OK, 2012 log essentially finished. A few illegibles and queries, and no doubt needs a thorough proof read for my typos.

user: Andy Waddington on Loser <expo@pennine.ddns.me.uk>
branch 'expoweb'
changed years/2012/logbook.html
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Andy Waddington on Loser 2014-07-04 16:14:46 +01:00
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@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ Dour sat at the top for 3hrs and got quite cold.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-01">2012-08-01</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-01a">2012-08-01</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Anthony</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">Rigging 204</div>
<p>
@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ leave. Exited the cave in v. exciting wet conditions as there was a monster stor
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-02">2012-08-02</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-02a">2012-08-02</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Duncan</u>, Dour, Emma, Jess, Frank</div>
<div class="triptitle">Rigging King Carbide</div>
<p>Grand plans for rigging all the way to Fat Cat were scuppered by dint of us spending a while convincing ourselves that we were actually at K Carbide, then adding second bolt to make the rig more suitable for a trade route.</p>
@ -267,30 +267,34 @@ Cirque du Soleil: QMB - Pitch on L as enter chamber
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-06a">2012-08-06</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Olaf</u>, Rob, Wookey, Holly</div><div class="timeug">T/U: 9.5 hrs</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Olaf</u>, Rob, Wookey, Holly</div>
<div class="triptitle">Scrotting around at bottom of Fat Cat, now called <u>Cat Flea</u></div>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 9.5 hrs</div></p>
<p>Holly was so kind to take us down this year's route via 204a, King Carbide, Brians Phat Shaft and Pussy Prance to Fat Cat. I was a bit slow and had to get used to all this SRT business again, but eventeually we were all sat at the top of the Fat Cat pitch and made up a plan. Wookey and Holly wanted to look at a climb up from a ledge most of the way down, and Rob and myself were sent off to some scrotty B-lead at hte bottom of the pitch. Or rather at hte bottom of a little side-pitch right underneath the ledge, but still quite a way above the real bottom of Fat Cat. The last bit from the ledge to our lead was fairly clean washed white limestone, and after a little deviation, Rob and I climbed up over hte boulder named Boris, then through a little squeeze to a small "chamber", where we could almost stand upright. Emma and Holly had left a survey station 7 there, we didn't spot their number 8, though. Also, a small passage that I considered "too tight" went on to an aledged A-lead, but I was only told about this on the way out (I hadn't really paid much attention earlier). Anyway, from the small chamber, a small passage with a little water-filled trench at the bottom was heading back up sharply to the right, and behind some boulders a light-connection to the bottom of the pitch could be made. We ignored that (too tight) and rather went down a bit, then up a slope on the other side to crawl underneath a big boulder. Several holes are going up to the left, but an easier way to their top was found from around the corner at the mud choked end of the passage. We now started climbing up, leaving two holes in the floor behind us. They appeared to join up in a lower level horizontal passage leading further on as a <u>QMB</u>. At our survey station 5, we climbed up through a small window and now made steady vertical progress up a pitch full of rock flakes. After about 5 more metres, we reached a ledge with another mud-choked passage leading off and another window going on further up in a similar climbing manner to another <u>QMB</u>. We put our last survey station 8 on the wall and broke off some more popcorn on the way out. Rob and Wookey decided to put in another bolt at the ledge in Fat Cat, while Holly and I started heading out. When I reached the bottom of Painted Lady, someone suddenly turned on a waterfall coming in from a hole in the ceiling. Rather scary ! Brians Phat Shaft was rather drippy to begin with, quite wet further up, but still nothing but a little tease, compared to the showerbath of King Carbide, the horrors of the upper part of King Carbide, and the floods coming down the entrance pitch. I hate wet caves !</p>
<hr/>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-07e">2012-08-07</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Olaf</u>, Rob, Ian, Hannah</div><div class="timeug">T/U: 7 h</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Olaf</u>, Rob, Ian, Hannah</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks, looking for the Penguins</div>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 7 h</div></p>
<p>After the rather damp trip the day before, I rather wanted a slack, short one, and decided to visit Tunnocks for a change. Ian and Hannah set off ahead of us and took along some rope for Caramel Catharsis. We followed a while later. We met again after the traverse line down the sloped entrance passages, where we interchanged bags and Ian and Hannah went out again. I rigged the first little traverse before Caramel Catharsis, Rob did the rest of the rigging. Then the route-finding problems started. We got to the cobbly slope and 9-key-kay[?] Beach, after a quick detour decided to go left, then took the next passage steeply up to what Rob believed to remember being called Starfish junction. By elimination, we eventually concluded that the passage with the triangular bit of tape was not the one we were looking for, but rather turned rightish. After a while of traversing, we found a little hole, where we unnecessarily built a cairn to remind us of the way out, but as none of the lower level passages seemed to be present in Rob's recollection of a fairly hung-over trip a year ago, we finally decided we were a bit lost again. It took some more trial and error to traverse above the top of the hole, do a stupid climb after a big boulder bypassed by a no less stupid squeeze. Next was a sharp Z-shaped meander, a traverse over some big holes, and finally one more squeeze through a boulder choke. The big passage beyond finally looked like it could go somewhere more interesting, so we now started looking for the p18, that Emma had told us about. We finally found one, but were not quite sure (and it's probably another one). As it was getting late anyway, we decided to leave the 60m rope, hand-bolting and rigging gear behind and went back out of the cave.</p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-08a">2012-08-08</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Olaf</u>, Rob, Becka, Andrew</div><div class="timeug">T/U: 10&frac12;</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Olaf</u>, Rob, Becka, Andrew</div>
<div class="triptitle">Rerigging Fat Cat</div>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 10&frac12;</div></p>
<p>Being a bit shattered after my first two expo trips, I wanted to do a short one today. No idea why I came down to Fat Cat again with someone like Becka. Anyway, we showed them the way to the pushing front with Becka racing ahead and waiting impatiently. Andrew followed promptly and attempted to retrieve a bag of rope that Martin had decided to hang off one bolt in the ceiling way out from the usual route down Fat Cat. Waiting at the bottom I suddenly heard a loud "NOOOO!" and something big falling down the pitch. Apparently Andrew had not only retrieved a bag of rope, but also a good chunk of the wall, but all else was fine. Rob now started rebolting and rerigging Fat Cat on the nice white rope instead of the horrible red stuff. In the meantime, Andrew, Becka and I went back through the scrotty squeezes, past survey station 7 and into Cirque du Soleil. We were looking around for a while but didn't find the window back to Fat Cat, that we were told to find so I eventually went back the way we came, told Rob of our plan and blew my whistle. After a few more blows, we finally found Becka emerging from a window a lot further down. Rob was now bolting a traverse down there, while I started retrieving some rope from Wookey's climb up from the ledge. Finally Rob and I went to Cirque du Soleil, watched Andrew bolting a long traverse towards KH connection, then derigged Cat Gut and the old route down Fat Cat and were joined by Becka and Andrew on the way out. While I was given a bit of a head start, Andrew continuously reduced the gap by racing me up the pitches, but finally refused to overtake me at the very last belay up the entrance pitch where he definitely more than caught up with me.</p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-09a">2012-08-09</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Serena</u> + Frank</div><div class="timeug">T/U: 6 hrs</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Serena</u> + Frank</div>
