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<title>Rigging in Austria - Introduction</title>
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<center><h2>Rigging in Austria<br>
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Introduction</h2></center>
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<h3>Prerequisites:</h3>
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<p>This section of the Expo handbook assumes that you are familiar with all
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the usual manoeuvres, such as passing knots, rebelays and deviations,
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changing from abseil to prusik and vice versa. "Familiar" means you can do it
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in the dark with cold hands, with complete confidence in your safety and with
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reasonable efficiency. Choice of ropes is not covered, as by the time you are
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on the expedition it will be too late ! Neither is this guide concerned with
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personal SRT equipment except where the demands of caving in Austria require
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gear in addition to that you would normally use on a typical Yorkshire
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weekend.
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<p>Self-rescue may also be important in Austria - this should be covered in
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the rescue guide (but isn't - yet). It is recommended that you should
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practice all these techniques somewhere safe and warm - preferably in the UK
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before departure rather than up a tree behind the potato hut in a
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thunderstorm !
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<h3>Differences from Yorkshire.</h3>
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<p>This is new exploration, so you cannot rely on belays to have been tested
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by previous generations of cavers. Similarly, loose rocks will not have been
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cleared or dislodged by earlier parties. Natural belays may not be available,
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so you will have to place bolts, rather than look for the shiny P-hangers
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placed by CNCC parties. You won't know in advance how long pitches are going
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to be, so the ropes you have with you may need to be cut or knotted. Party
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size is usually small - everyone needs to be able to make a contribution to
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safe rigging. The first one down may be rigging a new rope to replace a
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damaged one, or one of less than ideal length. The second may have to remove
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the old rope on his descent.
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<p>Conversely, the caves are deeper, longer and colder than Yorkshire, so
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parties need to move safely and efficiently to avoid exhaustion and exposure.
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Flooding on pitches can be sudden and severe, water very cold, and the
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location of flood inlets not always obvious - rigging for security in flood
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is often critical. Ropes remain in place over several trips, and rock may be
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very sharp - every party must be alert to the danger of abrasion and be
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prepared to rerig if necessary. Finally, rigging points placed on exploration
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may need to be used on expeditions for years to come, so maintenance of bolts
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on the final derigging trips is important.
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<h3>A New Pitch !</h3>
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<p>So your cave goes, and you have reached a large black space. Whether your
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reaction is joy or terror, there are a few things to consider before
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leaping, lemming-like, into the void on a handy piece of string, or running
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back to top camp to announce that the cave is "bottomless".
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<p>How deep is the pitch ? Where would be the ideal line of descent, avoiding
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rub points, loose rock, mud and/or water ? Is there an obvious traverse
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level across the top of the pitch, or a short way down ? Can you actually
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<b><i>see</i></b> any of this without starting to rig ? Look across the
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pitch as well as down it - there may be accessible passage still to
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explore and always a chance that the pitch can be climbed or bypassed
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entirely. Look up too: if there is an aven it may give a clue as to where
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flood inlets might appear, or there may be loose rock or ice formations
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up there to be considered.
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<p>The traditional method of judging the depth of a pitch is to lob a rock
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down. <spani lang="fr">Casteret</span> always used to wrap his rock in a copy
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of "<i lang="fr">Le Monde</i>" and set it alight before casting it into the
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void. Before chucking <b>anything</b> down a pitch, consider whether there
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could be another party down there, perhaps having come by an entirely
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different route. In <spani lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle</span> in
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particular, this is a very real possibility.
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<p>A traverse/security line is often useful to approach the edge of a new
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pitch. This may or may not become a permanent part of the rigging, but
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until the safety of the pitch head has been assessed, it is better to be
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safe than sorry. Such a rope will often enable you to reach a better
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viewpoint (or rock-chucking point :-) to assess the pitch, and certainly
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confers a greater degree of confidence when scrambling about looking for
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potential rig points.
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<p>When throwing your rock, only the time to the first bounce is really
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relevant, unless it continues to rattle on for <b>very much</b> longer. If
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you can drop it in a "free hang" then this will give you a good idea of the
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minimum length of rope needed before a rebelay is required.
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<h3>Rigging it</h3>
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<p>There are two two obvious tactical errors you can make when rigging a new
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pitch. On the one hand, you can spend ages bolting a perfect hang, only
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for the first person to find the pitch ends blind. On the other hand, you
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can bodge up a rig to check that it goes, then fail to rig properly before
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it takes a lot of traffic. The first error is frustrating and limits your
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finding of new stuff. The second error can be terminal at worst and at best
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can waste a lot more time than would have been needed to rig properly.
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<p>If a pitch is roomy, draughts strongly or is in an immensely promising
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location, it is probably worth taking the time to rig it properly from the
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start. If the pitch is small, has no draught or is likely to drop back into a
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known part of the cave, it is probably better to send someone down before
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investing too much effort. You can make it safe pretty quickly with rope
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protectors and perhaps deviations off naturals, without taking the time to
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place bolts which you will need for a more permanent rig.
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<p>Experience in the UK should have given you a good feel for when a pitch
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is well-rigged. It won't take too long in Austria to get a feel for how
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it can go wrong. If you find a pitch badly rigged by someone else, don't
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assume it must be OK because they survived. If you can improve the rig,
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do so; if not, consider carefully whether you should go down at all.
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<p>A well-rigged pitch should not be overly gymnastic, nor, ideally, should
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it have either very long or very short sections, which result in a lot of
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waiting around for the other person(s) in a group. Loops at rebelays should
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not disappear when the rope is unloaded, and should be long enough to allow
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the removal of any type of descender. They do not need to be long enough to
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stand in - especially if the pitch above is short. Overmuch slack at a
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rebelay will result in a high fall-factor if the belay fails.
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<hr>
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<!-- LINKS -->
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<img src="../../../icons/lists/0.png">
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<a href="../index.htm">Expedition Handbook</a> - Intro<br>
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<img src="../../../icons/lists/1.png">
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<a href="../look4.htm">Prospecting guide</a><br>
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<a href="../survey/index.htm">Surveying guide</a><br>
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<img src="../../../icons/lists/2.png">
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<a href="../findit.htm">Taking bearings</a> to locate caves<br>
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<img src="../../../icons/lists/1.png">
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<a href="../rescue.htm">Rescue guide</a><br>
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<img src="../../../icons/lists/1.png">
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<a href="../photo.htm">Photography guide</a><br>
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<a href="../../infodx.htm">Index to info/topics pages</a><br>
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<a href="../../indxal.htm">Full Index to area 1623</a><br>
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