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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
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CUCC Expo Prospecting Handbook Issues
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../css/main2.css" />
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<h2 id="tophead">CUCC Expedition Handbook</h2>
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<h1>Prospecting - issues</h1>
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<figure class="onright">
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<a href="i/2015-08-03-aerw.jpg">
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<img src="t/2015-08-03-aerw-small.jpg" alt="The 'route' across the plateau"></a>
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<figcaption>Part of the 'route' across the plateau - note the cairns<br />click for larger image</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p>Much of the area of <a href="../guidebook/plateau.html">the Loser Augst-Eck plateau</a> is rough limestone
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pavement (<b>karren</b>), liberally covered with dense areas of dwarf pine,
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and interspersed with small cliffs, open shafts and snow patches. The latter,
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in particular, can change the appearance of the plateau from year to year,
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and even from week to week in the summer.
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<p> Getting from one point to another
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may involve detours to avoid any of these obstacles, and the whole effect is
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very disorientating. There are few landmarks recognisable from a distance or
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from a variety of angles, and little chance to relate the ground to the
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1:25000 Austrian Alpine Club map. If you are only 5m off the route you may
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have lost the way on.
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<p>So walking on the plateau is difficult, and in bad weather (as in
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July 2019) can be
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seriously dangerous if attempted unaccompanied. The
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<a href="../guidebook/walkin.htm">route to the plateau</a>
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is deceptively safe and easy by comparison.
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<p>Prospecting is either a matter of searching
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for promising-looking caves with a draught, or shaft bashing many open holes
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in the hope that one will go. This latter approach is often a waste of time,
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but just a few of them lead to really significant finds! Much of the
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exploration now is beyond the Steinbrücken bivvy in the area known as
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<a href="../guidebook/remote.html">the far plateau</a></p>
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<p><b>Shaft bashing:</b> <a href="../1623/others/l/lrh0.htm">
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<img src="../1623/others/t/lrh0.jpg" class="icon" width="143" height="173"
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alt="Lost Rucksack Hole 0" /></a>
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<a href="../1623/others/l/lrh.htm"><img src="../1623/others/t/lrh.jpg"
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class="icon" width="123" height="169"
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alt="Lost Rucksack Hole" /></a>
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<b>Bolt placing:</b> <a href="../1623/others/l/lrh1.htm"> <img
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src="../1623/others/t/lrh1.jpg" class="icon" width="143" height="170"
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alt="Lost Rucksack Hole 1" /></a></p>
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<p class="caption">(Typical shaft bashing, often easiest on ladders: Adam Cooper
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near Top Camp in 1993. Bolt placing usually easier on rope, but still in
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T-shirt & shorts!)</p>
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<p>All of this has made any systematic prospecting difficult, so there is
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still the chance of a significant discovery quite close to Top Camp or to
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other known caves. Life is made even more difficult through sloppy recording
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in previous years. Hence it is very important that any cave which has been
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looked at is marked and documented, to avoid duplication of effort. Very
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small caves are usually marked with a simple painted cross to indicate that
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they are worth no further effort, however, nowadays we are not allowed to
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mark things with paint. More significant caves get a metal tag, a number, and a written
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description. The aim is to link all such caves in to existing surface
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surveys, which in turn are tied to a number of <a
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href="survey/lasers.htm">fixed points</a> located by laser
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theodolite/rangefinder from local trig. points.</p>
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<div class="onright">
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<a href="essentials.html">
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<img src="essentials-screenshot.jpg" alt="screenshot of the GPS file" width="250" /></a>
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<p class="caption">GPS entrances</p>
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</div>
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<p>The <a href="../caves">cave index</a> page contains as much description as we have of every cave we know
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about. To avoid any possibility of errors, this includes some info on caves
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not explored by CUCC, though for reasons of Austrian Kataster politics, these
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are not publicly accessible on the "live" web site.</p>
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<p>We used to have a <a href="../prospecting_guide/">fancy clickable map</a>
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showing the locations of all the caves we have information on with tables
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showing which pieces of information we have and what information still needs to
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be gathered. But the scanned map is now obsolete and the text table of all the caves
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is out of date because the QM data has not been updated and the cross-referencing URLs
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are mostly broken. To find current QMs (Question Marks, i.e. open leads) look at
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<a href="troggle/scriptsqms.html">QMs and leads</a> - very much a work in progress.
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<p>Today we really need a GPS-enabled map of entrances, and we have one! Instructions for
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downloading it are on the <a href="essentials.html">Essential GPS</a> page.
