Application for Grant Aid
Submitted on: 28 Feb 2022Expedition details (GPF2022a-007)
Expedition Name (& Club): Dachstein Caving Expedition 2022 (Various)
Destination country: Austria
Region: Dachstein
Region: Dachstein
Lat: 47.5205 Long: 13.6261 Elevation: 2300 m
MEF funding: none
MEF funding: none
Leader: Mr. Joel Corrigan
Total cavers: 2
Cavers ≤25 yrs old: 0Cavers 25-35 yrs old: 0
Cavers ≤25 yrs old: 0Cavers 25-35 yrs old: 0
UK/nonUK cavers: 2/0
Eligible for grant aid: 2
Alex Pitcher nominations: 0
Eligible for grant aid: 2
Alex Pitcher nominations: 0
Expedition dates: 13th Aug 2022 - 4th Sep 2022
Expedition duration (days): 23
Field days: 420 Travel days: 80
Expedition duration (days): 23
Field days: 420 Travel days: 80
Brief Expedition objectives:
The Dachstein is a serious exploration project with an emphasis on introducing and training newcomers in expedition caving. It has for many years run a well-attended training weekend prior to the expedition. Many cavers come to the Dachstein for their first expedition. One objective of the expedition is to continue to pass on the skills of expedition caving to newer cavers.
Other objectives are to explore the newly-accessible area of Wadiland in the Hirlatzhöhle, to find more and higher entrances to the system, to continue pushing the other caves found in recent years, and to find further caves on the plateau.
List a short summary of the main Expedition objectives.
The Dachstein expedition has been exploring the deep, vertical karst systems of the Dachstein plateau for more than fifty years. Four years ago, we confirmed the first high connection to the now 112km long Hirlatzhöhle, increasing its total depth to 1560m and making it both the 9th deepest cave in the world and, we believe, the deepest cave ever explored by a British expedition.The Dachstein is a serious exploration project with an emphasis on introducing and training newcomers in expedition caving. It has for many years run a well-attended training weekend prior to the expedition. Many cavers come to the Dachstein for their first expedition. One objective of the expedition is to continue to pass on the skills of expedition caving to newer cavers.
Other objectives are to explore the newly-accessible area of Wadiland in the Hirlatzhöhle, to find more and higher entrances to the system, to continue pushing the other caves found in recent years, and to find further caves on the plateau.
How can the GPF support your Expedition?:
The expedition provides training and experience for cavers from across Europe, but primarily from the UK. 2019's expedition left three shallower caves and one deep cave as significant exploration targets as well as WUG Pot, giving plenty of opportunity for newer cavers to develop their talents.
We contribute our prospecting data and surveys back to the local cave database; this data is used to prepare for next years’ planning.
The Dachstein is an expedition that has excellent prospects for further significant discoveries, a long track record, a commitment to recording and surveying caves, and provides valuable expedition experience to newer cavers. GPF funding to purchase drills, ropes, hangers and maillons would benefit all cavers by providing sufficient expedition equipment.
Please explain the aspects of the trip which make it eligible for Ghar Parau funding.
The Dachstein is an excellent area for finding significant new deep caves. Snow retreat is opening up new cave entrances. Connecting WUG Pot to the Hirlatzhöhle has created new opportunities.The expedition provides training and experience for cavers from across Europe, but primarily from the UK. 2019's expedition left three shallower caves and one deep cave as significant exploration targets as well as WUG Pot, giving plenty of opportunity for newer cavers to develop their talents.
We contribute our prospecting data and surveys back to the local cave database; this data is used to prepare for next years’ planning.
The Dachstein is an expedition that has excellent prospects for further significant discoveries, a long track record, a commitment to recording and surveying caves, and provides valuable expedition experience to newer cavers. GPF funding to purchase drills, ropes, hangers and maillons would benefit all cavers by providing sufficient expedition equipment.
