UBSS members have frequently been part of expeditions to the Austrian Alps since the late 70’s, even briefly coordinating an expedition of our own. Despite this, UBSS members have predominantly joined other British led expeditions. While some UBSS members have attended the British led Dachstein expedition, the majority of UBSS activity in Austria has been with the Cambridge University Caving Club’s annual expedition to the Loser Mountain in Styria.

UBSS involvement with the CUCC expedition was sparked in the late seventies when a graduate student and CUCC member from Cambridge came to study for their PhD at Bristol. This contact led to UBSS members joining the expedition in the early eighties, the fruit of which was two papers on the karst of Austria for the UBSS proceedings in 1980 and 1981 An Introduction to Austrian Karst by Steve Perry A description of some caves in the Totes Gebirge, Austria by Julian Griffiths. A third paper, this time dedicated to a specific cave, the Stellerweghöle System, was published in the Proceedings in 1982.

However, throughout the mid-eighties the link between UBSS and CUCC weakened to the point that from 1989 through to 1992 UBSS conducted their own expedition to the Loser Plateau. The outcome of this was the discovery of Organhöle the subject of papers in 1992 and in 1993.

Relations with the CUCC later improved again, so much so that several UBSS members have since led the expedition,most recently in 2018. UBSS members continue to attend and play an active role in the CUCC expedition to this day as evidenced by the CUCC website. The CUCC expedition has now grown to the point where members from clubs across the UK (predominantly university clubs) frequently attend.

• https://expo.survex.com/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loser_(mountain)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest_caves (SMK listed under Steinbrucken Cave)
• https://www.dachsteincavingexpeditions.com/