<div class="triptitle">258</div>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 6 hrs</div></p>
<p>We faffed an unspeakably long time until we finally reached 258 entrance some time after 2 pm. The rigging was deemed not to be up to the exacting CUCC standards (and my lack of height). So Frank spent about 2 hours with the aim of making it idiot proof. SUCCESS! Frank showed me around until we reached Stirfish junction. We turned back and then it was my time to navigate out. SUCCESS. All in all a lovely day =)</p>
<hr />
@ -299,34 +303,37 @@ Cirque du Soleil: QMB - Pitch on L as enter chamber
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-09b">9/8/12</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>, Rob, Andrew + Ollie</div>
<div class="triptitle">204 - Cirque de Soleil<br/>CONNECTION! 161-204</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-09a">9/8/12</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>, Rob, Andrew + Ollie</div><div class="timeug">T/U: 10&frac12;</div><br clear="all">
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 10&frac12;</div></p>
<p>Original plan was me, Andrew + Ollie finishing yesterday's traverse while Rob + Holly pushed leads in Cirque de Soleil but Holly discovered a hole in the bottom bobbin of her Stop at the top of Brian's Phat Shaft so she gave up and went out + Rob joined us. Ollie + I started my first ever PDA + DistoX survey - not a great location to practise on, a teetery traverse with Andrew bolting the next traverse, only just in earshot as I bawled out endless questions "How do I calibrate the screen?", "Why are some splays in dotted lines?" etc. There was only one point where I got a "Not now" which was shortly before a huge lump of rock fell off the traverse leaving a brown smear down the rock face. The survey caught up to Andrew just as he got finished and ..... da-narrr..... found the final survey stastion from last year's KH trip - whoo-hoo, made the connection. Rob then caught up with us + Andrew &amp; I were going to look up the passage but he'd forgotten about the up pitch so I did the bad step traverse withut protection for no reason + then was stuck there until Rob got some gear to give me a sling to get back. Then Rob + Andrew rigged a traverse to avoid the up pitch whilst Ollie + I went to the top of Fat Cat + surveyed the traverse - Dog Days - he'd done with Serena + then up the climb that Andrew had shinned up on the way down + left a skanky rope on it. This led to horizontal drafting passage, yippee + a chamber with several A-leads off ... having already had a very fine trip making the connection we decided to leave them for another day. Met Andrew + Rob on return. On Brian's Phat Shaft, Andrew went up first then as Ollie got about halfway a rock came whistling past me. "What was that from?" "Don't think it was me" says Ollie ... then another came down "Shit, the rebelays breaking up". Rob + I cowered as best we could + Ollie said there was only an inch of rock left on the nose the rebelay was on so we decided it was best if he took it out (the one at the bottom of the first long hang). Rob + I then teetered up past some razor sharp edges + the knot pass + the crab got wedged on Rob so the rope got incredibly tight but, hey, we survived.</p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-10a">10/8/12</div>
<div class="trippeople">Andrew + <u>Becka</u></div><div class="timeug">T/U: 12 hours</div>
<div class="trippeople">Andrew + <u>Becka</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">204 - Dog Days</div>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 12 hours</div></p>
<p>Returned to the chamber Ollie + I surveyed yesterday + surveyed the horizontal A-leads which all ended up looping round to each other or at big pitch heads. There was also a fine-looking high level phreatic passage which Andrew tried to climb into from two different directions but the rock was cream cheese. Though he made it up to the right level he couldn't find any decent rock to rig off so he decided it was too dodgy so we rigged the pitch nearest to the chamber instead. This led to a <u>huge</u> breakdown chamber thing with a monster boulder in it, piles of steep loose rock + crazed angle boulders all over so I struggled to survey it + we left it with two QMA's which were sort of passages but unclear if there's much in the way of a proper floor there. Oh yes, waited for 90 min or so on the way down with Rob whilst Wookey rerigged the rebelay on Brian's Phat Shaft, struggling with the super tight rope + then Andrew fettled lots of the rigging in the lower sections.</p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-12a">12/8/12</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>, Rob + Andrew</div><div class="timeug">T/U: 14 hours</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>, Rob + Andrew</div>
<div class="triptitle">204 into 161 via traverses -&gt; Blown Away</div>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 14 hours</div></p>
<p>Early morning negotiation with Julian who was driving to expo meant I was given the all clear for a last day of caving + I really wanted to see the new connection stuff. We took Emma's camera to get some shots of the traverses for Anthony's conference talk on Sat + took other shots later on. Headed off down the huge drafting passage to the climb that Wookey + Rob had stopped at on their trip 2 days ago. Rob shinned up this then rigged it + then he rigged the short pitch down to Holey Low whilst Andrew + I shivered in the howling gale. Finally we got to our lead, Blown Away, marked as 300m to Eislufthoehle on Julian's mini-survey. The last survey station was at the start of a strightforward traverse that Andrew waltzed across whilst Rob + I started the survey then Andrew took over the DistoX as Rob had shaky hands + we rattled down 150m or so of lovely phreatic passage with a strong draft until, BUM, all the air disappeared up a poxy aven. This left a pitch drafting <u>out</u> which Rob freeclimbed to the head of but we called it a day + derigged the traverse. Andrew put bolts in for the up-climb on Holey Low on the return + also bolts for the tiny traverse on the far side of Mordor. Then plodded on out, a good end to 5 days caving!</p>
<hr />
<div class="timeug">Trip length: 9 hrs</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-10b">10/08/2012</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>HOLLY</u>, EMMA &amp; JESS</div>
<div class="triptitle">258 - March of the Penguins</div>
<p><div class="timeug">Trip length: 9 hrs</div></p>
<p>Having got a little bored of the 204 trip into 161 we decided on a trip to the P18? in MotP. Following a couple of failed trips, Rob &amp; Olaf had kindly left 60m of rope at the pushing front - which made this trip even more appealing</p>
@ -348,8 +355,8 @@ Cirque du Soleil: QMB - Pitch on L as enter chamber
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-11a">11/08/2012</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>HOLLY</u>, EMMA &amp; BECCA</div>
<div class="timeug">Trip length: 10.5 hrs</div><br />
<div class="triptitle">258 - MotP, Hooray for Boobies - pushing front</div>
<p><div class="timeug">Trip length: 10.5 hrs</div></p>
<p>Back to Hooray for Boobies, to fix the rigging, survey &amp; push. This time with a drill - HOORAY! Becca &amp; Emma headed down the pitch and began surveying while I swapped the red rope for a pre-cut 40m CUCC rope that isn't allowed to be cut. As the 60m is UBSS rope &amp; also not for cutting, we decided it would be better to save the red stuff for smaller pitches. After getting in a tangle &amp; then detangling myself (thankfuly the 40m was white), I headed on down the pitch, placing a rebelay ~8(?)m from the floor.</p>
@ -388,7 +395,7 @@ Went back into 82 and surveyed the new bit.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-05b">2012-08-05</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-05c">2012-08-05</div>
<div class="trippeople">OllyB, <u>Jenny</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">157</div>
<p>
@ -400,9 +407,9 @@ Lesson learnt: don't prussic out leaving your rack behind.
