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164 lines
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164 lines
8.7 KiB
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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
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<title>1623:76</title>
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<center><table border=0 width=100%>
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<tr><th align=left><font size=+2>76 a b c4</font></th>
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<th align=center><font size=+2>Eislufthöhle</font></th>
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<th align=right><font size=+2>5/S/E +</font></th></tr>
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</table></center>
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<p><b>Altitude:</b> 1643m Depth approx 506m
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<p><b>Location:</b> Out on the plateau near some very large erratic boulders.
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Laser rangefound point 0/6 is between the three entrances, and is at :<br>
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E 35873.1 N (52)82944.3 H 1647.8<br>
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calculated from surface survey from 0/4 we get :<br>
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E 35868.8 N (52)82934.2 H 1644.3<br>
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for the 76a entrance, which actually fits very well.
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<p><a name="scf" href="76/l/scf.htm">
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<img src="76/t/scf.jpg" align=middle width=170 height=108
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alt="SCF.jpg (73k)"></a>
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Simon Farrow at the entrance of 76 during the initial exploration in 1977
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<p>Two snow plugged dolines (76 b & c) and a narrow shaft (76a) unite in
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a narrow rift leading to a windy lifelining position, <b>Draught
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Bitter</b>, at the head of a 72m shaft plugged with snow. Rigging
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<b>Plugged Shaft</b> between snow and rock, pitches in 1977 were 18m to a
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snow platform, 12m to a ledge, then 29m to a substantial ledge,
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<b>Yesterday's Terminus</b>. In 1979, with changed snow topography, and
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rigging for SRT, the drops were 11, 7, 17 and 19m to Yesterday's Terminus
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where a traverse out reaches a bolt for the final 13m drop onto a snow pile
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in a large aven chamber. A further 13m pitch, <b>Saved Shaft</b>, into a
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smaller aven chamber, <b>Boulder Chamber</b>, leads to an apparent end,
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but thrutch through boulders into top of rift/canyon. Hole in floor is 32m
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pitch into <b>Keg Series</b> (no draught) with further unexplored pitch
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below. Continuing traverse leads to climbs down then split pitch of 19m and
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14m, <b>Follow-through Shaft</b>, dropping into side of abandoned canyon.
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Upstream to the left ends immediately while down canyon leads to head of a
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chamber, The Taproom, with a 5m climb down a big boulder under heavy
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drip/spray (handline useful). Also from the head of the chamber, passage
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leads back to a large unexplored hole in floor with lots of water entering
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from a high aven. 1977 terminus at -150m.
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<p>From chamber, scramble down in rift (rope useful owing to greasy rock and
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120 metre drop) to reach head of large rift pitch below jammed boulder.
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Pitch drops in two sections of 10m and 35m, with stream out of reach in
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canyon, to ledge where stream bed is crossed (traverse line). Further pitch
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of 10m leads to straddle climb up to rocking boulder, then traverse forward
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to good belays for 48m pitch. This lands on <b>The Balcony</b> where water
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runs away from obvious way on into a tight immature drain.
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<p><center><a name="hgk" href="76/l/hotgk.htm">
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<img src="76/t/hotgk.jpg" align=middle width=151 height=116
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alt="HotGK.jpg (69k)"></a></center>
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<br><center>Ben with the Greene King pennant on the Balcony</center>
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<p>From the Balcony a 7m pitch drops into the <b>Hall of the Greene King</b>,
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a huge soaring aven chamber. The way on over a boulder floor leads under
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suspended boulders, one of immense size, to a 5m pitch down off the edge of a
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boulder. In the floor is a sharp canyon that loops round to a junction. Left
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leads to <b>Gents' Pitch</b> route, while right leads to a dry passage. After
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a few metres in the dry passage, there is a rift in the floor to the left,
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which is a muddy, broken pitch with sections of 3m, 12m and 18m into the main
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canyon (1978 route). Another few metres ahead, a bold step across the canyon
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leads to further passage which eventually degenerates and rejoins the main
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canyon upstream (right) of the bold step.
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<p><center><a name="p16" href="76/l/p16.htm"><img src="76/t/p16.jpg"
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width=143 height=170 alt="p16.jpg (58k)"></a>
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<a href="76/l/gents.htm"><img src="76/t/gents.jpg"
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width=143 height=170 alt="Gents.jpg (36k)"></a></center><br>
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<center>Julian Griffiths abseiling the 16.5m and Gents' pitches on the bottoming trip in 1979</center>
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<p>The 1979 route from the junction leads to a pitch of 16.5m, free hanging
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just clear of the wall, with an excellent takeoff. However the rope gets
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muddy from mud on clothing in a couple of trips, so care is required. Next
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drop is the Gents' pitch of 9.5m, which leads to a short streamway rejoining
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the main canyon from the 1978 route. The bottom of this pitch is a good place
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for cavers to perform ablutions with the mud on their ascenders, hence the
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name (all the explorers were male). The main passage now leads on with stream
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in floor and muddy ledges above until the <b>Fiesta Run</b> is reached. This
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awkward slanting rift pitch of 28m is so muddy that ladders are <b><i>de
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rigeur</i></b>. The name derives from the car crash which terminated
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exploration at this point in 1978.
