From 134b97441e8ffd09ae56f284c271ac238404cf32 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: expo
Entrance shaft | View down shaft | Cairn and very faded paint mark | Long shot of entrance from gully above Schwarzmoossattel |
Photos © Olly Betts 2005,2006","Tag","Tag 1998, retag 1999","Surveyed", -81,"1/T +",,,,"plateau/81/81.html",,,"Schwa Höhle 81",,,"1c","CUCC 1977 - Team Geriatric","A short section of horizontal passage 5m below the surface, with two entrances, but no way on. ",,,,,,"Grade 1 extended elevation in Cambridge Underground expedition report",,"15m. ",,,,,,,,,"GPS post SA",,"p81",,,,,,"Plateau just NE of col, between 80 and 82, very close to 85.",,,"
Entrance | Dave pointing out the tag bolt |
Photos © Olly Betts 2005","Tag","Tag 2005-07-28","Surveyed", +81,"1/T +",,,,"plateau/81/81.html",,,"Schwa Höhle 81",,,"1c","CUCC 1977 - Team Geriatric","A short section of horizontal passage 5m below the surface, with two entrances, but no way on. ",,,,,,"Grade 1 extended elevation in Cambridge Underground expedition report","caves/81/81.svx","15m. ",,,,,"p81",,,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,"Plateau NE of col, between 80 and 82, very close to 85.",,,"
Entrance | Dave pointing out the tag bolt |
Photos © Olly Betts 2005","Tag","Tag 2005-07-28; 81b entrance tagged 2007-07-30 by Olly and Jenny.","Surveyed", 82,"4/S/T +",,,,"plateau/82.htm",,,"Bräuninghöhle",,,"1c","CUCC 1977 - Team Geriatric","Very obvious walking sized cave entrance leads to a boulder strewn passage (ice formations early in season) into an aven with daylight entering 20m above. A scramble over boulders leads to Apfelschacht - a 6m pitch with loose boulders at the head. This drops to a 3m climb and then a 20m pitch Orangenschacht with a trickle of water entering halfway down. From the foot, a fine keyhole passage imaginatively named Schlüssellochgang, and a choice of routes. The most obvious way on is a 10m pitch, Bierschacht over a stalagmite flow to an awkward crawl, Worm Passage, which looked likely to end things. However, this opens out suddenly at a pitch head. Nocheinbierschacht is 15m, impressively free. At the foot, a vocal connection can be made with a phreatic passage above the third pitch which ends in a big hole.
Ahead is a phreatic tunnel which chokes, and a large black emptiness. This is descended for 25m in four 6m steps, Viermalbierschacht, to a ledge big enough for one and a bit people. The stream goes over this ledge into a large black void. This pitch, Besoffene, is 50m and hangs free for all but the last 8m in a very impressive shaft. From the foot, traverse above a steeply dropping stream canyon to a sloping platform from which a 17m pitch reaches the stream floor. This cascades over a further 6m pitch, below which a climb out of the stream reaches a rig point for a 30m pitch ending on a slope down to a sump at -216m.",,,,,,"Cambridge Underground 1978, facing p 32
There is also an area plan showing 82 in context with 145 and 148.
",,,"-216m, +20",,,,,"p82","tip of rock marked ""82"" at entrance",,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,"Plateau 430m from col, roughly NE.","From Schwarzmoossattel, follow description to 80. From here, a route leads directly towards Hinterer Schwarzmooskogel over fairly flat karren, becoming more shattered towards another cairn. Then there is a somewhat chaotic area.