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-07g">2012-08-07</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-07f">2012-08-07</div>
<div class="trippeople">OllyB, <u>Jenny</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">2012-70 Doppel Gemse Hohle</div>
<div class="triptitle">2012-70 Doppel Gemse H&ouml;hle</div>
<p>
This cave is right by the path to 204 ~ opposite 157. one day this cave would have had a long section of big passage heading for 107, but is today missing much of it's roof. Off this main 'passage' are several short sections of cave heading off. Sadly they all either get too small, end, or are choked with rocks. Surveyed most of it - will go back and finish off later.
</p><p>
@ -449,8 +456,8 @@ Olly did a great job bolting over the pitch and on. I took a few photos and even
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-11b">11-08-12</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Olaf</u>, Wookey</div>
<div class="triptitle">Prospecting and walking to Appelhaus</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Olaf</u>, Wookey</div><br clear="all">
<p>We had a trip booked in the Appelhaus area to visit some of our neighbouring cave systems. So first we had to contour hit across form Top camp. And as I didn't like the idea of walking back to the St&ouml;ger-Steig, I came up with a plan to go around northwards from Topcamp. We followed the path to Tunnocks for a start and then headed off into inknown territory north from there. We crossed some large bowl following a ridge on its western rim. After crossing some snowfields the ridge eventually ended and we got to a large depression with a hole in its northwestern corner (UTM 33T 0411876 528324). Appears to be a reltively deep shaft of approx 25m, but with little to no draught. Anyway, its a cave either on its own right and also its very close to March of the Penguins and Bulleth&ouml;hle (exploration started [illegible]). We tried to look down the shaft, but some bolting and rope seem to be necessary to get anywhere.</p>
@ -461,8 +468,8 @@ Olly did a great job bolting over the pitch and on. I took a few photos and even
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-12b">12-08-12</div>
<div class="trippeople">Uure Kalmback, <u>Olaf</u>, Wookey, Thomas Holder (ARGE), Ulid Aike</div>
<div class="triptitle">Hochdruckblasi (Woising)</div>
<div class="trippeople">Uure Kalmback, <u>Olaf</u>, Wookey, Thomas Holder (ARGE), Ulid Aike</div><br clear="all">
<p>We had to walk to some "Woising Camp" from Appelhaus, which took about 2 hours. Then we got changd and walked another 8 minutes to a little entrance shaft. Following a series of pitches (very steep passages mostly) we eventually reached a horizontal level at 1640m above sea level. We explored that for a while, then went to another pitch going down some more steep passages to the currnet pushing front of the cave. A strong wind was blowing up this, and probably another horizontal level can be reached with little effort. Given the informatsion from other caves in the area, this horizontal level is expected at 1550m, but as this was mostly a touristy trip, we soon turned around and left the cave. The exit, different from the entrance, was rather spectacular high up in the cliffs at the northern edge of the Totes Gebirge with an impressive view and a nice little via ferrata to get back to the Wising Camp and Appelhaus. Overall the system is a lot smaller than SMK, but appears to be very interesting and it probably has exactly the same development history.</p>
@ -510,7 +517,8 @@ Scrambled in 107 on the way back and saw a similar looking snow plug. Down the h
<hr />
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u> + Julian</div><div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-14a">14/8/12</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-14a">14/8/12</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u> + Julian</div>
<div class="triptitle">Walk from Lower Bergrestaurant -&gt; Ischler Hutte via the Sch&ouml;berg</div>
<p>This was Olaf's idea so I'd got all keen then he dropped out (having had a hard time walking to Appelhaus from Top Camp) so that left me to bully poor Julian into coming along. By the time we'd dropped off Julia at the train station to head home to Norway + braved the Bad Aussee traffic jam a second time as we'd forgotten our toll booth pass it was 11 am before we set off. We split Julian's caving gear between us for the walk to Top Camp + had lunch + I packed my caving gear there then set off up Tunnocks to the saddle then followed the German's cairns - excellent route up slabs. From there we were on our own until we hit the 228 main path up the Sch&ouml;nberg which is ridiculously well marked in red + white. To get there we contoured round east side of the Gro&szlig;e Grieskogel + E of the Gro&szlig;e Wildkogel. By the time we hit the path Julian was feeling really ill so I shuttled the rucksacks one at a time up to the Sch&ouml;nberg + then at the top I put all the heavy stuff in my bag + left Julian to go to the Ischlerhutte hoping Wookey + Olaf would be there to persuade to fetch Julian's. No such luck so I dumped my bag + left him lying groaning in the path. Eventually he made it down, threw up + went to bed. Oh dear, seem to have broken him. We think he may have had heat stroke though we had plenty of water + it wasn't that hot. Anyway this is an <u>excellent</u> walk if you aren't carrying a full set of caving gear each + highly recommended as a pre-dinner route from Top Camp with stunning views from the Sch&ouml;nberg ridge. Guides were Harald &lt;- Chief geek for Sch&ouml;nberg + Wig (for Ludwig, who's surveyed 47 km in Sch&ouml;nberg).
