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<p style="font-size: 80%">CTS 80.1739: Descent 44 (January/February
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1980) pp 36-38</p>
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<p>This article first appeared in <em>Descent</em>(44) for Jan/Feb
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1980, pp36-38 and is reproduced here with the permission of the
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author and Wild Places Publishing.</p>
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<h1>Cambridge expedition bottoms Austria's Eislufthöhle</h1>
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<p style="text-align: right"><b>By Nick Thorne</b></p>
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<p>IN LATE July and August, Cambridge University Caving Club again
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went to the Loser Plateau in the Totes Gebirge of Austria. The
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plateau, situated above the quiet village of Altaussee in
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Steiermark, had been the scene of our previous three summer
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expeditions.</p>
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<p>The prospecting done to date on the vast virgin lapiaz of the
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plateau had given us no fewer than three pots in the 650-1000ft
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(200-300m) bracket, and one, Eislufthöhle, 1150ft (350m) deep, and
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as yet unfinished.</p>
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<p>As one of our rank concludes, finding deep pots on the Loser
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Plateau is a real cinch; pushing them, however, is just a little
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more difficult. Consequently, this year's expedition concentrated
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not on more prospecting (for fear of finding yet another deep pot),
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but instead on the exciting task of bottoming Eislufthöhle.</p>
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<p>The cave, designated 106 in the official Austrian catalogue, was
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discovered in 1977 and pushed down to 500ft (150m) depth before
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time forced a derig. Last year we added another 650ft (200m) depth
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before a car accident wiped out (temporarily) half of the pushing
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team. (See <a href="../1978/descnt.htm"><i>Descent 40</i></a> for
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the action replay).</p>
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<p>The cave to this depth includes (see survey), Plugged Shaft,
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250ft (75m) of horrific snow plugs; The Keg Series, a red herring
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route that diverted our attention until we noticed that - wait for
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it - it had no draught; and the Tap Room, a fair sized chamber with
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a stream inlet in the roof.</p>
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<p>Next occurred a superb section of verticality including the drop
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into The Hall of the Greene King, a real belter of a pitch, 180ft
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(55m) free to the floor, huge and black. This was followed by an
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uncharacteristically horizontal section, mainly traversing in a
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tall stream canyon, punctuated by short muddy pitches. The traverse
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below the Fiesta Run was the limit of previous exploration before
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this summer.</p>
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<p>This year's expedition started slowly. A lot of surface
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preparation was needed first, and things were not speeded up by a
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car breakdown in Germany! We supplemented our luxurious base camp
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in Altaussee with an advanced camp up in the mountains on the edge
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of the karren field, about 20 minutes walk from the cave. This walk
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across the difficult lapiaz from cave to camp, we marked in style
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with a continuous piece of white polypropylene string. This enabled
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us to negotiate the walk over the clints at any time of the day or
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night, come rain or shine. And so to the underground.</p>
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<p>The customary ice boulders of Plugged Shaft were merely replaced
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this year by overhanging snow cornices, huge icicles of critical
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plummet potential, and the like. These necessitated a rebolting of
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the shaft, an unpleasant job undertaken by those pulling the short
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straw. Once below Plugged, the other pitches were rigged without
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too much hassle, to bring us to the Fiesta Run and new ground.</p>
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<p>We rigged Madlmaier Shaft, named after our beer vending campsite
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owner, and descended only ten feet before a decision was required.
