Grottes et karsts de Chine
Sur les traces de Xu Xiake

Take road east from Tianxing, but turn left down the first footpath on the left at the edge of the town. Follow this path until a right turn at a large group of tombs. Where this path crosses a small stream, turn left. The sink is in bushes to the left of the path a short way downstream.

Toukui

Stream sink in bushes next to a path. Clamber down leads immediately to a crawl. From here 30m of hands and kneees crawling leads to a short awkward section that originally had to be dug open. The passage now continues sloping down at a steady gradient and bearing for another 100m. For much of this there is a double decker dry level running overhead although, with the exception of the first such instance, it is generally easier to follow the stream. After 100m a right angled turn to the right leads to some T-shaped passage and a short lower section before the first pitch of the Bad Weather Series is finally reached.

Bad Weather Series

A 10m-wide, 120m deep shaft is broken into three pitches of 42m, 12m, and 60m with large ledges in between. The rock at the top of the first pitch, Cats and Dogs, is loose chert, but the rest is solid, massive limestone. At the top of the second pitch, Old Bone, it appears as if avens enter from the south and east, but they could be collapse features. To the right at the top of Old Bone is 2p Traverse At the bottom of Old Bone a small inlet enters. The third pitch, Cloud Burst, at various points seems to connect to a parallel shaft. Cloud Burst lands on a drippy slope of boulders and rubble which slopes down to an arch into horizontal passage Sunny Forecast while upslope goes to Occluded Front.

2p Traverse

From 2p Traverse left goes to a pitch which connects back into Cloud Burst. A climb up to the right leads to a landing where a pitch drops to the rubble slope a short way uphill of the base of Old Bone. To the left on the landing a small passage leads to a 40m rift pitch to a shelf and a further pitch which most likely drops into Occluded Front.

Occluded Front

Upstream from the base of Cloud Burst high rift passage with a wet mud floor, Occluded Front reaches a junction after 20m. To the left a series of climbs over rubble end at the base of an aven, while to the right a pitch up leads to a short section of muddy walking passage followed by a further junction. To the left a rift passes a boulder blockage very near to a connection with Liu Chi Aokou Xia Dong only to find a 10m diametre aven with no way on. Straight ahead the main rift continues. At floor level the first is too narrow, and a pitch down is blind, but a rope-ladder assisted climb into roof tube permits progress for 100m of entertaining thrutching which terminates at an aven.

Sunny Forecast

Downstream from the base of Cloud Burst 150m of 4m wide, 4m high, horizontal stream passage in chert/mudstone, Sunny Forecast, leads to a further pitch: Typhoon. A very loose traverse, Beggars Can't Be Choosers over the head of Typhoon begins some 30m back up the main passage.

Beggars Belief

A very loose traverse, Beggars Can't Be Choosers over the head of Typhoon leads to Beggars' Belief a 10m wide continuation of Sunny Forecast, but without the streamway. This begins heads straight for 130m on a bearing of 330 degrees to the head of an 80m pitch, Comedy of Errors.

Comedy of Errors

Comedy of Errors is an 80m pitch broken only by a ledge 15m down. Above the ledge is very loose but a pit trap in the ledge catches all the debris from above. The rim of the ledge is made of choss glued together by mud and any pieces dislodged will plummet straight to the base of the pitch. 3 rebelays later a flat mud floor is reached at the base of a fine shaft. Far above the shaft is shaped like a T. Meanwhile ahead is a cross rift. To the right meanders in smallish rift for 50m to a pitch head. To the left goes for 30m easy metres to the head of Stud Suckers.

Stud Suckers

Stud Suckers is a 50m free hang into a decent sized area of wedged boulders with pitches down on three sides. To the north Taming of the Poo, to the west Stud Lickers, and to the east connects back into Taming of the Poo. Stud Lickers starts with a muddy traverse followed by a muddy drop down to boulders. Swinging off to the north partway down gains a rubble slope down to Boulder Pitch, while continuing to the bottom and then climbing up to the south leads to the top of Covered in Chocolate, a much less salubrious way to descend the Taming of the Poo shaft. At the bottom of Taming of the Poo, a 7m pitch Lense Lickers leads to the start of Too Shitty to Push.

