mirror of
https://expo.survex.com/repositories/expoweb/.git/
synced 2024-12-04 23:52:23 +00:00
301 lines
16 KiB
HTML
301 lines
16 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
|
|
<html>
|
|
<head>
|
|
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf8" />
|
|
<title>CUCC 1998 Expedition Report</title>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../css/main2.css" />
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
|
|
<center><h2>CUCC Expo '98</h2>
|
|
|
|
<h3>Tim Vasbie-Burnie</h3></center>
|
|
|
|
<p>In July of last year, Cambridge University Caving Club (CUCC) embarked
|
|
upon its 11th annual expedition to the Kaninchenhöhle system, (the 22nd
|
|
expedition to the area).
|
|
|
|
<p>The 1998 trip was smaller than usual, with a total of thirteen cavers
|
|
over a period of five weeks. This, combined with the relative inexperience
|
|
of some of the members (both expedition leader and treasurer had never been
|
|
to Austria before), meant that finds have been somewhat less spectacular than
|
|
on some recent expeditions.
|
|
|
|
<h3>Aims of the 1998 expedition</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>There were over 230 unfinished ways on documented in KH. Many were quite
|
|
remote when first found, but had been made more accessible since the
|
|
discovery of the lower-level Scarface entrance in 1995. The main area of
|
|
interest was in Siberia, which had been revisited in 1997 for the first
|
|
time since 1994. The presence of a strong draught far from any entrance
|
|
led to thoughts of major horizontal passage, and Duncan Collis, who did most
|
|
of the exploration last year was keen to see how the passages developed.
|
|
|
|
<p>To the south of KH lies the major Schwarzmooskogelhöhlensystem (isn't
|
|
German great!) consisting of Eishöhle, Stellerweghöhle,
|
|
Schnellzughöhle, Lärchenschacht and Schwabenschacht as well as a
|
|
few other caves/entrances. Parts of this were explored as long ago as 1938,
|
|
but the major central part of the cave, Stellerweghöhle, was explored by
|
|
CUCC in 1980-85, to a depth of 973m and a length of some 7km. Other parts of
|
|
the cave have been explored by both French and German groups, and the total
|
|
length of this cave is around 20km. After 1997, the gap between these two
|
|
systems was about 130m, in passages at much the same level. Linking the two
|
|
systems would involve not only exciting new exploration, but also a great
|
|
deal of tie-up surveying to establish definitive figures for the length and
|
|
depth of the combined system. Current survey information suggests that the
|
|
complete system would be over 42km long and over 1050m deep.
|
|
|
|
<p>Away from KH, an ever-present aim is continued surface prospecting to find
|
|
new caves, and also to relocate caves found on the earliest expeditions to
|
|
the area when standards of recording and surveying were not so high as
|
|
nowadays, particularly in respect of the less significant caves.
|
|
|
|
<h3>Siberia and Midnight in Moscow</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>In 1997 a lot of time was spent in the north-west of KH following passage
|
|
at the base of <a href="../../1623/161/sibria.htm#seproblem">Somebody
|
|
Else's Problem,</a> a 70m free hanging pitch reached in 1994 and ignored -
|
|
hence the name. Duncan was keen to either see the very vertical passage stop,
|
|
or break into some horizontal development. He and Steve Bellhouse, in a
|
|
series of trips over 14 hours long, pushed this until it ended at -534
|
|
metres, the new deepest point in KH.
|
|
|
|
<p>The limit of last year's exploration was reached on the second rigging
|
|
trip, at a small pitch. Duncan descended first and began lobbing rocks down
|
|
the next pitch, which sounded big. Timing with a watch suggested that the
|
|
pitch was about 60m deep. The time was midnight, so the pitch was named <a
|
|
href="../../1623/161/sibria.htm#moscow">Midnight in Moscow</a>. This
|
|
shaft, descended on the next trip, bells out in the middle into a chamber
|
|
with 20m diameter, then continues through the floor of the chamber to land on
|
|
a boulder choke floor. Two small pitches led to a dried sump pool, or so it
|
|
was thought. Initial joy at finding the end turned out to be premature, as
|
|
two ways on were found, one leading to an aven, the other proceeding to a
|
|
series of climbs down dried up cascades, where progress was halted by lack of
|
|
rope. On the way out, an impromptu rock shower demonstrated the nature of
|
|
much of the rock in Austria as Steve ascended Midnight in Moscow.
