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<title>1623/204 -- Razordance and beyond the sump</title>
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<table id="cavepage">
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<tr><th id="kat_no">204</th><th id="name">Steinbrückenhöhle</th><th
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id="status">5/S x</th></tr>
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</table>
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<h1>Razordance and beyond the sump</h1>
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<h3><a id="razor">Razordance</a></h3>
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<p>At the bottom of the 47m pitch, a merry little stream is reached (similar
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volume of water to the Top Camp waterhole in spate). Upstream was not pushed,
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but reportedly leads quickly to the foot of a waterfall [<a
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href="qm.html#C2000-204-63" id="qC2000-204-63">C2000-204-63 B</a>]. Downstream
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quickly narrows to about 50cm wide, and progress is made by constantly changing
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level to stay where the passage is wide enough. After about 40m a small cascade
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of about 4m is reached, which could probably be free-climbed, but has been
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rigged with an SRT line to avoid getting soaked; if the water level rises much
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this is still rather aqueous, and probably needs at least one more bolt. The
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passage is considerably wider for a few metres below the cascade, but soon
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resumes in its previous manner; it is helpful to traverse quite high up in
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this section.</p>
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</p>Suddenly, the head of a pitch, <b><a id="blacklightning">Black
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Lightning</a></b> (13m), is reached. The streamway continues past a 2m climb
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and 2m pitch leading to the 25m pitch of <b><a id="mysterywind">Mystery
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Wind</a></b>; this is descended via a crow's-nest which gives a dry sloping
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descent to the floor, protected by two rebelays. Immediately beyond this is
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<b><a id="davedives">Dave Dives</a></b>, an awkward roof-tube climb to bypass a
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tight spot; this should on no account be descended head-first. A bolt here
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might render the process safer. The streamway continues to the twin pitches of
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<b><a id="easythere">Easy There</a></b> (15m) and <b><a id="steadynow">Steady
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Now</a></b> (4m), the 2002 limit; the head of the latter is difficult and
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tight, but it seems unlikely that the rig could be improved by any alteration
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not involving a large hammer.</p>
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<p>2003 saw further pushing to a short, rather damp down pitch (3m) shortly
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followed by a climb up over boulders into a large chamber, <b><a id="glud">God
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Loves a Drunk</a></b>, where an (apparently impassably tight) inlet enters from
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the right. Immediately beyond this are <b><a id="mashtun">The Mash Tun</a></b>
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(p8) and <b><a id="copper">Copper</a></b> (p17). In high water levels these
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are both very wet, dangerously so given the cold and draughty nature of the
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passage; a deviation around halfway down Copper could potentially help matters.
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There may be a continuation at high level via a loony bolt traverse across the
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head of Copper [<a href="qm.html#C2003-204-48" id="qC2003-204-48">C2003-204-48
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B</a>].</p>
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<p>Beyond this the rift becomes tighter and more awkward again, leading to the
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head of yet another pitch, <b><a id="yeast">Yeast</a></b> (p10). Shortly beyond
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this the bottom of the rift becomes rather tight and an ascending traverse can
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be followed, as far as a local widening, the 2003 limit; dropping back to
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stream level rapidly becomes tight again, but a traverse line across, <b><a
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id="nordic">Nordic Traverse</a></b>, gives access to a dry fossil passage to
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the head of <b><a id="thirteenyear">Thirteen Year Pitch</a></b> (7m), which
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drops into a spacious dry chamber. Here a tight and scrofulous-looking rift
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leads off to the right
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[<a href="qm.html#C2004-204-03" id="qC2004-204-03">C2004-204-03 C</a>]
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, while the chosen way on is to descend
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<b><a id="pepper">Pepper Pot</a></b> (20m) back to stream level. Here the
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passage returns to familiar rifty crappiness for a few metres; it is helpful to
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take a relatively high level for a while until the passage widens again, at
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which point a 6m pitch, <b><a id="paster">Paster of Muppets</a></b>, regains
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the stream level. Shortly afterwards, the stream can be followed down to the top
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of a short wet drop
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[<a href="qm.html#C2004-204-02" id="qC2004-204-02">C2004-204-02 B</a>]
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or a phreatic widening can be followed upwards. This leads to some key hole
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passage, which immediately has a large circular pit in the floor, this can be
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descended and the other side can be climbed, preferably with lines. The
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phreatic part of the passage then takes advantage of a sloping weakness, which
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goes up and to the left. This can be followed to a right hand bend where the
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floor drops down with the weakness to <i>yet another</i> pitch <b><a id="butteredscones">Buttered Scones</a></b> (p20), the top of
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which marks the 2004 limit. It is noticeable on the survey that from the bottom
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of Paster the passage swings southwards away from the consistent NE-SW alignment
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of most of Razordance.</p>
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<p>2007 saw a big push with several old lags teaming up with new blood to try and
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finally bottom the bastard. From the bottom of Buttered Scones, a climb down and a short,
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muddy passage reaches the head of a pair of spacious pitches, <b><a id="leftzipper">Left
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Zipper</a></b> (p12) and <b><a id="rightzipper">Right Zipper</a></b> (p12). In flood
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conditions the stream re-enters from a window [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-29" id="qC2007-204-29">C2007-204-29 C</a>] part-way down Left Zipper
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and makes Right Zipper extremely wet. A short section of comfortable walking passage
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heading almost due north inevitably gives way to more rifty thrutching, passing an
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inlet on the right [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-30" id="qC2007-204-30">C2007-204-30 B</a>] where the stream re-enters. This marks a return
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to the previous south-westerly line of the passage. After a few metres, a climb down
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at a corner if followed by a squeeze to reach the head of <b><a id="holyhandgrenade">
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The Holy Hand Grenade</a></b> (p3), an irritating little pitch with an awkward pitch-head.
