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<title>1989: BCRA Caves & Caving report</title>
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<font size=-1>CTS 90.1317: BCRA Caves & Caving 49 (Autumn 1990) pp 5-7 [ISSN 0142-1832]</font>
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<h1>Cambridge University Caving Club<br>
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Underground in Austria</h1>
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<h3>Daniel Mace & Penny Reeves</h3>
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<p>Cambridge University Caving Club returned to the Loser Plateau in the
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Totes Gebirge, Austria this summer to continue the exploration of 161
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Kaninchenhöhle. This cave was discovered in 1988 and three routes were
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explored, each down to about -250m. The weather then had been absolutely
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appalling with four weeks of torrential rain. In spite of this about 25 keen
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cavers (including several who had vowed never to return) spent up to five
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weeks in Austria last summer.
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<p>The two main taregets for exploration were the Left Hand Route and (very
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imaginative these Cambridge students) the Right Hand Route. These were
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reached by descending two exceedingly loose pitches; 'Checkout' and 'Loose
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Bowels'. Rocks dropped from the top of Checkout would tumble all the way
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down to the bottom of Loose Bowels where an awkward squeeze lay immediately
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above an 8m pitch. More of this later. Much of the first week was spent
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attempting to find a bypass to this section of the cave.
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<p>The most promising potential bypass was found by the club president Jeremy
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Rodgers and the Club barman Mark Fearon. An obvious shaft that descended
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close to the top of Checkout was explored down several pitches. It spiralled
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down tantalisingly close to the Left and Right hand Routes, but
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unfortunately no direct connection was found. This route was named after its
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original explorers: 'Drunk and Stupid'.
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<p>By the end of the week, Drunk and Stupid had been explored to below 150m
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and the other two routes were rigged down to the limits of exploration. In
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1988 the Left Hand Route was explored to an undescended and apparently
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bottomless pitch: 'Niflheim' - "A realm of freezing mist and darkness under
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one root of Yggdrasall (the world tree) which hell lies within". Exploration
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in the Right Hand Route had ended at two enormous chambers: 'Knossus' and
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'Tower Blocks'.
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<p>Niflheim was descended and found to be 75m deep and far from bottomless.
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Beyond it was a large fossilised phreas: 'Ragnorok'. From this there were
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several smaller passages and tubes, most of which remain wide open but one
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of which was followed to 'Thumper the Talking Sump' at -310m.
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<p>Down the Right Hand Route, numerous routes were found leading off the
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large chambers. The most promising of these were the Flapjack Pitches. These
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descended close to a large inlet: 'YAPATE inlet'. They were explored to Bat
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Corner where a bat skeleton was found at a depth of 370m.
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<p>Morale had been very high during the first few weeks of the expedition and
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a phenomenal amount of work was done including a complete survey of the cave.
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Then disaster struck. Becka Lawson lost control whilst descending through the
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squeeze on a C-rigged Stop and free fell 8m breaking her femur. Fortunately
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there were several people with her and some were dispatched to call out the
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rescue whilst others splinted her leg and began to evacuate her from the
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cave. At this time we had no idea what help to expect from the Austrian Cave
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Rescue or the time they would take to reach her. They were in fact incredibly
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efficient, arriving at the cave entrance within two hours complete with
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medic, mechanical winch, stretcher and helicopter. They met Becka on the
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third pitch where she was transferred to the coffin-like stretcher and hauled
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out of the cave. She was then air-lifted to the local hospital where her leg
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provided valuable out-of-season practice for surgeons more used to treating
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skiing injuries.
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<p>Morale was low after this accident and very little caving was done for a
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few days. A team of divers (John Cordingley, Mike Thomas, Phil Murphy and
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Andy 'Alien' Goddard) arrived from Britain and kept the expedition amused
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with tales of their exploits. They also took some of the team to a local lake
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for an introduction to diving. Unfortunately the expedition leader managed to
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burst an eardrum whilst underwater leaving us with a second hospital case on
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our hands.
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<p>The resurgence the divers were looking for in Altausseer See proved to
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consist of thousands of tiny springs flowing up through mud and was hence
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totally impenetrable. The divers did however find a rather interesting bone
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which after close examination proved to be a human humerus. The local
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authorities were informed and they asked the divers to return to the site
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and see if any more of the body could be found. A boot was retrieved with
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the rather nasty remains of a foot inside. At this point the visibility
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deteriorated dramatically, and so no more gory remains were brought to the
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surface. The body proved to be that of a villager from Altaussee who had
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drowned thirty years ago.
