LUSS Austria

Following several LUSS trips to Spain, certain members of the club felt the time was ripe for a change. We began to settle on the idea of Austria -deep caves; loads of virgin limestone; massive political problems! Research draw us to the Totes Gebirge, as this range seemed to fulfil the criteria of (a) already possessing major cave systems, (b) undoubtedly having vast potential (ie. over 1300m depth), much of it untapped and (c) having lesser political problems. We earmarked an area that looked "interesting" and set about obtaining permission to go there.

A couple of failed letters didn't provide encouragement, but a phone call to one of the local cavers assured us that, unlike many areas of Austria, there were no access restrictions for caving in the Totes Gebirge. So, after going their separate ways in 1986, the Class of '85 regrouped in the ace of this new challenge.

The expedition got off to a bad start when the LUSS van snapped a push-rod in Gent. We managed to cram a third person in the car, but the other haf of the team were delayed for 4 days while the AA 24 hour parts service "rushed" a spare over. In the event, this didn't cost us a great deal in terms of reduced results - we were able to conduct the initial recce fairly efficiently with 3 people.

Meanwhile, the mobile members of the team had arrived in Austria. From Altaussee, a toll road rises to the Loser Bergrestaurant at 1600m asl! Here we bivvied (the first of many such adventures) and in the morning, we awoke to a spectacular view of high mountains, deep valleys, glaciers and a small cliff about 10 yards down the slope from where we had stopped!

Inspired by these incredible mountains, we were soon ready to start the walk-in to our chosen area. This turned out to be harder than we expected and it was 5 hours of hard slog before we arrived a Wildensee, the isolated lake which became the site of our first mountain bivi. Quite what a lake is doing over 1500m up on a limestone plateau, we never quite worked out but needless to say, the area around it seemed singularly devoid of caves.

As the sun sank towards the west, we gazed towards the start of the "real" plateau, some 200m above us and the high peaks that tower above it, wondering what the morrow held in store and dreaming of discoveries to come.

It didn't take long to follow the main path to the edge of the plateau, but once there, it soon became apparent that we had completely underestimated the scale of the area. After a full days walking, we had circumnavigated perhaps a quarter of the area we had hoped to look at, but in so doing we had noted a few promising sites. In particular, Simon had found a deep shaft with the encouraging sound of a waterfall far below, only 10m below the summit of Rauchfang (1975m).

We quickly calculated that from here to the presumed resurgence level, Offensee to the north, there was a depth potential of over 1300m. Having no caving gear with us on this first recce of the plateau, we vowed to returned.

The following day, we forsook the paths and blazed a steeper but more direct trail onto the plateau. Armed with caving gear, we set about a more thorough examination of the area to the South of Rob Kogel (1893m). Though all the shafts we explored were choked, this area seemed very promising and we had a number of sites logged as "worth returning to". It was a happy advance party that returned to Loser to meet the rest of the team.

Once reunited, we carried a vast pile of gear to an advance bivi on the plateau, hoping to have enough for a week's unbroken activity at the sharp end. Working in pairs, we started to knock off the good leads. With more manpower, we found more and moer entrances - often a specific objective was forgotten as yet more interesting sites were found on the walk to it. Fortunately, one team refused to be deflected from its target. Rich and I set off for the entrance which ha previously been noted in the Prospecting Log as LA2. It was one of many "worth returning to". Somehow, we knew this one would "go" and were determined to prove it.

Landing on the ledge 20m down, our spirits soared as we felt a cool breeze that had not been evident at the entrance. From the ledge, a fine 21m free hang landed us on the usual choke. We were somewhat disappointed at this and were on the verge of giving up when a step u into am alcove regained the draught. A small hole dropped into a bottomless rift with the sound of water far, far below. Back on the surface, we commandeered some more rope from a less fortunate pair, and soon Rich was off into the abyss. That day's proceedings came to an end on a spray-lashed ledge part way down what was obviously a very big shaft. The pitch was named "Aquarius" (the water carrier) and the cave "Sternloch" after the stars that glittered through our nights and our dreams.

