Over the couple of decades for which CUCC have been visiting the Loser-AugstEck plateau, they have found it essential to camp nearer the caves than the base camps in Altaussee (1976-82) and Grundlsee (1983 to present). The 1978 accident demonstrated the foolishness of trying to conduct long explorations without a high camp. Several people have been benighted on the plateau over the years and the two rescues in 1989 show the value of rapid assistance from Top Camp in the event of a mishap underground. Numerous people have been assisted quickly by cavers based at Top Camp in the years since, thus avoiding any more serious incidents.
The terminology of these camps has sometimes become confused, as better campsites were found by people who did not even know of the existence of the previous ones. At some time, virtually every camp has been called "Camp 1" by someone or other ! Note that camping is not allowed without permission, and we have recently been informed that since 1993 it has been illegal to camp at all, within the Nature Reserve (Naturschutzgebiet) area.
CUCC's first high camp was set up in 1977, on a site identified on the first visit in 1976. This was on an area of pasture above a small limestone scar from Bräuning Alm. At the time, the springs in the valley here were the only reliable water supply we had discovered. There were caves nearby, as well as ones on the plateau to explore, so the site proved very pleasant, until washed out in one (of many) mega-thunderstorm.
Once most exploration was centred on the plateau, the camp at Bräuning Alm proved of little real value, and all exploration was conducted by driving up from the valley. The difficulties and dangers of returning across the plateau in the dark led to some cavers doing "overnight" trips, in which the cave was descended in daylight, and exitted in daylight the next day. The risk associated with this approach was that of falling asleep on the drive down, as Julian Griffiths demonstrated. Having stayed awake down all the seriously fatal hairpin bends, the car drove itself through a fence and down a 10m drop in the valley below. The mangled steering wheel, bent by a tree-sized piece of fence coming through the windscreen, became CUCC's "Driver of the Year" award at subsequent dinners.
It was realised that for overnight trips to work, there had to be at least a bivouac of some sort near the plateau. A tiny trickle of water was found, which could be used to fill a water container buried in the ground, and a single tent established just to the south of Schwarzmoossattel ("The Col") in 1979. This never really deserved the title "camp". It was never used again, as exploration in 1980 switched to the Stellerweghöhle area, and neither of the previous high camps were really of any use.
Top Camp on upper site, 1993
1996 Top Camp on lower site.
More recently, a really good permanent spring was found in a small climbable shaft a short way beyond Schwarzmoossattel ("The Col"). As this was adjacent to one of the very few flat areas of grass, and right next to the path as well, this has made an ideal camp site, and has become the normal Top Camp since 1988. Logbooks and Journal accounts at the time referred to this as "Camp I", despite its not being the first high camp. A few references are to "Camp 3", which tried to reflect the chronology. More recently it has been known just as "Top Camp". In fact, to minimise the impact on grassy areas, the camp has alternated between the small site immediately adjacent to the spring and a larger (but boggier) area a little lower (used in 1994, 1996, 1998 etc.).
In 1988, and again in 1989, there was a small advance camp much nearer to the Kaninchenhöhle entrance, again to overcome the trials of crossing the very rough plateau in the dark. This was on a relatively flat area of low bunde (dwarf pine) just on the east side of the flat area of limestone on which the permanent survey station "VD1" is located, on the normal walk up to the 161 entrances on the col between the Vorderer and Hinterer Schwarzmooskogels. This was variously known as 'far campsite' or 'Camp 2', in the logbooks. A lack of water, sanitation, space and comfort led to this camp being abandoned.
It was hoped that in 1996, a new Top Camp would be established somewhere where access to the 161d, 'Scarface' entrance to Kaninchenhöhle would be easier, as all trips used this new entrance, giving rapid access to the majority of current question marks in the cave. Unfortunately, access via the Stogerweg proved to be more strenuous than from the old plateau top camp, and no usable water supply was found, so this campsite never came into existence. If work to link Kaninchenhöhle to the Schwarzmooskogel systems means a lot of caving in places such as Schneevulkanhalle, it may yet be practical and necessary to establish a bivouac site somewhere near the 201 Stogerweg path. However, a reasonably good route was established from Top Camp to the Eishöhle area in 1998 and there seems little need now to establish a new high camp.
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Full Index to cave descriptions in area 1623
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