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Continuing on downwards seemed to be fairly restricted and more
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obvious was a traverse outwards. We opted for the latter believing
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it would lead to a more sociable pitch down to the same place. So
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much for theory. Before long we found ourselves in a totally
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different passage, with the sound of the stream fading into the
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background. This route was followed down two broken 50ft (15m)
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pitches to a fairly small passage. The loon out in front at the
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time squirmed along 100ft (30m) of tight grovel until he popped out
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into the side of a roomy aven. He reckoned it was about 50ft (15m)
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down to a streamway - end of trip.</p>
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<p>Enthusiasm for passage at depth like this was low, and the next
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party consequently took a closer look at the way on down Madlmaier
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Shaft. To everyone's surprise and delight, the place soon opened
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out into a comfortable sized rift. On this particular trip a ledge
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90ft (28m) down was reached, the pitch continuing down a second,
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large rift, at right angles to the first.</p>
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<p>The next trip capitalised on the new found verticality that the
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pot was displaying. Madlmaier Shaft was bottomed after a damp 110ft
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(33m) section below the ledge. As the stream sank into the floor a
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dry, broken 160ft (50m) pitch was descended down a vast gulley. The
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next section was very atmospheric. (I mean wet). The stream
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reissued from a hole high up in the wall and cascaded down on the
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free climb and 14th pitch that followed almost immediately. This
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was unfortunate, as the pitch was 70ft (20m) deep! Spitting over
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their shoulders, the two cavers, now firmly believing Loser to be
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hollow, left the cave for a celebration in the local bar.</p>
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<p>Then unfortunately it rained... and rained... for days. And it
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only stopped raining when it was time for a thunderstorm. As the
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weather continued to look pretty Schwarz over Wilhelm's Mutter's,
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we spent several sleepless nights up at the advanced camp,
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speculating on run-off times for the water, and the possibility of
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getting flight clearance for our tents.</p>
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<p>When the sun finally condescended to shine, a five-man mega
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pushing/surveying/photgraphing team stormed underground. The 15th
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pitch was soon rigged sensibly and descended to a large walking
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passage, with the stream flowing just under the boulder floor. The
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passage sloped steeply down/over/under/around boulders of all
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shapes sizes and stabilities, and then, just when least expected,
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absolutely unmistakeable, thick, black mud covered the rock - the
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cave would shortly sump. Another short pitch and we were there. The
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sump pool was a fittingly large lake, and signified the culmination
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of three years' interesting work in the pot.</p>
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<p>Whatever feelings we had at the time, either surprise, relief,
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pleasure, disappointment, etc. were soon completely wiped out by
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the sheer effort we put in as we cleared the cave of tackle below
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The Hall of the Greene King. The bottoming party surfaced to a
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starlit sky, after a trip of 15 hours.</p>
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<p>The rest of the derigging and the clearing of the advanced camp
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proceeded with relatively little fuss, but a lot of effort, over
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the remaining few days of the expedition. We then returned to
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England, mission accomplished.</p>
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<p>The survey: A grade 5 survey of the pot stopped at the Tap Room
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with a duff clino. For the rest of the pot we measured pitch
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lengths and feel that 1650ft (506m) is a fair minimum depth
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estimate. A higher grade survey and a surface survey of the Loser's
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cave entrances will be published in <i>Cambridge Underground</i>
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1980.</p>
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<p>In conclusion then, apart from a few odd leads that we didn't
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bother to follow, Eislufthöhle is finished. And sporting though it
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was, I can't see anyone returning to the place for a long time to
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come. And why should they? There's the rest of the plateau to look
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at, and deeper pots to be found by anyone caring to have an
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expedition there. Thanks due to Karl Gaisberger, our local contact,
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and Rocksport for the donation of some rope.</p>
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<hr />
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<!-- LINKS -->
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<ul id="links">
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<li>1979 Expedition info:
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<ul>
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<li><a href= "../../../years/1979/log.htm">Logbook</a></li>
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<li><a href= "../../../years/1979/report.htm">Expo report, Cambridge Underground 1980</a></li>
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<li><a href= "../../../years/1979/bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves & Caving Report</a></li>
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<li>Nick Thorne's write-up in <a href= "../../../years/1979/792026.htm">Belfry Bulletin 378</a></li>
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<li>Odkrycie i eksploracja Eislufthöhle - <a href= "../../../years/1979/811412.htm">original english article</a> (published in Polish in 1980)</li>
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</ul></li>
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<li><a href= "../../../pubs.htm#pubs1979">Index</a> to all publications</li>
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<li><a href= "../../../index.htm">Back to Expeditions intro page</a></li>
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<li><a href= "../../../../index.htm">CUCC Home Page</a></li>
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</ul>
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