2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
|
|
|
|
|
<html lang="en">
|
|
|
|
|
<head>
|
|
|
|
|
<title>1623/41 Stellerweghöhle Guidebook</title>
|
2004-04-21 10:35:34 +01:00
|
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../css/main2.css" />
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
</head>
|
|
|
|
|
<body>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2><span lang="de-at">Stellerweghöhlensystem:</span> the way to the
|
|
|
|
|
bottom</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="jncha">Junction Chamber to the Confluence</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Junction Chamber is a nexus of routes where ways in from
|
|
|
|
|
<a href="115.htm"><span lang="de">Schnellzughöhle</span></a>
|
|
|
|
|
to the SW and
|
|
|
|
|
<a href="41.htm"><span lang="de-at">Stellerweghöhle</span></a> to the NW
|
|
|
|
|
meet. The <span lang="de-at">Stellerweg</span> water joins another inlet from
|
|
|
|
|
the NE, to flow into an impassably narrow canyon below the point of entry
|
|
|
|
|
from 115. Directly opposite this point is a very greasy 10m climb up
|
|
|
|
|
(handline almost essential after any traffic has dampened the mud). This
|
|
|
|
|
gives access to a NE-trending large passage which is the continuation of that
|
|
|
|
|
on the other side of the chamber. The main way on
|
|
|
|
|
[<a name="C1981-41-18" href="qmlist.htm#C1981-41-18">C1981-41-18</a>] lies up
|
|
|
|
|
boulders off to the left soon after the greasy climb; this is the continuing
|
|
|
|
|
Bypass to reach the Confluence.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="dartford">Dartford Tunnel</a> (1981/82)</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Above the boulder climb, a very large passage leads on, turning left and
|
|
|
|
|
heading Northwest. Down the passage, <b>Dartford Tunnel</b>, is a steep
|
|
|
|
|
descent in a huge (10m diameter) boulder strewn palæotrunk with much
|
|
|
|
|
layered mud and surge marks. After a hundred metres, it curves to the west,
|
|
|
|
|
the main passage section changes gradually as a choked trench develops in the
|
|
|
|
|
floor, and this is bridged by a large boulder, where care is required. By
|
|
|
|
|
this point, the direction is almost Southwest, just before a marked change of
|
|
|
|
|
character. The trench turns sharp left (SE) and is lost
|
|
|
|
|
[<a name="C1982-41-03" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-41-03">C1982-41-03</a>], while
|
|
|
|
|
the main passage turns abruptly right and develops into a high rift with a
|
|
|
|
|
flat mud floor.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>The rift continues Northwest, almost exactly parallel to the Big Rift
|
|
|
|
|
pitches in <span lang="de-at">Stellerweg,</span> though a long way below.
|
|
|
|
|
After about 50m, the roof suddenly lowers, and just beyond, a junction is
|
|
|
|
|
reached. Here the passage section changes to vadose canyon, still large.
|
|
|
|
|
Right is unproductive, but left carries on Southwest in a mud floored rift to
|
|
|
|
|
reach a 4m climb down.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>The main way continues past a small arch on the left, which leads to a
|
|
|
|
|
small chamber with a roof inlet
|
|
|
|
|
[<a name="C1982-41-08" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-41-08">C1982-41-08</a>].
|
|
|
|
|
A narrow trench
|
|
|
|
|
[<a name="C1982-41-07" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-41-07">C1982-41-07</a>] cuts
|
|
|
|
|
the floor, with the sound of a stream below. The main passage now descends
|
|
|
|
|
steeply, passing a small roof inlet
|
|
|
|
|
[<a name="C1982-41-09" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-41-09">C1982-41-09</a>] which
|
|
|
|
|
has washed the mud floor clean. The water flows down the passage for a few
|
|
|
|
|
metres until it has washed out the top of a narrow vadose trench with the
|
|
|
|
|
sound of a stream perhaps 10m below
|
|
|
|
|
[<a name="C1982-41-10" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-41-10">C1982-41-10</a>].
