107 - overnight down 107
Wed 09 Aug 1978
John Bowers
As the sun set below the clouds, we disappeared down the first pitch. A quick grot around the rift of the 7th decided us that we could not easily eliminate the ladders to the false boulder, so we looked around the bottom of the 65' pitch. An awkward, loose climb leads to a short traverse across this hole. You lob boulders down and 4 seconds plus there's a dull boom. 300 ft ?
Beyond the hole is a 15' pitch rigged off the mankiest bolt in Austria and a tied off peg and a natural thread. Then the big one. Bolting at 2 O'Clock in the morning in the wet icy draught is slow work. The water level in the nearby pool rose quickly and what was a trickle turned into a freezing stream. 180' of ladder and rope was fed down and I followed. There are lots of ledges, easy ladder climb, but it was getting colder and wetter. The whole cave was reverberating to the sound of massed choirs chanting "Brown Girls". Time to go home. Total depth descended c 400'.
John Bowers
id1978-107-6 9th-10th
As the sun set below the clouds, we disappeared down the first pitch. A quick grot around the rift of the 7th decided us that we could not easily eliminate the ladders to the false boulder, so we looked around the bottom of the 65' pitch. An awkward, loose climb leads to a short traverse across this hole. You lob boulders down and 4 seconds plus there's a dull boom. 300 ft ?
Beyond the hole is a 15' pitch rigged off the mankiest bolt in Austria and a tied off peg and a natural thread. Then the big one. Bolting at 2 O'Clock in the morning in the wet icy draught is slow work. The water level in the nearby pool rose quickly and what was a trickle turned into a freezing stream. 180' of ladder and rope was fed down and I followed. There are lots of ledges, easy ladder climb, but it was getting colder and wetter. The whole cave was reverberating to the sound of massed choirs chanting "Brown Girls". Time to go home. Total depth descended c 400'.
John.
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