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71 lines
9.3 KiB
Plaintext
<HTML lang=en><HEAD><TITLE>1623:204 -- Entrance and The Near End passages</TITLE>
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<TH align=left width="30%"><FONT size=+2>204</font><br><font size=+1>(CUCC 1999/03)</FONT></TH>
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<TH lang=de><h1>Steinbrückenhöhle</h1></TH>
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<TH align=right width="30%"><FONT size=+2>4/S x</FONT></TH></TR>
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<h2>Entrance and The Near End passages</h2>
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The 204a entrance is directly opposite a 10m x 3m stone bridge from which it derives its name. The entrance itself is approximately 8m high and 5m wide, and leads down a boulder slope and round a right hand bend to the top of the first pitch. The 204b entrance is 15m away to the west, and this is the entrance which is rigged.
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<h3><a name="firstpitch">First Pitch</a></h3>
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<img class=onright src="t/2p1.jpg" alt="First Pitch">
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<p>A 3m climb down (handline useful) leads into the entrance gully and a ledge at the head of the first pitch, <B>Trick or Treat</B>, opposite 204a entrance. This loose, sloping pitch of 20m is rigged from a Y-hang on the right hand wall, with a rebelay and deviation. The pitch is tedious to prussik on return and is best climbed. The landing is by a large snow plug with an ice corridor round the edge leading to the top of a boulder slope. A rift passage on the right becomes too tight.
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The snow level varies: in 2000 it was much higher than in 1999, rendering the original route impassable (see <a href="#1999">here</a>). A revised route was explored, which was the main route in 2001.
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<h3><a name="jim">Second and Third Pitches</h3>
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<P>Descending the boulder slope (care required to avoid kicking rocks off) leads to the head of the second pitch, <B>Jim'll Fix It</B> (18m in 1999 but only about 10m in 2000/2001 due to increased snow levels). An unexplored passage is visible from the pitch head, which could be accessed by a bolt traverse round the right hand side of the pitch head [<A href="qm.shtml#C1999-204-01" name=qC1999-204-01>C1999-204-01 C</A>] (explored by Brian?). The pitch is rigged from a bolt in the left hand wall with a deviation from a spit immediately after the pitch head bolt. This protects a marginal rub point and also avoids a jet of water which spurts from a crack in the wall after heavy rain.
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The landing is on a large snow plug. Following the wall around to the right (facing the wall on which the pitch is rigged) leads to a 2m climb into a rift, which quickly descends to the head of the impressive third pitch, <b>Stitch This</b> (30m). A Y-hang rebelay on the left wall is shortly followed by a deviation from the opposite side of the shaft to obtain a free-hang into <a href="midlevel.shtml#wolp">Wolpertinger Way</a>. This pitch is in fact an (upwards) continuation of <b><a href="#thread">Thread Pitch</a></b>. <h3><a name="1999">1999 route to Wolpertinger Way</a></h3>
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In 1999, the landing of Jim'll Fix It was by a large pointed snowplug. There was sufficient gap between snow and wall to complete the descent and emerge in a sloping phreatic passage. There are two ways on: Right leads uphill as stooping/crawling height passage for 30m to emerge at the top of <A href="#umshit">Umshitshimbo</A>. Left leads downhill into <A href="#nearend">The Near End</A> and is the main way on. There is a further unexplored passage in the wall above the gap between the snow plug and the rock [<A href="qm.shtml#C1999-204-03" name=qC1999-204-03>C1999-204-03 C</A>].
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<H3><A name=nearend>The Near End</A></H3>
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<img class=onright src="t/5p3.jpg" alt="Third Pitch"> <P><B>The Near End</B> is a collective name for a complex network of high level phreatic passages which slope approximately 20° following the dip of the beds. Heading downhill from the base of <B>Jim'll Fix It</B> in a stooping height
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passage leads round a double bend to a 2m climb down to a junction. Right leads to more <A href="#nearside">side passages</A> whilst the main route is straight ahead to a crossroads. Right leads into the same <A href="#nearside">side passages</A> as the previous right turn. Left is <B>Needle Crawl</B> past an unexplored passage on the left [<A href="qm.shtml#C1999-204-04" name=qC1999-204-04>C1999-204-04 C</A>] and a crawl on the right (feels like straight ahead) which becomes too small after ~8m. Straight ahead (feels like a left) leads to the head of a fine
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4m diameter circular shaft, <B><a name="thread">Thread</a>Pitch</B>. This pitch of 17m leads into <A href="midlevel.shtml#wolp">Wolpertinger Way</A>. A continuation of the crawl is visible at the opposite side of the pitch head [<A href="qm.shtml#C1999-204-06" name=qC1999-204-06>C1999-204-06 C</A>].
