From 11d7f170de2412489db3a55a6f388274a3071795 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: dave
Andy Connolly, (Corpus Christi 1977-80)
-Expedition 1979 (worked in 1623/99 and
+Expedition 1979 (worked in 1623/99 and
helped in Eislufthöhle (1623/76),
1980 (Team Sunbeam - explorers of
Sonnenstrahlhöhle 1623/113)
There are now far too many images to fit on a single gallery page, so lots -have been moved in a gallery reorganisation.
+have been moved in a gallery reorganisation. This is a selection of photos of +our cave entrances; there are many more linked from individual cave description +pages. -Most of these thumbnails have full sized images linked, and these have -links back to appropriate pages of the area and cave descriptions. We've -tried to gather together logical groups of pictures for visual tours of -CUCC's caving area.
+Most of these thumbnails have full sized images linked, and these have links +back to appropriate pages of the area and cave descriptions. We've tried to +gather together logical groups of pictures for visual tours of CUCC's caving +area.
These documents were written to explain how we ran the Expo accounts in the years 1997-1999. I hope they will help smooth the hand-over to future treasurers; they may be particularly useful if there are no ex-treasurers in Cambridge.
diff --git a/noinfo/CAVETAB2.CSV b/noinfo/CAVETAB2.CSV index b562c4856..6c0a5acc0 100644 --- a/noinfo/CAVETAB2.CSV +++ b/noinfo/CAVETAB2.CSV @@ -119,15 +119,15 @@ 88,"3/S/T x",,"40i",,"noinfo/smkridge/88.htm",,,"Lärchenschacht",,,"2a","","Few details available, since we were for many years unable to obtain a survey. A figure of over 6 km long in 1987 was quoted, but this would appear to include the Eishöhle. Contact was finally made with the French group in 1997 and Denis Motte has sent us a plan on 12 A3 sheets, dated April 1995, which gives the length as 1885m. The following description is made up entirely by looking at the survey, and should not be taken as reliable. It is hoped that we will do better after visiting the cave with a view to finding its connections with Stellerweghöhle (1623/41) and 1623/144.
Open shaft descends 5m to first rigging bolt, then short pitch to snow plug. The way out is to the NE, where the survey shows a couple of (inaccessible ?) question marks and a traverse over a pit. Narrow rift continues past another unexplored small passage to the right, and in 20m opens out into a sizeable chamber. The boulder floor drops away to the north (left) and ahead. Up right is a bouldery antechamber with the base of a ramp up SE. A short passage here chokes.
20m across the boulder slope, it is possible to descend the slope left into the main part of Oberpfälzer Halle, 15m wide and 30m long, now heading west, still descending over boulders. To the right is a 15m rift passage with an inlet. Ahead, the chamber narrows, but large bouldery passage continues with two or three big boulders (over 5m). To SW is a junction marking the start of Jsartal. Up a steep ramp to the right (NW) is unexplored, whilst left, south, goes directly below the entrance in a passage with a slot in the floor. After 25m is a widening and junction. Right curves round to end below an aven. Left goes quickly to another junction. Right soon chokes in boulders, whilst left ends quickly in an undescended rift pitch.
Back at the junction at the start of Jsartal, the main way SW soon traverses a large hole in the floor, then continues as a small canyon until 50m from the start is a junction in small passage. Right pops out immediately into the side of a ramp rising right (north) to a choke. Down ends in a pitch, which is best reached by the small passage left at the junction. This quickly doglegs and comes out over the pitch on the opposite side from the ramp. The pitch (undescended) is seen to be a widening in a deep floor canyon, which continues as Jsartal develops into an 8m wide rocky chamber through which the floor trench meanders.
After a short way, the trench abruptly ends, and a ramp up above it leads to a junction. Left continues up ramp, but not very far. Right traverses the ramp (another down-section soon ends), then heads west past another blind passage on the right, to break out into a larger passage ahead. Left (south) is the way to Geburtstagsgang, whilst right (north) eventually leads to the SchwarzmooskogelEishöhle connection.
Ascending a low ramp leads past various short side-extensions to Schafott - apparently a breakthrough point in 1986 ? Beyond this, small passage continues SW, with a mudbank on the left, for almost 50m until it widens out and descends a steep slope towards a floor trench. Left here a further ramp ascends east to a choke. The floor trench continues W, then NW, but would seem to be too narrow. Staying on the north side of the trench and heading NW (right from the point of entry) leads through mud and/or shingle deposits in a small zig-zag passage which meets first a small canyon which doesn't go, and then a T-junction over another canyon.
Right ends after ten metres or so, whilst left (west) meets another junction where a further trench comes in from the left (south). This also appears to be too small to follow, but would seem likely to connect with one or both of the trenches seen earlier. Ahead reaches a chamber, with a steep slope down left to yet another trench, but staying high gains the continuation of Geburtstagsgang continuing small with a narrow floor canyon. This now goes NW for 50m, to a T-junction. Right ends almost immediately, whilst left shortly pops out in bigger passage on a ledge overlooking a small stream.
Right in the canyon, 12m away, is bigger passage (Großer Cañon), and the original way to Stellerweghöhle, whilst ahead/left goes west, quickly picking up an inlet from the left and dropping 30m in Ungarn Cañon, a narrow way for 50m, to where exploration ceased. It is not clear, but this may well be a pitch, quite possibly into part of the Stellerweg system.
By going right at the start of Ungarn Cañon, large, bouldery passage is soon met at a T-junction. To the right is an alternative route from the entrance via Frankenschnellweg and Großer Cañon. This route was found first, but the survey numbering suggests it was surveyed later and I might deduce that this is not the normal way.
Left in the bigger passage is over boulders, passing a short passage on the left. A hole in the floor of this appears to connect to Ungarn Cañon. Ahead, a slit in the floor is traversed (on the right ?) to reach a pair of large boulders. Up right here ends quickly in an unclimbable sediment wall. Continuing west, the trench reappears (now traversed on left) and soon expands to be a large hole in the floor. It is unclear from the survey how this is crossed, but on the far side, it would appear that a pitch of c 35m is descended, over jammed blocks. Rising steeply to the right (north) from (the foot ?) here is an unascended ramp, which seems likely to connect to unsurveyed passages below Roddick's Dive in 1623/144.
A continuation WNW from this point would appear to be part of the streamway below the Big Pitch in Stellerweghöhle. This in turn suggests that the 35m or so descent must be in the lower part of this shaft, and the ramp seen to the right starts some way above the foot of the pitch.
From the junction at the west of Jsartal, large passage heads north for a short way to a T-junction. Right encounters two floor trenches, the right hand of which soon widens to a 3m deep blind pit. Across this is 25m of rising passage to a choke. Left soon swings round and heads north again, passong another short, blind ascending way on the left. A short section of floor trench is traversed and a short way beyond is Brotzeitplatz, where a large cross-rift goes a short distance left and right.
Ahead is Frankenschnellweg, a rifty passage with rounded roof, heading north with an initial floor trench. Thirty metres or so from Brotzeitplatz another cross-rift is met, this time at an angle. This is the start of a slightly mazey area. To the right is narrow for 30m to the edge of a wide shaft, Regenschacht, 4m deep. By traversing right on the near edge, a small passage is gained which circles all the way round to the far side, then ends in a small aven.
Ahead in Frankenschnellweg, another cross-rift is encountered less than 20m ahead. Right turns sharply back and connects to the Regenschacht passage about halfway along. Left is too narrow to follow, but lines up with another section of rift in the mazey area. Continuing north in Frankenschnellweg, the boulder floor changes and a steep slope down leads to the lip of a canyon at Puits du Sable. Directly opposite is a short blind ramp up. Right is the way to Grand Galerie, described below, whilst left is the start of Großer Cañon.
This is the deep rift reached at the end of Frankenschnellweg, but it is not clear that this is the best way to get to it. Back at the start of the mazey area, the way left (SW) is boulder-floored rift which continues for twenty metres or so until a junction. Ahead chokes, but two ways right soon unite. The left way looks harder - a traverse over a trench, whilst the right way is boulder floored. Beyond the reunion is narrower, with a slot in the floor, and zig-zagging roughly NW, though clearly interrupted by a number of SW-NE joints. One of these can be followed for ten or fifteen metres, where it becomes too narrow, but lined up with a cross-rift in Frankenschnellweg.
After this joint, the next junction is effectively an oxbow on the left, where a bat was found during exploration. Ahead soon reaches the top of the Großer Cañon, some 40m downstream from the point reached in Frankenschnellweg. A descent to the bottom at this point is a 30m pitch. Directly across from the point of entry is a ramp up, with various sediment banks, leading to Sophienhalle. To the right goes back towards the Puits du Sable and Grand Galerie - see below.
To the left, Großer Cañon heads SW in a classic meander, or traversing rift. Give or take a couple of zags, this is straight for almost 100m, at which point it is interrupted by a bouldery chamber of about 10m diameter. Beyond, Großer Cañon continues S then SW again, getting wider. Boulders hide the trench, and the passage curves west. To the left is the way in via Geburtstagsgang and on to Ungarn Cañon. Ahead is the main way into Stellerweg, described above. It is not clear whether the stream below Großer Cañon goes on this way, or joins Ungarn Cañon.
Upstream in Großer Cañon, most easily reached by the Puits du Sable, ascending passage heads east, and soon develops into a very wide passage with a deep canyon floor. It looks as if this passage is done at the level of the bottom of the canyon, which leads up, passing an inlet on the right, to a large pool at the foot of Puits Madonna. This is ascended to reach a similar level to the point of entry above Puits du Sable. The continuation enlarges into Grande Galerie, soon attaining impressive dimensions of 15m wide by 20m high. Question marks mark apparently inaccessible passages, two on the right and one on the left.
Beyond a couple of impressive boulders, a climb up leads to a smaller continuation. To the right is a hole in the floor with passage beyond, but left is a ramp up which soon rejoins the passage beyond the hole. The way gets bigger again, in passage first explored from Schwarzmooskogeleishöhle, until after 50m, it ends at the foot of a thirty metre pitch from the other cave.
