mirror of
https://expo.survex.com/repositories/expoweb/.git/
synced 2024-11-26 17:21:55 +00:00
445 lines
25 KiB
HTML
445 lines
25 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
|
|
<html lang="en">
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>1976: Cambridge Underground report</title>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../css/main2.css" />
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
<center><font size=-1>Cambridge Underground 1977 pp 43-53</font></center>
|
|
<h1>Expedition to Austria - August 1976</h1>
|
|
|
|
<p>The following were present :<br>
|
|
|
|
Vic Brown, Dave Fox, Hilary Bryden-Brown, Dave Harrison, Jack & Muff
|
|
Upsall, Jont, Carole & Rod Leach.
|
|
|
|
<p>The area visited was in the area of Bad Aussee, with camps at Altaussee
|
|
and Goßl.
|
|
|
|
<p>Why Austria ? - basically for a change after several successive years in
|
|
the Pyrenees, but we had been told that Austrian Limestone is relatively
|
|
unexplored - something of an understatement as it turned out. We contacted
|
|
Walter Klappacher (area organiser for caving in the Salzburg region) and he
|
|
put us in touch with Karl Gaisberger who lives in Altaussee. Karl was
|
|
invaluable; he knew the area, told us what was worth doing, got us up toll
|
|
roads free, fixed up a trip in Mammuthöhle, caved with us and drank with
|
|
us. Jont was essential as Karl had no English and the rest of us no German
|
|
unless it was Vic talking canoeing. The area is excellent - beer, caving,
|
|
climbing, walking, canoeing, sailing, hang-gliding if you have a lunatic
|
|
urge, so a caving expedition can have plenty of sidelines.
|
|
|
|
<p>The area with which we were chiefly concerned was the Totes Gebirge,
|
|
though we did some tourist caving on the Dachstein massif. The Totes Gebirge
|
|
has less depth potential than the Dachstein by about 300m, but is less well
|
|
explored. The massif area at our disposal is the preserve of THREE Austrian
|
|
cavers, which perhaps helps in explaining Karl's enthusiasm for additional
|
|
manpower. No big finds this year, but some small ones and more than enough
|
|
to ensure that we go back next year. Below is some general information,
|
|
followed by a description of what we did and accompanying surveys.
|
|
|
|
<p><img alt="area map - 14k gif" width=640 height=500 src="tgmap.png">
|
|
|
|
<h3>The Loser Plateau</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>The Loser Plateau is at about 1650m, relatively unvegetated - just scrub
|
|
spruce and an assortment of alpine flowers. For much of the year the plateau
|
|
is iced over, and the chief problem is snow plugging of the numerous
|
|
unexplored shafts. Access to the plateau is easy - cars up a toll road to
|
|
1500m and then a gentle walk up a dry valley for about an hour. This leads
|
|
on to several square miles of unexplored lapiaz of which we looked at some
|
|
hundred square yards. It is possible to camp up here, but halfway up the
|
|
valley would be more pleasant.
|
|
|
|
<h3>The Pühringer Hut area</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>This is above Goßl, as opposed to Altaussee. Access is harder - cars
|
|
up a forestry track and then a long climb of 900m to the Pühringer hut.
|
|
Here one can stay at Alpine Club rates or camp. We were concerned with
|
|
tourist trips here, but feel a few days exploration will be of great value
|
|
next year.
|
|
|
|
<h3>The Dachstein</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>This is excellent for tourist caving, but access is either very laborious
|
|
or very expensive if one is going to camp on the plateau. Many of the big
|
|
phreatic caves are entered halfway up cliffs by loonies only.
|
|
|
|
<p>All the caves that we visited are cold by English standards, though
|
|
usually dry. Austrian cavers avoid water it seems, so there is scope for the
|
|
wetsuit enthusiast to push back the frontiers of knowledge, but in other
|
|
caves, furry wonder suits are advisable. Austrian rescue facilities are
|
|
supposed to be good, but the remoteness of the caves and the temperature put
|
|
safety at an even greater premium than normal. If anyone else should be
|
|
interested in the area, some of this might be useful:
|
|
|
|
<p>1. Maps
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>Dachsteingruppe Sonderausgabe 1:50 000 Freytag-Berndt Wanderkarten
|
|
<li>Totes Gebirge Alpenvereinskarte 1:25 000 (there are three maps for
|
|
this area of which the western sheet is the most useful). Both sets of
|
|
maps are good, especially the ones for the Totes Gebirge.
