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<h1>Expo 2002</h1>
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<hr />
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28-29/7/02
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<u>Wook</u> & Alex
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The Lardmobile's first big trip
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Having spent the previous week finally fettling the wookmobile to run on veg oil, using the system for the drive to Austria was something
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of a leap of faith, as, for example, only the day before I had melted the float sensor, and I hadn't got round to making the tank level
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sensor work (amongst other things) requiring guessing how full the tank is.
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Supposed to catch a 9.30 ferry & be at the port at 8.30. Left my home at 5.20, a mere 20 mins late for intending to get to Alex's near
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Colchster at 6. Unfortunately car died en route. Foud that one fo the 3 plastic T-pieces in the plumbing had melted, despite being OK for
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various trips in the previous week. Swapped bits around to get going again but dropped cap afer bleeding system (aargh!) and wasted more
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time looking for it. Finally pinched one off a bike tyre and continued. Took ages to get to Colchester and then got a bit lost trying to
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find Alex's. All this meant it was 7.15 at Alex's (1 1/2 hours late). At this point realized Colchester is no closer to Dover than
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Cambridge. Net result is we missed the ferry by 15mins - first time I've ever missed an outgoing ferry. Waited until 01.45 (getting some
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kip) & then nice 2hr kip on board (Norfolk lines -> Dunkirk). Then usual drive across Europe, elivened somewhat by buying loads of
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lard in supermarkets & pouring it into system (cheapest oil comes in 1 litre pots!) Arrived at Hilde's ~11pm in time for a couple of
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beers. Bloody Hell - it works! Only problem was a horrible graunching from rear left whieel which is obviously shagged - hopefully it'll
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make it back to the UK.
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<hr />
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30/07/02
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<u>Wook</u> + Ol
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Gear carrying
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Carry up hill & install bivi, extracting gear from cave to install water collection.
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T/U: Wook 30mins
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<hr />
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31/7/02
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<u>Wook</u> + Ol
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Moved gear to cave. Tried to follow portal row beyond 40e. Thrashed through bunde for a bit but found nothing so came back higher up
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finding a copule of promising holes, see next write-up.
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T/U: 10mins in 02-W-01
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<hr />
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01/8/02
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<u>Wook</u> + Ol
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Surface work near portal row
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After carrying more shit up hill it was too late to do a big Eishöhle trip so we decided to check out a couple of caves we found the
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day before (when trying to see if there were more entrances beyond "portal row" after delivering our caving gear). There was a cave in a
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gully & a huge shaft, neither of which showed markings or signs of descent.
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<b>40f</b>: Returned to big shaft (just 20m from below traverse on 163 -> 40s route) to find that the obvious rig point had a shiny
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stainless fixed hanger - so much for it being new! Wook dropped shaft to see what happened. Classic pitch lands on slope to snow. Down
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side of snow leads into passage containing ... red climbing rope, i.e. the top of Brennerbeserlschluf (40e) before the snow volcano into
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SVH - i.e. this shaft is 40f - Königschacht. GPSsed it.
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<b>02-W-01</b>: Next went to look at other "new" cave (~120m away from 40f on 349°). On looking to rig short 10m pitch noticed there
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was a bolt - someone has been here before. At bottom of pitch narrow passage comes back parallel to upper passage to squeeze. Ol went
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round outside to find another entrance which comes in here. Significant draught comes out of canyon in floor, but this is blocked by
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boulders. Very easy dig with a crowbar to get in. GPS: UTM 33T 0411445 5281039 (WGS84). Grade 2 survey - see survey book.
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Also drew survey of 40f & area plan covering both. Photoed 40f & put in tag bolt.
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T/U: 40f Wook 35mins; 02-W-01 Wook 25mins Ol 10mins
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<hr />
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02/8/02
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<u>Wook</u> + Ol
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Eishöhle, Mission Impossible
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Rigged in. Ol had foolishly removed traverse line at top of "Good Afternoon Mr Phelps" (to stop it getting trapped in the ice). So had to
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use 5 ice-screw placements to regain the top. Then rigged next climb & pitches down to duck to find the pool very wet again. Pushed
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sacks through & continued to pendule. Used old rope to get across but put new rope on it as it had been across shaft all year. Then up
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ramps as far as bottom of "for down". Time to go home in order to get down hill for more gear. Useful start.
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T/U: 5 hrs.
