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<title>1979: Andy's report for BCRA Caves & Caving</title>
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<center><font size=-1>CTS 80.1741: BCRA Caves & Caving 8 (May 1980) p 30 [ISSN 0142-1832]</font>
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<h2>Cambridge University Caving Club - Austria 1979</h2></center>
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<p>In August 1979 eight members of the club returned to the Loser Plateau,
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Totes Gebirge in Austria to continue the exploration of Eislufthöhle,
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which we were forced to abandon due to a car accident after reaching about
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-350m in 1978.
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<p>Just inside the entrance our problems restarted in the 80m Plugged shaft
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where the ice and snow had completely re-organised itslelf again,
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necessitating time-consuming rebolting. After this, the next pitches of 13,
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19, 14, 12, 30, 11, 48m were rigged in one trip. The next trip rigged two
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short pitches and then explored a new route from the -280m level. This
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rejoined the stream canyon found last year after easy pitches of 17m and 9m
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landing in a small chamber seen from below in 1978. Much muddy traversing and
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a very muddy sloping 26m pitch led to our 1978 terminus (now determined to be
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at -331m) and here two ways on were possible; straight down sounded wet, so a
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further muddy traverse was followed to a 20m pitch descending the far side of
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a rock wall into a dry chamber. This was clean and a further climb of 5m led
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to an awkward meander descending to the head of a rather sharp 23m pitch at
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the base of which an increasingly tight and nasty rift led on. After an
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extrememly tight section, a window onto a pitch was reached; this seemed to
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be about 20m to a boulder floor and rose above in a high aven. This pitch was
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never descended as the narrow rift was smaller than expected for the main way
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on.
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<p>Straight on down from 1978's terminus proved larger than had been expected
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from above, dropping into a huge cross rift with a remarkable pinnacle on the
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far side. The pitch was 28m to a ledge, then 33m in a smaller, damper shaft.
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Below this, a climb escaped the water and a traverse led to a dry shaft, with
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the stream still audible. Twenty four metres later, a small ledge formed a
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useful place to rebelay the rope, now showing signs of rubbing above and the
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rope ran out 19m later. A sharp climb of 5m led to another ledge and the
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awkward takeoff for a 24m pitch rejoining the water part way down. The rope
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was too short for the next pitch but from the end, the pitch clearly landed
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on a flat floor in a huge rift passage at around -500m. Hopes were very high
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for a major continuation but four days of rain caused to abandon our only
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attempt to continue and we were running out of time.
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<p>A massive pushing, surveying, derigging trip was our last chance and the
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new pitch was bottomed at 17m but the huge passage led on to a muddy boulder
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climb and a pitch down to the inevitable but impressive sump at -506m approx.
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With mixed feelings of elation and disappointment we took photgraphs and then
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derigged to -210m, emerging shattered after 16 hours. The pot was fully
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derigged two days later and the plateau cleared of gear for our return.
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<p>There are still several loose ends, most notably the undescended pitch
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beyond the tight rift at about -390m and another undescended pitch at -140m.
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Also, a totally untouched wet shaft at -150m and a couple of upstream
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continuations. After three years of learning about continental caving, all
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spent in the same pot, however, C.U.C.C. is moving on to new areas, leaving
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80% of the plateau still untouched. Full details of our earlier explorations
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are in "Cambridge Underground" <a href="../1976/report.htm">1977</a>, <a
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href="../1977/report.htm">1978</a>, and <a
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href="../1978/report.htm">1979</a>. A complete description of Eislufthohle
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will appear with our <a href="report.htm">1979 report</a> in "Cambridge
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Underground, Journal of C.U.C.C. and exC.S." for 1980, to be published in
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late spring when large surveys should also be available.
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<p align=right>A.E.R.Waddington
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<hr />
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<!-- LINKS -->
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<ul id="links">
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<li>1979 Expedition info:
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<ul>
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<li><a href="log.htm">Logbook</a></li>
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<li><a href="report.htm">Expo report, Cambridge Underground 1980</a></li>
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<li>Eislufthöhle - <a href="descnt.htm">from Descent 44</a></li>
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<li>Nick Thorne's write-up in <a href="792026.htm">Belfry Bulletin 378</a></li>
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<li>Odkrycie i eksploracja Eislufthöhle - <a href="811412.htm">original
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english article</a> (published in Polish in 1980)</li>
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</ul></li>
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<li><a href="../../pubs.htm#pubs1979">Index</a> to all publications</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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