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8 metres further on are a pair of short, splashy pitches separated by a wet ledge:
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<b><a id="unicum">Unicum</a></b> (p7) and <a id="zwack"><b>Zwack</b></a> (p5). The next
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100m of passage is a ruler-straight muddy rift running to the south-west. After some
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narrow sections it is possible to climb up into a large roof tube, which gradually
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descends to a balcony overlooking the final sump, <a id="nowbethankful"><b>Now Be
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Thankful</b></a>. Here the wind from Razordance goes up a large aven above the sump
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[<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-31" id="qC2007-204-31">C2007-204-31 X</a>], while a long bolted traverse, mostly on the left-hand wall, gains
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access to <a href="#silkroad"><b>The Far East</b></a>.</p>
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<h1>The Far East</h1>
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<h3><a id="silkroad">The Silk Road</a></h3>
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<p>A slippery climb down from the traverse over the sump (an extra bolt would be
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a good idea) gains a keyhole-shaped inlet passage with an elliptical roof tube
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and narrow floor trench. Like Razordance, the passage draughts towards the
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sump. The passage here is The Silk Road, and runs south-east along the strike for about 30m before
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turning north-east and heading up-dip in a series of steep meanders for a
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short distance. An unpleasant 3m climb up marks a return to south-easterly
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progress. The passage briefly splits, with the stream flowing through a pool
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in a low section while a large oxbow to the left provides a trivial bypass.
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Just beyond the oxbow is a junction. <i>Straight ahead, going upstream, 40m
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of stooping and crawling over muddy cobbles leads to a chamber where the
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stream emerges from a tight inlet [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-32" id="qC2007-204-32">C2007-204-32 C</a>] with an obvious passage
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visible 7m above (which can be reached from beyond <a href="#khyber"><b>Carry-on
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up the Khyber</b></a>)</i>.</p>
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<p>Back at the junction, the left turn leads up an abandoned series of dry
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cascades, <b><a id="khyber">Carry-on up the Khyber</a></b>. Ten climbs of
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varying difficulty and ranging in height between 2 and 4 metres pass a lead
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on the left [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-33" id="qC2007-204-33">C2007-204-33 ?</a>] to reach a relatively well decorated section of
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walking passage. This becomes a sandy crawl which branches; to the left is
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unexplored [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-34" id="qC2007-204-34">C2007-204-34 C</a>], straight ahead reaches a hole overlooking the
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continuation of The Silk Road, while to the right quickly reaches a loose
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2m climb down into the same place. <i>Right here is a 3m climb down followed
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by a short section of passage to the head of a 7m pitch back to the inlet at
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the foot of Carry-on up the Khyber</i>. To the left, The Silk Road continues as
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4m wide passage with a rocky floor, passing a stooping-height passage on the
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left [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-35" id="qC2007-204-35">C2007-204-35 A</a>]. After 60m, a gap between boulders leads into a 30m-wide
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chamber, <b><a id="forbidcity">The Forbidden City</a></b>.</p>
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<p>The Forbidden city is a boulder-strewn chamber of fine
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dimensions, reminiscent of Knossos in Kaninchenhöhle, sloping
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upwards to the North west and the exit into the <a href="#gobitrail">Gobi Trail</a>. Near, but below
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and to the right of the Carry-on up the Khyber
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entrance, is a rocky crawl which leads into a wide but choked space
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below the Carry-on up the Khyber passage. There is at least an aural
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connection up to that passage. This may be the closest point to Siberia in
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Kaninchenhöhle, but is clearly a long-term dig [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-50" id="qC2007-204-50">C2007-204-50 D<a/>].