Detailed description of objectives:
1) Training
Training is a key part of the Dachstein expedition, and many expedition cavers cut their teeth on the deep, cold and hard caves of the Dachstein. However, there are caves for cavers of all abilities. The Dachstein attracts a core group of highly experienced expedition cavers who can teach new cavers a full set of expedition skills, including prospecting, exploratory rigging, bolting, digging, capping, surveying and much more. Safety remains a key consideration, however, which is why the annual well-attended expedition training weekend has usually included a full cave rescue practice. The ‘SRT training’ cave near the hut provides a useful venue during the expedition.
Snow retreat, possibly due to climate change, means many previously snow-plugged holes are now becoming accessible (despite high snow levels in 2019). At the Dachstein expedition there are, therefore, excellent opportunities for new expedition cavers to learn to prospect for new caves, and learn to bolt and rig them to push them further. Several recent significant caves have been discovered, rigged and surveyed by teams of new expedition cavers.
2) The Hirlatzhöhle
The crown jewel of the Dachstein is the monster Hirlatzhöhle, now 112km long and 1560m deep. The more-than-fifty year project of the Dachstein expedition was to find a high entrance from the plateau, and in 2018 WUG Pot (2063m altitude) was finally connected to the previously diver-only Wadiland area in the far west of the Hirlatzhöhle.
This has opened up more exploration possibilities. Firstly, exploration in the vast tunnels of the Hirlatz at the bottom of WUG Pot has already found many kilometres of new passage over the last few years. The connection with Wadiland may allow a bypass to the sumps to be found, allowing a dry connection with the rest of the Hirlatz. This area includes the over 300m high ‘Dark Star’ aven, previously climbed to no further leads.
The depth potential of the Hirlatz system is over 2200m. Caves on the south wall of the plateau have been located at up to 2700m, as well as the large Südwandhöhle at 1800m. Water has been shown to flow from the south wall to northern resurgences, so it is possible that the Hirlatz could one day be connected with these caves to significantly increase its depth.
Various other parts of WUG Pot have promising leads.
Close to the base of the entrance series, a previously neglected inlet now named PL2 inlet has been pushed to a boulder choke within a few tens of metres of the final chamber of PL2, a 550m deep cave originally explored by the Polish and ending in an enormous chamber around 100m deep and over 100m wide in each direction. PL2 is approximately 60m higher than WUG and so a connection would increase the depth of the Hirlatz. PL2 was partly re-rigged in 2019 and will be further re-rigged in 2020.
A second inlet, Uphill Gardeners, was discovered in 2018 at the base of the entrance series and heading for the surface. Following a lengthy bolt climb at the end of 2019 easy open passage was found. This could provide an easier less vertical entrance to the cave.
Finally, there multiple deep leads that lead into blank areas of the mountain.
WUG Pot has been almost completely surveyed to a high standard following several camping trips in 2019 to survey or resurvey the remaining loose ends.
3) Other cave systems
There are several shallower cave systems currently being explored. Blood Moon cave was discovered in 2018 and then connected to the 600m deep cave of Burnies Pot. There are still several ongoing leads with a connection to WUG very possible, which would add Burnies Pot and around 100m depth to the Hirlatz. Connecting this, or a similar higher entrance, could push the Hirlatz from 9th deepest to around 6th deepest cave in the world.
In 2018 Tiger Trap was discovered, and this was explored, enlarged and surveyed by a small team of younger cavers in 2019.
In 2017 Thundergasm was discovered, and was pushed and surveyed to 250m deep in 2018 and 2019 by a relatively inexperienced team. Although the cave has become more difficult and several leads have ended in tight rifts, the cave is still being explored.
4) Prospecting for new cave systems
Expedition member Axel Hack has been managing the local cave database for several years, and produces Viewranger files of all the known cave entrances and their details. Prospectors use this to navigate through the known entrances, checking old entrances known to be snow-plugged in the past, and finding new entrances. Entrances are marked, when discovered, in accordance with the local system. Several new significant caves have been discovered in recent years, and the Dachstein expedition has a long history of discovering deeper (600m+) caves in the area. All information gathered is collated by the expedition and submitted back to the local cave database, together with surveys and entrance photos.
