Left my bike at Kulm then drove to Neiderstuttern (this is definitely the better route for the bike->car shuttle as all downhill!). Set off 8:45 but already hot + near heat stroke on the initial ascent. I had 3l water which wouldn't have been enough except there's an excellent spring some way above the Grimminghutte where we refilled. Q a few wires + metal foot poles so like an unprotected via ferrata on ascent + decsent + may be problems with snow earlier in year or in a high-snow year. Descent down deep ridges + narrow stony gullies in a fairly improbable manner - impressive there's a route over at all. A very fine day out though sadly Julian didn't get to hang-glide over us though we collected him from his field in Bad Mittendorf.
After day of topcamp fettling we set off to Balcony to rig the entrance shaft, after initially intending to do only a carry. We reflected en-route, so as to be able to find out way back, arriving ~ 8pm. I rigged the first few rebelays, not really understanding what the bolts wanted me to do. Elliott took over & we eventually got to the bottom with some bodge. Due to a lack of inspiration we headed back out & back to top camp, getting there ~midnight.
Feeling Keen we set off to rig Tunnocks entrance shaft, optimistically we took ropes /hangers to get to the bottom of ducks on ice. Burdened by 2 bags & equipped with me skyhook I set off; several exciting swings & wall destruction (by skyhook) complete saw Ash & I in sight of the bottom ice/snow plug; after a final swing & lunge to gain a skyhook placement I put a bolt in & looked up to see the other hilti for a u-hang out of reach. At this point I got fed up of silly acrobatics & we went home despite the end of the entrance being in sight.
Got sufficient gear up the hill to go caving ish (failed to remember sunscreen my safety cord and a few other things).
Went to 2007-71 to look at pitch leads. Started with 07-02C, as it looked easier to get into than 07-01B. Pitch drops down on right, passage continues a few metres on with a couple of other holes to the pitch then ends as a tight inlet.
Olly rigged down, natural backup in main poassage, natural, bolt, bolt, deviation to get to the floor. Pitch got wider on the way down to end in a moderate sized chamber with an icy/rocky floor and a very pretty snowcone. Sadly no way on. I pushed into a tight passage, but it only went a couple of meters. Exited, confirming that 07-01B connects.
Left rigged to survey once we've calibrated the distox.
Checked 15-01B - it is too small to get in to sadly. It might be possible (but not trivial) to move the rock.
After a disgustingly warm carry up the hill with Anthony, Ash & Elliott, Elliott & I decided we still wanted to go caving. We headed over to Balcony with 100m of 11mm snake rope, bolting & surveying kit. Derigging the far too thin, previous rope we set about swinging into windows on the 34m pitch, my only lead from 2014 that hadn't been snaffled. (for good reason after a loose climb & another scary climb (that Elliot went up) it crapped out, giving the grand total of surveyed new passage of ~10m. (swingers) After re-rigging the entrance on speedy 11mm we went for a little bimble & found the natural highs had been derigged. See below for rigging guide.
100m + 20m
~17 hanger required
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Rigging trip down Tunnocks, Anthony continued rigging down string Theory whilst I sat & refrigerated. String Theory rigged we consolidated rigging Kit and Anthony continued rigging down procrastination. I continued to refrigerate. Rigging complete we headed out. 9 Krbas, 9 maillons, 9 hangers (N of Beast, magic glue (dev))
Got a lift up the hill in the morning and learnt to use the distoX and topodroid in the bivi cave. Learnt enough to go and do something useful, so headed to 101. Sounds simple. Sadly we didn't completely remember where 101 was (having last visited in 2012) and we had no data in the GPS to help. Spent over an hour wandering around the plateau in caving gear. Headed back to camp to enlist the GPS + an old prospecting map print out. Found the cave easily!
Surveyed in splaying and topodroiding (in colour!) as we went. Got past the skylight entrance and down the climb before it got too tight for Olly, and we were cold. Headed out surveying out the skylight entrance as we went.
Down to the Ngauruhoe snowcone and surveyed out. On the way we lost the nail polish back down the pitch (I looked for a while, but gave up in the end). I swung across into the parallel shaft from 07-01B and confirmed there were no further bolts. Derigged and planned to move onto 15-02B, but had failed to bring a drill battery. Had a wander on the surface instead looking for new entrances.
Later on went for an unsuccessful walk looking for 2004-04, though it did at least warm us up.
