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<title>1993: Cambridge Underground report</title>
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<center><p><font size=-1>Cambridge Underground 1994 pp 35-39</font>
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<h1>Austria 1993</h1>
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<p>"Oh yes, I'm pretty sure it must have rained,<br>
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The day before you came"</center>
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<p>It did. Lots. Every day. For four weeks. At the beginning it had seemed
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like the glorious excesses of last year - Spencer turned a peculiar shade of
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lobster after the first carry, and we were even permitted to put our tents
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up in peace. Exhilarated with the joy that is Austria, Adam's tale of a
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knife wielding, stone throwing, psychopathically criminal Bulgarian driver
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was much appreciated, and we settled into the beer and Hilde's free
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schnapps.
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<p>Adam's presence forced some enthusiasm into the first arrivals (Clive,
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Spencer and Nick) who had been worrying about finding the cave, since Clive
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had been there only once the previous year and the other two were novii.
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This worry was justified as Nick and Clive continued their run of
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directional disability - first Juniper Gulf via Clapham, then the awful
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escape from Salzburg, miserably failing to find S'not, and finally the search
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for rucksack cave.
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<p>Adam had found this while prospecting, abandoning the traditional
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technique of throwing a rock down it, preferring to lob his rucksack
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instead. Eventually retrieving it, he ran out of ladder, so he marked it
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with a cairn, 'for future exploration'. Exploration of the plateau maybe.
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The attempt to find it by Clive, Nick and Spencer was put off first by Clive
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being desperate to avoid caving and going into the pleasant ice cave,
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"Glitterstompf", instead, and then the rain beginning. A measure
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of the optimism of the expo up to that point was shown by Spencer leaving
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his cag at base camp, "because it hadn't rained the past few
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days".
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<p>Meanwhile AndyW arrived, bringing MikeTS and a van of crap, even bringing
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a spare tent for his gear, if you can call it that. His light was so ancient
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(when was the last time a stinky made an appearance on expo?) it gave him
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the excuse to leave the cave early while Adam and MTS carried on rigging in.
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He then lent it to Tess for her tourist trip to Knossos, along with his
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"novel" SRT gear, which turned a pleasant trip into a rant. She
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left fairly quickly after this.
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<p>Team France arrived from Dauphiné, JulianH, Ali, Petel and Hugh
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packed in one car being noisy with their lungs, and much later that day,
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Wookey and Tess being noisy with the van's freshly broken exhaust. After a
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day to recuperate and drink beer, the first portion were swiftly off to
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France, although unfortunately this time it was the cave. They set up the
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new improved radios at top camp, and carried on down the cave to run out of
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rope at the top of the pitch. After ranting at the rope while escaping, they
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found Austria showing it's teeth in the shape of lightning bolts steadily
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advancing their way, and decided to make a run for the car, claiming it was
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awful when they arrived back.
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<p>Adam was not quiet during this time - he had an old question-mark hacking
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away at his mind, took MTS to go and look at it, and found 'Final Cut' in
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Gob. However this was all a bit active, so a short pause was in order to
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carry some more crap up. Clive's tent poles finally arrived, allowing top
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camp to be set up with all the piles of flapjack, veggie meals and the one
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flavour of Vesta we had this year. The radios were fettled as far as they
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went, with the new booster providing more opportunity for us to broadcast
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all over Austria except to top camp.
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<p>A few souls pushed back the inevitable onset of more caving by taking the
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new 200m rope to a big cliff above Toplitzsee where the Austrians said there
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was a 200m freehang. This involved a strenuous walk up the side of the
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cliff, then a tentative walk down the steep wooded slopes, which would have
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been alright has it not been for the immense slipperiness of the surface
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(but the leaf mould provided surprisingly good grip in the end) and the
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knowledge that there was a drop just past the trees. When they were within a
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sensible distance, Wookey was volunteered to tie the rope to a couple of
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trees and go down to see if the rope reached. After the usual faff he set
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off properly, and after what seemed like hours later he stood on top of his
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van half a mile away, which was the signal for 'pitch free!' On average it
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took the descenders about a quarter of an hour to get down, mostly filled
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with thoughts of rubbing ropes, the knot at the end for Wookey, and Clive's
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thoughts on melting STOP's. It was generally agreed that it had now been
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Done, and this was a Good Thing, since no-one need try it again. (Apparently
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the Austrians did it on 4 50m ropes!)
