Evenin all....
Does anybody know when the dates for Dachstein will be decided... or indeed if they have! If not... when does the expedition generally take place?

Heya

The best thing to do is to go to Cardiff Uni Caving Club website (http://muddydragons.co.uk/board/index.php?s=9c8c59a5d6aae5d4e276f795955eace4) and look at thier forum, although dates havent been put up on there yet, they are the best people to ask. I know they had a meeting last week to sort some things, but nothing more than this.

Max

Hi Ben.
Dates for Dachstein not certain yet as I'm still not back in the UK.  Generally we seem to go early or mid-July for a month, so you should be able to plan accordingly.  Dates are never rigid as they're essentially decided around the commitments of the key personnel.
Send me a personal mail and I'll communicate with you from there if you need any advice.

Cheers,
Joel Corrigan (I organise the Dachstein Extravaganza).

The Dachstein Expedition 2007: July 7th until August 5th.
Venue: Dachstein Massif, Austria.
Objectives: continue exploration of "Pigpen", a 700m deep pothole with a continuing pitch series.
Alternative objectives: projects within the Hirlatz Hole (the 1100m deep, 95km master cave that we're trying to connect to); exploration of "Trouserfiller", a cave that is located 200m down an 800m high cliff face (not for the faint-hearted); continuing exploration of several 200-300m deep caves; aid-climbing up to caves that are in the cliffs above the glacier; prospecting for new caves etc... 
Potential: the massif has some of the deepest caves in the world but we just haven't found them yet!  For those of you wanting to find and explore deep cave systems then it really is the place to be.
Personnel: anyone is welcome, as we're very friendly!  Generally we have up to 40 people from all over the UK and Europe of mixed ability and experience.  These include uni clubs (Cardiff, Reading, Southampton, Nottingham, Aberystwyth), the BEC, CDG, TSG, etc....  Our regulars vary from cave gods to beer monsters (we live next to a bar in the mountains!) and we run regular training events before we depart. 
Cost: £60 per person plus a weekly charge for fresh food and accommodation (£1.50 per night).  The fee covers cost of exped equipment, food, etc...  It really is a cheap way to spend your time.

If you're interested then please check out the newly-revamped website at www.dachsteincaving.org.uk or contact me on joel@skytek.uk.com.  Don't be put off if you've never been on a caving expedition before as it's part of our objective to recruit and train the cavers of the future.....

The Dachstein Expedition crew are running an expedition skills workshop this weekend in the Mendips, and I see no reason why others shouldn't come along if they're bored.  The exact programme is a closely-guarded secret (i.e, we're still working it out) but it will include the following: surveying, prospecting skills (i.e, use of GPS etc), expedition rigging (bolting, pegging, etc...), expedition rescues, SRT (basic, advanced, sel-help etc...), re-training in SRT for those that have never done it properly (!), emergency situations, brew kits & emergency dumps (er, not that sort of dump), alpine kit, etc... 

We've been running these for a few years now and they're generally pretty useful for everyone involved.  Most of the people involved are a good laugh so you'll certainly be made to feel welcome.  If you think you want to get involved then send me a message or whatever so that I get a rough idea.  Probably about 25 people from the Dachstein lot are definitely gonna be there.

Joel