@ -532,9 +540,8 @@ Scrambled in 107 on the way back and saw a similar looking snow plug. Down the h
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-10d">2012-08-10</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wookey</u>, Rob</div>
<div class="triptitle">204/161 Connection traverse re-rigging + push
in 161</div>
<div class="timeug">T/U: 17hrs</div>
<div class="triptitle">204/161 Connection traverse re-rigging + push in 161</div>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 17hrs</div></p>
<p>Went down to the connection to turn the 'exploratory' rigging into
something suitable for mere mortals. Took drill + 3batteries + hand
@ -595,8 +602,8 @@ LIST OF ROPES LEFT - Far From Support double traverse
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-xx">2012-08-</div>
<div class="trippeople">Duncan, <u>Andrew</u></div>
<div class="timeug">T/U: 5hrs</div>
<div class="triptitle">139 Rock'n'Roll H&ouml;hle</div>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 5hrs</div></p>
<p>Over the pitch at the north end of the cave was an A lead. So for a more relaxing day, thought we would have a look and possibly add some length to the system if we could connect it on. Interesting start to the cave with a flat out crawl where every time you moved forward the rocks pushed you into the ceiling. Traverse first pit and got to end where Duncan traversed over and put in a hand-spit. Lead was so good it had already been scooped, but did our duty and surveyed it adding about 40m on to what had been scooped. Although it had not been scooped, nail varnish was found on wall, but looks like the data was lost.....</p>
@ -605,8 +612,8 @@ LIST OF ROPES LEFT - Far From Support double traverse
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-15b">2012-08-15</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Stu W</u>, Andrew, Mike TA</div>
<div class="timeug">T/U: 12hrs?</div>
<div class="triptitle">204a</div>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 12hrs?</div></p>
<p>Cave pre-rigged. Descended entrance, Kng Carbide, Brian's Phat Shaft uneventfully and proceeded to Dog Days near top of Fat Cat to examine possible leads and survey with distoX + PDA. Dog Days contains many steep, unstable sandy slopes and a boulder choke with some unstable parts. A quick search of the boulder choke revealed no worthwhile leads - StuW found a narrow rift and what was thought to be a pitch but turned out to be the chamber flor. Andrew found an area with scary unstable boulders. The area was then surveyed, as was another area at the other end of the chamber which contained ground that turned white when walked on. StuW operated the disto but sometimes had trouble with shaking arms. Disto ran out of power half way through and was recalibrated by Andrew. A section of cave was surveyed yielding some leads. Cave was then exited with Andrew rebolting a Y hang on the traverse before Dog Days (Fat Cat?) and Stuw finding some slack and moving it along to make the Y hang descendable. StuW got exhausted during hte exit and became slow at prussiking, (due to equipment config and strength) leaving Andrew to take cover in the bothy bag below Fat Cat. StuW's route finding was bad - cave exited by Andrew followed by StuW (somewhat later) at araound 10 pm. Mike TA took photos then exited prior to Fat Cat traverse.</p>
@ -614,20 +621,20 @@ LIST OF ROPES LEFT - Far From Support double traverse
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-17a">2012-08-17</div>
<div class="triptitle">Hirlatzhehle Excursion</div>
<div class="trippeople">Olaf, Becka + Julian</div>
<div class="timeug">T/U: 6&frac12;hrs</div>
<div class="triptitle">Hirlatzhehle Excursion</div>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 6&frac12;hrs</div></p>
<p>A team of 10 led by Gottfried met at 8.15. It's a 40 min steep slog up from the carpark at the Simony Denkmal above Hallstatt to the entrance on a small footpath next to a fresh landslide then up a 4m ladder into the gated entrance with a <u>gale</u> coming out of it. Gottfried said it was even tronger in the winter - the whole cave drafted more than any I've known I think. The first section to the Zul??nger is common to all trips - there are 5 entrances to the Hirlatz system but the others have sumps or are difficult to access. Q. slow going with a large group up lots of aluminium ladders + then down until a final ladder to a major junction where wenwent left to the Alter Teil whilst the main W and E sections of the system are off to the right. Left soon brought us to a stream rift + a traverse left then up more ladders + past 2 campsites to Bachschwinde where a few of us traversed along the final narrow Streamway until it got crawly. Met the 2 other groups as we returned and then 3 of us headed towards Nordriften which was fun rifty streamway. Mark took some shots of the traverse + I wasn't allowed to go on further excursions as Mark had had enough so out to the sunshine. Our trips were the first in there since February, amazing. A fine trip - several kilometres of huge borehole.</p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-10e">2012-08-10</div>
<div class="triptitle">Looking for BS17 (Organh&ouml;hle)</div>
<div class="trippeople">Duncan &amp; <u>Anthony</u></div>
<div class="timeug">T/U: negligible</div>
<div class="triptitle">Looking for BS17 (Organh&ouml;hle)</div>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: negligible</div></p>
<p>Went for a stroll over the back of the Hohes AugstEck ridge in search of Organh&ouml;hle, the cave found by UBSS in 1989/90. We didn't find it, though it looks as though Wookey &amp; Olaf found something that closely matches the description on the following day. We spent a while looking around where the GPS says BS17 should be, until Duncan noticed that the UBSS map placed BS17 almost due east of the summit of the Hohes AugstEck, which was significantly further south - so we tried our luck in that area. The cave that Wookey and Olaf found is actually much closaer to the GPS point.</p>
<p>Went for a stroll over the back of the Hohes AugstEck ridge in search of Organh&ouml;hle, the cave found by UBSS in 1989/90. We didn't find it, though it looks as though Wookey &amp; Olaf found something that closely matches the description on the following day. We spent a while looking around where the GPS says BS17 should be, until Duncan noticed that the UBSS map placed BS17 almost due east of the summit of the Hohes AugstEck, which was significantly further south - so we tried our luck in that area. The cave that Wookey and Olaf found is actually much closer to the GPS point.</p>
<p>Although we didn't find BS17, we did find several entrances, all of which have been documented on the expo computer. The most interesting of these are:</p>
@ -646,17 +653,17 @@ LIST OF ROPES LEFT - Far From Support double traverse
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-15c">2012-08-15</div>
<div class="triptitle">Pushing leads in the north of Tunnocks</div>
<div class="trippeople">Holly, Rob, <u>Anthony</u></div>
<div class="timeug">T/U: 10hrs</div>
<div class="triptitle">Pushing leads in the north of Tunnocks</div>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 10hrs</div></p>
<p>I tagged onto Holly and Rob's trip to Tunnocks - the first time I've been in this cave. The shallow levels are certanly most civilized. Followed Holly and Rob's heels to the pushing front at the Inner Flap (or whichever part of the vulva it is named after). Rob went on ahead and declared that the rift was passable for sufficiently far to warrant a survey. Since this was clearly a two-man job, I was dispatched to a pitch level in 39 steps. Navigated there without much difficulty, apart from one moderately tricky climb that I had to do twice after kicking the tacklesack down on the first attempt. I spent a while convincing myself that I was in the right place, and thought I had been sold a dud since the pitch didn't look all that promising from the top. There are two holes here that go to the same place, so I dropped the first one on a couple of naturals to find a black space ~4m down that was quite breezy, at which point I felt much happier. It looked like the continuing pitch would be hard to rig from here, so I put in a couple of handbolts to descend the other hole. By this point I had pretty much run out of gear, so Holly and Rob's reappearance was timely. Apparently they had surveyed ~40m of rift passage leading to a pitch. With that, I followed Holly and Rob's heels out again.</p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-16a">2012-08-16</div>
<div class="triptitle">204 -&gt; 161 -&gt; pitch level of March of the Ents ("No sign of Sauron")</div>
<div class="trippeople">Rob &amp; <u>Anthony</u></div>
<div class="timeug">T/U: 13hrs</div>
<div class="triptitle">204 -&gt; 161 -&gt; pitch level of March of the Ents ("No sign of Sauron")</div>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 13hrs</div></p>
