CTS 80.1739: Descent 44 (January/February 1980) pp 36-38
This article first appeared in Descent(44) for Jan/Feb 1980, pp36-38 and is reproduced here with the permission of the author and Wild Places Publishing.
By Nick Thorne
IN LATE July and August, Cambridge University Caving Club again went to the Loser Plateau in the Totes Gebirge of Austria. The plateau, situated above the quiet village of Altaussee in Steiermark, had been the scene of our previous three summer expeditions.
The prospecting done to date on the vast virgin lapiaz of the plateau had given us no fewer than three pots in the 650-1000ft (200-300m) bracket, and one, Eislufthöhle, 1150ft (350m) deep, and as yet unfinished.
As one of our rank concludes, finding deep pots on the Loser Plateau is a real cinch; pushing them, however, is just a little more difficult. Consequently, this year's expedition concentrated not on more prospecting (for fear of finding yet another deep pot), but instead on the exciting task of bottoming Eislufthöhle.
The cave, designated 106 in the official Austrian catalogue, was discovered in 1977 and pushed down to 500ft (150m) depth before time forced a derig. Last year we added another 650ft (200m) depth before a car accident wiped out (temporarily) half of the pushing team. (See Descent 40 for the action replay).
The cave to this depth includes (see survey), Plugged Sahft, 250ft (75m) of horrific snow plugs; The Keg Series, a red herring route that diverted our attention until we noticed that - wait for it - it had no draught; and the Tap Room, a fair sized chamber with a stream inlet in the roof.
Next occurred a superb section of verticality including the drop into The Hall of the Greene King, a real belter of a pitch, 180ft (55m) free to the floor, huge and black. This was followed by an uncharacteristically horizontal section, mainly traversing in a tall stream canyon, punctuated by short muddy pitches. The traverse below the Fiesta Run was the limit of previous exploration before this summer.
This year's expedition started slowly. A lot of surface preparation was needed first, and things were not speeded up by a car breakdown in Germany! We supplemented our luxurious base camp in Altaussee with an advanced camp up in the mountains on the edge of the karren field, about 20 minutes walk from the cave. This walk across the difficult lapiaz from cave to camp, we marked in style with a continuous piece of white polypropylene string. This enabled us to negotiate the walk over the clints at any time of the day or night, come rain or shine. And so to the underground.
The customary ice boulders of Plugged Shaft were merely replaced this year by overhanging snow cornices, huge icicles of critical plummet potential, and the like. These necessitated a rebolting of the shaft, an unpleasant job undertaken by those pulling the short straw. Once below Plugged, the other pitches were rigged without too much hassle, to bring us to the Fiesta Run and new ground.
We rigged Madlmaier Shaft, named after our beer vending campsite owner, and descended only ten feet before a decision was required. Continuing on downwards seemed to be fairly restricted and more obvious was a traverse outwards. We opted for the latter believing it would lead to a more sociable pitch down to the same place. So much for theory. Before long we found ourselves in a totally different passage, with the sound of the stream fading into the background. This route was followed down two broken 50ft (15m) pitches to a fairly small passage. The loon out in front at the time squirmed along 100ft (30m) of tight grovel until he popped out into the side of a roomy aven. He reckoned it was about 50ft (15m) down to a streamway - end of trip.
Enthusiasm for passage at depth like this was low, and the next party consequently took a closer look at the way on down Madlmaier Shaft. To everyone's surprise and delight, the place soon opened out into a comfortable sized rift. On this particular trip a ledge 90ft (28m) down was reached, the pitch continuing down a second, large rift, at right angles to the first.
The next trip capitalised on the new found verticality that the pot was displaying. Madlmaier Shaft was bottomed after a damp 110ft (33m) section below the ledge. As the stream sank into the floor a dry, broken 160ft (50m) pitch was descended down a vast gulley. The next section was very atmospheric. (I mean wet). The stream reissued from a hole high up in the wall and cascaded down on the free climb and 14th pitch that followed almost immediately. This was unfortunate, as the pitch was 70ft (20m) deep! Spitting over their shoulders, the two cavers, now firmly believing Loser to be hollow, left the cave for a celebration in the local bar.
Then unfortunately it rained... and rained... for days. And it only stopped raining when it was time for a thunderstorm. As the weather continued to look pretty Schwarz over Wilhelm's Mutter's, we spent several sleepless nights up at the advanced camp, speculating on run-off times for the water, and the possibility of getting flight clearance for our tents.
When the sun finally condescended to shine, a five-man mega pushing/surveying/photgraphing team stormed underground. The 15th pitch was soon rigged sensibly and descended to a large walking passage, with the stream flowing just under the boulder floor. The passage sloped steeply down/over/under/around boulders of all shapes sizes and stabilities, and then, just when least expected, absolutely unmistakeable, thick, black mud covered the rock - the cave would shortly sump. Another short pitch and we were there. The sump pool was a fittingly large lake, and signified the culmination of three years' interesting work in the pot.
Whatever feelings we had at the time, either surprise, relief, pleasure, disappointment, etc. were soon completely wiped out by the sheer effort we put in as we cleared the cave of tackle below The Hall of the Greene King. The bottoming party surfaced to a starlit sky, after a trip of 15 hours.
The rest of the derigging and the clearing of the advanced camp proceeded with relatively little fuss, but a lot of effort, over the remaining few days of the expedition. We then returned to England, mission accomplished.
The survey: A grade 5 survey of the pot stopped at the Tap Room with a duff clino. For the rest of the pot we measured pitch lengths and feel that 1650ft (506m) is a fair minimum depth estimate. A higher grade survey and a surface survey of the Loser's cave entrances will be published in Cambridge Underground 1980.
In conclusion then, apart from a few odd leads that we didn't bother to follow, Eislufthöhle is finished. And sporting though it was, I can't see anyone returning to the place for a long time to come. And why should they? There's the rest of the plateau to look at, and deeper pots to be found by anyone caring to have an expedition there. Thanks due to Karl Gaisberger, our local contact, and Rocksport for the donation of some rope.