CUCC Expeditions to Austria: 1976 - 2023

This time it was Matt's turn to shiver while I bolted.

Again the first drill battery gave frustration and only 3.5 holes! However, the second performed well and the shaft was finally bottomed at around P70.

I had a bit of a bottle failure, what turned out to be 50m off the deck. So I returned to talk to Matt, collect the last rope and not feel so alone. Matt was all thermalled up, so I resolved to "man up" and get the job done.

The last ~50m were very drippy and I got quite wet swinging around placing bolts. When the water ran down into my wellies it started to get a bit miserable but I persevered.

I touched down on a bouldery floor with two potential ways down. I took the driest, which also had the draught, and placed a bolt to descend. The rope (27m) was not quite long enough so when Matt was down we fed through all the slack from the last pitch to get maximum rope.

Then we made an "expedition rigging" descent off one bolt and with two rub points. The P12 landed in a small chamber where the water re-entered. A meander led off, taking the tiny stream and emitting a howling gale. A 2m climb down, possibly requiring a line we did not have, stopped us. That and approaching hyperthermia on my part. We surveyed out and fucked off.