mirror of
https://expo.survex.com/repositories/expoweb/.git/
synced 2024-11-27 09:42:02 +00:00
271 lines
14 KiB
HTML
271 lines
14 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
|
|
<html>
|
|
<head>
|
|
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
|
|
<title>
|
|
CUCC Expo Prospecting Handbook
|
|
</title>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../css/main2.css" />
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
<h2 id="tophead">CUCC Expedition Handbook</h2>
|
|
<h1>Prospecting</h1>
|
|
|
|
<p>Much of the area of the Loser Augst-Eck plateau is rough limestone
|
|
pavement (<b>karren</b>), liberally covered with dense areas of dwarf pine,
|
|
and interspersed with small cliffs, open shafts and snow patches. The latter,
|
|
in particular, can change the appearance of the plateau from year to year,
|
|
and even from week to week in the summer. Getting from one point to another
|
|
may involve detours to avoid any of these obstacles, and the whole effect is
|
|
very disorientating. There are few landmarks recognisable from a distance or
|
|
from a variety of angles, and little chance to relate the ground to the
|
|
1:25000 Austrian Alpine Club map. Prospecting is either a matter of searching
|
|
for promising-looking caves with a draught, or shaft bashing many open holes
|
|
in the hope that one will go. This latter approach is often a waste of time,
|
|
but just a few of them lead to really significant finds!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><b>Shaft bashing:</b> <a href="../1623/others/l/lrh0.htm">
|
|
<img src="../1623/others/t/lrh0.jpg" class="icon" width="143" height="173"
|
|
alt="Lost Rucksack Hole 0" /></a>
|
|
<a href="../1623/others/l/lrh.htm"><img src="../1623/others/t/lrh.jpg"
|
|
class="icon" width="123" height="169"
|
|
alt="Lost Rucksack Hole" /></a>
|
|
<b>Bolt placing:</b> <a href="../1623/others/l/lrh1.htm"> <img
|
|
src="../1623/others/t/lrh1.jpg" class="icon" width="143" height="170"
|
|
alt="Lost Rucksack Hole 1" /></a></p>
|
|
<p class="caption">(Typical shaft bashing, often easiest on ladders: Adam Cooper
|
|
near Top Camp in 1993. Bolt placing usually easier on rope, but still in
|
|
T-shirt & shorts!)</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>All of this has made any systematic prospecting difficult, so there is
|
|
still the chance of a significant discovery quite close to Top Camp or to
|
|
other known caves. Life is made even more difficult through sloppy recording
|
|
in previous years. Hence it is very important that any cave which has been
|
|
looked at is marked and documented, to avoid duplication of effort. Very
|
|
small caves are usually marked with a simple painted cross to indicate that
|
|
they are worth no further effort, however, nowadays we are not allowed to
|
|
mark things with paint. More significant caves get a number, and a written
|
|
description. The aim is to link all such caves in to existing surface
|
|
surveys, which in turn are tied to a number of <a
|
|
href="survey/lasers.htm">fixed points</a> located by laser
|
|
theodolite/rangefinder from local trig. points.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The web pages contain as much description as we have of every cave we know
|
|
about. To avoid any possibility of errors, this includes some info on caves
|
|
not explored by CUCC, though for reasons of Austrian Kataster politics, these
|
|
are not publicly accessible on the "live" web site.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>We now have a <a href="prospecting_guide.html">fancy clickable map</a>
|
|
showing the locations of all the caves we have information on with tables
|
|
showing which pieces of information we have and what information still needs to
|
|
be gathered.</p>
|
|
|
|
<hr />
|
|
|
|
<p><i>The following information is at least six years out of date. Do not
|
|
rely on it being current.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!-- <p><i>[The tables linked from these paragraphs are all at least three years out of date]</i>
|
|
Clearly, descriptions of two hundred caves are too much to assimilate or
|
|
carry about with you (unless, like Wookey, you carry this entire website
|
|
in a Psion !). However, every prospecting party needs to be able to
|
|
decide if what they have found needs exploring, marking, surveying, locating
|
|
or ignoring. Some caves have been fully explored but are lost, others have
|
|
been marked but not explored or vice versa. Hence there is a tabular summary
|
|
of CUCC's knowledge of the caves of the Loser plateau. EVERY PROSPECTING
|
|
PARTY SHOULD TAKE A (PRINTED) COPY OF THIS WITH THEM INTO THE FIELD. The
|
|
caves are divided into five tables:</p>
|
|
|
|
<dl>
|
|
<dt><a href="known.htm">Known</a></dt>
|
|
<dd>Caves which are marked and the location of which is "well known" ie. very
|
|
well described and surveyed, or known by someone on expo. The aim is to get
|
|
all the caves into this table :-)</dd>
|
|
<dt><a href="where.htm">Marked</a></dt>
|
|
<dd>Caves which are marked but the location of which is not believed to be
|
|
known by anyone on expo. Some may prove easy enough to find if someone looks,
|
|
but most have been looked for without success. If found, they need to be
|
|
surveyed to and the route to them described.</dd>
|
|
<dt><a href="nomark.htm">Unmarked</a></dt>
|
|
<dd>Caves which are believed unmarked, but are readily found or have been seen
|
|
recently. These need at least to be marked, and may need surveying to.</dd>
|
|
<dt><a href="unknow.htm">Unknown</a></dt>
|
|
<dd>Caves whose location is uncertain, and which may not be marked. If they
