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135 lines
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<title>1980: NPC Newsletter (?) report<!-- it's not entirely certain that this has ever been published -->
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<h2>AUSTRIA 1980</h2>
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<p>Summer 1980 saw Cambridge University Caving Club return to Austria
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accompanied by several members of UBSS; several members of the Pennine were
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also in the party, namely John Bowers, Andy Waddington, Andy Connolly and
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'Budge'. After meeting up in London, we had our final dose of English beer
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before departing for Dover in a mega-thunderstorm.
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<p>The long drive through Germany led us to Golling, south of Salzburg and at
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the foot of the Tennengebirge mountains - Austria's most promising caving
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area. Here we met up with the others and proceeded to our first night of
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Austrian lager and a near miss with the Vienna-Salzburg express on a level
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crossing which was inconveniently situated between the pub and the campsite.
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As we still hadn't received official permission to work in the area, we were
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only planning a recconnaissance here before the main group moved on to the
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traditional CUCC location at Altaussee - if we found anything promising a
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small group might stay at Golling. Budge and Andy set off to prospect Die
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Schwer, a large hanging valley east of Kuchlberg Alm - the site of
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Schneeloch, Austria's deepest cave. Our hangover befuddled brains led us up
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the path to Winnerfall - a 50m waterfall resurgence that takes water from
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both Schneeloch and the Die Schwer area. This was very pretty, but wasn't on
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the right route. The right route, however, proved very steep, and after five
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thousand feet of ascent, we found a Frenchman sitting on a rock playing pan
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pipes. Behind him were several tents, and more Frenchmen dressed in caving
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gear. After a rather complicated conversation, the French revealed that they
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had "bagged" the area in 1979 and were just starting to rig into a
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pot that they had pushed to -300m last year.(1) The area looked very
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promising indeed but was one hell of a slog to reach and the campsite was a
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pretty bleak place. Perhaps slightly relieved that the French had beaten us
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to it, Andy and Budge returned to Golling and joined the others in Altaussee.
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<p>The same day, John Bowers and Andy Connolly had set off on a two day high
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level walk into the Wildensee area with Tony Malcolm. The area seemed to
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offer quite a lot, though access would be harder than the traditional
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stomping ground - the only positive benefit was a hut full of schoolgirls who
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invited them to stay the night, so they did !
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<p>The next three weeks saw the thirteen man group caving, walking, swimming,
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sunbathing, eating, drinking and being ill to varying degrees of seriousness.
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Four significant pots were explored and pushed to various ends :
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<h3>Höhle No. 87 (2)</h3>
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A series of pitches leads to a choke at a depth of 111.5 m. The very strong
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draught goes up an inlet opposite the last pitch, but to reach this would
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require bolting. The cave was explored in two trips by Ben and Nick, surveyed
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in one by Budge and Andy, and derigged within the first week, an efficient
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start.
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<h3>Höhle No. 41 Stellerweghöhle</h3>
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This well-concealed cave has been known since the fifties, and was pushed by
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a German group in 1972, supposedly to -276m with a 220m pitch, so we had
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avoided it carefully in previous years. On our first trip in, Andy got lost
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and found a new way on, which led to a quarter mile of passage and the start
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of a new series of pitches which were still going at 330m when we had to pull
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out due to lack of time.(3) The German route was investigated, and was
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horrible with about 220 feet of pitches before virgin ground was found,
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nowhere near -276m, so the route was abandoned.
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<h3>Höhle No. 115 Schnellzughöhle</h3>
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An obvious railway tunnel-like entrance (hence the name) apparently also
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looked at by the Germans, choked almost immediately. The strong draught
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encouraged a dig which took a few days of hard collar to reach a pitch, but
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the way on proved elusive, and was finally found by the derigging party who
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thought it was the obvious way on.
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<h3>Höhle No. 113 Sonnenstrahlhöhle</h3>
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Found by John Bowers, Tony Malcolm and Andy Connolly, the three, known as
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'team Sunbeam' rapidly descended the impressive 40m entrance pitch to reach a
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large snow plugged chamber left by a passage above a short climb up one wall.
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A series of climbs down a large ramp led to Barnsley Methodist Chapel and the
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Opera House, followed by a series of pitches on which a small stream was met
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at Purple Pit. On only the third trip, the three got to a tight sump at
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-230 m, but the two Andys later found a bypass to this, leading to more
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pitches, this time ending at about -300m. The fact that sudden heavy
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thunderstorms produce rapid runoff was highlighted when John, Tony and Andy
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Waddington found themselves at the bottom as a flash flood arrived, but
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luckily were able to sit it out in a dry chamber, while Andy, in retrieving
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Tony's dropped carbide lamp, extended the pot down a small wet streamway
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until the way on got rather intimidating.
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<p>Mike Burgess & Andy Waddington.
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<p>Expedition members present : J T Griffiths, B A Van Millingen, A P
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Malcolm, N Thorne, A S Connolly, A E R Waddington, J A Bowers, C Owen, S R
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Perry, T Lyons, K Baker.
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<p>Notes:<br>(1) This cave was pushed by the French to -650m in 1980 and to
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about -1100m in 1981, ie. about the same depth as Schneeloch.
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<br>(2) All caves in Austria have a Kataster-nummer, which is their number in
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a national catalogue. In Loser the numbers are 1623/xxx and we have only
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named the biggest of our caves.
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<br>(3) In 1981, CUCC & UBSS pushed Stellerweghöhle to a connection
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with the lower reaches of Schnellzughöhle, and then via
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Schnellzughöhle to a total depth of 680m still going. The 1982
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expedition again has a Pennine contingent so watch this space for news !
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<p>References :
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<p>Cambridge Underground <a href="report.htm">1981 pp 9-21</a>
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<br>Proc. UBSS <!-- a href="../../others/ubss/811309.htm" -->Vol. 16 No. 1 pp 11-20
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<br>Cambridge Underground <a href="../1981/report.htm">1982 pp 5-20</a>
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<br>Proc. UBSS <!-- a href="../../others/ubss/831621.htm" -->Vol. 16 No. 2 pp 77-83
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<hr />
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<!-- LINKS -->
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<ul id="links">
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<li><b>1980 Expedition info</b>:
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<ul>
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<li><a href="log.htm">Logbook</a></li>
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<li><a href="report.htm">Expo report, Cambridge Underground 1981</a><br>
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<!-- <li><a href="bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves & Caving Report</a><br> -->
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<li>Stellerweghöhle - <a href="descnt.htm">from Descent 49</a></li>
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<li><a href="song.htm">Another Kick in the Balls</a> (expedition song)</li>
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</ul></li>
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<li><a href="../../pubs.htm#pubs1980">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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