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<p>On the serious side of diving, numerous resurgences were explored in a
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reconnaissance of the area. Alien gained the respect of the Austrian divers
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by descending to -65m in Goldloch. Hopefully underwater exploration will
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continue in 1990.
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<p>The exploration continued in Kaninchenhöhle. Drunk and Stupid was
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pushed to -240m through a particularly interesting section of hading rift,
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the 'Bacon Slicer'. Down the Right Hand Route, the Flapjack series of
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pitches descended to a sump. After a truly honest piece of surveying this
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was found to lie 499m below the surface, maddeningly close to the half
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kilometre. Several more passages were explored from Tower Blocks and whilst
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a lot of horizontal development was discovered, no new depth was added to
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the system. It is hoped that one of these routes will provide a major
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extension to the cave during the summer of 1990.
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<p>Just before the end of the expedition, a pushing team down Drunk and
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Stupid found a rope ascending a shaft they had broken into. There was much
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debate and confusion underground. It was decided that the bolts were far too
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good to have been placed by anyone from CUCC (apologies to David Howes!) and
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the rope was far too clean to have been anywhere near the entrance series of
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Kaninchenhöhle. The team concluded that the rope came from a cave that
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was being explored by a group of French cavers in the area. A note was left
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and they departed for Base Camp in a state of great excitement to draw up
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this latest piece of survey in an attempt to find where the French cave
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entered.
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<p>However, the note was found a few hours later by a group down Niflheim.
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The 'French' rope was in fact the tail end of the Niflheim rope, and the
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mysterious note caused this group even greater confusion. Eventually everyone
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realised that one of the major objectives of the expedition had been
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achieved: the squeeze had been bypassed. Unfortunately, bypassing the squeeze
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via the 'French Connection' involved descending to -250m and then reascending
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to -150m, an undertaking unattractive to even the larger un-squeeze-shaped
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members of the expedition.
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<p>The time came to detackle and with it a serious deterioration in the
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weather. Top Camp was wiped out by a snow fall, only the ten year old Force
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10 and Juliette Kelly's £2 bargain basement tent remained in one piece.
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Detackling was hampered by a second accident. Becka's boyfriend Chris
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Densham managed to get his rack caught on the rock in the squeeze. In his
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struggle to release himself he fell through the squeeze in a carbon copy of
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Becka's fall. Fortunately he was less seriously injured and the decision to
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self-rescue was made. He was hauled to the surface after seven hours of
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hauling to find mist, sleet and almost zero visibility. For seven hours he
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was carried down the mountain on a makeshift stretcher. It was almost
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impossible to see anything and it was very cold. Eventually he arrived at
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the car park and the most dangerous part of the rescue began: would the
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brakes on Chris's car hold out for the drive down to the hospital ?
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<p>He arrived in hospital three minutes before Becka was discharged. He
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disappeared into the X-ray room and she was left to sort out how to get a
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car and two injured drivers back to Cambridge. It was later discoverd that
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Chris had fractured his pelvis. A full account of the accident, written by
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the victims themselves, is in the February/March 1990 issue of
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<i>Descent</i>.
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<p>After this accident there was no time for recuperation. In a mammoth
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effort all the rope was dragged out of the cave and brought off the mountain
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leaving a day and a half for rope washing and reflection. Although two sumps
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were found in Kaninchenhöhle in 1989 there are still several unexplored
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leads (29 at the last count). The system is certainly worth returning to and
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exploration will continue in 1990.
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<hr />
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<!-- LINKS -->
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<ul id="links">
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<li>1989 Expedition info:
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<ul>
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<li><a href="index.htm">Index</a> (more detail than in this list)</li>
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<li><a href="log.htm">Logbook</a></li>
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<li>Cambridge Underground Expo Report:
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<ul>
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<li><a href="diary.htm">Diary</a></li>
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<li><a href="rescue.htm">The Rescues</a></li>
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<li><a href="cavegd.htm">161 Description</a> to date (ie. 1989)</li>
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<li><a href="survey.htm">The 1989 survey</a> of Kaninchenhöhle</li>
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<li><a href="camp.htm">Underground Camping</a> experience in 1989</li>
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</ul></li>
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<li><a href="sumup.htm">1976-89 summary</a> of caves found</li>
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<li><a href="sponsr.htm">Sponsors</a></li>
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</ul></li>
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<li><a href="../../pubs.htm#pubs1989">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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