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<p>The same day, Gob was bottomed by Adam, Nick and MTS. They found
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footprints on the floor - it joined Dehydration. On leaving they then had
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the usual tally of light failures, Nick ripping the lid off his Oldham/FX5
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in the slot of Final Cut and MTS's just generally dying. Adam had been let
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out first and the other two followed slowly out due to being over caved and
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under lit. Nick's opinion of his trip was to be found in his illegible
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drunken ranting a few days later - "Once upon a time there was a caver.
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He was fucking hard. Nobody liked him", and "Caving is shit
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especially with hard bastard adam He is so hard I want him"
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<p>Team rant (Ali, JulianH and Pete) were busy playing down France and
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throwing rocks at each other. They liked the rebelay at the top of Algeria -
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6 inches into a huge rock ceiling - but didn't like the huge rock Ali
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dislodged from Orient Express and sent rumbling towards the others. This was
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to cause problems later while derigging as it landed on the rope, was too
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big to move by hand, and so 50m of rope had to be fed underneath it, making
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the whole pitch take 1½ hours to derig.
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<p>The first trip to The bitter end (Far Too Far) was made by Lummat (who
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dropped and broke the new, small, light drill battery), JulianT (who wants
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to rename Boulder Alley, Shit Alley and hates endlessly sucking on fudge) and
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Wookey (who has this strange desire to rig mental tyrolean traverses across
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Hyper Gamma Spaces). They spent most of their time rigging to get there, and
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Wookey went down the virgin black crusted mud of Anglia while Lummat started
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rigging a small pitch. They emerged at dawn, having been underground 16
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hours.
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<p>Everybody was frightened, knackered or at least wet by now, so it was
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decided to have Ali's birthday party as an excuse to have nice food rather
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than bean slop. He and MTS had shown their skills earlier by sharking some
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German girls ("she was at least fourteen, honest") and when trying
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to find their rooms at half past midnight were intercepted by their teachers
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who were awake and sitting in ambush. Some swiftly cobbled together excuses
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about the toilets were mumbled before they scarpered. Since then a party of
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Czechs had shown up, in much improved tents since the previous year. They
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had a collection of even younger girls, which was just the ticket for our
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two intrepid Cassanova's. Ali had to be dragged away to be fed his birthday
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cake and be thrown in the river, and rounded his evening demonstrating his
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newly found prowess at firebreathing (taught by Adam).
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<p>Meanwhile, Nick was secretly sitting in a corner of the Potato Hut
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writing his <a href="log.htm#drunkrant">drunken ramblings</a>...
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<p>Then came the New Question of the expo, caused by France being loose and
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Far Too Far being so : "Wookey, can I have a question mark near the
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top, please?". Proponents of this school of caving were primarily
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Anthony, Hugh and DaveG, the others just going along for the ride. Lummat
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and DaveG went down past Arrow Chamber, and Anthony, Hugh and JulianS
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surveyed at the bottom of the second pitch. The latter trip went ok, but
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after Lummat and DaveG's discovery of the "Chunder pitch" series their trip
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started going wrong. Dave has started to feel ill at the top of S'not, and by
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the time he was prussiking up the entrance pitch he lost all strength.
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Hanging aroung on the last rebelay for over an hour, vomiting for around
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twenty minutes, he got dragged out by Lummat eventually. Then there was the
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small matter of it being foggy, dark, and neither of them knowing the path
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back very well.
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<p>At top camp, JulianS called base camp to tell them a call out had been
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missed - the radios were used at last. Lots of running around was done,
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people who had been drunkenly laughing ten minutes previously suddenly
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claiming they were sober, Ali dragged himself away from the Czech girls and
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a CB was jury rigged into Wadder's van. An hour after the call, they were
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storming up the toll road, Wadder's rambling drunkenly over the radio to
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whoever would listen. With typical caver timing he stood on the jury wire
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and blew the fuse just as top camp sent one final message with 3 zoom
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batteries held together since the main battery was dead : "All Clear at
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top camp". Fortunately, base camp received it, and relayed it to the
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car just in time for Wookey to catch up the rest who were already hurrying
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to top camp.
