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HollowMountainII-2007to2012_content.tex
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\chapter*{Editorial}
The cave exploration of Tolminski Migovec from 2007 to 2012 has in
retrospect an obvious narative. The story is of rags to riches, from a
seemingly hollowed out mountain long past its glory days of exploration
to the longest cave in Slovenia. The experience of living throuh these
times, is a more confused and complicated picture. We were individual
actors, with no script script, pulling together in some vague common
direction, all with the same overall objective, but some very different
ideas about how to get there.
If cave exploration were a simple, rational, expenditure of efforts
towards a known end, the scenes would be simple to describe. We realised
how close \emph{Vrtnarija} and \emph{Kavkna Jama (M2)} were, after more
carefully analysing the 2007 \emph{Kill 'em All} survey data. To pursue
the obvious potential connection, we rebolted and rerigged Kavkna Jama
in 2008, while also exploring on the other side in Vrtnarija. In 2009 we
established a camp in Vrtnarija at the nearest suitable point to the
closest approach, and used it to massively increase our time at the
pushing front. In 2010, 2011 and 2012 we camped deeper in Vrtnarija,
while pushing Kavkna Jama from the surface both during the Summer and on
Autumn / Winter trips. In 2012 we connected the systems, forming the
longest cave system in Slovenia, and one in which the vast majority of
cave passage is at depths greater than 500 m.
However, that isn't the real story of the exploration. The story of the
people involved is the true history of Migovec. The connection was not
made in the obvious location between Kavkna Jama and Vrtnarija, but down
at 650 m of depth, as the result of yet another successful, to the point
of routine, pushing trip. So what were we doing there?
Motivated by the connection target, during 2008 we flung ourselves back
into the exploration of Captain Kangaroo, Vrtnarija. At the grim pushing
front were the youngsters, highly motivated but lacking the experience
to go deep. Lacking in time at the pushing front we determined to go
back and camp in 2009.
``The art of roughing it is in smoothing off the edges.'' Stories of
draughty campsites, cassette players slurring to an undignified
quietness, shivering through the night, and unlabelled plastic bags of
miscellaneous white powder were retold by the experienced members, and
duly obsoleted by careful consideration of the logistics. We went back
with free standing tents, layers of fleece, MP3 players, modern
winter-mix gas stoves and LED fairy lights. We went back to stay. Almost
effortlessly, we pushed this tough branch of the cave down to 550 m.
This new generation of cavers, who cut their teeth in Captain Kangaroo,
suddenly found themselves with the endurance and know-how to
successfully explore at depth. Though the connection of the systems were
certainly still a major aim of 2010, 2011 and 2012 expeditions, we were
mainly there to push deep new cave passage. We re-established Camp X-Ray
(550 m deep) as our main base in 2010. We improved on it year after
year, making it truly palatial. And now that the going was once again
deep, we were rejoined by the more experienced members of our club, for
whom the prospect of another grim rift in Captain Kangaroo had not been
suitably motivating.
As our collective abilities improved, normality shifted. Exploring over
multi-day camping trips, hot bunking and the considerable feat of
endurance just to reach and return from these depths became standard
practice. That which was just-possible the year before became the
standard trip, that which was beyond our reach became achievable.
I am proud of the time that I have dedicated towards these expeditions,
and every moment spent with the people involved. There are others in the
club who have contributed very much more. We were all volunteers. We did
all this because we wanted to, but little gets done if you only do
things that are fun.
Spending your free-time down caving stores fettling kit is neither
particularly enjoyable nor directly rewarding. Carries in the hail and
rain are arduous and unpleasant. I don't think it is possible for this
document to understate the sacrifice of time and effort made by
expedition members and friends. Forever lacking in adequate funding and
gear, unrecognised and often misunderstood, we explored with the bare
minimum.
This exploration report is dedicated to our many friends who assisted,
sponsored, carried, hosted and advised. You all contributed to the
achievements documented herein.
And so, Ninety-Nine years after Apsley Cherry-Garrard returned to South
Kensington with a Penguin's Egg, we returned to our college in 2012 with
a minor news story and a few pretty photos for their website. For those
involved in the exploration of Tolminski Migovec far more precious are
the memories of friendships formed deep within the Hollow Mountain. The
prize was not the destination we arrived at, but the path we forged in
getting here.
We were always in the longest cave in Slovenia, we just hadn't realised.
\attrib{Jarvist Moore Frost}
\begin{verse}
We shall not cease from exploration \\
And the end of all our exploring \\
Will be to arrive where we started \\
And know the place for the first time.
\\
Through the unknown, unremembered gate \\
When the last of earth left to discover \\
Is that which was the beginning; \\
At the source of the longest river \\
The voice of the hidden waterfall \\
\end{verse}
\attrib{T. S. Eliot}
\hypertarget{section}{%
\chapter{2007}\label{section}}
\hypertarget{introduction}{%
\section{Introduction}\label{introduction}}
Absolutely stonking year, very lucky with the weather, lots of
interesting developments. No accidents, no missed call outs and
generally a very smoothly run, pleasant and safe expedition
Gardeners' World, Captain Kangaroo, pushed to within 28 m of the lower
\emph{M2} 1980s JSPDT survey. There is a possibility that we are
unknowingly connected (Slovs did not use PSSs in the 1970s except for a
red paint splodge at the bottom of Silos), and a probability that a
connection exists. This will be a major target for 2008, with the
possibility mooted of rigging down \emph{M2}.
Combined these would now be 11493 m + 5229 m = 16722 m = 2nd longest in
Slovenia
\hypertarget{expedition-findings}{%
\section{Expedition Findings}\label{expedition-findings}}
\hypertarget{plop-goes}{%
\subsection{Plop Goes!}\label{plop-goes}}
Andy and Rik pushed \emph{Plop} (the tight squeeze) onto the magnificent
Plopzilla pitch. A field of helictites festoon the pitch down onto an
enormous boulder pile. One side of this chamber is unpushed, the other
leads to a boulder choke, as yet unpushed. \emph{Plopzilla} is 105 m
deep, penetrating from \emph{NCB} to below \emph{Exhibition road}. This
makes it the second largest pitch in the system after \emph{Silos}.
