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<title>1992: BCRA Caves & Caving report</title>
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<center><font size=-1>CTS 94.2037: BCRA Caves & Caving 63, spring 1994, pp 18-22 [ISSN 0142-1832]</font>
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<h1>The continuing saga of ... CUCC in Austria</h1></center>
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<p>In 1991 the club had explored Puffball & Icing Sugar Cave (Bovist und
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Puderzuckerhöhle) to -230m or so, and it was left going stonkingly in a
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big rift. Meanwhile Kaninchenhöhle had been slowly giving up its
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secrets, revealing extensive horizontal development at -250m, and the
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extreme vertical complexity of its upper regions. Going deep in Puffball,
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and going long in KH were our targets in 1992. The first of these objectives
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was thwarted, the second largely fulfilled. In the meantime also had great
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fun with our Austrian hosts.
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<center><h2>1992</h2></center>
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<p>Most of the expo was fitted into two vehicles. The Battlewagon, an
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ancient, graffittied Princess, and the long-suffering WookMobile II, a
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Citroen C15 van. Even after packing the battlewagon to the gunwales, it was
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clear that the rest of expo wouldn't fit in the van. So CUCC was mobilised
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and extracted a trailer from a dung heap twelve hours before the ferry was
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due to leave, bolted a handy towbar to the bumper, filled the whole thing
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with gear and set off. This bodge actually lasted until 20 miles from Calais
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on the way back, when the bumber welding failed and the trailer had to be
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Y-hung from the roof rack for the last 150 miles.
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<p>Those who had gone to the Alps first were washed out, so expo started
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early. The snow levels were so high that Puffball had to be dug into, and
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the searchers for the Kaninchenhöhle entrance had a narrow escape; the
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three cavers wandered across a snow plug. After crossing it they looked
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behind and realised they had just walked over the top of the 37m deep, 4m
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wide entrance shaft on 6 inches of snow!
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<p>So the caving was underway, quickly rigging down the 1991 route as far as
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the bottom of the second pitch. At this point a branch off to the right
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('Piezo') was followed in the hope of a drier, safer rig. Two
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washouts after thunderstorms in 1991 had given everyone a healthy fear of
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water and much effort was put into keeping as far from the water as
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possible. Mark 'Fixit' McLean had built a new drill battery
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("Small Paul") which could drill at least fifty holes but weighed
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more than a full Goldflash tacklesack. This masterpiece of over-engineering
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came to be something of a liability as the expo went on. 25m down was a
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choice of the obvious wet pitch or a dry route 5m up and across over a rib,
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and down against the ceiling the far side. With much use of skyhooks, the
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drill and bolts placed then removed, a remarkable bit of rigging across to
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the appropriately named Crows Nest and down the roof of Chimney pitch was
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achieved.
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<p>All the caving was in Puffball (apart from one trip down KH to retrieve
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some co-ax for our new hi-tech aerials) until a large boulder in the
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Puffball entrance moved as one exiting trip climbed past it. It was at the
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bottom of a steep, constricted boulder slope and people were very concerned
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about the potential for death. This provided an opportunity for KH to be
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started and for lots of new arguments - about gear split between the caves,
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and whether Puffball was actually safe.
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<p>The Puffball safety issue was eventually resolved as Dave Fearon was
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trying to put a tape round the offending boulder and it rolled a few feet
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down the slope with him nimbly 'treading rock' on top of it. He
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survived, and after a few hours gardening, the route was declared safe
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again.
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<p>The next trip meant business, laying 600 metres of cable for the radio
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(for communication in case of flooding), and carrying 200 metres of rope to
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the pushing front, now at the 1991 limit of exploration. Unfortunately the
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next trip added 40m to the cave before it ended in a nasty washing-up bowl
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sized sump 'Waste of Effort'. The place was very oppressive with
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mud-soaked walls rising 10m above the sump. The only lead was a horrible
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tube just above the sump level which looked lethal if it rained. This was
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eventually explored, merely leading to another sump. So that was the end of
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Puffball, a rather disappointing 292m deep, and we had to fish all the gear
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out, whilst checking the remaining leads. 'The Twelve Pitches of
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Puffball' was written, to commemorate the end.