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>2. A german speaker is almost essential, as from our experience people
|
|
who can be helpful are only too willing to help, but don't speak English.
|
|
|
|
<p>3. Official looking Club membership cards are useful since they allow you
|
|
to stay at half price at Alpine Club Huts, and also get you up cable cars at
|
|
half price in many cases. The more official looking letters you can have,
|
|
the better - along the lines of the major research project you are carrying
|
|
out ! They get you past Austrian Bureaucracy on toll roads and forestry
|
|
roads.
|
|
|
|
<p>4. Addresses and further information is readily available by contacting
|
|
Jack Upsall, Sphagnum Nook, Winshaw Cottage, Chapel-le-Dale, Yorks.
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="hirlatz">Hirlatzhöhle</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>This is at the foot of the massive Hirlatzwand, south of the
|
|
Hallstattersee. 'At the foot' does not mean 'by the road' - the walk is less
|
|
than a mile but ascends well over 300m. The entrance used to be blocked by
|
|
ice, but some Austrian genius had the idea of putting the odd hundredweight
|
|
of salt on the ice in the autumn. Over the next few months, the inward
|
|
draught drew the salt-laden water in and soon the ice melted. Draught doors
|
|
now prevent it icing up again. The whole system is over 8km long and is
|
|
largely made up of big phreatic passage, but active streamway still exists. A
|
|
top entrance to the system is yet to be found.
|
|
|
|
<p>A 7m ladder (more or less fixed) gains the entrance in the cliff side and
|
|
a short crawl brings one into a series of galleries where route finding is
|
|
easy - follow the fixed ladders unless they have no passage at the top.
|
|
Eventually a choice of routes is reached - a 10m fixed ladder or a crawl
|
|
below. Take the crawl to emerge in the Labyrinth. This complex section is
|
|
negotiated relatively easily by keeping right until large passage is
|
|
reached. Easy going down several fixed ladders, one of which no longer
|
|
exists since it fell to pieces as soon as Jont stepped on to the top of it
|
|
(an easy free climb anyway) leads to a double fixed ladder pitch into a
|
|
large canyon. Here one turns left and tramps through passages of increasing
|
|
size until a waterfall can be seen cascading down into a passage 6m down a
|
|
boulder slope. The way on is not down the slope but along an obvious
|
|
traverse line to emerge on top of a massive boulder collapse. Just beyond
|
|
here a Yorkshire type streamway can be followed for several hundred metres
|
|
but the way on is up to the left where Camp One is quickly reached. The trip
|
|
nearly ended here as Dave Fox refused to come out of the rather battered
|
|
tent he had found. The reason - pornography - an excellent supply of dirty
|
|
magazines kept for the weary caver to ogle, had to be confiscated before he
|
|
could be persuaded to proceed.
|
|
|
|
<p>From here big passages, all looking alike, make route finding awkward
|
|
until a long climb up a boulder slope is reached. At the top of this is a
|
|
very wet fixed ladder pitch going we know not where, and, on the left, a big
|
|
dry sandy route - presumably the way on. We stopped here as it was the first
|
|
trip of the expedition and we were only about two thirds of the way in.
|
|
After a smooth return, we exited in about six hours.
