CUCC Expeditions to Austria: 1976 - 2024

After 2 hot trips ferrying kit up the plateau, a late start, and a great deal of faff, motivation to get underground was low. This resulted in a (very necessary!) talking-to from the drill sergeant (Becka), before we bucked our ideas up, and kit was assembled for inspection on the rocks at top camp and packed into bags. The prospect of a 3 night camp as my first expo caving trip was quite daunting, and at the top of the entrance pitch we waited as Nat's team emerged one by one, filthy and exhausted from a similar trip, which didn't do much to allay my fears! We eventually headed underground around 21:00 on the 29th July, steadily making our way to camp whilst trying to commit the route to memory, making it to bed around 02:00, not thrilled by the impending alarm.

Upon waking, the inevitable morning faff ensued, accompanied by the perpetual roar of the gas stove. Bags packed & plans made, we left camp just before 11:00 on the 30th.

We split into 2 teams, with Chris & Jono going to bolt a pitch near camp, and Ellie, Becka & myself heading for Tartarus, where the previous team had stashed the second drill, along with the promise of draughting leads.

Making good time through Northern Powerhouse & Medusa's Maze, we arrived at an unnamed 4 way junction, where Becka said "There's some QMBs around here, maybe we should take a look in case we don't fancy the Tartarus leads" It turned out we were in the wrong place, so after a bit of a mooch about, we continued down the passage, passing through the bottom of a big chamber and down a short handline to a very different passage type, interconnected parallel ramps with a Swiss-Cheesy nature. This was the location of the leads Becka had mentioned, and she & Ellie soon disappeared up a rift to the North to investigate a QMB. Whilst stood at this junction, I noticed some definite air movement, which was quickly attributed to an upwards ramp with a distinctive 'frog spawn' texture to the floor.

We followed the ramp, reaching a slippery step over an intersecting rift, with a climb down marked as a QMA on the left, and the ramp still continuing in front of us with a QMA marked at the top. The far side of a second, more precarious step-over brought the exciting sight of untrodden mud, at the foot of a large boulder choke with the draught still beckoning.

A careful shimmy to the edge and & bridge across put me in uncharted territory, and after ducking under an arch I was in much bigger passage, 2 huge blocks looming over me blocking the way on, with an enticing black void above. This presented an obvious barrier to further exploration, but after the echo coming back from a couple of shouts it was immediately clear we needed to investigate further.

I wriggled around under the choke for a while, finding a chimney narrow enough to bridge across, which I thrutched my way up, gaining the top of the first large block. The further into the chamber I got, the bigger it seemed to grow (along with my excitement), whilst Becka & Ellie watched proceedings somewhat apprehensively from the floor below.

A second, much safer climb onto another jammed boulder entered the chamber properly, where I began to take in the scale of the place, trying (failing) to light it up, and bouncing echos off the walls. I returned to the deck completely buzzing, trying to communicate what I'd just seen, and insisting we must return with a drill & rope asap!

This meant somewhat reluctantly slogging off to Tartarus, where we decided we'd make the most of the day checking out some leads in Ichthyes. We spent a while trying to work out the way to the pushing front, clambering up and down in the rift, before deciding we were liable to run out of time to do anything useful. We then returned to a QMB we had passed on the way, resulting in a very quick and satisfying loop closure between 2 leads, finding a hole down and the continuation of a draughting rift behind a pillar, before returning to camp.

A planned early start the next day was stalled slightly by Jono's alarm failing to go off, but we made up time with some much more direct route finding back to the foot of the boulder choke. Becka & Ellie started surveying the connection, whilst I climbed back onto the large boulder and set about bolting a route up for them to follow. I took my time with this, knowing I would be shortly marked on my work by Becka, arriving on the deck at the same time as Ellie came round the corner armed with the nail varnish.

We headed into the chamber, celebrating with snacks whilst deciding how to tackle the surveying. We chose convenient stations on top of the Tatty-Hut sized boulders, sending legs as far as the SAP could manage. A large downwards rift forms the Western continuation of the chamber, but the rock of both walls at the would-be pitch head is fairly crap, so this will require some thought.

Back at the entry point, heading East across more boulders revealed more promising leads; a "black hole" downwards spotted by Becka whilst surveying, and a mouth-like opening with a strong draught in the Northern corner which captured my attention as soon as I found it. Grabbing the drill & our last scraps of rope, I rigged and descended the awkward pitch head, sliding between the waterworn 'teeth' into the (horizontal!) passage below, naming this the Dental Floss pitch.

There were 2 ways on from here; the continuation of the main passage straight on , and a small hole choked with mud to the right, which I promptly dug out to reveal a short drop to a second pitch, and some audible water dripping somewhere ahead.

Heading along the main passage, we reached a junction with a pillar; left leading down a steep slope covered with a thick layer of virgin mud, & right upslope leading to another junction with a switchback connecting to the small hole with dripping water described earlier. Here there were some interesting mud formations which we duly protected with the scrap of conservation tape we had remaining, before turning left up a short scramble to another right hand bend.

Upon turning this corner, we were immediately hit with the strongest draught I have felt in any cave, setting the tone for the next few steps across a pristine white traverse, the passage rapidly enlarging as we went...

This spat us out on a ledge overlooking a hole which left me totally lost for words; a pitch plunging away below, and an aven towering above. Much whooping and revelling in the echos followed, before taking some photos and surveying as far as we could reach (very little!).

Underequipped and running out of time, we returned downslope, following the ramp back past the junction we'd entered from, for some very slippery surveying on the thick mud. Reaching the bottom, I spotted what looked like freshly gardened rocks, and Becka then noticed the climb up on the right, which was the QMA we'd left immediately before entering the boulder choke that morning! This resulted in a very satisfying loop closure to finish the day, at which point I deployed the tactical miniature cave whisky, which I'd been saving in my oversuit for exactly such a moment.

Returning to camp in good spirits, we passed the evening with many noodles and the remainder of the hot chocolate, setting an alarm for 6:30 for the trip out. In the morning, Becka & Jono raced ahead, whilst Chris, Ellie & I plodded up, arriving at the surface around 17:00, just in time to get stuck in a thunder storm at top camp.

Having vowed I was done with deep caving for this expo after the prussik up, it took all of 12 hours for the rose tinted glasses to go on, and back at base camp planning began for a return to the newly discovered shaft...