Skirt this on the left to a small ridge running left-right. There is a cairn to the right across the chaotic bit. From the ridge, 82 is the obvious entrance directly ahead. Across the ridge to the right, more cairns lead initially towards 82, but then become misleading as they head up the hill to Wolfhöhle (145).",,"
","Tag","""82"" in red paint on boulder and on left of cave. 1998 tag ""1623 82 CUCC 1977"" on right inside cave entrance (not at survey point).","Surveyed", -83,"2/S =",,,,"plateau/83.htm",,,"Schwa Schacht 83",,,"1c","CUCC 1977 - Team Geriatric","13m freeclimb dropped onto a steep snowslope requiring a handline. This was descended for 10m to a steep boulder slope which funnelled down to a small hole through which stones dropped for a long time. The large amounts of scree made descent unwise. Above the boulder slope, a phreatic passage led quickly to a big hole in the floor. The hole is a fine free-hanging descent of 36m to a solid choke of boulders. The phreatic passage continues beyond the pitch, but was not reached, and trends uphill.",,,,,,"Grade 1 extended elevation in Cambridge Underground expedition report",,,"55m",,"This was originally listed as ""exploration completed"", but the description and survey suggest that with modern drilltastic rigging techniques it would not be hard to reach the continuation of the phreas across the head of the final pitch.",,,"p83","exact point not recorded",,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,"Plateau, 200m north of Bräuninghöhle (Kat. 82). This is not very obvious, since it is in an area of dwarf pine on a knoll south of the dry valley containing Kat. 107",,,,"Paint","Red paint number from 1977","Surveyed", +83,"2/S =",,,,"plateau/83.htm",,,"Schwa Schacht 83",,,"1c","CUCC 1977 - Team Geriatric","13m freeclimb dropped onto a steep snowslope requiring a handline. This was descended for 10m to a steep boulder slope which funnelled down to a small hole through which stones dropped for a long time. The large amounts of scree made descent unwise. Above the boulder slope, a phreatic passage led quickly to a big hole in the floor. The hole is a fine free-hanging descent of 36m to a solid choke of boulders. The phreatic passage continues beyond the pitch, but was not reached, and trends uphill.",,,,,,"Grade 1 extended elevation in Cambridge Underground expedition report",,,"55m",,"This was originally listed as ""exploration completed"", but the description and survey suggest that with modern drilltastic rigging techniques it would not be hard to reach the continuation of the phreas across the head of the final pitch.",,,"p83","exact point not recorded, but there's a red painted triangle at the entrance which now has a tag spit in the centre",,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,"Plateau, 200m north of Bräuninghöhle (Kat. 82). This is not very obvious, since it is in an area of dwarf pine on a knoll south of the dry valley containing Kat. 107",,,,"Tag","Red paint number from 1977 in two places. Tagged ""CUCC 1623/83"" 2007-07-30 by Jenny and Olly.","Surveyed", 84,"1/T -",,,,"plateau/84.htm",,,"Schwa Höhle 84",,,"1c","CUCC 1977 - Team Geriatric","Draughting tube leads to a small chamber, further small tube leads off, unexplored since deemed impenetrable in shorts and T-shirt.",,,,,,"Grade 1 extended elevation in Cambridge Underground expedition report",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"c 1660m",,,"Plateau WNW of Kat.83",,,,"Paint",,"Lost","Not seen since 1977 apparently" 85,"2/T/S +",,,,"plateau/85/85.html",,,"Schwa Höhle 85",,,"1c","CUCC 1977 - Team Geriatric","Large descending entrance leads to a series of free climbs ending too tight at -50m.",,,,,,"Grade 1 extended elevation in Cambridge Underground expedition report",,,,,,,,"p85","red paint mark on east wall of doline (see photo)",,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,"Plateau, at southwest end of depression containing Bräuninghöhle (Kat.82)",,,"
Entrance area with Dave placing tag bolt | Number just visible down the side of the snowplug |
Photos © Olly Betts 2005","Tag","large red painted number ""85"", still visible in 1998 but occasionally hidden by snow plug. Tag placed 2005-07-28.","Surveyed", 86,"1/S +",,,,"plateau/86.htm",,,"Schwa Schacht 86",,,"1c","CUCC 1977 - Team Geriatric","Rift descent of 25m until gap between snow and rock got too small.",,,,,,"Grade 1 extended elevation in Cambridge Underground expedition report",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"c 1670m",,,"Plateau, on higher ground just SE of Bräuninghöhle (Kat.82)",,,,"Paint","Numbered in red (1977)","Lost","Not seen since 1977 apparently" -"87A","3/S +",,,,"smkridge/87.htm",,,"Schacht 87A bei Stögerweg",,,"2a","CUCC 1980, 1987","Horizontal entrance at base of small cliff at head of dry valley, leads over peaty infill to a pitch head. Cross first hole and descend second, 30m to large chamber. To left is unsurveyed inlet ending too small, while to right is head of very steeply descending phreatic-tube-like pitch of 15m vertically (20m+ of rope). This is a little thrutchy to start, but opens out, and ends in a short climb.
A further 15m pitch follows, hanging clear of a wall made up mainly of boulders. A way on across the head of the final pitch appears too tight. Hole in floor is last pitch, of 33m, which has a boulder 10m high in it, and you can descend either side. Draught is lost into a small passage which you could reach by bolting, but it seems a little pointless.