|
|
|
|
<p>The existing survey of the system is of limited value as it seems to
|
|
assume that the the whole cave is on the same level - just not true. Some 70m
|
|
below the entrance to the Hirlatzhöhle is the Brandgrabenhöhle,
|
|
which, according to the Austrians, is desperately wet. However, we saw lots
|
|
of slides of the place and the Austrian dinghy seemed larger than a lot of
|
|
the pools. Given wetsuits, and what Karl sees as the lunatic English passion
|
|
for getting wet, a trip in here could answer the riddles about the stream
|
|
passages in Hirlatzhöhle, over whose exploration the Austrians seem
|
|
unenthusiastic.
|
|
|
|
<h3>Fledermaushöhle</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Discovered by Karl Gaisberger the previous October, there had been time
|
|
for only one trip before the winter snows came. The entrance is in a
|
|
fair-sized shakehole in the spruce-covered lapiaz before the col, and
|
|
involves a 45 minute walk from the car park at the top of the Loser Road. The
|
|
prospect was virgin cave from a 10m pitch onwards, where Karl had been
|
|
stopped by a lack of tackle. To avoid overcrowding, Dave Fox, Muff, Karl and
|
|
Jont explored while Vic, Rod and Jont surveyed in.
|
|
|
|
<p>The initial hands and knees crawl of 20m or so is just what is needed in
|
|
this area to avoid the entrance choking with ice and/or boulders, and it
|
|
soon enlarges. Past a couple of oxbows, one leading to within sight of
|
|
daylight up an aven, the main route reaches twin climbs of 8m, the easier
|
|
route being through a hole on the right. Soon afterwards is the first pitch,
|
|
a sloping 8m. From here the pleasant passage with occasional bat-droppings
|
|
(hence the rather unimaginative name) leads to short, muddy crawl, an earth
|
|
bank and sizeable chamber. The new pitch is reached after more easy passage,
|
|
and although Jont climbed/jumped down via a side rift, the pitch is best
|
|
laddered for the return.
|
|
|
|
<p>The easy going continues past a right turn to a complex junction at
|
|
several levels. The water can be followed down a rift to a drop into an
|
|
impenetrable fissure. Back at the junction, a traverse and a thrutch through
|
|
lead to a small tube, which crosses a cross-rift and ends at a filthy sump.
|
|
Left at the cross-rift, however, a low crawl gives onto a greasy chimney
|
|
climb of 4m with very little in the way of holds. At the foot of this the
|
|
water reenters, presumably just below the point at which it can no longer be
|
|
followed down. To our surprise, Karl was bored and disappointed by the
|
|
stream passage which follows. Quite reasonably, given the area, he had been
|
|
hoping for huge phreatic tunnels, and it seems that the active passages
|
|
never lead very far.
|
|
|
|
<p>Still, we were enjoying it and the clean streamway soon developed acute
|
|
verticality. Dave was attached to a piece of string and fed over the edge,
|
|
followed, shortly, by Jont. The first 15 ft are technical, and best lined,
|
|
but after that, the spiralling descent is quite easy in, for the most part,
|
|
solid rock. About 30m down, things start to get more shattered and muddy,
|
|
and the climb drops into water, leading, after only a few feet, to a sump.
|
|
|
|
<p>On the way out we tried to clean up odds and ends. Only two points worth
|
|
mentioning. The right turn mentioned earlier is an inlet leading past a slot
|
|
through to the Main Passage, over a traverse and a false floor, to,
|
|
eventually, an aven, climbed to about 25m and still continuing, but it is
|
|
unlikely to go anywhere worthwhile. Second, from the chamber, a traverse can
|
|
be entered at the top of the rock slope. The level closes off after about
|
|
15m, but below a climb down, a pitch was excavated dropping into a larger
|
|
passage which choked comprehensively.
|
|
|
|
<p><img alt="survey: 15k gif" width=560 height=650
|
|
src="../../kratzer/71.png">
|
|
|
|
<h3>Holes on Plateau - Loser area.</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>The following notes are rough owing to:-<br>
|
|
a) the fact that all sketches were to grade 1<br>
|
|
b) the fact that only two of the holes are really significant and only one
|
|
of these offers promise.