Set off to continue rigging down Tunnocks (aiming to carry 2 bags to camp). On the way the one bolt wonder handline before usual suspects was converted (more or less) into a bonafide traverse line. Picked up Krabs, hangers & maillons from bottom of string theory & carried on down procrastination; Wookey rigged number of the beast & we carried on down to magic glue, putting deviations in along the way. Once at magic glue faff ensued with rope misbehaving & getting tangled. Once I was at the bottom, wookey instaled a deviation; having previously dropped Krab/sling down the pitch: "It's a good job wer're not climbers or we'd have to retiure that", on a spike, bags were left just below magic glue, with a long plod out.
Stuff left: 2 bags of camping stuff, 1 drill, 2 drill bits, 1 battery, blow tube, hammer/setter & hiltis No drill tackle sack 8 maillions, 6 krabs, 4, hangers, 2 bits of tat
Went for an explore with a few 30m lengths of rope. Was mine & Andrew's first trip down & Becka hadn't been down since 2014. Andrew was initially considering dropping down one of the pitches at Natural High but George suggested a better option further on that turned out to be called consolidation Pitch. Rigging of a bolt on the traverse across a series of pitches down to a ledge with a clear 4 second drop straight down with lots of water dripping. Due to lack of reop we traverses over to the opposite ledge to descend the pitch beyond that was dry. [unfilled blank] m down with a couple of rebelays ended on a boulder slope with a smaler passage coming in from the right & a squeeze over a 4m drop at the bottom but we had no rope left.
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Olly rigged down 15-02B. Sadly it ended about where the final disto leg of 2015 landed. Derigged out and removed all of our gear from the cave. I was very sad it had ended. Went to look at 97 (The day before I had climbed down the entrance chimney to see if the vocal connection to 2007-71c was worth digging - it isn't as it will just be too tight after the dig. The chimney is a fairly easy climb but tricky in current ice levels to exit at the top - it is tight and you are wedged in at the top of a 10m climb!). Anyway today we surveyed from the tage the doline and the climb.
Had a look at the surface near 2007-71, There is a strong linear feature with a small chamber off it, but not really an actual cave.
Took the first rope in to 76 to make a start on the rigging. I've barely rigged in years, and not been to 76 since 2007, and was using the stop that Julian kindly lent me, having only used a rack for years. Anyway it all went fine, and 76 was comfortably familiar, the hiltis has survived the last decade fine (though the one at the top of Draft Bitter had a bit of rusty grease in it). Got to the rock bridge rebelay and decided a drill would be useful to add a higher deviation so I came out, ready to walk down the hill and experience going to the dentist in German the next day!
We went back to investigate the lead with some more short pieces of rope & 100m of 9mm. Having received a 13m piece of rope that had been dropped at Natural High. We rerigged the initial drop & continued back to the bottom of the boulder slope. Squeezing round a piller we descended into a wet chamber with some pretty & sharp rock formations. The passage continued round the corner & ended with a hole in the floor & a sloping aven coming in from the right, where we found a survey station. This turned out to the where elliott ended up at the end of last year having come in throught the passage coming in from the right at the top of the boulder slope and free climbed the squeezy bit? He had just run out of batteries for survey equipment & not been able to return (hence the name - Batteries). We decided not to survey the incoming passage & instead Becka went down the main 75m pitch to investigate and survey. There was nothing at the bottom & surveying turned out to be impossible as the disto we had that day was only up to 50m (the one we used the day before was 100m) so we de-rigged and came out.
Fettled Tunnocks entrance: - Replaced all slings in deviations with tat - Fiddled with hang on a 2nd rebelay (clown) - Fiddled with deviation on a 2nd rebelay (taken out) - Re-rigged final drop onto ice plug (similar to 2015 now as opposed to 2014 rig? - Added natural to y-hang at Caramel Catharsis pitch
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Back into 76 to continue rigging. Olly continued where I left off starting the 65m rope at The Ledge. This year we rigged along the ledge side, with a deviation on the Test Tubes side. This was a good success - it uses fewer hangers, is easier and quicker to pass and hangs better. Olly rigged tightly - the Y-hang at The Ledge Below The Ledge was temporarioly a single hang with a deviation. I was about to complain about the tightness of the rigging when Olly shouts up from Yesterday's Terminus that he has got to the end of the rope and could I feed 2m of slack through! I wasn't convinced there was 2m of slack rope in the whole cave let alone at this pitch. Anyway I converted the comfortable Y-hang to a single hanger with deviation, then the rope just reaches. We realised this wasn't very workable, but also a knot pass isn't good in a trade route rig. So we headed out to rethink.
