If 40h is blocked by snow or ice, follow the description to the 'new'
entrance (Brennerbeselschluf, 40e), with a somewhat
limited area to get changed, perched between the icy blast from the cave and
whatever the Austrian weather is offering.
| 40 a - s | Schwarzmooskogel Eishöhle | 3/S/T/E x |
|---|
Altitudes: (from old kataster)
Laser rangefinding puts an entrance (which we believe is 40a - the highest) at E 36458.2 N (52)81700.4 H 1689.5
Location: SSE of Vd. Schwarzmooskogel and ENE of a large basin in the hillside which often contains a lot of snow. Roughly a 450m NNE of Sonnenstrahlhöhle.
Approach: From the Bergrestaurant, take path 201 to the left turn to the plateau at Egglgrube (where the cows often are; the second signpost you encounter along the route to Top Camp). This is about 15-20 minutes' walk from the Bergrestaurant.
Instead of taking the path to Top Camp, continue along the 201. Pass the junction path left to Kratzer and continue until a spit with a red circle around it is seen in the middle of the path. After about 10 metres a faint red upper-case Omega is seen in the middle of the path, marking Kat. 28 (we think). This is about 10 minutes from the Egglgrube turn-off. (If you reach a drop into the valley, initially steep and then easing off, then you have gone too far). At the Omega, there is a well-marked (cairns and red paint spots/arrows) branch path.
Follow this past a wire traverse and into a gully with a tree which has been struck by lightning on the right. (The path up the limestone to the left here leads to Schwabenschacht). After about 10 minutes' walk from the Omega you reach a small cliff with two red arrows pointing in opposite directions on it. (note: not a double-headed arrow, which you encounter on the route to Schwabenschacht). Do not continue straight on but climb up to the left, slightly doubling back on yourself.
After about fifteen minutes from the pair of arrows the path reaches a traverse (already rigged with an orange rope in 2000) over a deep hole; about five minutes after this you reach Bunter's Bulge (Weiße Warze; the Nipple) on your right. Pass this in the grassy gully and head round to the right after about fifty metres. Here new red paint marks appear and take you to 40a (Oberer Eingang), a very large entrance with a plaque proclaiming 'Schwarzmooskogel Eishöhle' and a green Nature Reserve sign bolted to the wall. This is about twenty minutes' walk from Bunter's Bulge. 40a is believed to be the Germans' (Munich) bivvy site. Note that in the dark the route between 40a and Bunter's Bulge can be difficult to follow.
To reach the main row of entrances (40s, 40h and 40e), continue past 40a up through some bunde and follow the path (heading in 2000 for a snow plug). Before the drop to the snow plug the path bears right slightly to a step over a small gully with a large hole on the right (believed to be 40b). Continue at about the same level until a short traverse round a bunde-covered outcrop of limestone with a fairly large entrance on the left is reached (choked in 2000). From here descend about ten metres and continue on a shelf at the same level to a 5m climb down karren. Continue at the same level to the left to reach a snow plug. The Nichts50 entrance (not yet connected to Eishöhle) can be seen as an arch ahead with a rubble slope leading down inside and a terrace for a bivvy site (believed to have been used by the French). 40h is about ten metres further along, draughts strongly (very cold!) and has a large snow slope leading down. Following the path leads past a small choked entrance (vocal connection to 40e discovered in 2000) to a point where the path ends abruptly and unambiguously. This is the site of the 40e entrance Brennerbeserlschluf), also strongly draughting. This is about ten minutes' walk from 40a.
Schwarzmooskogel Eishöhle is an extensive cave over 1600m long before 1983, extended to 2500m by a German group by 1985. The system is mainly horizontal, though tackle is needed to explore it fully, and crampons are necessary in parts, because of the substantial quantities of ice in the cave. Was extended by the Germans who work in the area in the early eighties, who suggested then that there was potential for extension vertically. Subsequently linked via a 30m pitch to Lärchenschacht (1623/88) which in turn was connected to the Stellerweghöhlensystem, giving no increase in depth if the laser-rangefound altitude is correct rather than the old kataster one, which seems likely.
From 'Längsten und Tiefsten Höhlen in Österreich', translated by Wookey and Thilo. Entrances have been labelled with the modern convention and parts in [square brackets] have been added for clarity.