|
|
|
|
<dl>
|
|
<dt><a href="../../kratzer/a1.htm">A1</a>:-
|
|
<dd>Situated some 50m vertically below the col, up valley from the
|
|
Loser Hut. An obvious open entrance leads to an 11m pitch into a rift
|
|
chamber choked in both directions.
|
|
<dt><a href="../../kratzer/b1.htm">B1</a>:-
|
|
<dd>situated some 40m from A1, up valley and slightly higher up
|
|
the east slope, the hole lies in an obvious E-W fault. A 14m pitch drops
|
|
into rift passage quickly choking to the east. To the west a short walk
|
|
reaches a 3m climb to a higher level choking rapidly.
|
|
<dt><a href="../../kratzer/b2.htm">B2</a>:-
|
|
<dd>Up the bottom of the valley from B1, B2 is met just at the
|
|
foot of the last steep pull up onto the col. A 4m climb leads to two 5m
|
|
drops and a snow plug. Across the snow, a direct pitch can be reached.
|
|
<dt><a href="../../kratzer/b3.htm">B3</a>:-
|
|
<dd>Just a few metres up valley from B2, a series of holes. The
|
|
lowest drops steadily over boulders to a choke. Up rift from the pitch,
|
|
daylight is reached from one of the other holes (Loser 238°,
|
|
Bräuning Nase, 292°)
|
|
<dt><a href="../../kratzer/b4.htm">B4</a>:-
|
|
<dd>Again just a short distance up valley from B3, a significant
|
|
shakehole with snow at the foot. Descent of 45 degree snow slope reaches
|
|
a choked rift. Above and ahead, water enters via a small aven, but no sign
|
|
of a way on. (Loser 234°, B.Nase 292°)
|
|
<dt><a href="../../kratzer/b5.htm">B5</a>:-
|
|
<dd>Right on the col - the scar to the west has large holes
|
|
immediately below it. Descent over snow of 10m or so ended in a snow choke.
|
|
<dt><a href="../../plateau/b6.htm">B6</a>:-
|
|
<dd>Small shaft on the plateau just over the col - descent of 8m
|
|
to a choke.
|
|
<dt>B7:-
|
|
<dd>Does not exist - numbering error !
|
|
<dt><a href="../../plateau/197.htm">B8</a>:-
|
|
<dd>This is situated on the plateau just on a major fault where
|
|
one climbs down over bare rock for 4m. A large open hole with snow in the
|
|
bottom. 20m of ladder were fed down between snow and rock before snow plug
|
|
totally blocked the way on. (B.Nase 208°, Schönberg 350°, Spot
|
|
point 1828, 240°)
|
|
<dt><a href="../../plateau/190.htm">B9</a>:-
|
|
<dd>An open hole west of B8. 5m climb gains snow and passage leading
|
|
off. This leads to a 10m pitch leading to a big rift. Ahead over boulders
|
|
and ice an 8m pitch descends through (sic) spectacular ice stalactites. Way
|
|
on is effectively blocked by ice but could well connect with a major shaft
|
|
nearby, not descended on account of the condition of the ice. The small
|
|
alternative hole back in the rift is blocked by ice at -6m. (B.Nase
|
|
204°, Schönberg 14°)
|
|
<dt><a href="../../plateau/b10.htm">B10</a>:-
|
|
<dd>Lies in the maze of lapiaz N of B9 and is simply a 5m climb to
|
|
two short pitches choked at foot of second.
|
|
<dt><a href="../../plateau/198.htm">B11</a>:-
|
|
<dd>To give some idea of what we may have missed, this 55m shaft is
|
|
utterly invisible from 5m away. A fine climb is broken by a ledge halfway
|
|
down. The shaft narrows towards the bottom, and from the foot of the ladder,
|
|
boulders lead to a choke a few metres further down.
|
|
</dl>
|
|
|
|
<p>B9 is worth a return visit (later in the summer, after maximum melting
|
|
time) but in fact, we think we stopped looking where we should have started.
|
|
B9 and B11 are close to the northern limit of exploration so far. Beyond are
|
|
several square kilometres of totally unlooked at lapiaz.
