The Convenience series is entered through Thin Rift (which leads off from Dead Good Bat Chamber).| 204 | Steinbrückenhöhle | 5/S x |
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The Convenience series is entered through Thin Rift (which leads off from Dead Good Bat Chamber).
The rift starts off as walking passage before becoming tighter, requiring crawling to continue. After a short climb down of 1m, the rift widens again and a second climb of approximately 2m is encountered. This was the limit of exploration in 2004. Beyond the climb the passage continues down another short climb down off of a shale bank. This requires a hand line of 10m which can be belayed from a large flake at floor level. Beyond this point the rift is known as "Convenience Rift".
At the bottom of the climb the passage passes two holes in the floor. The first of these is too tight. The second descends for ~5m and has two passages leading off from the bottom in opposite directions (parallel to Convenience Rift). Both of these are too tight, but it is expected that the North Easterly one connects to the bottom of the traverse further down Convenience Rift.
Continuing along Convenience Rift a further climb of ~3m is encountered. This can be bypassed by traversing along the right hand wall. A traverse line of ~14m is required and can be belayed to threads at either end of the traverse. A 21m rope is sufficient to rig the preceeding climb and the traverse. Beyond the traverse, the passage turns sharp left and a deep narrow slot in the floor must be traversed at high level. After 10m the slot widens and a passage, well decorated with white popcorn formations, joins from the right. The joining passage can be followed steeply uphill for ~25m to a small chamber. A small hole in the floor of the chamber leads onto a large pitch [C2007-204-01 A] with a strong draft.
Continuing along Convenience Rift, the passage changes charactor with mud/sand banks on the right hand wall. The passage passes under a large aven (QM X) and up a 2m climb before reaching Flush Pitch.
Traversing across the top of Flush Pitch (10m of rope and two hangers required) a second pitch is encountered, this connects with flush pitch at the bottom. A passage leading off to the right from the second pitch leads to The Bowl, a pitch leading down to Now Wash Your Hands. The Bowl may be free-climbed for some distance until it becomes too vertical. At this point a sloping, drippy passage doubles back from the main direction of The Bowl and leads to a 2m drop into a shallow pool of water, The Cistern.
Descending Fush Pitch (21m of rope and three hangers required, including the traverse) leads to a small chamber which connects to the bottom of the second pitch. A passage leading south is too tight, and the way on is a crawling sized phreatic tube up a climb to the north. After several twists and turns this emerges at The Cistern. This route is recommended as it avoids the slippery traverse across The Cistern.
From The Cistern a 5m climb down leads to a muddy puddle and a crawl through a small hole. Beyond the hole, awkward thrutching through rift passage leads to a 3m climb down (5m handline an a single hanger required) into a large East-West passage, Now Wash Your Hands. A sloping passage to the left at the top of the climb also leads to Now Wash Your Hands.
Upslope in Now Wash Your Hands large
walking passage leads to a junction after 15m. The passage to the left
slopes downwards, gradually decreasing in height until it chokes with
mud [C2007-204-02
D]. A few meters from the junction a small tube is passed on the
right [C2007-204-03
B]. The passage to the right contains a dead bat not far from the
junction (more decomposed than the one in Dead Good Bat Chamber). The
passage drops into a small chamber beneath an aven (QM X) with a small
tube carrying a stream to the right which ends at an aven [C2007-204-04
X]. Straight ahead a short climb up leads to a steeply sloping passage which passes two small tubes in the left hand wall [C2007-204-05 B] before emerging at a large pitch down [C2007-204-07 A]. The tubes to the left appear to join a parallel passage which also leads to the pitch.
Downslope in Now Wash Your Hands is a muddy boulder filled passage which, after a short climb down, reaches a T-junction. Left at the junction leads to Out Of Order Rift. The passage to the right is reached by a 1.5m climb up a mud bank. Pleasant, walking sized phreatic passage winds gradually downhill. After a lowering of the roof, requiring crawling, Shit Chute joins on the left. This is a steeply sloping tube with a loose muddy floor. Starting as crawling sized it soon enlarges and the floor drops away into a pitch. This can also be reached through Engaged. The main passage continues to a short pitch requiring 10m of rope and two hangers. This enters Engaged.
Engaged begins under a drippy aven, with the water flowing down a
hole in the floor which is too tight. Beyond the aven, the passage
trifurcates. The large passage to the right continues across several
large holes in the floor, the first of these is the SLTR pitch which
descends 86 meters to several small sumps. The other holes are as yet
undescended [C2007-204-24 A], the continuation of the
passage (requiring a traverse line) is also unexplored [C2007-204-25 A]. The passage to the left soon reaches another junction. Straight ahead the passage slopes steeply to a pitch [C2007-204-22 A]. To the left, a large passage leads to a muddy pitch which can be rigged from natural anchors and descended into Channel 5.
Out Of Order Rift begins as a large, boulder filled passage. After two tight constrictions the passage becomes an awkward rift which slopes downwards. After a few sharp bends the passage widens slightly and another rift, Urinal Cakes, leads off down a hole in the floor. Traversing across the top of Urinal Cakes, Out Of Order Rift continues. A tube on the right connects back into Urinal Cakes whilst the rift continues past several more bends to a junction. To the right a very tight tube leads past several constrictions to a small chamber. The tight tube appears to continue, but is only for the thin enthusiast [C2007-204-09 C]. To the left, the rift reduces to crawling size before emerging at a pitch, Don't Worry, Pee Happy.
Don't Worry, Pee Happy pitch descends for 20m, landing in a small chamber. A hole in the floor behind a lip of rock descends another 10m to a ledge. Descending a further hole with a waterfall going down it leads to a small, crawling passage ending in a tight crawl through water which becomes too tight after about two metres. This is close to connecting to upslope in The Tube. From the bottom of Don't Worry, Pee Happy, a horizontal passage leads down several climbs before becoming too tight. This has a strong draft outwards.
Traversing across the top of Don't Worry, Pee Happy leads to a continuation of Out Of Order Rift. After a sharp bend to the left a tube leads off to the right. This passes under an aven with a pool of water at the bottom to link back into the top of Don't Worry, Pee Happy. Straight on leads to another pitch down which takes water [C2007-204-13 C]. It is almost certain that this links into the bottom of Don't Worry, Pee Happy.
Channel 5 is a large boulder slope. Down slope, the passage steepens to a pitch [C2007-204-19 B]. Up slope,a short climb down leads to a small streamway, this cuts under the boulder slope, and can be followed downstream for some distance before becoming too tight. Upstream ends at an aven, thought to link to Indecent Exposure.
Urinal Cakes consists of two parallel
passages, one on top of the other. The lower passage becomes too tight
after ~10m. The upper passage can be followed past a section of flat
out crawling to emerge in a chamber, Indecent Exposure. Climbing down
through the boulders which make up the floor of Indecent Exposure
leads to a pitch down to Channel 5. A passage on the left hand side of
Indecent Exposure leads, via a squeeze up through boulders, to a small
chamber with an aven above [C2007-204-15 X]. There is a tight hole in the floor of the chamber leading to a pitch [C2007-204-16 C].