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<title>2004 Expo: Mission Statement</title>
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<h1 align="center">CUCC Expo 2004: Mission Statement</h1>
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<p>This summer, Cambridge University Caving Club will be continuing
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its highly successful series of expeditions to the Loser plateau in
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Austria. This document sets out the principal goals of the 2004
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expedition.</p>
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<h2>Background</h2>
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<p>This summer sees CUCC's 28th expedition to the Loser plateau, which lies in
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the Totes Gebirge area of the Austrian Alps, about 80km east of Salzburg. CUCC
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is the principal group exploring in the area, which continues to yield new
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discoveries.</p>
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<p>The principal known cave system in the area is the Schwarzmooskogel
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system, which comprises a number of connected caves including <a
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href="/1623/161/161.html">Kaninchenhöhle</a>, <a
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href="/1623/41/41.htm">Stellerweghöhle</a> and the stunningly
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beautiful <a href="/1623/40/cucc.htm">Schwarzmooskogel
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Eishöhle</a>. Altogether the system is 55.1 kilometres long and 1030m
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deep, putting it among both the world's <a
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href="http://www.caverbob.com/wlong.htm">longest</a> and <a
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href="http://www.caverbob.com/wdeep.htm">deepest</a> caves; over
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half of the length, and the highest and deepest points, were explored by
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CUCC.</p>
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<p>Over the last few years the principal focus of CUCC's work has been <a
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href="/1623/204/204.html">Steinbrückenhöhle</a>, a cave
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lying to the north of the main Schwarzmooskogel system, beneath the Nieder
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Augst-Eck mountain. Since its discovery in 1999, 7.2 km of passage has been
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discovered, reaching a maximum depth of 510m.</p>
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<h2>Principal Goals for 2004</h2>
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<h3>Steinbrückenhöhle</h3>
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<ul>
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<li />The deepest point in Steinbrückenhöhle is in the tight and
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arduous stream passage of Razordance, which appears to continue downwards
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beyond the limit of exploration in 2003. It slopes down in a south-westerly
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direction, towards the nearest points of Kaninchenhöhle, so there is a
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possiblity of a connection, although the present gradient of the passage is
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sufficiently steep that it seems likely to pass right underneath. <!--
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Personnel: Dour, Mark, Dave, ?OllyM, ?Frank -->
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<li />The main find of last summer was a new series of horizontal passages in
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the north-west of Steinbrückenhöhle, known as 'Rhino Rift'. There was
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insufficient time to explore this fully in the five weeks of last summer's
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expedition, so there is much still to be found. <!-- Personnel: Lots of
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people: Earl, Becka, Martin etc -->
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<li />The pitch series of Gaffered to the Walls, in the Swings and Roundabouts
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area, was explored last summer to reveal a new horizontal level at around
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-250m, known as the Underworld. This is considerably deeper than any other
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horizontal phreatic development yet found in Steinbrücken, and it is hoped
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that there is much more yet to be discovered; there are certainly many leads to
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explore in this area. <!-- Personnel: Principally Martin + Earl. I'm also
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interested (Dave) -->
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<li />There are a number of other leads in Steinbrückenhöhle which might merit exploration, including an undescended pitch (QM 01-38A) in the Chocolate Salty Balls area, known as 'The Eleven Second Rattle' after the sound heard on dropping rocks down it; another undescended pitch (01-68A) at the end of the Merry F***ing Christmas crawl; and many others (cf. the Steinbrückenhöhle <a href="/1623/204/qm.html">question mark list</a>).
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</ul>
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<h3>Eislufthöhle (1623/76)</h3>
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<a href="/1623/76/76.html">Eislufthöhle</a> was found on the second
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ever CUCC expedition to the Loser area in 1977. That year the explorers got
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to -150m with the way on wide open. They pushed again in 1978, and in 1979
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finally reached a sump at approximately -506m. They derigged and nobody has
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been back in the intervening quarter of a century. The area is
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<a href="76why.html">interesting</a>, so it's about time we had another
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look.
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<ul>
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<li />The 76 description says "There are a number of going leads in this cave
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and you're welcome to them". We've <a href="76qms.html">collated 8 of them</a>
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from information in the log book writeups, published accounts, and surveys.