The cave is on the south-eastern slopes of the Vorderer Schwarzmooskogel (1843) developed in Dachsteinkalk. From seven partly shaft-like entrance points, a huge, flat-floored level with impressive ice formations can be approached. The Schneevulkanhalle at the northern end is the biggest ice-bearing chamber in middle Europe.
Four entrances lead into the central area. A 40m shaft from the Top Entrance Oberen Eingang (40a) breaks into the ice-decorated Altausseer Halle. To the west from here via a 25m ramp accessing Schneehalle leads both to entrance 40b and the connecting gallery from the ice-bearing Thalhammerhalle, that can be entered from entrances 40c and 40d too. South of the Schnee and Altausseer Halles, the Teufelberger Halle connects, the bottom of which contains an ice lake. A wide passage with side shafts goes southsouthwest to Hans-Pfandl-Halle. The east connected room, also reached by a 23m high chimney (entrance 40g), is divided into two by a high block barrier. The Flußtunnel south from here ends blocked.
From the Altausseer Halle, a lofty passage with ice figures heads off NNE. The continuation is the Halle des Schiefen Turms, where the Wahnsinnschächte branches off on the west. It was thought that this was blocked by ice. However, over a wall of ice one reaches the 130 by 75 by 50 m Schneevulkanhalle, on the eastern wall of which rises a steep snowslope flowing from the Königsschachts (entrance 40f). The chamber with its very impressive ice formations can also be reached via the Brennerbeselschluf (entrance 40e) [and by Eistunnel (entrance 40h)]. At its northern end a climb reveals the easterly-running Kalten Gang and the parallel Spinnenfriedhof.
The principal objective of both pushing and tourist trips is the huge ice chamber of Schneevulkanhalle, which requires some serious ice work to reach from the older entrances (40a - d and 40g) in the middle of the system.
If entrance 40h is open this provides the easiest way to reach Schneevulkanhalle. In the left-hand wall, just before the start of the tube at the bottom of the daylight snow slope, are two Spits from which to rig a 35m rope. If the entrance is open you can abseil straight down the ice slope and stroll out into Schneevulkanhalle, entering just behind the 'elephant' formation seen in the top right of the picture below. Crampons are necessary from the surface onwards.
If 40h is blocked by snow or ice, follow the description to the 'new'
entrance (Brennerbeselschluf, 40e), with a somewhat
limited area to get changed, perched between the icy blast from the cave and
whatever the Austrian weather is offering.
The entrance is not walk-in, and low crawling in the face of the icy draught starts at once. A small descending tube (somewhat muddy - irritating in crampons!) leads in about 20m to a short climb down into larger (walking/stooping) passage Geröllgang. This goes downhill to a scramble up. This was totally ice-covered in 1997 and 1998, but not 1999 or 2000 and has a fixed rope (VfHO-installed), which may be buried in ice at somewhat critical points - a certain amount of care is needed if chipping it out with an ice-axe and gloves really are needed !
Partway up this slope is a space on the left [C0000-40-05 A], including a pitch in the floor. At the far end of this space, a short crawl and a grovel down through boulders where a stream comes in from above both choke. The pitch is a c3, p20, p30 - the last part being very wet in early summer. Leading to Schotterland.
Survey data also suggests a passage off to the right of the iceslope for 20m or so.
Above the scramble up is a short traverse, also rather interesting when covered in hard ice (and also protected by a fixed rope which had to be dug out in 1998). A steeply ascending passage to the L holds a quantity of particularly scrofulous rope (presumably a previous fixed rope). This can be climbed ~10m until it gets too vertical. It draughts. Beyond the ice is a steep snow/ice slope down into the huge Schneevulkanhalle. It is strongly recommended to equip this with a properly rigged SRT rope rather than anything less - the cave has seen a number of accidents, some fatal. Although the slope looks like soft snow, it is a layer of coarsely crystalline hard névé over solid ice. In parts it is almost impossible to kick steps into, whilst in others it offers only minimal purchase for crampon points. Conditions no doubt vary with the season as well as with position on the slope and the year. Tackle required: 50m rope, crampons.