On the NW side of Großer Cañon, directly opposite the entry via the mazey area, or 40m downstream from the entry via Puits du Sable, is a ramp up NNW. Right and left are walls of sediment, but the main way suddenly turns right, though still ascending steeply. The ramp eases and becomes more bouldery, now heading NE, suddenly to end at a widening above a deep undescended pit. A climb up on the right of this reaches the top of the far wall, in a large N-S collapse chamber, Sophienhalle. This shows clear bedding in the walls, and appears to have formed by spalling. Over the boulder floor, another steep wall precedes a ramp down to a choke. Dotted lines suggest a northward continuation, though whether this is above or below the ramp is unclear.",,,,"Information from Groupe Spéléologique de Clerval - Baume les Dames",,,"smk-system.svx",,"215m to connection below Stellerweg big pitch. ",,,,,"p088",,"p088x","Nils",,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Surveyed", 89,"1/S +",,,,"plateau/89.htm",,,"Schwa Schacht 89",,,"1d","CUCC 1979 ","A 25m shaft into a narrow rift of zero lateral extension. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"c 1630m ",,,"Plateau",,,,,,"Lost","""Out from 97 somewhere"" and hence probably hopeless." 90,"1/S +",,"CUCC96-WK01",,"plateau/90/90.html",,,"Bräu Schacht 90",,,"1a","CUCC 1977 - Team Enthusiast.","Rift entrance in scrub leads to a loose, choked rift, 20m deep. 1996 sketch survey says 12.5m deep, 3m long (N-S) and 1.4m wide. West wall of shaft is 1.5m higher than east, and bolt plus red-painted number are at SE corner.",,,,,,"
Grade 2 (at a guess), drawn up in loose leaves in front of 1996-9 NotKH book","caves/90/90.svx",,"20m",,"Briefly known as CUCC96-WK01, but the number existed meaningfully only for an hour or so until Wookey spotted that the cave was, in fact, 1623/90",,"p90",,,,"Surface survey",,"gps00.90",,,,"Bräuning Wall pt. 1828: 247°, Bräuning Nase: 153°, Vorderer Schwarzmooskogel (nipple): 097°, Hinterer Schwarzmooskogel: 050°, Schönberg: 346°",,"Plateau - below Bräuning Scharte - the large and dramatic breach in the Bräuning Wall. GPS (1996) UTM 33T 0410257 5280891; UTM 33T 0410281 5280823; GK 5410141 5283007","Not located in search, 1989. Found 1996 and surveyed to. From Top Camp follow Bräuning path on slope, about 80m along (from point above waterhole) to where it meets edge of large patch of dwarf pine (c 100m diameter) on a raised limestone shelf. There is another patch of pines on slope to left for c 30m. Entrance is close to corner of big patch, 21m from path. Follow joint through gap in pines about 5m past where limestone step meets path. This is the same joint as CUCC 1996 WK 02, CUCC 1996 WK 03 and 1623/159. Surface survey location sketch in not KH 1996 p 3",,"
Entrance area | Closeup of entrance (red circle marks tag) |
","Tag","red painted number ""90"" (1977), 1998 tag ""1623 90 CUCC 1977""","Surveyed", -91,"1/S +",,,,"plateau/91/91.html",,,"Bräu Schacht 91",,,"1a","CUCC 1977 - Team Enthusiast.","A snow-fed rift in open karren on a fault/joint aligned on 67°. Choked at -20m (or plumb of -14m in 1996 to tiny snow plug).",,,,,,"
Grade 2 (at a guess), drawn up in loose leaves in front of 1996-9 NotKH book","caves/91/91.svx",,"20m",,,,"p91",,,,,,"gps00.91",,,,"Schönberg 347°, HSK 054°, VSK (nipple) 108°, Bräuning Nase 150°, Bräuning Wall pt. 1828 210°, Bräuning Wall pt. 1835 224°",,"Plateau - below Bräuning Scharte. GPS: UTM 33T 0410171 5280908; UTM 33T 0410155 5280976; UTM 33T 0410177 5280894","From Schwarzmoossattel, follow cairned path below the Bräuning Wall, past Top Camp (1988 on). Where this path meets the scree/snow slope from the wall, it turns right, out onto the plateau (this is the main path to Gschwandt-Alm, in frequent use).
100m from the right turn is a snow field on the right, with the sound of falling water at its lower edge. This is the entrance to 91. The bolt is at the NE end of the rift. ",,"
Entrance 91 looking north towards 93 and Schönberg | Closeup showing location of tag and paint markings |
(Photos © Andy Waddington 1990 and Olly Betts 1999)","Tag","number in red (1977) on small scarp facing south, 1998 tag ""1623 91 CUCC 1977""","Surveyed", +91,"1/S +",,,,"plateau/91/91.html",,,"Bräu Schacht 91",,,"1a","CUCC 1977 - Team Enthusiast.","A snow-fed rift in open karren on a fault/joint aligned on 67°. Choked at -20m (or plumb of -14m in 1996 to tiny snow plug).",,,,,,"
Grade 2 (at a guess), drawn up in loose leaves in front of 1996-9 NotKH book","caves/91/91.svx",,"20m",,,,"p91",,,,,,"gps00.91",,,,"Schönberg 347°, HSK 054°, VSK (nipple) 108°, Bräuning Nase 150°, Bräuning Wall pt. 1828 210°, Bräuning Wall pt. 1835 224°",,"Plateau - below Bräuning Scharte. GPS: UTM 33T 0410171 5280908; UTM 33T 0410155 5280976; UTM 33T 0410177 5280894","From Schwarzmoossattel, follow cairned path below the Bräuning Wall, past Top Camp (1988 on). Where this path meets the scree/snow slope from the wall, it turns right, out onto the plateau (this is the main path to Gschwandt-Alm, in frequent use).
100m from the right turn is a snow field on the right, with the sound of falling water at its lower edge. This is the entrance to 91. The bolt is at the NE end of the rift. ",,"
Entrance 91 looking north towards 93 and Schönberg | Closeup showing location of tag and paint markings |
(Photos © Andy Waddington 1990 and Olly Betts 1999)","Tag","number in red (1977) on small scarp facing south, 1998 tag ""1623 91 CUCC 1977""","Surveyed", 92,"2/S +",,,,"plateau/92.htm",,,"Bräu Schacht 92",,,"1a","CUCC 1977 - Team Enthusiast.","Pitch of 15m leads to a boulder thrutch and climbs down. More boulders lead to a final pitch of 30m to a solid choke at -90m.",,,,,,"
",,,"90m",,,,,,,,,,,,,"1645m",,,"Plateau - below Bräuning Scharte. Not located in searches, 1989, 1998.",,"Small, horizontal entrance in deep scrub draughts slightly and leads to an incredibly loose interior.",,"Paint",,"Lost","Not seen since 1977 despite several concerted searches. Below Bräuningscharte" -93,"1/S +",,,,"plateau/93.htm",,,"Bräu Schacht 93",,,"1a","CUCC 1977 - Team Enthusiast.","Long rift on a joint (strike 246°, dip 70° towards SE) ending in choke at -35m. An adjacent shaft on the same joint but further east is bigger and more obvious, but chokes much nearer the surface. ",,,,,,,,,"35m",,,,"p93",,,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,"Plateau - below Bräuning Scharte, north of Kataster 91. ","From Schwarzmoossattel, follow cairned path below the Bräuning Wall, past Top Camp (1988 on). Where this path meets the scree/snow slope from the wall, it turns right, out onto the plateau (this is the main path to Gschwandt-Alm, in frequent use).
100m from the right turn is a snow field on the right, with the sound of falling water at its lower edge. This is the entrance to 91 and from here, 93 is 20m further away from the Bräuning Wall.",,"
","Tag","numbered in red (1977) on scarp facing south, 1998 tag ""1623 93 CUCC 1977"".(placed in middle of ""9"")","Surveyed", -94,"1/S +",,,,"plateau/94.htm",,,"Bräu Schacht 94",,,"1a","CUCC 1977 - Team Enthusiast.","A rift on a joint (strike 223°, dip 70° to SE) is a spiralling freeclimb to a choke at -35m",,,,,,,,,"35m",,,,"p94",,,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,," A little north of Kat.93.","From 91 (q.v.), the karren slopes down at 10°. About 50m down the slope on a bearing of 335° is the large open shaft of 94, (visible from 93, which is about 20m from 91).",,"
","Tag","number in red (1977) on scarp facing south, 1998 tag ""1623 94 CUCC 1977"" - tag bolt (middle of ""9"")","Surveyed", +93,"1/S +",,,,"plateau/93/93.html",,,"Bräu Schacht 93",,,"1a","CUCC 1977 - Team Enthusiast.","Long rift on a joint (strike 246°, dip 70° towards SE) ending in choke at -35m. An adjacent shaft on the same joint but further east is bigger and more obvious, but chokes much nearer the surface. ",,,,,,,,,"35m",,,,"p93",,,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,"Plateau - below Bräuning Scharte, north of Kataster 91. ","From Schwarzmoossattel, follow cairned path below the Bräuning Wall, past Top Camp (1988 on). Where this path meets the scree/snow slope from the wall, it turns right, out onto the plateau (this is the main path to Gschwandt-Alm, in frequent use).
100m from the right turn is a snow field on the right, with the sound of falling water at its lower edge. This is the entrance to 91 and from here, 93 is 20m further away from the Bräuning Wall.",,"
Entrance 91 on left, looking towards 93 and Schönberg | 93 entrance area, with location of tag highlighted | Closeup of entrance |
Photos © Andy Waddington 1990 (1) and © Olly Betts 1999 (2,3).","Tag","numbered in red (1977) on scarp facing south, 1998 tag ""1623 93 CUCC 1977"".(placed in middle of ""9"")","Surveyed", +94,"1/S +",,,,"plateau/94/94.html",,,"Bräu Schacht 94",,,"1a","CUCC 1977 - Team Enthusiast.","A rift on a joint (strike 223°, dip 70° to SE) is a spiralling freeclimb to a choke at -35m",,,,,,,,,"35m",,,,"p94",,,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,," A little north of Kat.93.","From 91 (q.v.), the karren slopes down at 10°. About 50m down the slope on a bearing of 335° is the large open shaft of 94, (visible from 93, which is about 20m from 91).",,"
View of 94 from 93 | Entrance area (tag highlighted) in 1999 | Entrance closeup |
Photos © Andy Waddington 1990 (1) & © Olly Betts 1999 (2, 3)","Tag","number in red (1977) on scarp facing south, 1998 tag ""1623 94 CUCC 1977"" - tag bolt (middle of ""9"")","Surveyed", 95,"1/S -",,,,"br-alm/95.htm",,,"Bräu Schacht 95",,,3,"CUCC 1977 - Team Enthusiast. ","A 10m climb down to an unpushed and unpromising tube. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"1585m",,,"South of Bräuning Alm, near camp 1 (1977) ? ",,,,"Paint (?)",,"Refindable","Described as insignificant, and seems to have no location info. However there is a photo from 1977 on the old plateau camps webpage where the cave was ""an open shaft just behind the photographer""." 96,"3/S +",,,,"br-alm/96.htm",,,"Bräu Schacht 96",,,3,"CUCC 1977 - Team Enthusiast.","Open shaft of 15m leads to a descending rift. Next pitch of 25m, then a short climb, 6m pitch and 15m pitch into a chamber where the water sinks. The upper level of a small rift leads to an abandoned passage and a series of increasingly muddy freeclimbs to a final squeeze and 5m pitch into a sordid little sump.",,,,,,"
",,,"105m",,,,,,,,,,,,,"c 1600m",,,"In grassy pasture east of Bräuning Alm, next to CUCC's high-level camp of 1977 (camp 1). ",,,"
","Paint","number painted red in 1976, refreshed (probably in orange which elsewhere hasn't lasted well) in 1990.","Refindable","Refound by AERW in 1990; apparently easy to find." -97,"4/S/W x",,,,"plateau/97.htm",,,"Schneewindschacht",,,"1d","CUCC 1977 - Team Enthusiast.","The entrance 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.",,,,,,"
",,,"265m",,,,,"p97","west edge of doline",,"Surface survey",,,83039,35837,"1641m",,,"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.",,"Tag","""97"" in red paint on doline wall, tag 2004","Surveyed", +97,"4/S/W x",,,,"plateau/97.htm",,,"Schneewindschacht",,,"1d","CUCC 1977 - Team Enthusiast.","The entrance 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.",,,,,,"