|
|
|
|
<p>A couple of days later, enthusiasm was regained for what was to be the
|
|
longest trip, at 18½ hours, to survey what had been found and to
|
|
continue down the cascades. Midnight in Moscow turned out to be 52m deep,
|
|
and the chamber was explored. Evidence of quite large horizontal development
|
|
was found, but all the ways on turned out to be full of mud. Duncan and
|
|
Steve were delighted to find that the passage finally stopped after the
|
|
cascades. Or almost stopped. It wasn't a sump, but a mud choke and there
|
|
was a tiny draught. Duncan dug a little, but considered it too big a job to
|
|
make progress. Serious digging at -500m was decided to be a bit too keen,
|
|
and so this part of KH was declared done. The last pitch was named
|
|
<b>Rasputin</b> due to its failure to completely die, and the party began the
|
|
slow ascent to the surface, emerging just after 5am to a clear and beautiful
|
|
sunrise, which ``almost made everything alright''.
|
|
|
|
<h3>The quest for a connection</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>1997 saw KH being connected to Steinschlagschacht
|
|
(<a href="../../1623/161/136.htm">136</a>), which brought the combined
|
|
system nearer to the Eishöhle-Stellerweghöhle system.
|
|
The two main places to start looking for the connection were either from
|
|
Steinschlagschacht or from the huge ice-decorated chamber of
|
|
<b>Schneevulkanhalle</b> (SVH), part of Eishöle, the closest
|
|
point of approach of the Schwarzmooskogel system to KH. It was decided to go
|
|
through SVH, because rigging 136 requires 400m of rope, a large quantity of
|
|
hangers and more time than Julian Haines and Wookey had, to reach an aven
|
|
that had to be climbed using bolts. No one from CUCC had been to SVH, but it
|
|
was known that there were some question marks in the right sort of area.
|
|
|
|
<p>Actually getting to Eishöhle proved a bit difficult. The
|
|
standard route from the car park via the Stogerweg and Bunter's Bulge was
|
|
documented, but it's not very helpful if you are already at top camp. Phil
|
|
Underwood, Julian Haines and TimVB tried an approach from the 'VD1' col via
|
|
162. From the logbook:
|
|
|
|
<blockquote><p>Started ~50m below 136 and traversed round. 300m
|
|
away and lots too high according to GPS. Went back a bit, and along again.
|
|
Still too high. Grumbled. Went back to route to 161d and tried again. Found
|
|
we were 150m away from interesting Eishöhle entrance. Unfortunately,
|
|
there was lots of cliffs etc. in the way, so eventually did
|
|
not make it to Eishöhle, and came home grumbling. It was bloody hot
|
|
& bloody crap.
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
<p>The next day, a disgruntled Julian and Phil insisted that Wookey and
|
|
Wadders come along and experience the effects of their bright ideas for
|
|
themselves. This time they had two GPS's (as if that was likely to help - GPS
|
|
units are great for knowing where you are, and where you need to be, but they
|
|
don't tell you how to cross the very tough terrain to get there!). A tedious,
|
|
hot slog with enormous sacks eventually got them to a very welcome shady rest
|
|
at the main Eishöhle entrance, and thus to the SVH entrance. A mere 4
|
|
hours!
|
|
|
|
<p>Further work over the next few days found a reasonable route and cairned
|
|
it, getting travel time down to about an hour, but it's nearly as steep as
|
|
the 161d route and more obscure. You'd have real trouble in the mist unless
|
|
you were properly familiarised.
|
|
|
|
<p>Having finally reached the objective there was time for a quick trip so
|
|
they donned their caving gear and ice climbing gear and set off underground.
|
|
A short handlined ice climb and a 30m snow-slope pitch led into SVH. This
|
|
huge chamber has its floor mostly covered with ice, with towering ice stals
|
|
and frozen waterfalls. An amazing place. A number of possible leads were
|
|
noted, all involving ice gear. On the second trip, they first found a
|
|
draughting dig at the foot of an ice slope, but as we try to avoid digging,
|
|
moved on. Down a second ice slope we found a short (5m) pitch and a strong
|
|
draught. This was bolted and Julian tried the small rift/tube at the bottom
|
|
but declared it too small. The wind was strong so Wookey gave it a try. After
|
|
removing gear he declared it "Fairly crap" but not too bad. It was clear from
|
|
marks on the rock that only one person had ever been here before, and it
|
|
looked like the pitch beyond the squeeze was undescended - <b>very</b>
|
|
promising!
