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1623/115 Schnellzughöhle Guidebook - side passages
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<h3>Schnellzughöhle entrance series side passages (1980)</h3>
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<p>As the initial entry series is so obscure, the
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<a href="115.htm#C1980-115-46">short dead ends</a> at the entrance are described
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under the main route description.
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<p>Where the <a href="115.htm#derigel">Hedgehog</a> emerges into the
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abandoned phreatic tube, the way right becomes low over a silty mud floor
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[<a name="C1980-115-48" href="qmlist.htm#C1980-115-48">C1980-115-48</a>], and shows little
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promise.
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<p>Where the way left ends its roller coaster progress by intersecting
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another tube at a climb down above the ramp, the way left in the larger tube
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is an inlet passage [<a name="C1981-115-00" href="qmlist.htm#C1981-115-00">C1981-115-00</a>] with
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eight small dry cascades to a choke 30m up.
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<p>The large hole down in the floor at this point <b>Baker's Bungle</b> was
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taken as the obvious way on in 1980. It proves to be a blind rift pitch in
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the narrow trench below the true way on. A traverse off, 10m from the top of
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the pitch, was the route by which the correct way on was discovered at the
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end of the 1980 trip, leading into the <a href="115.htm#ramp">Ramp</a> a
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little lower down than the normal route.
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<p>The trench below the Ramp has not been entered lower down. After crossing
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it once, the pitch series regains it again at a point where it is wide enough
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to be entered, at a rebelay where the crossing to the
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<a href="115.htm#thecol">Col</a> departs. A possible route down the trench,
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[<a name="C1981-115-02" href="qmlist.htm#C1981-115-02">C1981-115-02</a>], appears blind, and was
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not pushed.
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<p>The inlet in the bottom of the rift above the Inlet Pitches can be
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followed up for a short way until progress is barred by an upward pitch.
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It is possible that this water comes from the vicinity of the vast black
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space seen from the bottom of the Ramp. Its speed of rising in wet weather
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suggests a fairly direct route from the surface.
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<p>It has been suggested that a traverse could be possible over the 24m pitch
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into the Big Chamber [<a name="C1981-115-03" href="qmlist.htm#C1981-115-03">C1981-115-03</a>].
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This would head ESE, possibly to meet the source of the inlet above the Big
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Chamber food dump, but it seems likely that the walls diverge and this would
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be too epic to contemplate.
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<h3><a name="offbigcha">Big Chamber</a> (115 final chamber)</h3>
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<p>The WNW-ESE joint or fault that has determined the form of the cave from
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the Ramp down the <a href="115.htm#inletp">Inlet Pitches</a> appears to
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"bottom out" here and continuations are largely sub-horizontal. As well as
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the water falling down the 24m entry pitch, water comes from other sources in
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the area. Following the main water up (N or NE?) beyond where the 115
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waterfall comes in, leads 50m in a big passage to 50m of small vadose
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streamway closing at an inlet sump [<a name="C1981-115-04"
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href="qmlist.htm#C1981-115-04">C1981-115-04</a>]. It seems likely that the big passage is a
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fossil downstream phreatic tube (fed by water from the <a
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href="#futser">Futility Series</a>), cleared of fill by the invading small
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stream.
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<p>Up the boulder slope in the chamber leads to the site of a food dump where
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an inlet is seen in wet weather; through a hole in the wall, a short crawl is
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thought to emerge at an aven [<a name="C1981-115-05"
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href="qmlist.htm#C1981-115-05">C1981-115-05</a>].
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<p>Water flows over the boulder floor towards the start of <b>Pete's
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Purgatory</b> - the first streamway CUCC found in Austria which was (just)
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big enough to follow. Above this is a network of large and small phreatic
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passages.
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<h3><a name="petepurg">Pete's Purgatory</a> (1981)</h3>
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<p>Following the combined waters in the 115 <a href="115.htm#bigcham115">Big
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Chamber</a> downstream leads to 800m (taped, but not fully surveyed) of
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unrelentingly narrow meandering vadose canyon. The passage is of uniform
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size, never wider than 1m and in places sufficiently small to require
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traversing above the squeeze or crawling at water level. There are few
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features of interest, but a small drip inlet, an oxbow, and a series of
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cascades permit some measure of progress to be judged. Eventually,
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(typically two hours) the passage joins a similar sized stream at
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<a href="deepwy.htm#confluence"><b>The Confluence</b></a>, where the dry
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<a href="115.htm#purgbypass0"><b>Purgatory Bypass</b></a> via
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<a href="deepwy.htm#jncha">Junction Chamber</a> joins the route from above.
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<p>The large abandoned tube above the Purgatory is followed West, then NNW by
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crossing from ledge to ledge, or by climbing up from below some way
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downstream of the chamber. Eventually further traversing was given up as the
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ledges give out shortly after the right branch into the
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<a href="115.htm#purgbypass0">Purgatory Bypass</a>. However, this tube is
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expected to continue as [<a name="C1981-115-06">C1981-115-06</a>], and should be checked.
