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<h1>CUCC Expo 2000</h1>
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<h2>Introduction</h2>
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<p>In the summer of 2000, Cambridge University Caving Club ("CUCC")
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held its 24th annual expedition to the <span lang="de-at">Loser</span>
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Plateau in the <span lang="de-at">Totes Gebirge</span> region of Austria.</p>
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<p>There were twenty-three expedition members; as has been the norm for the
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past years the expedition lasted for five weeks. The
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<a href="../../bcamps.htm">base camp</a> was at
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<span lang="de-at">Gasthof Staud'n Wirt, Bad Aussee,</span> where the
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Club is annually made very welcome by <span lang="de-at">Hilde</span> and
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<span lang="de-at">Karin Wilpernig</span> and family.</p>
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<h2>The story so far</h2>
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<p>Under the<a href="../../smkridge/index.html">
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<span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel</span> ridge,</a> which is
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situated to the south-east of the <span lang="de-at">Loser</span> plateau,
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lie the large cave systems of
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<a href="../../smkridge/161/top.htm"><span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle</span></a>
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and <a href="../../smkridge/41.htm"><span lang="de-at">Stellerweghöhle,</span></a>
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each 24km in length. The
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<span lang="de-at">Stellerweghöhlensystem,</span> which includes
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entrances such as
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<a href="../../noinfo/smkridge/88.htm"><span lang="de">Lärchenschacht</span></a> and
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<a href="../../smkridge/41/115.htm"><span lang="de">Schnellzughöhle,</span></a>
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has been explored by Austrian, German and CUCC groups since the 1970s. CUCC
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has not explored here for many years; instead the Club's exploration has been
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concentrated in <span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle,</span> which was first
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entered on the 1988 CUCC expedition.</p>
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<p>Connected to the <span lang="de-at">Stellerweghöhlensystem</span> is
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the <span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel Eishöhle,</span> discovered in
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1929. This is a large ice cave including the vast chamber of
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<span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle,</span> the largest ice-bearing chamber
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in western Europe. This chamber is significant as the distance between
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passages leading off from <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> and
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passages in <span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle</span> is very short.</p>
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<p>This tantalising prospect of connecting two large systems---which, if
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joined, would be high in the list of caves in the world with a great length
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<i>and</i> depth---has excited explorers from CUCC for the past few years. At
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the start of this year's expedition the distance between the systems was
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approximately 75m. Major discoveries on the
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<span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle</span> side had been made in 1999 via the
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deep shaft entrance of <span lang="de">Steinschlagschacht,</span> but no way
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through had been found. Thus searching for a passage to forge the link was a
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major objective of this year's expedition.</p>
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<p>Further out around the <span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel</span> ridge,
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downslope from the summit of the <span lang="de-at">Hinterer
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Schwarzmooskogel,</span> lies the system of
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<span lang="de">Steinbrückenhöhle.</span> This cave was discovered
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by CUCC in 1999 and stood at 224m deep---with a wide open lead at the
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bottom---at the end of the 1999 expedition. The second major aim of this
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year's expedition was to continue exploration here.
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<span lang="de">Steinbrückenhöhle</span> lies in a potentially
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important position, 500m north of <span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle.</span>
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It was postulated that the cave might lead to an easier way into the Far
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North areas of <span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle,</span> where deep
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shafts lie unexplored.</p>
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<p>A significant amount of time on CUCC expeditions is spent on
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documenting known and new caves, surveying (both underground and on
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the surface), experimenting with the use of techniques such as GPS
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(Global Positioning System) and related activities. The Expo web site
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provides comprehensive information about the caves of the
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<span lang="de-at">Loser</span> Plateau and it is highly
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important that this is kept up-to-date with the latest knowledge.</p>
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<h2>Aims of the Expedition</h2>
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<p>The aims of the 2000 Expo are summarised below.