There is a 1987 extension, but I can't make much sense of the logbook description.",,,,,,"? MISSING (grade 5)","caves/087/087.svx",,"111.5m",,"The 1987 logbook suggests we changed this to 87b and the cave that had mistakenly been numbered 88, called 87b on this site, we called 87a, so we had better look into this.",,,"p87","first (of several) bolts used for rigging, LHS of entrance",,,,,,,,,,"In a dry valley leading up from the Stögerweg (path 201) shortly after the turn off for Schnellzughöhle. In 2001 the hole was seen blowing a large quantity of vapour visible from some way off.",,,,"Paint","No. 87 in red, which is correct but might have been changed to 87A (OK) or 87B (bad) in 1987","Surveyed", +"87A","3/S +",,,,"smkridge/87.htm",,,"Schacht 87A bei Stögerweg",,,"2a","CUCC 1980, 1987","Horizontal entrance at base of small cliff at head of dry valley, leads over peaty infill to a pitch head. Cross first hole and descend second, 30m to large chamber. To left is unsurveyed inlet ending too small, while to right is head of very steeply descending phreatic-tube-like pitch of 15m vertically (20m+ of rope). This is a little thrutchy to start, but opens out, and ends in a short climb.
A further 15m pitch follows, hanging clear of a wall made up mainly of boulders. A way on across the head of the final pitch appears too tight. Hole in floor is last pitch, of 33m, which has a boulder 10m high in it, and you can descend either side. Draught is lost into a small passage which you could reach by bolting, but it seems a little pointless.
There is a 1987 extension, but I can't make much sense of the logbook description.",,,,,,"? MISSING (grade 5)","caves/87/87.svx",,"111.5m",,"The 1987 logbook suggests we changed this to 87b and the cave that had mistakenly been numbered 88, called 87b on this site, we called 87a, so we had better look into this.",,,"p87","first (of several) bolts used for rigging, LHS of entrance",,,,,,,,,,"In a dry valley leading up from the Stögerweg (path 201) shortly after the turn off for Schnellzughöhle. In 2001 the hole was seen blowing a large quantity of vapour visible from some way off.",,,,"Paint","No. 87 in red, which is correct but might have been changed to 87A (OK) or 87B (bad) in 1987","Surveyed", "87B","0/S +",,,,"smkridge/87B.htm",,,"Schacht 87B bei Stögerweg",,,"2a","CUCC 1980, 1987",,,,,,,,,,"1.2m",,"The 1987 logbook suggests we changed this to 87a and 87 to 87b, so we had better look into this. ",,,,,,,,,,,"circa 1505m",,,"In Stogerweg - you literally step over it while walking along the path.
Numbered '88' in a fit of optimism while the explorer was getting changed to investigate this impressively draughting hole, it proved in fact to be only 1.2 metres deep and too tight. It appears to be above the inlet below pitch 1 in cave 87, and has been renumbered 87b, since the Austrians have allocated number 88 to Lärchenhöhle.",,,,"Paint",,"Refindable","Easily refindable, it's right on the Stogerweg path. May well be erroneously marked as 88" 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","SMK system total 54000m","to connection below Stellerweg big pitch; SMK system total 1032m","SMK system total 2812m",,,,"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." @@ -500,4 +500,4 @@ ,,,"2006-73",,"plateau/2006-73.html",,,"Ice Curtain Cave",,,"1d","CUCC 2006 (Jenny + Olly)",,,,,,,,,,,,,,"p2006-73",,,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,,,,,"Spit","Spit placed in high point between entrances 2006; tag ""2006-73"" placed 2007-07-23.",, ,,,"2007-70",,"plateau/2007-70.html",,,"Spit Pot",,,"1d","CUCC 2007 (Jenny + Olly)",,,,,,"In dataset",,"caves/2007-70/2007-70.svx",,,,,,"p2007-70",,,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,,,,,"Spit",,"Surveyed", ,,,"2007-71",,"plateau/2007-71.html",,,,,,"1d","CUCC 2007 (Jenny + Olly)",,,,,,"In dataset",,"caves/2007-71/2007-71.svx",,,,,,"p2007-71",,,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,,,,,"Spit",,"Surveyed", -,,,"2007-72",,"plateau/2007-72.html",,,"Batter Pot",,,"1d","CUCC 2006, 2007 (Jenny + Olly)",,,,,,"In dataset",,"caves/2007-72/2007-72.svx",,,,,,"p2007-72",,,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,,,,,,"White hammered cross","Surveyed", +,,,"2007-72",,"plateau/2007-72.html",,,"Batter Pot",,,"1d","CUCC 2006, 2007 (Jenny + Olly)",,,,,,"In dataset",,"caves/2007-72/2007-72.svx",,,,,,"p2007-72",,,,"Surface survey",,,,,,,,,,,,"Tag","Tag ""07/72"" placed 2007-07-30.","Surveyed",