\hypertarget{m1-m6}{%
\subsection{M1 \& M6}\label{m1-m6}}
Repushed + resurveyed. Still a lead (may need chemical persuasion) in a
window off M1. Small extensions found in M6 - very pretty little bit of
stream formed new cave, ended in draughting bedding plane dig.
New caves on western edge of plateau
\emph{Planika} (named after the Edelweiss present on the wester
plateau)and ``Monatip'', found below B9/\emph{M2}1 (on the western edge
of the plateau, approx 100 m north of \textbf{Primadona}) and the
initial pushing trips conducted.
\emph{Planika:} 166 m long, 46 m deep \emph{Monatip:} 196 m long, 28 m
deep
\emph{Planika} is a high entrance (1801 m) which leads directly to a 40
m pitch to a snow plug. Climbing the snow gains another chamber with a
large entrance, and a rift leading off. A very tight pitch head at the
end of rift leads to a 5 m pitch which reconnects to a 20 m long snow
slope. Digging at the bottom of this snow slope gained another snow
filled chamber, with `phreatic' esque passage etched through the snow by
the draught, and extremely drippy snow which I believe is certainly
feeding a faithful stream, possibly the one that was found on Smer0 in
\emph{Primadona}, 200 m below. To get to Planika, one must conduct a 30
m abseil down a cliff, then traverse along the ledge. Extremely pretty -
one gets a view across the whole of the Tolminka by day, or the lights
of Italy all the way to Venice by night.
\emph{Monatip} is directly below Planika (24 m between bottom of snow
plug and early passage), and has a very \emph{NCB}-like character -
possibly a dried river bed. It undulates along, heading into blank
mountain
\hypertarget{u-bend-connected-to-primadona}{%
\subsection{\texorpdfstring{U-Bend connected to
\emph{Primadona}}{U-Bend connected to Primadona}}\label{u-bend-connected-to-primadona}}
Hard pushing by Sandeep and Alvin through the previously blown Enigma
squeeze on the 40 m U-bend pitch has led to a connection with the Druigi
entrance to \emph{Primadona}, gaining \emph{Primadona} an additional 57
m of height, making a cave 644 m deep. Beautiful survey accuracy - have
a look on the .3d file!
\hypertarget{razor-cave-survey}{%
\subsection{\texorpdfstring{\emph{Razor} cave
survey}{Razor cave survey}}\label{razor-cave-survey}}
Coordinated by Martin, we've started to survey \emph{Razor} cave. 250 m
already in the book, its a very interesting clearly fault-driven cave,
with easy access from the \emph{Razor} hut.
\hypertarget{primadona-smer0-pitch}{%
\subsection{\texorpdfstring{\emph{Primadona} Smer0
pitch}{Primadona Smer0 pitch}}\label{primadona-smer0-pitch}}
Initial rigging of the Smer0 pitch discovered in October 2006 was
undertaken, bolting down to \textasciitilde{}-40 m. Pitch is ongoing.
Stream was followed upstream to a tight labyrinth.
\hypertarget{smashed-swede}{%
\subsection{Smashed Swede}\label{smashed-swede}}
Stefan's climb was bolt-traversed to by Rik + Paul, gaining a window
that would appear to reconnect to \emph{Hardy} Pitch. A second look
wouldn't go amiss.
\hypertarget{minor-caves}{%
\section{Minor Caves}\label{minor-caves}}
\hypertarget{east-pole-s1}{%
\subsection{East Pole (S1)}\label{east-pole-s1}}
Further work was undertaken in East Pole: a number of promising new
holes were investigated, including E1 - at \textasciitilde{}25 m deep
pitch leading to too-tight windows that require opening up.
\hypertarget{stag-cave}{%
\subsection{Stag Cave}\label{stag-cave}}
A cave was found within 20 m of the tents! A short pitch, rigged on
naturals, lead to a spacious chamber that was unfortunately dead.
However the presence of a large collection of bones (some crushed, but
many in very good condition) that appears to have been from a stag made
up for the disappointment!
\hypertarget{moth-cave}{%
\subsection{Moth Cave}\label{moth-cave}}
Heroic effort was expended in the Moth Cave dig: two extra chambers were
gained, but unfortunately only lead to yet another too-tight squeeze
requiring rock removal. Declared dead and derigged.
\hypertarget{hawk-cave}{%
\subsection{Hawk Cave}\label{hawk-cave}}
New (safe) method of gaining the cave was constructed by bolting an
abseil from the cliff-head. Most leads off chamber were found to die, a
bolt traverse was made across the pitch to find an aven where we hoped a
parallel shaft may lie. Still to be revisited :- we ran out of time and
rope, and so derigged.
Most of all, this expedition was an enormous training mission: we now
have an extremely strong expedition team together once more, with great
ties to the new JSPDT members.
I think that all the lags can feel extremely proud of the enormous
cannon of information that has been passed on, the new members proud of
the steep learning curve that they all conquered, and everyone proud of
the Caves, little and big, deep and shallow that we've found this year.
\attrib{Jarv}
\#\#Log Book Write Ups
\hypertarget{ping-pong-ball-bombe}{%
\section{Ping Pong Ball Bombe}\label{ping-pong-ball-bombe}}
A Slovene super-action was in the making, the Shepherd's huts stocked
with drink and the young JSPDT bouncing down to -200 m in
\emph{Primadona} Dona to improve the rigging. The plan was to (mainly)
investigate leads off Smer0/Smer1 in \emph{Primadona} where on a JSPDT
trip in Autumn 2006 (joined by Tetley \& Jarv from IC) a large rift with
an approx 40 m pitch was found - most tellingly, with water visible at
the bottom. Finding a constant stream this shallow in Mig was unheard
of. Meanwhile, a smaller team would head to \emph{Bikini Carwash} at the
end of Exhibition Road in the main system and aid climb to see if the
passage continued.
