Grottes et karsts de Chine
Sur les traces de Xu Xiake

Take the road South East from Wen Fu town for 2km, then turn along the footpath leading into the valley heading East for 1.5 kilometres. Da Dong is a 20m high triangular shaped entrance visible on the South side of the valley floor where two streams meet.

150m deep depression with 80m shaft leads to large upstream chamber and downstream river passage with large, deep pools to 40m pitch into rift .. pools .. sporting wet pitches to sump. Draught must go over the top and open continuation followed for 100m from shelf 10m below top of pitch (where rift starts?)

Walk downstream in a 7m wide river passage with deep pools past some small interconnecting crawls on the right to two 6m climbs down. A short ascending passage on the left becomes blocked by flowstone. The passage narrows to 5m and the height reduces to 9m as more pools and a 4m climb lead to pitches of 8m, 10m and 10m, followed by a 2m and 3m climb down and a 6m pitch. The passage all along is scoured and smoothed by water which floods the cave in wet weather. 70m further along a 3m climb drops to a 5m pitch followed quickly by pitches of 11m, 5m and 5m. Small inlets enter below this followed by pools, a traverse on rock bridges, a possible crawl past flood debris and a climbs to a 6m pitch. More climbs immediately beyond descend to pitches of 12m, 3m and 27m. The way on from here has been followed down a narrow rift and pitch of 26m, but around this area Ben Lovett found a drafting sandy floored fossil passage which he did not have time to pursue. The bottom of the 26m narrow rift pitch continues narrow until reaching pitches of 15m and 32m. From there a canal is negotiated to several climbs and pitches of 3 and 4m. These land in a pool followed by gravel banks and then a sump at -413m.

YGE96(W)(S)