mirror of
https://expo.survex.com/repositories/expoweb/.git/
synced 2024-11-22 15:21:55 +00:00
215 lines
12 KiB
HTML
215 lines
12 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's Austria expeditions: Primer</title>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/main2.css" />
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
<h1>CUCC Austria Expeditions: Primer</h1>
|
|
|
|
<hr />
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
<p>The annual CUCC expedition to Austria lasts around five weeks each summer
|
|
and concentrates mainly on new exploration in the high alpine karst of the
|
|
<span lang="de-at">Loser</span> plateau (about 80km E of <span
|
|
lang="de-at">Salzburg).</span> The current main projects are:</p>
|
|
|
|
<dl>
|
|
<dt><span lang="de-at">Steinbrückenhöhle</span></dt>
|
|
<dd>the most major cave in the area <em>not</em> to have been connected to the
|
|
master <span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel</span> system, and the principal
|
|
focus of CUCC's work since 2000. At the end of Expo 2008 it had been explored
|
|
to 622m in depth and 16km in length.</dd>
|
|
<dt><span lang="de-at">Eislufthöhle</span></dt>
|
|
<dd>originally explored in the very early days of CUCC expeditions in the late
|
|
seventies, to a depth estimated at 506m. The original explorers simply
|
|
concentrated on getting to the bottom and were not unduly concerned with
|
|
exploring side passages or with accurate surveying; hence a return and
|
|
reexploration was began in 2004, and continued in 2005, 2006 and 2007.</dd>
|
|
<dt><span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel</span> system</dt>
|
|
<dd>formed from the linkage of several caves into one system, 55km or so
|
|
long, and 1033m deep, of which around two-thirds of the length (and the highest
|
|
and deepest points) were explored by CUCC. CUCC has not been directly involved
|
|
in exploration in the system itself since 2002, but we will be
|
|
returning in 2009 (via Kaninchenhöhle) to seek a connection
|
|
with Steinbrückenhöhle.</dd>
|
|
</dl>
|
|
|
|
<p>Over a hundred shorter caves have also been explored and
|
|
recorded over the twenty year history of expo, and prospecting for new
|
|
entrances is still an important activity.</p>
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
<hr />
|
|
|
|
<p>So much for the executive summary, but what does that mean for the new
|
|
expo member? What is actually involved in going on expo?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Very few people, whether undergraduate or old lag, can afford the time
|
|
to go on expo for the full period. People come and go, and people pursue
|
|
their own particular interests within the larger context. But there has
|
|
to be some overall strategy and some degree of planning. It is no good
|
|
putting more resources into rigging than we have manpower to use, nor
|
|
concentrating on so few goals that the cave is always crowded. So it is
|
|
important that those doing the organising have a pretty good idea a few
|
|
weeks before expo of who is going, for how long, and how hard they expect
|
|
to cave.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>But don't expect too much from that word "organising" – expedition is not a
|
|
boot camp! No one will kick you out of your pit and make you go caving (except
|
|
perhaps in an emergency, such as a call-out). Nor is it entirely a holiday -
|
|
once the effort has been put in to rig things, it is important that people get
|
|
in there and do the work exploring, surveying, photographing and eventually
|
|
derigging. The "organisation" is essentially a matter of pre-expo
|
|
behind-the-scenes things like getting grants and sponsorship, buying tackle,
|
|
coordinating transport and the like. On expo itself, it is a matter of judging
|
|
which projects can reasonably be tackled by the number of people present, and
|
|
suggesting the best lines of attack. This avoids rigging things which no one
|
|
has the time or will-power to push, and ensures that there is enough gear to
|
|
tackle the things which folk <em>are</em> keen to explore.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>There are important differences between expedition caving and a typical
|
|
Yorkshire weekend. On a tourist trip in the UK, a party will rig in, bottom the
|
|
cave and rig out (or, at most, there may be a separate rigging in and rigging
|
|
out trip on the same day). In Austria, a project cave will be rigged at the
|
|
start of expo, and then numerous working trips will use that rigging until
|
|
either the cave or the expedition finishes, and derigging takes place. This
|
|