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<hr />
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04/8/02
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<u>Wook</u> + Ol
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Eishöhle, Mission Impossible
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Shedloads of gear: 98m rope for connecting down rift plus drill + battery, 2 more bags of rope + small bag of food + rigging gear. Far too
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much shit for 2. Oh yes, and 20m of hosepipe! Put hose into sump and with some difficulty set it siphoning down big MI pitch. Then on +
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up, rerigging last ramp above "for down". Fonally on up to last year's QMs at Crack of Doom.
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Next went up to rope hanging out of roof. Ol shinned up & took off gear to try squeeze at top. Just got even more miserable beyond.
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Declared dead. Entertaining time reversing + derigging without leaving hangers behind. Ol succeeded in climbing back down at some risk to
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life + limb. Small rock knocked down speared a hole right through 10m bit lying at base!
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Concluded that draught comes out of thin canyon in roof (as well as Crack of Doom). Went back to main rift where Ol dropped huge rock on
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his foot climbing back out. Whilst he retreated, Wook had a look up the ramp. Blind at the top but off to the right is a climb up a
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canyon. Too hard to solo but there is an easy "back way" which lets you look down several metres into a large canyon lower down. Difficult
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5m climb down gets to shelf but rope needed to go further. Now definitely time for bed, so made our way out, finding that duck level had
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dropped ~10cm in 7hrs.
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T/U: 9 3/4 hrs.
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<hr />
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01/8/02
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<u>Duncan</u> flies to expo
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...well, most of the time was spent in cars, buses or trains, but bang on 12 hours from my bed to the fridge in the tatty hut.
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<hr />
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05/8/02
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<u>Wook</u> + Ol
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Surface investigations in Eishöhle area
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As Ol had bruised foot, went to sort some surface stuff. Went to bowl containing 40s (Gruner Eingang), 217 + 229 + another hole.
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<b>229</b>: First put tag bolt in for 229 (explored + surveyed by ARGE in 2000). Point "1" inside cave was obvious. Surface point "0" was
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less obvious (paint faded) but found it after a bit. Unable to put bolt in here as point crumbled, so put it in middle of <font
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face="Symbol">W</font> 20cm away. Didn't put in tag as didn't have one. Resurveyed 0-1 (as a check) and surveyed 0-tag bolt. GPSsed nearby
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(2m away to get out from under cliff a bit). Sketch of entrance area done. Incorrectly thought this cave was 226 at time of survey;
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records all corrected. Photoed entrance + approach.
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<b>2002-W-02</b>: Next went to check out rift hole directly below 229, as there seemed to be no evidence that it has been properly
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described, despite definitely having been looked at (probably repeatedly). Ent is about 20m below 229 + 15m away from 40s. 5m deep rift,
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snow at bottom. Upper end chokes, lower end continues into narrow canyon going in direction of 40s. There is a vocal connection at the
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start of the canyon to 217. (Light can just be seen - far too narrow to pass). Surveyed cave (grade 3-4), put in tag bolt (but no tag),
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and surveyed to 40s tag.
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<i>[Editor's note: Owing to a cockup with lost kataster forms, several caves in this area were allocated numbers that had in fact been
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given to ARGE, and new numbers were later issued. I have copied out the description verbatim, using the numbers then in use; but these are
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not the final numbers - see <a href="../2004/kataster2004.html">here</a> for a list of the subsequent alterations.]</i>
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<b>To 233 area</b> Next went up "path" towards 163 but instead of taking down-trending traverse ledge (above 40f) after very steep slope
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up, we continued up slope and to left to look at various things Martin + Olly noted last year. All in area SW of 163 above portal row zone
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+ below VSMK summit cliffs. Very broken area.
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<b>233</b>: First went to 233 - Drei Eingang Abdrosselnhöhle (3-entrance choke). Put in tag bolt by main entrance + tag. As other 2
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entrances are within 10m, putting tags on those seemed excessive.
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<b>Snow Skylight (2001-08):</b> Right next to 233 ('c' entrance is ~10m from 233c) is this cave. Impressive view down a hole in an alcove
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to sunlit snow (ent a). Top shaft entrance is hidden in bunde above (ent b). Big 5m diameter shaft. Third ent (c) is narrow rift
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connecting to alcove. Descended from single thread over a few rubs to reach bottom (20m rope minimum). Checked it out thoroughly. A proper
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survey would be good. Very photogenic inside. Photoed down shaft, down canyon/alcove pitch, and views of all 3 entrances. Put tag bolt in
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at a. Grade 2 survey.
