mirror of
https://expo.survex.com/repositories/expoweb/.git/
synced 2024-11-22 07:11:55 +00:00
169 lines
9.2 KiB
HTML
Executable File
169 lines
9.2 KiB
HTML
Executable File
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
|
|
<html>
|
|
<head>
|
|
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf8" />
|
|
<title>1984: Cambridge Underground report</title>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../css/main2.css" />
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
<center><font size=-1>Cambridge Underground 1985 pp 4-6</font>
|
|
|
|
<h2>Austria 1984 Exposée - Everything Revealed</h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>by Mike Richardson</center>
|
|
|
|
<p>An elite group visited Austria this time; team rust (Wadders and Bill in
|
|
the blue Mini), team speed (Mike M., Planc and John in the Alpine), team
|
|
smoothies (Wiggy, Brian and Mike T. in the Fiesta), and team momentum (Andy
|
|
D. and the author in Rover the Rover). Notice, <b>NO WOMEN</b>.... persistent
|
|
mutterings from Wiggy that he'd have to do some caving this year instead. "I
|
|
didn't do much caving last year, but I did an <b>awful</b> lot of ****ing".
|
|
|
|
<p>Outward bound was largely uneventful, except for criticism of Brian's
|
|
driving abilities before a flat tyre was diagnosed, and the partial
|
|
disintegration of the Alpine's exhaust. We visited
|
|
<span lang=de>Dachau;</span> full of happy, smiling tourists ("Aw, gee Elmer,
|
|
the gaz chamber. Ah've just got to take a photograph....."). Still, we all
|
|
got there, the Staud'nwirt's landlady's eyes coming up schilling signs as
|
|
Wiggy presented himself. Planc and Wadders immediately availed themselves of
|
|
the liquid refreshment, and spent a happy evening lobbing sugar into each
|
|
other's biers. It was later decided to experiment by heating up a tin of
|
|
sweetcorn on a petrol stove without any water, and the beer tent spent the
|
|
rest of the trip decorated with bits of corn. Next morning, the group of boy
|
|
scouts who were camped next to us asked us not to set off fireworks in the
|
|
middle of the night.
|
|
|
|
<p>An initial spell of lethargy was interrupted by some caving.
|
|
<span lang=de>Wolfhöhle</span> and
|
|
<span lang=de>Steinschlagschacht</span> were restarted, while Wadders played
|
|
Pacman (sorry, Snapper) on his Beeb in the Gasthof. Then Andy D. and Planc
|
|
set of to push <span lang=de>Wolfhöhle,</span> while Mikes T. and the
|
|
author headed for <span lang=de>SSSchacht,</span> to be followed later by
|
|
Bill and John. At about 5 p.m. we decided that we'd just about run out of
|
|
rope, and anyway could comfortably get back for a bier or four, so we set off
|
|
out, passing the other two. The weather remained dry until the first was
|
|
downed.
|
|
|
|
<p>Around 10 pm, the World War Three rehearsal got under way, Flash, Bang,
|
|
Zap, <span lang=de>Donner und Blitzen.</span> And the gentle patter of
|
|
torrential rain. Having retreated to the tents, the author got fed up of
|
|
being dripped on, and retreated to Rover, only to be dripped on from some
|
|
holes in the roof. Meanwhile, unbeknown to the campsite, Bill and John are
|
|
stumbling round on the plateau, mostly lost, and soaked to the skin, while
|
|
Andy and Planc are sitting it out at the bottom of the big pitch, huddled
|
|
round a gobbler.
|
|
|
|
<p>Next morning, the rain eased a little, and Bill and John returned looking
|
|
fraught. The absence of the other two provoked mumblings about possible
|
|
rescues, but little enthusiasm. However, in the early afternoon, Mike M. (who
|
|
had been daft enough to bring a wetsuit) and Wadders (an opportunity to get
|
|
him underground, we thought) were sent off, with promises that rescue parties
|
|
two and three would follow later. Wiggy and Brian departed a little later,
|
|
and the rest later still. Up on the plateau we all met up. Team the first had
|
|
got lost, rediscovered some holes otherwise lost to CUCC, and arrived at
|
|
<span lang=de>Wolfhöhle</span> to discover Andy and Planc coming out,
|
|
and Wiggy and Brian just arriving.
|
|
|
|
<p>Apart from a short interlude, it then rained continuously for five days.
|
|
The author doscovered the joys of a water bed due to an error in pitching his
|
|
tent in a hollow. The beer tent floor degenerated into a mud bath, and vast
|
|
quantities of bier were consumed. When the sun finally came out, the foolish
|
|
amongst us went caving, those with more sense got sunburned by
|
|
<span lang=de>Grundlsee.</span>
|
|
|
|
<p>The next trip to <span lang=de>SSSchacht</span> fortunately bottomed it at
|
|
about -240m, so Mike T. and the author rapidly derigged most of it to prevent
|
|
the possibility of any further descents. Meanwhile,
|
|
<span lang=de>Wolfhöhle</span> crept ominously deeper. But of more
|
|
important things ! Off we went one evening to the local caving group's
|
|
meeting. Slides were shown, and lots of bier consumed. At about quarter to
|
|
midnight, the landlord announced a further quarter hour and team
|
|
can't-take-the-pace (Planc, Wiggy, Brian and John) departed. At two, bier was
|
|
still flowing when it was decided to call it a day, so team
|
|
pretty-well-pissed piled into Rover along with Albert, and headed back to
|
|
<span lang=de>Grundlsee,</span> Mike T. doing his best to talk Austrian
|
|
through a bier haze and against the noise of AC/DC Highway to Hell drowning
|
|
out the engine.