clearly places a lot more wear and tear on the ropes, which also tend to get
|
|
muddier, so quality rigging is essential. Of course, some of this rigging is
|
|
new exploration, not just "follow the P-hangers", so it is an exciting and
|
|
challenging activity. Also, unlike a Yorkshire tourist trip, you must survey
|
|
and describe what you find – logbook write-ups form part of a long-term record
|
|
of what has been done so are rather more important than on weekend meets at
|
|
home. Surveying may be an entirely new activity for first-time expo members,
|
|
but it is also a very important one, and one which it is worth making the
|
|
effort to get right from the start.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The caves in Austria are as different from Yorkshire and Mendip as those two
|
|
areas are from each other. There are few sporting streamways and few
|
|
formations. The caves are colder (often not much above freezing, and sometimes
|
|
below). They are often much deeper than Yorkshire trips, though the entrances
|
|
we are currently using mean that even the remotest places are not at vast
|
|
depths. However, pitches may be big, and close together in deep shafts of up to
|
|
a couple of hundred metres. Though often dry in good weather, run-off is rapid
|
|
and a damp pitch can rapidly become a serious proposition with near-freezing
|
|
water pouring down it. Rigging will sometimes seem unnecessarily gymnastic
|
|
until you have seen the pitch after a thunderstorm! Set against this is a large
|
|
amount of huge stomping horizontal passage found in the last few years, with
|
|
many leads still to push not needing a lot of vertical work at all.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>In Austria, expo is effectively split into "<a href="bcamps.htm">Base
|
|
Camp</a>" and various "<a href="tcamps.htm">plateau camps</a>". Base camp is in
|
|
the valley, near the pub, shops, lake and other "R&R" facilities. It is
|
|
here that we have the bulk of the documentation, computers, lamp charging, log
|
|
book and survey book. The plateau camps are right outside the cave entrances, and
|
|
are reached by a toll road (on which we have a deal which avoids paying each
|
|
time) which ascends 900m to a tourist car park from where it is around a 30
|
|
minute walk (on good paths) to the edge of the plateau. From here it is a
|
|
one-and-a-half-hour slog across rough limestone pavements to the <span
|
|
lang="de-at">Steinbrückenhöhle</span> bivvy site (or somewhat less to
|
|
the bivouac site at <span lang="de-at">Eislufthöhle</span>).</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The plateau camps and and Base camp are linked by mobile phone, which are much
|
|
better for coordinating and reporting activities than the radios we used
|
|
previously. However they should still be used sparingly to ensure that there is
|
|
plenty of battery power in an emergency. The result of this is that trips are
|
|
mostly organised by the people in top camp, and it is usual to spend periods of
|
|
three or four days or so at top camp, alternating with festering at base.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>On the other hand, the plateau a nature reserve where camping is
|
|
theoretically not allowed at all, so we need to keep it as low-profile and
|
|
undamaging as possible to avoid being banned. Camping is essential, not only
|
|
for caving convenience and efficiency, but also for safety. Meeting these needs
|
|
consistent with local politics is something of a balancing act which needs
|
|
everyone's cooperation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>If we have a spell of truly awful weather, usually everyone will come
|
|
down to Base Camp, and this is a good time for getting surveys drawn up,
|
|
passage descriptions written, log books up to date etc. It's also not
|
|
unknown for a certain amount of beer consumption to occur. This is also
|
|
the case at "expedition dinner" which is usually organised somewhere in
|
|
the middle of expo, when the greatest number of people can attend.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3>What to read next?</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Obviously, those coming on expedition will have a better and more
|
|
productive time if they know more about what goes on, what has been done
|
|
previously and what our particular caves are like. I'd love to think that
|
|
everyone would find time to read everything on the website. In reality,
|
|
however, not everyone wants to effectively memorise the guidebook, and
|
|
devour several books on the history, culture, geography, geology, food,
|
|
weather and other <span lang="la">minutiæ</span> of their holiday area.
