Oxford University Cave Club"Ario 2000" Expedition Final ReportPicos de Europa, Spain3rd July - 22nd August 2000 |
Expedition 2000
Final Report contents
|
| Date | Who | What | Comments |
| 3.7.00 | PC, LM, EL, DG, CR | Leave Oxford | The Landrover (kindly donated by the Gordon Foundation) copes admirably with our trailer. |
| 5.7.00 | PC, LM, EL, DG, CR | Arrive at Los Lagos | The main team starts carrying equipment up to Ario camp |
| 5.7.00 | LB, RG | 2/7 | Rigged to Flying Rebelles. |
|
7.7.00 |
RD, EL |
2/7 |
Rigged to Serendipity. |
| 8.7.00 | PC, CR | 2/7 | SRT training trip. |
| 8.7.00 | LM, DG | 2/7 | Rigged to Blind Pot Series. Rock drops on Dick. |
| 8.7.00 | LB, RG | 2/7 | Rigged to Tumbling Dice 1. |
| 9.7.00 | RD, EL | 2/7 | Rigged to Streamway pitches. Deviation snaps on Rich. |
|
9.7.00 |
LB, RG |
GPS logging |
Logged 15/5, 3/5, 1/5, Canalizos, C3/C4 and Martini pool. Water container found smashed. |
| 11.7.00 | RG, GL | 2/7 | Who knows what these two were up to? |
| 11.7.00 | DG, LB, LM | GPS logging | Area 9. |
| 12.7.00 | PC, LM, RD, CR | 2/7 | Portering to Tumbling Dice. Pip got sick. |
| 12.7.00 | DG, EL | 2/7 | Found and rigged a shaft parallel to Tumbling Dice. |
| 13.7.00 | GL | 2/7 | Rigging |
| 13.7.00 | LB | 2/7 | Portering / Rigged Streamway climbs. |
| 13.7.00 |
DG, EL, RG, RD, CR, LM, WS |
Maria Rosa | All six people lose same 4 hours of memory after drinking Asturian Sidra. Conclude that aliens abducted them. Erin distinctly remembers being taken round the back |
|
14.7.00 |
RD, WS |
2/7 |
Wlodek discovered he was getting fat. |
| 15.7.00 | CR, EL | 2/7 | Portering to Blind Pot series. |
| 15.7.00 | DG, LB | 2/7 | Attempt to rig to Big Ledge. See "A Slight Sketch". |
| 16.7.00 | EL, RD | 2/7 | Re-rigged Tumbling Dice. Again. |
| 17.7.00 | CR, JW | Pozu Jenga | Digging. Chris learnt to bolt. |
| 18.7.00 | CR, JW | 2/7 | Portering to Blind Pots. Jo left a present. |
| 18.7.00 | RG, RD | 2/7 camp 1 | Rigged "Dos mas" Traverse and all the way to Primula Point camp. Discovered distinct lack of cooking pots and had to eat cold custard. See "A Caving Convalescence". |
|
19.7.00 |
PC, CR |
Shopping |
Drove to Oviedo to buy carbide. Far, far scarier than caving... |
| 19.7.00 | DG, EL, LM, RG | 2/7 camp 2 | Established Echo Beach camp. Pushed "A Savage Journey". Discovered the huge chamber "Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride", "Canals on Mars" streamway and another pitch. |
| 20.7.00 | LB, GL | 2/7 camp 3 | Rigged to Choke Egbert. Dug. Got scared. Dug some more. Gave up - too dangerous. Derigged. |
|
22.7.00 |
RD, JW |
2/7 camp 4 |
Explored "Tapeworm" passage to the north of "Take the Ride". Surveyed 170m. |
| 25.7.00 | PC, RG, LB | 27/9 | Rigged to Chocolate Staircase. Lev started bolting a traverse. |
| 26.7.00 | GL, RG | F80 | Rigged to snow plug. |
| 26.7.00 | DG, LB, PC, CR | 27/9 | Lev finished scary traverse. Rift too tight to go on. |
| 28.7.00 | PC, CR | 2/7 | Took out shock-loaded rope from Tumbling Dice 1. |
| 28.7.00 | HG, GL | F80 | Rigged and de-rigged a lot. |
| 28.7.00 | RD, EL | 2/7 camp 5 | Took rope from London Underground and started rigging a tension traverse in Canals on Mars. Surveyed 450m in Tapeworm with a broken pencil. |
|
29.7.00 |
LM, HG |
27/9 |
De-rigged. |
| 30.7.00 | GL | F80 | Rigged to bottom of second pitch. |
| 30.7.00 | HG, LM | 2/7 camp 6 | Tried to find a sump bypass. See "Pieces of 22". |
| 31.7.00 | CR, PC | 10/9 | Rigged to second pitch. Got scared. |
| 1.8.00 | GL | F80 | No way on at bottom of second pitch. Window leads to drafting rift. |
| 2.8.00 | GL | F80 |
Found 6m climb. |
| 3.8.00 | PC, CR, IW-J | 10/9 | Rigged to big pitch. |
| 4.8.00 | GL, IW-J | F80 | No way on. One small lead left. |
| 4.8.00 | RD, CR | 10/9 | Rigged a handline. |
| 4.8.00 | PC, EL | 2/7 camp 7 | Discovered Misery Loves Company and Aven Country Ledge. Surveyed 375m in Canals on Mars. |
|
7.8.00 |
HG, IW-J |
2/7 camp 8 |
Surveyed 365m in Canals on Mars, swimming in places. Found Choke Zebedee. De-rigged camp to Guzamo Grovel. |
| 7.8.00 | CR, RD | 10/9 | Dropped through Pipsqueak. Found 3 ways on. |
| 7.8.00 | ML | GPS logging | Top camp area |
| 9.8.00 | ML | GPS logging | Area 4. |
| 10.8.00 | CR, RD | 10/9 | Stopped at tight, draughty squeeze. De-rigged. |
| 11.8.00 | CR, RD | 2/7 | Portering from Space Trout. |
| 11.8.00 | EL | 2/7 | Portering from Tumbling Dice. |
| 12.8.00 | EL, RD, PC | 2/7 | De-rigging camp at No Space Sardines with only 2 pit sets... De-rigged to (almost) top of Space Trout. |
|
14.8.00 |
HG, CR |
2/7 |
20 tackle bags, 30hours... De-rigged to Tumbling Dice. See "Nervous Novice" |
| 15.8.00 | EL, RD, PC, IW-J | 2/7 | Paella'd to Flying Rebelles. Had a few problems with worn-out SRT kits. |
| 16.8.00 | HG, EL, RD, ML | 2/7 | De-rigged to surface, leaving only 300m of rope in the cave. |
| 18.8.00 | Everyone | Carrying | Impressive group effort with many rucksacks weighing over 40kg. Lots of food at Maria Rosa. |
| 19.8.00 | Everyone | Packing | Most people head home. Erin, Rich and Hils go prospecting in the Central Massif. |