CUCC Expeditions to Austria: 1976 - 2024

The two of us were led to a surface prospect by Luke and Rob with a blowing draft and pitch that needed to be dropped. Because drill batteries were in short supply I sent the efficient Nathan to bolt the pitch while I soaked up the sun at the entrance. After a while I mustered up the enthusiasm to enter the cave and was immediately greeted by Nathan complaining that the drill battery was dead. He sent me to check if Luke and Rob were using theirs but not being able to find them or the bolting equipment I assumed they were using it. Nathan had rigged a traverse using 6 bolts to the pitch head but had run out of battery before being able to drop it.

We then headed back to camp early and tried to add extra cairns to the path. I climbed up a bit of a ridge to add one, but failed to find any suitable building materials and climbed down. On my way down I found a microwave sized loose boulder and dropped it onto my leg. With it being so early in the day we assumed no one would be at camp. We sat around for about an hour and a half and then decided we might as well try to head back. An hour later we had gained about 150m with some bum shuffling progress. As we carried on I got better at using my leg without hurting myself and three hours after setting off we arrived at camp. Having learned to walk no one believed I was seriously injured. The next day I set off down the hill with Rob and Kristian and after 5 hours walking I too no longer thought I was seriously injured. It turns out I am really hard and had a broken leg. It then later turned out it was a pathetic fracture.