Caving in Austria

Those of the SOC who are not on the caving email list will not know this, but I have been asked to write up a caving expedition I went on this Summer "at great length and in great detail" (culprits remaining anonymous, and neither do I take any responsibility for the unreasonable length of this item). So here we go.

As well as being a member of the SOC, I am also still lingering on as a member of the Cambridge University Caving Club (CUCC), as are many other SOC cavers. So as a trip down memory lane for those of dual allegiance, no matter how boring for the rest of you, I shall recount the tale of my participation in this year's CUCC caving expedition in Austria.

For over 25 years now the CUCC has been exploring a hitherto uncharted cave system on the Loser Plateau in the Austrian Alps, 80km east of Salzburg. Recently they finished charting a cave called Kaninchenhohle (the Rabbit Hole) after it got to 25km of passage, and now they are onto Steinbruckenhohle (Stone Bridge Hole) currently at 7km of passage after this year's Expo.

Each year the trip lasts for 5 weeks over August. Last year it having rained particularly hard (remember those floods?), this year's was a particularly small expo, with only 14 of us making it out there.

This meant that there was lots of caving to go around. The caves are generally dry, deep, and cold, with the ambient temperature at about 2 degrees C. This makes for the occasional spectacular ice formation, but also means that rigging and surveying have to be done in a flapjack-fuelled frenzy to stave off the frostbite. Or at least the miserable whining.

I tried my hand at exploration, surveying and derigging on this expedition, and was rewarded with my first 70m pitch, and by being able to name a bit of new passage. Unfortunately I didn't have time to try getting down 500m for a really hard bit of exploration - maybe next year.

Expo is a spectacular experience not just for the caves, but also for its location high in the Austrian Alps and a long way from civilisation. Even at the top of the scenic toll-road there is a steep 5 km hike over sharp limestone formations to the top camp. I found the wild camping very satisfying, if a little on the grubby side. The rainwater collection system for cooking and drinking (nobody washes) is suitably primitive for a bunch of cavers. I even had to let my harness out 3 inches to accommodate the growing crust of mud on my oversuit.

Because of its remoteness, Expo requires a lot of preparation and clearing up at the beginning and end, so I also got a good share of lugging around tackle bags, rucksack-laden mountainside-scaling, rope washing and rope checking. Extra delights were added by those sponsors generous enough to provide us with the sort of ridiculous food that seems attractive in such a situation, such as dried noodles and custard powder (yes, in some cases, in the same pan, at the same time). If anyone works in a tasty part of the catering industry, please remember us next year. Those who cannot cave without a substantial diet should remember that Germknodels are available at basecamp. You can keep going on these giant dumplings filled with jam, sprinkled with cinnamon and coated in melted butter for about 3 weeks underground.

From a personal point of view, I would like to thank Paul Grainge who incidentally made this trip possible for me by lending me his carbide lamp. And the caving section of SOC will of course be pleased to hear that my enthusiasm for dodgy rigging has increased tenfold, and that I should be happy to apply some if anyone wants some gratuitous excitement on a forthcoming UK trip.

Those interested in furthering a relationship with Expo may start by viewing the CUCC website.

Lucia Vittorini

CUCC expedition web site

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