# 1623:97

97 | Schneewindschacht | 4/S/W +
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Altitude: 1639m, depth 265m.
Position: E 35840.2 N (52)83041.3 (west edge of doline)
Marking: "97" in red paint on doline wall

Location: Out on the plateau. Head across for the large erratic boulders near 76 (aka 106), then away from the col past the open shaft of 105, turning left at a gap in the scrub which leads down a bare karren corridor to some dolines. Step across one and cast about for a large one with 97 in red paint.

A moderately large doline, usually without snow, has a small triangular opening at the SW end. This is the head of a 10m freeclimbable chimney, followed by a 5m climb into a small chamber. Two ways on from the chamber unite in a tiny crawl under a drip. A thrutch through (about the size of Baptistry in Car Pot) is The Nun's Cunt, which ends abruptly at The Vestry, where SRT gear can be put back on while perched above the pitch which follows. Drops of 15m, 20m and 20m, The Bottomless Abbess, lead to a traverse over a blind pitch of about 10m.

The Bottomless Abbess continues with pitches of 15m, 30m, 15m and 15m to a short horizontal section. This breaks out into the side of another shaft where 15m and 10m pitches lead to a more complex area. A short pitch of 6m leads to the Priest's Hole and a gently slanting ramp into a dry, dusty, abandoned phreatic passage. This is interrupted by a large hole in the floor, which would require bolts to cross.

Down the hole, the 25m pitch starts unpromisingly, but soon bells out into a magnificent trench passage. Traversing over a gully leads to a series of short climbs and a fine last pitch The Dissolution. Here the water sinks into an impenetrable crack.

The entrance draughts strongly, but there is no air movement at the end, the most likely way on being the traverse to reach the continuation of the phreatic level at -190m. Unfortunately, the trip to this point is quite severe, since the crawl would render rescue impractical and the Bottomless Abbess rapidly becomes very wet after rain.

Exploration: CUCC 1977 - Team Enthusiast

Survey: grade 1 extended section, JTG, 1977.
Surface survey grade 3, 1984, AERW+MM from laser 0/4 at Wolfhöhle

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