unless we?re being super keen and getting in a cheeky Alpine start, I like to make like a hobbit and treat myself to second breakfast. Usually noodles. Often turns into a game of ?guess the contents of the package? since the ingredient lists tend to all be in Asian languages I can?t read. Instant mashed potato with sponsorship pesto and/or wild chives growing round the bivi is another solid choice.<br>
Unless we?re being super keen and getting in a cheeky Alpine start, I like to make like a hobbit and treat myself to second breakfast. Usually noodles. Often turns into a game of ?guess the contents of the package? since the ingredient lists tend to all be in Asian languages I can't read. Instant mashed potato with sponsorship pesto and/or wild chives growing round the bivi is another solid choice.<br>
<br>
<a href="https://flic.kr/p/Wg8crw" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">
<img src="/years/2017/./ukcavingblog_files/35614417180_94d25f1bf9.jpg" data-url="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4302/35614417180_94d25f1bf9.jpg" class="bbImage " loading="lazy" style="" width="" height="">
@@ -377,7 +278,7 @@ The highlight of any evening at Top Camp is surely a steaming curry! Each year b
<i>Sarah hits the cheesy peas.</i><br>
<br>
<u><b>Drinks</b></u><br>
It?s so important to drink plenty while caving, since fluid loss will reduce performance more than any other factor. Yet with the temperature in the caves at 0?C?2?C on average, the urge to drink is often diminished, and dehydration can easily sneak up. A weak solution of around 6 tsp sugar and 1/2 tsp salt in a litre of water, flavoured to taste with some cordial, is excellent for keeping hydrated. We also get through veritable lakes of cup-a-soup, hot chocolate and tea (sometimes with milk powder added, sometimes with custard powder instead as a surprise when things aren?t labelled properly). Speaking of custard, purchasing the right type is highly important. You don't want ?custard powder? ? what you need is ?instant custard mix?. Otherwise you end up with lots of unhappy people in the bivi holding steaming cups of cornflour.<br>
It?s so important to drink plenty while caving, since fluid loss will reduce performance more than any other factor. Yet with the temperature in the caves at 0?C?2?C on average, the urge to drink is often diminished, and dehydration can easily sneak up. A weak solution of around 6 tsp sugar and 1/2 tsp salt in a litre of water, flavoured to taste with some cordial, is excellent for keeping hydrated. We also get through veritable lakes of cup-a-soup, hot chocolate and tea (sometimes with milk powder added, sometimes with custard powder instead as a surprise when things aren't labelled properly). Speaking of custard, purchasing the right type is highly important. You don't want ?custard powder? ? what you need is ?instant custard mix?. Otherwise you end up with lots of unhappy people in the bivi holding steaming cups of cornflour.<br>
<br>
<u><b>Nightcap</b></u><br>
A wee nip of your preferred local schnapps is the perfect accompaniment to stargazing (the Perseids are peaking mid-Expo) or Dachstein TV (AKA lightning storms on the mountain opposite us). All in moderation, obviously ? would hate to be hungover and in control of a DistoX. Imagine the margin of error.<br>
@@ -424,7 +325,7 @@ Blog Author: CavingPig
<div class="tripdate" id="2017_s07_blog">2017-07-20</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Brendan Hall</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Photos, Blog post 5</div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - ice waterfall in Ice Cock aven</div>
<div class="bbWrapper">Just checking I can remember how to post photos, hopefully it works...<br>
<br>
@@ -486,7 +387,7 @@ Blog Author: Hall2501
<div class="tripdate" id="2017_s08_blog">2017-07-22</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Katey Bender</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Elliott and Katey's first week on Expo. Blog post 6</div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Elliott and Katey's first week on Expo</div>
<div class="bbWrapper"><b>Elliott and Katey's first week on Expo</b><br>
<br>
@@ -504,7 +405,7 @@ Elliott started the journey to Austria in London on Thursday, July 13th. He then
<br>
We finally made it to Dover in time to catch the ferry after the one we?d booked, and after an uneventful overnight drive we arrived at base camp around 4pm on Saturday, July 15th.<br>
<br>
All the rope magically disappeared from the van and everything that wasn?t new rapidly disappeared up the hill with the contingent of keen carriers; all the new rope (1km!) rapidly disappeared into the river to soak overnight. Chris Densham turned up about an hour after us so we celebrated the end of the drive with some schnapps and called it a night.<br>
