mirror of
https://expo.survex.com/repositories/expoweb/.git/
synced 2024-11-22 23:31:56 +00:00
211 lines
12 KiB
HTML
211 lines
12 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
|
|
<html>
|
|
<head>
|
|
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf8" />
|
|
<title>
|
|
1988: Cambridge Underground report
|
|
</title>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../css/main2.css" />
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
|
|
<center><font size=-1>Cambridge Underground 1989 pp 15-17</font>
|
|
<h1>CUCC Austria Expedition 1988</h1>
|
|
<h3>by Keith Millar</h3></center>
|
|
|
|
<p>This year's expedition to the old faithful, Austria, proved to be the
|
|
largest on record. At the final count 25 members took part, staying between
|
|
two and three weeks. About half of these were new to the delights and horros
|
|
of Austria, having been swayed by stories of topless bathers, delicious
|
|
ice-creams and glorious sunshine while in an alcoholic haze at the annual
|
|
club dinner. At this point we feel we should apologise for the lack of
|
|
reports over the last few years and hope that this will bring you up to date
|
|
with our activities in the area. 1987 proved a very poor year as far as new
|
|
caves were concerned, with 158, Donner und Blitzen Höhle being the only
|
|
significant find. This was explored to a depth of -130m where a tight rift
|
|
stopped further progress, the passage could be seen to widen and continue
|
|
beyond this constriction, but resisted our hammering, a shame as this had the
|
|
potential for a higher entrance to the Stellerweg system therefore reclaiming
|
|
the system from the Germans. Apart from much prospecting, and pushing some
|
|
odd leads in 113, a large amount of time was spent surface surveying in
|
|
collaboration with the Austrians to locate known caves to fixed points set by
|
|
the Austrians using laser rangefinders.
|
|
|
|
<p>This year's expedition started off with the usual race across Austria by
|
|
various forms of transport ranging from the Land Rover ('Rover'), the work
|
|
horse of the party, carrying all the tackle plus four drivers who were
|
|
squeezed into the remaining holes, with the more affluent members travelling
|
|
by car, inter-rail or jet resulting in everyone arriving at Hilde's at
|
|
various unearthly hours, but being unable to beat last year's record of 12
|
|
hours from Austria to Calais.
|
|
|
|
<p>The first day saw everyone soaking up the sun and swimming in the lake
|
|
while consuming vast amounts of beer. Once everyone had recovered from the
|
|
travelling and the effects of alcohol, a posse was mounted, with instructions
|
|
to search for virgin holes in the inhospitable wastes of the Totes Gebirge,
|
|
(that's after the new recruits had been shown what to look for). This
|
|
resulted in two promising leads, both emitting a strong draught. A site was
|
|
also proposed for a camp, being relatively sheltered from the wind and having
|
|
running water, a rare commodity on the plateau. This later formed camp 1.
|
|
|
|
<p>A new day dawned with everybody keen to descend their new finds, even
|
|
though the weather had turned for the worse. So vast amounts of food, camping
|
|
gear, tackle, and rope were carried up onto the plateau, resulting in the
|
|
setting up of camp 1. At the end of the day, both the caves were still going
|
|
strong, both with undescended pitches.
|
|
|
|
<p>The following day saw the discovery of 161, later to be named
|
|
Kaninchenhöhle (after the Snow Rabbit's skeleton found along Adrian's
|
|
Route). This proved to be the cave we had all been hoping for, with a 37m
|
|
entrance pitch situated on a prominent ridge between the Hinter and Vord
|
|
Schwarzmoos Kgl, giving a depth potential of over 1km before hitting the
|
|
known water table. This entrance pitch landed in a boulder chamber with two
|
|
ways on. The most obvious being a clean-washed shaft, this was subsequently
|
|
descended but unfortunately narrowed to a too-tight stream canyon. A way off
|
|
is known just before the canyon, which would involve crawling under a very
|
|
large boulder supported on loose rubble. At the time, no-one seemed prepared
|
|
to risk this, but it is thought to continue. After this disappointing start,
|
|
attention was diverted to the other known way on 'Adrian's Route' (after the
|
|
rope). This entered a small phreatic tube emitting a very string draught,
|
|
which opened out into a small chamber. This is where the rabbit skeletons
|
|
were found showing how close we were to the surface even after descending the
|
|
40m entrance pitch. The most obvious route leads to a short pitch with a drip
|
|
(very rare in this cave) followed by a 45m free hanging pitch in a large
|
|
rift.