<p>Headed down 204 and into 161 via the new connection - a fine piece of work by Andrew. Our target was a pitch lead heading west from March of the Ents with a howling draught coming out of it. Rob wielded the drill with occasional helpful advice from yours truly. It took a while to find some decent rock so by the time Rob had rigged the pitch head I was freezing, so went for a quick tourist to Mordor - all very impressive. When I returned, Rob was rigging a rebelay from where he descended to the floor. The pitch is a fine circulara shaft, about 5m round, but unfortunately the way on at the bottom is rather uninspiring immature rift. We surveyed into this for a bit until we got to an arbitrary point where the rift got a bit narrower and packed it in. The rift continues but there is no draught - QMB. With that we surveyed out and derigged. There is a possible continuation across the pitch head that could be reached by an easy traverse (2-3 bolts) but it is not obvious if there really is any passage there (QMB). It appears that the considerable draught comes down some aven above the pitch.</p>
@ -701,8 +708,8 @@ The pitch heads are nasty and tight, but things look better deeper down. Got out
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-18a">18th August</div>
<div class="trippeople">Olly + <u>Jenny</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">2012-70 Doppel Gemseh&ouml;hle</div>
<div class="trippeople">Olly + <u>Jenny</u></div><br clear="all">
<p>Olly's Dad was arriving today, so we planned a short trip, then go down the hill. Did some more survey in 2012-70, but still a little bit left. Walked to Loser Hutte, hitched to Alaussee, Bus to Bad Aussee, walked to base camp. Realised it is easier not to go down the hill!</p>
@ -711,8 +718,8 @@ The pitch heads are nasty and tight, but things look better deeper down. Got out
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-18b">18&middot;8&middot;12</div>
<div class="trippeople">Olly M, Serena, Wook, Tess, Dave Loeffler, Sarah, Martin G, Stuart, Frank, <u>Julian</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">Strubklamm</div>
<div class="trippeople">Olly M, Serena, Wook, Tess, Dave Loeffler, Sarah, Martin G, Stuart, Frank, <u>Julian</u></div><br clear="all">
<p>The efficient 9 am early start deteriorated to an 11am sit in Bad Aussee bridge traffic jam. We were so late that Dave and Sarah had time to meet Becka on their mid morning shop, hear that we were canyoning, go back and get their wetsuits and catch us up at the start. The finest canyon in the area. Water all the way. Everything can be jumped unless you are a wuss. Filmed most of it by shakey helmet cam until the "waterproof" box steamed up. People with crap wetsuits that are about 30 years old and as stiff and ill fitting as car tyres (Wook + Tess) got cold. 3 cars went out, and 2 came back (Martin and Olly left expo).</p>
@ -721,8 +728,8 @@ The pitch heads are nasty and tight, but things look better deeper down. Got out
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-19a">19&middot;8&middot;12</div>
<div class="trippeople">Becka + <u>Julian</u> + Holly + Noel</div>
<div class="triptitle">204a - Runnel Stone</div>
<div class="trippeople">Becka + <u>Julian</u> + Holly + Noel</div><br clear="all">
<p>After having taken a day off caving and run out of caves, Becka ordered me to follow her up to top camp, denying me my post canyon relaxing beer and chips. At least I had chips. It was total blackout when we arrived at empty top camp. Faffed and squabbled for long enough in the morning for Noel + Holly to arrive, which proved we could have walked up in the morning. We talked them into following us down to the same pushing front for camping, though Noel is one of the Tunnocks warriors and has never been in 204 or 161 and isn't interested. We gave them the maps[?]. My god it's a long way down. Reminded me of that insane trip down Razor dance I once did in 2007. The Pussy Prance area is all traverses and holes. Team Zeus seemed to have no trouble exploring here day after day when it was being pushed. I am used to being outdone by girlies. After doing what has been disclosed to is known as a 'Julian', we went down some slimy pitches in Dog Days to check out a B-lead before pulling up the rope. I left my warm things in the tacklesack at the top and terminated the surveying when I got too cold in the drafty passages. Back at Pussy Prance, H and N had turned up. Fat Cat head to airy traverses and finally the connection to KH. Romped all the way down to the end, pointing out leads left and right, to the end statsion 30m away from Chicken Flied Nice. It didn't look appealing (bolt up boulders up to passage above) when there were so many other leads to do. Noel + H took the first B-lead on the left going out, and Becka and I took the two A-leads on the right of the Runnel Stone, which joined and headed on North and in several different ways. Decided to move out as a group at 7 pm. Although the route in is in many ways more direct than going all the way through 161H and all that, it doesn't feel easier. Out at 2 am.</p>
@ -731,8 +738,8 @@ The pitch heads are nasty and tight, but things look better deeper down. Got out
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-20a"><!-- deduced that this is the 20th --></div>
<div class="trippeople">Noel + <u>Julian</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">Surface prospecting above March of the Penguins</div>
<div class="trippeople">Noel + <u>Julian</u></div><br clear="all">
<p>It was too hot to make my escape to base camp in the morning, so somehow it seemed like the agreed idea to explore on the surface and give people a rest so they could take Becka caving the next day. Maybe we could find a cave entrance and sit in it. MotP is in an isolated mound of limestone higher than the entrance, and there must be a way into it from the surface. This area is paydirt. I quickly found a cave entrance on the edge, whcih drafted on account of the hole it came out of 12m away. I still have the cuts and scratches from the through trip no one will ever do again because it is now tagged to show the next person who finds it that they did not discover it. Poked around a snow plug. Found some deeper holes that rattle a long time to the east of hte area, encouraged Noel to check out another hole with SRT rigged from the hole drilled for the tag, and then surveyed Bat Slot [?] Cave (all 4 legs). A lot of holes here. Very tantalising.</p>
@ -741,8 +748,8 @@ The pitch heads are nasty and tight, but things look better deeper down. Got out
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-15f">2012-08-15</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Holly</u>, Rob &amp; Antony</div>
<div class="triptitle">Inner Flap - Tunnocks</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Holly</u>, Rob &amp; Antony</div><br clear="all">
<p>Antony has already written a short piece regarding this trip, but going to add some additional detail regarding the Inner Flap push. After Antony had a peak at hte lead, he declared that this was a two-man survey job &amp; headed off to the 39 steps to rig the pitch there. After ~3-4 hours of surveyng winding narrow rift - we eventually reached what I was hoping would happen ~&gt; the rift opens out and a void below can be seen. Sending Rob ahead with his bright light, he lit up hte pitch below - where we could see a puddle at the bottom. Rob also thought he could see a window part way down the pitch. Lowering the tape measure down, the bottom of the pitch was not reached after 20m! Poop !</p>
@ -751,8 +758,8 @@ The pitch heads are nasty and tight, but things look better deeper down. Got out
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-16b">2012-08-16</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Holly</u> &amp; Andrew</div>
<div class="triptitle">258 - Pitch at 39 steps</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Holly</u> &amp; Andrew</div><br clear="all">
<p>After realising that there wasn't enough gear to go around, I abandoned my trip to the pitch at the end of Inner Flap &amp; joined Andrew on his pushing trip to the pitch at 39 Steps (Antony's previous trip). At the pushing front I handed Andrew the drill, as I would be having drilling fun when I would drop the pitch in I.F. (although sadly this was not to be the case - but there's always next year!) I was very happy at this decision as the pitch turned out to be chossy &amp; what rock there was, was cracked. After much hammering of rock, Andrew managed to rig the pitch with a free-hanging rebelay. As Andrew progressed to the ledge (~15-20m down?) I would hear shocked exclamations followed by loud bangs as Andrew gardened the pitch. At the ledge Andrew realised that we were a few metres short of rope! AGH! (My 42m rope was actually 32m - my fantastic maths!) Fortunatey I knew of a short bt of rope that had been placed on the way in for a traverse line that wasn't entirely necessaary, so as I went to retriene it, Andrew placed some more bolts &amp; rigging.</p>