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<ul>
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<li>Push leads in the <span lang="de">Eishöhle</span> to attempt
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to forge the link between the
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<span lang="de-at">Stellerweghöhlensystem</span> and
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<span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle.</li>
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<li>Push leads in <span lang="de">Steinbrückenhöhle.</span></li>
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<li>Continue exploration in <span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle</span>
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---there are over 200 documented ways on.</li>
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<li>Document and survey every new passage discovered.</li>
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<li>Continue surface surveying and documentation work from previous
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years, in parallel with prospecting for new caves on the plateau.</li>
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<li>Fix positions of cave entrances more accurately using GPS (now
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that the Selective Availability accuracy restriction has been lifted
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by the US Government).</li>
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</ul></p>
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<h2>And so to Austria</h2>
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<p>With the tackle having been prepared and packed, five cavers set off
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from England on the weekend of the 15th July. Others who had set off
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previously joined this contingent in Austria and Base Camp was established
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over the next couple of days.</p>
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<p>The caving area is situated on the Loser plateau at an altitude of 1600m,
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some 800m higher than Base Camp. A toll road ascends the mountainside to a
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restaurant and car park at the top. From here it is approximately a
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45-minute walk to Top Camp on the plateau, more if one has hundreds of metres
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of rope and other caving gear on one's back!</p>
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<p>Initially this year the weather was poor but Top Camp was finally set up
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after a few days and the rope and tackle ferried there.</p>
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<p>The next few sections of this report detail the work which was undertaken
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in each of the major target areas of work for the expedition.</p>
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<h2>Discoveries in the <span lang="de">Eishöhle</span></h2>
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<img src="ice.jpg" width=500 height=375 hspace=10 vspace=10 align=left>
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<p>Initially much work was undertaken to document the
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<span lang="de">Eishöhle</span> entrances and other holes in the region.
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The main entrances to the <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> side of
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the <span lang="de">Eishöhle</span> lie in a "portal row" together with
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other, unconnected entrances to small caves. Two of the latter were
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investigated and some naming ambiguities resulting from the decades of
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<span lang="de">Eishöhle</span> exploration (the cave was first
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discovered in 1929) were resolved.</p>
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<p>There had been rumours before the expedition that the "40h"
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entrance, which provides a quick way into
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<span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle,</span> was open
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(rather than being blocked by snow as is usual). CUCC had not
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explored from this entrance before and there was some confusion as to
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exactly which entrance it was.</p>
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<p>Cavers from CUCC found a Spit (a self-drilling anchor placed
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in the rock to use as a belay point for descent) in a large entrance
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partly plugged with snow. A small ice-floored tube blowing a
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formidable and very cold draught led off from the bottom. This was
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descended and <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> entered after less
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than five minutes from the start of the descent.</p>
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<h3>Mission Impossible</h3>
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<p>The first aim in <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> was to bolt up
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alongside a frozen waterfall, which had been identified previously by
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geologists as being in an important location. This is because of the
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proximity to <span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle</span> and the fact
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that the passage seen at the top of the climb is believed to be on the
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<span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle</span> side of the large fault plane
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which bounds <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span> on its northern side.
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No other passages of any significance are known which cross this plane.</p>
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<img src="climb.jpg" width=350 height=528 hspace=10 vspace=10 align=right>
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<p>The climb was bolted quickly and led at the top to a climb round an
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ice buttress and a 24m pitch, the start of <b>Mission Impossible</b>.
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It is believed that this point may have been reached many years
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earlier by a French group (using an alternative route up when the ice
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was in a different state from at present). However, at the bottom of
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the pitch an icy duck led to a further 3 second drop. This was
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certainly in undiscovered cave and the new shaft was quickly rigged.</p>
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<p>Forty-five metres lower, large chambers and passages were encountered.
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These led precisely towards <span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle!</span>
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However, despite much searching, no ways on were found at the end, save for
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some large avens rising above. This year there was insufficient manpower to
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bolt upwards; the series hence stopped 20m below
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<span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle</span> and virtually underneath (plus or
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minus survey error).</p>
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<p>Wookey and Atkinson bolted across the top of the 45m pitch to enter a
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parallel shaft, which unfortunately, although of impressive
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proportions, did not lead to a closer point to
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<span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle.</span> Additionally, the area in the
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region above <b>Mission Impossible</b> in
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<span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle</span> was thoroughly searched but no
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ways down were found.</p>
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<p>Although Mission Impossible did not lead in itself to a connection, it
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has proved that significant development exists in the gap between
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<span lang="de">Eishöhle</span> and
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<span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle.</span></p>
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<h3>Night Manipulations Series</h3>
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<p>Whilst the bolting up to Mission Impossible was in progress, a very
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low wet crawl under a side wall of <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle</span>
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led to further passages, believed to have been partially explored previously.
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This led to approximately 200m of passage including a connection through to a
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point half-way up the Radio 3 pitch in the <b>Persistence of Vision</b>
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series (discovered in 1999). Despite filling in a significant gap on the
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survey this series did not unfortunately lead to any passages closer to
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<span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle.</span></p>
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<h3>Persistence of Vision</h3>
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<p>In 1999 the <b>Persistence of Vision</b> series was discovered---to
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quote the words of the original explorers:<br>
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... An interesting series off <span lang="de">Schneevulkanhalle,</span> with
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some tortuous small passage of a highly "Mendip" nature, including tight
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bends, squeezes, ridiculous climbs, insane bolt traverses, and bizarre hading
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rift. This connects a selection of rifts and pitches which are largely
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blocked at the bottom. The passages trend steeply up between the pitches.