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At 22:00 David and Roshni's callout went live. We scanned the hill for lights, but saw nothing. So we prepared for a rescue and departed for the entrance. We had the response bag and Mark had some extra emergency equipment in his own kit. Nat stayed on the surface, prepared to run for more help if needed. Mark and George descended the cave and established contact halfway down the entrance pitch. Mark went down through the water (it was very wet) and arrived at the bottom to see a rather cold and worried David and a VERY cold Roshni. Because of the risks of descending the pitch, Mark signalled to George that he should go back out. First action was to put extra clothes (duvet vest) on Roshni. We then set up camp. Tacklebags etc. on the floor to sit on and then the bothy to get onto. Hot soup and plenty of flapjack. Candles for extra warmth.
At 05:00 we judged it sufficiently improved that we could try to get out. That went very smoothly. Mark gave Roshni an assisted prussic and she put in as much effort as she could. We met Becka at the col whilst slowly making our way back to camp.
Some thoughts:
We came up with a plan of starting with our one remaining thick rope (29m) and shift everything else down accordingly. Olly needed a day to rest his knees, so I spent the day untying and re-tying knots in Plugged Shaft. On the second go I got the 29m to reach the second of the twin rebelays (31m would be better). Then the 65m reached Yesterday's Terminus (again a few m more would have been better). Then the 48m comfortably reached the bottom of Saved Shaft. I tweaked some of the lengths on my way out. Today the weather Gods smiled on me, and I got my gear dry before theheavy rain started.
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Much wetter in Plugged Shaft today, but totally passable. Got to Boulder Chamber and Olly started to rig Keg Series. We were last here in 2004, despite me remembering which rope we rigged it on then, I had no idea on the actual rigging details. Olly started from the Follow Thru' Shaft end. I had a go and concluded that was wrong. I also concluded that the original rig needed bolts adding, was loose and looked pretty drippy. So we decided to change plan and rig down Follow Through Shaft, then go down the Adventures in Time and Space route to the bottom of Keg Series (last visited by us and Dave Loeffler in 2005). Again we were hazy on the rig.
I was happy that the traverse had been left rigged at the top and was only a bit drippy. Olly rigged down for a bit then I took over, eventually finding a suitable deviation for the final bit. Last 10m or so was drippy (but less bad with the deviation in). I had a quick look in Razor Advance while Olly came down. Keg Series was very wet and drippy, but Razor Advance was dry, so we left the drill and survey kit there and headed out. When tired and unfit it took just over 2 hrs out.
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We got to the entrance at 10:45am and started the long descent leaving behind a plateau asleep under a blanket of clag. Down we went, accompanied by a backing track of grumbling from Julian. He was clearly enjoying himself.
Kraken was as big as promised and we made it to the camp at about 4:30pm just as the previous team were coming up Octopussy. Nat bubbled with excitement as he described what lay below. Wookey sketched out a plan of the leads they had found - our survey missing some 800m of passages. The only bad news was a shortage of bog roll having been promised there was plenty! Fortunately we were able to separate Nat from his emergency supply.
After some soup we descended Octopussy; a fantastic 5m wide steeply sloping tube. We then headed to our first A lead - a large phreatic tube heading up a muddy slope. We followed this for at least 100m before it ended at the bottom of a downward slope where the mud filled the passage. This passage had some pristine white formations and excellent mud floors. A fine start to our surveying.
We proceeded to explore the remaining known passages. Discover the upstream sump from which a small stream emerged. Julian spotted a large collection of dead 'cave lobsters' in the passage leading to the sump (washed into a muddy crawl during a flood).
This ended our first day of exploration and we made the tough ascent of Octopussy. The mud makes the climb slippery and impeded jammer operation. On return to camp we set about making dinner and getting ready for bed.
After a relatively comfortable and very warm night(compared with the night I spent underground a few days prior) we arose. Julian and I were moaned at for our lack of enthusiasm for leaving our nice warm pits until after breakfast. However we were soon once again doing battle with Octopussy.
