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<title>CUCC 1998 Expedition Report</title>
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<center><h2>CUCC Expo '98</h2>
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<h3>Tim Vasbie-Burnie</h3></center>
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<p>In July of last year, Cambridge University Caving Club (CUCC) embarked
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upon its 11th annual expedition to the Kaninchenhöhle system, (the 22nd
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expedition to the area).
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<p>The 1998 trip was smaller than usual, with a total of thirteen cavers
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over a period of five weeks. This, combined with the relative inexperience
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of some of the members (both expedition leader and treasurer had never been
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to Austria before), meant that finds have been somewhat less spectacular than
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on some recent expeditions.
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<h3>Aims of the 1998 expedition</h3>
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<p>There were over 230 unfinished ways on documented in KH. Many were quite
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remote when first found, but had been made more accessible since the
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discovery of the lower-level Scarface entrance in 1995. The main area of
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interest was in Siberia, which had been revisited in 1997 for the first
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time since 1994. The presence of a strong draught far from any entrance
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led to thoughts of major horizontal passage, and Duncan Collis, who did most
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of the exploration last year was keen to see how the passages developed.
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<p>To the south of KH lies the major Schwarzmooskogelhöhlensystem (isn't
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German great!) consisting of Eishöhle, Stellerweghöhle,
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Schnellzughöhle, Lärchenschacht and Schwabenschacht as well as a
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few other caves/entrances. Parts of this were explored as long ago as 1938,
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but the major central part of the cave, Stellerweghöhle, was explored by
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CUCC in 1980-85, to a depth of 973m and a length of some 7km. Other parts of
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the cave have been explored by both French and German groups, and the total
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length of this cave is around 20km. After 1997, the gap between these two
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systems was about 130m, in passages at much the same level. Linking the two
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systems would involve not only exciting new exploration, but also a great
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deal of tie-up surveying to establish definitive figures for the length and
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depth of the combined system. Current survey information suggests that the
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complete system would be over 42km long and over 1050m deep.
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<p>Away from KH, an ever-present aim is continued surface prospecting to find
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new caves, and also to relocate caves found on the earliest expeditions to
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the area when standards of recording and surveying were not so high as
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nowadays, particularly in respect of the less significant caves.
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<h3>Siberia and Midnight in Moscow</h3>
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<p>In 1997 a lot of time was spent in the north-west of KH following passage
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at the base of <a href="/1623/161/sibria.htm#seproblem">Somebody
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Else's Problem,</a> a 70m free hanging pitch reached in 1994 and ignored -
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hence the name. Duncan was keen to either see the very vertical passage stop,
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or break into some horizontal development. He and Steve Bellhouse, in a
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series of trips over 14 hours long, pushed this until it ended at -534
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metres, the new deepest point in KH.
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<p>The limit of last year's exploration was reached on the second rigging
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trip, at a small pitch. Duncan descended first and began lobbing rocks down
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the next pitch, which sounded big. Timing with a watch suggested that the
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pitch was about 60m deep. The time was midnight, so the pitch was named <a
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href="/1623/161/sibria.htm#moscow">Midnight in Moscow</a>. This
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shaft, descended on the next trip, bells out in the middle into a chamber
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with 20m diameter, then continues through the floor of the chamber to land on
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a boulder choke floor. Two small pitches led to a dried sump pool, or so it
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was thought. Initial joy at finding the end turned out to be premature, as
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two ways on were found, one leading to an aven, the other proceeding to a
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series of climbs down dried up cascades, where progress was halted by lack of
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rope. On the way out, an impromptu rock shower demonstrated the nature of
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much of the rock in Austria as Steve ascended Midnight in Moscow.
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<p>A couple of days later, enthusiasm was regained for what was to be the
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longest trip, at 18½ hours, to survey what had been found and to
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continue down the cascades. Midnight in Moscow turned out to be 52m deep,
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and the chamber was explored. Evidence of quite large horizontal development
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was found, but all the ways on turned out to be full of mud. Duncan and
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Steve were delighted to find that the passage finally stopped after the
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cascades. Or almost stopped. It wasn't a sump, but a mud choke and there
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was a tiny draught. Duncan dug a little, but considered it too big a job to
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make progress. Serious digging at -500m was decided to be a bit too keen,
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and so this part of KH was declared done. The last pitch was named
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<b>Rasputin</b> due to its failure to completely die, and the party began the
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slow ascent to the surface, emerging just after 5am to a clear and beautiful
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sunrise, which ``almost made everything alright''.
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<h3>The quest for a connection</h3>
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<p>1997 saw KH being connected to Steinschlagschacht
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(<a href="/1623/161/136.htm">136</a>), which brought the combined
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system nearer to the Eishöhle-Stellerweghöhle system.
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The two main places to start looking for the connection were either from
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Steinschlagschacht or from the huge ice-decorated chamber of
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<b>Schneevulkanhalle</b> (SVH), part of Eishöle, the closest
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point of approach of the Schwarzmooskogel system to KH. It was decided to go
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through SVH, because rigging 136 requires 400m of rope, a large quantity of
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hangers and more time than Julian Haines and Wookey had, to reach an aven
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that had to be climbed using bolts. No one from CUCC had been to SVH, but it
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was known that there were some question marks in the right sort of area.