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All but one of these are in Hall of the Green King (-260m) or above - the
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proposal is to allocate enough tackle to 76 to enable us to get to this level.
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Judging from CUCC's experience reexploring
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<a href="/1623/161/136.htm">Steinschlagschacht</a> and Arge's
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looking at old CUCC finds in the Stellerweg area, there are likely to also
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be a number of undocumented or previously unnoticed leads.
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<li />Eislufthöhle was surveyed to about -150m in 1976 (Waddington: <i>"I
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would not claim more than grade 2, in the light of subsequent surveying
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experience"</i>). The survey below -150m is almost entirely based on rope
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and ladder lengths. Perhaps unsuprisingly, the published surveys are
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missing horizontal passages in places where they're described in write-ups!
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None of the original data survives anyway, so we should try to produce a decent
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survey of the known cave as well as mapping new finds.
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<li /><a href="/1623/99/99.html">99</a> is a strongly draughting entrance
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about 35m from 76 which was explored to a <i>"ledge with a 1m diameter shaft
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dropping in a corkscrew at least 20m."</i> (at perhaps -40m).
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<a href="../1979/report.htm#id89">Contemporary reports</a> suggest
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<i>"It is not clear how [99] relates to 106, but if it does come into 106 then
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it must do so fairly far down."</i> (106 was another number allocated to 76
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initially).
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<li />If we exhaust 76, <a href="/1623/97.htm">Schneewindschacht</a>
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is in the same area. Waddington: <i>"if you want a cave with some real
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potential to go in a big way, I'd suggest a return to 97 - Schneewindschacht.
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This has a wide open phreatic tunnel in it, which could be easily gained with
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the aid of a rock drill. A rock drill might also be of use in making the Nun's
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C*nt a bit more amenable"</i>.
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</ul>
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<h3>Miscellaneous</h3>
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<ul>
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<li />One of the most interesting of the many smaller caves in the area near
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Steinbrückenhöhle is Hauchhöhle, a prominent entrance near the
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walk-in route which draughts very strongly, suggesting that the cave behind is
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extensive. Exploration so far has revealed some 128m of horizontal passage,
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with the main lead being an undescended pitch. This was not explored last
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summer due to lack of time and manpower, but is an interesting lead and might
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well repay some effort. <!-- Personnel: Julia, Mark, Dave -->
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<li />The area of plateau to the north and west of Steinbrückenhöhle
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has never been studied in detail: there are likely to be many new, unexplored
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cave entrances in this area, which lies between the known caves in CUCC's area
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(1623) and the boundary with the adjacent area 1626. <!-- Personnel: Brian,
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Tony, other people when feeling slack -->
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<!-- Not this year...
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<li />Some suggestions have been made for a return to Kaninchenhöhle,
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which was the primary site of exploration by CUCC for most of the 1990s. There
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are a number of open leads in the Far North, the area closest to
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Steinbrückenhöhle; it is not entirely inconceivable that one of these
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may lead to a connection between the two, although it seems unlikely.
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-->
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<!-- Personnel: This is Wookey's pet project -->
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<li />There is also much documentation and surveying work to be done, which
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although less glamorous than original exploration is vitally necessary
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considering the extent of CUCC's discoveries in the area so far; a
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<a href="thingstodo.html">list of tasks for the summer</a> is already being
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assembled.
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</ul>
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<h2>Expedition Committee</h2>
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<dl>
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<dt>Expedition Leader:</dt><dd>Olly Madge (Caius)</dd>
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<dt>Treasurer:</dt><dd>David Loeffler (Trinity)</dd>
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<dt>Transport Organiser:</dt><dd>Mark Shinwell (Queens')</dd>
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<dt>Sponsorship:</dt><dd>Nial Peters (St Catharine's)</dd>
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<dt>Other committee members:</dt><dd>Martin Green (Corpus)</dd>
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<dd> <i>[plus others yet to be appointed]</i></dd>
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</dl>
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<hr />
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<!-- LINKS -->
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<ul id="links">
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<li><a href="index.html">Back to 2004 Index</a> </li>
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<li><a href="../../pubs.htm">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></html>
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