All the rope magically disappeared from the van and everything that wasn't new rapidly disappeared up the hill with the contingent of keen carriers; all the new rope (1km!) rapidly disappeared into the river to soak overnight. Chris Densham turned up about an hour after us so we celebrated the end of the drive with some schnapps and called it a night.<br>
<br>
The next day, after nursing a hangover (or four) we pulled the rope out of the river and started processing it ? stretched it, dried it off, and packed it into tackle sacks to carry up the hill. <br>
<br>
@@ -540,7 +441,7 @@ The next day, after nursing a hangover (or four) we pulled the rope out of the r
<br>
Sunday evening we made the first of a couple of carries up the hill. As it turns out, 200m of rope is quite heavy; it was an ambitious first carry for me, but a good kickstart to the expo fitness regime. After the best intentions for a quick bounce carry on Monday morning followed by a shallow pushing trip in Balkonh?hle, Chris, Elliott and I ended up carrying in the morning then sitting in the sun all afternoon. This, however, was not a total loss as we managed to get all the kit sorted out for underground camp, meaning we were ready for the first camp the next day.<br>
<br>
Despite our best intentions Elliott and I were allocated to the first underground camp to Kraken, planned for 2 nights ? entering Tunnocks on Tuesday and exiting Thursday afternoon, as there were thunderstorms expected Thursday late afternoon/evening. After last year?s experience being flooded in on the way up from a camping trip, Chris and I weren?t too keen on spending another chilly night at the bottom of a flooded pitch. A 600m descent saw Elliott and I at camp for about 4pm. On the final 40m free hang&nbsp; the rope had, in fact, hit the bottom ? we had been slightly concerned after some not-so-confident noises from the team that had rigged down to camp. After leaving the ten in situ at the end of last year we weren?t expecting an easy set-up; the zips to the tent corroded shut, the puddle in the bottom of the tent and a good layer of mold were somewhat worse than expected. However, we soon drained the puddle, found use for a Therion protractor as an excellent mold-scraping tool, and sacrificed our spare buffs to mop up the remains and the bivi was soon back to a state fit for human habitation. Chris joined us a few hours later having fettled the rigging on the way down; we lit a few tea lights, had some dinner and settled in for a good night?s sleep.<br>
Despite our best intentions Elliott and I were allocated to the first underground camp to Kraken, planned for 2 nights ? entering Tunnocks on Tuesday and exiting Thursday afternoon, as there were thunderstorms expected Thursday late afternoon/evening. After last year?s experience being flooded in on the way up from a camping trip, Chris and I weren't too keen on spending another chilly night at the bottom of a flooded pitch. A 600m descent saw Elliott and I at camp for about 4pm. On the final 40m free hang&nbsp; the rope had, in fact, hit the bottom ? we had been slightly concerned after some not-so-confident noises from the team that had rigged down to camp. After leaving the ten in situ at the end of last year we weren't expecting an easy set-up; the zips to the tent corroded shut, the puddle in the bottom of the tent and a good layer of mold were somewhat worse than expected. However, we soon drained the puddle, found use for a Therion protractor as an excellent mold-scraping tool, and sacrificed our spare buffs to mop up the remains and the bivi was soon back to a state fit for human habitation. Chris joined us a few hours later having fettled the rigging on the way down; we lit a few tea lights, had some dinner and settled in for a good night?s sleep.<br>
<br>
Day 2 of underground camp saw us continue to the deepest passage in Tunnocksschacht ? Song of the Earth, pushed last year to -902m. Minimal rigging after most of the ropes were left in last year made for a quick descent and we soon reached the bottom of the cave. The deepest point of the cave is a mud sump with no way on, though we stopped off there to show Chris as he?d not been before and to take some photos. <br>
<br>
@@ -625,7 +526,7 @@ Blog Author: kbender
<div class="tripdate" id="2017_s09_blog">2017-07-24</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Brendan</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Calibrating Distos, Blog post 7</div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Calibrating Distos</div>
<div class="bbWrapper"><u><b>Surveying </b></u><br>
<br>
@@ -791,28 +692,46 @@ Blog Author: Hall2501
<div class="tripdate" id="2017_s10_blog">2017-07-30</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Phil Withnall</u> </div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Perspective of a newcomer to expo, Blog post 8</div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Perspective of a newcomer to expo</div>
<div class="bbWrapper"><b><u>Perspective of a newcomer to expo</u></b><br>
[id is 'Flakey' but I think it is Philip Withnall - from survey of Galactica.]