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<p>Actually getting to Eishöhle proved a bit difficult. The
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standard route from the car park via the Stogerweg and Bunter's Bulge was
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documented, but it's not very helpful if you are already at top camp. Phil
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Underwood, Julian Haines and TimVB tried an approach from the 'VD1' col via
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162. From the logbook:
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<blockquote><p>Started ~50m below 136 and traversed round. 300m
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away and lots too high according to GPS. Went back a bit, and along again.
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Still too high. Grumbled. Went back to route to 161d and tried again. Found
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we were 150m away from interesting Eishöhle entrance. Unfortunately,
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there was lots of cliffs etc. in the way, so eventually did
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not make it to Eishöhle, and came home grumbling. It was bloody hot
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& bloody crap.
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</blockquote>
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<p>The next day, a disgruntled Julian and Phil insisted that Wookey and
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Wadders come along and experience the effects of their bright ideas for
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themselves. This time they had two GPS's (as if that was likely to help - GPS
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units are great for knowing where you are, and where you need to be, but they
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don't tell you how to cross the very tough terrain to get there!). A tedious,
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hot slog with enormous sacks eventually got them to a very welcome shady rest
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at the main Eishöhle entrance, and thus to the SVH entrance. A mere 4
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hours!
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<p>Further work over the next few days found a reasonable route and cairned
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it, getting travel time down to about an hour, but it's nearly as steep as
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the 161d route and more obscure. You'd have real trouble in the mist unless
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you were properly familiarised.
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<p>Having finally reached the objective there was time for a quick trip so
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they donned their caving gear and ice climbing gear and set off underground.
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A short handlined ice climb and a 30m snow-slope pitch led into SVH. This
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huge chamber has its floor mostly covered with ice, with towering ice stals
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and frozen waterfalls. An amazing place. A number of possible leads were
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noted, all involving ice gear. On the second trip, they first found a
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draughting dig at the foot of an ice slope, but as we try to avoid digging,
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moved on. Down a second ice slope we found a short (5m) pitch and a strong
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draught. This was bolted and Julian tried the small rift/tube at the bottom
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but declared it too small. The wind was strong so Wookey gave it a try. After
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removing gear he declared it "Fairly crap" but not too bad. It was clear from
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marks on the rock that only one person had ever been here before, and it
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looked like the pitch beyond the squeeze was undescended - <b>very</b>
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promising!
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<p>After bolting and descending the pitch, and swinging over a rock bridge,
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the Wook ran up the passage till it debauched into some large 'Triassic Park'
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style passage. This persuaded Julian and Phil to negotiate the "Evil-bastard,
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oversuit-ripping, plastic-boot-catching squeeze" (<b>Plastic Hell</b>) and
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the passage (<b>Cardboard Heaven</b>) was explored up and downstream until
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deemed unsafe without rope, with several question marks in sight. The party
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then returned to Top Camp, slightly late for their call out, but seeing that
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no-one at Top Camp knew where the cave was, the potential rescuers saw no
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point in worrying, and no ranting occurred.
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<p>Drawing up this exciting new find showed that in fact it went the wrong
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way (east instead of north), and the next two trips (also the last two)
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descended a couple of pitches to where it got too tight, and also too low to
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connect to Kaninchenhöhle. Several QMs remain but there was no time
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left, and the good ones require climbing or ice-climbing gear. Any
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suitably-heroic experts would be most welcome next year!
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<p>While no connection was found, this year's work was essential as
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familiarisation with this cave which CUCC have not worked in previously, and
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more substantive progress may be hoped for next year. Also, 136 could be
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descended and explored further. Unfortunately, it seems as if there is an
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enormous choss bowl between 136 and Eishöle, which may indicate another
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major collapse zone to get through underground, similar to the one between KH
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and Steinschlagschacht.
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<h3>Fuzzy logic</h3>
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<p>Also in Siberia, this was the other main focus of exploration in KH, and a
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depth of -424m was reached. After several false leads were looked at, Kate
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Janossy and Danielle Gemenis descended two pitches, about 10m and 50m using
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naturals. A third pitch was seen, but there was no rope to carry on. The
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first two pitches were quite wet, and would have been very difficult to pass
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if the stream came up in flood, so on the next trip they were re-rigged. The
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pitch series ends abruptly at just over 400m depth, and the cave then goes
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horizontal. There's somewhere in the region of 200-250m of passage at the
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bottom of the pitches, mainly fairly small, but with a few small chambers.
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There are two main branches; <b>Clear as Mud</b> is a dried-up streamway,
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which is followed uphill for about 70m to a mud-choke. In the opposite
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direction is <b>Psycho Street</b>, which is a small hading passage ending in
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a chamber with a mud-choke at the end (although a climb up into a crawl here
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leads quickly to an aven). A branch leading off a little way along Psycho
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Street is <b>Bearbum Passage</b>, which divides into a tight ascending tube
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and a tight rift. There remains a good question-mark at the top of the
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pitches, however, where a hole in the floor, which was originally assumed to
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link back into the same pitch series, is shown by the survey to almost
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certainly be a separate bit of cave. Some other leads in the area still need
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looking at; time and drill batteries conspiring against their exploration. It
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is hoped that this area could reach the trunk passage found in Midnight in
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Moscow at a point where the somewhat larger amount of water in this series
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could have removed more of the infill.