There is one bolt at the top, for a traverse line to two bolts off to the right in the roof where the snow-slope proper starts. Sometimes the traverse area is full of snow and an ice-screw or ice-axe rebelay/deviation (club first ? in 1989) may be needed. A deviation (from rock) at the head of the steep section was found adequate in 1998.
The 50m Königschacht (40f) entrance is the source of the snow slope and comes in here. It is often full of snow but was open in 1999 and so was surveyed (by ARGE).
At the bottom is the main chamber from which the pitch does indeed look like a snow-covered volcanic cone. Most of the floor area is ice-covered and only a slight slope is necessary to make crampons vital here. Most of the chamber is filled with ice formations up to 15m high (end of season). Those with two ice-tools can climb almost anything in the chamber, though the formations are no doubt rather more spectacular and fragile in spring or early summer. Formation-ice can also shatter very easily as melting occurs between component crystals later in the season, so it is probably safer for climbers to stick to hard névé. Ways on are mostly reached by steeper slopes that definitely require ice-gear and can be quite unnerving approached from above. Note that the slopes are usually hard ice, ice-axe-braking after a slip is not an option - lifeline or don't fall !
The foot of the piss-wet pitch opens out into very large triangular passage. You can go NE about 35m until it chokes (a good draught comes out of one hoplessly choked corner) or SW 20m to a T-junction. Right (W) is Kleiner Keller. Left, ducking under the low wall, is Schotterland.
Kleiner keller is about 50m in huge passage to where the end is choked with glacial fill and a waterspout comes in the from the roof 3m up. A sling ladder makes it possible to ascend the waterspout - you can even do it without getting very wet, as the spout is unusually well-concentrated, and thus avoidable. This comes into an E-W rift, with the water coming from the east end. It can be ascended in both directions at various traverse levels for about 30m, but the top appears choked at all points. The top is probably very close to the floor of Elefantengang.
The old Munich cavers' data suggests that there is a passage off Kleiner Keller that we missed - which seems hard to believe, but maybe it is worth another visit?
Schotterland is more enormous passage (10m wide) going SSE, presumably Schotterland, due to the flooring of small rocks. A ramp goes up steeply on the left after 30m. It closes down after 40m. Ahead the passage slowly narrows until it chokes at the end - probably very close to the surface.
Starting from the base of the pitch from the 40e and 40f entrances (facing outwards from the slope), heading round the chamber to the left leads over a large flat area of ice to where a gap between ice and rock [C0000-40-01 A] drops 10m (2 bolts, one added 1999) into large passage: Elefantengang.
Right next to it is an icefall coming in from above [C0000-40-02 C]. Just to the right of this is a very low gap [C0000-40-06 B] made rather unpleasant by the pool of icy water that can't be avoided. This was apparently explored by GSCB in early 80s for approximately 40m, but was revisited in 2000 by Shinwell and Horsley. This led to the discovery of further passages, the Night Manipulations Series.
40m round the wall of the chamber is a rubble run-in, iced on the top half. This was climbed by Haines (1998) and Atkinson (1999), as well as the GSCB. At the top is a wet boulder choke that definitely doesn't go, but the GSCB plan shows a narrow rift on the right marked 'tight'. Halfway up this slope on the left is the narrow entrance to Persistence of Vision.
20m further round another couple of icefalls come in. Both are about 8-10m
and vertical
[C0000-40-03 A].
The first of these was bolted up by Betts in 2000 and is now permanently
rigged. This is the way to Mission Impossible which comes very close
to Kaninchenhöhle.
50m further round (downslope) the ice drops away steeply under the wall. A line is advisable for the descent. 20m down, the ice slope peters out giving way to sand and rocks. At the end here is a very strongly draughting hole [C0000-40-04 B]. This was excavated by Shinwell and Merson in 2000 to get through to Kalten Gang and Spinnenfriedhof (surveyed by VfHM, 1984). To the right at the foot of the slope closes down with rocks and ice - it would probably connect with Plastic Hell. A few metres up from the bottom of the slope on the left hand (N) wall is a gap between the ice and rock [A1998-40-06 A] leading to Express Finish.
Back in Schneevulkanhalle, another 10m clockwise round the chamber is another, steeper iceslope. A rope is definitely needed for this. This is the way to Plastic Hell.