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<b>2001-07</b> Next headed east across choss bowl + steps to 2001-07, Hoffnungschacht ("RATTLE" in the GPS). Very narrow hole in rift with
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[??, could be "fern"] in entrance. Very good rattle when you throw rocks. Good flake to rig off allows descent. Ledge at -8m then another
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at -11, now into wider rift. 2 'tectors needed as rock very sharp. Bottoms at -22m. Choked floor. Can see through to continuation below
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but not suitable for shorts + T-shirt (the whole cave isn't really!) so not checked out to bitter end. If there is a draught it is in not
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out and isn't strong. Ought to be finished off one day. Put in tag/rig backup bolt. Photoed. Grade 2 survey.
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<b>HFG-KA88:</b> Next headed down a couple of ledges, closer to 163 to cave marked by Franco-German group in 1988. Markings hard to read
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but look like "1623 / BFG-(?K)(?A)88". There is mention of a "HFG-KA" group exploring L&amul;rchenschacht so that's almost certainly what
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it says. Nice sloping shaft on rift/diaclase. Photoed markings, entrance + approach view. GPSsed as "BFG88" (since renamed "HFG88"). Has
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red splodge which is probably a "+" rather than a "-". Needs tagging.
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<b>163:</b> Climbed around and down into 163 bowl. Photoed ent with cave-marking board + checked it was tagged (so 163 tag left in box is
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superfluous).
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<b>234 (Speedy Ant)</b>: Finally followed path towards 162 for ~100m to "Speedy Ant" cave. Put in tag bolt + 234A tag. Dropped pitch to
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snow + found continuation through small hole into space at bottom. Very miserable in shorts due to snow! Grade 2 survey.
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Finally went home for tea!
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T/U Wook 45min in 2002-W-02, 20min in 2001-08, 15min in 234. Ol 10min in 2002-W-02.
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<hr />
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06/8/02
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<u>Wook</u> + Ol
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Back on surface
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Ol's foot still poorly in welly so took gear back up to yesterday's caves to survey + finish off / push. Ol found one about 8m off the L
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of the path, shortly after leaving 40s before steep section past 40f. Unobvious slot entrance looks choked but in fact can be climbed donw
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7m to look into largish chamber (~6m across). Needs rope for descent. Did sketch survey, put in tag/rig bolt + GPSsed as <b>02-OB-01</b>.
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Photoed ent + approach view, then carried to what we were supposed to be doing.
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<b>88F + 230</b> Ol went and found these two and tagged them whilst Wook was faffing down 234.
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<b>234:</b> Down again. Took ages due to solo surveying down pitch after Ol had gone. Then dropped through tight slot after moving a rock
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- quite exciting as a little committing. Inside large snow slope with 3 avens. Choked at far end. Surveyed as far as possible on own.
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Pitch off to one side needed Ol down to pass me more rope. Also now able to measure chamber with someone to tape. Pitch went ~8m down past
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ice to a choke. Off out. Now started raining properly; hid in bivi site opposite 163 for half an hour before heading back to bivi + down
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hill.
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T/U: Wook 2hrs, Ol 30mins in 234; 10mins in 02-OB-01.
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<hr />
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28/7/02
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<u>Earl</u> + Mark + 1/2 Ton of Expo gear go to Austria in a van
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Departed Cavendish Labs at 4.10pm, having finally got (nearly) all the necessary gear together an dpacked into Earl's van and the
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Wookmobile (Ol having taken a good amount of gear out already). Mark had passed his driving test a week before, and so I was wondering
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what the drive woudl be like. I'm pleased to report that it was entirely fine. Mark drove to Dover and we took the 8.15pm Sea France
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ferry to Calais. Needing some fuel we tried to find the Calais ELF station. As we ended up in a Carrefour carpoark where the 24hr pums
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didn't take English credit cards, herewith some directions: from the ferry terminal, take the main road out following signs to Dunkirk and
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Calais centre. At the turnoff for Calais centre, <u>don't go to Calais centre</u> (which is the first exit on the roundabout). Instead,
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carry on round the roundabout 3/4 to where the ELF station is visible.