The more curious aspect of this mission was the Ping Pong Ball Bombe, a
plan to take ping pong balls down \textbf{Primadona} \& set fire to
them. The noxious smell hopefully providing a connection. Alas, the
SysMig team that was to detect with their noses, also contained the most
hardened smokers who spent their time sniffing the air in between
dragging on filterless roll ups!
With mammoth organisation, Rik and Jarv were dispatched down via text
message from the Bivi to Kal, meeting the Slovs and stealing some bread
before crabbing across sideways to \emph{Primadona}. The boulder slope
climb was awful as ever, but I took the opportunity to build a cairn on
the edge of the cliff so that we could recognise this point from the
plateau - to help unravel the mystery of the caves below B9 spotted by
Jana \& I from the plateau the Autumn before.
So we went down in a mammoth party: Rik, Jarv, Eric, Aliosha, Izzy,
Silan, Zdenko \& Emil
Zdenko led off with the young JSPDT. Emil was a new character to us -
with a bald head framed by round lensed glasses and a fine handlebar
moustache that dovetailed with his military demeanour, were it not for
the Slovene language I could have easily assumed him to be an old-school
English army Colonel. Bringing up the rear with Emil, we were slowed by
his enormous tackle sac, stuffed full of bread and cheese I could only
assume. About 150 m in, standing on a traverse line above a pitch, I was
handed a full mineral water bottle from the depths of this magic sack.
``What is it?'' I asked. ``Mmm\ldots{} made with fruits\ldots{} and a
kilo of Med (honey)\ldots{} its dobra!''. Ah, I thought, some marvellous
mountain tea fortified with a shed load of honey - just perfect to give
an energy boost and fight off the dehydration. I chugged it back. Tea it
was not. Double distilled Zjganja with a kilo of honey dissolved in it
it was.
Once at the pushing front we found we were rather limited with gear -
just one bolt kit. Rik set to work with Izzy to get down the pitch.
Zdenko and the Eric/Aliosha brotherhood set off for the end of Smer0
(passed where Smer1 reconnected to it) to look at the climb that
currently ended the passage. Jana, Emil \& myself traversed over the
pitch (which was a truly frightening undertaking - walls over a metre
apart with a 40 m drop down) and went to look at where the water which
trickled down the opposite side came from. From the pools of water we
found a 2 m climb into an old dry silted phreatic system leading left
facing towards the end of Smer0, starting just before where Smer1
dropped down. This branched to a small chamber with avens, a too tight
rift (from which, insanely enough, emanated sounds of Rik bolting) and a
chamber with a larger, aid climbable, aven. Alas, with no spare rigging
gear for the climb, and no survey instruments, there wasn't much more
for us to do but go back to Rik.
Rik \& co had made it down about 20 m to a ledge where he put in a
rebelay bolt. He reckoned he could see the floor a further 20 m from
there. He was rather put off by the avalanche of rocks that came down
when people went over the crazy free traverse. The team that went to the
end of Smer0 was already back, and getting cold waiting around with
nothing to do we set off out in small groups. Rik finished the rebelay
bolt and headed back up, as the guys he was with were getting cold.
In the end we didn't burn the Ping Pong Bombes, as \emph{Primadona}
appeared to be breathing `out' in all the bits a draught was detectable.
As well as the spirits, Emil had another mineral water bottle filled
with white wine, for the journey out. When he returned to the mountain
hut well gone midnight he did not look particularly well. One can only
assume he burnt through his hangover on the pitches out!
\emph{Primadona} is I'm sure an absolutely amazing cave system, who's
secrets have only been very partially unlocked. Unfortunately I fear it
will require a heroic effort to make easier access (possibly by
reactivating the abseil route, or finding a better abseil way down via
B9/Planika/Monatip) to allow the dozens of small trips necessary to
properly relearn the cave system, recapturing the knowledge lost with
the retirement from caving of the `middle-aged' JSPDT who mainly
explored \emph{Primadona}.
\attrib{Jarvist Frost}
\hypertarget{b9-beyond}{%
\section{B9 \& Beyond!}\label{b9-beyond}}
Walking briefly over to B9 the day after the super-action, we could spot
the cairn I left down near \emph{Primadona}. Combined with one placed by
Jana \& I on the headland near U-Bend, suddenly the whole complicated 3D
structure fell into place. Neither of the caves we could see from near
B9 were \emph{Primadona}, though the entrances looked similar - both
were new caves in an area never visited!
The next day we were joined on the plateau by some of the young JSPDT.
Jana \& I went with Alijosha and Spela to B9, and explained the
situation. The weather was awful - thick cloud everywhere. While the
Slovs re-explored bits of B9 and checked to see if anything had changed
after the earthquake (a pitch had disappeared off the original survey as
a bit of the cave collapsed and turned into a boulder climb!), I placed
two bolts for the descent down the cliff. This was really quite
exhillerating - a gale swept over the edge of the plateau, the rock was
soaked and slippery, and every now and then the thick clouds would part
for a glimpse of Krn or the Tolminka valley a very long way away!
The next day Aliosja and Spela went down from the plateau, so Jana and I
went back alone to B9 to rig down the cliff. The weather was much
improved! Jana abseiled down first and went investigating the three cave
entrances, while I came down behind and put in the rebelay bolts. The
three entrances were very interesting - the main one contained an
enormous aven which connected back up to the headland above u-bend (you
could see the sky through the top), but was an enormously steep boulder
slope with useless rock. The further entrance was a crawl in boulders
that was only briefly pushed by Jana. The smallest, highest entrance was
the most immediately interesting - a perfect metre by metre triangular
arch which led directly to a deep pitch. A shimmer of white was just
visible at the bottom. Bolts were placed for a traverse along a
beautiful slab of limestone to save freeclimb on the steep bowl valley
edged with a cliff, and the main hang bolt + first rebelay was placed
for the small-cave pitch, finishing our 100 m rope. We decided to name
this new cave `Planika Jama', after the rare mountain flower that covers
the sunkissed (\& adder infested!) slopes around B9.
Rather confusingly, we could occasionally hear echo-y shouts bouncing
around from below as we walked about the bowl valley, inevitably
disturbing stones. We tried to be as careful as we could, but couldn't
really understand what was going on - except for the fact that one of
the voices sounded like Kos.