|
|
|
|
<p>After bolting and descending the pitch, and swinging over a rock bridge,
|
|
the Wook ran up the passage till it debauched into some large 'Triassic Park'
|
|
style passage. This persuaded Julian and Phil to negotiate the "Evil-bastard,
|
|
oversuit-ripping, plastic-boot-catching squeeze" (<b>Plastic Hell</b>) and
|
|
the passage (<b>Cardboard Heaven</b>) was explored up and downstream until
|
|
deemed unsafe without rope, with several question marks in sight. The party
|
|
then returned to Top Camp, slightly late for their call out, but seeing that
|
|
no-one at Top Camp knew where the cave was, the potential rescuers saw no
|
|
point in worrying, and no ranting occurred.
|
|
|
|
<p>Drawing up this exciting new find showed that in fact it went the wrong
|
|
way (east instead of north), and the next two trips (also the last two)
|
|
descended a couple of pitches to where it got too tight, and also too low to
|
|
connect to Kaninchenhöhle. Several QMs remain but there was no time
|
|
left, and the good ones require climbing or ice-climbing gear. Any
|
|
suitably-heroic experts would be most welcome next year!
|
|
|
|
<p>While no connection was found, this year's work was essential as
|
|
familiarisation with this cave which CUCC have not worked in previously, and
|
|
more substantive progress may be hoped for next year. Also, 136 could be
|
|
descended and explored further. Unfortunately, it seems as if there is an
|
|
enormous choss bowl between 136 and Eishöle, which may indicate another
|
|
major collapse zone to get through underground, similar to the one between KH
|
|
and Steinschlagschacht.
|
|
|
|
<h3>Fuzzy logic</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Also in Siberia, this was the other main focus of exploration in KH, and a
|
|
depth of -424m was reached. After several false leads were looked at, Kate
|
|
Janossy and Danielle Gemenis descended two pitches, about 10m and 50m using
|
|
naturals. A third pitch was seen, but there was no rope to carry on. The
|
|
first two pitches were quite wet, and would have been very difficult to pass
|
|
if the stream came up in flood, so on the next trip they were re-rigged. The
|
|
pitch series ends abruptly at just over 400m depth, and the cave then goes
|
|
horizontal. There's somewhere in the region of 200-250m of passage at the
|
|
bottom of the pitches, mainly fairly small, but with a few small chambers.
|
|
There are two main branches; <b>Clear as Mud</b> is a dried-up streamway,
|
|
which is followed uphill for about 70m to a mud-choke. In the opposite
|
|
direction is <b>Psycho Street</b>, which is a small hading passage ending in
|
|
a chamber with a mud-choke at the end (although a climb up into a crawl here
|
|
leads quickly to an aven). A branch leading off a little way along Psycho
|
|
Street is <b>Bearbum Passage</b>, which divides into a tight ascending tube
|
|
and a tight rift. There remains a good question-mark at the top of the
|
|
pitches, however, where a hole in the floor, which was originally assumed to
|
|
link back into the same pitch series, is shown by the survey to almost
|
|
certainly be a separate bit of cave. Some other leads in the area still need
|
|
looking at; time and drill batteries conspiring against their exploration. It
|
|
is hoped that this area could reach the trunk passage found in Midnight in
|
|
Moscow at a point where the somewhat larger amount of water in this series
|
|
could have removed more of the infill.
|
|
|
|
<h3>Also in Kaninchenhöhle</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>For the three students who weren't too keen on 12, 14 or 16-hour trips,
|
|
two of the question-marks closer to the entrance were looked at. The
|
|
first was a draughting squeeze just after a climb called Moomintroll, off
|
|
Triassic Park. This had been found in 1997 when the removal of a few
|
|
rocks showed the floor dropping away to reveal a 10m drop into a large
|
|
space. A short pitch en-route with horrendous rigging off one bolt and
|
|
using three rope protectors was passed, immediately followed by a muddy
|
|
chossy traverse besides an 8ft deep pit, which was a non-too-gentle
|
|
introduction for Steve Jones, Earl Merson and Tim Vasby-Burnie to the
|
|
delights of Expedition caving. At the squeeze, Steve 'Mendip Man' decided
|
|
to pretend he was back home by bashing away at the floor he was standing
|
|
on in order to be able to fit through the squeeze. A gravity-assisted
|
|
descent followed by a lifelined climb led to a chamber with a small rift
|
|
going off which still needs to be pushed if care is taken with the
|
|
crystals on the walls.