",,,"265m",,,,,"p97","west edge of doline",,"Surface survey",,,83039,35837,"1641m",,,"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.",,"Tag","""97"" in red paint on doline wall, tag 2004","Surveyed", 98,"1/S +",,,,"plateau/98.htm",,,"Plateau Schacht 98","Dropped Light Shaft",,"1d","CUCC 1978 - Team Youth/Ladders","After top of entrance shaft, it bells out, to land on a lightly boulder-covered floor after 29m. Tight thrutch to one side leads to second pitch of 17m to a flat rock floor with no way on.",,,,"Logbook accounts",,,,,"47m",,,,,,,,,,,,,"c 1630m ",,,"Out on the plateau somewhat further than 97, in a large sloping rockface.",,"A small shaft in a large grike with very sharp rocks at the top",,"Paint","Bolts at entrance; conjectured to be paint marked as well.","Lost","In a bit of a blank space." -99,"1/S x",,,,"plateau/99/99.html",,,"Plateau Schacht 99",,,"1d","
","Entrance gully of 5m leads to 20m pitch at 70° over snow, heading roughly back towards Eislufthöhle. At the base is a 'snow-duck' under a rock wall beyond which a small rift-like chamber descends about 3m. Straight ahead at the same level, the rift quickly becomes an impenetrable slot through which can be seen a 2m wide passage with an ice floor running down from right to left at 5-10°. This is the source of the strong draught. Below the slot is another low hole, this leaks a vague draught and leads to a small boulder-strewn ledge with a definite blackness continuing to the left behind more boulders. Energetic but nervous removal of these gave obvious signs of a continuation, but other commitments and rain prevented a return. Note therefore it has been Left Going.",,,,"1979 logbook, 2004 logbook",,"Grade 1 3-d sketch by Tony Malcolm, 1979
",,,,,,,"p99",,,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,"A short way South East of Eislufthöhle Kat.76E 35876.6 N (52)82903.5 H 1638.9",,"Draughting entrance near Eislufthöhle(1623/76), ignored at first, since it was assumed it would join 76.","
Entrance area in 1999, with tag highlighted | Jenny Black on the entrance slope, 2004 |
(Photos © Olly Betts)","Tag","Tag placed 1999","Surveyed", +99,"1/S x",,,,"plateau/99/99.html",,,"Plateau Schacht 99",,,"1d","
","Entrance gully of 5m leads to 20m pitch at 70° over snow, heading roughly back towards Eislufthöhle. At the base is a 'snow-duck' under a rock wall beyond which a small rift-like chamber descends about 3m. Straight ahead at the same level, the rift quickly becomes an impenetrable slot through which can be seen a 2m wide passage with an ice floor running down from right to left at 5-10°. This is the source of the strong draught. Below the slot is another low hole, this leaks a vague draught and leads to a small boulder-strewn ledge with a definite blackness continuing to the left behind more boulders. Energetic but nervous removal of these gave obvious signs of a continuation, but other commitments and rain prevented a return. Note therefore it has been Left Going.",,,,"1979 logbook, 2004 logbook",,"Grade 1 3-d sketch by Tony Malcolm, 1979
",,,,,,,"p99",,,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,"A short way South East of Eislufthöhle Kat.76E 35876.6 N (52)82903.5 H 1638.9",,"Draughting entrance near Eislufthöhle(1623/76), ignored at first, since it was assumed it would join 76.","
Entrance area in 1999, with tag highlighted | Jenny Black on the entrance slope, 2004 |
(Photos © Olly Betts)","Tag","Tag placed 1999","Surveyed", 100,"1/S +",,,,"plateau/100.htm",,,"Plateau Schacht 100","Viper Shaft",,"1a","CUCC 1977, Team Youth, and again in 1990 by AERW ","An east-west rift with two obvious points of descent. The more easterly is about 6m deep and can be seen to end in a chamber. The more westerly is a 15m pitch, with a window communicating with the east hole. At base are boulders and a climb down. A crawl leads to an inlet where water appears and sinks into an impenetrable slot with very sharp rock. ",,,,,,,,,"18m",,,,"p100",,,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,"Just beyond the col, on the left. It is, in fact, extremely near Top Camp, virtually on one of the routes to the Schwarzmooskogel areas. ",0,,,"Tag","red painted number, with 1998 tag ""1623 100 CUCC 1977"" in centre (M6 stud).
This cave was originally only numbered in carbide, so was unmarked for years. It was relocated in 1989, but was not numbered until 1993 since AERW didn't think to carry paint while trying to find old holes. The orange number was fading and chipped in 1995, so was refreshed in red. The surface survey was to the centre of the middle digit of the number.","Surveyed", 101,"1/S +","main a",,"yes","plateau/101.htm",,,"Plateau Schacht 101",,,"1d","
","Entrance is in a rift orientated 40°-220° and hading about 20°. A 5m climb down leads to a horizontal passage going both ways, north leading out into the face of the scarp (101A). South (down dip) leads to a 4m pitch followed by a small crawl in a scree-floored phreatic tube, leading down dip, at about 30°. This drops via a short climb into a meandering phreatic tube with a tiny stream slot fed by an aven on the left. Progress is by crawling in the roof tube, which goes for about 40m until a window in the right wall leads to the base of an aven. The continuing crawl is too small, while a climb down below the aven (undescended) appears to choke.",,,,,,"? MISSING (grade 1)",,,"~12m",,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Bräuning Scharte 218°, Grieskogel 012.5°, Bräuning Nase 194.5°, Lost Rucksack cairn 319° (compass #439258: NPC2)",,"Out on the plateau, near a large north-facing fault scarp on 125-305°. Perhaps best located when looking for Wolfhöhle (which is nowhere nearby) in the mist (see 1984 logbook). There was an OAV ski-tourers' marker pole due north of the col, from which the entrance is about 50m away on 35°. Unfortunately, the pole was pretty much invisible from the approach route in 1977, and is now rotting on the ground, only visible from a metre away at best. However, the cave was relocated in 1998. It turns out to be very close to the faintly-marked path which leads past Lost Rucksack Cave towards CUCC 1996-05, and is a short way south of 1623/173.
(GPS: (cliff directly above 101A) GK 5410503 5283483 (FOM 9.2m))",,,,"Tag","extremely faded numbers ""101"" and ""101A"" in red on upper and lower entrances. 1998 tag ""1623 101 CUCC 1977"" on upper entrance, southeast-facing (M6 stud).",, ,,"main",,"entrance","plateau/101main.htm",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"t101",,,,"Surface survey",,,,,,"Bräuning Scharte 218°, Grieskogel 012.5°, Bräuning Nase 194.5°, Lost Rucksack cairn 319° (compass #439258: NPC2)",,,,"Entrance is in a rift orientated 40°-220° and hading about 20°",,"Tag","extremely faded numbers ""101"" in red. 1998 tag ""1623 101 CUCC 1977"" southeast-facing (M6 stud).","Surveyed", @@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ 102,"1/S +",,,,"plateau/102.htm",,,"Plateau Schacht 102",,,"1d","CUCC 1977 - Team Youth (A.Waddington) ","A near-straight shaft of 20m ends on a snow plug.",,,,,,,,,,,,,"gps00.102",,,,"GPS post SA","gps98.102",,,,"c 1630m",,,"GPS GK 5410464 5283496 (FOM 11.5m) About 50m west of Kat.101, c 15m south of Kat. 103, on a parallel joint.",,,,"Tag","painted number is extremely faded, and appears only as a slight lightening in the lichen when wet. Part drilled hole for tag. Tagged 1998","Surveyed", 103,"1/S +",,,,"plateau/103.htm",,,"Plateau Schacht 103",,,"1d","
","A semi-horizontal rift going south, slopes down at 45° to head of a very broken shaft aligned on a joint perpendicular to the scarp (joint is on 055-235°). Drops 30m past much wedged, frost-shattered rock to a choke at -30m.",,,,,,,,,"30m",,,,"t103",,,,"Surface survey","gps98.103",,,,,"HSK 075°, VSK Nipple 153°, Lost Rucksack Cairn 325°",,"GPS GK 5410472 5283506 (FOM 8.7m) About 15m north of Kat.102, in the face of the same 125-305° fault scarp as 101´s northward crawl, which is about 35m away to the SE. ",,,,"Tag"," alloy tag ""1623 103 CUCC 1977"" on M6 stud below the faded remains of a painted number on the NW-facing wall of a prominent joint making a break in the scarp fade in which the entrance lies. ","Surveyed", 104,"1/S +",,,,"plateau/104.htm",,,"Plateau Schacht 104",,,"1d","CUCC 1977 - Team Youth (S.Farrow)","Belay to a bolt in the boulder (on top, 1977 vintage), and as much dwarf pine as you can string together. A somewhat broken but roomy shaft of 29m with ledges at -10 and -24m, to a choke.",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"c 1650m ",,,"In deep scrub adjacent to a very large erratic boulder, in the same area as Eislufthöhle (Kat. 76). The boulder has an incipient split, and is visible from the col.",,,,"Paint","Red-painted number (1977)","Refindable","Close to 76, worth a look" -105,"1/S +",,,,"plateau/105/105.html",,,"Plateau Schacht 105",,,"1d","CUCC 1977 - Team Youth (N.Thorne, A.Waddington)","Handline descent for 9m leads to a ledge from where a fine 31m pitch drops 14m to a large ledge, then continues in a parallel shaft below an aven, with further ledges at -17, -21m. The shaft is in clean bluish-white limestone and lands on a dampish flat gravel floor.",,,,,,,,,,,,,,"p105",,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,"30m north of Eislufthöhle on the plateau.",,,"
Entrance (red circle indicates tag)
","Tag","paint; tag 1999","Surveyed", +105,"1/S +",,,,"plateau/105/105.html",,,"Plateau Schacht 105",,,"1d","CUCC 1977 - Team Youth (N.Thorne, A.Waddington)","Handline descent for 9m leads to a ledge from where a fine 31m pitch drops 14m to a large ledge, then continues in a parallel shaft below an aven, with further ledges at -17, -21m. The shaft is in clean bluish-white limestone and lands on a dampish flat gravel floor.",,,,,,,,,,,,,,"p105",,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,"30m north of Eislufthöhle on the plateau.",,,"
Entrance (red circle indicates tag)
","Tag","paint; tag 1999","Surveyed", 106,,,,,,,,,,"Number not allocated (see Eislufthöhle 1623/76)","nonexistent",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 107,"4/S/T +",,,,"plateau/107.htm",,,"Gemshöhle",,,"1c","CUCC 1978: opened and Big Rift explored by Team Youth. Team Geriatric explored the Big Pitch and reached the bottom.","Small entrance in boulders in a dry gully drops into a small chamber, in the bottom corner of which is the excavated head of a pitch. This quickly bells out to 6m diameter and lands after 18m in a large passage which contains ice-formations early in the season. This large, phreatic passage chokes in both directions and the way on is in a rift to one side, from which the draught pours.
A pitch of 23m has an inlet entering part way down, which makes the rest of this pitch and the following one of 19m unpleasant in wet weather. Two ways then lead on, either down with the water or by traversing round this drop to another passage.
Climbing down with the water leads to a short passage with the water in a rift below. Round a sharp corner is a short drop to the head of a larger rift. A 5m pitch down this leads to another rift which, in turn, leads out to the side of a large shaft. Stones dropped from a small hole in the corner of the passage above the 5m pitch also fall into this shaft. Laddering from the side, the pitch is 67m with a large ledge just above half-way, and is unpleasantly wet in poor weather. From the base of this pitch, the continuing rift/canyon trends south west and has pitches of 5, 9 and 8m before the other route drops in from above.
Over the traverse, a short pitch of 4.5m, followed by a short climb up, leads to the head of a pitch of 10m to a boulder floor. Two ways on from here are down through the boulders into a shaft, or across the shaft and into a narrow rift. The way through boulders soon chokes, but the narrow rift soon opens into a massive shaft of 100m with a rebelay roughly halfway. This drops directly into the rift reached by the original route.