Once back on the plateau, Jana pieced together the situation by mobile -
Alijosha and Spela had gone down to Kal, taken the ICCC rigging gear
left in the third hut and went to the lower cave entrance pointed out to
them the day before via an abseil down the cliff near \emph{Primadona}
where I had placed the cairn on the Ping Pong Ball Bombe action. Jana
went down to Kal to discuss the situation that evening and came back up
the next day rather upset. The new cave was to be called Monatip
(`Fucking Idiot' in the local dialect).
The next day started with Goaty \& Jarv surface surveying to B9. Jana
and I then descended the clif, surveying as we went. Again, within the
cave, we used the efficient technique of the lightweight Jana abseiling
down past rub-points, followed by Jarv bolting the rebelays behind while
Jana explored the next bit. The pitch was perhaps the most beautiful
entrance pitch on the mig plateau. From a bolt placed in the ceiling a
hang dropped down past a fridge-sized boulder before swinging out to a
rebelay (placed by using my walking boot heel `skyhook'). From here one
abseiled down an almost perfect brick wall, above an enormous snow plug,
before swinging into a little dry streamway cascade to finish the last
bolt to land on the snow plug, which contained a large metre wide 6 m
deep hole bored out of the ice by wind or water, and similar, more
narrow, gaps on the edges of the plug. A small rift led off and
immediately closed down. From the top of the snow plug Jana found a
crawl way under a rock bridge to a climb up on ice on one side and rock
on the other (the ice was a more reliable foothold!), to reach a
snow-filled chamber which was daylight flooded and clearly below the
slope of the large entrance. An ice traverse in this chamber (we named
it Yorkshire Pudding, as it was a torus of snow with a dimpled center).
From the far side of the Christmas pudding one could squeeze down
between the rock and snow, attempt a climb past a stack of wedged
boulders towards the aven, or walk down a snow-bottomed meander. The
meander we named `Acre Lane' after our London home. This meander
suddenly regained a rock floor and led on to a tight rift which seemed
to be a small pitch head. There were a lot of boulders strewn around.
Here we PSS'ed and headed back.
The next day we were joined by Andreja \& James H. Jana and Andreja
bolted the backup bolt for this new traverse, while I gardened my way
along the tight rift and then placed a bolt holding myself in place
within the rift by breathing in until my ribs were wedged securely! This
was perhaps the slowest bolt I've every placed as I was lying sideways
with the arm holding the driver bent back behind my head, and the hammer
cocked under my budy, while considering the 6 m drop to the floor! It
was with some relief that I took the rope through from the girls and
rebelayed my way down.
Around the corner the cave got strange once more - from a rock balcony
one is confronted with a chamber filled with a 45 degree slope of
compacted snow. Exploring around this we found that the upper levels
shut down, but seemed diggable (from the survey it appears that we were
within a metre of the Yorkshire Pud - it must be the same snow slope),
and there was a beautiful inlet which had formed some amazing
ice-pearls. The obviously way on was down. The snow steepend and
disappeared down at about 60 degrees with the rock roof not too far
away. Careful traversing across the snow, I placed a bolt on the wall,
and abseiled down on my back. The ceiling closed in and the rope began
to rub, the walls shut down from both sides. At the bottom I faced the
end of the snow, with a 50cm gap of boulders sitting there.
The next step was obvious as it was insane - digging at the bottom of a
funnel with a lot of loose rubbish above. By picking up the boulders and
rotating I found I could play tetris, the fitting pieces disappearing
with a gravely rush through the floor. There was a strong draft, what on
earth was I digging towards? With a terrifying series of rock booms and
human shouts almost directly above my head, I pushed myself into the
corner of the snow shoot and hoped for the best. It turned out that the
rift pitch head had been disrupted as someone passed rope through,
collapsing a drystone wall and sending a few hundred kilos of rocks
cascading down. Jana had just reached the rebelay bolt going up,
narrowly avoiding being caught in the waterfall of limestone.
Once I stopped hyperventilating, and accepted that no further boulders
were coming down, I carried on digging with bare (now bloodied hands)
with ten minutes of frantic energy, a way was found. Originally I was
digging alongside the snow, but as it opened up I found I could go
straight down and way. A 5 m climb on boulders took me down to the
strangest chamber I have ever been in. Still attached to the rope, I
stood on a metre wide ledge that ran alongside a wall of perfect white
ice. The ice was wet - drips were everywhere. The ledge continued and
narrowed, snaking alongside this berg. From the middle of the ledge I
saw the strangest sight of my life - a phreatic crawlway windin down at
45 degrees through the ice, distinctly blowing, and with a similar rock
ledge and wall visible on the other side. With no bolt kit and no
camera, I headed out to my shaken compatriots. I was frozen, as my
wellies and cuffs were now packed with snow, and everyone was a little
shaken after the collapse.
Our last trip was a speedy survey, photo and derig, with Ben B and Emil.
Jana went down the ice slope but didn't fancy the still unstable boulder
climb, so we surveyed from this edge. The photo-gear was too much of an
effort to get passed the tight rift-pitch. Ben placed his first bolt as
a safety traverse across the ice. After surveying back to above the rift
pitch, we switched to photography documenting the cave as we derigged
out with the rope and metalwork.
Emil and Ben headed back to the Bivi while Jana \& I bolted down with
the Planika rope to reach Monatip in order for him \& Izzy to surface
and cave survey the following day. Glorious weather, we sat watching the
sun set behind Krn, with the Venetian bay visible beyond.
\attrib{Jarvist}
\hypertarget{rik-and-andy-go-to-plop-an-abject-failure}{%
\section{Rik and Andy go to Plop (an abject
Failure)}\label{rik-and-andy-go-to-plop-an-abject-failure}}
(Rik's were written in van on way back across Europe, typed up by Jarv.
Proofread by Rik (hardcopy) + corrections added by Jarv.)