We set off down our next A lead- relatively horizontal 5m diameter tube heading north. This passage had 2 smaller passages off the left which we connected back into known passage. The large passage reached a fault in the rock where a short pitch of ~20m would no doubt resulted in more cave. Having made good progress (survey legs typically exceeding 20m) we started on another nearby A lead where Chris's team had turned around. We followed more massive passage before reaching a chamber around a stone pillar some 10m across, Five ways lead off from here. One passage slopped down to the sound of water requiring a rope another 2 tubes (only 2m in diameter) lead off upwards while the 6m passage took a downward direction after meeting another large passage from above.
First we set off down, the passage meandered before reaching a pitch roughly 30m deep, it couldn't be approached safely without a rope. However the real highlight of this passage was a living cave lobster! Whilst sat at a survey station I noticed it climbing up the wall, no idea where it thought it was going, or what it could be eating, but it could certainly move. My comrades took photos and video. To finish our survey we ascended the aforementioned slope leading to a large rift. The two up sloping tubes connected and lead to a 4m free climb which we left for the next party. We met the team in question at the camp whilst eating our pre exit dinner (~4pm). A long prusik followed.
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Descended lunchtime and sent down at a steady pace. Met up with David, Julian and Becka at the camp. After a quick brew we went off exploring. WE headed to the 4m climb mentioned by the previous party's write up. Mark climbed it and beyond the passage soon reached another pitch down where we could hear water. After that it was time to get back to camp for dinner. The night was pretty comfortable.
Big day of exploration. First lead was the "short pitch of 20m". A quick rig from Mark and it was 12m. Below a fine piece of passage led to a blind alcove. A smaller side passage led directly to a mud sump the consistence of a blancmange. We christened this "The Wrong Custard".
Next up was a ramp just after the northern branch splits off. Luke took the lead and up we went! Some superb cracked mud floor at the top.
Then we finished off with a crack at the deep pitch in Lobster Passage. Mark put in the first few traverse bolts in, then Luke took over and rigged the actual descent. A superb 45m freehang into a chamber. At the bottom was some very glutinous mud and a sump. An inlet passage led to an aven at least 20m high.
We had breakfast and then Mark went up the boulder slope to get onto the rope..but couldn't find it. Anthony (our illustrious trip leader with a pocket full of surveys and notes) came up the slope prepared to point "the old duffer" in the right direction. But he soon realised that the rope really was missing. With our lights on full power we managed to locate it about 20 m off the floor. Bugger.
To avoid wasting a day we decided to go pushing anyway. A rescue seemed inevitable but we couldn't do anything about it.
First up was a B-lead not far from the bottom of Octopussy. This went for ~140m, sloping down all the way to a very muddy conclusion. After this, Mark went back to camp (in case another party came down). Meanwhile Anthony and Luke took a look at the two pitches nearby. One (to the left) proved awkward due to a big loose boulder. The other (to the right) is in a rift and was easier to rig. Anthony took up the cudgels and descended down to a chamber/passage with two ways on. Either another pitch or an ascending ramp. Those were left for another day. Dinner was calm and we spent some time inventing ridiculous games to pass the time in case of a protracted wait for rescue. "Soup snap" was one idea.
At about 11:45 we heard the first sounds of rescuers approaching. Soon after we welcome sight of Nat abseiling down meant that we were at last able to get out. An efficient prussic out and everybody was back on the surface by 17:00.
Many thanks to all the EXPO members who organised a very efficient rescue!
Headed into Razor Advance with drill, rope and survey kit to see what happened next. On the way in we had switched the rope in Adventures in Time and Space for the 72m - a few m longer would be better. We also added a bolt to protect the traverse across to the rope up to Razor Advance (but there was insufficient rope to add a backup).
Followed the rift on, and it quickly became apparent that the rope was needed. Olly put in a few bolts and we got further along the rift to a nice spot to descend, a Y-hang gave a lovely hang - this is an inlet into a much larger cross rift. Water comes out on the right part way down - it seems likely that this is the Keg Series water from the size and position. Pitch is slightly drippy but not too bad in dry weather - who knows in wet weather. At the bottom is a huge block that has fallen from the roof. Way on is down stream in a canyon. We followed at stream level round some corners, past a narrower bit and a couple of climbs to a short drop that didn't look climbable. Went back to a higher level that had a phreatic roof and was sometimes a separate passage. Got slightly further, but again to a not free-climbable drop. Attempted to survey out, but after a couple of legs realised the disto wasn't properly calibrated (we discovered this quickly thanks to Andrew's advice to take three readings of a leg in different directions every so often). Gave up and exited.