@ -767,8 +774,8 @@ The pitch heads are nasty and tight, but things look better deeper down. Got out
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-17c">2012-08-17</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Holly</u> Noel &amp; Rob</div>
<div class="triptitle">258 - Pitch at 39 steps</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Holly</u> Noel &amp; Rob</div><br clear="all">
<p>It was Rob's last caving trip, so off we headed to the chamber that Andrew &amp; I had surveyed the previous day. The aim was to climb up the 'easy' climb to the window up the northern end of the chamber. The climb ened up not being as easy as expected &amp; an hour pater Noel was finally at the top, with two very cold cavers at the bottom. Noel rigged a pitch down &amp; Rob &amp; I went up to have a peak. As this was to be a short caving trip (as we were to walk down the hill that evening) we had a very quick look. I declared it a death trapped - another slope of death boulders. Rob had a quick peak up slope - which he stated was choked - hurrah. A small tube at the head of the pitch lead to a spil-filled tube-dig. With limited time we abandoned surveying &amp; the derig for another time.</p>
@ -777,8 +784,8 @@ The pitch heads are nasty and tight, but things look better deeper down. Got out
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-22a">2012-08-22</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Noel</u>, Holly &amp; Becka</div>
<div class="triptitle">258 - Suicidal Vampire</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Noel</u>, Holly &amp; Becka</div><br clear="all">
<p>As all three of us needed to head down the hill, we opted for a quick de-rig of all the leads in the North end of Tunnocks. Holly's Inner Flap &amp; the climb/pitch at the end of Penguin Acrobatics - now called Suicidal Vampire as we are close to the surface here &amp; are looking for daylight. This name soon turned out to be doubly-apt!!!</p>
@ -800,16 +807,16 @@ The pitch heads are nasty and tight, but things look better deeper down. Got out
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-21a">2012-08-21</div>
<div class="trippeople">Serena, Stuart B, <u>Stu W</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">234 - Hauchh&ouml;le - Slapper Pink</div>
<div class="trippeople">Serena, Stuart B, <u>Stu W</u></div><br clear="all">
<p>Uneventful descent down to wee-wee land with some difficulty experienced with the drill in tackle sack blues. Found station 10 on the previous survey and tied in. Stuart B bolted / descended the pitch while Serena / Stuart W surveying behind. Pitch crapped out with C lead near the bottom which Serena could squeeze into. An aven was found above the pitch. Serena spilt half our pot of "Slapper Pink" named nail varnish onto hte bottom of the itch hence the name. Trip out was uneventful.</p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-24a">2012-08-24</div>
<div class="trippeople">Serena, Stuart B, <u>Stu W</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">234 - Hauchh&ouml;le - 'Mercurial suppository'</div>
<div class="trippeople">Serena, Stuart B, <u>Stu W</u></div><br clear="all">
<p>Uneventful and relatively quick descent to woo woo land, taking sandy passage on right to [blank left to fill in]. Found several leads in boulder choke not on survey and explored one of them. Encountered tight Mendip style muddy/scrotty passage (to Serena's delight) while Stuart B dropped / bolted a nearby pitch with the drill. The passage ended in a 5m(ish) pitch choked with boulders but draughting and a C lead which was half filled with water. Not wanting to get wet due to the temperature we rejoined Stuart B down his pitch (which crapped out) and surveyedit. Stu W went ahead with the drill while StuB / Serena derigged. Stu W got out of the cave just as a storm was starting and ended up ditching the drill (in waterproof bag) half way back to top camp. Stuart B and Serena reported being met with a torrent of water at the last pitch or two and could hear thunder. Stuart B ran back to top camp leaving the rope in the cave entrance. Serena tried to wait out the storm but then decided to move back to camp. Storm was the worst anyone had seen but bivy held up well.</p>
@ -843,24 +850,52 @@ The pitch heads are nasty and tight, but things look better deeper down. Got out
<div class="trippeople">Frank, Martin, <u>Stu W</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">"Bullets second h&ouml;le" 2011-01</div>
<p>After promising rsults last time we returned with an extra bag of rope (70ish meters again) a drill (together a heavy carry) and an extra person. Martin descended the pitch and began drilling. Frank bolted several more entrances in hte surrounding area as there is lots of promising cave in hte region. StuW waited at the top and then descended. The drill ran out of power after two holes (it was the rubbish heavy hilti bivy setting one) and we decided to retreat and derig for now due to the weather and feeling cold. We decided that it would be easy to return to as it was not deep and could be done after derigging the deeper cave. A brief shower caused a lot of water to run down hte cave while we were in it. On the way back we found a shaft (untagged) on the Tunnocksshaft path which was noted in StuWs GPS</p>
<p>After promising rsults last time we returned with an extra bag of rope (70ish meters again) a drill (together a heavy carry) and an extra person. Martin descended the pitch and began drilling. Frank bolted several more entrances in hte surrounding area as there is lots of promising cave in hte region. StuW waited at the top and then descended. The drill ran out of power after two holes (it was the rubbish heavy hilti bivy setting one) and we decided to retreat and derig for now due to the weather and feeling cold. We decided that it would be easy to return to as it was not deep and could be done after derigging the deeper cave. A brief shower caused a lot of water to run down the cave while we were in it. On the way back we found a shaft (untagged) on the Tunnocksshaft path which was noted in StuWs GPS</p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-xxe">2012-08-</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Stu W</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">Prospecting (2012-SWOX)</div>
<div class="triptitle">Prospecting (2012-SW0x)</div>
<p>A day's prospecting and tagging in previously noted areas yielded 3 tagged caves. First the shaft on the way to Tunnocks was visited, labeled 20120SW01 with a handbolting kit and found to be 8-10m deep and chossed up at the bottom. It wasn't descended due to lack of rope but this could be done in hte future and will only need to be done once, so was worth tagging for this reason. Returning to anoher point on my GPS and bolted it with the tag 2012-SW02. It was then descended via a slippery free climb and eventually ended with a rift and an ice sheet (ice sump?) On the way back I stumbled acaross a third cave - a shaft with a two second drop from a tennis ball sized/shaped piece of rock. The shaft was (about) wide enough to fit a small car into and I could not see the bottom as it was deep / steep sided. It is likely to be chossed up but remains undescended and is labelled with tag 2012-SW03.</p>
<hr />
<p>text missing</p>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-20b">2012-08-20</div>
<div class="trippeople">Becka &amp; <u>Anthony</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">204 -&gt; 161, leads near Runnel Stone</div>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 12hrs</div></p>
<p>It was my turn to keep Becka company on a trip into 161. Since we had decided we were going to tick off horizontal leads we had no drills or other gear to carry, so zipped down to the Runnel Stone in 3 hrs flat. We then proceeded to work back along hte passage ticking off leads as we went.</p>
<p>First stop was an A lead on the south side of the passage. This led almost immediately to a steep slope down covered in sand that leadsback into Runnel Stone chamber with a pitch immediately beyond. I had an entertaining time slithering up and down this.</p>
<p>Next, we proved that the adjacent B lead connected to hte obvious C lead round hte corner before heading to the next B lead that went somewhere, a draughting passage heading uphill to the north. We quickly reached a junction where most of the draught was coming from the right, which quickly led to a pitch presumed to go back into Runnel Stone chamber. The warmer brach headed north for a while, past a small inlet with specks of mud on the wall (hence "Polka Dot Passage") ending at a pitch that the survey places close to the end of Julian and Becka's find from the previous day.</p>
