Eislufthöhle - Eislufthöhle
Fri 04 Aug 1978
Andy Waddington
Low motivation led to a slow start, Doug abseiled first and adjusted the amount of slack in the rebelays, kicked the iceberg and continued. Andy followed with lots of rope in a tockle bog. Rigged a new (club rope first) rope on Saved Shaft before removing the old (shitty) rope to act as a traverse line for above Keg series. The Interalp was removed from same and put in the tockle bog.
Moving forward (urgh !) we reached the takeoff for pitch 6 (gnuk, thrutch !). Andy put in a bolt about 1m below the big ledge which gives a very good changeover for the stand-off pitch below. This pitch gives the impression of dropping into the side of a vadose canyon - confirmed by finding an inlet 10m up on the left (ie. upstream).
Down the narrow passage into boulder land, Andy found a climb up on the right which led to a short roomy passage to yet another shaft - no draught [found by Nick, 1977]. Directly onward to the big chamber, less drip this time, we found an OK freeclimb down c 5m under a colossal boulder. Straight on, the rift proved to be very high but not too wide. Andy dropped down to an impossibly narrow streamway, while Doug found a useful traverse level leading about 50m to a small chamber into which we could not safely descend, but observed a hole into which boulders were lobbed, 25m ? The rift continues beyond, and we can't tell where the (much increased) draught comes from, retreated.
Back at the 'final' pitch, Andy set off and observed more question marks halfway up the pitch. Doug had immense problems with his system, and the exit, right to the surface, was accompanied by continuous swearing and cursing, Doug surfacing 15 mins or so behind Andy.
Andy.
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Andy Waddington
id1978-76-6
Low motivation led to a slow start, Doug abseiled first and adjusted the amount of slack in the rebelays, kicked the iceberg and continued. Andy followed with lots of rope in a tockle bog. Rigged a new (club rope first) rope on Saved Shaft before removing the old (shitty) rope to act as a traverse line for above Keg series. The Interalp was removed from same and put in the tockle bog.
Moving forward (urgh !) we reached the takeoff for pitch 6 (gnuk, thrutch !). Andy put in a bolt about 1m below the big ledge which gives a very good changeover for the stand-off pitch below. This pitch gives the impression of dropping into the side of a vadose canyon - confirmed by finding an inlet 10m up on the left (ie. upstream).
Down the narrow passage into boulder land, Andy found a climb up on the right which led to a short roomy passage to yet another shaft - no draught [found by Nick, 1977]. Directly onward to the big chamber, less drip this time, we found an OK freeclimb down c 5m under a colossal boulder. Straight on, the rift proved to be very high but not too wide. Andy dropped down to an impossibly narrow streamway, while Doug found a useful traverse level leading about 50m to a small chamber into which we could not safely descend, but observed a hole into which boulders were lobbed, 25m ? The rift continues beyond, and we can't tell where the (much increased) draught comes from, retreated.
Back at the 'final' pitch, Andy set off and observed more question marks halfway up the pitch. Doug had immense problems with his system, and the exit, right to the surface, was accompanied by continuous swearing and cursing, Doug surfacing 15 mins or so behind Andy.
T/U: 5.5 hours
5½ hours.
Andy.
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