expoweb/smkridge/41.htm

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1623:41
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<center><table border=0 width=100%>
<tr><th align=left><font size=+2>41 a b</font></th>
<th align=center><font size=+2>Stellerwegh&ouml;hle</font></th>
<th align=right><font size=+2>6/S/T x</font></th></tr>
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<p><b>Altitude:</b> 1650m according to old Austrian kataster.
<p>CUCC <b>survey:</b><ul>
<li>41a&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(main)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1611m,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;47&deg; 40' 10" N, 13&deg; 48' 41" E
<li>41b&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(upper)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1625m,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;47&deg; 40' 10" N, 13&deg; 48' 42" E</ul>
and via laser-rangefound point 0/8: E 35833.9 N (52)81250.4 H 1624.5
<p>Depth from 41b to sump 898m - Overall vertical range 971m in the
41&nbsp;-&nbsp;115&nbsp;-&nbsp;142&nbsp;-&nbsp;144 system. Connections to
<a href="../noinfo/smkridge/88.htm">L&auml;rchenschacht</a> (88) and on to
<a href="../noinfo/smkridge/40.htm">Schwarzmooskogeleish&ouml;hle</a> (40) do
<b>not</b> increase this.
<p>Length of CUCC's part is approx 5.75 km, while the Germans had about 6 km
in 88 in 1987, and the French (?) connected the Eish&ouml;hle (2.5 km or
more) in the same year. This should make the system about 14-15 km all told
before 1996. The Stuttgart group,
<a href="http://arge.itvd.uni-stuttgart.de/">Arbeitsgemeinschaft
H&ouml;hle und Karst Grabenstetten e.V.</a>, have, early in 1996, connected
their cave <a href="78.htm">Schwabenschacht</a> (1623-78) into a passage in
<a href="142.htm">1623/142</a>, one way into the system. This adds no new
depth, but considerably increasesthe overall length. "Arge" have also been
doing much useful resurvey and some exploration, bringing their estimate of
the total length to 22.7 km in 1999.
<p>As the <a href="41/41.htm">full guidebook description</a> is
understandably quite big and is still evolving, just an overview is given
here.
<p><b>Location:</b>
Follow St&ouml;gerweg to <a href="../noinfo/smkridge/32.htm">Windloch</a>
and then a hundred metres or so further. When the path starts to drop
steeply, backtrack 10m (where there should be a permanent survey station
'P4') and start to hack up the hillside. Orange paint flashes on the rock
should be visible, and will lead after 300m or so to a cave entrance at the
head of a gully. If it isn't blowing the trees around in the cold air, it
isn't the right place !
<p>Sub-horizontal passages lead through steeply-hading rifts from this
entrance. A lower route was originally explored by a German group before
CUCC's first visit, and remains poorly documented and not fully explored.
The higher route, explored by CUCC, leads past connections to <a
href="142.htm">142</a>, another CUCC find. Passages trend downhill to
reach the <b>Big Pitch</b> of 100m vertical.
<p><a href="../noinfo/smkridge/88.htm">L&auml;rchenh&ouml;hle</a> connects at
the bottom of the Big Pitch, and a streamway leads down. A roof passage
connects to CUCC's <a href="144.htm">144</a>, and another leads on to smaller
pitches to the <b>Big Rift</b>, dropping steeply down several pitches to
reach <b>Junction Chamber</b> with connections to <a
href="115.htm">Schnellzugh&ouml;hle</a> (115).
<p>The route to 115 also leads to <b>Pete's Purgatory</b>, 800m of awful
streamway to <b>the Confluence</b>, much more easily reached by large
fossil passages starting with <b>Dartford Tunnel</b> from Junction
Chamber. The Confluence is around half the depth of the system, and
marks a transition to a single linear streamway leading to great depth,
a feature currently unique in the known caves of the area.
<p>The streamway is interrupted by a bypassable sump and several, mainly
short, pitches, before a low-airspace canal appears to mark the end. However,
a low duck can be passed to reach a deep and very wet shaft <b>Orgasm
Chasm</b> which drops to the final muddy passage and short pitch to a dismal
and deep rift sump.
<p>The sump is 898m below the 41a entrance, and is at just about the same
level as Altausseer See, in whose <a href="../aaussee/0.htm">underwater
risings</a> the Stellerweg water is presumed to emerge. The scope for greater
depth here seems minimal, but connections to various higher entrances have
increased this to c971m, with perhaps a little more potential still to
realise (optimistically up to 1058m).
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