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<P>From the crossroads, the main route in 1999 was straight ahead, downhill in mostly stooping height passage with a short section of sandy crawling. After 15m is a short climb down to the top of a 4m deep pit with a too-tight passage at the bottom, with the phreatic passage continuing to the right. After a further 10m the passage is intersected by a large rift with a big rock partially blocking the passage. Climbing up to the right leads back into a tall rift in
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the <A href="#nearside">side passages</A>. A climb up to the left leads to a passage containing attractive white mud which was not entered, however a visual connection to the <A href="midlevel.shtml#pendulum">Pendulum Pitch</A> was established.
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<P>Straight ahead leads to a further junction after 15m. Left opens out to the head of <A href="midlevel.shtml#pendulum">Pendulum Pitch</A>, the main route to the bottom of <A href="midlevel.shtml#wolp">Wolpertinger Way</A> used in 1999. Right leads to a narrow stooping height passage which continues for 25m with several clear pools in the floor to a widening. Around the widening, most routes ahead and to the left are choked with boulders. There are two ways on: down over a few boulders leds to the previously concealed short pitch called <B>'king carbide</B>, while on the right a body sized tube leads upwards for ~15m before twisting left into a low chamber 'Kidneybean'. Kidneybean, perhaps an enlarged bedding plane, has possible QMs in a hole in the floor [<A href="qm.shtml#C2000-204-71" name=qC2000-204-71>C2000-204-71 C</A>] and in a narrow passage at the nothern corner of the chamber [<A href="qm.shtml#C2000-204-70" name=qC2000-204-70>C2000-204-70 B</A>]. Round to the left it is bounded by an area of breakdown, possibly the far side of a boulder choke visible from the widening. Back at the entrance Kidneybean, the main way on continues through a low gap. This opens to stooping height and winds upwards. The passage continues over some old gower pools to a flat out section (not really a squeze, except for lardarses) not pushed, but running water could be heard [<A href="qm.shtml#C2000-204-69" name=qC2000-204-69>C2000-204-69 A</A>].
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<H3><A name=nearside>The Near End: Side Passages</A></H3>
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<P>The first two right turns encountered when heading downhill from the foot of <A href="#jim">Jim'll Fix It</A> unite in a walking sized passage. After 10m the bottom of <A href="#umshit">Umshitshimbo</A> is passed on the right, whilst straight ahead leads to a junction with a large
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keyhole passage. Left leads after 15m to a climb up behind a precariously placed boulder, to an immediate climb down of 4m which emerges in the 1999 main route through the near end before <A
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href="midlevel.shtml#pendulum">Pendulum Pitch</A>. Right leads immediately to a 8m pitch. A difficult and exposed traverse round the left hand wall leads to a further 30m of passage with a steadily lowering roof culminating in a boulder choke. <H3><A name=umshit>The Near End: Umshitshimbo and Updip Passages</A></H3>
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<P><B>Umshitshimbo</B> is a fine phreatic ramp, 2m wide and about 4m high, which heads uphill in a straight line for 40m. At the top a passage doubling back on the right leads back to the base of <A href="#jim">Jim'll Fix It</A> and there is a climb up into a rift passage heading south over the top of Umshitshimbo which becomes too narrow. Large passage continues uphill past a 2m deep blind pit on the right to a junction.
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<P>Left leads uphill past a choked inlet on the left to a steep uphill section with a crawl on the right, which leads shortly to a 2m climb down and immediate choke. At the top of the steep section the passage to the right immediately chokes, whilst left is <B>Dolly Parton climb</B>, a 2m climb up with huge jugs, to a further 15m of upward trending phreatic passage, terminating in a boulder choke with a slight draught (air coming into the cave). There are two small
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steep phreatic ramps on the left hand side of this passage, both very small and both choked.
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<P>Straight ahead at the junction leads through a short section of rift to an enlargement with an alcove on the right and a keyhole passage ahead. The rift section at the bottom quickly becomes choked, with a slight draught coming in. A 3m climb gains access to the phreatic section which goes over the top of the choke, and about after a further 3m reaches a large boulder, which almost blocks the passage with a strong breeze blowing through the gap (into the cave.) Squeezing through yields a steeply ascending rocky crawl which chokes after about 5m.
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<H3><A name=survey>Survey</A></H3>
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<center><img src="entrance.png" alt="Survey"></center>
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