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There is an awful lot of "varied caving" in the 400m of passage found so
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far...</p>
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<p>In 2000 further exploration was conducted at the very end of the
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series, where a tight slot led to a further pitch down and
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unfortunately became too tight. Some of the series was derigged, but
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there is still an interesting lead part way along which could trend
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towards <span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle.</span></p>
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<h3><span lang="de">Kalter Gang</span> and
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<span lang="de">Spinnenfriedhof</span></h3>
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<p>On the last day of exploration in the
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<span lang="de">Eishöhle</span> the blocked squeeze
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through into <span lang="de">Kalter Gang</span> (surveyed by VfHM in 1984)
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was excavated and the passage beyond re-explored. This area is approximately
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200m ENE of Mission Impossible. A lack of rope prevented descent to the
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bottom of the continuing rift; this will almost certainly be looked at again
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in 2001 to check that no passage was left unexplored by the original
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explorers.</p>
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<h2>Discoveries in <span lang="de">Steinbrückenhöhle</span></h2>
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<p>As mentioned previously
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<a href="../../smkridge/204/204.html"><span lang="de">Steinbrückenhöhle</span></a>
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stood at 224m deep at the end of the 1999 expedition. Unfortunately work
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early in this year's expedition was hindered by the discovery of a large
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amount of snow at the bottom of the entrance pitch. This necessitated work to
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find an alternative route down; at one stage it was feared that the whole
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cave might be inaccessible but thankfully a new shaft was found, bypassing
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the old second and third pitches and the snow plug too.</p>
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<p>Exploration then continued apace and after some effort the cave was
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been rigged down to -224m. In parallel with this rigging other
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exploration was conducted. This alone led to two large pitch series
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of approximately 100m depth each, with shafts of large diameters.
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Unfortunately both stopped: one in a too-tight rift and another in a
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boulder choke.</p>
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<p>The shaft visited in 1999 was pushed from -224m; unfortunately no
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horizontal level (as postulated in 1999) was found; instead, the
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series of shafts continued until an eventual end at -368m, where a
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tight stream passage led off. It is possible that further passage
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could be found here, but it does not appear especially promising. In
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addition, the lead requires a large amount of tackle to reach, which
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could possibly be better used in other areas.</p>
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<img src="sb.jpg" width=594 height=387 hspace=10 vspace=10 align=left>
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<p>Throughout the expedition two of the members new to Expo spent a
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considerable amount of time pushing a series of crawls leading off
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from <b>110 A Day</b> in the upper levels of
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<span lang="de">Steinbrückenhöhle.</span> These alone led to the
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discovery of a significant amount of passage, but in the last few days of the
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expedition a very significant discovery was made here: large horizontal
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passage trending northwards.</p>
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<p>In this direction lies terrain not explored by CUCC; 1500m further west
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lies the great system of <span lang="de-at">Raucherkarhöhle,</span>
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80km in length. The new passage in
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<span lang="de">Steinbrückenhöhle</span> will be pushed in 2001
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to investigate the extent of the horizontal development at this level. This
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will form part of a general shift to a larger amount of exploration around
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the <span lang="de">Steinbrückenhöhle</span> area in general, both
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above and below ground.</p>
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<h2>Discoveries in <span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle</span></h2>
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<p>In addition to the major work being carried out in the
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<span lang="de">Eishöhle</span> and
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<span lang="de">Steinbrückenhöhle,</span> a team set off to explore
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the <b>Regurgitation</b> area of <span lang="de">Kaninchenhöhle.</span>
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This is an interesting area, explored from a large chamber at the bottom of a
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huge wet aven. A winding stream rift descends steeply from the chamber; this
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was explored and surveyed for a considerable distance. There is still the
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possibility of further discoveries at the bottom but the amount of water
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descending the shafts may begin to pose a problem.</p>
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<h2>Surface work and other caves</h2>
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<p>As is usual for modern-day CUCC expeditions, a large amount of surface
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work was undertaken. This year this included surface surveys to known
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and new entrances, prospecting for new caves and documenting some
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earlier finds whose documentation had been lacking in some respect.