|
|
|
|
<p>This news was brought to us by the day's pushing party whilst exchanging
|
|
details with the German/French group also working in the area. Last year this
|
|
group broke into the Stellerweg system originally explored by CUCC to a depth
|
|
of -971m. This has since been linked with Eishöhle. The extent of the
|
|
full system is, as yet, not known to us as the Germans are very secretive
|
|
about their finds. They were shouting out "copyright", "copyright" as Mike
|
|
produced a piece of tracing paper and proceeded to trace their survey.<br>
|
|
[Webeditor's note: so secretive, in fact, that we failed to spot that this
|
|
particular group were French - perhaps this owed more to CUCC's drunkenness
|
|
and inability to communicate than to the other group's paranoia :-)]
|
|
|
|
<p>The 40m pitch landed on a very loose boulder ramp leading to yet another
|
|
47.5m pitch in an inclined rift. This proved most difficult to rig as the
|
|
rock was very shattered and there were few good naturals. This was eventually
|
|
rigged, landing in a passage covered with large boulders. This continued
|
|
until it petered out into a sand-filled crawl with no way on, giving another
|
|
disappointing end.
|
|
|
|
<p>This left one other possible route, an eye hole spotted while descending
|
|
the second pitch (on the original route). This proved to be the key to a very
|
|
complicated system, found after a week of continuous exploration. The eye
|
|
hole formed a traverse along a ledge on an inclined rift (undescended)
|
|
leading to an ascending boulder slope in a large chamber. At the top of the
|
|
slope, a pitch on the right hand side ('Skull Pitch' due to its shape), so
|
|
far undescended, but thought to join up with the main route lower down. The
|
|
boulder slope ends in a 20m pitch landing on a very loose boulder slope
|
|
'Hanging Death' leading to a further pitch which spirals around and lands in
|
|
a small chamber with a canyon type passage leading off. This continues to a
|
|
slot in the floor which had to be hammered out to gain access (still
|
|
inaccessible to the larger members of the club). It is hoped to bypass this
|
|
squeeze and the hanging death pitch by finding an alternative route down
|
|
Skull Pitch or by traversing over the hanging death pitch. The squeeze occurs
|
|
at the top of an 8.5m pitch dropping into a large phreatic passage with many
|
|
possible ways on.
|
|
|
|
<p>A decision was made to explore the two main routes on simultaneously (Left
|
|
Hand Route, Right Hand Route) so optimising time and manpower.
|
|
|
|
<h4>Right Hand Route</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>This formed a descending phreatic tube about 5m in height, with a clean
|
|
floor. This continues along with small drops requiring ladders or hand lines
|
|
to aid progress. This eventually leads to a chamber with holes in the floor
|
|
(as yet unexplored) with the phreatic tube continuing over them. This leads
|
|
to another chamber with a very bold step over a hole in the floor (Over the
|
|
Rainbow). The area is characterised by huge rock pinnacles and rock sheets
|
|
due to extreme weathering, and having a thin coating of moonmilk. The passage
|
|
continues with the roof gaining height all along as you descend huge boulder
|
|
ramps, with avens and routes leading off all along. This ends at a 32m pitch
|
|
into a vast open space, forming the main chamber. To give some idea of size,
|
|
during the exploration of this chamber got lost and it took ages for them to
|
|
find their rope, also resulting in the discovery of yet another chamber via a
|
|
huge boulder choke known as 'Star Wars' containing huge block of rock (Tower
|
|
Blocks). This is as far as the present survey goes due to lack of time, but
|
|
the way on still wide open with another large phreatic level leading off,
|
|
plus many other leads.