[id is 'Flakey' = Philip Withnall]
<br>
Having been caving for several years with CUCC, but having managed to successfully avoid Expo previously, 2017 was my first year in Austria exploring the caves of the L?ser plateau. I spent two weeks out there and, having returned home and had a few showers, here are some of my thoughts about the Expo experience.<br>
<br>
I turned up on Expo shortly after the setup and rigging had been completed, meaning that some of my first trips were to the pushing edge of exploration. All of my trips this year were in Balkonh?hle (apart from a couple of trips down a new cave, found while prospecting; more on that below). This was more caving than I had done before on any trip: more depth, longer duration, and more technical SRT in one place at the same time. Good fun. While I was confident with my caving before arriving, there was the inevitable mismatch in prussiking fitness between me and those who had already been out on Expo for a week or two. A few trips down to Galactica (one of the lower areas in Balkonh?hle at the start of Expo) started to sort that out.<br>
<br>
There were other skills which I hadn?t had the opportunity to practice before: surveying, and photography. Since a lot of Expo is about surveying, that was a critical skill to learn. Thanks to the patience of Luke, Nadia and Rachel, I got enough practice on a couple of trips to feel confident about surveying. Rachel and I surveyed the bottom of Galactica (a huge chamber found at the end of last year?s expedition which, unfortunately, is an almost complete dead end due to fill from fault breakdown). Later on, Nadia, Nathan and I started surveying a new cave. Exciting to do; less exciting to try and work out how to write up afterwards. Thankfully, various people at base camp were quite helpful in guiding me through writing up surveys and tying a new cave into the overall survey.<br>
There were other skills which I hadn't had the opportunity to practice before: surveying, and photography. Since a lot of Expo is about surveying, that was a critical skill to learn. Thanks to the patience of Luke, Nadia and Rachel, I got enough practice on a couple of trips to feel confident about surveying. Rachel and I surveyed the bottom of Galactica (a huge chamber found at the end of last year?s expedition which, unfortunately, is an almost complete dead end due to fill from fault breakdown). Later on, Nadia, Nathan and I started surveying a new cave. Exciting to do; less exciting to try and work out how to write up afterwards. Thankfully, various people at base camp were quite helpful in guiding me through writing up surveys and tying a new cave into the overall survey.<br>
<br>
One of the downsides I found on Expo was that knowing the set of A-leads to investigate was hard; the information mostly resides in a few people?s heads, rather than on a list somewhere. It was only during my second week on Expo when we got a relatively up-to-date survey to look at at top camp. This made it a bit harder to take the initiative to lead trips to the pushing front. Hence I became a sheep; a situation I was happy with, given it was my first year at Expo.<br>
<br>
Prospecting was another activity which I got some practice at, due to a few days where the weather forecast was terrible (and the weather reality was rather nice). Given a bad forecast, going down Balkonh?hle is inadvisable due to the potential for getting flooded in (the Entrance series drains a lot of water). Prospecting seemed a safer option, and the possibility for finding the long-sought second entrance to Balkonh?hle was attractive.<br>
<br>
We didn?t manage to find a second entrance to Balkonh?hle, but we did manage to find another promising cave (nicknamed Bad Forecast; I?m looking forward to the Austrian translation) which we pushed to -100m in a large phreatic chamber. The entrance passage is about 100m long at 45?, running contrary to the dip of the surrounding plateau, and doesn?t seem to take water. So at least we?ve found a cave people can do in wet weather (so far), and something for people to push if they?re bored of Balkonh?hle or Tunnocks. And I think we?ve now surveyed enough of it that the name can?t be changed, so that?s one more pun set in stone.<br>
We didn't manage to find a second entrance to Balkonh?hle, but we did manage to find another promising cave (nicknamed Bad Forecast; I?m looking forward to the Austrian translation) which we pushed to -100m in a large phreatic chamber. The entrance passage is about 100m long at 45?, running contrary to the dip of the surrounding plateau, and doesn't seem to take water. So at least we?ve found a cave people can do in wet weather (so far), and something for people to push if they?re bored of Balkonh?hle or Tunnocks. And I think we?ve now surveyed enough of it that the name can't be changed, so that?s one more pun set in stone.<br>
<br>
