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<h2>161 Kaninchenh&ouml;hle: Left Hand Route</h2>

<h3><a name="cowboy">Cowboy Caver</a> (1995)</h3>

<p>5m into the Left Hand Route (from <a href="bsains.htm#beckaf">Becka
Falls</a>) on the left hand (northwest) wall there is a 3m climb
(<a href="../../fixaid.htm#cowboy">left rigged</a>)
which pops through an eyehole to a walking passage, <b>Cowboy Caver</b>.
Left immediately overlooks the squeeze pitch (downclimb possible).
Right continues 5m and turns left to overlook a pitch (~8m undescended
[<a href="qmtodo.htm#C1995-161-04" name="qC1995-161-04">C1995-161-04</a>] but probably blocked).
The pitch can be passed by climbing the left hand rib and traversing the
left hand wall (rigged) which gains a boulder slope on the far side that
ends after 10m.

<p>There are many holes in the roof. At the back of the slope you can climb
~5m up in immature inlet until it is rather grim - not pushed to the bitter
end [<a href="qmtodo.htm#C1995-161-05" name="qC1995-161-05">C1995-161-05</a>], but almost certainly
pointless. The other holes all appear to go to the same place. The one on the
right is the easiest and continuing in this direction leads to a climb down
(c3) to a junction. Left ends after 10m walking. Right immediately turns into
a pitch (~10m) undescended [<a href="qmtodo.htm#C1995-161-03"
name="qC1995-161-03">C1995-161-03</a>]. Ways on can be seen.

<h3>Passage above Garden Party (1990/1991)</h3>

<p>At the start of the Left Hand Route, as entered from <a
href="bsains.htm#beckaf"> Becka Falls</a>, is a short length of passage with
a 100&deg; right turn, leading very quickly to the normal entry point at
<a href="bsains.htm#snotp">Dewdrop Junction</a>. At this corner (from which
<a href="lhr.htm#gparty">Garden Party</a> descends), a short passage goes NW.
A difficult climb down over boulders leads to a low passage which forks. To
the right is a crawl updip for about 15m which gets too tight and very
inlety. To the left a crawl goes for about 10m to where a boulder almost
blocks the way. Squeezing past this reveals another 5m of passage and a pitch
of about 5m with too tight a top, which doesn't look as if it goes anywhere.

<h3>Rift Holes near Garden Party (1988)</h3>

<p>There is an outstanding 1988 question mark [<a href="qmtodo.htm#C1988-161-10"
name="qC1988-161-10">C1988-161-10</a>] hereabouts, but it seems likely that they drop into
another part of the same rift as everything else in this area.

<h3><a name="powersta">Powerstation</a> (1990)</h3>

<p>An impressive pitch series that doesn't seem to go anywhere.

<p><a name="foulness">At the corner</a> before <a href="lhr.htm#arrowc">Arrow
Chamber</a>, there are a couple of fallen blocks and some holes in the floor
[<a href="qmtodo.htm#C1988-161-09" name="qC1988-161-09">C1988-161-09</a>]. The smallest hole, on the
outside of the corner, was the way chosen, although they all seem to go into
the same rift. This first pitch is 12m down to the stone covered <b>Foulness
Ledge</b>.

<p>1990 logbook (28th July) suggests that going further left than <a
href="lhr.htm#butcher">Butcher</a> in Arrow Chamber, a route can be followed
which comes out 3m below the first rebelay (itself 3m down) on this first
Powerstation pitch.

<p><a name="dounreay">From here</a> is the classic <b>Dounreay</b> pitch, of
37m with a freehanging rebelay at -21m, down to where further vertical
descent is in a trench in the floor. This is a 5m pitch, <b>Sizewell A</b>,
to a further floor with another trench, about 3m deep. To the left (north) is
a rift hole, leading to a 5m pitch, <b>Sizewell B</b>, to a sandy floor.
Small tubes lead both north (passable for some way as a small crawl which
must be reversed out of) and south, where there is a visual connection only
back to the bottom of Sizewell A, the main route. Down the 3m drop in the
trench is a floor with a narrow hole in it, and a boulder slope up.

<p><a name="dinorwig">Through</a> the narrow hole is a 9m pitch to a ledge
looking out onto a massive shaft. This is a 53m pitch from a wire tether, 
<b>Dinorwig</b>, with a small rift at the bottom. A 4m pitch under a large
boulder leads to a 13m pitch, <b>Some Like It Hot</b>.
Across the top of the pitch is a hole. Halfway down this on the left is a
dead-end passage. At the bottom are a couple of small ways off, both of which
are blocked. The deepest point is at 1539m, or a depth of -248m from 161a.