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Anyway, Mark drove on to just after Brussels. Slightly oddy, we were stuck in a traffic jam at 1:30am getting into Brussels. Quite why was
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uncertain, but tailbacks several miles at this time of night seemed odd. I drove on from Brussels to within 50km of Frankfurt. By this
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time it was 6.30am and we decided that some sleep was in order. We pulled off the motorway (leaving he early morning rush hour traffic
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behind) and found a random layby and deployed carrymats and sleeping bags in the early morning sun. I managed to grab a few hours' sleep
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before being roasted out of my pit by the sun, but unfortunately Mark was kept awake by a surprising quantity of traffic on this rural
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road. After a brief breakfast we continued along the A3; I drove to near Regensburg, where Mark took over to complete the journey.
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As we were good and paid up for an Austrian vignette for the motorways, we thought we would try the new motorway from Wles to Liezen
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rather than the more usual Ried-Volklabruck-Gmunden-Bad Ischl route. This would have been a reasonable choice, not much faster, but
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somewhat simpler. However, the motorway was still under construction so we got to go round mountains, admiring the new but unused tunnels
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that will one day carry the motorway through them. As a finale, the 5km road tunnel under the Pyhrnpaß is two-way without any
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central reservation and only minimal lighting... Anyway, continued on to Liezen and Bad Mitterndorf and so to Bad Aussee, arriving on time
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for a bier at Hilde's.
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T/U 15mins in various road tunnels.
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<hr />
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9/8/02
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Tony, Alex, <u>Earl</u>
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Steinbrücken
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Went in through 204E. Earl rigged the main 204e pitch, adding a bolt, but leaving it in need of another rebelay. Tony joined us and we
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descended to Boulder Coaster / Treeumphant Passage junction. Walked round to Great Oak Chamber to look at the feasibility of attempting
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the traverse to the large A lead visible across the chamber. After a bit of thought, we go for it. Tony lifelines Earl out from a boulder
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on one side of the chamber. As I go, I clear a ledge of loose boulders and add a number of bolts with shiny new drill. Feeding the rope
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through a carabiner at each hanger means I don't have to tie the knots as I go, plus Tony can give me just the right amount of rope,
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withough me bothering with a stop or having a heavy tackle sack dangling off me. Also, the rope is always tight, and if I did fall the
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fall factor is much less than 0.1 as there is rope through the karabiners to take the shock. From what was an uncertain start, a good
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ledge and taut traverse emerges. When I got to the end I returned to the start, rigging the rope properly to the maillons. Alex and Tony
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came to see what lies beyond.
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After only a few minutes I am called across to bring rope and slings. It appears that the huge A lead closes down within about 15m, and
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the only way on is a couple of C-grade leads in one wall. We try a small phreatic tube, but it gets rather committing, and climb up a
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loose flakey wall, but that also becomes a bit risky. We decide to run away.
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We leave the traverse rigged for a photography and survey trip, and Earl suggests that the quickest way back might be through 204a (we did
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not go back out of 204e as it needed another rebelay to avoid a rub). So we go through No Pain No Gain and up to the base of Thread Pitch,
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which Duncs had rigged earlier that day. However, there was NO ROPE there... "Maybe he rigged Pendulum Pitch instead?" we thought. So we
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went to Pendulum Pitch to find that there is NO ROPE there either. I check at You're So Veined, and there is indeed a rope there, so the
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conclusion we came to is that for some reason Duncs has pulled the rope up after him on leaving the cave...
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So we return through No Pain No Gain and ehad out to 204d via Swings and Roundabouts. The rubble slope up to Suspended Solution is still
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really loose and if anything there are more threatening Big Boulders which could be dislodged by the careless/unwary. We pulled-through on
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the climb donw into Living Daylight Cavern and free-climbed out through 204d. Returned to Steinbrucken bivvy, Tony cursing the "route"
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which had been mainly chosen for surveying (taking in all high points) and not really for ease of progress... A reasonable trip, combining
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new exploration work with a (rather longer than expected) tourist around the main horizontal development in Steinbrucken.
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<hr />
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2/8/02
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<u>Dunks</u> + Mark
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Artischockehohle (2002-01) + Hauchhohle (2001-09)
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First off popped some bolts into 204a for an improved descent of the cave. Then went + surveyed the newly found Artischockehohle. Fine 3m
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walking passage ends in a boulder choke with a couple of chambers separated by crawls. Dunks the daft managed to entomb himself in the
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choke for half an hour, eventually digging himself out. Then went to survey Hauchhohle, but instead spent about 3 hours digging, finding
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some crawls and a new ~20m draughting pitch
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T/U 1 hr in 2002-01, 3 hrs in 2001-09
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<hr />
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8/8/02
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<u>Duncan</u>, Steve
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204: Rigging down Ariston
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Rigged down Ariston series with Steve + a big bag of rope. Snow levels on 2nd pitch of the entrance series very low, so went via Thread
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Pitch rather than Stitch This.