Below the junction, the rift continues with a 5m climb and pitches of 5, 14 and 44m, this last pitch being quite wet and emerging into a massive cross-rift trending south east. The water disappears into the choked floor of this rift via a nasty wet crawl, rapidly becoming too small.",,,,,"Reverse-engineered data in dataset measured from drawn-up survey","grade 5 survey from 1978
",,,"280m",,,,,"p107","exact point not recorded",,"Surface survey","gps98.107",,,,,,,"On the plateau in a prominent dry valley below southern forepeak of Hinterer Schwarzmooskogel, some way below Laser Point 0_5. The bottom of the gully is pretty much on the (cairned) best walking route from Top Camp to Bräuninghöhle (Kat.82) and Eislufthöhle (Kat.76).",,,"
","Tag","number twice in orange paint, 1998 tag on survey point ""1623 107 CUCC 1978""","Surveyed", 108,"1/S +",,,,"plateau/108/108.html",,,"Schwa-Höhle 108",,,"1d","CUCC 1980 John, Tony and Andy Connolly","Horizontal entrance to a large chamber with narrow rift dropping away. Ends too tight.
A cave numbered 108 was relocated in 2004, but does not match this description. It's marked with paint ""108"" and has a spit in the centre of the ""0"". The spit isn't great, but there's a good chunky flake to use too. The shaft descends ~9m to a ledge. At this level there's a horizontal passage which leads immediately to a 4m deep blind rift pitch. Back in the main shaft, a few natural rebelays get you to a floor just under 30m down. At one end of the rift a draught emerges from rocks, but removing some rocks it appears it would need quite a lot of work to make progress and the continuation may be too small anyway.
",,,,,,,,,"7m",,"This does not appear to be in the Austrians' Kataster.",,,"p108",,,,,,,,,"Bräuning Nase 200°, Bräuning Zinken 235°, Vd. Schwarzmooskogel 175°.",,"108 is not near 41 - it is on the plateau. Further across than 76 (106) past erratics - middle of nowhere",,,,"Paint",,"Surveyed", @@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ 156,"1/S +",,,,"smkridge/156.htm",,,"Schwa Schacht 156",,,"2c","CUCC 1987","An open rift with a rock bridge. Pitch of 25m drops onto snow bank, and route to southeast of this drops a further 15m to a complete choke with snow.",,,,,,"Grade 1 plan/elev of 156 and T.B.H. from 1987 Log Book",,,,,"The log book refers to exploration in the vicinity of 0/1 including 156 and a nearby cave (unnumbered in 1987) Tumbling Boulder Hole. There is, however, another piece of paper which says it is very near (and NE of) point 0/2. This appears to arise from the diagram which accompanies the log book entry, which shows 0/2 with no north arrow, and uphill up the page. If the point was really 0/1 on this diagram, then the descriptions would match, with north at 7 O'Clock on the diagram. The logbook suggests that the discoverers had visited 0/2 (and found very little nearby) and then 0/1 later, finding 156. GPS location and later a surface survey (1998) confirms that 0/1 is the correct laser point.",,"t156","p156","random point or top rigging bolt",,"Surface survey","gps98.156",,,,,,,"Vorderer Schwarzmooskogel, 50m south of laser rangefound point 0/1. The recently (1998) cairned route up the Vd. Schwarzmooskogel NW flank passes very close to the laser point, and skirts the NE end of the open rift of 156. Surface survey connecting Tag and original survey ( to top rigging bolt) done in 1999. ",,,,"Tag","""1623 156 CUCC 1987"" on alloy tag on west side of more southerly opening, more-or-less directly above the first rigging bolt","Surveyed", 157,"2/S x ",,,,"smkridge/157.htm",,,"Schwa Schacht 157","Pirat Schacht",,"1c","Uncertain. Rediscovered CUCC 1987","Entrance shaft of 50m until gap between snow and rock became too perilous in 1987 - bottom still out of sight. About 25m below the karren, a rift passage leads off from side of shaft into parallel shaft with aven. This shaft is of unknown depth but has recent looking bolts of unknown origin. It is just conceivable that these bolts are in 107, but far more likely that the cave had been looked at by GSCB who were in the area on a reconnaissance in 1986 (?) and more seriously in 1987.
The second cave has a walk-in entrance, splitting just inside. The left passage comes out below a shaft from the surface, and apparently continues unexplored. The main passage reaches a 10m pitch, also below a surface shaft, which drops into a chamber. To the left is a short passage to an undescended pitch of about 10m, while to the right are three ways on. First is a rift, then a passage with an ice floor, and finally, half back towards the entrance, is a passage emerging below another surface shaft (passed on the surface just before reaching the entrance). This final passage also appeared to continue. Because a large carbide pig was found outside the entrance, it was assumed that someone else was in the course of exploring this cave.",,,,,,,,,,,,,"p157",,,,,,,,,,,,"""about 6m above Laser rangefound point 0/5"" (which is above gully containing Kat. 107 and marked with an alloy tag stamped ""LASER 0-5""). The cave was looked for but not seen in a visit to this laser point in 1998. A second cave 100m from 0/5, uphill to the left, was not given a number because of evidence of previous exploration, but should be investigated further. (This might, or might not, be Bogenhöhle.) 157 was relocated in 2001, visible to the right of the route up to 204. It was marked with faded yellow paint.",,,,"Tag","Tag placed 2000","Surveyed","Much confusion" 158,"3/S +",,,,"smkridge/158.htm",,,"Donner und Blitzen Höhle",,,"2b","CUCC 1987","A body-width passage formed by a wall on the left and a large detached slab on the right descends for about 5m at 45°, with occasional glimpses of daylight above. A cross passage is then encountered. To the right is blocked after a few metres, but left descends to meet the base of the wall. To the right here, a 20-22cm squeeze is passed by lying on one side. After 2m of further tight progress, the rift opens onto a drop. A steep tube descends for about 12m to a small chamber and with care can be descended free.
From the chamber, the passage curves to the left and opens onto the head of a 7m pitch, which drops onto a large ledge. A rebelay just over the lip of the ledge at the left hand side gives a further 18m free-hanging pitch to a landing on boulders several metres across, which appear to be jammed across the shaft.
A narrow rift around a corner stops at a drip and a small pool. The way on is through a gap to a hole with a jammed block. Climbing down to the block leads to the head of an 18m pitch which rapidly opens into a huge split-level chamber. The pitch lands on Big Bertha, a boulder some 4m in diameter.
To the north, a narrow rift has been followed for about 10m to a tight vertical drop of at least 5m down the rift, but this has not been pushed. East from Big Bertha leads to a 5m drop to the lower half of the chamber, which is floored with loose rock. An archway to the left leads to a 7m pitch to a small stream. This disappears down an impassable slot, but is met lower in the cave.
From the archway, a climb up behind a boulder propped against the side of the chamber leads to a col. One side rapidly curves up to the roof. The other ascends over very loose boulders for at least 25m (15m vertical) until the roof is met. This area has not been exhaustively pushed, but seems unlikely to lead anywhere.
Descending the other side of the col gives a series of ledges via 5m, 7m and 8m pitches, in a canyon some 5m wide and at least 15m high. The stream enters at the bottom of the 7m pitch. Below, the rift continues down a moderate slope and round a corner, with a final short 4m pitch to a soil and rock floored chamber.
A strong draught is felt around the edges of the chamber, rising from the choked floor. It is possible to descend in loose boulders in a number of places but all ways meet the roof and choke - pushing in this area is dangerous and unpromising.
Near the bottom of the previous pitch, a 5m deep circular pit in the floor can be descended. This takes a large drip from the stream above. At the bottom, a tight (22-26cm) rift leads on for 3m to a further 3m pitch to a small chamber. An impassable passage continues, while a small window gives a view of a widening beyond.",,,,,"In dataset","Grade 3 plan and elevation in Cambridge Underground 1988, p 6
",,,"128m (deepest surveyed point is -118m)",,,,,"p158","on big rock at entrance",,"Surface survey",,"gps00.158",,,,,,"400m NNE of The Nipple (Weißen Warze) at the base of a wall to the left after passing a sandy depression (walking from the Nipple).",,,,"Paint",,"Surveyed", -159,"2/S +",,,,"plateau/159.htm",,,"Winded Hole",,,"1a","CUCC 1988 (1st pitch Chris & Becka, bottomed by Chris).","Two bolts in entrance for Y-hang to give c40m vertical to a boulder floor, then a further 20m in a big boulder chamber. A ""nice skeleton"" and an old colander (!) were found on the terminal choke in 1988.",,,,,,,,,"c50m",,,,"t159",,,,"Surface survey",,,,,,"1990 Bearings (we have no idea where these came from and they aren't remotely in the right place): HSK 116°, Nipple 174°, Bräuning Nase 199°, Bräuning Zinken 216°
1996: HSK 059°, VSK nipple 111°, Bräuning Nase 152°, Kleine Wild Kogel 009°(left) and 010°(right), Bräuning Wall pt. 1828 209°, Bräuning Wall pt. 1835 221°, Bräuning Zinken 232° ",,"Near 'crapping region' of Top Camp (1990). Cave is on the same fault/joint as 1623/90, 1623/207 and 1623/208, but further out from the Bräuning Wall, c 100m on 067°.","Cave relocated 1990, 1996 and surveyed to in 1998. Entrance reached in two minutes from upper top camp by heading west and dropping down one terrace.",,"
","Tag","orange number ""159"" facing north. 1998 tag ""1623 159 CUCC 1988"" attached to more northerly of two Y-hang bolts, just below surface. This is the anchor visible in the photograph (with an orange circle painted round it), taken before the tag was attached.","Surveyed", +159,"2/S +",,,,"plateau/159.htm",,,"Winded Hole",,,"1a","CUCC 1988 (1st pitch Chris & Becka, bottomed by Chris).","Two bolts in entrance for Y-hang to give c40m vertical to a boulder floor, then a further 20m in a big boulder chamber. A ""nice skeleton"" and an old colander (!) were found on the terminal choke in 1988.",,,,,,,,,"c50m",,,,"t159",,,,"Surface survey",,,,,,"1990 Bearings (we have no idea where these came from and they aren't remotely in the right place): HSK 116°, Nipple 174°, Bräuning Nase 199°, Bräuning Zinken 216°
1996: HSK 059°, VSK nipple 111°, Bräuning Nase 152°, Kleine Wild Kogel 009°(left) and 010°(right), Bräuning Wall pt. 1828 209°, Bräuning Wall pt. 1835 221°, Bräuning Zinken 232° ",,"Near 'crapping region' of Top Camp (1990). Cave is on the same fault/joint as 1623/90, 1623/207 and 1623/208, but further out from the Bräuning Wall, c 100m on 067°.","Cave relocated 1990, 1996 and surveyed to in 1998. Entrance reached in two minutes from upper top camp by heading west and dropping down one terrace.",,"
","Tag","orange number ""159"" facing north. 1998 tag ""1623 159 CUCC 1988"" attached to more northerly of two Y-hang bolts, just below surface. This is the anchor visible in the photograph (with an orange circle painted round it), taken before the tag was attached.","Surveyed", 160,"2/S/ +",,,,"plateau/160.htm",,,"Plateau Schacht 160","Jared's Hole",,"1a","CUCC 1988 ","Bottoming trip used a 70m rope to reach a choke (with a draught). A small side rift at the bottom choked after 3m.
