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<title>1979: Cambridge Underground report</title>
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<p><center><font size=-1>CTS 80.1663: Cambridge Underground 1980 pp 12-19</font>
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<h1>Austria 1979</h1></center>
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<p>The 1979 expedition was a small one and necessarily had limited
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objectives. Many of the people involved in previous years had other
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commitments and of the eight who made their way out to the Totes Gebirge,
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three had little or no SRT experience. This being so, the sole aim was to
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continue with the exploration of 106 and, hopefully, bottom it.
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<p>Though most of our attention was centred on 106, Andy C.,Simon K. and
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Tony did make some progress down a draughting hole about a hundred yards
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from 106, numbered 99. It is not clear how this relates to 106, but if it
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does come into 106 then it must do so fairly far down. I don't think that we
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shall bother to follow this up. This year has been the club's fourth in
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Austria and the bottoming of 106 will provide a convenient point for moving
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on.
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<p>There are undoubtedly many more holes to be found on the plateau, but
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most club members have an urge to see somewhere new. This 'somewhere new'
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may indeed be in Austria again as there are still a lot of relatively
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unexplored limestone areas there.
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<p><center>[IMAGE MISSING: LOCATION MAP]
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<!-- img alt="location map - 10k gif" width=600 height=650 src="map.png" --></center>
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<h2><a id="id76">Eislufthöhle (106)</a></h2>
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<p>On the last Saturday in July, Ben van Millingen, Andy Waddington, Tony
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Malcolm, Nick Thorne and Julian Griffiths crossed the channel with two cars
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crammed full of gear. An uneventful drive saw Nick and Julian in Austria by
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Sunday evening. A somewhat more eventful drive saw the rest walking into the
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campsite in Altaussee very early on Tuesday morning, a broken axle bearing
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and a burnt out electrical system being largely to blame. Luckily (?) Ben's
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car had finally given up the ghost only a matter of kilometres away and a
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couple of hour's work saw it safely to the garage where Julian's wrecked
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Fiesta had been left the year before.
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<p>Whilst waiting for the others to arrive, Julian and Nick negotiated free
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access to the plateau and laid a guide-line back from the cave to the col so
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that parties could safely make their exit from the cave in the dark. A
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couple of days were then spent moving rope up to the cave and establishing a
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campsite at the col, and it was not until Thursday that any real progress
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was made down the cave.
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<p>That day, the pot was rigged down to -270m in the course of a seven hour
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trip. The next day, Ben, Tony and Andy W. descended to continue the rigging
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in. Past the 7m eighth pitch, they used a passage noted the year before to
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avoid the 23m broken pitch. A superb freehanging 15m pitch followed by a 9m
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pitch brought them back to the start of the traverses leading to the Fiesta
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Run, at which point they came out.
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<p>The weekend saw the arrival of the other three members of the expedition,
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Andy Connolly, Simon Farrow and Simon Kellet, and the beginning of new
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exploration in the cave. On Sunday, Nick and Julian took the obvious
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traverse past the Fiesta Run. After dropping 3m, the traverse continued to
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the head of a broken 15m pitch. A free climb at the bottom led to the base
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of a large aven where all sounds of the stream, which had been so prominent
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on the traverses, were absent. A steeply inclined and somewhat thrutchy
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canyon opened at the far side of the aven and after 30m of traversing
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another broken 15m pitch was reached. This was followed by a narrow canyon.
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This was beginning to get really silly when it broke out into the side of a
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very large aven. A stream could be heard falling down the aven and a boulder
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lobbed to the floor suggested a pitch of around 15m. Satisfied, but somewhat
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puzzled by the days work, the pair exitted.
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<p>Discussing it with the others in the comfort of Bar Fischer, it was
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decided to abandon this route, the last passage being very narrow indeed ,
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and to try descending the rift just before the first broken 15m pitch at the
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point where the stream was last heard. Accordingly, Ben and Andy went down
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on Monday and started rigging from the 3m drop in the traverse. After a
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couple of metres, the rift widened to form a pleasant shaft to a large ledge
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where a terminal attack of exploration nerves set in and the two came out.