The mission was simple -- venture into Sys Mig, traverse the gaping
holes on \emph{Level 2} to reach the ratty old rope for Faulty Towers
and push into \emph{NCB}. Once there we hoped to bottom the fabled
`Plop', a big pitch just off \emph{NCB}, rumoured to be over 50 m,
strongly draughting and utterly jinxed!
Armed only with a vague description from a rather drunken Tetley the
night before, we set off for \emph{M16} during a brief lull in the
raging storm. Once down in the cave we quickly hopped up to \emph{NCB},
reviewing the excellent tourist trip across the big stuff in the system.
When we got to \emph{NCB}, we stumbled as Tetley had not mentioned the
lairy traverse over a \textasciitilde{}20 m drop on tatty 13-year-old 9
mm. We concluded that Plop was the pitch immediately below the rope from
Torn T. This was the error which cost us the pitch. The bolts continued
down the pitch and I had a sinking feeling as I reached the bottom of
this pointless lead.
After this we inspected the rest of \emph{NCB} going East, crossing the
bad traverse with some care. Andy and I took it in turns to examine the
side passages and one of the ones I inspected was, as in the legend of
'95, a very windy squeeze, which could be depth tested by throwing rocks
with some difficulty. I was sure this was it, but Andy had an earlier
memory which led us to think that it might be Godzilla. Stones took
around three or four seconds to drop!
We left with five hours to spare before callout, on the very cautious
side, and left the tackle bags at \emph{NCB}. Tomorrow we're going back,
and this time Plop must be conquered!
\attrib{Richard Venn}
\hypertarget{the-eventful-conquest-of-plopzilla-nee.}{%
\section{The Eventful Conquest of Plopzilla
(nee.}\label{the-eventful-conquest-of-plopzilla-nee.}}
Plop)
After my first trip to \emph{NCB} I was kept awake thinking about that
three to four second drop known simply as `Plop'. By eleven the next
morning I'd managed to convince Andy of the merit of a return visit.
Since we'd left the necessary tools and rope for bolting a monster pitch
in \emph{NCB}, we quickly shot down the \emph{M16} entrance series and
up Faulty Towers into \emph{NCB}.
Fairly terrified of getting stuck in the tight pitch head above that
formidable drop, I took off most of my SRT kit, leaving just cows-tails
and Croll. The squeeze was fairly easy and Andy passed through the bags
as I put in a bolt to make a Y-hang.
Since Plop had already been attempted several times there were quite a
few existing bolts. I made use of these on the way, stopping only to
take down a couple of boost bars: a bit of Cadbury Courage. I felt oddly
calm swinging about in the huge chamber. We had thrown more rocks from
the top but the bottom was too far away to see. Even from the first
rebelay I was having trouble speaking to Andy. Our words boomed around
the huge pitch. Two rebelays down, I was standing on a gravel floor,
shivering with the adrenaline. I'd been forced to put in a knot pass in
the rope and reverse prussic past it. Two more bolts got us to the
bottom of the pitch, by which point our nerves were totally shredded.
Though the hang of the rope was very clean, a rope disappearing into
empty blackness above can be really terrifying!
Though we were almost expecting to break into `Level 3', an as-yet
undiscovered horizontal passage at least three kilometres long, the
pitch was completed choked with boulders at its lowest point. We scoured
the nooks and crannies before pronouncing the bottom of Plop officially
dead.
However, twenty metres back up the gravel slope, another boulder choke
went down, an obvious lead for a return visit but by this stage we were
too tired to push and survey a new cave passage. We left a going lead in
boulders, along with an easy swing into a window halfway down the pitch.
Exit from the cave was difficult due to being tired and thirsty but we
were in a jubilant mood after a seventy-six metre survey leg! Plop was
the biggest pitch either of us had ever seen. As the first to bottom
this monster, we renamed it `Plopzilla'.
Analysing the survey data back at the bivi, it measured in at an
impressive 105 m of depth.
\attrib{Richard Venn}
\hypertarget{riggin-captain-kangaroo}{%
\section{Riggin' Captain Kangaroo}\label{riggin-captain-kangaroo}}
First trip was with Thara. Tet had already rigged down Pico (re-bolting
it in the process), so we set off for that familiar window with a
bolting hammer, a hundred metres of rope and a couple of cinnamon malt
loaves. Had the same trouble finding Tet's single bolt as I'd had in
2005. However, instead of bottling it, I placed two new spitz, this time
within sensible reach for easy rigging. A hundred metres of rope got us
to Traverse Chamber, cursing and kicking the heavy bag all the way
through Scrotty.
Sandeep was the next victim, this time we set off with a hundred and
fifty metres of rope. We rigged down to Olympic Rift, stopping on the
way to chisel open an awkward squeeze. We left thirty metres of rope in
a tacklesac at the start of Olympic Rift and did some re-bolting on the
last two pitches. Also left three hangers and maillons, ten spits \&
cones, two karabiners, a chisel and two slings. At this stage the
squeeze and huge black space the other side at the end of Olympic rift
seemed like the best lead in Captain Kangaroo.
A bounce to Pico with James gave me the chance to do some more work on
the entrance to Captain Kangaroo. I put in a tensioned traverse which
removed the `traditional' rub-point at the start of the take off.
\attrib{Richard Venn}
\hypertarget{pushin-captain-kangaroo-in-2007}{%
\section{Pushin' Captain Kangaroo in
2007}\label{pushin-captain-kangaroo-in-2007}}
I had hoped that keen cavers would rush into Captain Kangaroo to push
the more shallow lead off Traverse Chamber, leaving me to go and smash
open Olympic Rift to fame and great glory in whatever gaping chasm lay
beyond the terminal squeeze. Unfortunately, Vom-Brown and the Deep
turned back near Bonus Chamber, with `visions of hell' muttered back at
the bivvi from the first sign of mild scrotty-ness.
I collared young Ben in the bivvi over a generous swig or two of
rum-spiked tea and we hatched a plan to crawl along a tight rift that
I'd looked down with Jarv in 2005, but been unable to survey due to lack
of tape. With survey pencils and instruments in tow, we slipped through
the cave to the pushing front and stripped off SRT kits to pass more
easily through the rift. This was somewhat tighter than I'd remembered
and shredded my PVC oversuit.
