161 Kaninchenhöhle: Right Hand Route (1988)

Overview: passage in the same sub-horizontal level as LHR, leads west and north to bigger descending passage heading NE before dropping into huge chambers giving access to a major phreatic level at 1510m (-280m), rising northwards (fossil downstream) to 1540m, punctuated by ways into deep shaft systems and leading eventually to an area of much greater complexity to the NE.

The Chunnel (1988)

At the start of the Right Hand Route reached via Dewdrop or Becka Falls is a descending route which takes the form of a large phreatic passage, The Chunnel, which is covered by a thin layer of moon milk. Walking leads round to the right for 30m until the short (7m) Chunnel Pitch breaks up the passage. A thread belay at the top of a greasy slope protects the approach to the hang from a bolt in the roof.

A further descent (off the main route) enters Bladerunner, whilst along The Chunnel for another 30m reaches an area with large rock pinnacles, odd water-worn clefts.

Over the Rainbow (1988)

The Chunnel drops into an open area of fallen boulders with several holes in the floor. The best route into this area is to traverse along the second cleft on the right and drop through a small hole beneath a boulder at its end. From here traversing left allows a climb down to the floor (easy if you have done it before, but awkward first time when approached from above). On the floor, by the left hand wall, is Pot of Gold and across the chamber is a wedged block allowing a traverse over the deep Rainbow Pitch, followed by a steep slope upwards; Over the Rainbow. To the right of this hole is a rock pillar and the other side of it allows a safe bypass. Two other holes in the floor in this area connect to Rainbow Pitch which becomes too tight 10m down.

Bungalow and Poxy pitches (1988)

The large Chunnel phreas now continues with a step at an oxbow to a wider boulder-floored section with avens in the left hand wall where Dreamtime rejoins the Right Hand Route. The short Bungalow Pitch on the right hand wall goes down 7m under a HUGE wedged boulder, The Bungalow.

The passage has now become a wide boulder-floored rift. Ten metres on is the 6m Poxy Pitch, again on the right hand wall. Both Poxy and Bungalow pitches can be avoided by difficult climbs against left hand (northwest) wall. The continuing climb down through a massive boulder collapse area reaches a flat slab and an apparent junction. To the right it merely chokes in about 5m but it looks like the obvious way on when returning so most people have checked it out in detail.

Boulder Alley to Knossos (1988)

 Boulder Alley

Continuing instead to the left and up reaches the top of a large 45° boulder slope, Boulder Alley, which descends for 45m passing a probably unexplored pitch in the left hand wall, and a window 3m up on the right into Pit & Pendulum. A short sandy slope goes up from the foot of Boulder Alley and then the steeply descending boulders continue, passing a 4m climb down into a stream canyon in the left hand wall. A traverse line across Squashed Fly Traverse starts just after this climb, leading down a false floor, past a couple of holes, to the edge of a huge open space.

The 30m Knossos pitch, rigged as a single hang from 1991, deposits the intrepid caver on the sloping boulder floor of a 60m diameter domed space, Knossos, where most ways on are loose, choked or inaccessible from below. Knossos can also be reached (from 1996) from the massive horizontal development of the 161d (Scarface) entrance, and is the key to extensive systems running to the north, containing all the deepest points of the cave.