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<p>The next day, those unfortunate to be at top camp were treated to rain,
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sleet, mist, drizzle, hail and an over inch of snow. All the cars were hiding
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at base camp, the radios were dead, so they were happy, until Lummat and
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MikeTS went to carry on where Lummat left off before, and they were all able
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to leave in time to miss the real weather.
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<p>Even CUCC get bored of sitting in the rain. Wookey and Adam were first to
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break, going up to see all the snow on the plateau, and then down to survey
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and derig Gob. On the same day Lummat, Nick and DaveG got to survey "Chunder
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Pitch" series, a cloudy clino having cleared up while prospecting, and
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JulianS, Anthony and Hugh played pushing again. Top camp was still too
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awful, so they left fairly quickly, Anthony minus his socks so his boots wore
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about fifteen little holes in his toes. This combined with his flooded tent
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made him even more dour than usual.
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<p>France then went deep, changing from big pitches and chambers to a typical
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Yorkshire streamway, with cascades, pools etc. and an awful sump at the
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bottom. Having got suitably wet, team rant felt too keen and zoomed back to
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survey and derig up to Algeria, which is when they found the stuck rope. To
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continue the proud expo tradition of broken feet, Pete blistered his
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prussiking and swore a lot.
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<p>Because of the amount of caving required to get to the far end, people
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began prospecting around that area of mountain. This yielded nothing except a
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few small shafts, one of which JulianT got stuck in until he was given a
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bolting hammer to make it bigger. So it was time for another long trip. Going
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into the cave was uneventful - the silly rigging was marvelled at, and Wookey
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and MTS were left to set up camp while Lummat and Clive continued Lummat's
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previous rigging. This led nowhere except a pile of mud, so they were sent
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off to survey Anglia (because it's flat and horrible) while the others played
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rigging. Some later they all decided to leave, which was again uneventful
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until Knossos where the queues began. Clive was last, prussiked slowly and
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took a wrong turn at the top of Boulder Alley. By the time he had climbed
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down from his mistake he was knackered, saw what looked like obvious bolts
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and he was lost. Eight hours of shivering later, trying not to fall asleep,
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he decided to look at the bolts, which turned out to be carbide marks, and he
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was in fact just at the top of Boulder Alley. Having confirmed this by
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walking down to the Knossos rope, he set off again and found Poxy pitch, and
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was happy. He was even happier when he met the rescue team (JulianH, Ali and
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JulianS), who gave out food and light when his finally broke.
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<p>Having made their exit, met by "Tea or Coffee?" and other such
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comforts, the weather broke and it was a collection of miserable wet
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bedraggled cavers who wound their way to base camp.
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<p>It was so awful everyone hung around in base camp shouting at each other
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about the lack of bolts, slings, sunshine, nice food etc. Then in a break
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from tradition, team rant split up, Petel being sent to the far end with
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Wookey and MTS, and JulianH and Ali taking Anthony (mended at last), JulianT
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(too many bloody Julians...) and Spencer (caving! only 3½ weeks into
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expo) into France to explore Algeria some more. They found "Twin
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Tubs", and sent Spencer down a hole. Upon emerging from this he was
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heard grunting and cursing like a very rude monkey, the tackle sack having
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draped itself in a particularly painful way round his bollocks. Ali and
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Anthony hid behind a boulder "cringing with each wail of pain"
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while the hardier Julians carried on surveying.
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<p>The first CUCC camp for many a year began that day, the far end trip
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being the fools. A measure of the success of the camp is that the Vesta
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meals were a high point. They intended to sleep in cheap hammocks obtained
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from the Army and Navy stores bolted to the wall. What they actually spent
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their time doing was hanging on trying not to fall out all night and
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consequently got no sleep. Conversely, Wookey, who had approached the whole
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thing in his usual slack manner, borrowing a thermarest on expo and sleeping
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on a ledge, had a wonderful night. The campsite itself was reasonable, at
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Beehive where there is water and not too much wind.
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<p>Their caving was hampered by losing the Hilti driver on the way in, and
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the expected hand driver which was supposed to be at the end having
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mysteriously disappeared. This meant they spent their time surveying,
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rigging pitches awfully off naturals and going up scrotty holes. Eventually
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this got boring, the mud got everywhere and they weren't going to be able to
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get any more sleep so they left, carrying too many tacklesacks. And yes, it
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was raining again as they emerged.