We pushed as far as we dared survey, breaking out right at end into a
large double chamber with several leads coming off. The most obvious of
these was a climb down into what looked like walking passage.
Returning a few days later with Izzy from Tolmin, with a bag of rope and
bolting kit, we pushed the passage another fifty metres or so. Some
gardening of large rocks was required to pass a short section of rift
but we were mostly in big passage, clambering down rather sharply over a
series of climbs.
Eventually we reached a point where a big passage closed up to about one
or two metres of very tight rift with a big (approx. two second) drop on
the other side. This was passable but looked more than a little
unpleasant without some serious work with a chisel.
We looked around the chamber a little more before discovering a tight
sharp crawl which dog-legged before coming out in beautiful white rock
at the top of a twenty metre pitch. Izzy belayed my full weight from
within the crawl while I put in the two bolts. This allowed us to
descend to the bottom of the pitch with a few metres of rope to spare.
This is possibly not the same pitch we were throwing rocks down through
the tight rift but obviously very close!
As we dropped the pitch there were windows on both sides looking like
they came from either other pitches or more rift-like development as
well as two leads at the bottom. These were a small Captain
Kangaroo-esque rift and ten or twenty metres more of the pitch. We left
\textasciitilde{}10 m of rope, but took the tacklesac out.
This was a very exciting new section of passage. We named the contents
of our push ``Kill 'em All'' after the first Metallica album. Upon
inspection of our survey data, it became clear that we were exceedingly
close to passage below Silos/Godzilla in \emph{M2} (less than thirty
metres at closest approach).
caving:/photo\_archive/slovenia/2008/survex\%20-\%202007\%20data\%20-\%20\emph{M2}\%20vrtnarija\%20closest\%20approach.gif
Unfortunately, a month on Migovec was starting to catch up with me and
though I wanted another trip in Gardeners' World to push Olympic rift, I
was completely exhausted with very sore knees. The leads we left in
Kangaroo this year will be far too tantalising to sideline in favour of
surface work in 2008. The prospect of a connection with the System seems
very likely and next year we're already planning a return to \emph{M2}
to resurvey (our current data comes from a 1970s survey carried out with
a home-built clinometer!) and to exhaust the deep leads.
\attrib{Richard Venn}
\hypertarget{first-time-in-m16}{%
\section{\texorpdfstring{First time in
\emph{M16}}{First time in M16}}\label{first-time-in-m16}}
It was my first year on Mig and I was very excited to go caving and join
the ICCC on top. Till now, we were only caving in \emph{Primadona} while
staying at Kal. One day Erik and I decided to go and rather than sleep
at Kal, sleep on top with the English. We stayed up for a couple of
days. Our first caving trip was in \emph{M16}. Tetley took us to the
bottom of Sajeta. From XXX onwards Tetley was unsure of the rope and
said that his brains are telling him not to go further, but his heart
wants to go. Tetley descended Sajeta first, followed by myself and then
Erik. When I arrived at the bottom, Tetley was acting really seriously
and said to me » What are you doing here? « I was bit confused why is he
asking me that and though we should not follow him down. He then asked
me the same question couple of times which made me even more confused.
On the end I finally said to him, that I am here to cave. He then
replied « If you are on holidays, why are you here and not chasing girls
on Croatia beach? « We start laughing. Same happened to Erik.
On the way out Tetley was rushing us to get out (we were leading the way
to memorise the cave), as he did not want to miss the call out. At that
time we did not know what a call out was and so we speeded up. On the
end I was really tired, but it was worth it.
\attrib{\izi}
\hypertarget{bolting-kill-em-all}{%
\section{Bolting ``Kill Em All''}\label{bolting-kill-em-all}}
During the ever long breakfast in the Bivy, Rick was asking who wants to
go with him to Captain Kangaroo. Nobody volunteered immediately. Tetley
said he can go, but only to Bonus chamber and then pointed to me and
said » Izi, you should go! « I agreed and soon we were packing all the
necessary equipment.
This was my first time in Vrtnarija and at the beginning was nothing to
serious, lovely pitches, couple of squeezes and soon we were on top of
Pico. Rick warned me to use the red rope, which is going right into the
Captain Kangaroo. Before we enter the Captain Rick said »'So, this is
it! Now fun begins! « We all smoked one and off we go. Tetley turned
back at Bonus chamber. Rick knew the way on so he was the leader. We
soon arrived to Mudslump with few very tight and tricky squeezes.
Once through, we free climbed couple of small pitches and arrived to a
small chamber. The way on was through a squeeze witch led to a top of
the pitch. It was very little space here, not even enough to do the
bolting properly. After couple of minutes of thinking and couple of
cigarettes we had a plan. One of us would go on the rope, while the
other one will attach the rope to his croll, get stuck in the squeeze
and hold the other one until bolting finished. Rick was brave enough to
trust me, so he did the bolting. During the bolting I smoked a lot and
we chatted about the music. We both knew the first Metallica album and
so we decide to name this pitch ``Kill Em All''. The way down was no
problem and while descending we spotted lots of windows. On the bottom
we cut the rope, leave the rest there and started surveying on way out.
Rick went up first and it took him a while to get the rope free. Finally
I went up and soon realized what took Rick so long. When we were bolting
we were not paying attention on how low the bolts are. Now the only way
to go off the rope was to undo your croll and step into the Y hang and
somehow throw yourself into the pitch head squeeze. Overall, a very
enjoyable caving journey with Rick. Once in the bivy, we entered the
data into the Surex and we realised we were very close to the bottom of
Silos (\emph{M2}).
\attrib{\izi}
\hypertarget{alex-pitcher-memorial-award-report}{%
\section{Alex Pitcher Memorial Award
Report}\label{alex-pitcher-memorial-award-report}}
\textasciitilde{}by Ben Banfield\textasciitilde{}
This summer I was a member of Imperial College Caving Club's expedition
to Tolminski Migovec in the Julian Alps in Slovenia. The club has been
running the expedition for over a decade now and was looking forward to
improving my caving skills and techniques as well as contributing to the
knowledge about the caves under the Migovec plateau. The Alex Pitcher
Memorial Fund kindly awarded me some money which helped me purchased my
own helmet and helmet mounted light. Having my own helmet mounted light
was essential to my participation in the expedition, as the club only
owns FX3's with batteries on a belt that are unsuitable for Migovec due
to the batteries needing a mains. Below is a report of most of my caving
activities during the expedition.