Beyond and above are more thin icefalls coming from high in the ceiling - trying to climb these would be bonkers - the debris from the collapse of some of them is all around.
This passage leads to the 'old cave' via some difficult sections of steep ice.
The pitch drops down into large passage blocked by the ice wall behind. There is a crawl on the right that doesn't go. The main passage leads 80m SW to a wider area with several ways off. On the left 40m along here a narrow rift can be entered. It can be climbed both up and down but both directions are blocked. About 20m beyond this on the right, a narrow passage [C1999-40-14 A] is the start of Wahnsinnsschächte, a pitch series ending at the 50m Stern der Nacht, finishing at about -200m. This is inferred from incomplete survey data from Lindenmayr/Lorenz.
At the wider section the obvious route crosses ice (more nasty blue polyprop rope). In this area is evidence that the ice levels were much higher in 1938 as the initials 'CZ' are drawn on the wall about 2.5m above the ice. There are two small crawls on the left - which may be 'C' QMs; and one passage high up in the left wall which connects back to Elefantengang after about 8m.
The main way on is a (6m) climb up steep ice to the left. At the top is a steep ramp up to the right [A1999-40-11 C]. Easy passage leads 40m to a 4-way junction, where there is an inscription left by the 1938 cavers, little realising they were about 8m from the surface! Left is the new (1999) Grüner entrance, dug out by ARGE when they smelled the stars. Ahead right chokes quickly, although there is a small connection to the main way on. Right is the way on to the 'old cave'. First you cross a small crushed-ice pool, which is very weird. A small hole links through to the previous bit of passage and there is a narrow slow in the ice which sounds at least 15m deep. This bit of cave is incredibly cold and windy. A small chimney on the left is too tight. After 50m a 4m drop into large passage is reached. It is not free-climbable. A Spit was placed here in 2000 for the descent.
Below the ice climb out of Elefantengang the passage continues (with smaller dimensions) past a hole in the floor to the right [C1999-40-12 C] to where a strong draught blows up but the way is blocked by ice too poor to climb [C1999-40-13 C]. It seems likely that the slot connects to the main route above but the connection may be too tight.
The route follows the wall round in a narrow gap between wall and ice, then through a few boulders into a large space at least 20m high, Express Finish. It is the bottom of a deep canyon, partly infilled by rocks and ice from the south. The upper wall is steep ice, presumably from Schneevulkanhalle above, but perhaps there is passage up there? The ice is about 60-70 degrees and thus could be climbed, but it's a long way off the floor! The floor consists of boulders and descends steeply to the towards the large (in May) waterfall at the end. A 3m climb at the bottom reaches the foot of the waterfall. Progress can be made beyond the canyon at various levels. All of this seems to be scrotting about in the gaps between the ice and boulders against the solid northern wall. No ways on were found in a thorough search. What follows is detail of what was found.
At the top, next to the ice you can climb up and round for about 15m until the ice closes down against the wall.
There are two holes at the foot of the north wall of the canyon, the upper one pleasant, the smaller rather scrotty. These lead to two large levelish spaces, connected by a 2m icy climb (down only!). You can climb up from the top level to the left, and down from the bottom to the left (all choked). At the left end of the lower level is a far too tight blowing hole and a marginally desperate tight canyon, just too small even for Wook (due to a corner - you can physically get in the first metre or so). This has a draught - it's smallness is frustrating! To the right of this a climb down leads to a small (0.8m) icy canyon. After two 2m downclimbs in succession it closes down. At the right hand end of this level you can climb up back to the huge canyon via the scrotty hole, or down into more interstices. The water from the waterfall can be heard through the wall here. There seems to be a draught but after climbing down about 10m through the choke against the wall it is lost.
Descending the roped ice slope leads to a small chamber and a high rift leads off. A 5m mixed ice/rock pitch (10m rope) descends to a narrow slot. Leave your crampons here. Sliding through the slot you reach a wider bit, which is a respite before Plastic Hell. This is a tight 3m rift section, very difficult to negotiate for tall people in plastic boots (hence the name). A very strong draught blows through this whole section. 5m beyond this a 9m pitch. The bottom is a dead-end rift. You need to swing over a rock bridge half-way down to reach the way on.
