mirror of
https://expo.survex.com/repositories/expoweb/.git/
synced 2024-11-24 16:21:56 +00:00
135 lines
7.3 KiB
HTML
135 lines
7.3 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
|
|
<html>
|
|
<head>
|
|
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf8" />
|
|
<title>1982: BCRA Caves & Caving report</title>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../css/main2.css" />
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
<font size=-1>CTS 82.1124: BCRA Caves & Caving 18 (Nov 1982) pp 21,24 [ISSN 0142-1832]</font>
|
|
|
|
<h1>CUCC in Austria</h1>
|
|
|
|
<font size=+1><i>For the seventh year running, Cambridge University Caving
|
|
Club visited the Totes Gebirge in Austria. The Totes Gebirge are a small
|
|
group of mountains fifty km east of Salzburg, and although the depth
|
|
potential is a modest 1100 metres, the limestone is very cavernous. Our
|
|
explorations have all been on the Loser Plateau on the south-east corner of
|
|
the Totes Gebirge, mainly because a toll road climbs a thousand metres from a
|
|
lake in the valley below up to plateau level. High altitude camping is
|
|
therefore unnecessary and caving is based on day trips from a comfortable
|
|
campsite by the lake.
|
|
|
|
<p>Last year we were joined by members of the University of Bristol
|
|
Speleological Society and Schnellzughöhle was connected to an upper
|
|
entrance Stellerweghöhle, giving a sporting through trip to 400m and an
|
|
overall depth of 650m. With the way on still open, our main objective this
|
|
year was to continue exploration via the lower entrance. Unfortunately no
|
|
U.B.S.S. were able to come, though they generously entrusted us with most of
|
|
their rope. A small team of nine cavers spent four weeks camping at Altaussee
|
|
by the lake, and although numbers were low, enthusiasm for caving ran
|
|
high</i></font>
|
|
|
|
<p>Rigging in Schnellzughöhle proceeded rapidly at first, profiting from
|
|
experience gained last ear in bolting techniques. The entrance is an old
|
|
tunnel intersected by the valley, and this level is followed until a sloping
|
|
ramp leads to a series of pitches in a massive rift. Last year we followed
|
|
this down into the Big Chamber. From here horizontal passages radiate, both
|
|
vadose and dry phreatic. Initially our lack of continental experience had led
|
|
us follow the active stream down the notorious Pete's Purgatory. This is a
|
|
narrow twisting rift passage similar to the entrance series of Disappointment
|
|
POt, but over 800m long. Eventually this tortuous route enlarged at an inlet
|
|
at the Confluence, and the streamway continued in classic Yorkshire style
|
|
with short wet pitches separated by clean-washed passage and sporting
|
|
cascades. Exploration ground to a halt when the streamway alone was over
|
|
1500m long and 300m deep, with nowhere to camp. Meanwhile the dry phreatic
|
|
passage had been connected to Stellerweghöhle final chamber.
|
|
|
|
<p>This year the unpleasant memories of Pete's Purgatory had faded somewhat,
|
|
and we started pushing down the streamway again. Pitch after pitch was
|
|
rerigged in a series of fifteen hour trips, and last year's terminus passed.
|
|
The cave continued inexorably, now a sizeable winding streamway. The pitches
|
|
became longer and wetter, leading to a fine canal. Round a corner this ended
|
|
at a deep and murky pool, but a chilly swim reached a sporting duck beyond
|
|
which airspace increased and a place to stand again was found. The stream
|
|
then plunged abruptly down a spectacular shaft over 70m deep. Meanwhile a
|
|
trip through the connection to the passage beyond the Stellerweg final
|
|
chamber had found the long hoped for dry bypass to the Purgatory. This
|
|
dropped into the streamway at the Confluence, and the inlet here turned out
|
|
to be the water from Stellerweg.
