diff --git a/cave_data/1623-107.html b/cave_data/1623-107.html
index 830e3bd4f..4d3c34fc6 100644
--- a/cave_data/1623-107.html
+++ b/cave_data/1623-107.html
@@ -24,19 +24,87 @@
CUCC 1978, 2013: opened and Big Rift explored by Team Youth. Team
Geriatric explored the Big Pitch and reached the bottom. Olly and
Jenny extended in 2012/2013
-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 (or at least did in the late 1970s). This large, phreatic passage leads to 83 (via Down Under) to the southwest (by climbing up the hading left wall into a higher level passage) and Ropeless to the northeast. The 1970's way on is down pitch in a rift almost opposite the entrance pitch, from which some of the draught pours.
-To the northeast, the passage is smaller and is soon broken by a 5m deep rift. Upstream (right) ends in a boulder choke below 2012-70, downstream (left) appears to connect to the 1970’s pitch series. To continue, the rift is crossed by a pendule to a chossy slope up on the other side. From the top of this slope a series of short dusty ramping pitches lead down. In 2012 a rope was only used at the top, but in 2013 it was rigged down to the bottom (p10, c3). At the bottom a short section of dusty crawling passage (draft in your face) leads to another rampy pitch. This is initially freehanging, but becomes more rampy (p10, c7). At the bottom of the rampy section, a rifty pitch continues below, and a traverse level heads off to the NNE and into Ropeless. There are two ways Ropeless can be gained. In 2012 the rigging ended when all available gear was used, and a bold traverse continued until it was (just) possible to climb down into the sandy passage. In 2013 more gear was available, and the drop was rigged down from the end of the traverse followed by a short (rigged) down and up to gain the same sandy passage.
-This sandy passage is followed against a strong draft. Shortly (~15m later) the passage bends to the right, and a smaller walking sized side passage leaves on the left (which is more obvious when going out) - this leads to Wonderland via Sea of Fudge and connections to the 1970’s route.
-Continuing east along the main Ropeless passage, a short climb down (rigged in 2013) and traverse across brings you into a large, drippy chamber with rocks all over the floor. At the end of this a small rift is descended (rope) down a narrow rubble slope which isn’t very stable, so beware of dislodging rocks onto people or the rope below (this may in fact be better rigged by traversing at a higher level from the chamber and then dropping when it opens out). After a few metres you land on a col with pitches to each side. West quickly ends in a too tight rift, East is descended to a rubble slope. Facing down the slope, Ropefree is through a window on the left-hand (north) wall, reached by a short rope traverse. From the top of this it is possible to scramble down the other side into another chamber. A strong draft emanates from a far too-tight right in the floor on the right. At the end of the chamber a tight rift can be gained at floor level, but it is better to bridge up and along, traversing over some rocks (avoiding one squeeze) to an unavoidable short squeeze (Pushing the Envelope). This is best entered feet first - there is a convenient ledge the other side (but do keep in mind there is a pitch below). Tackle is best passed through with at least one person on each side.
-Immediately through Pushing the Envelope, is a rift pitch that appears to continue down a fair way. Descend the top narrow part of the rift (rope) until it opens out where a traverse ledge takes you around the left side of the continuing pitch into Sleepless.
-Sleepless is a fairly high passage. It is best to follow it at floor level - there is an upper level but this ends in a tricky climb down through the boulders. Following the lower level (which soon splits off down a sloping climb on the right side of the passage) a short section of straight rift is soon followed by some pretty mud banks. The passage opens out and narrows again and continues until it is broken by a small hole. This can be crossed with a short traverse (rope). Beyond this, Sleepless appears to continue north with a pitch. The main way on is to ignoring this and follow ledges round to the right into a short section of curving phreatic passage. Shortly this hits the end of a large cross rift which heads off to the South. At this intersection, the draught is really strong and cold - this is the Coldest Place in Earth. Skirt around the end of the cross rift on the left (rope) to where a short pitch descends to a gloopy muddy floor.
-The Coldest Place in Earth is followed until a large pitch is reached. This is crossed by Easy Traverse (rope) round ledges on the LH wall. Beyond this, the passage is followed until a pitch is reached. The Twin Pitches are split by a wet muddy pool. At the bottom of the second part of the pitch the cave becomes more rift like - Restless.
-From the base of the second of the Twin Pitches, a floor trench soon starts. The best route we found was (description written from memory nearly a year later) to descend about 2m into in it fairly soon, then traverse along at that level for a bit, climbing down about another 2m near a chock stone (if you descend too quickly the rift is very awkward to move along - and coming out, it’s quite easy to miss where to climb up and find yourself trapped in the bottom of the rift, unable to get higher - if this happens, just backtrack looking carefully for where to climb up). The rift widens as it kinks left, and you want to descend onto the large ledge which is (hopefully) not far below. Traverse round as the rift bends back to the right, and the short Rift Pitch soon follows. This pitch ends on some ledges (but there is a continuation below), follow these ledges on. Continue along the rift, traversing on ledges and climbing down when possible past a small pool. The passage now widens and is broken by a large undescended pitch, Too Bold for This Spit. This is thought to connect with China 68m below. A traverse is made along the right hand wall to reach a passage on the other side with a chossy floor sloping up. From the top of this slope, head down the other side and follow the passage as it bends to the NE.