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<p>So: next cave please:<br> Ah yes - Elchfalle/Moosehöhle. This was
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investigated as it was close to Puffball, and only so many people could go
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down Puffball at once. The boulder slightly blocking the entrance was moved
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with a huge pulley system, and the way was clear for the cave to go! Which,
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after a few pitches, it didn't, ending in a scrofulous tight crawl. While
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derigging Olly and Clive heard the sound of rushing water, and memories of
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Puffball tales came flooding back. Quick, brace yourselves ... here it comes
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... ... trickle. What an anticlimax. The pitches were rigged well out of the
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water too - it wasn't even awful.
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<p>Then there were the Austrian cavers. They invited us to the festival at
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Bad Mittendorf, where the freshly geartaped van driven with a pair of
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shreddies hanging off the waving windscreen wiper seemed to amuse the
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locals, and the commentator said our presence made it a truly international
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festival! Once more their portable mountain with a seemingly endless supply
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of beer inside provided amusement and lubrication for the subsequent gear
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and survey inspection in their hut.
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<p>It seems that Austrians get up earlier than Englishmen: we arranged a
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trip down a couple of their caves and they agreed to meet us 15km from
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Basecamp at 6am! The night before was Clive's birthday so getting up in
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time was a harrowing experience, leaping into the car coffee in hand and
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driving like looneys to get there. Most people went on a pleasant trip down
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Grubstein Eishöhle, a complex system with 27 entrances, and a very long
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walk to all of them. The other group went down Sonnenleiterschacht, which is
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basically a 368m pitch (in 20, 93, 10, 53, 88, 57m sections) down to lots of
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horizontal cave. Even though this was a tourist trip a traverse over a pitch
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was made to find another 300m of cave leading to a huge rift - duly named
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'Cambridge Corner'.
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<p>Kaninchenhöhle was finally rigged to the pushing front and the first
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trip found 150m of very windy 3m diameter phreas 'Pipeless',
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doubling back down-dip to a big chamber 'Satan's Sitting
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Room'. Also France was rigged down to the 1991 limit at -120m in one
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solo trip, and a trip back to an old question mark in Gnome Passage found
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'Deep Sleep' instead on the way. This (uncharacteristically for
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161) stopped after three pitches of 20m, 5m, and 17m. Gnome passage was also
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extended through a very tight squeeze to a small pitch.
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<p>The next trip was also sidetracked. Not far down, on their way to the far
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end they started gardening a couple of loose rocks in the floor, soon having
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a pitch requiring a traverse line, where before there had been a perfectly
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good trade route! With the aid of the newly released (from Puffball) drill
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battery AndyA and DaveF, variously accompanied, pushed down through a maze
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of parallel shafts for three trips, eventually coming out at -250m in
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Niflheim. This route passed right through two other routes, without
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apparently sharing any shafts with either of them, despite them all being
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enormous. Quite how is not clear!
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<p>A couple of trips explored The Dungeon, a question mark left since the
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very first trip into KH in 1988, and found the editor's molten zoom
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where it had been dropped when it caught fire. This connected to the new
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(1991) 'S'not Pitch' quick route into the system, showing
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that it could have been found the first year had the circumstances been
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different, and the squeeze route wouldn't have been necessary. Meanwhile
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trips to the end rigged into Satan's Sitting Room finding 'Silent
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Fellow' chamber at the bottom, and another 150m of passage
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('Mostly Mud') beyond, leading to the base of a big aven.
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<p>Mishaps. There were a few. We had to start a vomit tally, as it was so
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prevalent, although a surprising number of the entries were due to
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over-exertion/dehydration, and illness, rather than the more usual
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over-drinking. One unfortunate got strung up with the battery, spending an
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hour and half hanging around before her whistle was heard. The next France
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trip involved two severe cases of 'BELOW!'. The first was a rock
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landing squarely on AndyA's head, doing his helmet significant damage,
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and making him throw up. The second was a whole ledge which disappeared down
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the pitch just as he clipped in having traversed all the way across the
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pitchhead and back on it. After these warnings of impending doom they
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retreated.