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<p>Then up rolled a big van, with the other DaveG (you thought the Julians
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were confusing) who was a teacher at JulianH and Hugh's school. Instead of
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teaching them boring things like German, which would have been useful on
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expo, he took them caving. His redeeming features were fluent German, so all
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the confusing liaising bits could happen, and some tins of meat. His
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contribution to extending Austrian caves was limited to looking at the top
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of KH and deciding to go home again.
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<p>Seb, who is fat, turned up late too. He brought some sun for Clive's
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birthday party, so was forgiven. Team rant and Hugh took him caving down
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(surprise surprise) France, where despite all their efforts, question marks
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persisted. Then some water came down. It had been dry for almost 36 hours,
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so it had obviously been saving it up - 2½ inches in 15 minutes at
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base camp, flooding it, and Algeria suddenly got wet and windy so they all
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left.
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<p>Then all that had to be done was derigging. Had everybody spent all their
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time caving this would have been an even longer and more arduous task than
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it was, but fortunately they didn't. JulianT brought an estate car full of
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festering gear with him. The hang gliding was awful all holiday - on his
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last flight he got hassled by a helicopter with a dead cow swinging by its
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neck below - but he and Wookey got to go diving. Robert The Wonder Caver had
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taken up cave diving, so he was able to provide free air and take Julian
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round all the things in Grundlesee put there by a mad local who went there
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too often.
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<p>Bicycles put in another appearance, Wadders going for the downhill
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record, Clive beating his previous best, and mountain biking on road bikes
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providing diversions. Nobody went up the toll road - it would have been too
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awful! That left the beer festival, which was quite jolly as the Austrian
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cavers gave us a bottle of schnapps, Robert the policeman carefully ignoring
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Clive's protests of "No, I'm driving".
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<p>So, as is traditional in these things, all came to an end. The caves were
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derigged, Wookey and MTS being superheroes and carrying out six tacklesacks
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betwen them in one trip, then going down the next day for more. Only a
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couple of people were left up the mountain, Anthony with a hole in his knee
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and Spencer carrying a stupid amount of gear, then we got to pack it all
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away. The last day was sunny, and being really dim, we left the campsite
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strewn with bits to pack in the morning. We thought it wouldn't rain,
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because it hadn't all day. What happened? Nothing. "Hooray" we
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went as we went home, all terribly sorry the expo was over and wishing it
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would go on for ever. Or not.
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<p>The END
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<p>Cast:<ul>
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<li>Adam "Moose" Cooper
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<li>Ali "Child molestor" Morris
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<li>Andy "Half a caravan owner" Waddington
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<li>Anthony "Dour Yorkshireman" Day
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<li>Clive George
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<li>Dave Galvin
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<li>Dave Gordon
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<li>Hugh "Ninja Caver"
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<li>Julian "Rant" Haines
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<li>Julian Shilton
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<li>Julian "Womanizer" Todd
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<li>Lummat "The Gumby"
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<li>Mike "The Sapling" Pigram
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<li>Nick "Alcoholic" Proctor
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<li>Pete "Doris" Lord
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<li>Seb Holland
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<li>Spencer "Curry Monster" Davey
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<li>Tess "Token Woman" Jones
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<li>Wookey
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</ul>
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<hr>
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<!-- LINKS -->
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<img alt=">" src="../../../icons/lists/0.png">
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<a href="../../../jnl/1994/index.htm">Table of Contents</a>
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for Cambridge Underground 1994<br>
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<img alt=">" src="../../../icons/lists/0.png">
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1993 Expedition info:<br>
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<img alt="--->" src="../../../icons/lists/1.png">
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<a href="index.htm">Index</a> (more detail than in this list)<br>
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<img alt="--->" src="../../../icons/lists/1.png">
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<a href="log.htm">Logbook</a><br>
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<img alt="--->" src="../../../icons/lists/1.png">
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<a href="bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves and Caving</a> Report<br>
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<img alt="--->" src="../../../icons/lists/1.png">
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This year's <a href="sponsr.htm">Sponsors</a><br>
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<img alt=">" src="../../../icons/lists/0.png">
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<a href="../../pubs.htm#1993">Published accounts</a><br>
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<img alt=">" src="../../../icons/lists/0.png">
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<a href="../../index.htm">Back to Expedition intro page</a><br>
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<img alt=">" src="../../../icons/lists/0.png">
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<A href="../../../index.htm">CUCC Home page</a>
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