Too Shitty to Push

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Boulder Pitch

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Typhoon

Descending Typhoon gives 31m of rather loose descent to a ledge overlooking a 60m pitch. FIXME

Pootastic Series

From the base of Typhoon a short climb up leads to 15m of passage which then drops back down a dry but muddy 60m pitch, Pootastic to a mud floor. Over the head Pootastic a walking passage continues briefly with a small stream before pinching out. At the bottom a 4m climb/pitch down leads back to the clean washed streamway and Chockstone Pitch, a 22m descent rigged off a short traverse.

First Rift

From the base of Chockstone Pitch the cave again changes in character as a narrow, windy, but not too arduous rift meanders for 50m to yet another pitch, Why, Why, Why Oh Why.

Why, Why, Why Oh Why

A quick succession of three short pitches separated by ledges and traverses lands at the start of the Long Rift.

Long Rift

This rift is slightly harder going than the first but not too bad and continues for about 100m to a 4m climb rigged as a pitch. From the base of this the stream disappears down an unappealing body sized tube. A flood overflow rift is the main way on while a higher passage is probably an oxbow.

After a further 30m another short pitch is rigged. From the base of this the stream can be seen in a narrow rift below. Meanwhile several possible ways on all head to a pitch 10m hence. The easiest approach looks like a blind rift but has a dogleg at the end which opens out to a comfortable pitch head down to the Third Rift.

Third Rift

Below the 16m pitch at the end of the Long Rift the stream rejoins via a high cascade. The way on is yet another narrow rift which continues for about 50m via three short climbs to another short pitch of about 20m.

Rope Jugglers

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Wallowing in Glory

FIXME describe pitch. From the base of the final pitch a short catchy crawl with sharp popcorn goes for 20m towards a rumble of water. The Lan Mu water takes an alternative route to reach Acheron 2 streamway.

Acheron 2

From Wallowing in Glory the main drain is finally encountered in 15m wide, 10m high passage. Upstream continues for 400m of easy going, mostly over shallow gravel banks. However, after 100m the stream seems to split as it comes out of a large scoured boulder pile. The left hand (northern) branch may disappear off into its own passage. An hole down through boulders rejoins the stremway. Meanwhile the main stream and passage continue past a fine vertical high 6m wide aven to a sump with no dry way on. A small aven in the roof would require bolting to reach and doesn't look very promising [QM C].

Following the main stream downstream from the Wallowing in Glory crawl leads after 150m to a downstream sump about 150m short of the Qikeng Dong's Acheron upstream sump. There is one major inlet Walking on Water 50m down on the left (south) side.

Walking on Water

From Acheron 2, Walking on Water inlet is generally knee deep wading in 5m wide passage. After 70m there is a subinlet to the right, Loach Inlet. About 150m into Walking on Water a more major confluence is reached. To the right is Amble Inlet. The main water comes from the left branch which meanders for nearly 300m to another junction. Left here a small stream enters from a very wide low passage that sumps after 60m. The main way on the right continues for another 400m to a 10m high waterfall and aven. On the way some formations are passed inlcuding some curtains which require belly crawling in the streamway to get past. Many of the stal are knife-edged suggesting a prevalence of strong air currents. There is only one minor inlet Bigger Fish to Fry on the right [QM C].

Walking With Jellyfish

Walking with Jellyfish is initially muddy. A climb up into a slightly larger roof tube makes for easier going. The mud soon becomes dry and powdery and the passage appears very old with some rotten stal. Their are numerous pristine squidlike formations from which the passage takes its name. After about 300m a flowstone boss nearly blocks the passage but the way on beyond appears wide open FIXME.

Amble Inlet

From its confluence with Walking on Water, Amble Inlet is a series of wades and short climbs up. After 40m Walking with Jellyfish, enters from the right. Amble Inlet continues for 200m to where the water goes through a low arch on the left and there is a dry oxbow to the right. In the middle of the dry oxbow a climb up gains Walking on Eggshells. Where the oxbow rejoins the water, there is a pool where a fraction of the stream resurges. The bulk of the water comes from continuing stream passage, Walk in the Park.

