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<title>1984: Cambridge Underground report</title>
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<center><font size=-1>Cambridge Underground 1985 pp 7-9</font>
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<h2>Wolfhöhle - A Guidebook Description</h2>
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<p>by Brian Derby</center>
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<p>Wolfhöhle was discovered by the 1983 expedition and pushed to a depth
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of about 200m to the "Undescended 40m pitch" but more of that later. The cave
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is situated on the Loser Plateau about 1km away from the col by the end of
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the Bräuning Wall. The entrance is in the side of a small depression
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along an obvious surface fault-like feature in the bunde-coveed lapiaz.
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<p>From the entrance the draught is followed through a small phreatic level.
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The passage size is about 1-2m and at least 3 entrances are known to this
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level. After about 20m the floor of the passage drops away. This is the first
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pitch of about 20m into Wolf Chamber. The skeleton of a large fanged animal
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was found here in 1983 and was identified by the expedition biologists
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(botanists and molecular biologists!) as obviously a Wolf. The skeleton was
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found at the far end of Wolf Chamber, several metres from the pitch. Whether
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this indicates another way into the system is unknown. In 1984 we removed the
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skeleton for the benefit of the Austrians who identified it as a Brown Bear.
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By now it was too late to change the name of the cave but the blind pitch in
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Wolf Chamber has been named the Bear Pit. The obvious way on in the chamber
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is a continuation of the entrance pitch but the draught does not come from
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here so only a cursory inspection was given and it is believed to choke off.
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At the far end of this chamber is a short climb up to a hole in the wall.
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Crawling through this leads to the Bog Seat Climb, a slimy tube down of about
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15m which was laddered. The passage enlarges slightly to stooping height and
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a sandy way leads on to the first big pitch.
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<p>The Big Leap is a 90m rift rigged in 3 pitches with a nifty deviation near
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the bottom. The walls are very dark and drip from a peaty layer which may be
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remnants of melt flod debris. The highlight of the pitch is Julian's bolting
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technique. Never one to expend needless effort, the first bolt has about 5mm
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waving in the air and makes nasty cracking noises now and again. At the
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bottom, the rift narrows and is blocked here and there by jammed boulders,
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one forcing a squeeze until it was moved by a thuglike pushing party in 1984.
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A couple of uneventful short pitches lead on to the first bit of real fun.
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<p>Tiddley-Pom Pitch is quite straightforward at first, at least once you've
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found John Bower's bolt hidden round the corner on the left. In order to
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place this bolt John must either have secret powers of levitation or very
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athletic knees. At about this level (10m down) a drip enters. This is in fact
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a stream with very fast respnse to thunderstorms. Tiddley-Pom goes down 60m
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to a big wet ledge and then 10m to a big dry one of jammed boulders - Cold
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Toes Ledge. Here is a good place for a rest of about 16 hours while
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Tiddley-Pom demonstrates its drainage abilities. For further details, ask
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Planc or Dobbers. The ledge acted as comfort stop for soup on the way out but
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we only brought the soup down after our intrepid duo showed how boring it
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could be without it.
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<p>From Cold Toes Ledge there is a sequence of short pitches from further
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jammed boulders as the rift descends. The water sinks down a slit which was
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followed down for about 15m before it became too tight (Nobody Knows). The
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main way on is traversing over this to a pitch leading down to the
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undescended 40m pitch and the limit of the 1983 expedition.
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<p>This is now known as Fear and Loathing Pitch. FLP turned out to be a bit
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bigger than 40m, in fact it goes down about 150m in several rebelayed
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sections. Two high spots for their entertainment value were a particularly
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airy traverse near the top and a bastard flake at Acrobat Point which before
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it was rigged could only be passed by a move sponsored by Pressure for
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Population Control and probably banned by the Catholic Church. The rift never
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widened out more than 3-4m before landing on an unpleasant bit of damp floor
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- Las Vegas. The way out of Las Vegas is Beezley Street (where the rats have
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rickets) a particularly unpleasant mud walled slimy rift. The surveying of
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this was done on the run as we slid down between the walls. Traversing this
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if possible leads on to the next pitch. Another short traverse follows but
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this one is clean washed and sharp. Three short pitches now corkscrew down to
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the Drainage Ditch, a wading depth section of passage occasionally blocked by
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boulders leading on to another series of pitches twising down. All the water
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is in still pools which presumably get filled in spring. We are now almost at
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the end. The Drainage Ditch passage continues for a few more metres and
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finally reaches a static sump. A hile above leads on to another sump and some
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avens before closing in. The cave is surveyed as -438m from the highest
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entrance to here.
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<p>The bottom is very dark walled and gives a good feeling of depth. It is
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here that Wiggy's Premier cap lamp failed and he prussiked out with an
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Aquaflash between his teeth with me waiting at rebelays to light him till my
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carbide ran out.... Exit from Tiddley-Pom to surface on one and a half torch
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lights between two.
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<hr />
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<!-- LINKS -->
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<ul id="links">
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<li>Cambridge Underground 1985,
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<a href="http://cucc.survex.com/jnl/1985/index.htm">Table of Contents</a></li>
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<li>Main Wolfhöhle <a href="/1623/145/145.html">Guidebook page</a></li>
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<li>1984 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="stopp.htm">Stop Press report</a>, CU 1984</li>
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<li>Main Expo report, Cambridge Underground 1985:
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<ul>
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<li><a href="report.htm">Austria 1984 Exposée</a></li>
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<li>An Ascent of the <a href="twand.htm">Trisselwand</a></li>
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</ul></li>
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<li><a href="bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves & Caving Report</a></li>
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</ul></li>
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<li><a href="../../pubs.htm#pubs1984">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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</body>
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</html>
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