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<h3>Also in Kaninchenhöhle</h3>
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<p>For the three students who weren't too keen on 12, 14 or 16-hour trips,
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two of the question-marks closer to the entrance were looked at. The
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first was a draughting squeeze just after a climb called Moomintroll, off
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Triassic Park. This had been found in 1997 when the removal of a few
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rocks showed the floor dropping away to reveal a 10m drop into a large
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space. A short pitch en-route with horrendous rigging off one bolt and
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using three rope protectors was passed, immediately followed by a muddy
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chossy traverse besides an 8ft deep pit, which was a non-too-gentle
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introduction for Steve Jones, Earl Merson and Tim Vasby-Burnie to the
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delights of Expedition caving. At the squeeze, Steve 'Mendip Man' decided
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to pretend he was back home by bashing away at the floor he was standing
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on in order to be able to fit through the squeeze. A gravity-assisted
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descent followed by a lifelined climb led to a chamber with a small rift
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going off which still needs to be pushed if care is taken with the
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crystals on the walls.
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<p>Closer to the entrance and just on one side of Triassic Park is a pitch
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called The Overflow that had not been descended because of the amount of
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water dripping down it. Brian Outram tried bolting, but the bolts
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wouldn't go into the calcite-veined rock at the pitch head, so Dan rigged
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the `hero route' down its main flow off some naturals. At the bottom of
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the 10m pitch a going vertical passage was found, so Brian bolted a dry
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hang. On the next trip the second pitch descended about 20m but became
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too tight. A window 10m from the top would require a 10m pendulum, but
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this was not attempted.
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<h3>Surface work</h3>
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<p>As ever, part of the expedition was spent surface prospecting for new
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caves and also searching for caves found over the last 20 years but which had
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not been properly documented, tagged or located on a surface survey. The
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terrain of the plateau makes systematic prospecting very difficult, and many
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shafts or other potential caves are written up without a useful way of
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finding them again. This year was very sucessful in finishing off loose ends
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on the plateau, some of them very old, and greatly increasing the area
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covered by the surface survey network, and the number of tagged caves, also
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reducing the list of 'not properly numbered caves' (such as B11), with 80,
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82, 148, 100, 107, tagged & GPSed, and 90, 91, 93, 94, 101, 102, 103,
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156, 159, 160, 173, 197 (B8), 198 (B11), 199 (Tumbling Boulder Hole), 200
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(Lost Rucksack), 201, 203 tagged and surveyed-to.
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<p>Andy Waddington spent much of his time wandering around the plateau
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surveying and using GPS finding at least one cave not seen since since 1976.
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Finding 'missing' caves is becoming increasingly difficult as the numbers
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painted many years ago fade, though this cave (102) was found due to a
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lightening of lichen where the number used to be, this being revealed by a
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short rain shower!
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<b>Lost Rucksack Höhle</b>
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(<a href="/1623/200.htm">1623/200</a>) was finally properly explored
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after its initial discovery by Adam Cooper in 1993 when his rucksack rolled
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down it. It turned out to be a 45m deep snow-choked rift cave that breathes.
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<h3>Summary</h3>
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<p>Despite the small numbers of people compared to previous years, the
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Expedition can be considered a success, with KH being extended in depth, some
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very interesting areas opened up, some new people introduced to expedition
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caving, and a good start made in Eishöhle with new ground being found
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very close to the entrance, despite its popularity. Unfortunately no photo
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trips took place, and this is something that needs to be rectified this
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summer.
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<h3>1999 Expedition</h3>
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<p>It is expected that this year will see an increase in the size of the
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expedition, due in part to increased numbers of students in the club, and
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also no doubt due to the line of totality for this August's solar eclipse
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passing within a short drive from Base Camp! Having more people will
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enable areas of KH ignored this year to be explored, notably the Interview
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Blues series, the Far North, and Puerile Humour series, all of which have
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many good leads.
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<p>The search for a connection between KH and Eishöhle will continue
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with, hopefully, enough people to descend Steinschlagschacht and also explore
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the leads in Schneevulkanhalle. It was also noted during the 'walk to
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Eishöhle débacle' that <a href="/1623/140.htm">140</a>
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was in a very interesting spot high on the vord close to the gap, and
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apparently not fully explored. It needs surveying anyway and could provide
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some very interesting leads.
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<h3>Our thanks</h3>
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<p>This expedition was funded entirely by its members, and support and
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sponsorship was a considerable help. Thanks must be given to:
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<ul>
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<li><b>Thorntons</b> for their fudge bars
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<li><b>Whitworths</b> for bags of apricots
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<li><b>Batchelors</b> for Cup-A-Soups, Bean Feast and Super Noodles
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</ul>
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and to the Ghar Parau Foundation for its support.
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<hr />
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