Expedition Name (& Club): CUCC Totes Gebirge Expedition 2022 (CUCC)

Destination country: Austria
Region: Loser Plateau

Lat: 47.7075 Long: 13.7987 Elevation: 1755 m
MEF funding: none

Leader: Mr. Nat Dalton

Brief Expedition objectives:

List a short summary of the main Expedition objectives.

The 2022 CUCC expedition to the Loser Plateau will continue to explore and extend the Schwarzmooskogel (SMK) system (figure 1, see attached figures) which is currently 131.8 km long and 1122 m deep. Also on the plateau is the Schoenberg-Hohlenen system (SH), Austria’s longest cave. Connecting the SMK and SH systems would form one of the world’s longest, deepest caves.

As the expedition has not run for several years COVID-19, the expedition aims and this application are broadly unchanged from the 2021/2022 expeditions.

Continue exploration in Balkonhoehle (figure 2, 264), Fischgesicht (figure 3, 290) and Schmetterlingerhoehle (figure 3, 291).
Establish a second top camp at Garlic Cave to push further west enabling continued exploration of Homecoming Hole (figure 3, 359) and prospecting between the SMK and SH systems.
Train and spread caving expertise throughout many student caving clubs.
Reduce the expedition's carbon emissions by travelling via public transport where possible .

How can the GPF support your Expedition?:

Please explain the aspects of the trip which make it eligible for Ghar Parau funding.

The expedition is transitioning from a CUCC led expedition to a multi-student club expedition, with students attending from many different clubs (both student and non-student). Consequently, the expedition can not rely on funding from Cambridge University and our gear will be independent from CUCC’s.

The grant from GPF will benefit cash-strapped students, through subsidising their costs. This will allow them to make travel choices based on minimising their carbon footprint, instead of cost, funding carbon offsetting where necessary.

This year the expedition is making the switch from HKD flush anchors to through bolts, as this bolting technique will be transferable to other expeditions. This expense means gear cost will be higher than in previous years. The expedition will also continue to transition to paperless surveying techniques including recording passage with photography and novel 3D mapping.

Detailed description of objectives:

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.

Mentoring and Training: Training and inspiring students has always been at the centre of this expedition. This is even more important this year, with COVID-19 causing lost years for student clubs. The experience shortage has the potential to impact student clubs and the wider community for years to come. To address this the main focus of this expedition will be to train current students, from across the country, who will then share their experience within their respective clubs.

Environment: This year, the expedition is taking further steps to reduce its environmental impact, both locally whilst camping on the Loser plateau by minimising the top camp impact on the local environment, and globally by reducing the carbon emission of our transport. We aim to travel by train, bus or multi-passenger cars. Flying will be a last resort where no other option is available. The CO2 produced by the expedition will be calculated and offset, thereby being carbon neutral.

Balkonhoehle (264): many promising leads at multiple levels, allowing for meaningful exploration to be done by cavers of varying abilities. Medusa’s Maze is a particularly exciting lead taking the SMK system into an area not traditionally explored by this expedition. Additionally, the system connects the previously explored Tunnocks system at convenient points to push leads remaining there, allowing us to explore unfinished areas of Tunnocks without rigging the previous route, which was flood-prone.

Fischgesicht (290): The entrance was blocked by snow in 2019 and could not be excavated. Leads from 2018 are still yet to be explored including a 20x20 m large phreatic tunnel with strong draught leading in direction of the rest of SMK left unexplored at the opposite side of a 40 m pitch. It is also likely to connect to another significant find from 2017, Glucklich Schmetterlingerhoehle (‘Happy Butterfly Cave’; 291,), adding length to the system.

Second Camp: An objective for this year is to establish a second top camp known as "Garlic Cave'', which is located further west than Stone bridge, as a base for those exploring Homecoming Hole and Fischgesicht.

Homecoming Hole (359): discovered in 2018 at the western extent of our current area. This is planned to be the focus of further expeditions, but if resources allow this cave will be pushed in 2022.

Scientific Objectives:
Those that have read our 2020 application will know there’s an extensive list of possible scientific objectives, including undertaking survey accuracy checks, hydrogeological assessment of the drainage system, and geomorphological mapping of cave and surface features to understand landscape evolution. These projects will be dependent on certain personnel attending, but of a particular focus will be the recording of features/passage morphology, using a combination of photography and 3D scanning.

Previous work in this area:

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 CUCC expedition to Austria was established in 1976, and this represents the 43rd expedition made since then. The continual increase each year in the scope and achievements of the expeditions is testimony to this extraordinary area’s potential for the discovery of new caves.

As described above, one of our aims as a student-led expedition has also been building for the long-term future of this and other expeditions by continually encouraging and training new expedition-goers. The success of this can be seen in both the number of student cavers planning to attend this year following COVID-19, and the number of ex-student cavers who have gone on to be vital to the expedition’s continuation. We have also greatly benefited from, and are very grateful for the enthusiastic support of Robert Seebacher, a prolific local caver and manager of the VHO.

In the past few years, with a strong group of cavers, over 6 km was surveyed, more than 5 km of which was in the SMK system, placing it in the top 10 longest caves in the world (and fourth in Europe). We are optimistic that we can continue this success.

The CUCC Austria Expo website has been continually updated to provide surveys, accounts, logbooks and reports, as well as providing considerable information about the previous exploration by both the club and other local cave-explorers. It remains the most comprehensive source for the individual discoveries from previous expeditions. It can be found at http://expo.survex.com/

Following the expedition of 2019, presentations were made at Hidden Earth, CHECC and within individual clubs.