This is a comfortable passage going off left and right. To the right chokes in sand after 15m. There is a visible connection to the bottom of the dead-end rift low on the right. To the left the passage ascends gently for 20m to come out in large trunk passage, extending ahead (east) and to the left (north). This is Cardboard Heaven.
Ahead in Cardboard Heaven leads up over and around huge boulders past a 3m aven hidden in an undercut to the left. The passage at ground level gets much smaller (2m high instead of 8m) and then chokes at a conglomerate run-in. A continuation of the main passage can be seen 5m up the end wall where it changes size [C1998-40-01 A]. There is also an eyehole about 3m up the wall on the right [C1998-40-02 B]. A narrow rift in the floor on the right hand side chokes.
Going left in Cardboard Heaven leads after 10m to the start of a dodgy traverse in 'keyhole' passage on a very large scale. Bolts are rigged to make it safe. Going down here is [C1998-40-03 A]. Rounding the corner reaches another large hole, which is passed by a protected traverse on slabs to the right [C1998-40-04 A]. These two QMs may well connect below. A ledge along the right hand wall reaches solid ground. It's not clear if the passage is choked here or just kinks and has a lot of sand on the floor. Ducking under the left hand wall reaches the top of a pitch. A continuation [C1998-40-05 B] can be seen 8m across the other side, but the traverse looks difficult.
Descending here is a 30m split pitch of 15m and 15m. The rift at the bottom is too tight, and the draught seems to have gone.
An interesting series off Schneevulkanhalle, with some
tortuous small passage of a highly 'Mendip' nature, including tight bends,
squeezes, ridiculous climbs, insane bolt traverses, and bizarre hading
rift. This connects a selection of rifts and pitches which are largely
blocked at the bottom. The passages trend steeply up between the pitches.
There is an awful lot of 'varied caving' in the 400m of passage found so
far. The end (bottom of Eiscream) is the point closest to
Kaninchenhöhle
(Breeze block area of Chile) which
makes it a very interesting spot.
About 10m up the left edge of the funnel-shaped rubble/ice slope at the
western edge of SVH is a narrow rift. (You can leave your crampons at the
foot of the rubble slope). A stiff breeze emerges from this passage, Deviant
Alternative (Named as we found it avoiding the ice-climb QMs a few metres
further round the wall in SVH). It goes downhill for a few metres before
reaching a very narrow and rather awkward 180 degree bend, leading to another
7m of unhelpfully small wiggly passage. At least the wind stops you
overheating :-).
At the end there is a hole in the floor, which is made awkward by the
chockstone in the middle of it. The way on to Up, up and
away is the narrow, steeply ascending passage on the right.
Climbing 3m down the hole reaches a pair of windows into a large, wide rift and the sound of water. Most of the draught comes from here. A 15m pitch (dubious thread by chockstone above and bolt right hand wall), lands on large boulders in the bottom of the rift. From the top of the pitch a passage can be seen on the far side of the rift - it would be very hard to get to [C1999-40-01 C]. From the foot of the pitch you can climb up or down the rift. Up is a c4 round a protruding boulder to the foot of a small waterfall and pool which soaks away into the rubble floor. Down is a c6 to the top of another 15m pitch (Bolt high on left hand wall, knotted sling deviation from right hand wall at -1m). This is classic descending stream rift.
There is a traverse level halfway down the pitch, and it is possible, with much scrabbling, to climb round a corner into a narrow section (on rope) where more dodgy traversing (sling belay here) and a climb up then down gets to a 'chamber' where you can stand and tie off the rope. This seems to be where the draught goes. Several small passages go off here. In the SW corner a steeply ascending tube goes about 8m (over an awkward rock) to look back out into the rift opposite the pitch head. Another even smaller passage (take off SRT gear) ascends the bedding 3m to a point where the draught comes in from a desperately tight steep slot on the left and it gets too tight above. I'm not even going to give it a QM, although it may be humanly possible!