Give a more detailed account of the purpose of the trip, including any particular known caves you intend to visit, specific areas where you will explore for new cave, and scientific experiments you will attempt.
There are four major objectives for the 2022 Dachstein expedition:1) Training
Training is a key part of the Dachstein expedition, and many expedition cavers cut their teeth on the deep, cold and hard caves of the Dachstein. However, there are caves for cavers of all abilities. The Dachstein attracts a core group of highly experienced expedition cavers who can teach new cavers a full set of expedition skills, including prospecting, exploratory rigging, bolting, digging, capping, surveying and much more. Safety remains a key consideration, however, which is why the annual well-attended expedition training weekend has usually included a full cave rescue practice. The ‘SRT training’ cave near the hut provides a useful venue during the expedition.
Snow retreat, possibly due to climate change, means many previously snow-plugged holes are now becoming accessible (despite high snow levels in 2019). At the Dachstein expedition there are, therefore, excellent opportunities for new expedition cavers to learn to prospect for new caves, and learn to bolt and rig them to push them further. Several recent significant caves have been discovered, rigged and surveyed by teams of new expedition cavers.
2) The Hirlatzhöhle
The crown jewel of the Dachstein is the monster Hirlatzhöhle, now 112km long and 1560m deep. The more-than-fifty year project of the Dachstein expedition was to find a high entrance from the plateau, and in 2018 WUG Pot (2063m altitude) was finally connected to the previously diver-only Wadiland area in the far west of the Hirlatzhöhle.
This has opened up more exploration possibilities. Firstly, exploration in the vast tunnels of the Hirlatz at the bottom of WUG Pot has already found many kilometres of new passage over the last few years. The connection with Wadiland may allow a bypass to the sumps to be found, allowing a dry connection with the rest of the Hirlatz. This area includes the over 300m high ‘Dark Star’ aven, previously climbed to no further leads.
The depth potential of the Hirlatz system is over 2200m. Caves on the south wall of the plateau have been located at up to 2700m, as well as the large Südwandhöhle at 1800m. Water has been shown to flow from the south wall to northern resurgences, so it is possible that the Hirlatz could one day be connected with these caves to significantly increase its depth.
Various other parts of WUG Pot have promising leads.
Close to the base of the entrance series, a previously neglected inlet now named PL2 inlet has been pushed to a boulder choke within a few tens of metres of the final chamber of PL2, a 550m deep cave originally explored by the Polish and ending in an enormous chamber around 100m deep and over 100m wide in each direction. PL2 is approximately 60m higher than WUG and so a connection would increase the depth of the Hirlatz. PL2 was partly re-rigged in 2019 and will be further re-rigged in 2020.
A second inlet, Uphill Gardeners, was discovered in 2018 at the base of the entrance series and heading for the surface. Following a lengthy bolt climb at the end of 2019 easy open passage was found. This could provide an easier less vertical entrance to the cave.
Finally, there multiple deep leads that lead into blank areas of the mountain.
WUG Pot has been almost completely surveyed to a high standard following several camping trips in 2019 to survey or resurvey the remaining loose ends.
3) Other cave systems
There are several shallower cave systems currently being explored. Blood Moon cave was discovered in 2018 and then connected to the 600m deep cave of Burnies Pot. There are still several ongoing leads with a connection to WUG very possible, which would add Burnies Pot and around 100m depth to the Hirlatz. Connecting this, or a similar higher entrance, could push the Hirlatz from 9th deepest to around 6th deepest cave in the world.
In 2018 Tiger Trap was discovered, and this was explored, enlarged and surveyed by a small team of younger cavers in 2019.
In 2017 Thundergasm was discovered, and was pushed and surveyed to 250m deep in 2018 and 2019 by a relatively inexperienced team. Although the cave has become more difficult and several leads have ended in tight rifts, the cave is still being explored.
