CUCC Expedition Handbook

Expedition Handbook

The pages which make up this handbook were originally based on the paper documents you might find lying around the Potato Hut or Top Camp. These web pages are now the master documents. They should tell you everything you need to know about Expo. Please update them/add info as required.

Basic Beginnings

Primer - for new expedition members
Kit list - Things to bring on expo.
Needed paperwork - Things to do to join expo.
How to get to Expo
How to use the Bank of Expo

Rescue: You fall and break your leg – probably need a little help to get out of the cave ? How would you feel if everyone at this stage took the rescue guide into Hilde's bar and started reading about what to do ? Not a happy prospect, is it – so in the hope that it is not you who gets hurt, we suggest you read this now so you know what to do. It may well help you if it is you who gets injured, and may even help prevent that from happening. So don't skip it !
First Aid: Info on expo first aid kits and caving first aid course.
Weather: Unpredictable in the mountains. Local thunderstoms with rapid run-off are the biggest danger.

How do I...?

Charge my light - at top camp and at base camp.

Send a message to top camp - or base camp.

Upload my photos - of people, landscape and cave entrances.
Download GPS data to my device - to find gcaves and not get lost.
Upload GPS data from my phone (or device) - where I found a new cave.

Perform bodily functions up the mountain - on a matter of stooling.
Charge a drill battery up the mountain - cave exploration.

Record how much beer I've drunk - from the base camp fridge.

Record who my next of kin is - & emergency medical details.

Where and How

On a matter of stooling

Seriously, this quite important. Do read this document, and when you have finished having a laugh, remember it.

Camps

Base camp and History of high camps

Prospecting

The printable new prospecting guide (slow to load) is a list of all known cave entrances and is essential reading before you wander the plateau stumbling across holes of potential interest.

Do now read how to do plateau prospecting.

Vast amounts of work have been wasted in the past through inadequate recording. It isn't very much extra work, but ensures that your hard work gains some recognition in the future rather than making lots of tedious work and the cursing of your name...

There is also a graphical prospecting map guide which shows the caves and cave entrances we know about (This is currently broken in that it is not showing a map background so is rather incomprehensible unless you already know the plateau quite well.)

There is a separate page with pictures of surface landmarks for taking bearings, and a new guide to getting a GPS fix.

Surveying

Once the cave starts to get significant (ie. anything which requires getting changed or rigging), it needs good documentation. This is mostly a matter of

doing a cave survey,
writing a guidebook description
tagging the entrance
taking photographs of the entrance, and
recording the GPS location of the entrance (or doing a surface survey).

The first time you go to explore a poorly documented question mark ("QM"), you will realise how important this is, and it also makes for having a pretty survey on your wall to support your bullshit. The surveying guide has been split into easily digestible chunks, including pages specifically intended for people who haven't surveyed before. See also the prospecting introduction for how and why we identify and tag entrances.

EXPO Phones

How to use and update the base camp and top camp mobile phones on expo. (Not your phone.)

Charging

How to charge the 14.4V Makita Drill batteries.

Rope

History of our ropes and our retirement plans.

Solar Panel system: Description of setting up and putting away the solar powered battery charging system at the stone bridge
Bivi Rigging Guide: Pictorial guide on how to rig the tarps at the stone bridge bivi site.
Photography: - embryonic photography handbook.
SRT Rigging: This one's also minimal – but links to useful info on another site. There is (Jan 2000), however, in addition to the rudimentary page above, a few pages towards a full Austria-specific guide. The contents page links to an Introduction and a useful section on placing bolts and it may be useful to refer to the expedition Fixed Aids list to see what gear has been left in place from previous years. See also Sherry's Alpine Rigging guide (beta release)
Useful vocabulary: This is hardly a "section", but contains a possibly useful table of translations of climbing (mainly) and caving (some) terms into German, Spanish and French. It's here mainly because I had the material to hand and it would be silly not to make it available.
Expo Planning Guide: How to plan and organise an expo.
Checklist for expo leaders: Expo organisers usually haven't done it before, so a list of the necessary jobs is useful. This section is a side-effect of the entire expo leadership being neophytes in 1998. Despite much support from previous leaders, a few odd things got forgotten, like envelopes for survey notes. One of the good things they invented was an annual suggestions file for making things better next time. One of the suggestions was a handbook section telling them what to do! We hope that this checklist will become useful for "experienced" leaders as well as vital guidance for anyone new to the job. However, do not rely on it being complete or uptodate, at least, not yet.
How to be Expo Treasurer: How expo accounting works in theory and practice, the treasurer's tasks, and how to accomplish them.

Computing stuff

Expo Computer: Details on how the expo computer and network is set up and administered.
Website and Data Manual - Experts only: This tells you how the website and cave data are arranged, accessed and used, including entering new cave data.