|
|
prove to be marked and are found, they should be written up - otherwise we need
|
|
to trace someone who knows where they are, or abandon them.</dd>
|
|
<dt><a href="plus.htm">Noted</a></dt>
|
|
<dd> Caves which have been recorded in a log or survey book, but never given a
|
|
number. They may be marked with a "+" or a "-". These are all caves which we
|
|
believe can be found again, and which need revisiting to document them and give
|
|
them a number. In some cases they are completely unexplored, but looked like
|
|
good prospects when first found.</dd>
|
|
</dl> -->
|
|
|
|
<p>In the tables (and the cave descriptions), bearings are quoted with a
|
|
series of standard <a href="abbrev.htm">abbreviations for landmarks</a>,
|
|
which gives a good indication of which ones are most useful.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>There is also a table of which numbers are CUCC ones and of numbers which
|
|
appear on entrances which are wholly misleading, the
|
|
<a href="cockup.htm">Cock-Ups</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><i>Note that there is still much missing information about many caves
|
|
which appear in the "known" and "marked" lists. Though marked, this may not
|
|
be correctly with their Austrian Kataster number. The aim is to mark all of
|
|
these correctly with a metal tag bearing their 'official' number over the
|
|
next few years. Also, many known caves do not have surface surveys to their
|
|
entrances.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<h4>Numbering Convention</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>One problem that has recently arisen is a prohibition on painting numbers
|
|
on entrances within the Naturschutzgebiet (Nature Reserve) area. The
|
|
Austrians have for a while been marking caves with a numbered alloy
|
|
tag bolted to the cave entrance. This also has the advantage of a definite
|
|
fixed point to take the survey to.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>From 1996, we have also had to abandon the system (which we believed
|
|
worked pretty well) whereby we had a block of numbers allocated from the
|
|
Austrian Kataster, which we could use to number newly found caves. Nowadays
|
|
we have to produce documentation before we get an 'official' number, which
|
|
usually means an extra visit with someone who knows the cave's location in
|
|
the year following exploration. Such a someone will not necessarily exist,
|
|
which is a recipe for the number of "missing" caves increasing rather than
|
|
decreasing. However, it is the Austrians' kataster, and we have to work with
|
|
their system.</p>
|
|
|
|
<div class="onleft">
|
|
<img alt="Example tag" src="i/9602tg.jpg" width="340" height="286" />
|
|
<p class="caption">An example tag - CUCC 96/02</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p>To overcome this limitation, and try to stop losing caves in which we
|
|
have invested effort, CUCC now applies its own unique number to each new
|
|
cave, ideally at the time of discovery, using a rock anchor and a tag which
|
|
can be replaced when an 'official' number tag is available. As of 2000, the
|
|
standard practice has been to allocate initial numbers of the form
|
|
"year-nn", e.g. 2003-01. This means that the cave can be identified when
|
|
refound, even if no-one who knew where it was came out in subsequent years.
|
|
Clearly, a good surface location is also pretty essential. There are also a
|
|
number of caves tagged with numbers of the form "year-xx-nn" where xx are
|
|
the initials of the discoverer (eg 2002-AD-01), although this system is
|
|
vaguely deprecated.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Anything longer than 10m needs a number, a survey of appropriate
|
|
accuracy, and location information (<a href="findit.htm">bearings from
|
|
entrance to known points</a> and description of route to entrance as a
|
|
minimum - <a href="survey/ontop.htm">surface surveys</a> are really required
|
|
for caves within a reasonable distance of existing known points, a <a
|
|
href="survey/gps.htm">GPS fix</a> is probably a convenient compromise in the
|
|
short term). If a cave is not readily apparent from the immediate area,
|
|
bearings or a GPS fix will be found to be inadequate to refind it, and a
|
|
good sketch or photographs of the entrance and its surroundings will be
|
|
necessary as well.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Caves which require further exploration should be marked "-". Caves which
|
|
have been fully explored and surveyed marked "|+|". This includes minor
|
|
holes less than 10m in length. (Note that prior to 1996, completely explored
|
|
caves were marked "+". Any un-numbered caves found so marked need to be
|
|
explored again and documented (in the "Noted" list, as a start). A number as
|
|
above should be allocated if they exceed 10m in length).</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>There are <b>many</b> other caves marked just with a "+" symbol and a few
|
|
which just have bolts and no numbers. In the past, any cave which could not
|
|
be seen not to go just from a surface look has been marked with a "+" to show
|
|
that it has been looked at but didn't go anywhere significant. We are
|
|
supposed to record these for the Austrians, so if you find one, please mark
|
|
it with a unique identifier and record where it is, <b>even if you don't have
|
|
time to re-explore it at the time</b>. This will help us to assess how many
|
|
of these caves there are, and to target areas where there are lots first.