Walking on Eggshells

From a climb up from Amble Inlet, Walking on Eggshells is FIXME passage. It goes 150m to a swim very near to connecting with downstream Liu Chi Aokou.

Walk in the Park

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Footsteps

FIXME a fork to the right heads for about 70m to a sump?FIXME

Loach Inlet

In the dry season Loach Inlet is walking passage with a series of pools which goes 70m to a static sump. Where Loach Inlet flows into Walking on Water several blind loaches were seen, one of which was collected in 2005.

Octave Aven

A narrow slot in the base of the rift immediately opens out into Octave Aven. A few metres down a large chossyledge is passed and from here to the deviation the wall is very friable.

Below the deviation the pitch soon opens out further at a Y-hang rebelay. The shaft is now approximately 50m accross. About 20m below a bucket in the wall marks the beginning of a ledge. Below is 90m of space with a large passage appearing to enter from the east. Following the ledge around to the west the walls are coated in thick, dry mud. Three rebelays in quick succession gain a Y-hang below from where it is possible to swing onto a dividing wall that bisects the shaft. The direct continuation on the south side of the divide is Trousers. The north side of this passes several rebelays before landing about 100m below. A large drippy waterfall falls a long distance down Octave Aven and this continues its descent immediately down a serious of large steps trending northwards. A further 100m descent in passage of diminishing dimensions gains Dismal Ending.

Dismal Ending

A small chamber 4m accross is dominated by a cascade from Octave Aven. The passage here turns west and goes horizontal. The ongoing passage is small, about 1m high and less than 0.5m wide. After about 15m the roof lowers and the passage widens to about 1m crawling passage. The roof continues to lower and a wet mud bank blocks further progress. There is a clear draught and a small stream to follow and digging would yield easy albeit unpleasant progress. A corresponding inlet in Qikeng Dong beckons [QM B].

Trousers

Continuing straight down below the Y-hang in Octave Aven has a 70m pitch split by a Y-hang rebelay halfway down. The pitch lands on a boulder floor. To the south is an aven overlooked by a balcony accessed by a steep mud ramp which has never been fully ascended [QM B]. To the east a 10m+ wide passage continues for about 100m. This ends at a short chasm beyond which a mud ramp ascends to a small opening which looks like the continuation of the large passage [QM B]. To the north a 3-4m wide passage heads off. This can be accessed either by a shotr climb up and over or by via a constricted rift. There is a narrow rift heading southwest which slopes down for 10m to an undescended pitch [QM B]. The main way meanders northwards for 50m before bending westwards at which point the roof lowers and it abruptly ends in a mud choke [QM C].

Back at the foot of the pitch the main way on is down a short pitch to the north, Trousers 1. At the base of the pitch there are two ways on: doubling back under the boulders there is a hole down [QM B]. The main way on is a very high, 2m wide rift with a trickle of a streamway heading northeast for about 75m with lots of directional popcorn. After a climb up and then down there is an undescended pit on the right [QM C]. A second small pitch and several climbs are passed, coming to a 20m pitch, Mud Castles, which lands in 5m diameter chamber with a small pool and formations. From here the tall rift goes north for 15m. It may continue in the same direction [QM B], but the way on is to the west in a 2m tall, clean-washed popcorny passage. After 15m the ceiling disappears and the original rift may re-enter [QM B]. The passage continues west to the top of Pants, a spacious 54m pitch. 15m from the bottom a traverse gains a horizontal level, which is linked withing several routes lead off from the bottom via the Connection area.

Whitewalls

From the traverse 15m from the bottom, and via multiple routes at the bottom of Pants, a complex area of well-developed fossil vadose and phreatic passages is reached. Many of the passages have stream-milled holes in the floor, and there are many areas of directional formations. Horizontal routes mostly end in avens or are intersected by shafts down to the stream passages explored in 2005. However, a tall vadose canyon to the NW reverberates with the sound of a large stream, and ends overlooking the main streamway in Qikeng Dong. A hole in the floor some metres back enters a small inlet passage which emerges in Qikeng at the junction of Keep the Faith and Acheron, the main stream.