|
|
|
|
<p>It was now feasible to camp underground, and a small tent, well stocked
|
|
with tins of corned beef and beans, was set up in a side passage just above
|
|
the Confluence. This was to be used by pushing trips as a bivouac on their
|
|
way out. The 70m shaft was descended in a series of leaps clear of the water,
|
|
and led to a further three pitches into a large shattered chamber. The water
|
|
could be followed forward, and almost immediately cascaded into a frothy sump
|
|
in a deep rift. At a depth of 903m below the Stellerweg entrance, this sump
|
|
is only 20m above the presumed saturation level at the altitude of Altaussee
|
|
lake.
|
|
|
|
<p>By now only six cavers remained, and with a week left, the derig began on
|
|
the day following the discovery of the sump. Parts of the survey were rapidly
|
|
completed just ahead of the growing mound of tackle making its way up the
|
|
streamway. The camp was especially valued at this stage, and all the rope
|
|
brought out and down without a day to spare.
|
|
|
|
<p>The entire cave was surveyed to B.C.R.A. grades V and III and other
|
|
entrances triangulated on the surface. WIth over a thousand survey legs in
|
|
4km of cave, the amount of data to be processed was considerable. The survey
|
|
shown is based on the preliminary sketch made in Austria. This was drawn
|
|
using a small programmable calculator to convert tape, compass and clino
|
|
readings into 3d coordinates. We felt that taking a microcomputer and printer
|
|
would have been well worth while, to reduce tedious calculation. The data has
|
|
now been fed into a computer in England and a program is running which will
|
|
plot a centreline survey of the plan or any projected or extended elevations.
|
|
|
|
<p>There is no impervious cap or surface drainage on the plateau, and all the
|
|
currently active passages are fed by percolation water. This only forms
|
|
discrete streams below a depth of about 300m. However, the size of the Lower
|
|
Streamway shows that the integration of underground drainage is already
|
|
taking place. The passage finally drops rapidly to saturation level, and a
|
|
few well defined resurgences other than seepage flows, owing to the lack of
|
|
impervious basement rocks. No dry passage has been found below the
|
|
Confluence, and it seems likely that all other streams in the area will drain
|
|
to the Lower Streamway.
|
|
|
|
<p>Most of the known entrances have a cold outward draught, caused by the
|
|
temperature differences. However, Sonnenstrahlhöhle, a 300m deep find of
|
|
a few years ago, is slightly above Stellerweg and has a slight inward
|
|
draught. It was rerigged with renewed hopes of connecting it to the
|
|
Stellerweg system, but this attempt failed. Nevertheless, the area behind it
|
|
deserves further attention as it slopes up to the summit of the
|
|
Schwarzmooskogel 1100m above the lake. At 903m, the Stellerweg system is now
|
|
the second deepest in the Totes Gebirge by only 9m, and with the potential
|
|
for more depth we will return next year.
|
|
|
|
<p>Finally our thanks are expressed to local cavers Karl Gaisberger and Dr.
|
|
Gunther Graf, to campsite owner Fritz Madlmaier, and to the Sports Council
|
|
for a grant towards equipment.
|
|
|
|
<p align=right><i>Dave Brindle</i>
|
|
|
|
<hr />
|
|
<!-- LINKS -->
|
|
<ul id="links">
|
|
<li>1982 Expedition info:
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="log.htm">Logbook</a></li>
|
|
<li>Main Expo report, Cambridge Underground 1983:
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="report.htm">CUCC in Austria</a> - Phil Townsend</li>
|
|
<li><a href="41gd.htm">Stellerweg Guidebook Description</a> by Pete Lancaster</li>
|
|
<li><a href="41svy.htm">Stellerweg Survey</a> article by Andy Waddington</li>
|
|
<li><a href="41camp.htm">The Underground Camp</a> by Chas Butcher</li>
|
|
<li><a href="newbit.htm">New Discoveries</a> 1982 by Mike Thomas</li>
|
|
<li><a href="bats.htm">The Bats of 115</a> by Dave Brindle</li>
|
|
</ul></li>
|
|
</ul></li>
|
|
<li><a href="../../pubs.htm#pubs1982">Index</a> to all publications</li>
|
|
<li><a href="../../index.htm">Back to Expeditions intro page</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="../../../index.htm">CUCC Home Page</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|