The cave could probably do with another descent to record some details of the interior or even a survey !",,,,,,,,,,,"1988 logbook implies that this is "Jared's Hole". Was provisionally numbered "181" but apparently never marked. ",,"p160",,,,"Surface survey",,"gps00.160",,,,,,"On plateau, near B10 (according to B10 info). Map in 1988 logbook shows 160 as out on the plateau from Bräuning Scharte in an area of terracing, and WSW of B10. Hole tagged in 1998 is just east of 91, and can also be reached by following the terrace west from the 159 entrance.",,,,"Tag","The hole believed to be 160 was unmarked until tagged in 1998 ""1623 160 CUCC 1988"" on flat limestone 1m east of entrance. This had been relocated in 1996 and was then thought to be 159, but latter was found marked in 1998.","Surveyed", 161,"5/S/E x","a–h",,"yes","smkridge/161/top.htm",,,"Kaninchenhöhle",,,"2c","CUCC 1988-98","Rather than adopting the usual approach of describing every side passage in the main description, which makes the 'normal' descent route hard to follow, this description describes each main route down the cave first, mentioning side passages only where necessary to make the correct main route clear. Various side passages and connecting routes are described subsequently, area by area. The directions left and right are always relative to travel in the direction of the description, compass directions are given where there is any ambiguity. Most passages are described going 'into the cave', on the assumption that this is how they will be first met. Some passages are described in both directions, either because it is difficult to follow them without getting into side leads, or because they form important links between different parts of the system, and may be traversed either way on various round trips.
The clickable index has developed into a glossary, which it is hoped will make it easier to find bits of the cave by name - be warned, this became so big that it was decided to split it up and it is now a framed page.
There are also virtual tours, containing thumbnails of all the pictures of the caves. Although these pages are kept small, all the photos mean that they can require a lot of memory to load. The original comprehensive tour has been split into two, for the Right Hand Route, and for passages most conveniently reached from the Scarface entrance. Two new tours have been created for the Lost World and Wheelchair Access, and for the new way into the Forbidden Land via Steinschlagschacht.Each thumbnail on these tours links to a full-size version of the picture, and each full-size picture has links into the appropriate bit of the description.
Throughout the guide, the date of exploration is noted for each area. There is a history page which can be used as a clickable index into the logbook write ups of all the 161 trips, so it should be easy to follow the exploration of any part of the cave. Warning, this was also getting too big and is now framed.
The upper part of the system can be best thought of as a number of separate areas, each with its own vertical development. The more recently found extensive horizontal development, being easier to traverse, is generally better connected. Although there are various links between the vertical routes, a given destination will tend to have one 'obvious' approach. These areas are France, the Left Hand Routes, the Right Hand Routes, the southernmost part of the system reached via Steinschlagschacht, routes from Scarface entrance. So rapidly has exploration proceeded from Triassic Park that now more than half the total length is most conveniently reached via 161d.
The key to all the deepest and most remote parts of the system is the huge collapse chamber of Knossos. This was reached from the 161a entrance via the Right Hand Route, and now via the 161d ""Scarface"" entrance through Triassic Park. This provides a much easier route in, making trips to the further reaches less strenuous. From Knossos, horizontal trunk passage leads north, giving access first to a series of deep vertical systems, and further on to complex areas of rifts and old passages. A significant horizontal route leading northwest, Siberia, has only been pushed as a result of the new entrance, but has yielded a new deep point to the cave. There appear to be deep vertical leads in the far north, too, though they have mostly been avoided by a series of ""mental"" tyroleans and bolt traverses.
It is still probably some way off the time when one might choose a tourist trip on the basis of its ""classic"" quality. Mostly, choices available depend on what is rigged this year for exploratory purposes. This will usually only include one main route into an area, so trips like a Left Hand Route / Garden Party or Drunk & Stupid exchange will not be easy. Similarly, the original classic Right Hand Route / Dreamtime exchange was only really possible during the exploration of the latter, before the Squeeze was bypassed and this modified RHR became the trade route.
However, now that Knossos is accessible from the Scarface entrance, this has opened up the possibilities for a whole raft of pull-through trips with a minimum of pre-rigging. The one fly in the ointment is the relative difficulty of surface travel between the 161d and upper entrances. The route used in 1996 seems to be good enough to have become a trade route, and after one benightment through loss of the route in 1997, it has been very well marked with cairns.
Already possible is the 161c to 161d through trip via France. In the future, pull-throughs of LHR, Garden Party or Drunk and Stupid should all be possible via Ambidextrous. Right Hand Route or Dreamtime give access to Knossos. Care must be taken, however, not to try rapelling down any of the plethora of routes which don't connect into the Knossos area.
As in the more famous Dent du Crolles system, route-finding errors on bridge-burning trips could entail a long wait for someone to figure out where you went!
Line plots of the cave give some idea of it's shape, extent and structure.
The main entrance at 1787m drops to a major sub-horizontal level at 1720-1750m, containing the large passages of Big Sainsbury's and its continuation into the upper part of Dreamtime, and the smaller passages of the Rabbit Warren and the French entrances 161b and 161c. From this level a number of vertical routes drop to another significant sub-horizontal level dipping from around 1700m in the SW of the system (upper part of France) to around 1600m where this level is lost in the roof of Knossos. [This is probably debatable, as Boulder Alley from Poxy Pitch downwards is probably in a fault rift].
Multiple, predominantly vertical, routes drop to the cave's most important sub-horizontal passages around 1540m in the area below the entrance dipping to c1510m in Tower Blocks and the start of YAPATE. This is a major fossil passage rising up the dip to the NNE, and continuing as Chicken Flied Nice to c1540m where complexity increases. The major horizontal development in France is entered at c1550m, with the lowest passages down to 1480m. The major trunk route through Triassic Park is between 1560 and 1620m, and this level is also lost in what is presumed to be the roof of Knossos.
Whilst none of the routes below the entrance area get below about 1480m, there are a series of interconnecting shafts dropping below YAPATE and Chicken Flied Nice ending at or just above 1290m in sumps or tightness. The original deepest point, at the bottom of Flapjack, is at 1289m, 498m below the main entrance. Passages to the northwest led through a bitterly cold, draughty passage known as Siberia, which was left well alone until access via 161d made it easier. It was pushed in 1997 and 1998 down two very large pitches to a new deep point 534m below the 136 entrance at 1258m altitude.
There is just one section of horizontal level at c1400m, which is not very extensive to date, and similarly a tantalising glimpse of what appears to have been very large trunk passage below 1300m in Siberia, but this is comprehensively choked in both directions.
This overview is currently mostly updated to reflect exploration to 1995, though the line plots are up to 1996. ",,"Outstanding and now finished",,,"In dataset","? grade 5","smk-system.svx","24485m after 1999 expedition","534m",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"On the limestone ridge between the Hinterer and Vorderer Schwarzmooskogels, about 200 metres up towards the Hinterer from the col, and about 20m down the east side of the ridge itself. The main 161a entrance shaft overlooks a gully dropping steeply SE towards Augstwies See. The 161b and 161c (French) entrances are close together about 75m to the SE, down the gully. Considerably further down the gully, a traverse is possible (somewhat engineered) to reach an area of recently fallen rock, where the ""Scarface"" 161d entrance is located. Continuing the traverse, but regaining about 20m of height to the NE, the ""exits"" of 161f and then 161e can be reached.",,,,,,, ,,"a",,"entrance","smkridge/161/161a.htm",,,,,,"2c",,"Click here for underground description",,,,,,,,,,,,,,"p161a",,,"Nils",,"gps00.161a2",,,,,,,,,,"Tag",,"Surveyed", @@ -205,10 +205,10 @@ ,,"g","2003-06","entrance","smkridge/161/161g.htm",,,"Arachnowrapper",,,"2d","CUCC 2003","Click here for underground description",,,,,,,,,,,,,"p161g",,,,,,"gps03.161g",,,,,,,,,,"Retag","Tag still says ""CUCC 2003/06"".","Surveyed", ,,"h","2004-12","entrance","smkridge/161/161h.htm",,,,,,"2d","CUCC 2004","Click here for underground description",,,,,,,,,,,,,"p161h",,,,"Underground survey",,"gps04.p2004-12",,,,,,"NE slope of Hinterer Schwarzmooskogel","Difficult route finding past Damoclesschact and 2003-07 to edge of plateau. Climb down to easy gemsa path and turn north for 200m.","Above short climb low body sized tube below cleft in cliff.","
161h entrance
","Retag","Tag still says ""CUCC 2004-12""","Surveyed", ,,136,,"last entrance",,"smkridge/161/136.htm","a",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, -162,"2/S +","main b",,"yes","smkridge/162.htm",,,"Schwa Höhle 162",,,"2c","CUCC 1988. 162b independently discovered by Brian and Becka 1999 and relocated + tagged ""1999-10"" by Wookey and Andy A 2000.","The cave takes a good couple of hours to explore thoroughly. Through the entrance is a large chamber with a 4m x 8m crater in it. A 3m climb down to the bottom gives access to a 3m climb back up to the right, leading into the cave and a crawl at the lowest point of the boulders leading into a choked bit of cave with small solutional stuff in the roof. It is also possible to traverse around the left edge of the crater to reach a triangular crawl which goes for about 10m before it gets too tight.
The entire floor of this cave consists of small rocks and boulders. There is no solid rock anywhere horizontal, except halfway down the pitch.
After climbing out of the hole there is another 5m deep choked hole beyond. Traverses round to both the left and right are possible, although a little care is required due to the low roof and loose floor.
To the right, rubble coming out of the bottom of a choked shaft almost blocks the passage but a crawl through to the left remains, with a strong wind blasting through the confined space. Beyond this constriction the draught is lost. The roof remains low on the other side, although it is possible to stand up off to the left where there is a 4m climb up to what looks like a way on but is actually blind. Moving around the boulder pile to the right leads to a big passage. There are a few large boulders 10m to the right with a 4m climb down between them leading to a tight choked rift. This was also dug into from the top passage by the extremely zealous original explorers! There is an alcove in front and a rubble slope up to the right. Round the corner to the right is another shaft-bottom rubble pile and a hole disappearing into the roof. At the top of the slope to the left is a 4m climb up through and around big wedged boulders to reach an impressive chamber 7m × 9m and 12m high. There is a possible climb up into an aven in the corner which probably doesn't go and has a couple of moves at the top which need protecting.
Back at the fork near the entrance, turning left and thrutching over a couple of rocks (another windy spot) leads to the head of a 17m pitch broken by a ledge 8m down. There is a bolt for a ladder hang on this ledge. Going off to the left allows a safe traverse past the pitch continuation to the bottom of a 6m high rift with some ice in it, slowly narrowing as it goes up.
At the foot of the pitch is what looks like an ancient phreatic remnant. It is about 40m long and 6m wide, and mostly full of rocks. To the left it is blocked at the end by the rubble coming out of the bottom of a big shaft. It is possible to work round the foot of this for about 3m to the left and 10m to the right.
Going the other way down the passage reveals a large snow column by the left hand wall. It is possible to climb up between the column and its containing shaft, presumably all the way to the surface, but no-one has managed it yet. Beyond this column the roof gets lower, apart from a couple of solutional avens and eventually a small shaft-bottom rock pile and a couple of small inlet tubes mark the end of the cave.
There is no extant description or survey of what Brian and Becka discovered in 1999 except that it was a shaft to around 50m of passage. This and the position of their entrance suggests that they had dropped into the lower part of 162, near the snow column from the original description.",,,,,"In dataset","1990 plan Cambridge Underground 1991
","caves/162/162.svx","156-159m","22 m (survey) or 33 m (text)",,"The 1988 log book refers to this cave as ""Adam's Hole (2)"".",,,,,,"Surface survey","gps96.162 gps96bestfit.162","gps00.162",,,,,,"Vorderer Schwarzmooskogel, about halfway between 161 and Eishöhle. Following the French traverse route along the shelf marked with orange paint from 161c will take you to just below 162 and 163.","About 250m from survey point vd1. From vd1, head directly down the gully (bearing about 100°, for about 130m, then turn right, angle right and traverse below the bunde field on the right along the most obvious shelf (you should find the french path here) for another 130m or so. The cave entrance is a 1.5m × 2m hole in the wall to the right of the traverse shelf with a very cold draught coming out of it. It is one shelf above the French path and if you are at the wrong level you will miss it.",,,,,, +162,"2/S +","main b",,"yes","smkridge/162.htm",,,"Schwa Höhle 162",,,"2c","CUCC 1988. 162b independently discovered by Brian and Becka 1999 and relocated + tagged ""1999-10"" by Wookey and Andy A 2000.","The cave takes a good couple of hours to explore thoroughly. Through the entrance is a large chamber with a 4m x 8m crater in it. A 3m climb down to the bottom gives access to a 3m climb back up to the right, leading into the cave and a crawl at the lowest point of the boulders leading into a choked bit of cave with small solutional stuff in the roof. It is also possible to traverse around the left edge of the crater to reach a triangular crawl which goes for about 10m before it gets too tight.