Weather was ever-present during my time on Expo: there was typically the threat of rain (also typically dismissed, correctly, by people). When there wasn?t rain, there was sunburn. A particularly entertaining two days of rain lead to us rebuilding the kitchen area of the bivvy, and me running out of reading material. Pro tip: bring more reading to top camp. Another pro tip: bring more interesting food; preferably things which can have the powdered custard from top camp added to them to increase their deliciousness. After much experimentation with various combinations of powdered food up there, I concluded that custard and smash is a timeless combination.</div>
Weather was ever-present during my time on Expo: there was typically the threat of rain (also typically dismissed, correctly, by people). When there wasn't rain, there was sunburn. A particularly entertaining two days of rain lead to us rebuilding the kitchen area of the bivvy, and me running out of reading material. Pro tip: bring more reading to top camp. Another pro tip: bring more interesting food; preferably things which can have the powdered custard from top camp added to them to increase their deliciousness. After much experimentation with various combinations of powdered food up there, I concluded that custard and smash is a timeless combination.</div>
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Blog Author: flakey
<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
Response by Wookey:
<blockquote>
Flakey [Phil W] said:<br><em>
One of the downsides I found on Expo was that knowing the set of A-leads to investigate was hard; the information mostly resides in a few people's heads, rather than on a list somewhere.
</em>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
There is supposed to be a list Flakey, but your fellow 2016 expoers did an exceedingly poor job of sorting out such things last year after expo finished, so one was not updated/generated properly. Nevertheless (despite not going in Balkonhoehle last year, so knowing very little about it) I did collect what info I could find and put it in the [qm.csv] list [ Now imported into: <a href="/cave/qms/1623-264">http://expo.survex.com/cave/qms/1623-264</a>] so there was a list of sorts.<br>
<br>
I understand that a 3-line whip will be in place this year so no-one can leave if any docs or surveys are out of date. There will still be piles to do over winter, and I hope we can do a better job than last year, because, as you observe, it's a right pain if it doesn't get done.<br>
Wookey
</blockquote><br>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-31a">2017-07-31</div>
@@ -916,7 +835,7 @@ Blog Author: flakey
<div class="tripdate" id="2017_s11_blog">2017-08-02</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rob W</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Update, Blog post 9</div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Update 2 new caves</div>
<div class="bbWrapper">Quick stop press ahead of a fuller update in due course when I get some photos: we found 2 new caves in a previously totally unexplored area of the plateau which are both going big, leads at underground camp are still being explored, a new surface camp has been set up at Organhohle and we have now had 2 hospital visits. More to follow...</div>
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@@ -934,29 +853,10 @@ Blog Author: nobrotson
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2017_s13_blog">2017-08-04</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wookey</u>, Phil W</div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - UK Caving Blog post 10</div>
<blockquote>
Flakey [Phil W] said:<br>
One of the downsides I found on Expo was that knowing the set of A-leads to investigate was hard; the information mostly resides in a few people's heads, rather than on a list somewhere.
</div>
</div>
</blockquote><br>
There is supposed to be a list flakey, but your fellow 2016 expoers did an exceedingly poor job of sorting out such things last year after expo finished, so one was not updated/generated properly. Nevertheless (despite not going in Balkonhoehle last year, so knowing very little about it) I did collect what info I could find and put it in the [qm.csv] list [ Now imported into: <a href="/cave/qms/1623-264">http://expo.survex.com/cave/qms/1623-264</a>] so there was a list of sorts.<br>
<br>
I understand that a 3-line whip will be in place this year so no-one can leave if any docs or surveys are out of date. There will still be piles to do over winter, and I hope we can do a better job than last year, because, as you observe, it's a right pain if it doesn't get done.</div>
Blog Author: Wookey [Not on on expo, just commenting on a post by Flakey on July 30th]
<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2017_s14_blog">2017-08-04</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rob W</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo -Achievemnets so far, Blog post 11</div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Dinner, Achievements so far</div>
