CUCC Expeditions to Austria: 1976 - 2024

Went back to 148 with a drill and more rope. Went to the previous pitch and traversed over it to what was 'the pitch' in 1987 nice big aven & pitch Olly found a nice rig down and into a little rift -> thus avoiding the loose choss at the top. Looked at the Ice Castle route first, this roughly goes back under the higher shaft past some very cool ice formations (big icicles) and very old snow plugs -> one section the snow plug essentially filled the entire passage except for a small crawl underneath it which I found a bit unnerving. More ice & snow, including a snow plug with clear Summer / Winter layering, I saw at least 30 layers (and it continued high up as well, so the oldest snow was older than me!). This passage ended at an up pitch maybe 15m high. Surveyed back along this (noting that the hanging death in the ceiling was quite varied -- rocks, snow and ice. Back at the 20ish m pitch we took the continuation passage, initially promising -- a huge rift heading for 107, but soon turns a corner and chokes (as noted in 1987). I climbed up before the choke and over the top and sadly no continuation visible. Olly poked under the choke and you could see into the blackness inside...

Surveyed this and left the cave.