CUCC Expeditions to Austria: 1976 - 2024

The trip began a bit unorganised at around 11 am. We had the task of re-surveying welsh engineering however we didn't really know where it began or ended or where the survey quality diminished hence we came to the conclusion that we would link our survey back to the top of Radaghast when we exited.

At around 4 pm we reached the eye of Sauron and came across the same issue Colin, Aden and I had earlier which was the survey device wouldn't reach the bottom. Regardless we continued down and ignored this slight issue. This pitch was my first knot pass and i managed to get myself into a bit of a tangle. Using multiple mystery knots and a foot loop which included my cows tail to get below it .

By the time I got to the bottom it was around 5 pm I was quite damp and not happy. When the others got down the surveying continued and after a short pitch i began a decent on a longer pitch.

About 5 m down Lucy shouted 'don't risk getting wet'. I was confused the pitch was pretty dry and looking down at the bottom there wasn't a stream way. I then heard Lucy shout 'the waters coming! CLIMB!!'

I had previously been listening to a relatively quiet cave, but i began to hear the sound of rushing water. It took a second or two from standard cave noise before this sound reached its maximum volume (which was very loud).

A pulse flood had occurred!

Some of the fastest SRT i have ever done got me to the top of the pitch where we then got into the group shelter.

Apparently Lucy's had initially thought the SRT i was doing was just really loud before realised it was water.

The first shelter set up was on a slope where we were all sat ontop of each other; there were a few bags beneath us for insulation. We had 2 shelters the second shelter was used to block the gap in the down hill slope. Other than the shelters i had no other warm gear , I was already wearing all my layers(as well as my under suit I had a skin on). I was also very happy i had been greedy that morning since i had 8 chocolate bars and a bag of sweets on me.

One of the big worries we had was that we didn't know if we were in the way of the flood. But we didn't really discuss this or other water related stories instead our time was taken up by talking about extractor fans.

At 7 pm the water had not died down but Lucy wanted to take a look around: So, she headed down the pitch i had hastily climbed up earlier. She returned 30 minuets later having deriged the pitches, but she was soaked. Supposedly she was regretful that she didn't manage to survey the pitches.

We then move the shelter to flatter ground, Lucy announced we couldn't miss our call-out so we should all climb up the eye of Sauron and out. The plan consisted of Lucy first, me second, Zac de-rigging at the back, don't stop or you will freeze. Lucy would also be taking the smaller shelter.

At 8 pm Lucy left, the shelter immediately got colder. About 10 m up the pitch she shouted at us 'dont follow me, i will change your call out to 8 am, you may have to wait many hours'.

At about 10 pm Zac announced we should do some engineering so we made a flat platform and got back in the shelter. Initially we were at opposite ends of the shelter. But we did end up spooning :). I was big spoon :( .

At 11 pm the sound of water got quieter on the pitch bellow but above us it was still as loud, we decided to wait longer. I'm not sure if i was hearing cave trolls or something but i kept hearing occasional clicking. It also felt like mysterious water tubes were opening above us as the sound of gurgling water changed.

At 1 am I began shivering. Zac had already been shivering for some time and he decided to put another layer on. This was good for him but the communal warmth of the shelter did get lowered. Around this time we decided we would leave at 5 am.

Between 1-3 am we both also managed to get some sleep which surprised me since i thought i was awake the whole time.

At 3 am we decided it was too cold so we headed out. The amount of water coming down the eye of Sauron had not decreased since 11 pm.

The pitch took me about and hour. My hands were numb on the lower section where the rope swap was. My light also went into battery saving mode, and I had forgot to charge my emergency light. A quick battery swap solved this at the top of the pitch.

Near the top of Radaghast i remembered how we had not linked our survey up.

At 5 am i got to the surface just in time for lighting up, followed shortly by Zac.

We had managed to de-rig 4 pitches, had created an unlinked survey and spent 10 hours in a emergency shelter.