| 258 - a b | Tunnockschacht | 2 ?? |
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From the stone bridge, follow the cairns towards 204e entrance. Upon reaching the final gully, where the path turns up to the right towards that entrance, continue straight across and then work to the right, traversing around the rear lip of a hole. This leads to the bottom of a loose climb, which is ascended to reach another level. A prominent Christmas tree style fir marks the point where another climb is made to the next level up. It is then necessary to ascend to the next level above this, either by a short traverse and then a narrow climb between two blocks, or by heading right and then heading back up to the left. Having done this, a short ascent on small loose stones brings one to the uppermost level, marked by a prominent cairn (visible from the stone bridge).
Follow the cairns around to the left, descending slightly at first and then maintaining the same level, to eventually reach a cairned point overlooking a large broken gully running from right to left. Descend into the gully (passing the shaft of 2004-18) and cross to the other side where an obvious level ascends upwards and to the right. Having reached the top, follow the cairns to the right to arrive quickly at an area with a hole to each side. The shakehole to the left, containing a cairn some two feet high, contains the A entrance; the B entrance is the other hole.
Warning: There are a fair number of loose rocks on the entrance pitch, particularly in the top section. Rocks that have been dislodged could fall almost all the way down the shaft. It is advisable for one person to descend at a time and for the others to cower in the places marked below, or wait at the very bottom by the ice stals.
The entrance, of moderate proportions, gives onto a steeply-sloping shaft that descends for a total of 70m depth. The shaft is imposing, and the view up from mid-descent is impressive. A thread in the bottom of the shakehole is succeeded by a bolt on the left wall under the dripline, enabling a descent for several metres to a small ledge. Working around to the right here gains a rebelay, succeeded by another under a small nose of rock just where the shaft becomes vertical.
The landing after the rebelay is on a large ledge, partially occupied by a large area of snow. There is a bolt here to anchor the rope, and above is visible the shaft of the B entrance. Upslope leads to an alcove, where it is possible to shelter whilst people are on the upper part of the pitch. The rear of this alcove opens onto the top of a pitch that appears to be of quite some depth [QM B]. Downslope from the landing a traverse is followed on the left wall; a bolt low on the wall just before the end provides the belay for a scruffy descent of only two metres to another rebelay on a flat wall. From here, the descent continues either on top of or alongside a large snow plug to a rebelay on the left wall. After this, one continues over a section of loose boulders and then drops in an awkward crack to a crows' nest known as the Col, where there is a further rebelay. (The rigging just above the Col is sub-optimal, and could do with further work.) Care should be taken at the Col not to bang one's head on the boulders above, as their undersides look loose. The Col provides a further place where shelter can be taken from falling debris.
Continuing the descent in the main shaft from the Col gains another snow plug and the base of the rift holding the Col. It is possible that this rift could lead to further passage [QM B], either accessed from this point or by descending the pitch on the other side at the Col. Abseiling over the snow plug towards the right wall, a high bolt provides the belay for the final section of the pitch. The rope rubs on a boulder here and a deviation should be installed. The final section drops near-vertical for a short distance and then becomes steeply-sloping over snow. Gradually, the snow flattens out (passing a possible way on to the side of the snow plug on the left wall [QM C]), and the bottom is reached at a pool of ice. There is an ice stal on the right and another in an alcove to the left. The one in the alcove could be ascended with ice and/or climbing equipment to reach a passage [QM C]. On the existing rigging, reaching this point requires approximately 100 metres of rope, a long sling, and nine hangers.
The main way on from the ice pool is a hole at floor level that leads into a chamber. Another small hole to the right gives access to Bauernkrapfen Passage, a well-formed crawl debouching into a large rift chamber, Three Fried Mice. Following the chamber around to the left leads to a choke at the bottom of a slope, although before this it is possible to climb up the wall and through a hole under boulders to gain a higher level, with a view over the chamber before Bauernkrapfen Passage but no other ways on.
Following the rift around to the right from the end of Bauernkrapfen Passage, passing some faulted phreatic tubes in the left wall, leads to an opening in the right wall. This sucks strongly and continues as a phreatic passage past a delicate traverse over a hole [QM C] to eventually arrive at a further hole in the floor. This will require rigging to traverse or descend.