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="elmh">Elmgrubenschacht</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>A long way to walk for a pleasant but unimpressive pot - an even longer
|
|
way to carry tackle which we thought we didn't need for Elmhöhlensystem.
|
|
Still, we were expecting a horrifically wet system, which, after miles of
|
|
huge phreatic stuff would have been quite refreshing. However, despite a
|
|
fortnight of almost uninterrupted rain, there was barely enough water to keep
|
|
our six stinkies going !
|
|
|
|
<p>A 20m entrance pitch, loose at the top but otherwise OK, leads on to a
|
|
series of 6m and 10m pitches, interrupted with easy rifty passage and some
|
|
pools. In due course the final 25m pitch was reached, dropping a few feet
|
|
above a crystal-clear sump - a very promising dive if you feel like lugging
|
|
a bottle up the 1000m to the entrance. Vic discovered a network of tubes and
|
|
chimney climbs which brought her out to the astonishment of all, about 15m
|
|
above the top of the pitch, whence a hairy-looking traverse led her to the
|
|
floor of the main passage, some way upstream. We exited swiftly to continue
|
|
along the track to the Pühringer Hütte. Hot soup, Goulasch, beer
|
|
and a very hot dormitory awaited us, plus the company of the Hut Warden,
|
|
whose son-in-law is English and who, therefore, is very impressed by us
|
|
English, especially if one is a höhlenforscher as well.
|
|
|
|
<h3>Elmhöhlensystem</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Another very long system, situated by the side of the track about twenty
|
|
minutes before the Pühringer Hütte, where we had spent the night
|
|
after doing the Elmgrubenschacht. The two entrances, das Kleine and das
|
|
Große Windloch, have entered into local folklore. It seems that one of
|
|
the favourite regional pastimes consists of dropping Tyrolean Hats down the
|
|
hole, and then catching them as they are lashed back into your face by the
|
|
howling gale. This phenomenon appeares to be dependent on weather conditions,
|
|
and the day we were there, it would have been struggling with a helium
|
|
balloon.
|
|
|
|
<p>Still, to begin at what should logically have been the end but was, in
|
|
fact, the beginning... We enter the Kleines Windloch via an interesting and
|
|
unbalanced climb of 3m into a large, boulder strewn passage, at which point
|
|
we abandon the crampons, under the erroneous impression that the ice section
|
|
is in the other direction. So, we rush down the passage to... a choke. An
|
|
arrow is located pointing down a short crawl to the head of an 8m pitch, for
|
|
which, of course, we have no tackle. The rift beyond looks promising however,
|
|
and we find a bypass to the pitch via a descending traverse back under the
|
|
crawl. Still intending to return, we leave a sling on the traverse and
|
|
continue along the rift, past a couple of holes to a sharp left-hand bend.
|
|
The passage continues fairly easily apart from a few climbs of dubious
|
|
reversibility, and we soon emerge in what is traditionally described as an
|
|
earthquake in suspended animation, and which, from time to time actually
|
|
looked like the large chamber it was meant to be. At this point the company
|
|
becomes confused and starts to scurry about here and there below what we had
|
|
taken for the floor. At one place Muff and Jont reach a point at about -30m
|
|
only to be halted at the lip of nothingness, and by acute neurosis. The
|
|
cottage sized boulders there haven't a clue about the elementary principles
|
|
of stability. Meanwhile Vic has found a rope hanging down another very loose
|
|
hole, and down she goes, possessed by her customary lack of imagination. More
|
|
specifically she ignores what to us seem to be two crucial facts:-<br>
|
|
a) The rope comes to an end<br>
|
|
b) The climb becomes distinctly more difficult than it was where there was a
|
|
rope.