The entire floor of this cave consists of small rocks and boulders. There is no solid rock anywhere horizontal, except halfway down the pitch.
After climbing out of the hole there is another 5m deep choked hole beyond. Traverses round to both the left and right are possible, although a little care is required due to the low roof and loose floor.
To the right, rubble coming out of the bottom of a choked shaft almost blocks the passage but a crawl through to the left remains, with a strong wind blasting through the confined space. Beyond this constriction the draught is lost. The roof remains low on the other side, although it is possible to stand up off to the left where there is a 4m climb up to what looks like a way on but is actually blind. Moving around the boulder pile to the right leads to a big passage. There are a few large boulders 10m to the right with a 4m climb down between them leading to a tight choked rift. This was also dug into from the top passage by the extremely zealous original explorers! There is an alcove in front and a rubble slope up to the right. Round the corner to the right is another shaft-bottom rubble pile and a hole disappearing into the roof. At the top of the slope to the left is a 4m climb up through and around big wedged boulders to reach an impressive chamber 7m × 9m and 12m high. There is a possible climb up into an aven in the corner which probably doesn't go and has a couple of moves at the top which need protecting.
Back at the fork near the entrance, turning left and thrutching over a couple of rocks (another windy spot) leads to the head of a 17m pitch broken by a ledge 8m down. There is a bolt for a ladder hang on this ledge. Going off to the left allows a safe traverse past the pitch continuation to the bottom of a 6m high rift with some ice in it, slowly narrowing as it goes up.
At the foot of the pitch is what looks like an ancient phreatic remnant. It is about 40m long and 6m wide, and mostly full of rocks. To the left it is blocked at the end by the rubble coming out of the bottom of a big shaft. It is possible to work round the foot of this for about 3m to the left and 10m to the right.
Going the other way down the passage reveals a large snow column by the left hand wall. It is possible to climb up between the column and its containing shaft, presumably all the way to the surface, but no-one has managed it yet. Beyond this column the roof gets lower, apart from a couple of solutional avens and eventually a small shaft-bottom rock pile and a couple of small inlet tubes mark the end of the cave.
There is no extant description or survey of what Brian and Becka discovered in 1999 except that it was a shaft to around 50m of passage. This and the position of their entrance suggests that they had dropped into the lower part of 162, near the snow column from the original description.",,,,,"In dataset","1990 plan Cambridge Underground 1991
","caves/162/162.svx","156-159m","22 m (survey) or 33 m (text)",,"The 1988 log book refers to this cave as ""Adam's Hole (2)"".",,,,,,"Surface survey","gps96.162 gps96bestfit.162","gps00.162",,,,,,"Vorderer Schwarzmooskogel, about halfway between 161 and Eishöhle. Following the French traverse route along the shelf marked with orange paint from 161c will take you to just below 162 and 163.","About 250m from survey point vd1. From vd1, head directly down the gully (bearing about 100°, for about 130m, then turn right, angle right and traverse below the bunde field on the right along the most obvious shelf (you should find the french path here) for another 130m or so. The cave entrance is a 1.5m × 2m hole in the wall to the right of the traverse shelf with a very cold draught coming out of it. It is one shelf above the French path and if you are at the wrong level you will miss it.",,,,,, ,,"main",,"entrance",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"p162",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Paint",,"Surveyed", ,,"b","1999-10","last entrance",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"p162b","spit hole",,,,"p1999-10",,,,,,,,,,"Retag","Tag placed 2000, still says ""CUCC 1999-10""","Surveyed", -163,"2/S +",,,,"smkridge/163/163.html",,,"Schwa Höhle 163",,,"2c","CUCC 1988 ","This is a fairly small cave remnant, but it does have a draught at the end suggesting more passage beyond.
The entrance is low and wide (3.5m) and descends down a rocky slope for 20m to some impressive ice stals. There is a small tube in the roof on the right through which daylight can be seen. The cave extends another 10m past the ice stals in fossil passage until it chokes. A 3m climb up on the left allows access to a tiny rift which can be climbed down for a few uninspiring metres.
5m back from the ice stals, towards the entrance, there is a stoop under a massive boulder forming the left wall. Here is a 3m climb down into the second part of the cave. Downslope from here is a chamber with a small frozen stream running through it and a choked alcove containing another ice stal beyond the stream. The chamber through which the stream 'flows' appears to have been formed by the entire roof falling about 1.5m in one piece and it is possible to climb beneath this huge rock near the way in. Over on the right is a climb through an eyehole to a 3m climb down into a stream rift. This has a howling draught coming out of it but it is too small to get down - although the heavy application of a hammer might do the trick.",,,,,"In dataset","1990 plan, Cambridge Underground 1991
","caves/163/163.svx","58m","17m",,"The 1988 log book refers to this cave as ""Adam's Hole (1)"".",,"p163tag","p163",,,"Surface survey",,"gps00.163",,,,,,"In the right hand side of a 15m diameter couloir near 162.",,,"
Photo © Wookey 2002","Tag",,"Surveyed", +163,"2/S +",,,,"smkridge/163/163.html",,,"Schwa Höhle 163",,,"2c","CUCC 1988 ","This is a fairly small cave remnant, but it does have a draught at the end suggesting more passage beyond.
The entrance is low and wide (3.5m) and descends down a rocky slope for 20m to some impressive ice stals. There is a small tube in the roof on the right through which daylight can be seen. The cave extends another 10m past the ice stals in fossil passage until it chokes. A 3m climb up on the left allows access to a tiny rift which can be climbed down for a few uninspiring metres.
5m back from the ice stals, towards the entrance, there is a stoop under a massive boulder forming the left wall. Here is a 3m climb down into the second part of the cave. Downslope from here is a chamber with a small frozen stream running through it and a choked alcove containing another ice stal beyond the stream. The chamber through which the stream 'flows' appears to have been formed by the entire roof falling about 1.5m in one piece and it is possible to climb beneath this huge rock near the way in. Over on the right is a climb through an eyehole to a 3m climb down into a stream rift. This has a howling draught coming out of it but it is too small to get down - although the heavy application of a hammer might do the trick.",,,,,"In dataset","1990 plan, Cambridge Underground 1991
","caves/163/163.svx","58m","17m",,"The 1988 log book refers to this cave as ""Adam's Hole (1)"".",,"p163tag","p163",,,"Surface survey",,"gps00.163",,,,,,"In the right hand side of a 15m diameter couloir near 162.",,,"
Photo © Wookey 2002","Tag",,"Surveyed", 164,"2/S +",,,,"plateau/164.htm",,,"Plateau Schacht 164",,,"1a","CUCC 1988","The entrance pitch is 10m, and has a detectable draught - quite strong in view of the size of the entrance. There was only the remains of a snow plug in 1988, although the plug is almost complete in some years (eg. 1995 - it was gone again in 1996).
A small stream enters and lands on boulders at the foot of the pitch in a passage leading south along a fault. A climb of 4m over precarious boulders reaches a bolt for the second pitch. The quality of rock in this area leaves a lot to be desired. The second pitch, 12m and third pitch, 15m are separated only by a small ledge. Water sinks in floor of small passage floored with what would appear to be the previous season's roof, now decayed into small jagged rocks. Continuing passage over boulders rises to 4-5m dropping steeply for 30m on the same south-trending fault. The water is rejoined at a freehanging 10m pitch from a rock bridge overlooking a sizeable chamber.
The stream sinks at the foot of the pitch in the centre of the 15m by 7m chamber floor. To the east, a scramble leads up to a shattered cross-rift from a large shelf about 15m long and 10m wide, but ends too tight. A similar feature to the west up a 4m climb becomes a low bedding with no way on. Due south are two passages, the one to the right leading 20m round a couple of bends to a sandy choke. The left passage quickly chokes. The draught seems to be lost into the continuation of the passage above the final pitch, on the far side of the chamber. This would be best reached by a traverse on steep loose rock from the 4m climb in the chamber. The pitches take large quantities of water very quickly in rain.",,,,,,"Elevation in Cambridge Underground 1989",,,"60ish metres",,,,"p164tag","p164rig",,,"Surface survey","gps96.164/189 gps96bestfit.164",,,,,,,"On plateau, beyond B11 (1623/198). This is a snow-choked shaft next to the very large snow-choked shaft, which has always been blocked with snow and was therefore not explored or numbered for many years, but is now 189.",,,"
","Tag","On wall above entrance, facing NE, number in red, 1988. Austrian metal tag, 1995.","Surveyed", 165,"1/S +",,,,"smkridge/165.htm",,,"Schwa Schacht 165",,,"2d","CUCC 1989","15m shaft explored by Adam and Planc on 24th August 1989, and apparently never returned to, but did get its number painted. Relocated and surveyed to in 1999.
In same fault line, but further north, in an area of bare limestone is another shaft. This already had a bolt when encountered in 1989, despite being outside the area previously looked at by CUCC. It was in excess of 35m deep and was not marked by CUCC. Cross on Schönberg 322°, Bräuning Nase 222°
This latter cave may be 195 (marked in 1995) which is c 80m almost due north, although the faults in this area are mainly aligned on about 020°, so it may be an as-yet-unrelocated shaft.",,,,,,,,,,,,,,"p165",,,"Surface survey",,,,,,"Cross on Schönberg 331°, Bräuning Nase 226°",,"On the west side of the Hinterer Schwarzmooskogel in a fault line. About 80m due south of 195, which is visible from top camp.",,,,"Tag","Tag placed 1999","Surveyed", "166-170",,,,,,,,,,"Not CUCC numbers","nonexistent",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, @@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ 179,"1/S +",,"90/9",,"plateau/179.htm",,,"Plateau Schacht 90/9",,,"1d","CUCC 1990 ","A 7m pitch leading to c5m of low cave.",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Bräuning Scharte 218°",,,,,,,,"Lost", 180,"2/S +",,"90/10",,"smkridge/180.htm",,,"Schwa Schacht 90/10",,,"2c","CUCC 1990 ","There is an ice shaft under collapsed boulders. A bedding in the side of this gives access to two adjacent loose pitches. Various impenetrable vocal connections to the surface exist. 30m pitch with ledge and rebelay at -15m leads to Icicle Works - very nice stals and flows. Follow flow down hole Slush crawl then rift. ",,,,,,,,,,,,,,"p180",,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,"Located on terrace N of 161b and 161c (French entrance), before a big bowl of choss and rifts.",,,"
","Tag","Red painted ""CUCC 90/10"". Spit placed for tag in 1997. Tag 1999","Surveyed", 181,"1/S +",,"90/11",,"plateau/181.htm",,,"Plateau Schacht 90/11",,,"1b","CUCC 1990 ","12m shaft with snow at bottom and rocky ledge at -5m. Aligned on 120°. Short way off at bottom is soon too tight.",,,,,,,,,"12m",,,,,,,,,,,,,,"HSK 074°, Bräuning Nase 165°, Bräuning Scharte 194°, Bräuning Zinken 216°",,,,,,"Paint","Paint says ""90/11"" in red","Lost", -182,"4/S +",,"90/12",,"plateau/182.htm",,,"Bovistundpuderzuckerhöhle","Puffball and Icing Sugar Cave",,"1b","CUCC 1990-1992 - see History for index into logbooks","The main entrance joins with a secondary, slightly smaller entrance in a daylit chamber on top of a snow plug. Sky can be seen through a third entrance in the ceiling, which is surrounded by undergrowth on the surface. A hole down the back edge of the snow plug leads to a slither down a partially iced steep (30°) boulder slope, with a low ceiling which soon rises. A large boulder several metres across is jammed across the slope at a few metres further down, below which the boulder slope continues. An inlet to the left just before an ice formation soon becomes too tight. Carrying on, the slope soon gives way to a traverse above a vadose canyon, with a laddered climb (6m) after about 25m. It is possible to continue along the top of the rift all the way to above the top of shell pitch. It is much more spacious than below but has a couple of bad steps.