|
|
|
|
<p>Having dropped Bill (Team can't-take-quite-this-much-pace) at the
|
|
campsite, and Albert up above <span lang=de>Grundlsee,</span> we set off back
|
|
down the valley, with an impromptu bop in the back. Wadders is spaced out
|
|
with a bookshelf sized speaker to each ear. Mike M. and Mike T. are bouncing
|
|
up and down in the back, and Andy is leaning out of the window pissing. The
|
|
dance floor jumps up and down on the specially fitted heavy-duty springs, and
|
|
to a tight foot twitching on the pedal. Back at the campsite Brian questions
|
|
our taste in music, and we have a long philosophical discussion on sexism,
|
|
vegetarianism, and vivisection in the beer tent.
|
|
|
|
<p>Mike M. went off to a garage to get the exhaust fixed, and was forced to
|
|
explain what we were doing in Austria. "Ah", said the garage man, "many
|
|
people come to Austria to walk on the mountains; that is normal. Few people
|
|
come to Austria to walk in the mountains; that is not normal!". He also
|
|
suggested that Mike might like to buy a new car. More sunshine prompted team
|
|
ornithologists to go and view the bird-life by the lake, and were rewarded by
|
|
the sight of many Great and Lesser Tits. Andy D. also bumped into a Blue Tit
|
|
which had fallen out of its nest (accidentally, he claims) while snorkelling.
|
|
Said Tit's mate looked set for an altercation, until the Hulk climbed
|
|
dripping from the water. We resorted to thoughts of bromide lollies, and then
|
|
decided to go posing round town with Rover's roof off.
|
|
|
|
<p>Meanwhile, Wadders had discovered that the tappets on the mini were so
|
|
badly adjusted that the exhaust valves weren't shutting, possibly accounting
|
|
for their state. Mike M's front brake pads finally committed suicide in
|
|
protest at the toll road, and a further visit to the garage again suggested
|
|
that a new car might be a good idea. Various bits of the Fiesta were
|
|
inverted, much to the owners displeasure.
|
|
|
|
<p>Andy D, Planc, and Wiggy went and climbed the
|
|
<span lang=de>Dachstein,</span> and Wadders and Wiggy climbed the
|
|
<span lang=de>Trisselwand,</span> the latter resulting in a certain amount of
|
|
brown perspiration on the 45m unprotected runouts from dubious belay points.
|
|
Oh, and we went to the fireworks, which were only so-so, but the bier tent
|
|
stayed open rather late, which was better.
|
|
|
|
<p>But what of the caving ? The <span lang=de>SSSchacht</span> gear was
|
|
ferried round to <span lang=de>Wolfhöhle,</span> and another draughting
|
|
hole discovered. Despite much persuasion to the contrary, Planc investigated
|
|
it, and reported that it went. Rats, we thought, it'll have to be looked up.
|
|
At last, however, there was some good news,
|
|
<span lang=de>Wolfhöhle</span> had stopped at last at a sump, and we all
|
|
breathed sighs of relief. Brian crashed out in Fritz's from the effort, and
|
|
had a three-storey house of cards built, photographed and demolished on his
|
|
back without even noticing. Further investigation of Planc's hole lost the
|
|
draught in a messy phreatic bit, so <span lang=de>Wolfhöhle</span> was
|
|
derigged, and some token exploration and surveying carried out on the
|
|
Plateau. The Wolf was recovered, and examined by Gunter, who said it was
|
|
actually a bear. Unfortunately, due to an administrative error (ie., balls
|
|
up) it had been promised to the other caving group.
|
|
|
|
<p>And that finished it. The key broke off in the Alpine's back hatch,
|
|
resulting in another embarassing visit to the garage, and Rover blew a hole
|
|
in a core plug. Andy D. and the author set off for
|
|
<span lang=fr>Chamonix,</span> Chas, and <span lang=fr>Mont Blanc;</span>
|
|
Bill returned to his beloved traction engine and the coal strike; Wadders
|
|
slipped away early having been caving exactly once; and everyone lived
|
|
happily ever after. Bye !
|
|
|
|
<hr />
|
|
<!-- LINKS -->
|
|
<ul id="links">
|
|
<li>Cambridge Underground 1985,
|
|
<a href="http://cucc.survex.com/jnl/1985/index.htm">Table of Contents</a></li>
|
|
<li>1984 Expedition info:
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="log.htm">Logbook</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="stopp.htm">Stop Press report</a>, CU 1984</li>
|
|
<li>Main Expo report, Cambridge Underground 1985:
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="cavegd.htm">Wolfhöhle</a> - A Guidebook Description</li>
|
|
<li>An Ascent of the <a href="twand.htm">Trisselwand</a></li>
|
|
</ul></li>
|
|
<li><a href="bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves & Caving Report</a></li>
|
|
</ul></li>
|
|
<li><a href="../../pubs.htm#pubs1984">Index</a> to all publications</li>
|
|
<li><a href="../../index.htm">Back to Expeditions intro page</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="../../../index.htm">CUCC Home Page</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|