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180 lines
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180 lines
9.7 KiB
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
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<title>1623/41 Stellerweghöhle Guidebook</title>
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../css/main2.css" />
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<body>
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<h2><span lang="de-at">Stellerweghöhlensystem:</span> the way to the
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bottom</h2>
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<h3><a name="jncha">Junction Chamber to the Confluence</a></h3>
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<p>Junction Chamber is a nexus of routes where ways in from
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<a href="115.htm"><span lang="de">Schnellzughöhle</span></a>
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to the SW and
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<a href="41.htm"><span lang="de-at">Stellerweghöhle</span></a> to the NW
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meet. The <span lang="de-at">Stellerweg</span> water joins another inlet from
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the NE, to flow into an impassably narrow canyon below the point of entry
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from 115. Directly opposite this point is a very greasy 10m climb up
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(handline almost essential after any traffic has dampened the mud). This
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gives access to a NE-trending large passage which is the continuation of that
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on the other side of the chamber. The main way on
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[<a name="C1981-41-18" href="qmlist.htm#C1981-41-18">C1981-41-18</a>] lies up
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boulders off to the left soon after the greasy climb; this is the continuing
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Bypass to reach the Confluence.
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<h3><a name="dartford">Dartford Tunnel</a> (1981/82)</h3>
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<p>Above the boulder climb, a very large passage leads on, turning left and
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heading Northwest. Down the passage, <b>Dartford Tunnel</b>, is a steep
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descent in a huge (10m diameter) boulder strewn palæotrunk with much
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layered mud and surge marks. After a hundred metres, it curves to the west,
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the main passage section changes gradually as a choked trench develops in the
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floor, and this is bridged by a large boulder, where care is required. By
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this point, the direction is almost Southwest, just before a marked change of
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character. The trench turns sharp left (SE) and is lost
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[<a name="C1982-41-03" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-41-03">C1982-41-03</a>], while
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the main passage turns abruptly right and develops into a high rift with a
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flat mud floor.
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<p>The rift continues Northwest, almost exactly parallel to the Big Rift
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pitches in <span lang="de-at">Stellerweg,</span> though a long way below.
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After about 50m, the roof suddenly lowers, and just beyond, a junction is
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reached. Here the passage section changes to vadose canyon, still large.
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Right is unproductive, but left carries on Southwest in a mud floored rift to
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reach a 4m climb down.
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<p>The main way continues past a small arch on the left, which leads to a
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small chamber with a roof inlet
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[<a name="C1982-41-08" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-41-08">C1982-41-08</a>].
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A narrow trench
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[<a name="C1982-41-07" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-41-07">C1982-41-07</a>] cuts
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the floor, with the sound of a stream below. The main passage now descends
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steeply, passing a small roof inlet
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[<a name="C1982-41-09" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-41-09">C1982-41-09</a>] which
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has washed the mud floor clean. The water flows down the passage for a few
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metres until it has washed out the top of a narrow vadose trench with the
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sound of a stream perhaps 10m below
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[<a name="C1982-41-10" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-41-10">C1982-41-10</a>].
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Carrying on down the dry passage, still Southwest, leads to the inscription
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"CUCC/UBSS 1981" in mud on a boulder - the limit of exploration that year.
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<p>On the left, the floor trench is joined by another canyon emerging from
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under the far wall, and the mud floor of the tube assumes a steeper V-shaped
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profile. This is the start of a traverse on dusty loose mud ledges on the
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right (line useful). The passage widens and becomes easier to traverse,
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parallel to the top of the vadose trench, with the sound of the stream
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below [<a href="qmlist.htm#C1982-41-10">C1982-41-10</a>]. The trench is
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crossed to a flat muddy ledge on the left, and then re-crossed as it
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disappears under the left wall after a tight meander.
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<p><a name="camp">Ahead is</a> a step up, best climbed on the right, but
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below this, a low passage slopes down to the top of a deep trench. Above, the
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climb soon leads to a junction with a sandy passage branching left to
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<b>Camp Chamber</b> (care). This continues
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[<a name="C1982-41-11" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-41-11">C1982-41-11</a>] as a
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traverse above a stream (thought to be Purgatory).
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<p><center><a href="l/camp.htm"><img alt="1982 camp - 9k jpeg" width=300
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height=200 src="t/camp.jpg"></a><br><b>Andy Dolby in the camp,
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1982</b></center>
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<p>Beyond this turn off, the main way turns Northwest and descends steeply to
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meet a deep stream canyon coming in from the right at the end of a traverse
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across a steep mud slope. The ledge on the near side of the canyon becomes
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too narrow to the left, so it is crossed (awkward) to reach a terrace sloping
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steeply left. Down this soon reaches a corner where an easy 4m climb down
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drops into the Confluence.