<p>Back in the main passage, we established that a couple of B leads connected to each other before hitting on the next A lead, a substantial draughting passage heading south. This looked most promising, and so it proved. We quickly reached a junction and threw a few legs up the north-going passage which looked as though it was heading back to the main passage (this was confirmed the following day). Then we happily stomped off south in big draughting phreas - the "L&auml;rchen Republic" - past some very nice crystals (of gypsum??). Eventually the phreas turned into a rift where the draught got weaker, which we presumed was because it was going up into the rof. We weren't in the mood for climbing and time was getting on, so we headed out.</p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-20b">2012-08-20</div>
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-21b">2012-08-21</div>
<div class="trippeople">Becka, Holly &amp; <u>Anthony</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">204 - 161, Runnel Stone area plus partial derig</div>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 12&frac12;hrs</div></p>
<p>Since the last week of expo looked like it was going to be low on manpower, we elected to start the 204 derig while there were still a few people about. First, however, there was some pushing to do. Becka installed some conservation tape in L&auml;rchen Republic whilst Holly and I went to the end to play hunt the draught. The lower level of the rift seemed just as dead as the previous day, so Holly climbed up to the top. This seemed not to go very far apart from to a pitch back into the lower level, and there didn't seem to be any draught, so we electd to try our luck elsewhere. Round the corner is another rift parallel to but not connected to the first. It was my turn to shin up into it, and an easy 6m climb led to a high level rift passage with a draught - much more promising, so we fished out the survey gear.</p>
<p>This area proved to be quite complicated. The obvious route led quickly to a pitch. Back near the start, a short climb on the right led to another rift passage which led to the same pitch at roof level. There may be a continuation on the far side. Whilst surveying this high level passage, I spotted a roof tube doubling back over our point of entry. Becka climbed into this and found another climb up into a roof tube doubling back again to head over the pitch - hence this area is "Spiral Staircase".</p>
<p>The high level continuation proved to be a draughty (hence very cold) ~4m round phreatic tube. Becka kept finding junctions that I felt obliged to sketch in minute detail, much to Becka's annoyance. The main drag is heading towards the end of Blown Away but is quite a bit higher up, which is good news since the air in Blown Away goes up an aven. Eventually the phreatic passage turned into a rifty bit.</p>
<p>The continuing rift carries a draught and has an aven above - overall looks pretty good. The passage is called "Bundestrasse" [note to Olaf or anyone with a German spellchecker: I have spelt this exactly as intended.]</p>
<p>At that point we called it a day and headed out, derigging to the top of Fat Cat. Some of the ropes were left in, including the connection traverse - these are indicated on the rigging topo earlier in this log book. Then a long slog up Brian's Phat Shaft, which is now a muddy horror inducing jammer slip most of the way up. Emerged to fine weather having once again avoided a drenching in King Carbide.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-20c">2012-08-20</div>
<div class="trippeople">OllyB, <u>Jenny</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">148 Deep Space pushing trip</div>
<p>
@ -870,15 +905,135 @@ Walked/bridged along the rift passage until we hit a boulder choke. I hypothesis
</p>
<div class="timeug">T/U: 15.25hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-27a">27/8/12</div>
<div class="trippeople">Anthony &amp; <u>Becka</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">204 - Survey Pretzl Passage below Big Boulder Chamber + continue derig</div>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 11hrs</div></p>
<p>Julian + I rolled into basecamp at 8.30 am after driving all night from Cambridge. I treid to sleep but failed so Anthny + I went up the hill getting horribly snarled in Bad Aussee en route (a crane was blocking the bridge, building the replacement bridge). Lunch + underground 2 pm. Down to where Julian + I had left off on the 19th with no rigging gear so we were hoping for horizontal . . . and we lucked out. We started with the easiest-looking lead as I was feeling severely sleep deprived + trippy. This was a drafting phreatic comfortable walking passage which soon hit a junction. We followed the main draft left + soon got to a pitch head with the sound of a substantial stream + what looked like a lot of space though we couldn't see properly from our eyrie.</p>
<p>Back to the junction there was again a draft... hum, we're heading back to where we started said Anthony. His sketch turned out to be spot on - at the next leg I spotted our tacklesack + we emerged from a slot which I'd failed to notice when Julian + I had surveyed it. With time to spare we were then fored to check out the less appealing options - the climb down chossy rocks at the end looked too hazardous without gear + the bottom didn't seem too promising either, so we traversed on a slopy mud ledge to the left to an obvious passage. This soon closaed down but the draft came from a more obscure phreatic tube above + at the start of our passage, up an easy free climb. This led along an attractive thick cracked mud floor to ... another large chamber with the sound of much water. We though this might well be the same chamber we'd encountered on our initial survey though when the data went in we were less convinced as the two ends were 43m apart but it is still plausible. Decided to pack up the survey then (fortunately as the derig ended up taking longer than we'd expected) + headed out. Derigged everything in Dog Days (see rigging topo, PTO) + beyond (so including the short traverse + the up-climb which are oth q. easy to free climb) + the pitch + traverse before the main Puss in Bolts traverse but we left in Puss in Bolts. Derigged Painted Lady but left in Cat Flap (as its an up pitch). Anthony took all bolts + knots from Brian's Phat Shaft ready for tomorrow + at last I could go to bed.</p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-28a">28/8/12</div>
<div class="trippeople">Anthony, Julian + <u>Becka</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">204 - Final derig</div>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 2&frac12;hrs</div></p>
<p>Julian + I headed to Brian's Phat Shaft with a crowbar + after pulling up + bagging the rope in CUCC's only decent-sized tacklesack, Big Bertha, we tried to lever out the wedged boulder at the pitch head which had gradually looked less + less stable as expo progressed. However, appearances were deceptive + despite black space around most of it it seemed quite well wedge so we left it though it'd be worth another go if the itch is ever rigged again. Also did some gardening at the head of the final section of the King Carbide pitch which drops into the Pleasure Dome but, again, thre's more loose rock there that really needs to go + it would also probably be better rebolting the pitch head using more solid rock in the ceiling. Julian headed out with Big Bertha + Anthony turned up having retrieved the reflectors left marking the optional route from King Carbide through No Pain No Gain + up Thread Pitch which apparently is tight + awkward. We had 2 tacklesacks but these were CUCC's dainty handbags which are stuffed to the gunnels given even the shortest length of muddy 11mm so we ended up with rope coiled + bursting out the top but eventually it was all out + liad out on the slabs to dry ready for the afternoon carry.</p>
<p>DOG DAYS -&gt; BIG BOULDER CHAMBER RIGGING</p>
<p>From end of Puss in Bolts traverse + just before the start of Fat Cat:</p>
<p><img src="logbkimg20.png" /></p>
<p><img src="logbkimg21.png" /></p>
<p><img src="logbkimg22.png" /></p>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-25a">2012-08-25</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Anthony</u> &amp; StuartW</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks derig</div>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 4&frac12;hrs</div></p>
<p>Derigged Tunnocks from Caramel Catharsis, at no great pace, but without incident.</p>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-21c">2012-08-21</div>
<div class="trippeople">OllyB, <u>Jenny</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">107 entrance</div>
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Got up late after yesterdays trip, but needed an early ngiht ready for going to Eishohle the next day, so planned a short trip into 107. Olly placed a bolt backup and then a hang bolt - managed to get a free hang just. Didn't spot the 1978 spit until a later trip - it is a bit higher than ours, but would rub. Entrance shaft bells out, and has several possible leads high up. Landed near the snow plug we could see from 83 (Down Under).