Simon and Mike took up the gauntlet of the big shaft and the short wet pitches that followed, while 3 of us began the survey. That night, Sternloch was 150m deep and still wide open, but having devoured a large proportion of the rope we had on the mountain, it began to pose a few problems. Further exploration would use up the last of our rope and thus hinder surface work, while deteckling Sternloch to provide more gear for prospecting was out of the question. There was only one thing for it.

Another major carry saw an extra 400m of rope and yet more food at our "camp", setting us up for the last week of the exploration. Our next pushing trip added another 110m of depth to Sternloch. It was a superb exploration, pitch after pitch to test out rigging and imagination - no bolter's paradise this with the rock either so hard it would destroy the cutters or so soft that the dust turned to a sticky paste that gummed up the works.

Fortunately, the cave was reasonably endowed with naturals and we were able to utilise such dubious and unorthodox techniques as tying off to large boulders/flakes, rigging from wires and even, God forbid, rope protectors. After a long apprenticeship in Spain, we were able to avoid problems and continue down the cave. At a depth of 260m, we left the cave still going atop a pitch, a beautiful circular shaft estimated at 40-50m deep.

The following day was devoted to surveying and photograph, but as we exited that night, it became apparent that the weather had taken a turn for the worse. Our previously idyllic bivouac began to take on the mantle of a grim from of Austrian water torture as the thunderstorm continued through the night.

There was to be no abating of the storm in the morning, and being a little fearful of Aquarius in such conditions, we all had a day on the surface. This resulted in yet more discoveries, notable amongst which were LA19m, a curious pair of "eyes" in a small cliff leading to a ramp and a 60m pitch down a rift (still going), LA25 and LA26. The latter exhibited our first horizontal passages - a series of tubes and ramps which all choked but nevertheless gave us cause for optimism in an area which was have still only visited twice. The second visit was a return to LA25 where a series of climbs and a short, tight rift has led to a pitch. This was "naturally" dropped, about 15m onto a ledge with a further pitch beyond. Stones falling free for 5 seconds brought a flurry of excuses. As this occurred on our last day on the mountain, the excuses were unnecessary, but with a good draught, and the distant sound of a waterfall, 25 is another gem for the future.

The foul weather had been going on for 3 days when we decided that life was getting a bit grim. Despite ludicrous claims by the manufacturers, out Goretex bivi bags were leaking like the proverbial sieve, our sleeping bags were soaked and we were beginning to experience a sense of humour failure. We didn't understand the "zelt" bit, but were soon happily getting on the outside of some "bier". As the evening wore on, the draughts grew, the scale of what we could achieve in the two days remaining became ever greater and memories of the previous three days of misery receded. The next day, we raced out way up the 1200m from Offensee to find that on the top, conditions were still atrocious. Our caving gear was still sodden, but we had a lot of money and a lot of other people's gear invested in Sternloch. In conditions more reminiscent of Yorkshire in March than summer in Europe, we set to the task of detackling.

After another wet night, we awoke to yet more rain and a thick mist. We decided enough was enough and came off the mountain a day early. In some ways, it was a sad end but as we rounded off the trip with a traditional Expedition Meal, all the talk was of "next year".

The incentive to return is great: the undescended pitch in Sternloch; the 5 second drop in LA26; the 2 undescended pitches in LA19; LA1, Simon's hole on the Rauchfang that we never did return to; LA11, where a single boulder blocks access to a 15m pitch, and a steep, dark boulder ramp. In addition to this, there are loads of other undescended shafts and a vast area untouched. Roll on 1988, when the Class of '85 will hopefully come of age.

In the meantime, we will be producing a short report on the expedition, copies of which will be available to interested parties from LUSS or any of the expedition members.

On behalf of LUSS ARE, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those people whose assistance made the trip possible:

Expedition Members:
Rich Broughton, Paul Ibberson, Paul Oldham, Mike Plimmer, Jeremy Storry, Simon Willis