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Other follow-up work on previous surveys was also undertaken.</p>
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<p>Caves are tagged with discreet aluminium tags and new minor
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discoveries (of which there were several this year) are documented,
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surveyed to and surveyed inside. The most significant of these
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discoveries this year was <b lang="de">Traungoldhöhle</b>, opposite the
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entrance to <span lang="de">Steinbrückenhöhle</span> and with seven
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entrances. Two entrances lie underneath the rock bridge which gave
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<span lang="de">Steinbrückenhöhle</span> its name, portrayed in
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Figure 3 above. The new cave was fully explored to 200m in length.</p>
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<h2>Other work</h2>
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<p>Much work was conducted using GPS receivers to fix cave entrances and
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other navigational landmarks. New coordinate conversion software
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enables translations between Austrian grid and latitude/longitude
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coordinates to be made with reasonable accuracy. A map was prepared
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of the GPS fixes and surface survey points which helped to resolve
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some inaccuracies.</p>
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<p>In addition some design work on a new version of the surveying
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software <i>Survex</i>, designed and written by CUCC members, was
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undertaken. The new release is expected by the end of 2001 and will
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greatly enhance the software's capabilities, with a modular
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architecture and a fully graphical user interface. Details of the
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project, nicknamed <i>Project Spud</i>, are available from the
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<a href="http://www.survex.com/spud.html">Survex web site</a>.</p>
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<h2>Follow-up work</h2>
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<p>The usual follow-up work in Cambridge and elsewhere is continuing even
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as you read this report. Survey data is processed on computer using
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<i>Survex</i>. Surveys have to be drawn up and passage descriptions
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written.</p>
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<p>The CUCC Expo documentation archive, maintained as a Web site, is
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currently being updated with the finds from Expo 2000. This
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comprehensive cross-referenced resource provides an excellent
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knowledge base of information for future expeditions.</p>
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<p><a href="../../index.htm">The archive can
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be viewed on the Web here.</a></p>
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<h2>Conclusion</h2>
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<p>A total of 2.5km of cave was discovered this year; the length and
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depth of <span lang="de">Steinbrückenhöhle</span> were extended to approximately 2.5km and -368m respectively. The prospects for further
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discoveries leading off from the newly-discovered large horizontal level in
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<span lang="de">Steinbrückenhöhle</span> are good. Significant
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systems such as <span lang="de">Organhöhle</span> lie in the direction
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in which this passage trends; there are certainly more discoveries to be made
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here.</p>
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<p>The expedition in 2001 will continue the work of previous years, again
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searching for the elusive
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<span lang="de">Eishöhle---Kaninchenhöhle</span> connection and
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also prospecting around the area of
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<span lang="de">Steinbrückenhöhle;</span> many large surface shafts
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lie unexplored here. It is possible that an attack on the connection will be
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made from <span lang="de">Steinschlagschacht</span> and the nearby Hall of
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the Mounting Choss. Here there are at least two deep unexplored shafts and
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other descending question marks. Although these could not drop directly into
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the currently-known parts of the <span lang="de">Eishöhle,</span> they
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may drop into passages nearby. The discovery of Mission Impossible this year
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has shown that significant cave passage does lie in the gap between the two
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systems; it seems increasingly likely that any connection which exists will
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not be in a direct line across the gap.</p>
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<p>Planning for the forthcoming 2001 expedition has now begun in earnest.
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Any enquiries should be directed to the Expedition Leader,
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<a href="mailto:mjg54@cam.ac.uk">Martin Green</a>, Corpus Christi College,
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Cambridge.</p>
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<h2>Thanks</h2>
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<p>Thanks go to the following for their gracious sponsorship of Expo 2000:
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<ul>
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<li><b>Thomas Tunnock Ltd.</b> for Tunnock Bars;
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<li><b>Finlay McKinlay, Chemists</b> in Glossop and
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their suppliers for first aid and photographic supplies;
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<li><b>The Ghar Parau Foundation</b> for their support.
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</ul></p>
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<p><span lang="de-at">Hilde, Karin</span> and the other folk at
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<span lang="de-at">Staud'n Wirt</span> must be thanked for
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their excellent food and hospitality and the use of their campsite and
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hut. Finally the expedition members are also thanked for their
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individual contributions to this year's expedition.</p>
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<p><a href="mailto:Mark.Shinwell@cl.cam.ac.uk">Mark Shinwell</a> --
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Expedition Leader 2000<br>
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Queens' College, Cambridge, England. CB3 9ET</p>
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<p>19th November 2000</p>
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<!-- LINKS -->
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<p><ul>
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<li>2000 Expedition info:
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<ul>
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<li><a href="index.htm">2000 index</a> (more detail than in this list)</li>
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<li>Expedition <a href="report.htm">Report</a> 2000</li>
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<li>Pre-expo <a href="goals.htm">mission statement</a></li>
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<li><a href="log.htm">Logbook</a> (70k)</li>
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<li>All the 161 trips written up in the logbook are
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<a href="161.htm">indexed</a> in the history page.<br>
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(40 and 204 trips will be indexed soon)</li>
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<li><a href="../../pubs.htm#pubs2000">Published accounts</a></li>
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</ul></li>
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<li><a href="../../pubs.htm">Index</a> to all publications</li>
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<li><a href="../../sponsr.htm">Current year's</a> sponsors</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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