4) Prospecting for new cave systems
Expedition member Axel Hack has been managing the local cave database for several years, and produces Viewranger files of all the known cave entrances and their details. Prospectors use this to navigate through the known entrances, checking old entrances known to be snow-plugged in the past, and finding new entrances. Entrances are marked, when discovered, in accordance with the local system. Several new significant caves have been discovered in recent years, and the Dachstein expedition has a long history of discovering deeper (600m+) caves in the area. All information gathered is collated by the expedition and submitted back to the local cave database, together with surveys and entrance photos.
Previous work in this area:
Surveys and cave data are held by the local Austrian caving clubs. WUG Pot has an almost complete high-quality survey, but this is being regularly extended. This has been recently been drawn up in poster form. A project has begun by the Austrian caving clubs to collate all Hirlatzhöhle survey data into a modern format.
News articles
‘A Cardiff man's two decade quest to find the deepest cave in the world’ - Wales Online
(https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/cardiff-mans-two-decade-quest-15225544)
‘Dachsteinmassiv: Forscher finden Durchstieg in Hirlatzhöhle’ (Translation: Dachstein Massif: Researchers find passage in Hirlatzhöhle)
(https://www.br.de/nachrichten/wissen/dachsteinmassiv-forscher-finden-durchstieg-in-hirlatzhoehle,R57wlO2)
Caving articles:
Descent 259 (Dec 2017): It's Not Ideal
For years cavers have tried for a connection to create a mile-deep system in the Dachstein.
Descent 266 (Feb 2019): Finding Wadiland
The decades-long search for a connection between two major Austrian caves has been successful. Tom Foord concludes his story of how the final link was achieved.
Descent 265 (Jan 2018): In Search of Wadiland
That link between two caves was soooo elusive! How many times have we heard that – but for one team in the Dachstein it looks promising.
Books:
Die Hirlatzhöhle im Dachstein by Gottfried Buchegger (German text).
Höhlen und Karst in Österreich (German text, English abstract and captions) - chapter on the caves of the Dachstein and the Hirlatzhöhle.
Give details of any previous work in this area by your own and other teams. Include references to reports and articles published on the area, and the names of any local cavers or academics with whom you have discussed the Expedition.
The full expedition report for 2019, including surveys, has now been submitted on the Ghar Parau website, was published in our WhatsApp group, can be downloaded at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XDDrc1noH4J8-mbpHoj1I2YAuDZHH8oc/view?usp=sharing and will be available in due course on the Dachstein website once this has been developed.Surveys and cave data are held by the local Austrian caving clubs. WUG Pot has an almost complete high-quality survey, but this is being regularly extended. This has been recently been drawn up in poster form. A project has begun by the Austrian caving clubs to collate all Hirlatzhöhle survey data into a modern format.
News articles
‘A Cardiff man's two decade quest to find the deepest cave in the world’ - Wales Online
(https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/cardiff-mans-two-decade-quest-15225544)
‘Dachsteinmassiv: Forscher finden Durchstieg in Hirlatzhöhle’ (Translation: Dachstein Massif: Researchers find passage in Hirlatzhöhle)
(https://www.br.de/nachrichten/wissen/dachsteinmassiv-forscher-finden-durchstieg-in-hirlatzhoehle,R57wlO2)
Caving articles:
Descent 259 (Dec 2017): It's Not Ideal
For years cavers have tried for a connection to create a mile-deep system in the Dachstein.
Descent 266 (Feb 2019): Finding Wadiland
The decades-long search for a connection between two major Austrian caves has been successful. Tom Foord concludes his story of how the final link was achieved.
Descent 265 (Jan 2018): In Search of Wadiland
That link between two caves was soooo elusive! How many times have we heard that – but for one team in the Dachstein it looks promising.
Books:
Die Hirlatzhöhle im Dachstein by Gottfried Buchegger (German text).
Höhlen und Karst in Österreich (German text, English abstract and captions) - chapter on the caves of the Dachstein and the Hirlatzhöhle.