|
|
|
|
<p>Followed by Jont, she lands on a steep boulder slope in a largish
|
|
passage. Descending with vast amounts of debris, Vic reaches a draughting
|
|
hole at the bottom, whereas Jont finds a stable boulder and, limpet-like,
|
|
stays there, so they return to the climb. Using the tried and tested
|
|
potrtable hold technique, developed in Betzula a few years ago, they reach
|
|
the foot of the rope where Dave, would you believe, has found a large tunnel
|
|
leading off.
|
|
|
|
<p>So off we go in a very easy passage, up and over various collapses, and
|
|
it is getting noticeably colder, and soon bits of ice are detected in the
|
|
roof. From here onwards, the formations get more and more impressive until
|
|
the floor, roof and walls are covered. Curtains, complete columns, cascades
|
|
and other alliterative phenomena which I won't list for fear of getting
|
|
poetic and lyrical. Even a wall covered in at least 3m of ice laid down in
|
|
clearly defined strata. Apart from the splendour of the scene, the lack of
|
|
crampons caused mild hilarity, while Lord and Lady Snowden flip their lids
|
|
and run a very real risk of melting it all with their flashbulbs.
|
|
|
|
<p>The rest of us suddenly slide into a pile of snow !? "Evidently a
|
|
surface/cave interphase situation in the vicinity" says Jack. "Or
|
|
an entrance ?" says Jont. But no entrance is visible, so, ascribing its
|
|
presence to a bizarre subterranean micro-climate, we continue leaving the ice
|
|
and entering a rift, the floor of which soon disappears into more and more
|
|
ludicrous depths. Our nerve runs out before what is presumably the
|
|
Dianaklamm, and we return to find that Vic and Dave have, in the afterglow
|
|
from several hundred PF5's, discovered a shaft leading up above the snow.
|
|
|
|
<p>The first obstacle is the gap between the snow and the ledge leading
|
|
round to the foot of the shaft, where we could now see a few bits of wire,
|
|
pegs, etc. Rod and Dave are called upon to do their impersonation of the
|
|
Clifton Suspension Bridge and we scramble across to leave Dave to prusik up.
|
|
Muff and Jont continue up to a ledge at about 35m and in sight of daylight,
|
|
but in better sight of a 4m overhang. Now the difficult part of this climb
|
|
happens to be about the height of Jont on tiptoes under Muff on tiptoes on
|
|
Jont, and with admirable insouciance, she scrambles up, finds a belay and
|
|
allows the rest of us to prusik up on our two cloggers and one leg-loop.
|
|
Next a climb, a thrutch, a squeeze through and the surface visible the far
|
|
side of a tantalising 5m climb. Not impressed, Jont traverses across towards
|
|
the far end of the shaft only to freeze again, thwarted by looseness and
|
|
sheer unmitigated terror. Fortunately, in situations like these, we have a
|
|
secret weapon, and, with an ear-splitting cry of "LOONY!" we summon
|
|
Vic who executes a fine bridging climb to the belay point for the 50m ladder
|
|
pitch - I knew we had forgotten something. Muff exits followed by Rod, Jont
|
|
and Dave, still quivering from a narrow victory over several hundredweight of
|
|
boulder which had been aimed at them in the shaft. Jont still refuses to
|
|
move, so a rope is lowered to him and he exits via a convenient rock-window.
|
|
|
|
<p>For the benefit of the uninitiated, there follows a brief, sensible
|
|
version of the trip. Put 160ft of ladder down the Großes Windloch
|
|
(where we came out), having previously rigged a 6m ladder in the Kleines
|
|
Windloch (where we went in), and a further ladder on the pitch just inside
|
|
the entrance to this hole. Then do what we did, but backwards. This trip is
|
|
far less interesting, but is less likely to involve the Austrian CRO, or, in
|
|
view of the location, the Austrian Quicklime and Polybag Company.