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In the Southern corner of The Forbidden City is [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-36" id="qC2007-204-36">C2007-204-36 X<a/>].</p>
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<h3><a id="gobitrail">The Gobi Trail</a></h3>
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<p>A large (8m wide) bouldery passage leads off from the upper end of The Forbidden
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City heading steadily uphill and north-north-west. There is one
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notable climb up a large sloping rock which needs a little care (handline).
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Just after the climb a passage leads off
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to the right ("Silkworm"), which is the quickest way to <a href="#crouchingtiger"><b>Crouching Tiger</b></a>. The main passage drops to being a low crawl
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to reach a complex T-junction 110m from The Forbidden City. Down to the
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left is <a id="entertheflagon"><b>Enter the Flagon</b></a>. To the right a
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rocky passage carrying a strong draught leads downhill and south into the <a id="crouchingtiger">Crouching tiger</a>.
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Straight on is a small passage [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-45" id="qC2007-204-45">C2007-204-45 B</a>].</p>
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<h3><a id="silkworm">Silkworm</a></h3>
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<p>A short passage connecting the <a href="#gobitrail"><b>Gobi Trail</b></a>
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to <a href="#crouchingtiger"><b>Crouching Tiger</b></a>, shortcutting the
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crawling and complex junction at the end of the Gobi Trail. Halfway along is a
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6m aven [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-39" id="qC2007-204-39">C2007-204-39 X</a>]. At the same point there is a tight connection to near
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the start of <a href="#crouchingtiger"><b>Crouching Tiger</b></a>.</p>
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<h3><a id="crouchingtiger">Crouching tiger</a></h3>
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<p></p>A tight passage on the right apparently connects into silkworm (aural connection?).
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After 40m at a 90left corner is the junction with <a href="#silkworm"><b>Silkworm</b></a> (off to the right).
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</p>
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<p>Beyond here the passage is full of unusally fine light-coloured
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sand, from which the area gets the Gobi Trail name. It is
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comfortable but not particularly large, with some crawling and
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stooping where the sand fills much of the passage. [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-37" id="qC2007-204-37">C2007-204-37 C</a>]
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and [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-38" id="qC2007-204-38">C2007-204-38 B</a>] are along here.</p>
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<p>After 70m an aven 20m+ high is reached where water can be heard at
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the end of the rift [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-39" id="qC2007-204-39">C2007-204-39 X</a>]. The strong breeze continues down
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the passage which now gets rather smaller being
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stooping and crawling all the way. It winds for 90m to a short 2m drop
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into a small chamber where there is a 4-way junction. A crawl leads off
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uphill to the left (East) with a strong outward draught[<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-40" id="qC2007-204-40">C2007-204-40
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A</a>]. A keyhole passage comes in from the South [<a
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href="qm.html#C2007-204-41" id="qC2007-204-41">C2007-204-41 A</a>], up
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which most (all?) of the draught goes. And a low passage containing a
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vadose trench heads down to
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the West past a pillar [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-42" id="qC2007-204-42">C2007-204-42 B</a>].</p>
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<h3><a id="entertheflagon">Enter the Flagon</a></h3>
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<p>Left at the end of the Gobi Trail is <a href="#crouchingtiger"><b>Enter the Flagon</b></a>. 50m of passage leads
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past a climb [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-45" id="qC2007-204-45">C2007-204-45 B</a>] on the right and [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-46" id="qC2007-204-46">C2007-204-46 C</a>] on the left]
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to a point where a vadose canyon intersects. 5m back from this junction is a
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short loop looking over the canyon passage. It contains [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-47" id="qC2007-204-47">C2007-204-47 B</a>] on
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the right. Right (up) along the canyon leads to a 6m aven,
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reasonably climbable with some gear [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-48" id="qC2007-204-48">C2007-204-48-B</a>]. Left leads, via a climb
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down, to a continuing rift which heads towards the left zipper/right zipper
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area in Razordance. The phreas clearly continues over the top of the vadose
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canyon [<a href="qm.html#C2007-204-49" id="qC2007-204-49">C2007-204-49-B</a>] but it would require some effort to reach it.</p>
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<div class="centre">
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<h3><a id="survey">Survey</a></h3>
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<img style="padding: 2pt; border: 2px solid #000" src="smallsurveys/fareast.png" alt="Survey" /></div>
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