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<h3><a name="confluence">The Confluence To The Sump</a> (1981/82)</h3>
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<p>The climb down from the Bypass lands at the junction, <b>The
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Confluence</b>, of the Purgatory water (explored in 1981) and an
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<a href="offdp.htm#C1981-41-07">inlet</a>. Downstream in a passage only
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slightly bigger than the Purgatory, a wet 4m climb precedes a 7m pitch,
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followed shortly by the entry of a small
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<a href="offdp.htm#C1982-41-16">cascade</a> from the left (right, on
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survey?). Sixty metres downstream is a frothy round sump pool. This is
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bypassed up a steep slope sharp left, where a 3m high muddy passage leads off
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to a 7m pitch back down to the streamway. The streamway may be followed back
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up to the downstream side of the sump, showing it to be less than 10m long.
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Downstream, the canyon is now 1.5-2m wide and too high to see the roof. After
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fifteen metres is a 3m climb, and a hundred metres further on, increasingly
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interspersed with sporting cascades, <b>The Twelve foot climb</b> (p5, aka
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"Another Pitch") is reached. Another twenty metres on is a wet 9m
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pitch ("And Another Pitch") and a similar distance leads to the 7m
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<b>Marlow Climb</b> (aka "Yet Another Pitch").
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<p>The rush to depth now eases, and a hundred metres on, the passage lowers
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to a sharp crawl and a couple of smooth steep climbs in a hading rift. Two
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hundred metres from the last pitch, the verticality returns. The water can be
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largely avoided on these pitches of 9m <b><a id="lakep">Lake</a></b>, 22m <b>Letch</b>, (with
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rebelay ledge halfway and followed by <b>Commando Climb</b> 4m). A sharp left
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turn marks the start of forty metres of canal, ending at the 17m <b>Grope
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pitch</b>. After another fifty metres, the 13m <b>Subtle Approach</b> (with
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awkward takeoff), marked the 1981 limit of exploration via Pete's Purgatory
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[<a name="C1981-41-08" href="qmlist.htm#C1981-41-08">C1981-41-08</a>].
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<p>A short length of streamway now leads to the 22m <b><a id="slit">The Slit</a></b>, and a
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similar distance to the 7m <b>Coming Soon</b> which are both vertical. Sixty
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metres of high rift develops into a canal. Soon, the water deepens and the
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roof lowers until a low swimming duck. Beyond the 10cm airspace, the canal
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continues sandy floored, then turns to break out at an awe-inspiring abyss
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with the water thundering into the depths.
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<p>The 90m shaft of <b><a id="orgasm">Orgasm Chasm</a></b> is passed by traversing out to the
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left in a series of pitches which avoid the water only in fairly dry
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conditions (11m to a ledge, 10m to a small alcove, 6m). A 42m free hang drops
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past well displayed beddings to a bridge across the shaft where the route
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divides, with the 22m pitch following the dry way down. This lands in a
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boulder strewn chamber where the main water is again met. A run under this
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leads to a small phreatic tube and a short climb down to the start of the
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final pitch (12, 13, 14m) which corkscrews past ledges to a more vertical
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section with a damp rebelay to land in a spray lashed chamber. A short wet
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climb down leads to the final <a id="sump">sump</a>
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[<a name="C1982-41-17" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-41-17">C1982-41-17</a>] in a
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rift. There is a small tube above with no draught and blocked with boulders
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[<a name="C1982-41-18" href="qmlist.htm#C1982-41-18">C1982-41-18</a>].
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<p><center><a href="l/sump.htm"><img alt="final sump - 17k jpeg" width=400
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height=292 src="t/sump.jpg"></a><br><b>Pete Lancaster conducting the usual
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ceremony at the final sump in 1982.</b></center>
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<p>This point was put at -898m by surveys at the time, but current figures
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(late 1999, after much new survey in the upper levels) put the sump higher
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(at 738m altitude) and the 41 entrance lower, giving a figure of -885m below
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41, and -974m below the highest (144) entrance.
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<p>The water was originally not thought to resurge in the nearby
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<span lang="de-at">Altausseer See,</span> as the Austrians reckoned that
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this was in a different block of limestone. However, the coincidence in
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altitude with both the lake (at 712m) and a static sump in
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<a href="../../noinfo/aaussee/1.htm"><span lang="de-at">Liägerhöhle</span></a>
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does suggest some control over the local water table. Following the discovery
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of <a href="../../aaussee/0.htm">underwater risings</a> in
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<span lang="de-at">Altausseer See</span> in 1990, it now seems likely that
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these are the resurgence for this water. Unfortunately, permission for dye
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tests is quite hard to obtain, and the total flow from
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<span lang="de-at">Altausseer See,</span> much larger than some other
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possible resurgences, capped for water supply, would mean using a series of
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staged tests with increasing amounts of dye, so the connection is likely to
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remain unproven.
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<hr />
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