|
|
|
|
|
Carrying on down the dry passage, still Southwest, leads to the inscription
|
|
|
|
|
"CUCC/UBSS 1981" in mud on a boulder - the limit of exploration that year.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>On the left, the floor trench is joined by another canyon emerging from
|
|
|
|
|
under the far wall, and the mud floor of the tube assumes a steeper V-shaped
|
|
|
|
|
profile. This is the start of a traverse on dusty loose mud ledges on the
|
|
|
|
|
right (line useful). The passage widens and becomes easier to traverse,
|
|
|
|
|
parallel to the top of the vadose trench, with the sound of the stream
|
|
|
|
|
below [<a href="qmlist.htm#C1982-41-10">C1982-41-10</a>]. The trench is
|
|
|
|
|
crossed to a flat muddy ledge on the left, and then re-crossed as it
|
|
|
|
|
disappears under the left wall after a tight meander.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><a name="camp">Ahead is</a> a step up, best climbed on the right, but
|
|
|
|
|
below this, a low passage slopes down to the top of a deep trench. Above, the
|
|
|
|
|
climb soon leads to a junction with a sandy passage branching left to
|
|
|
|
|
<b>Camp Chamber</b> (care). This continues
|
|
|
|
|
[<a name="C1982-41-11" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-41-11">C1982-41-11</a>] as a
|
|
|
|
|
traverse above a stream (thought to be Purgatory).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><center><a href="l/camp.htm"><img alt="1982 camp - 9k jpeg" width=300
|
|
|
|
|
height=200 src="t/camp.jpg"></a><br><b>Andy Dolby in the camp,
|
|
|
|
|
1982</b></center>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>Beyond this turn off, the main way turns Northwest and descends steeply to
|
|
|
|
|
meet a deep stream canyon coming in from the right at the end of a traverse
|
|
|
|
|
across a steep mud slope. The ledge on the near side of the canyon becomes
|
|
|
|
|
too narrow to the left, so it is crossed (awkward) to reach a terrace sloping
|
|
|
|
|
steeply left. Down this soon reaches a corner where an easy 4m climb down
|
|
|
|
|
drops into the Confluence.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="confluence">The Confluence To The Sump</a> (1981/82)</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>The climb down from the Bypass lands at the junction, <b>The
|
|
|
|
|
Confluence</b>, of the Purgatory water (explored in 1981) and an
|
|
|
|
|
<a href="offdp.htm#C1981-41-07">inlet</a>. Downstream in a passage only
|
|
|
|
|
slightly bigger than the Purgatory, a wet 4m climb precedes a 7m pitch,
|
|
|
|
|
followed shortly by the entry of a small
|
|
|
|
|
<a href="offdp.htm#C1982-41-16">cascade</a> from the left (right, on
|
|
|
|
|
survey?). Sixty metres downstream is a frothy round sump pool. This is
|
|
|
|
|
bypassed up a steep slope sharp left, where a 3m high muddy passage leads off
|
|
|
|
|
to a 7m pitch back down to the streamway. The streamway may be followed back
|
|
|
|
|
up to the downstream side of the sump, showing it to be less than 10m long.
|
|
|
|
|
Downstream, the canyon is now 1.5-2m wide and too high to see the roof. After
|
|
|
|
|
fifteen metres is a 3m climb, and a hundred metres further on, increasingly
|
|
|
|
|
interspersed with sporting cascades, <b>The Twelve foot climb</b> (p5, aka
|
|
|
|
|
"Another Pitch") is reached. Another twenty metres on is a wet 9m
|
|
|
|
|
pitch ("And Another Pitch") and a similar distance leads to the 7m
|
|
|
|
|
<b>Marlow Climb</b> (aka "Yet Another Pitch").
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>The rush to depth now eases, and a hundred metres on, the passage lowers
|
|
|
|
|
to a sharp crawl and a couple of smooth steep climbs in a hading rift. Two
|
|
|
|
|
hundred metres from the last pitch, the verticality returns. The water can be
|
|
|
|
|
largely avoided on these pitches of 9m <b>Lake</b>, 22m <b>Letch</b>, (with
|
|
|
|
|
rebelay ledge halfway and followed by <b>Commando Climb</b> 4m). A sharp left
|
|
|
|
|
turn marks the start of forty metres of canal, ending at the 17m <b>Grope
|
|
|
|
|
pitch</b>. After another fifty metres, the 13m <b>Subtle Approach</b> (with
|
|
|
|
|
awkward takeoff), marked the 1981 limit of exploration via Pete's Purgatory
|
|
|
|
|
[<a name="C1981-41-08" href="qmlist.htm#C1981-41-08">C1981-41-08</a>].
