CUCC Expeditions to Austria: 1976 - 2024

After a bit of festering at base camp, it was decided that a rescue mission was needed to recover Isaac’s simple. Luckily, the A lead he had dropped it down was above Strained by Gravity, which meant we could get there and out relatively quickly. So off we went!

It was midday by the time faff and the walk to Homecoming passed, and we were off down the entrance series. It was a bit of time before we got to the corner traverse that we were going to drop down from. I scrambled down the rift to see if it could be climbed, but it ended at a 10m drop. We decided the best point was from the traverse, so Isaac set about bolting whilst Aila and I started to survey.

It didn’t take long to drop, and soon we were treated to the sound of Isaac whooping and saying “Hello my sweet prince!” Reunited with his descender, we set about looking at what was ahead, which was a few spacious chambers (including Cupids Cavern, which has lots of heart shaped formations), and a few rifts here and there. Around one corner was a phreatic tube, which we set about traversing into. Ahead it kept going at roof level, so we went a little way along, before deciding that the survey would have to take precedence.

Unfortunately and fortunately the SAP battery died, and we realised that we were at our turnaround time. So we headed out having surveyed ~100m of passage.