<div class="bbWrapper">As the expo dinner approaches and the halfway point looms close, what exactly has CUCC expo 2017 achieved so far? Well, we?ve worked out one thing: deep Tunnocks is a stubborn beast that refuses to reveal its secrets easily. So far 5 camping trips have been completed, and the finale of last years? big find, Song of the Earth, ended in a huge chamber choked by mud and boulders, which George nearly became part of after having crawled into a boulder choke, only to pull on the ceiling and then nearly become encased in the cave. So, the chamber, named ?Big Lad?, is now dead, at least for a while. The other camping trips have turned some seemingly less promising leads near to Octopussy into howling chasms, most of which need dropping within the next week. Lots to do on that front. There is still some good windy phreatic passage to go at as well, after Densham, Nadia and Haydon descended a pitch to a very muddy floor only to miss some very draughty passage 5m above the floor. However, it was very very very muddy. So that was left as well.<br>
<br>
@@ -1199,7 +1099,7 @@ Blog Author: nobrotson
<div class="tripdate" id="2017_s15_blog">2017-08-17</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Philip Sargent</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Derigging begun, Blog post 13</div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Derigging begun</div>
<div class="bbWrapper">The expo is nearly over and derigging had begun when I left on Tuesday (15th August). Lots of interesting stuff found: ice-covered walls deep in Happy Butterfly (or was it Fishface?), an open, very long, traverse lead in Balkon, a new cave with lots of prospects in Good Morning, just near the rather distant Organh?hle bivvy. <br>
<br>
@@ -1258,7 +1158,7 @@ Blog Author: PhilipSargent
<div class="tripdate" id="2017_s17_blog">2017-08-21</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka Lawson</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Whiteboard, Blog post 14</div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Whiteboard</div>
<div class="bbWrapper">New to Expo 2017 - a whiteboard appeared mid-expo at Top Camp. We've had a whiteboard at Base Camp for many years now, and it gets well used, so why did it take us so long to realise that one would be even more useful at Top Camp?<br>
<br>
@@ -1333,7 +1233,7 @@ Blog Author: Becka
<div class="tripdate" id="2017_s18_blog">2017-08-21</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka Lawson</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Beyond my comfort zone, Blog post 15</div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Beyond my comfort zone</div>
<div class="bbWrapper"><div style="text-align: center"><b>Beyond my comfort zone</b>​</div><br>
It's been six hours since we left the quiet, calm space of the fossil level and started dropping down hundreds of metres of spray-lashed pitches. Six hours fighting hypothermia with not one alcove or sheltered ledge to escape the unremitting, icy gale. We're at the head of another 50m pitch with anchors going in for the final bag of rope but I can't wait any longer. I strip half naked to piss in the churning pool at the base of a waterfall then battle for ten minutes to get dressed again, my useless, numb fingers refusing to grip my central MR tight enough to turn it. Over 800m above me the sun is baking the limestone pavement. What am I doing here, struggling to hold it together? <br>
@@ -1377,7 +1277,7 @@ Blog Author: Becka
<div class="tripdate" id="2017_s20_blog">2017-08-21</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka Lawson</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - End of Expo update, Blog post 16</div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - End of Expo update</div>
<div class="bbWrapper"><div style="text-align: center"><b>End of Expo update</b>​</div><br>
Here's some photos (all by me, Becka Lawson) from the second half of expo and derigging and packing up at the end, written as I'm trying to distract myself from a scarily fast drive back to the UK on the German Autobahn. <br>
@@ -1436,5 +1336,23 @@ Blog Author: Becka
<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-11a">2017-07-11</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rob Watson</u>, Luke Stangroom, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Rigging trip #1: Entrance Series</div>
<br /><br />After a slow start at base camp, Luke, Brendan, Nathan and myself went up the hill so Brendan could have lunch. This done, we had to go caving, myself and Luke tasked with rigging Tunnocks, using Anthony’s 2015 rigging topo as a guide for the entrance series. The rig was very faffy and not much grease had been used on the derig last year which didn’t help. After much faff, we reached the snow slope which was sporting some very large icicles at the bottom. Out and back for 9pm.
<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-11b">2017-07-11</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Nathan Walker</u>, Brendan Hall, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - rigging trip</div>
<br /><br />Rigged Balcony entrance series with 100m + 20m rope following <i>[Ed Nathanael’s]</i> 2016 rigging topo.