-The passage is broken by a short pitch Down and Up, abseil down this and climb the other side (free-climbable to rig, but really deserves a rope for normal use) to reach Land of Confusion. The main rift passage is high, but in places narrow, and can be followed past several easy climbs and side passages to reach the head of a large pitch, Korea.
-Korea can be descended to land at the south end of a large breakdown chamber with several ways on. To continue deeper cross to the North end of the chamber and wriggle down through the rocks until it opens out further. A series of pitches can be descended through the rocks into a continuing rift. To reach China, follow the southern wall to the west through breakdown and down a short climb until you break out into a large passage, China. Turning right in China quickly ends in a large muddy/bouldery wall, with a passage on the right which connects back to the Korea chamber via a short pitch. Turning left, China can be followed along and down until the passage eventually narrows, and progress is blocked by a pitch.
-Wonderland
Following the side passage from ropeless leads down several short climbs to come out in the wall of a slightly larger passage. Left here leads to a connection with the 1970’s route, and to another with Ropeless. Right leads to Wonderland via a short wet and muddy duck, the Sea of Fudge. When going through the pinch point, beware of a stalactite. After this the passage enlarges until it ends at a junction with a cross rift. To the right this soon ends, but left can be followed down a couple of climbs (the second is easiest if you follow the LHW) to land at the bottom a drippy aven. Climb up into a tall narrow rift on the other side, and wriggle through The Rabbit Hole (the wide point in an otherwise too narrow rift). This quickly becomes a keyhole passage with a walking sized phreatic part which is followed. The floor trench quickly leaves the main passage on the right (following the departing floor trench is awkward at first, but opens out at an undescended pitch).
-The main Wonderland passage is followed, past a small chamber on the left (with side passage doubling back), and then a second larger chamber. The is a climb up on the back wall of this chamber which appears to gain a passage above. A low way on at the end of the chamber reconnects with the main passage further west. The main passage suddenly gets much smaller and splits with a choked passage on the right and a small aven on the left.
-Big rift series
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.
+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 (or at least did in the late 1970s). This large, phreatic passage leads to 83 (via Down Under) to the southwest (by climbing up the
+hading left wall into a higher level passage) and Ropeless to the northeast. The 1970's way on is down pitch in a rift almost opposite the
+entrance pitch, from which some of the draught pours.
+To the northeast, the passage is smaller and is soon broken by a 5m deep rift. Upstream (right) ends in a boulder choke below 2012-70,
+downstream (left) appears to connect to the 1970’s pitch series. To continue, the rift is crossed by a pendule to a chossy slope up on the
+other side. From the top of this slope a series of short dusty ramping pitches lead down. In 2012 a rope was only used at the top, but in 2013
+it was rigged down to the bottom (p10, c3). At the bottom a short section of dusty crawling passage (draft in your face) leads to another rampy
+pitch. This is initially freehanging, but becomes more rampy (p10, c7). At the bottom of the rampy section, a rifty pitch continues below, and
+a traverse level heads off to the NNE and into Ropeless. There are two ways Ropeless can be gained. In 2012 the rigging ended when all
+available gear was used, and a bold traverse continued until it was (just) possible to climb down into the sandy passage. In 2013 more gear was
+available, and the drop was rigged down from the end of the traverse followed by a short (rigged) down and up to gain the same sandy passage.
+This sandy passage is followed against a strong draft. Shortly (~15m later) the passage bends to the right, and a smaller walking sized
+side passage leaves on the left (which is more obvious when going out) - this leads to Wonderland via Sea of Fudge and connections to the
+1970’s route.
+Continuing east along the main Ropeless passage, a short climb down (rigged in 2013) and traverse across brings you into a large, drippy
+chamber with rocks all over the floor. At the end of this a small rift is descended (rope) down a narrow rubble slope which isn’t very stable,
+so beware of dislodging rocks onto people or the rope below (this may in fact be better rigged by traversing at a higher level from the chamber
+and then dropping when it opens out). After a few metres you land on a col with pitches to each side. West quickly ends in a too tight rift,
+East is descended to a rubble slope. Facing down the slope, Ropefree is through a window on the left-hand (north) wall, reached by a
+short rope traverse. From the top of this it is possible to scramble down the other side into another chamber. A strong draft emanates from a
+far too-tight right in the floor on the right. At the end of the chamber a tight rift can be gained at floor level, but it is better to bridge
+up and along, traversing over some rocks (avoiding one squeeze) to an unavoidable short squeeze (Pushing the Envelope). This is best
+entered feet first - there is a convenient ledge the other side (but do keep in mind there is a pitch below). Tackle is best passed through
+with at least one person on each side.