Expedition Finances
Travel
Travel plans: |
| # from UK: | 15 | Travel costs breakdown (for personnel leaving from the UK): |
| Total costs from UK: | £3,000 | By car with 3 people: Ferry crossing £130 (return) Approximately 1000 miles each way, assume 50mpg and £1.3/litre Fuel approximately £200 return Approximately £110 per person By plane: roughly £150-200 per person (return) including baggage and public transport from Salzburg to Hallstatt/Obertraun We therefore conservatively assume £200 per person for travel. The expedition fee includes use of the seilbahn (sharing loads wherever possible) and last year this cost the expedition around €200 to the Wiesberghaus. We expect this cost to increase dramatically. |
| # from outside UK: | 5 | Travel costs breakdown (for personnel leaving from the UK): |
| Total costs from outside UK: | £1,000 | Most personnel leaving from outside the UK are likely to not be UK citizens and therefore ineligible for GPF funding. However most will be from Europe and therefore their costs would fall within a similar range to UK travellers (£100 - £300). We therefore again assume £200 per person. |
| Travel total: | £4,000 | Travel p.p. from UK: | £200 |
| Travel p.p. from outside UK: | £200 |
Subsistence
| Total: | £5,910 | Comments: |
| Subsistence p.p.: | £296 | Accommodation is arranged through the Wiesberghaus. This is likely to increase from €7pppn to €15pppn for most participants, a substantial increase which the expedition funds cannot absorb. Food is arranged communally. The expedition food is vegetarian to save on cost and issues with perishable meats. There is been a small daily food charge of €1.50, which pays for fresh vegetables and other perishable goods. Some non-perishables, such as rice, pasta, TVP, milk powder, spices and porridge are p |
Gear
| Total: | £1,520 | Comments: |
| Gear p.p.: | £76 | Prices are based on either retail prices or those paid (before any sponsorship discount) by the expedition in 2019. Prices are likely to have increased substantially since that date. 200 x M8 Fischer FBN II throughbolts @ £16.50 for 50: £66 100 x M8 Fischer FBN II stainless throughbolts @ £55.20 for 50: £110.40 200 x 7mm long steel maillons @ £1.90 each: £380 200 x stainless hangers @ £1.58 each: £316 600m x 10mm rope @ approx. £1.075/m: £645 It should be noted that our usual expedition fee of |
Special 1
| Total: | £645 | Comments: |
| Special 1 p.p.: | £32 | WUG Pot, the major expedition cave, has been rigged for more than ten years. Following the breakthrough in 2018, connecting the cave to the Hirlatzhohle, the cave has allowed access to an area of the Hirlatzhohle previously only accessible via a long cave dive. Thus exploration here is of key importance. Although some work has been done to re-rig the cave and add or replace anchors, a more serious programme is needed to ensure all belays have stainless anchors and to replace all the rope in the |
| Exped Total: | £12,075 | Exped cost p.p. travelling from UK: | £603 |
| Exped cost p.p. travelling from outside UK: | £603 | ||
| Mean Exped cost per person: | £603 |
Other Funding
| Total: | £0 | Comments: |
| No other grants are being or have been applied for, although we are likely to attempt to source similar sponsorship for gear as the last expedition in 2019. |
| Total shortfall: | £12,075 | Mean shortfall per person: | £603 |
Referees and Report
Please give the names, addresses and phone numbers of two suitably qualified people whom the Committee can contact. You should ensure that they are aware of the objectives of your trip, and that you have their permission for the Committee to contact them.
Referee 1: Dr. Martin Groves
Affiliation: Previous expedition member
Affiliation: Previous expedition member
Reason: Martin was a major player in the project for many years and was one of the cave divers who made the connection possible.
Referee 2: Mr. Pete McNab (Snablet)
Affiliation: Previous expedition member
Affiliation: Previous expedition member
Reason: Snablet was the project coordinator who introduced Joel to the area and is familiar with some of the logistical challenges involved.
Expedition report author: Andrew McLeod