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<p>A traverse forward on muddy ledges leads out over a huge shaft with the
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ominous sound of a waterfall below. Traversing further eventually leads to a
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further pitch of 5m to a col. Down another 10m on the side away from the main
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shaft lands on a solid floor in an abandoned rift. Forward leads through
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narrow passage with sharp rock to a point where thrutchy traversing is
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necessary to make further progress. A 23m broken pitch in sharp rock, with
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very bad rub points leads only to a tight crawl. This was pushed by Julian
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Griffiths to emerge at a drop with a large aven above, which remains
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unexplored at about -395m depth.
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<p>The main way on, however, is to drop back into canyon towards the ominous
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hiss of water in a very wide pitch where the stream seems to have hit a
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fault at right angles to the arriving passage direction. The middle section
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of this 28m pitch is huge, before narrowing to a ledge parallel to the new
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fault, and 'downstream' from the original direction of stream flow. From the
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ledge, a smaller shaft of 33m drops down the new fault rift to a boulder
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floor where the water sinks. The fault rift, <b>Madlmeier Schacht</b>, now
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drops in sections of 24 and 19m to the end of the rope in 1979. Here an
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exposed freeclimb of 5m with icy water flowing over the handholds is not
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really recommended - take a longer rope. Next pitch of 24m picks up the main
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water again 10m down, and final pitch of 17m from ledge drops to floor of
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rift chamber, but mud on floor precedes final muddy 10m pitch down a boulder
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wall to a deep and terminal rift sump at -506m.
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<p><a name="penult" href="76/l/penult.htm"><img src="76/t/penult.jpg"
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width=123 height=184 align=top alt="Penult.jpg (87k)"></a>
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Simon Farrow on the last 17m pitch of Madlmeier Schacht
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<p><a href="76/l/sump.htm"><img src="76/t/sump.jpg"
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width=121 height=187 align=top alt="Sump.jpg (37k)"></a>
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Julian Griffiths at the final sump - 1979
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<p>There are a number of going leads in this cave and you're welcome to them.
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<p>The entrance is prominently numbered 106 which is the number we had
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allocated to it, but a description of the cave was published in the Belfry
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Bulletin, which is seen by Alfred Auer, who allocated his own number to it
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in advance of our report.
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<p><b>Exploration:</b> CUCC 1977-79<br>
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The exploration is written up in many places:
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<ul>
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<li><a href="../years/1977/report.htm#youth">Cambridge Underground 1978</a>
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<li><a href="../years/1977/771649.htm">Belfry Bulletin 354</a>, Nick Thorne
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<li><a href="../years/1978/report.htm#ropes">Cambridge Underground 1979</a>
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<li><a href="../years/1978/bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves & Caving 2</a>, Andy Waddington
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<li><a href="../years/1978/npc79.htm">Northern Pennine Club Journal vol 3 no. 2, 1979</a>, Andy Waddington, Simon Farrow
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<li><a href="../years/1978/descnt.htm">Descent 40 (Jan/Feb 1979)</a>, Nick Thorne
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<li><a href="../years/1978/782034.htm">Belfry Bulletin 366 (Oct 1978)</a>, Nick Thorne
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<li><a href="../years/1979/report.htm">Cambridge Underground 1980</a>
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<li><a href="../years/1979/descnt.htm">Descent 44</a>, Nick Thorne
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<li><a href="../years/1979/792026.htm">Belfry Bulletin 378</a>, Nick Thorne
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<li><a href="../years/1979/bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves & Caving 8</a>, Andy Waddington
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<li><a href="../years/1979/811412.htm">Speleo Krakow 1/2 Dec 1980</a>, Andy Waddington<br>
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This last, the only complete write up of 1977-79, appeared in Polish
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translation, and is published in the English original for the first time
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here.
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<li><a href="../years/1977/andylg.htm#1977-76-1">
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<img src="../../icons/redbk.png" align=middle>Logbook accounts</a>
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<li><a href="76/histry.htm">Trip index</a>
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</ul>
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<hr>
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<!-- LINKS -->
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<a href="../indxal.htm">Full Index</a><br>
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<a href="../areas.htm">Other areas</a><br>
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<a href="index.htm#76">Plateau area index</a>
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