+Immediately through Pushing the Envelope, is a rift pitch that appears to continue down a fair way. Descend the top narrow part of the rift
+(rope) until it opens out where a traverse ledge takes you around the left side of the continuing pitch into Sleepless.
+Sleepless is a fairly high passage. It is best to follow it at floor level - there is an upper level but this ends in a tricky climb down
+through the boulders. Following the lower level (which soon splits off down a sloping climb on the right side of the passage) a short section
+of straight rift is soon followed by some pretty mud banks. The passage opens out and narrows again and continues until it is broken by a small
+hole. This can be crossed with a short traverse (rope). Beyond this, Sleepless appears to continue north with a pitch. The main way on is to
+ignoring this and follow ledges round to the right into a short section of curving phreatic passage. Shortly this hits the end of a large cross
+rift which heads off to the South. At this intersection, the draught is really strong and cold - this is the Coldest Place in Earth.
+Skirt around the end of the cross rift on the left (rope) to where a short pitch descends to a gloopy muddy floor.
+The Coldest Place in Earth is followed until a large pitch is reached. This is crossed by Easy Traverse (rope) round ledges on the LH
+wall. Beyond this, the passage is followed until a pitch is reached. The Twin Pitches are split by a wet muddy pool. At the bottom of
+the second part of the pitch the cave becomes more rift like - Restless.
+From the base of the second of the Twin Pitches, a floor trench soon starts. The best route we found was (description written from memory
+nearly a year later) to descend about 2m into in it fairly soon, then traverse along at that level for a bit, climbing down about another 2m
+near a chock stone (if you descend too quickly the rift is very awkward to move along - and coming out, it’s quite easy to miss where to climb
+up and find yourself trapped in the bottom of the rift, unable to get higher - if this happens, just backtrack looking carefully for where to
+climb up). The rift widens as it kinks left, and you want to descend onto the large ledge which is (hopefully) not far below. Traverse round
+as the rift bends back to the right, and the short Rift Pitch soon follows. This pitch ends on some ledges (but there is a continuation
+below), follow these ledges on. Continue along the rift, traversing on ledges and climbing down when possible past a small pool. The passage
+now widens and is broken by a large undescended pitch, Too Bold for This Spit. This is thought to connect with China 68m below. A
+traverse is made along the right hand wall to reach a passage on the other side with a chossy floor sloping up. From the top of this slope,
+head down the other side and follow the passage as it bends to the NE.
+The passage is broken by a short pitch Down and Up, abseil down this and climb the other side (free-climbable to rig, but really
+deserves a rope for normal use) to reach Land of Confusion. The main rift passage is high, but in places narrow, and can be followed past
+several easy climbs and side passages to reach the head of a large pitch, Korea.
+Korea can be descended to land at the south end of a large breakdown chamber with several ways on. To continue deeper cross to the North end
+of the chamber and wriggle down through the rocks until it opens out further. A series of pitches can be descended through the rocks into a
+continuing rift. To reach China, follow the southern wall to the west through breakdown and down a short climb until you break out into a large
+passage, China. Turning right in China quickly ends in a large muddy/bouldery wall, with a passage on the right which connects back to
+the Korea chamber via a short pitch. Turning left, China can be followed along and down until the passage eventually narrows, and progress is
+blocked by a pitch.
+Wonderland
Following the side passage from ropeless leads down several short climbs to come out in the wall of a slightly larger
+passage. Left here leads to a connection with the 1970’s route, and to another with Ropeless. Right leads to Wonderland via a short wet and
+muddy duck, the Sea of Fudge. When going through the pinch point, beware of a stalactite. After this the passage enlarges until it
+ends at a junction with a cross rift. To the right this soon ends, but left can be followed down a couple of climbs (the second is easiest if
+you follow the LHW) to land at the bottom a drippy aven. Climb up into a tall narrow rift on the other side, and wriggle through The Rabbit
+Hole (the wide point in an otherwise too narrow rift). This quickly becomes a keyhole passage with a walking sized phreatic part which is
+followed. The floor trench quickly leaves the main passage on the right (following the departing floor trench is awkward at first, but opens
+out at an undescended pitch).
+The main Wonderland passage is followed, past a small chamber on the left (with side passage doubling back), and then a second larger
+chamber. The is a climb up on the back wall of this chamber which appears to gain a passage above. A low way on at the end of the chamber
+reconnects with the main passage further west. The main passage suddenly gets much smaller and splits with a choked passage on the right and a
+small aven on the left.
+Big rift series
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.
2013 Plan
diff --git a/cave_data/1623-161.html b/cave_data/1623-161.html
index b39fb7f41..568d7b878 100644
--- a/cave_data/1623-161.html
+++ b/cave_data/1623-161.html
@@ -57,7 +57,67 @@
CUCC 1988-98dd
-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.
Exploration
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.
Overview
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.
Tourist trips
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!
Structure
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.
+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.
Exploration
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.
Overview
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.
Tourist trips
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!
Structure
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.
? grade 5