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>A short length of streamway now leads to the 22m <b>The Slit</b>, and a
|
|
|
|
|
similar distance to the 7m <b>Coming Soon</b> which are both vertical. Sixty
|
|
|
|
|
metres of high rift develops into a canal. Soon, the water deepens and the
|
|
|
|
|
roof lowers until a low swimming duck. Beyond the 10cm airspace, the canal
|
|
|
|
|
continues sandy floored, then turns to break out at an awe-inspiring abyss
|
|
|
|
|
with the water thundering into the depths.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>The 90m shaft of <b>Orgasm Chasm</b> is passed by traversing out to the
|
|
|
|
|
left in a series of pitches which avoid the water only in fairly dry
|
|
|
|
|
conditions (11m to a ledge, 10m to a small alcove, 6m). A 42m free hang drops
|
|
|
|
|
past well displayed beddings to a bridge across the shaft where the route
|
|
|
|
|
divides, with the 22m pitch following the dry way down. This lands in a
|
|
|
|
|
boulder strewn chamber where the main water is again met. A run under this
|
|
|
|
|
leads to a small phreatic tube and a short climb down to the start of the
|
|
|
|
|
final pitch (12, 13, 14m) which corkscrews past ledges to a more vertical
|
|
|
|
|
section with a damp rebelay to land in a spray lashed chamber. A short wet
|
|
|
|
|
climb down leads to the final sump
|
|
|
|
|
[<a name="C1982-41-17" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-41-17">C1982-41-17</a>] in a
|
|
|
|
|
rift. There is a small tube above with no draught and blocked with boulders
|
|
|
|
|
[<a name="C1982-41-18" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-41-18">C1982-41-18</a>].
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p><center><a href="l/sump.htm"><img alt="final sump - 17k jpeg" width=400
|
|
|
|
|
height=292 src="t/sump.jpg"></a><br><b>Pete Lancaster conducting the usual
|
|
|
|
|
ceremony at the final sump in 1982.</b></center>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>This point was put at -898m by surveys at the time, but current figures
|
|
|
|
|
(late 1999, after much new survey in the upper levels) put the sump higher
|
|
|
|
|
(at 738m altitude) and the 41 entrance lower, giving a figure of -885m below
|
|
|
|
|
41, and -974m below the highest (144) entrance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>The water was originally not thought to resurge in the nearby
|
|
|
|
|
<span lang="de-at">Altausseer See,</span> as the Austrians reckoned that
|
|
|
|
|
this was in a different block of limestone. However, the coincidence in
|
|
|
|
|
altitude with both the lake (at 712m) and a static sump in
|
|
|
|
|
<a href="../../noinfo/aaussee/1.htm"><span lang="de-at">Liägerhöhle</span></a>
|
|
|
|
|
does suggest some control over the local water table. Following the discovery
|
|
|
|
|
of <a href="../../aaussee/0.htm">underwater risings</a> in
|
|
|
|
|
<span lang="de-at">Altausseer See</span> in 1990, it now seems likely that
|
|
|
|
|
these are the resurgence for this water. Unfortunately, permission for dye
|
|
|
|
|
tests is quite hard to obtain, and the total flow from
|
|
|
|
|
<span lang="de-at">Altausseer See,</span> much larger than some other
|
|
|
|
|
possible resurgences, capped for water supply, would mean using a series of
|
|
|
|
|
staged tests with increasing amounts of dye, so the connection is likely to
|
|
|
|
|
remain unproven.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<hr>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!-- LINKS -->
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt=">" src="../../../icons/lists/0.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<a href="survey.htm">The surveys</a><br>
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt=">" src="../../../icons/lists/0.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<a href="../41.htm">Back to overview</a><br>
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt=">" src="../../../icons/lists/0.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<a href="../index.htm#41"><span lang="de-at">Schwarzmooskogel</span>
|
|
|
|
|
ridge area</a><br>
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt=">" src="../../../icons/lists/0.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<a href="../../indxal.htm">Full Index</a><br>
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt=">" src="../../../icons/lists/0.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<a href="../../areas.htm">Other Areas</a><br>
|
2001-08-16 13:43:09 +01:00
|
|
|
<img alt=">" src="../../../icons/lists/0.png">
|
2001-08-15 19:29:27 +01:00
|
|
|
<a href="../../index.htm">Back to Expedition Intro page</a>
|
|
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
|
|
|
</html>
|
