136 - Steinschlagschacht

Mon 28 Jul 1997
Julian Haines



Walked to 136 the hard way, up, down, up, down over choss etc. Walked back to get my gear. Sat around a bit fettling things, untangling 200m of rope and remembering how to put on SRT kit. Eventually got underground about 2 o'clock. Completely rerigged the first pitch to avoid as much of the loose rubble as possible - now a 45° bolt traverse to the head of the pitch. Pitch head has moved from the original '83 position - now out of the line of fire from the boulder slope. Fine pitch (c.35m) with mostly free hang (and a lot of bounce) - one deviation.

Continued on from foot of 1st pitch into large chamber sloping downhill from entry point. There appeared to be 2 or 3 ways on from here but only one spit in evidence from the original '83 exploration. We rigged down the most promising hole (not where the original spit was) on the opposite side of the chamber about half way down the slope. After about 15m descent found spits from '83 exploration and followed these for around 100m descent. Eventually arrived at a ledge next to a waterfall with the water disappearing down a rift in the floor. This route looks a bit damp and unpleasant.

_Note:_ The pitch head at the 2nd pitch is both loose and awkward. Typically people kick rocks from this which fall around 70/80m down the pitch to the obvious ledge. It's advisable not to call "pitch free" until OFF the 2nd pitch and for the following people to wait under this obvious ledge.

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No survex files found for this date.
No wallets files found for this date.
Logbook trips on this date:
    161 Surveying and Photographing Lost World
    161 - Surveying Lost World Upstream
    161 - Rigging towards Siberia
    136 - Steinschlagschacht