Balkonhöhle Underground Description
Entrance series
Horizontal entrance leads off from balcony part-way down cliff, access to balcony is from above using handline. Handline attached to bunder and two bolts 15m rope required.
Entrance immediately splits into two stooping passages, left leads to blind pitch. The right-hand passage (which draughts gently out) has a short pitch, onto col between two shafts, the smaller shaft with a wedged bolder drops into a larger shaft. Following down a further gully leads to the main hang of the pitch, landing on a loose ledge. A traverse along the ledge leads to a short pitch to a large chamber.
Note:
The large pitch pitch becomes impassible in wet weather.
A 4 man bothy bag and brew kit is to be stored in the chamber at bottom of pitches.
Room with a view
At the bottom of the pitch series you will be at one end of a large chamber.
Small passage leading down boulder slope under pitch leads to DigDug area. Heading toward the center you will climb around a large boulder. Behind boulder rubble cone spills onto short shaft, rubble slope, 30m shaft and blind pit.
Traverse around rubble cone at this point leads to slope and the main passage, a sandy floored orange rift heading left out of the end of the chamber.
The rift continues gently upward, winding a little until a sharp left turn. Just before this turn is a smaller passage leading right and down which leads to Chasm Passage. The main rift continues, sloping slightly down until it makes a sharp right turn and starts to slope steeply upward becoming slippery underfoot.
The passage continues to slope upward, traversing around a 10m deep blind pit. Immediately after the pit a small crawling passage leads off left, leading to Hiltaplenty. Continuing along the main passage a small sandy passage on the right is the quick way through to Liar's Bakery.
The main passage continues over some boulders to end in a large chamber with water splashing down from an aven in the far corner. The obvious continuation is through a low wide archway on the right wall into Liar's Bakery. Up the left wall of the chamber is a short freeclimb up to Lemonsnout. A bolt and a thread on either side of the opening provide the opportunity to rig a handline if desired.
Start of Hiltaplenty
Accessed by turning left into low passage immediately after a short traverse past a deep hole on the main route away from the bottom of the entry series pitches. The passage continues as an easy crawl over dry, sandy mud. After a relatively short distance the passage reached a t-juction of almost standing height. Right leads to increasingly cramped and bouldery crawls whilst left almost immediately reaches Hiltaplenty pitch.
Lemon Snout
After climbing up to the entrance, Lemon Snout appears as a tall, narrow rift passage with a rocky floor. A short way in the passage turns sharply left then right, with an awkward boulder to scramble around on the second corner. The rift continues sloping gently upward, after a short while the floor drops about a meter and it is advisable to continue by traversing on the obvious footholds.
The rift traverse turns right above a hole in the lower level which is large enough to crawl into, but only connects back to the main rift in two other places. Meanwhile, the main traverse curves back left and lowers to meet the floor. After this a pair of smoothed rock bridges cut the passage in two vertically, they can be climbed from between the two but not from the outside.
After the bridges the passage forks, with the larger route heading left, but more passage in the right fork.
A hole in the on the left route floor shortly after leads steeply down, but doesn't continue. Avoiding this you come to a slightly wider chamber with a cracked black mud floor, and then the rift closes up.
Liar's Bakery
Natural High
Chasm passage
Leeds Bypass
Far Side
Turtlehead
