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<title>1994: An independent view</title>
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<p>This write-up was first published in the "Cavers' Digest" (an internet
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mailing list) #id4871, submitted 20th July 1994, just after the Expo. Thanks to
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Bob Bloodworth for permission to use it here and to reprint it in
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<b>Cambridge Underground 1996</b>.
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<h3>Subject: An American Wrinklie on Expedition in Austria</h3>
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<p>I recently got onto Cavers-Digest looking for people to cave with on the
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European continent. One of the familiar sigs on the digest, Wookey, from the
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Cambridge University Caving Club (CUCC) invited me to join them for part of
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their yearly 5 week expedition to explore Kaninchenhöhle near Bad
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Aussee, Austria. KH is a very vertical cave in the mountains near Dachstein.
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The current survey goes about 500m deep with 10 km of passages, but there is
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much more to be explored. Although I was a novice to vertical caves, and (as
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Wookey graciously pointed out) about 10 years older than most of the
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participants, I accepted Wookey's friendly invitation to join the "Expo" for
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a few days of caving. I spent the next couple of weeks collecting gear and
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practicing SRT in the trees of the Rheinpark near my apartment. As Wookey
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wasn't able to make the trip to KH this year, I sent him the following letter
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detailing my experiences. He suggested that I post it to the Digest with a
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few notes to help the uninitiated. The names of the various parts of the cave
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probably won't mean much to those who havn't been there, but surveys are
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available to those who are really interested in this deep large system.
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<p>As there were no innocents on this expedition, none of the names have been
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changed to protect anyone.<hr />
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<h2>"<a name="tale">Tale</a> of an American Wrinklie on Expedition in Austria"</h2>
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<p>It started out so well on Tuesday evening after work, the sky a blazing
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red over Cologne as I headed to the train station with happy thoughts of cool
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caves, the sun roof open and the windows down. Well, at least it was good
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until I tried to put the passenger side window (electric) back up and it
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jammed. An hour later I had taken apart the door in the parking lot and
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repaired the window, but had missed my train.
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<p>I ended up arriving about 2h late in Bad Aussee on Wednesday morning, and
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found Karin's Gasthaus on the edge of town easily. She looked a little
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shocked as I asked her "Haben Sie eine Gruppe englischer Höhlenforscher
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zur Gast?" Apparently she hadn't expected anyone with the group to be able
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to speak German and was preparing herself for some type of complaint, but as
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I made it clear I only wanted to join the group she dutifully directed me to
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a virtually deserted base camp. Everyone had already headed for top camp (a
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45 min drive and a good hours hike up the mountain). Luckily, Shawn was
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doggedly festering and offered to take me up to top camp. In retrospect, I
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think he was happy for an excuse go to top camp without actually having to
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go caving!
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<p>(Note: Festering, for our american readers, has nothing to do with open
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wounds. It is rather a Cambridge term for wasting time doing anything other
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than what you are supposed to be doing; be that working, studying, or in
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this case, caving)
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<p>The day was shot, as it started raining heavily upon my arrival at top
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camp, a collection of tents on a flowering alpine meadow. We spent the day
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going back down into town, purchasing large quantities of beer, and hauling
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it up on our backs. Andy was virtually jogging up the path to top camp with
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his rucksack full of beer and I really had to work to keep up. At this
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point, I was beginning to wonder if maybe I had bitten off more than I could
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chew. Until that is, that I found out later that Andy is just one of those
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hard-core, terribly fit mountain types who pushes everything to the limit!
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<p>Several beers later, out of either gratitude, pity, inebriation, or a
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combination of the three, Mike and Andy suggested that we go on a short
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(7-8h) trip down the main shaft to Vestabule to introduce me to SRT and to
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check out some question marks before the expo dinner the next day. The cave
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entrance was pretty impressive (as was the murderous walk up to it), going
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down, down, down those pitches, and learning by doing SRT. After negotiating
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a pretty tight squeeze which I am told you (Wookey) were responsible for
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finding (thanks) we eventually got to Vestabule, Andy set up some rigging
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for the next pitch down. His rad deviation required a 90 deg full body
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length chimney move and herculean strength to cross, but it was tightly
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rigged and therefore O.K. Mike found a short climb at the bottom, and a
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passage that got us back to Gnome II. Thank God for that, as we were in a
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hurry to get back in time for dinner and in no mood to do the Squeeze again.
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Mike went back to get the rigging that had been set up for the trip down
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into Vestabule and got a taste of adventure as the bolt popped out as he was
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prusiking up. The combination of Andy's tight rigging and some rotten rock
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combined to give him quite a scare. Thank goodness for that natural backup
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anchor!
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<p>After checking out some question marks and making plans for next trip, we
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hauled ass back for the Expo dinner, where we had a great time eating,
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drinking, and singing cave songs. This was fun, but the high point of the
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evening had to be when Kate accepted a bet to eat 10 chocolate cake desserts
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without losing it.., and she did! I and everyone else at the table was
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completely dazed and amazed by this accomplishment, even after some 5 min
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later, as she held her mouth and ran for the ladys room, looking a bit
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green.