From the bottom of the ladder, the passage soon drops down a climb of 2m. Then there is a winding, rifty passageway, named ""Magic Mushroom Passage"" due to the peculiar mushroom-like formations on the walls. These, together with the white dusty look of the walls in places, give the cave its name. After 100m the rift widens, and a traverse develops above a narrower rift below. The upper level may be followed to above the first rope pitch, but the more usual route is to climb down a rock pile into the lower rift (40cm wide), which is known as the Yorkshire Ripper, due to the effect of the sharp, narrow rift on oversuits, and the Yorkshire feel of the cave at this point. After 15m, relieved at one point by a small alcove with an irritating spray of water, the narrow rift widens, after a final flourish, to the head of the first rope pitch (6m).
Carrying on from the base of the pitch, the tiny rift in the floor deepens, and traversing along leads soon to the head of Shell pitch (19m). Descending gives a fine view of the chamber, the walls of which contain many large bivalve fossils (hence the pitch's name). From this chamber, a short traverse leads to a junction. Left is an unclimbable aven, whilst to the right is Piezo de Resistance, described below. The main route is currently down Q8 pitch which is broken by a ledge after 16m. After a further 9m and a rebelay, a pendulum through a window to one side leads on. Descending further, the shaft stops after 19m and a further rebelay. There are no passable ways on from the bottom (Strike One).
After the pendulum, a vast army of rebelays lies in wait (Dot to Dot), eventually ending in a larger pitch (25m) the bottom of which, again, has no ways on (Strike Two).
Yet again, a pendulum (at -14m) yields more cave (Bottom Bypass). A dubious 11m hang leads to a ledge. At one end of the ledge, ducking under an arch enters a chamber at the bottom of a high shaft (Lady's Loo), down which a vast torrent pours in wet weather. A further 9m down from the ledge is a floor. Progress can be made along the top of a slimy keyhole shaped rift (Tarzan's Folly) which is irritating to pass, especially with tackle. After 20m, a false floor appears and a few metres further on is The Dark Room, a high chamber with dark, textured walls. A waterfall cascades down from unfathomable heights, and pounds onto a ledge to the back right of the cavern.
Climbing down a slimy slope (which in an ideal world would be lined) the way on is along a rift which exits from the rear of the chamber on the left side. The rift has a couple of false floors in it. The middle level leads to the head of the next pitch: Natural Redundancy (11m) is reached after about 10m. The rope is belayed to a large chock stone at head level, then to a bolt about two inches from a beautifully rounded thread, hence the name. Cyclotron pitch follows immediately, then comes Quark, Strangeness and Charm, a rift passage with many possible traverse levels. In places there are flowstone bosses, and near the roof, some odd tippex stals can be seen. The formations are only notable due to their rarity in the caves of this region.
Cloud Chamber | Quark Strangeness & Charm |
At the end of QS&C, the passage sweeps round to the left as the floor drops away into Cloud Chamber. The pitch is broken by two rebelays. The grade 5 survey stops about 20m back from the pitch head. The details of the passage leading to the next pitch are uncertain, although the consensus is that it is around 20-30m long, and fairly straight. The lack of information led to the name Amnesia Alleyway. The next pitch is NDE, an acronym for ""Near Death Experience"" , since a party of cavers was flood-pulsed just below this pitch during the initial exploration. This incident also named The Delicate Sound of Thunder, another rift passage with a traverse along to a pitch (Traditional Style - laddered in 1991, marking the end of exploration that year).
After the first 5m slope to a rebelay, Traditional Style drops 12m (with one deviation) to a wide shelf. At the right hand edge is another 12m pitch. This lands in a muddy area which quickly becomes a very muddy steeply descending rift. An 8m pitch (2 bolts, Y-hang) a bit of clambering and a 5m pitch (one bolt) get you to a washing-up-bowl-sized sump at -292m.
5m up on the left hand wall (by the last bit of string) is a muddy crawl. This is below the 'tide-mark' of the sump so is somewhat oppressive. It leads, after 8m to a high parallel rift. A couple of 2m climbs ahead lead back down to another, slightly larger, sump. The rift rises at least 20m, apparently without connecting back to the main descent route.
From the head of ""Q8"" pitch, an alternative route may be followed along a rift on a fault at 20-200°, hading 80° to the west. Taking the passage to the right, a traverse develops after 10m. Water sinks into a hole in the floor after a further 10m, and beyond this, is a 9m pitch, followed after 10m or so by a longer pitch of 16mm.
Crow's Nest | The Chimney |
This lands on a ledge with an obvious continuation below, but the route, to keep away from potential water, takes a much more interesting route. It goes up a 6m pitch to the Crow's Nest, a narrow rock rib separating two parts of the shaft. This was originally reached by a bolt traverse round the right hand wall. From the Crow's Nest, The Chimney drops 30m in typical Puffball triangular pitch (elliptical joint-aligned phreas cut down on lower side by vadose action). The rope stays resolutely on the upper side with a series of epic hanging rebelays.
At the bottom a 34m freehang lands in the Darkroom, but the bottom of this is in the waterfall (noted in the Darkroom description), so the route goes through a window near the top of the hang which gives a nice dry 30m hang.",,,,,"In dataset","? grade 5","caves/182/182.svx","1177m","292m","302m",,,,"p182",,,"Surface survey",,,,,,"Bräuning Scharte 180°,Bräuning Zinken 210°, HSK 070°. Journal CU's 1991,92 says VSK 210° but this has to be a typo, maybe 110 ?
Top Camp below the Bräuning wall is on 144° and +01.5° but can't actually be seen from entrance.",,,,,"
","Paint","Paint mark may still say ""90/12""","Surveyed", +182,"4/S +",,"90/12",,"plateau/182/182.html",,,"Bovistundpuderzuckerhöhle","Puffball and Icing Sugar Cave",,"1b","CUCC 1990-1992 - see History for index into logbooks","The main entrance joins with a secondary, slightly smaller entrance in a daylit chamber on top of a snow plug. Sky can be seen through a third entrance in the ceiling, which is surrounded by undergrowth on the surface. A hole down the back edge of the snow plug leads to a slither down a partially iced steep (30°) boulder slope, with a low ceiling which soon rises. A large boulder several metres across is jammed across the slope at a few metres further down, below which the boulder slope continues. An inlet to the left just before an ice formation soon becomes too tight. Carrying on, the slope soon gives way to a traverse above a vadose canyon, with a laddered climb (6m) after about 25m. It is possible to continue along the top of the rift all the way to above the top of shell pitch. It is much more spacious than below but has a couple of bad steps.
From the bottom of the ladder, the passage soon drops down a climb of 2m. Then there is a winding, rifty passageway, named ""Magic Mushroom Passage"" due to the peculiar mushroom-like formations on the walls. These, together with the white dusty look of the walls in places, give the cave its name. After 100m the rift widens, and a traverse develops above a narrower rift below. The upper level may be followed to above the first rope pitch, but the more usual route is to climb down a rock pile into the lower rift (40cm wide), which is known as the Yorkshire Ripper, due to the effect of the sharp, narrow rift on oversuits, and the Yorkshire feel of the cave at this point. After 15m, relieved at one point by a small alcove with an irritating spray of water, the narrow rift widens, after a final flourish, to the head of the first rope pitch (6m).
Carrying on from the base of the pitch, the tiny rift in the floor deepens, and traversing along leads soon to the head of Shell pitch (19m). Descending gives a fine view of the chamber, the walls of which contain many large bivalve fossils (hence the pitch's name). From this chamber, a short traverse leads to a junction. Left is an unclimbable aven, whilst to the right is Piezo de Resistance, described below. The main route is currently down Q8 pitch which is broken by a ledge after 16m. After a further 9m and a rebelay, a pendulum through a window to one side leads on. Descending further, the shaft stops after 19m and a further rebelay. There are no passable ways on from the bottom (Strike One).
After the pendulum, a vast army of rebelays lies in wait (Dot to Dot), eventually ending in a larger pitch (25m) the bottom of which, again, has no ways on (Strike Two).
Yet again, a pendulum (at -14m) yields more cave (Bottom Bypass). A dubious 11m hang leads to a ledge. At one end of the ledge, ducking under an arch enters a chamber at the bottom of a high shaft (Lady's Loo), down which a vast torrent pours in wet weather. A further 9m down from the ledge is a floor. Progress can be made along the top of a slimy keyhole shaped rift (Tarzan's Folly) which is irritating to pass, especially with tackle. After 20m, a false floor appears and a few metres further on is The Dark Room, a high chamber with dark, textured walls. A waterfall cascades down from unfathomable heights, and pounds onto a ledge to the back right of the cavern.
Climbing down a slimy slope (which in an ideal world would be lined) the way on is along a rift which exits from the rear of the chamber on the left side. The rift has a couple of false floors in it. The middle level leads to the head of the next pitch: Natural Redundancy (11m) is reached after about 10m. The rope is belayed to a large chock stone at head level, then to a bolt about two inches from a beautifully rounded thread, hence the name. Cyclotron pitch follows immediately, then comes Quark, Strangeness and Charm, a rift passage with many possible traverse levels. In places there are flowstone bosses, and near the roof, some odd tippex stals can be seen. The formations are only notable due to their rarity in the caves of this region.
Cloud Chamber | Quark Strangeness & Charm |
At the end of QS&C, the passage sweeps round to the left as the floor drops away into Cloud Chamber. The pitch is broken by two rebelays. The grade 5 survey stops about 20m back from the pitch head. The details of the passage leading to the next pitch are uncertain, although the consensus is that it is around 20-30m long, and fairly straight. The lack of information led to the name Amnesia Alleyway. The next pitch is NDE, an acronym for ""Near Death Experience"" , since a party of cavers was flood-pulsed just below this pitch during the initial exploration. This incident also named The Delicate Sound of Thunder, another rift passage with a traverse along to a pitch (Traditional Style - laddered in 1991, marking the end of exploration that year).
After the first 5m slope to a rebelay, Traditional Style drops 12m (with one deviation) to a wide shelf. At the right hand edge is another 12m pitch. This lands in a muddy area which quickly becomes a very muddy steeply descending rift. An 8m pitch (2 bolts, Y-hang) a bit of clambering and a 5m pitch (one bolt) get you to a washing-up-bowl-sized sump at -292m.
5m up on the left hand wall (by the last bit of string) is a muddy crawl. This is below the 'tide-mark' of the sump so is somewhat oppressive. It leads, after 8m to a high parallel rift. A couple of 2m climbs ahead lead back down to another, slightly larger, sump. The rift rises at least 20m, apparently without connecting back to the main descent route.