|
|
Even if you are that sort of person, it helps to have some idea of where to
|
|
start – there's about three long novels' worth of stuff on the site and much
|
|
of it is of mainly historical interest, concerned with caves whose
|
|
exploration is considered complete.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>We have attempted to condense the "how to do it" material into an
|
|
<a href="handbook/index.htm">Expedition Handbook</a>, which covers topics
|
|
such as Surveying, Prospecting, Rigging and Rescue. There is also a rather
|
|
embryonic section on photography, and some smaller sections that are also worth
|
|
reading. This is still a fairly big chunk of stuff to read, so an effort has
|
|
been made this year to provide a "primer" page for each section, which should
|
|
be read by <b>everyone</b> new to expo. It is particularly important that you
|
|
understand the aims of each activity, since a job done badly is actually worse
|
|
than a job not done at all. This is especially true of cave survey and passage
|
|
description, or, for prospecting, the recording of locations.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>To get a feel for what trips are like, it is perhaps worth dipping into
|
|
one of the <a href="years/2005/logbook.html">logbooks</a>
|
|
<a href="years/2001/log.htm">for</a> <a href="years/2003/logbook.html">recent
|
|
</a> <a href="years/2004/logbook.html">years</a>. To
|
|
get an idea of what expo will be trying to achieve, there is a "<a
|
|
href="years/2009/mission.html">mission statement</a>" for the current year. And
|
|
to see how much potential there is, a glance at the current <span
|
|
lang="de">Steinbrückenhöhle</span> <a
|
|
href="smkridge/204/qm.html">Question Mark list</a> is a revelation. Leads are
|
|
numbered by year, with the oldest first. Following links from any of these
|
|
leads will get you into the relevant section of the <a
|
|
href="smkridge/204/204.html">cave description</a>, which gives an idea of the
|
|
sort of caving.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>For the ambitious, there is a complete description of <a
|
|
href="smkridge/161/top.htm"><span lang="de-at">Kaninchenhöhle</span></a>,
|
|
which absorbed almost all of CUCC's expedition effort from 1989 to 1999 and now
|
|
forms the largest single component of the <span
|
|
lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel</span> system. The description runs to c 90 A4
|
|
pages when printed, so is rather too much to digest in one go! We recommend
|
|
looking at the printed survey to get an overall idea of the cave and which
|
|
parts have the most potential. However, as this is too big for a web page,
|
|
there are now useful survey fragments incorporated throughout the main
|
|
descriptions.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>If you want to delve deeper into the site, it's worth a quick look
|
|
at the site <a href="../rdmap.htm">road map</a>. This gives you an idea
|
|
of the structure of the site and where you can expect the graphical links
|
|
to lead. There are also plenty of textual links, as exemplified by the
|
|
expo <a href="infodx.htm">site index</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<hr />
|
|
|
|
<!-- LINKS -->
|
|
<ul id="links">
|
|
<li>Back to <a href="../index.htm">CUCC Home page</a></li>
|
|
<li><b>Main Indices:</b>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="infodx.htm"><b>Index</b> to Expo</a> information pages</li>
|
|
<li><a href="areas.htm">Description of CUCC's area</a> and split to subareas</li>
|
|
<li>Full <a href="indxal.htm">Index to cave descriptions</a> in area 1623</li>
|
|
<li>Adjacent area <a href="1626/index.html">1626</a></li>
|
|
<li>List of (links to) <a href="pubs.htm">published reports and logbooks</a></li>
|
|
</ul></li>
|
|
<li><b>Pictures:</b>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="gall0.htm">Text only Index</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="gallery/0.htm">Index pages (with thumbnails)</a></li>
|
|
</ul></li>
|
|
<li>Other info:
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>Table of <a href="folk/index.htm">members of CUCC expeditions</a> 1976-present</li>
|
|
<li><a href="others/index.htm">Other groups</a> who have worked in the area.</li>
|
|
</ul></li></ul>
|
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|