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<title>1988: Cambridge Underground 164 exploration</title>
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../css/main2.css" />
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<center><font size=-1>Cambridge Underground 1989 p 21</font>
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<h2>Totes Gebirge, Schwarzmooskogel: 1623/164</h2>
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<h3>by Hugh Salter and Penny Reeves</h3></center>
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<p>164 was located on a reconnaissance trip at the start of the 1988
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expedition. It is located about 400m North and down-dip from the col between
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the Bräuning Nase and the Vord. Schwarzmooskogel, on the line of a small
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fault running North/South, and next to a large depression that is blocked.
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This area is about 100m from 1977/11, essentially a 110m shaft<a
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href="#ednote1">¹</a>, which indicated considerable potential for
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initial depth, and is 200m from Camp 1. The shaft thus seemed a suitable
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place for a gentle start to exploration.
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<p>The entrance pitch is a strongly draughting 10m shaft about 3m in diameter
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which, when first found, had the remains of a snow plug. It carries a small
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stream, possibly that which is used at Camp 1 for a water supply. The
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entrance pitch was descended to find, as hoped for, a passage leading due
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south along the fault. This leads quickly to the second pitch. This pitch
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took a considerable time to rig, being topped by a large and hairy pile of
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loose boulders. A bolt was eventually placed at -5m, in the only sound rock
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available, where the warer has removed the loose rock. A 15m drop to a small
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ledge and a further drop of 12m land in a low passage where the water sinks
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into the floor. The floor at this point and for the remainder of the cave is
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composed of very small and very sharp pieces of rock that are all too
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obviously last year's roof, judging by the friability of the latter. These
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are interspersed with large boulders of the same origin. The continuing
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passage quickly rises to 4-5m in height and drops steeply at 45 degrees,
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still heading due south for 30m, reaching a large and very unstable rock
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bridge overlooking a sizeable chamber, with water again appearing for the
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pitch.
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<p>The loose rocks were cleared in the traditional way, and the usual bolts
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placed with typical amounts of prayer. The standard technique is to hammer
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hell out of the wall while tied on to something a little more supportive
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(Penny plus a few large boulders) until the outer six inches or so fall
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around your ears. The resultant cleanish wall can be bolted with some
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confidence. A beautiful 10m free hanging pitch from the bridge was descended
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to land in the centre of the chamber, where the stream sinks. The chamber
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floor is basically oval, 15m by 7m, and has a number of ways on. To the East,
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a scramble leads up to a shattered cross rift from a large shalf about 15m
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long and 10m wide, which was too tight. A similar feature to the West up a 4m
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climb becomes a low bedding plane with no way on negotiable. This cross-rift
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is the obvious cause of the formation of the chamber. Due South are twin
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passages, the rightmost one of the two leading off some 20m round a couple of
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bends to a sandy choke that may bear future investigation. The other quickly
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chokes.
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<p>Unfortunately, none of these ways carry the considerable draught that
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marks the cave up to this point. There is, however, a continuation of the
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passage between the second and third pitches visible on the far side of the
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chamber, at the same level. It is suggested that this is the continuation of
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the cave along the line of the fault, and that this level was abandoned by
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the cutting of the final chamber. This passage has not yet been entered due
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to lack of time and the need to commit tackle elsewhere, but would involve a
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bolted traverse on loose vertical rock from the top of the 4m climb mentioned
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earlier. The passage has apparently the same dimensions as the passage from
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the second pitch and could be a target of future expeditions wanting to
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terrify themselves.
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<p>The cave has not been surveyed beyond Grade 2/3 due to a flood causing a
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rather precipitous exit during the survey/derigging trip. Surface
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observations of the entrance during a heavy rain shower show that it becomes
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a major flood sink for the area, rising very quickly, hardly surprising
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considering the virtual non-existence of surface vegetation. The upshot of
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this, if you are unlucky enough to be underground at the time, is that the
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innocuous looking stream on the second pitch becomes a considerable torrent
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when it rains on the surface, causing a large number of boulders to fall
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around one's ears. A good helmet is recommended. The cave now known as 164
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would seem to be the entrance 1977/8<a href="#ednote2">²</a>, noted in
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the 1977 logbook, which was blocked at the head of what is now the second
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pitch. No paint marks were found at the entrance, although conversations with
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Andy Waddington revealed that, if marked at all, it would have been marked
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with dark green paint that after a few years was indistiguishable from
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surrounding lichen, and descended on ladders leaving no bolt holes.
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<p><b>Webpage editor's notes</b>:<br>
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(<a name="ednote1">1</a>) The cave referred to here
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is actually <a href="../../1623/198/198.html">B11</a>, of 1976, and is a
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straight 55m descent to a choke.
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<p>(<a name="ednote2">2</a>) The cave referred to here is actually
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<a href="../../1623/197.htm">B8</a>, of 1976, but this is definitely
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<b>not</b> the same cave as 164. It was (at the time this was written)
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conceivable that 164 was <a href="../../1623/190/190.html">B9</a>, but this
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too is now known to be elsewhere, though only a stone's throw away.
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