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<p>Slightly more serious were Glen and JulianS. Glen fell through the snow
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down a shakehole and dislocated his shoulder, his companion helpfully
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enquiring "Does it go?". The injury was later aggravated by
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getting washed down the river at the back of Hilde's. JulianS was
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slightly more cunning - he waited until derigging had just begun, and fell
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off a small cliff on the way back from the cave, bruising his back enough so
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that he couldn't carry anything.
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<p>The next trip down France found old bolts, apparently having re-joined
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the route the French had taken down here, although we couldn't work out how
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they had done the last 100m without going the way we had. These allowed some
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high-speed rigging down to a stupendous chamber 'Algeria' at
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-240m, which had several leads, including a stonking 60m freehang at one
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end, 'Orient Express'.
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<p>This year we spent several hundred pounds on CB radio gear for camp to
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camp and cave to camp communication. We had a repeater on top of the hill
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between the camps, which after a great deal of fettling worked for one day,
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two weeks into the expedition - just long enough to allow its creator to
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escape without being lynched! The cave to camp stuff was postponed till next
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year.
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<p>Robert the Wonder Caver (a super-hard Austrian caver) came and gave us an
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excellent outdoor slideshow, showing some of his remarkable exploratory
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efforts. He invited us to the beer festival (where a number of people got
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thoroughly 'Schnappered'). We retaliated by inviting him to visit
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the end of KH.
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<p>A few lags then turned up, intending to climb the Trisselwand. Yet again
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an epic was had. They roped in a volunteer to make two ropes of two and set
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off, getting within two pitches of the top of the 700m face, before Jeremy
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decided he had sunstroke and could climb no further. That was 5pm. They
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descended to within 2 pitches of the bottom before a thunderstorm hit and
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the rope tangled simultaneously. They were out of the lethal main gully but
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the one they were in soon turned into a small torrent containing a lot a
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rocks. They could do nothing but cower, especially MarkF, hanging on the
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rope in the waterfall, trying to untangle it. They eventually escaped with
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the worst injury being a severely bruised shoulder, and another damaged
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helmet. They were just in time to meet the mountain rescue who had been
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alerted when someone saw their lights.
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<p>Robert TWC, when taken to the end of the cave, performed a remarkable
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traverse to the other side of Satan's Sitting Room allowing Aggy to do a
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stunning bolt traverse (see photo) and climb to a big window beyond SSR. He
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made the last move with both cowstails in the last bolt, and so was unable
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to get off at the top, having to hang there for several minutes until he was
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unhooked. He refused to move again for the next two hours! This was named
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'Three Wise Men' after those who sat around proffering advice and taking
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photos. Beyond this window another chasm had to be crossed by penduluming to
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rig a tyrolean into genuine new passage. Here we found another 250m of
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passage: 'Tinkle Rift', 'Black Velvet', 'Far too Far' and 'Wellie Scraper'.
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There were also 5 big pitches to be dropped, but there was only time for a
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long survey trip before derigging.
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<p>DaveF soloed down 'The Hole Below The Pitch Below The Squeeze',
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now called 'Bladerunner' rigging down 120m to yet more complex big
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vertical stuff.
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<p>So we derigged, having found and surveyed another 2.0km of cave, finished
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off Puffball & Elchfalle, whilst increasing the number of question marks
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in KH to 41.
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<p>Cast of thousands :<br> Aggy Finn, Ali Morris, Andy Atkinson, Clive
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George, Chris Leveridge, Dave Fearon, Dave Howes, Fran Lane, Gill Lindsey,
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Glen Long, Henri Welbourne, Jane Herries, Jeremy Rodgers, Jerry Williams,
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Julian Haines, Julian Shilton, Justin Powell, Lone, Mark Fearon, Mark
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Mclean, Mark Scott, Matt Keeling, Mike Richardson, Olly Betts, Richie
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Perotton, Ruth, Sam Lieberman, Tina White, Tony Rooke, Wookey.
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<hr />
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<!-- LINKS -->
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<ul id="links">
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<li>1992 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="report.htm">Cambridge Underground Report</a></li>
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<li><a href="log.htm">Logbook</a></li>
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<li><a href="182.htm">"The Twelve Pitches of Puffball"</a> (expedition song).</li>
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<li><a href="sponsr.htm">This year's</a> sponsors<br><hr />
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</ul></li>
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<li><a href="../../pubs.htm#pubs1992">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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