Wednesday 18th: (July)
After being suggested as a lead with a lot of potential and a good place
for budding cave explorers, Tom Brown and myself set off for Moth Cave,
in shorts, t-shirts, knee-pads and helmets for a look. Spent a few hours
shifting boulders and scree 15 m into the cave at the pushing front,
before leaving. Has a gusting draught at the pushing front. Will return
again with tools and proper clothing for a better look.
Thursday 19th:
Alvin joined Tom and myself today to continue pushing the lead in Moth
Cave. After a few rotations of digging we had a badger sized hole and
decided to stop for lunch. Afterwards more excavating around the badger
hole and scree slope occurred. Several animal bones were recovered from
the scree. An ominous slab of rock sat at the top of the scree making
progress tenuous. Further digging around the badger hole led to another
badger sized tunnel off to the left of the original. After moving 45-50
bags of scree we called it a day. Out 8pm with plans to ask about
explosives for further pushing.
Friday 20th:
A short look at Moth with t-shirts and shorts again with Martin to ask
about explosives and other digging options. Moved the ominous boulder at
the top of the scree to ease our minds about becoming crushed. The
bottom of the scree slope was dug to more resemble a trench for easier
access to the pushing front.
Sunday 22nd:
With the potential for leads and the fact that Moth lies on top of the
System Migovec / \emph{Primadona} connection area linking it into the
main survey was a priority. Martin taught several of us the essentials
of surveying while we surface surveyed to Moth entrance. Alvin and Thara
continued digging while Martin, Tom and myself surveyed to the pushing
front. 6 survey stations later we joined up with the digging team. Using
various combinations of left and right-handers we made a lot of progress
expanding the left hand badger hole and the trench. Breakthrough looking
likely tomorrow.
Tuesday 24th:
After a day's break I rejoined the Moth pushing team. Sandeep had joined
us and almost straight away he managed to squeeze through the tunnel
(now named Badger Highway) and into a small chamber. Alvin and myself
then made it through and throughout the afternoon work commenced on
enlarging Badger Highway from the other end, to make it accessible to
larger cavers. The chamber contained going leads. One, a long
crawl/squeeze that needed enlarging had most potential.
In 3rd week of expedition:
After proving to be such a promising lead before the expedition and
during the first two weeks, Moth cave needed the final push to see
whether it goes or dies. The day prior the petrol drill joined us to try
and enlarge Badger Highway to allow more people to reach the pushing
front. Unfortunately the drill was more of a hindrance than a help,
fuming the cave and not expanding the passage.
With no draught coming from the pushing front or even through Badger
Highway any more, hopes for a breakthrough didn't look promising.
Everyone else had plans for the next day, so armed with a survey kit and
some bright red nail varnish, I took on the mission of completing the
survey and exploring all available leads.
The squeeze through the tunnel looked more daunting than ever, but with
the knowledge a call-out team would be along within a few hours, I
pushed through. Minor digging allowed me further access along the main
lead. Another small chamber with no going leads was found. The nail
varnish came in useful to mark a permanent survey station. Taking all
digging tools and the survey notes out, I was back to camp well before
my call-out and in time for a nice rest in the sun.
After a jolly into System Migovec earlier in the week in a large group,
it was definitely time for me to go deep in a pair. What better way than
to help Rik push Captain Kangaroo! With leads that had been looked at
but not surveyed, interesting data collection in scrott was the order of
the day. Down, down, down through the early Gardeners' World pitches and
past some ``interesting'' rigging (greatly improved later in the
expedition). Squiggling through the rifts in Scrotty until we reached
Traverse Chamber. The first lead ended quickly in a pitch preceded by a
tight squeeze past a spiney. With no rope and no hammer to help make the
entrance more accessible let alone rigging, it was impossible for now.
After surveying back to a fork, we pushed on.
What followed was a crash course in free climbing as taught by Rik.
Plenty of top tips later, we made it past the fiddly squeeze where Rik
and Jarvist turned back at the last exploration. Beyond was an open
chamber. Rik climbed down and suddenly Captain Kangaroo became a whole
lot more exciting. A pitch, two going rifts and horizontal walking
passage. The climb was do-able, but really needed rigging, so we turned
and surveyed back to Traverse Chamber. Out an hour early, we hurried
back to camp for slop. As our survey data, excitement mounted. Our data
was heading towards System Migovec for the mythical connection. The
laptop was whipped out and data entered. Our survey came within 36 m of
the bottom \emph{M2} below Silos! A bit of rope and some further pushing
and we'll be there . Roll on the survey legs!
I found the expedition an extremely enjoyable and fulfilling experience.
I gained a lot of valuable caving experience. The exploration and
discovery of new cave passage was very rewarding. Having my waist freed
from wearing a battery belt, made caving in tight passageway and
squeezes immeasurably easier. I would like to thank the Ghar Parau
Foundation and the Alex Pitcher Memorial Fund for helping me on my first
caving expedition.
\attrib{Ben Banfield}
\hypertarget{votla-gora}{%
\chapter{2008 --- Votla Gora}\label{votla-gora}}
\hypertarget{introduction-1}{%
\section{Introduction}\label{introduction-1}}
The main focus of the Votla Gora 2008 Expedition to the Tolminski
Migovec plateau, Western Slovenia, was the connection of Sistem Migovec
(11493 m - 5\(^{th}\) longest in Slovenia) with \emph{Vrtnarija} (5229 m
- 11\(^{th}\) longest) to make the second longest cave in Slovenia
(16722+m). The separation between the caves was 28 m on the centre line
with many going leads. This was not achieved, but 1.2 km of cave passage
was found and explored.
