1970's Route

A further 13m pitch, Saved Shaft, into a smaller aven chamber, Boulder Chamber, leads to an apparent end, but thrutch through boulders into top of rift/canyon. Hole in floor is 32m pitch into Keg Series (no draught) with further unexplored pitch below. Continuing traverse leads to climbs down then split pitch of 19m and 14m, Follow-through Shaft, dropping into side of abandoned canyon. Upstream to the left ends immediately while down canyon leads to head of a chamber, The Taproom, with a 5m climb down a big boulder under heavy drip/spray (handline useful). Also from the head of the chamber, passage leads back to a large unexplored hole in floor with lots of water entering from a high aven. 1977 terminus at -150m.

From chamber, scramble down in rift (rope useful owing to greasy rock and 120 metre drop) to reach head of large rift pitch below jammed boulder. Pitch drops in two sections of 10m and 35m, with stream out of reach in canyon, to ledge where stream bed is crossed (traverse line). Further pitch of 10m leads to straddle climb up to rocking boulder, then traverse forward to good belays for 48m pitch. This lands on The Balcony where water runs away from obvious way on into a tight immature drain.

Ben with the Greene King pennant on the Balcony

From the Balcony a 7m pitch drops into the Hall of the Greene King, a huge soaring aven chamber. The way on over a boulder floor leads under suspended boulders, one of immense size, to a 5m pitch down off the edge of a boulder. In the floor is a sharp canyon that loops round to a junction. Left leads to Gents' Pitch route, while right leads to a dry passage. After a few metres in the dry passage, there is a rift in the floor to the left, which is a muddy, broken pitch with sections of 3m, 12m and 18m into the main canyon (1978 route). Another few metres ahead, a bold step across the canyon leads to further passage which eventually degenerates and rejoins the main canyon upstream (right) of the bold step.

   

Julian Griffiths abseiling the 16.5m and Gents' pitches on the bottoming trip in 1979

The 1979 route from the junction leads to a pitch of 16.5m, free hanging just clear of the wall, with an excellent takeoff. However the rope gets muddy from mud on clothing in a couple of trips, so care is required. Next drop is the Gents' pitch of 9.5m, which leads to a short streamway rejoining the main canyon from the 1978 route. The bottom of this pitch is a good place for cavers to perform ablutions with the mud on their ascenders, hence the name (all the explorers were male). The main passage now leads on with stream in floor and muddy ledges above until the Fiesta Run is reached. This awkward slanting rift pitch of 28m is so muddy that ladders are de rigeur. The name derives from the car crash which terminated exploration at this point in 1978.

A traverse forward on muddy ledges leads out over a huge shaft with the ominous sound of a waterfall below. Traversing further eventually leads to a further pitch of 5m to a col. Down another 10m on the side away from the main shaft lands on a solid floor in an abandoned rift. From a large chamber, a short free-climb leads down to an ante-chamber with an interesting hole up in the left wall. Forward leads through narrow passage with sharp rock to a point where thrutchy descending traversing is necessary to make further progress. A 23m broken pitch in sharp rock, with very bad rub points leads only to a tight crawl. Only two trips reached this point, both with solo explorers well away from their backup in the main route. The crawl was pushed only by Julian Griffiths on hte first visit, to emerge at a drop with a large aven above, which remains unexplored at about -395m depth. This route does not appear to carry the draught which is lost before the deep point of the main route.

The main way on, however, is not to traverse onwards, but drop back into canyon towards the ominous hiss of water in a very wide pitch where the stream seems to have hit a fault at right angles to the arriving passage direction. The middle section of this 28m pitch is huge, before narrowing to a ledge parallel to the new fault, and 'downstream' from the original direction of stream flow. From the ledge, a smaller shaft of 33m drops down the new fault rift to a boulder floor where the water sinks. The fault rift, Madlmeier Schacht, now drops in sections of 24 and 19m to the end of the rope in 1979. Here an exposed freeclimb of 5m with icy water flowing over the handholds is not really recommended - take a longer rope. Next pitch of 24m picks up the main water again 10m down, and final pitch of 17m from ledge drops to floor of rift chamber, but mud on floor precedes final muddy 10m pitch down a boulder wall to a deep and terminal rift sump at -506m. This whole bottom section is steamy and it is clear that the draught was lost some way above.

Simon Farrow on the last 17m pitch of Madlmeier Schacht

Julian Griffiths at the final sump - 1979

There are a number of going leads in this cave and you're welcome to them.