Got up late after yesterdays trip, but needed an early night ready for going to Eishohle the next day, so planned a short trip into 107. Olly placed a bolt backup and then a hang bolt - managed to get a free hang just. Didn't spot the 1978 spit until a later trip - it is a bit higher than ours, but would rub. Entrance shaft bells out, and has several possible leads high up. Landed near the snow plug we could see from 83 (Down Under).
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Had an explore, realised the 1978 survey has the wrong angle for the side passages, and that the projected elevation has the plan lengths and vica versa. Area is a little more complex with various tubes going off - all the ones we looked at either ended or connected with the pitch below. We planned to survey but got cold as it was really drafty.
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<div class="timeug">T/U: 2hrs 10</div>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-22b">2012-08-22</div>
<div class="trippeople">Olly, <u>Jenny</u> Stuart B, Terry, Annette</div>
<div class="triptitle">Eish&ouml;hle Tourist Trip</div>
<p>Walked down from our bivi to meet the others at the Stogerweg junction. Walked (slowly) to Eish&ouml;hle. It was very hot and took hours, eventually got to the Ice Tunnel entrance which had less ice than Olly remembered. The bolts were almost out of reach! All got down and admired hte ice.</p>
<p>On the way back removed the deviation hangs from the old 40A bivi. It took a long time, and we got back to the car as it got dark. Stuart kindly took Terry + Annette back to basecamp, while we walked back to our bivi. Got caught in a big thundestorm - hail stones nearly 1 cm &Oslah; - fortunately we had helmets on!</p>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: 2hrs</div></p>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-23a">2012-08-23</div>
<div class="trippeople">Olly + <u>Jenny</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">2012-70 (Doppel Gemse)</div>
<p>Went back to 2012-70 to do some more survey of the shaft near the 204 path. The final 3 leads all got too small sadly. Finished the survey. Huge [illegible] thunderstorm.</p>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U 1hr 40</div></p>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-25b"><u>25th August 2012</u></div>
<div class="trippeople">Olly + <u>Jenny</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">107 - south of entrance</div>
<p>Too wet to go to derig 148, so headed back to 107. Surveyed north to a pitch down, then surveyed south, looked at several tubes including one over the pitch. Towards the southern end Olly found a crawl on the left - Sysyphus. I wriggled up it - it was body sized so I had to roll rocks up in front of me to fit through. It widened after a bit but then choked. Back at the main passage Olly spotted a climb + traverse that got us up to the 83 connection so we could connect the surveys. Surveyed out up the pitch.</p>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U 3hrs</div></p>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-26a"><u>26th August 2012</u></div>
<div class="trippeople">Olly + <u>Jenny</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">107 - north of entrance</div>
<p>Still too wet to derig 148, so back in 107 with drill and our remaining rope (17, 12, 11 and 5m long). Started at the short loose drop north of the entrance pitch. Olly rigged down to hte stream, upstream led to a boulder choke and downstream led to the 2nd pitch. Went back up the pitch and Olly climbed up the ramp opposite (left permanently rigged). This led to some phreatic stuff, mostly in a fault plane. Rigged down another short drop, then a climb. Short section of horizontal led t another short pitch, so we surveyed out.</p>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U 4hrs 10</div></p>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-27b"><u>27th August 2012</u></div>
<div class="trippeople">Olly + <u>Jenny</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">107 - Ropeless</div>
<p>Still too wet to derig 148 so back to 107 to look at yesterday's lead and to derig. Olly rigged the 12m rope down the drop. Part way down was a window across into a pitch, presumably the main way on (you could hear water). Scrambled down a bit further until things got a bit steep. Olly rigged the 11 dwn and across, then the 5m rope. This got us to no gear left, but on a ledge. I traversed across (~ north) until the ledge ran out, fortunately the floor was now close (only 4m away) and I could traverse back underneath and down to the floor. I checked out whether the passage went (it did) and helped Olly down too. Continued along in hte smae directeion we had been traversing, got to a short drop, climbed that then another short one. Ended up in a ~25m high aven with drips coming in. Aven quite big, but pitch on was quite small - couldn't realy get to it without gear, so left it for now and surveyed back to near the end of the traverse. Looked down the lead on the right (heading out) and it led to loads of rifty passage. A few little climbs down got us to a junction, we went left first, got to an aven where up looked to the start of the traverse (from the survey data). Rift continued until it hit a cross rift which we think is higher in the rift of the route used in 1978 to get to the big pitch.</p>
<p>Back at the previous junction, right led under a low muddy/wet crawl into more passage, which led to another cross rift. Right was an inlet that didn't go, left continued, but would probably need something to be rigged first. Surveyed out, derigging as we went.</p>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U: [blank]</div></p>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-28b"><u>28th August 2012</u></div>
<div class="trippeople">Olly + <u>Jenny</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">148 derig</div>
<p>Finally the weather was dry enough to go in 148 to retrieve our 350m of rope that was there. Hoped we could do it in one trip, but weren't sure how long it would take. Got down to the asteroid belt quickly, and did the survey leg down the big pitch on the way in (Super Nova) in case it would need 2 or 3 legs. The disto + pong[?] managed it in 1 56m leg. Carried on down, and surveyed out while derigging. Things went well except for having more rope than tackle sacks and more tackle sacks than people. Was much quicker than I expected.</p>
<p><div class="timeug">T/U 9hrs</div></p>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-29a"><u>29th August 2012</u></div>
<div class="trippeople">Olly + <u>Jenny</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">157</div>
<p>Very quick down 157 to see if the snw plug had melted more - especially given the location in 107 we found on the 27th (also, 2 hrs of caving would get us to our magic 100hrs of caving!)</p>
<p>There was still snow, but you could get to the floor. Next to the base of the pitch was an aven-climb with a small rift off (which is v. close to the way down we tried at the start of expo). Sadly no route to 107, so we surveyed and derigged.</p>
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