I wanted to go on an exploration trip in the Hirlatz since my first visit to the Dachstein in 2002 and finally this year everything dropped into place. On Friday .. I met Andy Kuszyk at Stansted airport and we flew off to Salzburg to be picked by by one of the Austrian cavers, Peter Hubner and delivered to Obotraun. Unfortunately the first thing Peter told us when we arrived was that he wouldn’t be joining us as planned due to being ill. This was a massive blow as we were reliant on him for route finding and showing us leads. So I then spent the next hour in the car making route and lead notes for the trip by the light of my tikka!  

We finally arrived in Obautraun at the caving hut at about 11pm where we met Phil Rowsell and Rich Hudson. They had driven out two days earlier and already carried two bags of gear into the cave that day, depositing them about ¾ of the way to the first camp. We spent the rest of the evening packing our large tackle sacks before crashing out to bed.

In the morning one of the other Austrian cavers appeared – Peter Seethaler. Originally Pete was going to do some caving with one of his friends in the Hirlatz and help us with some of the early route finding. However his friend had cancelled and we now had a guide for the whole way!!. The five of us set off early, and after a short climb through the snow, reached the cave entrance at about 11am. After changing in the entrance we set off on the slow trudge underground with our heavy bags (approx 15kg each). 

If you’ve never heard of the Hirlatz then let me fill you in - It is a 96km monster cave at the bottom of the Dachstein mountain range. With a single entrance in the side of a cliff, trips to the far reaches are a massive undertaking involving several camps. The Hirlatz is an epic place both in terms of scale and passage size and for the six and a half hour trip to our first camp we only took our bags off our back twice!! To add to the entertainment the fixed aids are also of the epic proportion – massive aluminium ladders, large iron spikes and staples and long traverses dominate the first day of caving.  

We were heading to the West of the Hirlatz. The end of the cave is currently a chamber called Wadiland, through the sump at the end of Sahara. Wadiland has an open end in the form of a climb and we hoped to bypass the Sahara sump ‘oasis’ or at least find some passage in the process.  

At about 6.30 we made it to camp at Grunkogel and after a bite to eat Phil, Pete and I headed back for to HDS where the previous day’s carry had dropped kit off. With light bags we shot back in about 45mins and were back at Grunkogel by 10.30pm for a hot drink before we got to bed.  We slept in on Sunday till about 9.30 (this set the tone for the trip) and after a breakfast of ready brek we packed up camp and moved off towards Sahara. We were to be the first group to camp in Sahara so this meant we carried roll mats in addition to the rest of our gear. The carry took a bit less than two hours so by lunch time camp was set up. As Phil and I had done the extra carry on the previous day Rich and Andy volunteered to go back and Pete accompanied them. This meant Phi; and I could start bolting up the first Aven. This was the one nearest the sump and looked really promising. This was my first time being involved with aid climbing so I got a quick lesson on belaying before Phil started up.

As Sahara is a large and spacious chamber He used the petrol drill we’d brought – this beast is an excellent bit of kit – fairly heavy but really efficient on petrol – which we were also cooking with. After a good start we came off the wall and swapped with Andy and Rich when they were back with the rest of the gear. Then after dinner I went off with Pete to have a look at some of the other leads in the area – down the only real side passage off Sahara.

Andy and Rich set us up for a good morning on the aven the next day and as the aven narrowed above us we took up the electric drill (no fumes). This left the petrol drill for the other large aven in Sahara and Rich and Pete started with enthusiasm on this and Pete’s ‘caterpillar method of climbing.  Phil and I gained a small chamber at the top of the aven with a few possible ways on. With very little gear left we abseiled down and headed back to camp for Rich and Andy to do their shift. Then Phil and I went off with Pete to look at the leads he’d shown me the previous day.

Back at camp for dinner we learnt that the aven had closed down and there were no other options up there. This meant a bit of planning had to be done and we agreed that Pete, Andy and I would go to ‘under table Cathedral’ – a large chamber two hours away with some open climbs at the end. Bright and early (well not very bright really or particularly early) we set off with Pete on what would prove to be a long muddy day. The crawl long crawl was pretty easy but our SRT kits got totally covered in mud. Combine this with short exposed pitches rigged ‘Austrian style’ and the character of the day was set!

We made reasonable progress at the end with lots of scrambling and rigging of lines but left the cave unfinished in the form of another section of proper aid climbing for which we didn’t have enough rope. Back at camp the others had had a productive but tiring day and were tucked up in their sleeping bags by the time we got back. Andy and I crashed out and spent the next day scraping mud off all our kit and tackle bags, whilst the others hit the Aven again. Then that afternoon I got my first lesson in aid climbing with the petrol drill on one of the short climbs I’d seen with Pete on a previous day. This was great fun and a good learning experience but unfortunately after a short free climb at the top the cave closed down. 

On our last day Andy and I volunteered to pack up whilst Phil and Rich got in one last session on the Aven and amazingly they gained a small horizontal passage. They actually decided to leave this for the Austrians at a matter of good manners and etiquette and when they came down they thought they’d climbed about 100m and were only half way!! 

We had an uneventful trip out with one night at HDS and lots of photos on the way.