The part of Sistem Migovec that we were attempting to connect to was the
bottom of \emph{M2}, the original deep cave on Migovec pushed back in
the early 1970s by the Slovenian JSPDT. Below the epic \emph{Tolminski
Silos} pitch (P120 m), the cave shut down into a series of small pitches
with extremely tight rift, which had to be exploded open for passage.
Exploration finished in the 1970s at yet another such rift.
2008 was also the first ICCC Slovenia expedition with a name - `Votla
Gora', meaning `Hollow Mountain'. This was an idea, shamelessly copied
from the recent OUCC Ario Caves expeditions, which instantly became a
useful tradition.
\hypertarget{exploration-diary}{%
\section{Exploration Diary}\label{exploration-diary}}
During the first two weeks of expedition, the UK team rebolted and
rerigged \emph{M2} via the original, more direct, entrance to the
original pushing point. Once there the UK team attacked the rift with
hammers and chisels, but the progress was slow. In the middle of the
expedition an experienced Slovenian caver with access to explosives came
on a trip at the same time as another team explored some of the near
passage in \emph{Vrtnarija}. This trip obliterated a large rock that was
blocking the rift, but also collapsed the wall of the rift. Net distance
gained - minus 50 cm! However, with another session of manual work the
choss was cleared. Perhaps worryingly, the extremely loud explosion was
not heard by the other party in \emph{Vrtnarija}, though one must add
that they were extensively `gardening' large rocks down the 52 m
\emph{Dangermouse} pitch!
Early exploration in \emph{Vrtnarija} was concerned with extending the
`bottom' end of \emph{Captain Kangaroo}. The first recce trip was over
12hrs in spite of no new rigging taking place, and concluded that
significant work was required just to improve the rigging and expand
some of the more arduous squeezes. In particular there were three tight
sections of rift in the `\emph{Mudslump}' extensions from 2007. As such,
the first few trips down to this area of the cave consisted of two
parties - an advanced one pushing the bottom end while the other
progressed slowly `improving' (in many cases instigating\ldots{}) the
SRT rigging. For one notable pitch, ``\emph{Kill'em All}'' which had
been rigged for no apparent reason without a traverse line, the advanced
party beckoned the clean-up group down to rig the pitch safely before
they would ascend!
This after a section of acrobatic rift below \emph{Kill'em All} (p22),
\emph{Dark Tranquillity} (p44) was discovered. The leads were very much
ongoing - another pitch, and many windows. There were also entering
avens. However, on inputing the survey data (we have a solar-powered
laptop running Survex in our mountain top Bivi), we discovered that we
had dropped well below the bottom of \emph{M2} and therefore our current
connection possibilities.
As such, attention shifted to higher leads to try and secure a
connection in 2008. From the ``Something Fishy'' chamber a series of
pitches were explored which included the impressive \emph{Dangermouse}
(p52). The leads at the bottom are rather dubious, but it makes an
extremely pleasant 72 m shaft series (Penfold, \emph{Dangermouse}, Green
Back, Giblet Breakfast) which has a very valuable commodity on it indeed
- a seemingly faithful stream enters halfway down \emph{Dangermouse} and
collects in a secluded 2 m diameter plunge pool.
The \emph{Captain Kangaroo} series is extraordinarily dry after
\emph{Bonus Chamber} (it is actual dust, not water vapour, that ruins
flash photos in this part of the cave), and the water on
\emph{Dangermouse} is likely to be an important part of future
underground camping plans for 2009.
From \emph{Kill'em All}, a number of avens are noted. One of these was
gained by a rather gung ho climb with uncertain belay to reach rift that
led away from the pitch. On a future trip, the rigging was improved to
an acceptable level and the rift was pushed to a squeeze. This soon gave
in to hammer attack, and led on to a initially upsetting pitch head.
There was clearly something big and echoing below, but the pitch head
was initially a fair squeeze for an anorexic cat! Disturbingly,
considering it was also our floor, the rock around the pitch head
shattered easily and with a few hours of work produced something
probably passable. The rotten nature of the rock was a concern when
placing the belays, and gained this section of cave the name
`\emph{Cheesecake}'. A short 10 meter pitch dropped onto an epic rock
bridge in a large chamber, with shafts disappearing down (perhaps
combining below) on either side with multiple second free falls. A
notable rift led off South (towards \emph{M2}) from the far side of the
chamber, but required a bolt traverse out to it. By survey, this rock
bridge is 21 meters directly above \emph{Dark Tranquillity} (p44), so it
is likely that at least one of the pitches connects.
Due to a shortage of gear, a trip was made down the `\emph{Olympic
Rift}' arm of \emph{Captain Kangaroo} to recover equipment and scavenge
rope from the (left rigged since 2007) pitches. The exploration end was
a tight rift leading to a very large space, most likely a reconnection
to the Space Odyssey / Concorde pitch in the main \emph{Vrtnarija} shaft
series. An unsuccessful attempt was made on the squeeze - it required
expanding. The pitches were derigged and the rope removed to the bone
dry \emph{Traverse Chamber} for immediate use in 2009.
In this region a surface dig started and quickly broke into considerable
passage with a large draft. This was pushed very actively for a number
of trips, before an unfortunate connection being found into Jelly
Chamber of \emph{Vrtnarija}. As the explorers at the time commented
``Well, at least its 800 m deep now!''. This Vilinska Jama entrance
demonstrates the worth of spending time and effort on surface
excavations, as well as pointing to the plausibility of checking all the
small side passages in established systems.
Above the \emph{Vrtnarija}/\emph{Vilinska} valley is a limestone
pavement that extends from beyond the entrance to \emph{M2}. Here a
surface cave, \emph{E1}, was discovered in 2007 with a \textasciitilde20
m entrance pitch. During 2008 some stones were excavated to an extremely
tight (sub human) sized pitch head blowing strongly. This will require
chemical persuasion to pass, but due to the (now surface surveyed)
location, is a cave of some interest for 2009. Strangely for a surface
cave it has some well defined cave formation (large meander), which
appears to have been saved from infill by an overhanging entrance and
position next to the edge of the plateau.