<p>Up the boulder slope from the 3m drop below Sizewell A leads to a window
onto a big space, probably the top of Dinorwig, and a very awkward, tight
passage just to the left of the window. This looks out over a couple of
holes in the floor, and has not been pushed.

<p>Reading the <a href="/years/1990/log.htm">1990 logbook</a> can
lead to enormous confusion in Powerstation, because names used on the
original exploration trip were rationalised and applied to different places
by the time of the survey. See the <a href="names.htm">Glossary</a> for
details of these changed usages.

<h3><a name="arrowch">Arrow Chamber</a> (1988)</h3>

<p>Arrow chamber is about 30m by 15m, and entered from the zig zag Left Hand
Route passage. The left end (north east) is the very square <b>Lift Shaft</b>
aven, with <b>Pacman Wall</b> on one side (named after its huge array of
bisected fossilised bivalves). To the right (south west) are a pair of holes
<b>Baker</b> and <b>Candlestick Maker</b> (cf.
<a href="lhr.htm#butcher">Butcher</a> on the main route). The far side of
these is reached by a (rigged) traverse with few handholds, crossing between
them. This led, "after about 20m, to two short undescended pitches" when
first found (Del's Bit <a href="qmdone.htm#C1989-161-02">C1989-161-02</a>).

<h4><a name="pitchrp">Pitch-Ramp Series</a> (1993)</h4>

<p><img src="roadwk.png" align=left hspace=10 vspace=10
width=40 height=40> In 1993, a 4m pitch at the back of the chamber reached a
comfortable passage that forks. The right hand fork soon drops in a 10m pitch
at the start of the <b>Pitch-Ramp Series</b>. A traverse across this leads
only to a possible alternative descent, and no way on. Below the pitch, a
ramp leads to a second pitch of 5m, to a second ramp. The next pitch has a
single bolt rebelay, deviated off a rocking boulder, but still required a
protector to descend 13m to third ramp. Ascending this, the phreatic tube
expires and the trench is too tight for descent. The deepest point is at
1652m, or a depth of -135m from 161a.

<p>Left at the fork is a similar phreatic ramp, without pitches, passable for
only a short distance.

<h3><a name="ptlessp">Pointless</a> (1993)</h3>

<p>Examination of the two holes in Arrow Chamber shows that they are merely
part of a deep elliptical chamber, of which Arrow Chamber itself is only a
part, above a rather dubious false floor. <a href="#arrowch">Candlestick
Maker</a>, ([<a href="qmdone.htm#C1988-161-01">C1988-161-01</a>], is descended for 15m to a
large, flat debris-strewn area with two large holes at either end. This
proves to be another metre-thick false floor. Bolts in the wall give a fine
freehang, <b>Pointless pitch</b>, for 30m to a ledge, then 7m to the bottom.
A scrofulous crawl leads to another chamber from where an awkward squeeze
leads to another 9m pitch which proved to be blind at a depth of -173m from
161a (altitude 1613m).

<h3><a name="fcp">French Connection</a> (1989)</h3>

<p>From the ledge 7m above the foot of
<a href="lhr.htm#niflheim">Niflheim</a>, traversing round to the right leads
into a 5m canyon passage which emerges in the wetter part of the Niflheim
shaft at the head of <a href="lhr.htm#birdseye">French Connection Pitch</a>.
The 9m drop (<a href="../../fixaid.htm#fcon">left rigged</a>) leads to
<a href="drunk.htm#fcc">French Connection Chamber</a> which can also be
reached from the <a href="drunk.htm#helipad">Helipad</a> in
<a href="drunk.htm#dands">Drunk &amp; Stupid</a>. The (Niflheim) water coming
down the pitch has cut a small canyon across the chamber floor to a 6m pitch
into a rift at the other side. At the foot of this pitch the rift goes 5m
round to the left before becoming too tight.

<p>Also in French Connection Chamber there is a hole in the wall about 2m up
on the same side as French Connection pitch. This leads through to an aven
with a 4m pitch and a 2m climb up into another too-tight rift.

<p>Opposite the French Connection Pitch, reached by a traverse from the
unsurveyed <a href="drunk.htm#helipad">Helipad</a> connection is a large
phreatic passage about 5m high. This leads to a small sandy chamber. A climb
into a rift from the chamber leads to a small section of ever diminishing
rift that ends at a pitch, this proved to be the 'other side' of
<a href="offdns.htm#deadandb">Dead and Buried</a> off Drunk &amp; Stupid.