In the other end of the chamber (NE) there are two possible climbs into roof tubes. The furthest one ascends about 5m to a 'space' but is blocked by large rocks. A second (even more obscure, and harder to climb into) tube ascends nearby to reach the same space. Both tubes have a strong draught going in. Beyond is another rift, more or less parallel to Delaying Tactics, and climbing up in it reaches a point where you can look down 10m to the pitch head bolt. The wind here suggests more passage, but we've tried ridiculously hard to find it...it may just lead to interstices in the floor of SVH (it must be quite close).
At the bottom of the 15m pitch is flat rocky floor for 10m widening out to 3m wide (still draughting strongly). Then a c4 down and rocky slope leads into the end chamber (6 x 3 x 7m high). There is no draught here and no ways on.
Ascending the steep, rifty passage for 4m leads to a squeeze over a boulder
into a spacious chamber. At the left hand edge is access back into the top of
the Delaying Tactics rift. Ahead an exposed 5m climb gets back into narrow
rift. The way on is a very exposed 5m climb straight up, although you can
also traverse forward to the end of the rift, just above the farthest point
that can be reached from below. These two climbs are now bypassed by an 11m
pitch (left rigged, in 1999) up the
sloping right hand wall of the chamber to a window.
At the top a lined 2m climb leads to a passage, And away. The main Delaying
Tactics rift also continues ahead for about 12m (including a bad step)
to a wet vertical choke where the water seen below comes in. 'And away'
is a narrow ascending walking passage with a very strong outward draught.
It emerges after about 40m on a rock bridge between two sizeable pitches.
Both pitches from the bridge reach the same place. Only the right hand one has been descended (backup bolt at start of Hooked on Classics traverse; pitch head left hand wall; crap deviation -6m). A couple of metres below the deviation a rift enters which leads to the foot of the pitch above which Hooked on Classics traverses. At the foot of the 24m pitch is a wide (4m) rift. 11m along is a hole in the floor, which can be descended by a difficult 4m climb, or traversed round on the right to continuing rift. Climbing up to the left is where the pitch the other side of the bridge above comes in. At the bottom of the hole, going back SW is a tiny draughting hole [C1999-40-02 C]. Correctly thrown rocks rattle a long way down behind it. Fifteen minutes of hammering didn't make it big enough - Hilti caps are needed. On the other side of the hole the continuing rift can be entered at two different levels.
At all three levels the rift continues about 10m before becoming about 8cm wide. A strong draught goes into this crack! This section is called Radio 3 because it was crap.
Most of the draught at the rock bridge comes from a window across the Radio
3 pitch. This is reached by a 5-bolt tension traverse. (Originally done
by climbing up the far wall from 5m down the pitch). The window immediately
looks out over another pitch, which connects back into Radio 3 10m below.
This is passed by an ascending 5-bolt tension traverse along the left hand
wall, which reaches a steeply ascending phreatic passage, Angle of Dangle.
The traverse finishes at a large thread.
This traverse is called Hooked on Classic, due to the extensive use of a skyhook, which made it possible. It was left rigged with a static rope in 1999.
Despite ascending at more than 40 degrees, the passage beyond can be ascended with no gear. The passage is strongly joint-controlled, and hades at 35-40 degrees throughout. There is a general shortage of proper 'floor' anywhere. The climb up the initial section is about 18m in total. After about 11m there is a hole in the floor where the canyon separates from the phreatic section. This has not been descended [C1999-40-03 B]. The climb is a bit harder after this (handline recomended), until the angle eases for a few metres. This section feels like a tilted bedding. The way on is to go low on the left though a narrow bit (a window higher on the left is a harder option). Ahead the passage quickly becomes entirely vertical and has not been climbed [C1999-40-04 C]. After the narrowing, the passage returns to steeply ascending and hading rift which gets increasingly awkward. First a 2m climb, then several points where you can go over or under rock bridges. Progress is generally easiest at the bottom, in the muddy bit. At the end of the rift a strenuous 3m climb reaches a new traverse level where you go back over the route (East), to a bit of floor. A hole ahead is a tight pitch back down into the rift below. A 4m climb here reaches more rift going back West. There is a strong draught all along this section.
Finally, another 8m of steep progress reaches a point where the rift continues [C1999-40-05 B] and a passage, North Utsira, goes off from the left. It has real floor! and an extremely strong draught.