|
|
|
|
<h3>Nagelsteghöhle</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>A Sleets Gill type entrance leads at the head of a large stream bed NW of
|
|
Altaussee. The 60 degree slope leads to a short walk round a pool to a short
|
|
greasy climb. One soon emerges in the huge main passage, floored at the
|
|
lower end by vast amounts of very unpleasant mud. The sump is reached by a
|
|
right turn over some fine stratified sand, but our main aim was to
|
|
investigate some holes in the roof at the top end, hopefully leading to a
|
|
high-level continuation and, if you are really optimistic, the further
|
|
reaches of the long and nearby Raucherkarhöhle.
|
|
|
|
<p>The mud eventually runs out to be replaced by more and more inclined
|
|
slabs, which were very easy on the way up. The gradient steadily increases
|
|
until the floor merges into the end wall, and the trickle of water enters
|
|
from high up. We had already passed a couple of holes in the roof, so we
|
|
slithered back down to a point below and across from these. Here some
|
|
entertaining acrobatics were performed, principally by Vic, and, rather less
|
|
voluntarily, by Jont. Vic reached the limit without bolts, which we had
|
|
conveniently forgotten, and pendulumed back across the slabs on a dubious
|
|
nut and not a little faith. Jont, left on the wrong side of the traverse,
|
|
derigged, set off back, ran out of holds and friction in that order and was
|
|
grateful for Vic's outstretched arm. We exited, intending (but not very
|
|
convincingly) to return suitably equipped. The holes may go, but only after
|
|
a fairly serious and time-consuming bolting operation, and time can be more
|
|
productively spent elsewhere.
|
|
|
|
<h3>Mammuthöhle</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Karl fixed us a trip beyond the show cave so that we would be able to name
|
|
drop. A very simple trip in the care of two Austrians called Bengesser and
|
|
"Hardy". We had a quick look at the west entrance, now closed to
|
|
tourists and then trogged round the upper levels - ie. the Old Series. Most
|
|
of the passage is huge, with one aven getting to within 30m of the plateau,
|
|
but still no top entrance. Eventually we reached a huge chamber where the
|
|
done thing is to blacken pieces of clay with carbide and then scratch your
|
|
name on them - the only authorised graffitti in speleology - the only other
|
|
British name was someone from SWCC. Other pastimes here are burning
|
|
magnesium, flashing PF5's in people's faces, eating sardine sandwiches etc.
|
|
More large boring passage and then a quick exit, pausing only to let the
|
|
tourists gaze upon "die echten Höhlenforscher!"
|
|
|
|
<p>Apart from the size of the passages, there is little to recommend the
|
|
place, though we gather that in the new stuff, the Krippensteingang is stuck
|
|
at an inconclusive climb, if you fancy bolting up more than a day away from
|
|
the entrance.
|
|
|
|
<hr>
|
|
<!-- LINKS -->
|
|
<img alt=">" src="../../../icons/lists/0.png">
|
|
Cambridge Underground 1977,
|
|
<a href="../../../jnl/1977/index.htm">Table of Contents</a><br>
|
|
<img alt=">" src="../../../icons/lists/0.png">
|
|
1976 Expedition info:<br>
|
|
<img alt="--->" src="../../../icons/lists/1.png">
|
|
<a href="log.htm">Logbook</a> (currently missing)<br>
|
|
<!-- <img alt="--->" src="../../../icons/lists/1.png">
|
|
<a href="bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves & Caving Report</a><br> -->
|
|
<img alt=">" src="../../../icons/lists/0.png">
|
|
<a href="../../pubs.htm#pubs1976">Index</a> to all publications<br>
|
|
<img alt=">" src="../../../icons/lists/0.png">
|
|
<a href="../../index.htm">Back to Expeditions intro page</a><br>
|
|
<img alt=">" src="../../../icons/lists/0.png">
|
|
<a href="../../../index.htm">CUCC Home Page</a>
|
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|