I'd noticed that 171 was a moderately sized cave on the plateau that was unsurveyed, so decided it was a nice job for a rest day. To make life easier just took helmets, clothing and survey kit. We'd spent the morning successfully recalibrating the distox2 inside the bivi cave. Started at 171a and surveyed to 171b - a nice phreatic passage with multiple skylights. A low bit in the middle. Continued a bit beyond the "b" entrances, but decided to return to finish with oversuits.
Intended to go back and finish surveying 171, so took ovesuits, kneepads as well as helmets and survey kit. Olly wanted to try a different route to walk there so headed past 2006-70 and up from there. I saw a few shafts and had to have a peer down each one. Near the local high point was an especially interesting hole. I climbed down the 3m climb into the snowfilled shakehole, at the S end a key hole passage led off. I followed the top of it, in lovely solid clean white rock, down a couple of climbs and with a draft. Very exciting!
I went out to get my oversuit, kneepads, survey kit and Olly. We returned and descended a couple more climbs. This reached a harder climb down to a ledge overlooking a larger chossy chamber. Olly traversed round to get a better look and realised this was also free climbable.
The chamber was drippy and full of loose rocks. Down a climb to the bottom end led to a squeeze overlooking a dirty snow plug. Back at the climb a pitch goes back underneath - this is undescended. Surveyed out. Cave drops a surprising 40m (over 80m of survey) all descended without gear.Headed to 171 with oversuits and kneepads to finish the survey. On phoning basecamp discovered that the camping team were overdue, but that things were in hand, and there was nothing we could do in the short term. Took the phone with us to get updates.
Started at 171a and surveyed down to the final daylight entrance. Heard the rescue helicopter, which worried us, but no message from basecamp, so we continued. Went down the wide but low and breakdwon-y side passage. This continued to pop out 2/3 of the way down a day light shaft. Headed out after surveying this, and failed to identify the daylight entrance from the surface - it must be a narrow gryke by the surface.
Headed to 171b and surveyed north along a slightly drafty passage - there is a parallel rift on the rift with a snow patch and another daylight aven. There is a small passage doubling back here that we didn't thoroughly explore, because we assumed it would trivially reconnect. The main passage finally ends at a low drafting (out) choke. Looking at the survey shows this is very close to the end of [gap in logbook, probably meant 250]. Got a text message reporting from basecamp the camping team were safe which was a relief. Olly cancelled our callout (by phone) which unfortunately didn't make the call out book. So team rescue very efficiently came down to our camp to check we were safe - thank you!
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Olly's knees were recovered enough to cope with prussicking, so we returned to Keg Series with the now happily calibrated distox2. Started surveying in to get the pitch done, in case it rained later, or it took a while. Happily got it first time and in 1 leg. From the bottom followed the stream to the drop, and Olly rigged down. *IMPORTANT: this hilti is not properly set*. I've marked a nil polish slash across it. If anyone goes there again, please set it first, or else rig from higher (probably better).
The rift continues beyond this, at stream level it is tight, but higher is much wider. Shortly the roof drops down to the wide level, and it becomes the phreatic roof tube of a very tall keyhole passage. I stopped following this when it reached some loose looking perched rocks above a climb. I retreated and wriggled along at stream level, down a drop and through some bits narrower than my helmet. Reached the base of the climb I'd looked down on, and ascertained that it was climbable and the rocks were well wedged Climbed up to get the survey kit and Olly. Again followed ledges above the stream until the roof dropped down, and we reached another drop. This was wider but not freeclimbable.
Surveyed out. I derigged to Keg Series and left the rope bag at the Tap Room. Took the drill bag all the way home.
As we were ascending Follow Through Shaft, we heard a low rumbling noise, it sounded like people coming - I wondered if we had a callout mix up, and people were coming to rescue us. Then the rumbling got louder, and louder and it became apparent it was raining. Fortunately we were past the Tap Room and Keg Series, so had an uneventful exit.
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Meanwhile Mark and Ashley explored a B/C lead. A couple of dead bats. After about 50m it began to get lower, but a flat-out crawl popped out into a big, obviously well used passage! It turned out to be right next to Trident Junction.
We finished off by detackling the upper way into Cathedral Chasm. Any further pushing can be more conveniently done via the crawl, rather than going all the way round, which includes a slightly dodgy pitch and a couple of traverses.