<h3><a name="ambidex">Ambidextrous</a> (1991)</h3>

<p>(This passage is also described <a href="offkns.htm#ambirtol">from the
other end</a>, for those coming from the Triassic Park entrance(s), or the
Right Hand Route)

<p><a name="tdilation">About 25m</a> after the climb up into
<a href="lhr.htm#ragnarok">Ragnar&ouml;k</a>, there is a boulder slope down
to the left. A climb down over boulders leads to a short pitch. This can also
be reached by 15m of walking passage coming out 15m further along
Ragnar&ouml;k at a 2m climb. The 6m pitch lands at the foot of a sandy slope.
At the top of this passage turn left and after 8m comes out at a col at the
top of a deep rift passage. A direct pitch on the right 20m into the passage
is avoided by climbing down the left side of the col and doubling back
underneath to a permanently rigged pitch of 11m. This section from
Ragnar&ouml;k to the pitch is <b>Time Dilation</b>. At the foot of the pitch
there are two ways on: up a sandy passage to the left or down to the right.

<p>The sandy passage goes dead straight on 230&deg;, sloping up dip for
20-30m to a steep rift climb down into a chamber. The continuation can be
seen at the top of a 10m pitch [<a href="qmtodo.htm#C1991-161-10"
name="qC1991-161-10">C1991-161-10</a>]. It seems likely that this is close to the foot of
the shaft erroneously known as Candlestick Maker pitch on the Left Hand
Route.

<p>From the bottom of Time Dilation pitch, the other route involves
traversing out for 2m and then a step across into a slot on the right which
leads into the continuation of the passage. A small inlet comes in at this
step, opposite the pitch. The passage now widens to the size apparent at the
top of the pitch and goes for 10m to a squeeze on the left, following the
water. A difficult climb on the right here apparently gives access to a dead
end ledge, but it has not actually been done to confirm this. Beyond the 2m
narrow section is a small chamber where the route almost doubles back. The
stream goes off impassably to the right whilst the route is a 2m climb up. At
the top is a sharp right (although the rift continues higher up). Here is
wider passage and another parallel rift after 10m.

<p><a href="300dpi/ambi.png"><img alt="Olympus survey - 21k gif" width=720
height=410 src="inline/ambi.png"></a>

<p><a name="prpointless">On the</a> right is about 5m of tight passage, only
passable at the top, <b>Pretty Pointless</b> (it had a small stal in it).

<p>To the left is an easy traverse giving a 6m pitch back down to the floor.
This can be by-passed by climbing down 5m through boulders just after the
corner. 5m beyond this climb, the main passage turns sharp right, but a
narrow route can be followed to the left to look out over an 8m diameter
hole. A short stream passage (10m before it gets too small) comes in from
the left.

<p>The main passage is 5m wide here as it skirts round the hole to another
view in from the opposite side. Quite a lot of water comes in from the roof
above the hole and a short pitch [<a href="qmtodo.htm#C1991-161-06"
name="qC1991-161-06">C1991-161-06</a>] can be seen at the bottom (5m down). This could be
the water from the <a href="#powersta">Powerstation</a> series.

<p><a name="wormhole">The passage</a> continues large to the right for 20m
before closing down somewhat to 1m wide for another 10m to a small chamber.
Beyond here is The <b>Wormhole</b>. The passage shrinks to crawling size and
then executes a couple of tight bends. Two short climbs down follow, and the
passage comes out in <a href="offkns.htm#wobbling">Wobbling</a>, off the
Right Hand Route.

<h3><a name="hellgrind">Hellgrind</a> (1989)</h3>

<p>A 1m diameter hole in the right hand wall at the edge of the
<a href="lhr.htm#blagoon">Black Lagoon</a> is the start of <b>Hellgrind</b>,
a tortuous tube going for some distance (with one offshoot that gets too
tight), leading to a 12m pitch into a boulder-floored rift. Climbing up the
sloping floor and then down the other side leads to a 20m pitch down to a wet
passage.

<p><a name="ttts">A couple</a> of metres to the left is <b>Thumper the
Talking Sump</b> and to the right are a couple of short climbs up to an aven
where the sump water comes down.

<h3><a name="trehala">Trehala</a> (1991)</h3>

On the right of the <a href="lhr.htm#blagoon">Black Lagoon</a>, 5m from the
end, there is an obscure, low (0.3m) passage off, <b>Trehala</b>. This leads
after 17m to a large chamber developed on a fault in two sections, about 25
&times; 10m. It appears to have been filled to a depth of about 5m with
conglomerate. This can be determined because it is possible to climb down
against the right hand wall to floor level in several places. It seems to be
a dead end.

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