204 - Steinbrückenhöhle
Becka Lawson
Up to Top Camp - no one there so I stomped off to Steinbrücken to catch the other two as they were about to go in. They were going to finish off their infamous tape + notes but no compass or clino survey off 110-a-day. Whizzed down the 3 entrance pitches, dumped SRT gear + set off down stoopy, crawly Swiss-cheese passage, holes off the side, in the floor + ceiling. Some draught though not strong. I poked at various QMs, seemed an interesting spot. The survey ended in a supposedly small chamber. I got here to find something larger than I was expecting + various leads. We split up to look round. I went up the ~25° ramp, stooping + found two walking passages off it, ending in large chambers - _whoa,_ getting pretty damn excited. Back to meet the others who'd also found stuff so I armtwisted them to keep going with the survey. Found 3 more pitches off the bottom end of the 'chamber' then surveyed up the ramp to where I'd checked out the walking passages. I set off up the passage straight ahead to check if it linked back to the passage on the right I'd looked at before to decide where best to survey. It kept heading on up + got gradually larger ... and more + more drafty + lots of what looked like bat shit on floor. By now I was stonking fast + then popped into a big walking passage, still heading up. Raced down + screamed at mark to get out of the scrofulous hole he had thrutched into + we abandoned the survey (I'd hardly any time before I had to go out to make the carpark for 9pm). Raced up into the walking passage + stomped off up the hill, passage getting bigger + bigger, lovely solution holes in the ceiling + _still_ a draft. Finally it turned, continued, then came to a big chamber. Loads of ways on all along it and it continued _down_ past the point that we had entered. Yelped a lot then headed out with Martin's carbide not lighting (+ he'd forgotten his duo) + Martin's lamp dead (and a dodgy zoom). Hopped off happily home. _Great_ trip!