CUCC Expeditions to Austria: 1976 - 2024

We returned to the lead Edvin and Nial started on the 19th (Thin Rift off Dead Good Bat chamber in Fat Worm). At the pushing front there was the option of a pitch down or rigging a traverse across the rift. We opted for the pitch option, hoping it would drop into the bottom of the same rift as the traverse rift - unfortunately there was no way on at the bottom of the pitch, so we rigged the traverse instead:



[rigging diagram - flake then big loop of slack for hand line down slope then thread then traverse tied off at end. 20m rope just enough]

After the traverse the passage continued and there was a side passage off to the right (returned to later). The rift continued upwards and to the right until it reached a "toilet bowl" shaped [undecipherable word - underrig?] where we climbed down and doubled back on ourselves to a shallow pool of water. Through the pool to the right led to a climb down into a rift (returned to later). At this point Edvin and Nial went to survey the side passage mentioned earlier (ended in a QM D) while I started to bolt the pitch down the hole that we previously traversed across. At the bottom of the pitch (Flush Pitch), to the right through a crawl (Ballcock Bypass), back to the bottom of the chamber with the pool (The Cistern). We then returned to the climb down across the other side of the pool - this dropped into a rift (Now Wash Your Hands) which went both ways. First we went left down the rift, which was a little awkward and tight - we passed a side passage at floor level (QM B) and exploration ended at a pitch down (QM A). The passage appeared to continue across the other side of the pitch (QM A), but a traverse line is needed to get across safely. We then explored the rift in the other direction (right after the climb down from the Cistern). This also ended in a pitch and passed a small, upward-sloping tube on the left (QM A).