From the head of ""Q8"" pitch, an alternative route may be followed along a rift on a fault at 20-200°, hading 80° to the west. Taking the passage to the right, a traverse develops after 10m. Water sinks into a hole in the floor after a further 10m, and beyond this, is a 9m pitch, followed after 10m or so by a longer pitch of 16mm.
Crow's Nest | The Chimney |
This lands on a ledge with an obvious continuation below, but the route, to keep away from potential water, takes a much more interesting route. It goes up a 6m pitch to the Crow's Nest, a narrow rock rib separating two parts of the shaft. This was originally reached by a bolt traverse round the right hand wall. From the Crow's Nest, The Chimney drops 30m in typical Puffball triangular pitch (elliptical joint-aligned phreas cut down on lower side by vadose action). The rope stays resolutely on the upper side with a series of epic hanging rebelays.
At the bottom a 34m freehang lands in the Darkroom, but the bottom of this is in the waterfall (noted in the Darkroom description), so the route goes through a window near the top of the hang which gives a nice dry 30m hang. ",,,,,"In dataset","? grade 5","caves/182/182.svx","1177m","292m","302m",,,,"p182",,,"Surface survey",,,,,,"Bräuning Scharte 180°,Bräuning Zinken 210°, HSK 070°. Journal CU's 1991,92 says VSK 210° but this has to be a typo, maybe 110 ?
Top Camp below the Bräuning wall is on 144° and +01.5° but can't actually be seen from entrance.",,,,,"
Entrance area with snow plug | Entrance area (clear of snow) | Entrance rift |
Photos © Olly Betts 199? (1 + 2) & © Andy Atkinson 1992 (3)","Paint","Paint mark may still say ""90/12""","Surveyed", 183,"2/S +",,"90/13",,"plateau/183.htm",,,"Elchfalle",,,"1b","CUCC 1990-1992","A small man-sized hole behind a flake in the obvious fault. Boulder almost blocking entrance was pulled clear in 1992. Descend a boulder pile for 5m then sloping start to an 8m pitch. Strong draught at this point. A few metres of boulder-floored passage lead to another short pitch (5m sloping, then 5m vertical). Another very short passage leads to the third pitch of 10m to a flat boulder floor followed quickly by the fourth pitch rigged clear of a tiny stream by bolts on the roof/far wall. This is again c 10m with a deviation half way to land on more boulders. The water quickly sinks in these, and a little way forward, a hole opens onto a pitch of 6m rigged from a Y-hang. The stream comes down at the east end of this chamber, joined by another inlet from the north, and leaves south to another 5m pitch, quickly followed by another 5m pitch to a terminal rift.",,,,,"In dataset",,"caves/183/183.svx","106m","71m",,,,,"p183",,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,,"From 182, go N up pavement. Just over crest turn left along sporadically vegetated ledge below 2m wall (to S). After 100m, a large fault is met which contains 183. ",,,"Paint","Paint mark still says ""90/13""","Surveyed", 184,"1/T +",,"90/14",,"plateau/184.htm",,,"Shiruken",,,"1b","Recorded CUCC 1990, descended by Adam ?","It's a sharp narrow canyon and it's a BASTARD. Hence is called Shiruken (the sharp spikey things Ninjas throw).",,,,,,,,,,,,,,"p184",,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,,"From 183, go south up the fault until an area of exposed limestone is met on the left (about 20m). Go left (E) along this exposure up to where the bunde starts and locate a surface stream canyon. This becomes 184 when it goes underground (and it's marked). ",,,"Paint",,"Surveyed", 185,"2/S +",,,,"smkridge/185.htm",,,"Zweijahreentstehungshöhle",,,"2c","CUCC 1990 ","A narrow slot first bolted in 1988 and descended in 1990. First pitch, Fancy a coffee, descends past a small snow plug down to a large(ish) chamber covered with snow which appears to be about 7m deep. A small section to the left lets in a shaft of light, which changes from a wide beam to a narrow one. A low crawl on the left (ice covered) leads to the second pitch Your place or mine ?, a short (3m approx) drop to a ledge, then a longer (10 to 13m) drop down to the floor. The second pitch is slightly wet, with small amounts of water dripping from the roof. A loose climb leads to a tight crawl and even tighter pitch (Marble Sink revisited, JR), which is now named get yer kit off. This descends into a small chamber, where the limestone changes in colour from yellow to blue. A rift then drops into a boulder covered chamber, with a larger boulder choked to the right and a very, very small hole leading to the left for a few metres. The fourth and probably final pitch has been named Came too soon.",,,,,"In dataset",,"caves/185/185.svx",,,,,,,"p185",,,"Nils","gps96.185 gps96bestfit.185","gps00.185",,,,,,"On pavement on the east side of the col between the two Schwarzmooskogels on the usual (89/90) route from Top Camp to 161.",,,,"Paint","Paint says 162 (sigh)","Surveyed", @@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ ,,"d",,"entrance",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"p204d",,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,,,,,"Tag",,"Surveyed", ,,"e",,"entrance",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"p204e",,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,,,,,"Tag",,"Surveyed", ,,"f",,"last entrance",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"p204f",,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,,,,,"Tag",,"Surveyed", -205,"2/S +",,"1999-BO-01",,"smkridge/205/205.htm",,,"Nordalpenschacht",,,"2c","CUCC 1999","The main entrance is rigged off a spit and naturals and drops around 8m, via a natural deviation at a ledge, to a small chamber. A crawl leads off from here at head height for some distance, but closes off. The way on is to continue straight down through the floor of this chamber, through fairly solidly wedged boulders (quite tight) using the rope rigged on the entrance pitch. This lands at the head of a walking sized rift heading steeply down. There are two small passages in the wall where the rope comes down [these connect to the horizontal entrance of Nordalpenhöhle, see below]. Clamber down the rift. At the bottom is the snow plug from the second entrance. It is possible to cross the snow plug. At the far side, the passage closes down and is mud filled with no draught.
The way on is a flat-out crawl under the right wall, immediately before the snow plug. The crawl was dug because it was draughting out quite strongly. Once under the wall, the roof immediately rises to comfortable crawling height and the passage widens. After 5m, roomy phreatic passage is reached, around 5m wide and 3m high. A roof tube leads off to the right. It can also be reached by a roof crawl from further down the passage on the left. The tube leads to two small chambers and ends in a too-tight rift.
The floor of the main passage starts to drop away as the passage turns to the right, leaving a ledge along the left wall. A trickle of water enters at floor level. A pitch is rigged off the ledge using spits in the left wall. This pitch drops 10m and ends in a choked chamber. An exposed traverse on the left, beyond the pitch head, leads to a choked tube. Directly across from the pitch head, a further roof tube also chokes.
The third horizontal entrance begins with a flat out crawl in sticky mud, and reaches a small, low chamber. The low passage continues as hands and knees crawling. This passes a window on the left which looks into the snow-filled shaft (the second entrance). Straight ahead and a little further, an eyehole looks into the chamber which the first entrance pitch lands in. Continuing on, straddling over a rock ridge leads to two further eyeholes which look into the sloping rift passage where the rope ends from the first entrance pitch.",,,,,"In dataset","1996-9 NotKH book pages 76-77. There are two sets of surveys: larger-scale drawings of the main passages, and less detailed sketches including the horizontal Nordalpenhöhle entrance. These are all very bad scans, as the originals are on very thin paper, and can't easily be removed from the NotKH book without damaging them.
","caves/205/205.svx","91m","39m",,,,"p205tag","p205",,,"Surface survey",,"gps00.205",,,,,,"(tagged point might be the start of underground survey, main entrance, ~2m from tag)",,"The main (first) entrance is a 2m x 0.5m shaft around 5m higher and 7m away from a larger, snow-plugged shaft (the second entrance), which in turn is just above a snow field, a little higher than the Eishöhle path. Both entrances lie on an obvious fault line which heads uphill for around 100m. If the fault line is followed up to just past a squeeze through bunde, you can turn left for around 100m to reach the entrance to 1623/136, Steinschlagschacht.
A third, horizontal entrance is found by heading down to the snow filled shaft (the second entrance) and traversing left beneath a small cliff for around 20m. This leads to a low, unobvious hole at foot height, noticed because it was draughting out quite strongly. There is a surface survey to this third entrance from the first entrance.","
Photos © Olly Betts 2000. Model: Martin Green.","Retag","tag at main entrance ""CUCC 1999-01""","Surveyed", +205,"2/S +",,"1999-BO-01",,"smkridge/205/205.html",,,"Nordalpenschacht",,,"2c","CUCC 1999","The main entrance is rigged off a spit and naturals and drops around 8m, via a natural deviation at a ledge, to a small chamber. A crawl leads off from here at head height for some distance, but closes off. The way on is to continue straight down through the floor of this chamber, through fairly solidly wedged boulders (quite tight) using the rope rigged on the entrance pitch. This lands at the head of a walking sized rift heading steeply down. There are two small passages in the wall where the rope comes down [these connect to the horizontal entrance of Nordalpenhöhle, see below]. Clamber down the rift. At the bottom is the snow plug from the second entrance. It is possible to cross the snow plug. At the far side, the passage closes down and is mud filled with no draught.
The way on is a flat-out crawl under the right wall, immediately before the snow plug. The crawl was dug because it was draughting out quite strongly. Once under the wall, the roof immediately rises to comfortable crawling height and the passage widens. After 5m, roomy phreatic passage is reached, around 5m wide and 3m high. A roof tube leads off to the right. It can also be reached by a roof crawl from further down the passage on the left. The tube leads to two small chambers and ends in a too-tight rift.
The floor of the main passage starts to drop away as the passage turns to the right, leaving a ledge along the left wall. A trickle of water enters at floor level. A pitch is rigged off the ledge using spits in the left wall. This pitch drops 10m and ends in a choked chamber. An exposed traverse on the left, beyond the pitch head, leads to a choked tube. Directly across from the pitch head, a further roof tube also chokes.
The third horizontal entrance begins with a flat out crawl in sticky mud, and reaches a small, low chamber. The low passage continues as hands and knees crawling. This passes a window on the left which looks into the snow-filled shaft (the second entrance). Straight ahead and a little further, an eyehole looks into the chamber which the first entrance pitch lands in. Continuing on, straddling over a rock ridge leads to two further eyeholes which look into the sloping rift passage where the rope ends from the first entrance pitch.",,,,,"In dataset","1996-9 NotKH book pages 76-77. There are two sets of surveys: larger-scale drawings of the main passages, and less detailed sketches including the horizontal Nordalpenhöhle entrance. These are all very bad scans, as the originals are on very thin paper, and can't easily be removed from the NotKH book without damaging them.
","caves/205/205.svx","91m","39m",,,,"p205tag","p205",,,"Surface survey",,"gps00.205",,,,,,"(tagged point might be the start of underground survey, main entrance, ~2m from tag)",,"The main (first) entrance is a 2m x 0.5m shaft around 5m higher and 7m away from a larger, snow-plugged shaft (the second entrance), which in turn is just above a snow field, a little higher than the Eishöhle path. Both entrances lie on an obvious fault line which heads uphill for around 100m. If the fault line is followed up to just past a squeeze through bunde, you can turn left for around 100m to reach the entrance to 1623/136, Steinschlagschacht.
A third, horizontal entrance is found by heading down to the snow filled shaft (the second entrance) and traversing left beneath a small cliff for around 20m. This leads to a low, unobvious hole at foot height, noticed because it was draughting out quite strongly. There is a surface survey to this third entrance from the first entrance.","