<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
<hr />
Back to index: <a href="index.html">Expo 2022 Reports</a>
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<div class="tripdate" id="2017_s01_blog">2017-05-23</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rob Watson</u>, </div>
<div class="triptitle">Expo - Caving in the Schwarzmooskogelhohle System, Blog post 1</div>
<div class="bbWrapper"><b>Caving in the Schwarzmooskogelhohle System, Loser Plateau, Austria with CUCC, 1976?2017</b><br>
<br>
Since 1976, CUCC have been visiting the Loser Plateau near Bad Aussee, Austria, to explore the Schwarzmooskogelhohle cave system. As of 2016, the cave is now over 120km long and over 1000m deep, making it one of the largest in Europe. The expedition is one of the largest and longest running student expeditions in the UK, and is one of the leading training grounds for students new to alpine caving to learn how to explore new alpine caves safely and scientifically.<br>
<br>
<div class="bbImageWrapper js-lbImage" title="IMG_1018.JPG" data-src="http://expo.survex.com/photos/2016/ChrisDensham/IMG_1018.JPG" data-lb-sidebar-href="" data-lb-caption-extra-html="" data-single-image="1" data-fancybox="lb-post-279195" data-caption="<h4>IMG_1018.JPG</h4><p><a href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ukcaving.com&#x2F;board&#x2F;index.php?threads&#x2F;rope-sponsor-entry-cucc-austria.22020&#x2F;#post-279195&quot; class=&quot;js-lightboxCloser&quot;>nobrotson · May 23, 2017 at 3:21 PM</a></p>" style="cursor: pointer;">
<img src="/years/2017/./ukcavingblog_files/IMG_1018.JPG" data-url="http://expo.survex.com/photos/2016/ChrisDensham/IMG_1018.JPG" class="bbImage" data-zoom-target="1" style="" alt="IMG_1018.JPG" title="" width="" height="" loading="lazy">
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<br>
<i>Frank Tully striding heroically towards Top Camp, with the Loser Plateau and Braunenzinkel in the background looking out towards the Dachstein Plateau in the far distance. Photo: Chris Densham.</i><br>
<br>
There are a huge number of known entrances to the system, but there are four which stand out as key to understanding the history of exploration. The first major breakthrough came in 1983, when an entrance called Stellerweg (or entrance number 115/201) was pushed deep to find a sump close to the altitude of the resurgence in Alt Aussee lake, suggesting little potential for further exploration at this depth. Therefore, exploration began to focus on finding higher entrances to the cave system. In 1988, Kaninchenhoehle (161) was found and thus began extensive horizontal discoveries along with vertical gain, suggesting that connecting up entrances across the system was a viable exploratory goal. After potential from 161 began to wane, a new entrance was duly found: Steinbruckenhoehle (204), in 1999. In 2001 a new deep level called the Subway was pushed to find a streamway called Razordance ? a rarity in this cave system. In that year, we also established our current top camp bivvy site beneath a natural stone bridge next to one of the entrances to 204. Five years later in 2006, the entrance 258 was found, which led to a cave now known as Tunnocksschacht. This cave has been described as the ?corporation of Schwarzmooskogel? because it keeps absorbing the smaller caves around it and has so far been key to unlocking a number of phreatic levels in the system. <br>
<br>
One of these caves was Balkonhoehle, which was re-discovered in 2014 and has been a focus of exploration alongside Tunnocks ever since (it was connected to Tunnocks in 2015). Recent exploration in Tunnocks has been focused on going to deeper phreatic levels in the cave, along a nylon highway of ropes down pitches such as String Theory, Procrastination, Number of the Beast, Inferno and Kraken, which have all been discovered in the last 5 years. In 2015, exploration of leads at the bottom of Kraken was becoming a bit much with 15?20 hour trips required if going on the bounce. Therefore, in 2016 it was decided that we would erect a camp in an excellent sandy site close to some water at the base of Kraken pitch (around ?650m). From here, exploration of deep phreatic levels proved extremely successful, with over 3.5km being found over the course of 7 camping trips (typically lasting 48 hours, though one ended up lasting longer than intended after an incident dubbed ?Indian Rope Trick?). One of these discoveries was an unprecedentedly large river passage ramping steeply down to a depth of -903m, and which is still not fully explored. Students made up a contingent of every camping trip.&nbsp; <br>
<br>
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<br>
<i>Wob Rotson, Katey Bender and Chris Densham at Underground Camp. Photo: Ian Peachey.</i><br>
<br>
<b>The plan for this year<br>
</b><br>
2017 holds a lot of promise for extensive vertical and horizontal discoveries in the cave system, and will run for 6 weeks from 9th July?20th August. We have a roughly triple-headed plan of attack for this year:<br>
<br>
