expoweb/noinfo/1626/122.htm

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<center><table border=0 width=100%>
<tr><th align=left><font size=+2>122</font></th>
<th align=center lang="de"><font size=+2>Ufoschacht</font></th>
<th align=right><font size=+2>3/S =</font></th></tr>
<tr><th></th><th align=center lang="fr"><font size=+2>(=Gouffre Ovni)</font></th></tr>
</table></center>
<p><b>Altitude</b>: 1520m<br>
<b>Location</b>: <span lang="de">Plagitzergrube,</span> NE of
<span lang="de">Hangender Kogel.</span> This puts it quite close to
<span lang="de">Trunkemboldschacht,</span> <a href="117.htm">1626/117</a>
(which is 90m higher) and also near the path.
<p>Description adapted from the references by Andy Waddington. This
translation has not been vetted by a fluent french reader, and I'm afraid it
shows rather badly in places.
<p>The entrance consists of a crack about 20cm high, which was at first
cleared as far as a chamber with no exit. The draught which had enabled the
entrance to be found now showed the way on. After having unblocked a fissure
dubbed Sas, a pitch, <b lang="fr">Escalier Anti-G,</b> was reached. This is
broken in five places. A second pitch, <b lang="fr">Puits
Androm&egrave;de,</b> broken into three, leads to a short canyon, then to
several drops and pitches interspersed with short squeezes. The following
pitches can be seen as forming a single 80m shaft, the <b lang="fr">Puits
Ganim&egrave;de,</b> divided into five and becoming bigger and bigger in
depth as well as width. The cave continues by a fault rift two or three
metres wide and 40m deep, <b lang="fr">Puits Trou Noir</b> (The Black Hole).
The early pitches are dry, but by this point, at -200m, the shafts are much
wetter.
<p>The explorers in 1977 started on the descent of a fine 60m pitch of
constant shape, slightly sloping, <b lang="fr">Puits Zorglub.</b> At the
bottom of this is the only chamber of the cave : the <b lang="fr">Salle
Galactique.</b> Here the cave splits into two routes, the active and the
fossil.
<h3>Active system</h3>
<p>Downstream from the chamber a drop leads to a small chamber among
boulders, the Love Nest. (No idea who ventured to call it this). Between the
boulders a 20m pitch opens, immediately followed by a 25m pitch. In fact, the
last 25m of descent drops between the walls of an immense aven to land on a
flat gravel floor. A diagonal chimney leads to a trickle of water.
<p>A fissure marks the start of the <b lang="fr">M&eacute;andre
Anti-Mati&egrave;re,</b> where one immediately rejoins the underground
stream. This has an average flow of two litres per second but quite rapidly
increases to 10-15 litres per second in flood. The first part of the meander
is straight and interrupted by 3 small pitches and two drops. At the top of
the first, in the roof, is the connection with the fossil system. Quickly,
the meander becomes less amenable: high and narrow, it is plastered with mud
(the anti-matter) which makes progress quite arduous. Three pitches of 5, 14
and 10m punctuate progress. This last, followed by a drop of 3m, gives access
to a section of passage blocked by clay. At the end of this, the stream
disappears into a fissure with tight impenetrable bends.
<p>The main passage continues ahead as a quite large fossil branch. After
some 50m, the draught goes into an earthy hole, the start of a big pitch of
70m in several stages, the <b lang="fr">Puits du Centaure.</b>
<p>Halfway down, the pitch is rejoined by the stream which is avoided by a
parallel fossil shaft. There immediately follows another pitch of 55m, the
<b lang="fr">Puits du Fond des Ages,</b> totally wet and characterised by an
elliptical cross-section and constant slope. At the bottom, the water is
engulfed by a fissure about three metres long, followed by a tight meander
which has not been pushed. This is the deepest point : -565m.
<h3>Fossil system</h3>
<p>Upstream from the <span lang="fr">Salle Galactique,</span> a window some
metres high gives access to a good-sized passage (3x3m on average), the
<b lang="fr">M&eacute;andre des Petits Hommes Verts</b> (the Little Green
Men's passage). One comes up against a climb of 3m at the base of which the
trickle of water is lost into a meander cut below the fossil passage (see
below). After a narrowing and a climb, the passage ends in boulders between
which it is still possible to penetrate for a dozen metres.
<p>Back in the meander below the fossil passage: this ends at the
<b lang="fr">Puit de la Com&egrave;te</b> (discovered by the
<span lang="fr">Gaumais</span>), a 60m pitch, spray-lashed in its lower part
by <b lang="fr">Le Pipi</b> (the wee-wee). At the base of this pitch is the
beginning of the <b lang="fr">M&eacute;andre des Mutants.</b> This is a
passage for masochists <span lang="fr">par excellence</span> : low and tight,
gear gets caught everywhere. It ends in a series of climbs and a 30m pitch
joining the active system.
<h3>Geology &amp; Meteorology</h3>
<p>see reference 78-2008
<p><b>Exploration</b>: Discovered in August 1974 by D.Motte.<br>
Entrance unblocked by <span lang="fr">Groupe Sp&eacute;l&eacute;o Alpin
Belge</span> in 1975 and 76.<br>
Explored in August 1976 by <span lang="fr">F.Dechany &amp; J.C.Hans</span>
(GSAB) to -201m<br>
Pushed to -565m on a further GSAB trip 5th-29th August 1977.
<p><b>References :</b>
<dl>
<dt>78.2012<dd><cite>(GSAB) <span lang="fr">Sp&eacute;alp</span> 1
(June 1977) pp 33-49</cite>, <b>Totes Gebirge : <span lang="fr">Description
des principaux gouffres de la zone ouest du massif</span></b>,
<span lang="fr">Jean Claude Hans &amp; Etienne Degrave</span><br>
<a href="../../others/gsab/en/782012.htm#117">English Translation</a><br>
<a href="../../others/gsab/fr/782012.htm#117" lang="fr">En Fran&ccedil;ais</a>
<dt>78.2008<dd><cite>(GSAB) <span lang="fr">Sp&eacute;alp</span> 2 (1978)
pp 14-19, figures, surveys</cite>, <span lang="fr"><b>Gouffre Ovni</b>,
Georges Feller</span><br>
<a href="../../others/gsab/en/782008.htm">English Translation</a><br>
<a href="../../others/gsab/fr/782008.htm" lang="fr">En Fran&ccedil;ais</a>
</dl>
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