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T/U 5hrs
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<hr />
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??/8/02
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<u>Ben</u>, Duncan, Frank, Anthony
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204
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Duncan and Ben proceeded to the top of Kiwi Suit pitches and rerigged them placing several bolts. Carried on down Razor Dance and noted
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mud on the walls from trip 2 years ago - no major flooding then. Rigged handline climb and placed 2 bolts. We then continued to the
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undescended pitch found 2 years ago. Traversed out above the pitch head and gained a free hang (approx 15m) well away from the water (3
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bolts used), massive hanging "plate" of rock above the pitch head. We then surveyed down the pitch and into the continuing streamway at
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the bottom. Below the pitch the streamway gets distinctly easier, and continues for about 50m until a climb down (5m) reaches the head of
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another pitch visible beyond.
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At this point Duncan and Ben headed back to the bottom of the new pitch to collect more rope. As we arrived Anthony and Frank could be
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heard above. Ben and Duncan headed out as Anthony and Frank continued exploration. Ben and Duncan finally reached the surface at 1.30am, a
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trip of 12 hours. Ben's brand new Meander oversuit was totally fucked after its first ever trip.
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Frank and <u>Anthony</u> carried on. Frank put some bolts in the next pitch. Anthony descended 12m to a ledge that the water bounces off.
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A deviation off what proved to be a temporary natural failed to save him from a thorough drenching on the rest of the descent. This, plus
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a likely rub point, prevented him from going all the way to the bottom. It is about as far again from the ledge, and it appears that the
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stream flows off into a rift again at the bottom. There is a parallel route that might provide a dry descent. After that we buggered off
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out, emerging at 5.30am.
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T/U Duncan + Ben 12hrs, Anthony + Frank 11 1/2 hours
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<hr />
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8/8/2002
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Wook, <u>Olly</u>
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Eishohle
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Back to the top of MI to look at the continuation of the rift which Wook found last time. Siphon still siphoning the duck - still not
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empty. Realised that the pushing front we'd forgotten the drill bit (but had carried the drill + battery). Rigged off naturals with the
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36m dynamic rope. Looks like the rift is continuing up at much the same angle, but is now somewhat wider - at least at higher levels.
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Pushed up to waterfall (i.e. floor of rift has risen to our level) and also traversed back to bypass our rigging and return to last ramp
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of 2001 series. Scaling rift looks hard. Might be possible to regain top by entering from higher window up ramp, but hard to be
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enthusiastic about yet more bolting up when we're already 100m above our target. Surveyed and derigged to ramp after pendule. Tried to
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take some photos of MI with Expo camera and also with Wook's digital. Only one digital one worked - hopefully film worked better! Emerged
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at 5.20am to glorious dawn.
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T/U 10 hours (?)
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<hr />
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10/8/02
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Wook, Tess, Alex, Ol's Mum and Dad, <u>Ol</u>
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SVH tourist
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Walked up with parents, and met Alex (who had come down from 204) at Appelhaus junction. Wook had gone to collect Tess from Salzburg
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airport and they caught us up just as we reached the 40A bivvy (took us 2 hours - not bad going). Had a brew and went on to 40h, descended
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and toured the chamber. Mum tripped over crampons twice, but still seemed to enjoy it. Alex had a go at ascending the first MI pitch and
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got strung up on the rebelay while we shouted helpful advice. Journey downhill to 1 1/2 hours (Wook + Tess stayed at the bivvy) arriving
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at the car just as darkness fell.
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T/U 2 hours
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<hr />
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17/8/02
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Steve, Mark, <u>Ol</u>
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Eishöhle, checking out passages behind 40A bivvy
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Decided to see if we could find any side leads from older parts of Eishöhle, since SVH has been looked at rather thoroughly. Rigged
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down ramp and over edge. No sign of spits for rebelay so used a 'tector. Steve followed, Mark reached last rebelay before edge and decided
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he'd rather go in through 40s. Later turned out he'd fled back to base camp instead. The pitch down has a very spacious feel
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