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It is possible (speculative) that this tube could be reached from
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<a href="#C1981-115-16">one or more QMs</a> around <a href="#ccairn">Connection
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Cairn</a>.
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<h3><a name="futser">The Futility Series</a> (1982)</h3>
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<p>The Futility Series branches left from the large tube above the Purgatory,
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where it turns northwards soon after leaving Big Chamber, and where a large
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boulder is jammed across the stream trench [<a name="C1981-115-09"
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href="qmlist.htm#C1981-115-09">C1981-115-09</a>]. The way leads South in a large passage
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past a ramp on the left which can be followed up a gully to two avens
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[<a name="C1982-115-35" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-115-35">C1982-115-35</a>]. Soon, a small choked
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passage in the floor on the right breaks into the 12m high <b>Pebble Beach
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Chamber</b>, with a drip inlet down a red flowstone covered area. Beyond
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this, boulders become more frequent in the passage until a climb up brings
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one to <a name="bignfcham"><b>Big Enough Chamber</b></a> (4m high) with two
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ways on.
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<p>To the right, a 3m diameter tube soon becomes impassable as the sandy
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floor rises towards the roof, with a strong draught at the end
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[<a name="C1982-115-36" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-115-36">C1982-115-36</a>]. The passage is heading
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SW towards the surface and at this point is about 100m from the valley side
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below the 115 entrance. A dig was considered from the surface, but a suitable
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site was not located on the surface surveying trip to find the nearest point.
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Time prevented a dig in the cave, and the system has not been rigged since.
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To the left from Big Enough Chamber, up a mud slope, a horizontal slot leads
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to a larger passage with a stream which soon sinks into the sandy floor. The
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passage ends abruptly at a choke just beyond some rippled mud formations
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[<a name="C1982-115-37" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-115-37">C1982-115-37</a>].
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<h3>The Connection area (1981)</h3>
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<p>The low mud-filled continuation of the abandoned tube above the Purgatory
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leads into a mazy fossil phreatic area. The passage size increases in this,
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past one or two passages right. Both the original grade 1 sketch and the notes for the grade 5 survey show the first as a genuine question mark
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[<a name="C1981-115-17" href="qmlist.htm#C1981-115-17">C1981-115-17</a>], but later descriptions
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omit this. (It is shown on the published survey, although almost hidden by
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the Ramp directly above). The second is a <a name="pboxbow">steeply rising
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tube</a> to the right which loops back to connect at roof level with the
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route (there are a few straws here).
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<p><a name="ccairn">After</a> this junction a small vadose trench in the
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floor contains only seepage water, but the route lowers to a crawl through a
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sandy floored arch to a point where the route diverges. Left, the original
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way explored in 1981, a short thrutch emerges at <b>Connection Cairn</b>,
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which lies in a complex area above a vadose trench with water estimated to be
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10m below [<a name="C1981-115-16" href="qmlist.htm#C1981-115-16">C1981-115-16</a>] (thought to be
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the Purgatory, but almost equally likely to be the Stellerweg water or a
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different stream entirely). Several passages lead off here [<a name="C1981-115-13"
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href="qmlist.htm#C1981-115-13">C1981-115-13</a>], but one rises steeply upwards in a large
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tube [<a name="C1981-115-12" href="qmlist.htm#C1981-115-12">C1981-115-12</a>], eventually to
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reach the low wide sandy crawl which is the main route.
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<h3><a name="offjcha">Junction Chamber area</a> (1981)</h3>
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<p>Junction Chamber is a nexus of routes where the entrance series of both
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Schnellzughöhle and the ramifications of Stellerweghöhle join. Two
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streams, one from Stellerweg's <a href="41.htm#id41bigrift">Big Rift</a> to the
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NW and one from the NE (the opposite side from the 115 passage), join and
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drop into the deep slot which is traversed over on the entry route from 115.
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The water downstream has not been followed [<a name="C1981-41-14"
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href="qmlist.htm#C1981-41-14">C1981-41-14</a>], but the water is assumed to form part of
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the inlet stream which enters at <a href="deepwy.htm#confluence"><b>The
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Confluence</b></a>. A continuation traverse [<a name="C1981-41-15"
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href="qmlist.htm#C1981-41-15">C1981-41-15</a>] above this stream may not exist, but maybe
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should be checked.
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<p>The inlet stream across Junction Chamber cannot be followed very far
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upstream. Directly opposite the point of entry from 115, a very greasy 10m
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climb up (handline essential for repeated use) gives access to a large
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passage which is the NE-trending continuation of that on the other side of
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the chamber. This soon leads to a trench in the floor into which no descent
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has been made [<a name="C1981-41-19" href="qmlist.htm#C1981-41-19">C1981-41-19</a>]. Following
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this above the water (thought to be the stream emerging on the NE of Junction
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Chamber) gives onto a traverse which has not been pushed (sketching shows
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continuation c 80m to two avens [<a name="C1981-41-20"
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href="qmlist.htm#C1981-41-20">C1981-41-20</a>,<a name="C1981-41-21"
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href="qmlist.htm#C1981-41-21">C1981-41-21</a>], both with inlets).
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<hr />
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