?Go back to Camp Kraken and push the deep leads. This is the main objective of the expedition, as we left the camp fully rigged from the year before and after this year it seems unlikely that we will return there. There is around another 200m of depth potential in this area before hitting the level of the sump in Stellerweg. In 2016, the camp was set up for 3 weeks, with a team always underground on a rota. We would aim to do the same again this year.<br>
?Head into blank space in Balkonhohle. This cave is an excellent place for novice alpine cavers to explore: it is not a long trip to most of the pushing fronts, the caving is very pleasant but the exploration still feels challenging and exciting. In 2016, an area of Balkonhohle called ?Hilti-a-Plenty? yielded excellent potential for big discoveries, with a vast black chamber, ?Galactica?, being discovered on a final push-and-derig trip.<br>
?Return to Organhohle. This cave was explored in the 1980s and 1990s over 2 trips by UBSS (who form a substantial exped contingent along with ULSA) and is in a different part of the plateau to Tunnocks. It is close to the Schoenberg system which is explored by German cavers annually. The deepest phreatic level explored here seems to offer potential for similar phreatic development to Tunnocks. The cave is more testing by most accounts than the other two objectives, and will require a separate camp near the entrance (less walking and also less strain on top camp), along with a sustained rebolting effort. Improvements in lighting and a focus on horizontal exploration this time should yield exciting discoveries.<br>
<br>
<b>The long-term plan for exploration</b><br>
<br>
The discovery of water at such great depths in Tunnocks has prompted a renewed interest in the streamways found in other parts of the system, namely in Stellerweg and Razordance/the Subway. In 2018, there is a tentative plan to return to the Subway, which will require some considered planning as it is quite deep in the cave.&nbsp; There has also been discussion of returning to 115 to rebolt and explore the cave again, as it is now a long time since it was visited with comparatively primitive kit. However, this will require quite a lot of resources and a willing team. Deep leads in other parts of Tunnocks, namely Champagne on Ice and Clayton?s Cock-up, would also merit further exploration to see if we can push them to a satisfactory conclusion, though this will require a lot of rope as both leads go to around -500m. <br>
<br>
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<br>
<i>Katey Bender in Das Lieden von der Erde (Song of the Earth), a huge river passage found last year. A full report of this trip is available <a href="https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=21209.0" class="link link--internal">here</a>. Photo: Ian Peachey.</i><br>
<br>
<b>Why would CUCC?s expo benefit from the rope?</b><br>
<br>
As can be seen, a lot of the current leads in this cave require vast amounts of string to rig them. Last year, a de-rigging team using the paella (Pulling An Extremely Long Length Altogether) technique removed well in excess of 1km of rope from Tunnocks alone in one trip. The expedition is also a focal point for novice university cavers to learn alpine caving techniques: this year, there are around 10 student cavers attending the expedition who have no prior alpine caving experience. To ensure the expedition is successful in both finding new cave and training new cavers, we would really benefit from additional resources so that a number of leads can be explored simultaneously and easily. Currently, the expedition has somewhere in the region of 1500m of rope, but another kilometre or so is likely to be required to fully achieve our objectives. As such, an additional 300m would be immensely beneficial. The amount of use and muddy conditions in these caves also mean that rope in this system wears particularly quickly, so we need to replace rope at a faster rate than, for example, when caving in the UK.<br>
<br>
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<br>
<i>Peachey and Katey with a pile of rope for just one of the 8 monster pitches which are required to reach Camp Kraken. Photo: Fleur Loveridge.</i><br>
<br>
<b>What will we offer?</b><br>
<br>
Our base camp in Bad Aussee has extensive computer facilities, with ?the Potato Hut? offering the opportunity for blogging throughout the expedition (though the survey geeks will be unhappy at further time not spent drawing up!). Members have written blogs in the past (eg <a href="https://daysyearoff.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/the-kraken-wakes/" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">https://daysyearoff.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/the-kraken-wakes/</a>) and we have some quite budding photographers on the team. We hope you will consider us for sponsorship and look forward to hearing from you.<br>
<br>
Website: <a href="http://expo.survex.com/" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">http://expo.survex.com/</a><br>
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/cucc_expo" target="_blank" class="link link--external" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">https://twitter.com/cucc_expo</a><br>
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Blog Author: nobrotson
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