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On Tuesday there was a trip I think Simon F. would prefer forgotten. Suffice
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it to say that a nameless hero emerged after a shattering twelve hour trip
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and was promptly violently ill back at the col campsite (a direct result of
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a surfeit of English beer and cigarettes, I believe). Wednesday was equally
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eventful but in a more encouraging way. Nick and Julian rigged the pitch
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from the ledge. This was 33m deep and forms the lower part of Madlmeier
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Schacht. A short distance on, the head of another pitch was reached. After
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23m the rope was rebolted at a small ledge and a further 18m descended in a
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rift of ever-increasing dimensions. Clambering down 5m at the end of the
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rope, a substantial platform (5m wide by 6m long) saw the start of the 14th
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pitch. 15m below this, the explorers landed on another platform of similar
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dimensions. Our last length of rope was flung down the the pitch that
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followed and Nick descended. Unfortunately the rope finished about 5m from
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the floor necessitating a return, but he saw enough to establish that the
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series of pitches had temporarily come to an end, the passage levelling off
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along the line of the rift.
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<p>There then followed four frustrating days when no caving was done because
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of rain. Although reasonably dry when they were explored, it was evident
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that the last series of pitches was no place to be in wet weather, it being
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impossible to rig the pitches out of the main stream course. It was not
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until Monday 13th August that we went down again. This time five descended:
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Nick, Ben and Simon F. exploring and Andy W. and Julian taking photos and
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measuring pitch lengths. As time was running short we also had hopes of
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derigging some of the pot, in particular the section below Madlmeier
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Schacht, that being the most affected by the weather. In the event, the cave
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did not go very much further.
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<p>Past the previous limit, a climb down boulders followed by a muddy 5m
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pitch led to a large sump pool at a depth of just over 500m. Derigging
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proved slow and strenuous. After much cajoling, 300m of rope eventually
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found its way to the top of the Hall of the Greene King where it was dumped
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and an exit made in times varying from fourteen to sixteen hours.
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<p>During the last two days the cave was completely derigged with the help
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of Simon K., Tony and Andy C. and by Thursday morning all the gear had been
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transported back to the campsite in Altaussee. In the afternoon we departed
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for England.
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<p>Julian Griffiths.
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<hr />
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<h2><a id="id76gd">1623/106</a> EISLUFTHÖHLE Loser Plateau, Totes
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Gebirge, Austria<br>Explored 1977-79 CUCC</h2>
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<p>From the 106A entrance, 15m of stooping passage leads to where the
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original entrance 106 comes in down a 6m snowslope. Doubling back down a
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further 45° snowslope (6m ladder needed) brings one to Draught Bitter,
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the head of the first pitch proper, Plugged Shaft, corkscrewing down 67m past
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snow ledges at 11, 18, 35 and 54m and ending in a fine 13m freehang into a
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large chamber. A short walk down the last of the snow is followed by Saved
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Shaft, a 13m ladder climb landing in Boulder Chamber. A thrutch through the
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boulders is followed by a climb down to the head of Keg Series, the 32m pitch
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of which leads to an undescended 15m pitch which produces no discernible
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draught.
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<p>Traversing over the head of the Keg Series pitch, a further climb down
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brings one to the head of Follow Through Shaft, a 33m pitch split at 19m by a
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large boulder strewn ledge. At the bottom one encounters the first
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significant horizontal passage in the pot. Traversing over and under boulders
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for about 100m leads to The Tap Room, the base of a sizeable aven down which
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a steady trickle of water comes. A 6m handline climb is followed by a sharp
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right turn and a 2m climb up into a narrow traverse which continues in a dead
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straight line for about 30m to a handline climb down 2m into a small chamber
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containing a large jammed boulder. This is the head of a series of pitch
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dropping in stages of 12, 30, 11 and 48m into the Hall of the Greene King, a
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20m diameter aven about 80m high. The 7m balcony pitch which follows lands on
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the floor of the aven. A short walk and climb down now lead to Overhanging
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Boulder pitch (7m). The way now splits.
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<p>Heading right, up a short scramble, leads to the top of a split 20m pitch
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(1978 route). A walk down the 2m wide passage at the bottom and climb 6m down
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a boulder jamb now joins up with the 1979 route at the base of the Gents'
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Pitch. Back at the junction, traversing left down a narrow passage one
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arrives at the head of a beautiful 17m free hanging pitch into a wide vadose
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canyon with a narrow trench in the floor. This is followed downstream to the
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10m Gents' Pitch which unites the two routes.
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<p>Some further 150m of traversing at the bottom of this pitch in a high
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vadose passage ends at the top of the Fiesta Run, a 28m sloping muddy pitch.