Immediately at the start of the passage a few rocks cover a deep hole, which doesn't appear to be the rift below [C1999-40-06 B]. After 11m a T-junction is reached. To the right is yet more ascending rift, and two thirds of the draught comes from here. A couple of checks of this direction have not revealed any person-sized ways on - the draught seems to come out of the roof somewhere [C1999-40-07 C].
To the left the rift becomes small phreatic passage, which wiggles for 12m to another T-junction. Left is a smaller draughtless passage that goes a rather tedious 25m to a mud choke. Right has the draught and is stooping passage for ~25m to a very wet window to a pitch on the left. A 7m traverse line here (bolt right hand wall, long (2 slings) thread on far side) passes the window, where the passage degenerates to a crawl for a couple of metres before opening out to the pitch again, but with dry access this time, 7m beyond the first window.
From the window the first pitch of Eiscream (thread back round corner; roof bolt) descends past a steep slope on the right. A hole (probably another pitch) can be seen across the other side of the slope [>C1999-40-08 B]. It is also probably possible to ascend the slope to the right [C1999-40-09 C]. 10m down, a ledge between two further drops can be gained. The way on carries on down to the right. Descending to the left requires an extra deviation. It is a very wet 20m pitch where the water (a sizeable stream) disappears down the usual small slot. It may be possible to descend but it was too wet to see properly!
Descending another 4m from the ledge over a boulder reaches the start of a long stream rift pitch series. Bolt left hand wall and spike deviation at -3m give a 13m pitch. A thread on the right hand side through a window, followed by an epic spike deviation on the left at -5m and another at -13m pass a large block to reach the floor again. Traversing out a little to the widest point gives a 9m hang and a couple more 2m descents/climbs (2 bolts, left and right). At this point the traverse ledges lead all the way out to the roof. The slot is very narrow all the way along but you can get to the pitch head by an awkward move down into the slot then along a metre or so (such fun!). The pitch series can be seen to continue at least another 15m below [C1999-40-10 A].
It is believed that the first 40m of this series was explored by GSCB in the early 80s.
Standing facing the icefall just to the right of the pitch down from Schneevulkanhalle to Elefantengang, moving around the wall to the right (past a drop off the edge of the ice) reaches a gap under the wall. A low wet crawl in icy water, Soggy Bottom, gains a small ice-floored chamber. A rift leads off and up to the right; crampons can be left here. The rift leads to another chamber with a multitude of exits.
Straight ahead is a plane sloping up at about 45 degrees. This appears too tight at the top but it is possible, about a third of the way up, to thrutch across to the left (looking up-slope) to reach another similarly sloping plane. This leads to a small chamber .....
To the right in the chamber is a climb over rocks to a slightly higher level. A steeply-sloping plane goes off to the left..... whilst to the right is a short crawl to a small window into SVH. A sandy-floored crawl/stoop straight ahead leads to a drop onto an ice floor. Here there is a large window looking out into SVH from the top of the icefall between the entrance to the Series and the slope leading to Up, Up and Away.
Crossing the ice with care gains a rift heading upwards to a small chamber. To the right a crawl leads to another window further around SVH. Up and to the left a passage degenerates into an earthen-floored crawl which decreases in size until opening up into a rift chamber. A canyon leads from here and stops abruptly where it intersects a large shaft......
Exploration: The main passages as far as Elefantengang were explored by 1938. Since then a variety of groups have worked here finding numerous extensions, of which Schneevulkanhalle is the most significant.
Until recently, it has been difficult to come close to a comprehensive survey or even a good estimate of the length of the system because of a lack of contact and some misunderstanding between the groups involved. However, in 1997 a chance encounter (at the International Congress) by Wookey with Denis Motte, of the G.S.Clerval, led to renewed contacts with one group who explored this area, and Thilo Müller of ARGE has contacted the leaders of other groups and obtained all the rest of the 1980s information that survives. This is being merged into a coherent set of information which will guide necessary resurvey work to complete the picture.
Stellerweghöhle in turn is connected to Schwabenschacht which was over 7km at the time and exploration continues. This must make the combined system at least 19 km long. We have seen figures quoted as high as 25km, but this may involve some double-counting, given the uncertainties involved. Arge's estimate (entirely from extant survey data) was 22.7 km after summer 1999.
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