|
|
|
|
<p>Closer to the entrance and just on one side of Triassic Park is a pitch
|
|
called The Overflow that had not been descended because of the amount of
|
|
water dripping down it. Brian Outram tried bolting, but the bolts
|
|
wouldn't go into the calcite-veined rock at the pitch head, so Dan rigged
|
|
the `hero route' down its main flow off some naturals. At the bottom of
|
|
the 10m pitch a going vertical passage was found, so Brian bolted a dry
|
|
hang. On the next trip the second pitch descended about 20m but became
|
|
too tight. A window 10m from the top would require a 10m pendulum, but
|
|
this was not attempted.
|
|
|
|
<h3>Surface work</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>As ever, part of the expedition was spent surface prospecting for new
|
|
caves and also searching for caves found over the last 20 years but which had
|
|
not been properly documented, tagged or located on a surface survey. The
|
|
terrain of the plateau makes systematic prospecting very difficult, and many
|
|
shafts or other potential caves are written up without a useful way of
|
|
finding them again. This year was very sucessful in finishing off loose ends
|
|
on the plateau, some of them very old, and greatly increasing the area
|
|
covered by the surface survey network, and the number of tagged caves, also
|
|
reducing the list of 'not properly numbered caves' (such as B11), with 80,
|
|
82, 148, 100, 107, tagged & GPSed, and 90, 91, 93, 94, 101, 102, 103,
|
|
156, 159, 160, 173, 197 (B8), 198 (B11), 199 (Tumbling Boulder Hole), 200
|
|
(Lost Rucksack), 201, 203 tagged and surveyed-to.
|
|
|
|
<p>Andy Waddington spent much of his time wandering around the plateau
|
|
surveying and using GPS finding at least one cave not seen since since 1976.
|
|
Finding 'missing' caves is becoming increasingly difficult as the numbers
|
|
painted many years ago fade, though this cave (102) was found due to a
|
|
lightening of lichen where the number used to be, this being revealed by a
|
|
short rain shower!
|
|
|
|
<b>Lost Rucksack Höhle</b>
|
|
(<a href="../../1623/200.htm">1623/200</a>) was finally properly explored
|
|
after its initial discovery by Adam Cooper in 1993 when his rucksack rolled
|
|
down it. It turned out to be a 45m deep snow-choked rift cave that breathes.
|
|
|
|
<h3>Summary</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Despite the small numbers of people compared to previous years, the
|
|
Expedition can be considered a success, with KH being extended in depth, some
|
|
very interesting areas opened up, some new people introduced to expedition
|
|
caving, and a good start made in Eishöhle with new ground being found
|
|
very close to the entrance, despite its popularity. Unfortunately no photo
|
|
trips took place, and this is something that needs to be rectified this
|
|
summer.
|
|
|
|
<h3>1999 Expedition</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>It is expected that this year will see an increase in the size of the
|
|
expedition, due in part to increased numbers of students in the club, and
|
|
also no doubt due to the line of totality for this August's solar eclipse
|
|
passing within a short drive from Base Camp! Having more people will
|
|
enable areas of KH ignored this year to be explored, notably the Interview
|
|
Blues series, the Far North, and Puerile Humour series, all of which have
|
|
many good leads.
|
|
|
|
<p>The search for a connection between KH and Eishöhle will continue
|
|
with, hopefully, enough people to descend Steinschlagschacht and also explore
|
|
the leads in Schneevulkanhalle. It was also noted during the 'walk to
|
|
Eishöhle débacle' that <a href="../../1623/140.htm">140</a>
|
|
was in a very interesting spot high on the vord close to the gap, and
|
|
apparently not fully explored. It needs surveying anyway and could provide
|
|
some very interesting leads.
|
|
|
|
<h3>Our thanks</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>This expedition was funded entirely by its members, and support and
|
|
sponsorship was a considerable help. Thanks must be given to:
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><b>Thorntons</b> for their fudge bars
|
|
<li><b>Whitworths</b> for bags of apricots
|
|
<li><b>Batchelors</b> for Cup-A-Soups, Bean Feast and Super Noodles
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
and to the Ghar Parau Foundation for its support.
|
|
|
|
<hr />
|
|
|
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|