|
|
|
|
<h4>Left Hand Route</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>The Left Hand Route starts off as an inclined rift but soon opens out into
|
|
a stooping sized passage with holes in the floor. This continues to a large
|
|
chamber (Arrow Chamber) with two possible pitches to descend. It is thought
|
|
that these two shafts are linked and so the one giving the cleanest hang and
|
|
having the least loose boulders was descended. Our thoughts were verified as
|
|
we landed on a boulder pile and climbed through an eye hole to the sight of a
|
|
huge shaft (first seen in Arrow Chamber) that we had entered ¾ of the
|
|
way down. This series of shafts continue down via a broken shaft to the top
|
|
of a huge clean pitch formed by a phreatic uplift, now known as 'Niflheim' (A
|
|
realm of darkness and ist where hell lies within), This got its name due to
|
|
its univiting nature and a vibrating boom as a huge boulder was dropped. This
|
|
shaft has so far only been descended by a superb free hanging pitch to a rock
|
|
bridge (Birds Eye) with a 4 second drop still to be descended.
|
|
|
|
<p>Apart from all the caving and walking, numerous tourist trips were taken
|
|
to Halstatt, and to the summer Bob sleigh run, giving a welcome break. Vast
|
|
amounts of beer (totalling ½ tonne) were consumed, as well as many
|
|
kilos of muesli. The obligatory arguments between the Vegetarians and
|
|
Carnivores were continued again this year, as well as many hours spent
|
|
drinking and reminiscing in the Potato Hut kindly lent to us by Hilde.
|
|
|
|
<h4>Next Year</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>The incentive to return to Austria in 1989 is great with the 4 second drop
|
|
on the Left Hand Route, the large phreatic passage on the Right Hand Route.
|
|
As well as these eads it is hoped to find an alternate route to that of the
|
|
Death's Door pitch and the squeeze. Possible routes are that of the Skull
|
|
pitch, bottom of the second pitch under large boulder, or by traversing over
|
|
the pitch before Death's Door.
|
|
|
|
<p>There are no known caves nearby, and so the chance of a major new system
|
|
like Stellerweg is great, and who knows, a possible link, and a depth of well
|
|
over 1 km.
|
|
|
|
<p>It is interesting to note that the phreatic levels in 161 and the other
|
|
known systems in the area all occur at approximately the same level.
|
|
|
|
<p>As well as the continued exploration of the system, it is also hoped to
|
|
further explore 164 found in the first week, but exploration was hindered by
|
|
the high rainfall experienced this year.
|
|
|
|
<p>We wish to thank the Sports Council for their most generous grant, and
|
|
also to Hilde the landlady for putting up with us for the three weeks. But
|
|
most of all to the Austrian Caving Group for their hospitality, which we hope
|
|
to repay by arranging an exchange visit during 1989.
|
|
|
|
<p>[This was the article sent to 'Caves & Caving']<br>
|
|
[Web editor's note: it is almost identical to <a href="bcracc.htm">CTS
|
|
89.1793</a>, BCRA Caves & Caving 45 (Autumn 1989) pp 8-11, except in
|
|
minor detail, and the fact that Mark Dougherty is credited as the author in
|
|
C&C]
|
|
|
|
<hr />
|
|
<!-- LINKS -->
|
|
<ul id="links">
|
|
<li>Cambridge Underground 1989,
|
|
<a href="http://cucc.survex.com/jnl/1989/index.htm">Table of Contents</a></li>
|
|
<li>1988 Expedition info:
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="index.htm">Index</a> (more detail than in this list)</li>
|
|
<li><a href="log.htm">Logbook</a></li>
|
|
<li>Cambridge Underground Expo Report:
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="cavegd.htm">161 Description</a> to date (ie. 1988)</li>
|
|
<li><a href="164.htm">1623/164</a> exploration</li>
|
|
<li><a href="rover.htm">A Rover's return</a></li>
|
|
</ul></li>
|
|
<li><a href="to1989.htm">And so to 1989</a> work for 1989 expo to date</li>
|
|
<li><a href="bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves & Caving Report</a></li>
|
|
</ul></li>
|
|
<li><a href="../../pubs.htm#pubs1988">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>
|