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The way again splits at the bottom of this pitch. A traverse over the obvious
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blackness below is follwed by 15m and 23m pitches and a tight crawl to an
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undescended pitch, while rigging the pitch down the hole at the bottom of the
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Fiesta Run yields Madlmeier Schacht, a damp 61m abseil split at 28m by a
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ledge. The shaft now begins to bell out to magnificent proportions and a
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short climb over a boulder is followed by a 43m pitch split at 24m. A 5m
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climb then leands to the top of the wet pitches of 24 and 17m landing on the
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floor of a large level passage covered in shingle and small boulders. A short
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walk and a climb down a boulder blockage end at a 5m pitch down mud covered
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walls to the brink of a splendid sump chamber at a depth of about 506m.
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<p align=right>Simon Farrow
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<p><hr />
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<h2><a id="id89">Caves 89 and 99</a></h2>
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<p>As the heavyweights plunged on into the depths, Andy and Tony (Team
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Extremely-Enthusiastic-and-fit-but-willing-to-allow-others-the-ultimate-glory)
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were left to play at exploration on the surface, leading to the discovery of
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some rather unspectacular holes, but including 89 - a 25m shaft into a
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narrow rift of approximately zero lateral extension.
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<p>With days running out just prior to the frustrating wet season, we had a
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look at 99, which is about 30m from the entrance to 106. This had been noted
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at the same time as the latter (on the 77 expedition) as a strongly
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draughting hole, but considering the close proximity to 106, the progress
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being made there, and the possibility of it being connected, it had been
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left alone.
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<p>Having rigged a ladder down the snow slope of the entrance gallery, Andy
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disappeared to examine the head of a pitch. From an ice perch, a shaft
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descended at about 70° in a line roughly back to the 106 entrance.
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Bolting was quickly effected, after which Andy descended a 20m snow-lined
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pitch on rope. At the base was a snow duck under a rock wall beyond which a
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small rift-like chamber descended about 3m. Straight ahead at the same level,
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the rift quickly became an impenetrable slot through which could be seen a 2m
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wide passage with an ice floor running down from right to left at an angle of
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5 to 10°. This was the source of the strong draught.
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<p>Feeling the effects of the icy draught, Andy returned to the surface to
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report and Tony descended to confirm the situation and to progress, if
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possible, below the level of the draught. Unfortunately the slot was too
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small, but below it there was another low hole. This leaked a vague draught
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and led to a small boulder strewn ledge with a definite blackness continuing
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to the left behind more boulders. Energetic but nervous removal of boulders
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gave obvious signs of a continuation. Requiring some backup, Tony returned
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to the surface.
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<p>It was decided to return the next day when there would be more time
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available. Unfortunately, the rain then set in, leaving those not involved
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in 106 confined to camp. When we did return (on the day 106 was bottomed) we
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got through the dig onto a lower ledge with a 1m diameter shaft dropping in
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a corkscrew at least 20m. We were constrained by lack of bolts, and were
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forced to begin derigging with time running out for the expedition anyway.
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Thanks to Simon Kellet for keeping us amused on our last visit.
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<p>Mon aeroglisseur, qui resemble un peu à un bateau (merci Torquil),
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est remplit des gymnotes. Merci à tous ceux qui m'ont porté en
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stop en France l'année dernière. [I suspect that this is not
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entirely relevant - Editor]
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<p align=right>Tony Malcolm
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<h2><a name="svy">Survey Notes</a></h2>
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<p>The completed survey of 106 and a sketch (!) of 99 are included, together
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with a surface survey of the Loser plateau. Due to the clino packing up and
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the uncooperative nature of the survey tape, the 106 survey is only grade
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one below Hall of the Greene King depth or thereabouts. Depths were mainly
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calculated by measuring rope lengths on pitches so the final depth of 506m
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is possibly not extremely accurate.
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<p><center><img alt="Upper half of survey of 1623/76 (aka 106)" width=1156 height=1876 src="../../1623/76/76upper.png">
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<br>
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<img alt="Lower half of survey of 1623/76 (aka 106)" width=1168 height=1851 src="../../1623/76/76lower.png">
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</center>
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<p><center><img alt="3d sketch of 1623/99" width=689 height=1000 src="../../1623/99/99sketch.png"></center>
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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="log.htm">Logbook</a></li>
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<li><a href="bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves & Caving Report</a></li>
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<li>Eislufthöhle - <a href="descnt.htm">from Descent 44</a></li>
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<li>Nick Thorne's write-up in <a href="792026.htm">Belfry Bulletin 378</a></li>
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<li>Odkrycie i eksploracja Eislufthöhle - <a href="811412.htm">original
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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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