|
|
Overall, this should reduce the amount of work needed to "catch up".</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4>Previously explored caves</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>Having come upon a known cave, and decided on the action needed from the
|
|
tables, you can find out more about the cave by looking at the database of
|
|
cave descriptions (links from the tables or from the
|
|
<a href="../indxal.htm">Index</a> to all caves). This exists mainly to ensure
|
|
that <b>anyone</b> (not just CUCC) finding a cave marked or previously
|
|
explored by CUCC can find out all we know about it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>For CUCC's caves, we must supply at least a certain minimum of information
|
|
to the Austrians, which includes an accurate location, state of exploration,
|
|
name/marking, description and some sort of survey. Obviously for significant
|
|
caves, we will want a proper drawn up survey, and the aim should be to do a
|
|
survey right from the first exploration - if the cave ends, this saves having
|
|
to go back again later ! If you find a cave for which adequate information
|
|
is not in the database, then at worst document the lack, and at best, go
|
|
out and create the missing documentation!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>As other groups also work in adjacent areas to ours, it is clearly
|
|
important that the information is widely available, to avoid clashes of
|
|
interest or duplication of effort. All CUCC's finds are documented here,
|
|
together with any other caves which we have information on, which we are
|
|
permitted to publish. We will be very pleased to receive any information on
|
|
other caves in the area, to make this more complete. It is in no-one's
|
|
interest to reexplore known cave, or to intrude on someone else's ongoing
|
|
project ! There is a limited amount of information in the database on caves
|
|
not explored by CUCC, for which we are not permitted to make the data
|
|
publicly available - none of this information has been checked in the field
|
|
and is likely to be out of date, if not just plain wrong. The data are
|
|
included for completeness and should help CUCC during expeditions. We may be
|
|
able to make the data available (through password-protected access to those
|
|
net pages) to other groups with a bona fide need.</p>
|
|
|
|
<hr />
|
|
|
|
<!-- LINKS -->
|
|
<ul id="links">
|
|
<li><a href="index.htm">Expedition Handbook</a> - Intro
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="survey/index.htm">Surveying guide</a> - Overview
|
|
<li><a href="rescue.htm">Rescue guide</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="rigit.htm">Rigging guide</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="photo.htm">Photography guide</a></li>
|
|
</ul></li>
|
|
<li><a href="../infodx.htm">Index to info/topics pages</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="../indxal.htm">Full Index to area 1623</a>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="../areas.htm">Area/subarea descriptions</a></li>
|
|
</ul></li>
|
|
<li><a href="../index.htm">Back to Expedition Intro page</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="../../index.htm">Back to CUCC Home page</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<hr />
|
|
|
|
<h3>Revision history</h3>
|
|
<p>(but only revisions to content, not typos and link bugs...)</p>
|
|
|
|
<dl>
|
|
<dt>1996.04.23</dt>
|
|
<dd>AJD: First attempt, missing most of the +/- and surface survey info. Also,
|
|
haven't marked any caves with asterisks yet AJD</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt>1996.06.11</dt>
|
|
<dd>AERW: Integrated existing prospecting page with Anthony's "what to do if
|
|
you find..." tables from his RTF file. Formatting is currently crap. Links need
|
|
putting in to save using the index.</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt>1996.07.25</dt>
|
|
<dd>AERW: Added section on taking bearings - more views identifying peaks still
|
|
needed.</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt>1996.11.28</dt>
|
|
<dd>AERW: split file up, so tables are in separate pages. Added more info (and
|
|
picture) on numbering/tagging scheme. Some rewrite of politically sensitive
|
|
points.</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt>1997.01.01</dt>
|
|
<dd>AERW: finished tidying and linking tables, split off section on taking
|
|
bearings, with its pictures of peaks - linked with surveying document.</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt>2004.04.21</dt>
|
|
<dd>DL: Fiddled formatting slightly, and also updated the section on
|
|
provisional tagging of caves in accordance with current practice (those who
|
|
disagree with current practice are asked not to shoot the messenger).</dd>
|
|
</dl>
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|