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</p>
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<h4>Cave Numbering Conventions</h4>
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<p>The caves are numbered and tagged in a number of different ways.
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See the <a href="survey/numbering.html">Expo Cave Numbering Guide</a>.
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<hr />
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<p><i>The following information is out of date (from 2004). Do not
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rely on it being current.</i></p>
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<!-- <p><i>[The tables linked from these paragraphs are all at least three years out of date]</i>
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Clearly, descriptions of two hundred caves are too much to assimilate or
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carry about with you (unless, like Wookey, you carry this entire website
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in a Psion !). However, every prospecting party needs to be able to
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decide if what they have found needs exploring, marking, surveying, locating
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or ignoring. Some caves have been fully explored but are lost, others have
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been marked but not explored or vice versa. Hence there is a tabular summary
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of CUCC's knowledge of the caves of the Loser plateau. EVERY PROSPECTING
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PARTY SHOULD TAKE A (PRINTED) COPY OF THIS WITH THEM INTO THE FIELD. The
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caves are divided into five tables:</p>
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<dl>
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<dt><a href="known.htm">Known</a></dt>
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<dd>Caves which are marked and the location of which is "well known" ie. very
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well described and surveyed, or known by someone on expo. The aim is to get
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all the caves into this table :-)</dd>
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<dt><a href="where.htm">Marked</a></dt>
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<dd>Caves which are marked but the location of which is not believed to be
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known by anyone on expo. Some may prove easy enough to find if someone looks,
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but most have been looked for without success. If found, they need to be
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surveyed to and the route to them described.</dd>
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<dt><a href="nomark.htm">Unmarked</a></dt>
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<dd>Caves which are believed unmarked, but are readily found or have been seen
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recently. These need at least to be marked, and may need surveying to.</dd>
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<dt><a href="unknow.htm">Unknown</a></dt>
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<dd>Caves whose location is uncertain, and which may not be marked. If they
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prove to be marked and are found, they should be written up - otherwise we need
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to trace someone who knows where they are, or abandon them.</dd>
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<dt><a href="plus.htm">Noted</a></dt>
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<dd> Caves which have been recorded in a log or survey book, but never given a
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number. They may be marked with a "+" or a "-". These are all caves which we
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believe can be found again, and which need revisiting to document them and give
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them a number. In some cases they are completely unexplored, but looked like
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good prospects when first found.</dd>
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</dl> -->
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<p>In the tables (and the cave descriptions), bearings are quoted with a
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series of standard <a href="abbrev.htm">abbreviations for landmarks</a>,
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which gives a good indication of which ones are most useful.</p>
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<p>There is also a table of which numbers are CUCC ones and of numbers which
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appear on entrances which are wholly misleading, the
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<a href="cockup.htm">Cock-Ups</a>.</p>
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<p><i>Note that there is still much missing information about many caves
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which appear in the "known" and "marked" lists. Though marked, this may not
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be correctly with their Austrian Kataster number. The aim is to mark all of
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these correctly with a metal tag bearing their 'official' number over the
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next few years. Also, many known caves do not have surface surveys to their
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entrances.</i></p>
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<hr />
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<!--
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<h3>Revision history</h3>
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<p>(but only revisions to content, not typos and link bugs...)</p>
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<dl>
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<dt>1996.04.23</dt>
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<dd>AJD: First attempt, missing most of the +/- and surface survey info. Also,
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haven't marked any caves with asterisks yet AJD</dd>
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<dt>1996.06.11</dt>
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<dd>AERW: Integrated existing prospecting page with Anthony's "what to do if
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you find..." tables from his RTF file. Formatting is currently crap. Links need
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putting in to save using the index.</dd>
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<dt>1996.07.25</dt>
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<dd>AERW: Added section on taking bearings - more views identifying peaks still
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needed.</dd>
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<dt>1996.11.28</dt>
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<dd>AERW: split file up, so tables are in separate pages. Added more info (and
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picture) on numbering/tagging scheme. Some rewrite of politically sensitive
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points.</dd>
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<dt>1997.01.01</dt>
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<dd>AERW: finished tidying and linking tables, split off section on taking
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bearings, with its pictures of peaks - linked with surveying document.</dd>
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<dt>2004.04.21</dt>
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<dd>DL: Fiddled formatting slightly, and also updated the section on
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provisional tagging of caves in accordance with current practice (those who
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disagree with current practice are asked not to shoot the messenger).</dd>
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</dl>
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-->
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</body>
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