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<p>I was thinking, <i>"These CUCC cavers are good people"</i>.
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<p>The only casualty of the Expo I know of happened after dinner, as Alister
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stubbed his toe crossing the road from the Gasthaus back to base camp.
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Karin, our patient hostess, drove us to the local hospital, where the night
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doctor asked quaintly, "Haf he somesing soo trinking?". Apparently it wasn't
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bad enough for stitches.
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<p>Friday we got an early start and made it up to the cave entrance by 2pm.
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:-)
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<p>Julian, Steve, Kate and I went down to Algeria (a tall chamber dominating
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an entrance shaft named France) and after abseiling halfway down an adjacent
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large chamber onto a ledge, we found just masses of new cave. A big, approx.
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7m wide sloping passage that looks like a dried up river bed (tentatively
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named Mississippi, after the river of my hometown) and several side passages
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heading in the general direction of Stellerweg (another deep cave nearby),
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each ending in a different tall chamber. The passage Julian and I looked at
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was so filled with deep soft chocolatey mud, that Kate (appropriately
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enough) suggested that it be named Mississippi Mud Pie. Kate found a lovely
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crawl of her own that I'm sure you'd like as well <g>.
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<p>Well, after surveying all the new stuff and adding numerous question
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marks to the survey map, we headed up for breakfeast. Unfortunately, my
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batteries gave out just after I had clipped into the hanging rebelay in
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Algeria about 30-40m above the chamber floor. I ended up prussiking up to a
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ledge with a mini mag torch in my mouth where I could finally change
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batteries. After about two hours of SRT ascending torture and a lovely walk
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back in the morning twilight, we had a great breakfast of Vesta's dehydrated
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chicken and rice and caught a few hours of much needed sleep. We woke up at
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noon Saturday realising that a moutain tent also doubles as a broiling oven
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in the midday heat. Andy and Mike were arriving at top camp, psyched to
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check out and survey a few question marks from the previous trip on
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Thursday. "A great opportunity to get in another long trip and still catch
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my train Sunday afternoon", I thought, and quickly packed my gear for the
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trudge up to the entrance.
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<p>We dropped down and used the new detour to Vestabule, climbing back up
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and derigging Driller Killer in the process. That tight traverse along the
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very deep ridge connecting the two pitches is a bitch with a big bag of
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rope, and we were happy to be doing it for the last time. Anyway, we pushed
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and found loads of new ?'s, finally deciding to survey our way out about 1
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am. My dead batteries the night before had me convinced of the joys of
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carbide and I was using Anthony s lamp and generator. I was so happy to find
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that I could also use it like a hot water bottle under my oversuit to help
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me keep warm while waiting around to prussik! Another morning climb back
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down to top camp and another breakfast of delicous Vestas completed my
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caving experience at the '94 CUCC Expo. I was as tired as I've probably been
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in a long time. My body was sore and bruised, my hands scraped, and my
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fingertips numbed. I felt like I had been run over by a semi and was happy
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as hell about it.
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<p>Mike and I drank a few brews at base camp to unwind as Olly (author of
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SURVEX) typed the new survey data into the computer. Andy, the wild man,
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stayed up top and was going for his 4th caving trip of the week.
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<p>As it was, I ended up spending a grand total of about 33hrs on three
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trips underground in about 3 days. Helped survey about 500m of new cave with
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about 65 survey stations. I also learned a hell of a lot about european
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caving techniques (and english organizational skills, or the pleasant
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absence thereof <g>). I was pretty beat as Olly dropped me off at the
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Bahnhof for the ride home, but I was smiling because I knew I'd be back
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again next year. Thanks for making it possible Wookey.
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<p>bob
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<hr />
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<p>I want to publicly thank everyone from the CUCC at the Expo. Everyone was
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just great, never making me feel like an idiot for being a novice. I liked
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the folks from CUCC; besides being good cavers, they are a lot of fun to
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party with! I can't thank them enough for letting me tag along for a few days
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of caving. As Wookey so aptly put it:
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<p><b>"The Internet is good gear!"</b>
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<p>Robert Bloodworth
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<hr />
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<!-- LINKS -->
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<ul id="links">
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<li><a href="http://cucc.survex.com/jnl/1996/index.htm">Table of Contents</a>
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for Cambridge Underground 1996</li>
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<li>1994 Expedition info:
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<ul>
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<li><a href="index.htm">Index</a> (more complete than this list)</li>
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<li><a href="log.htm">Logbook</a></li>
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<li>Expedition <a href="report.htm">Report</a> 1994</li>
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<li><a href="bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves & Caving</a> Report</li>
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<li>Index to <a href="161.htm">Kaninchenhöhle trips</a> in the log</li>
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<li>This year's <a href="sponsr.htm">sponsors</a></li>
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</ul></li>
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<li>(Index of) <a href="../../pubs.htm#pubs1994">Published accounts</a></li>
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<li><a href="../../sponsr.htm">Current year's</a> sponsors</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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