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Area 6

This is the area around the ridge between Pico de la Jorcada and Pico Conjurtao. Cave 3/6 is allegedly very promising.

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1/6 Ridge Cave
Location: E 41 236.6, N 88 115.3, A 1916.7. On the main ridge between Jorcada Blanca Pass and Pico Conjurtao. Best reached from Top Camp by walking down Bog Alley (directly away from La Verdilluenga) to a bowl filled with massive boulders. At the opposite side of the chaos, a green gully runs upwards. Ridge Cave is near the top of this, about 50m below the ridge.
Description: See Proc 12. May be worth going back to one day.

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2/6 Pozu Conjurtao
Location: E 41 166.8, N 88 020.5, A 1983.6. From Ridge Cave continue up the grassy slope followed by a scramble up a rift leads to the top of the ridge. A large open shaft.
Description: See Proc 12.

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3/6
Location: Walk up grass slope to ridge from Ridge Cave and turn left at the top untill the next grass field on the left side is met, before the ridge rises towards the 2/6 hill. Turn left (back towards Top Camp) and walk along and down the grass for 40m to a shakehole on the left side. The rift seen in the N wall is the continuation of the Ridge Cave (1/6) entrance fault; digging out some boulders at the bottom of the shakehole might connect down to the rifts near the first 1/6 pitch. The 3/6 entrance, however, is a hole in the W side of the shakehole. GR: 41211.3E, 88081.0N, 1940A (bottom of shakehole); 41206.8E, 88080.7N, 1942A (entrance).
Description: The entrance (marked but not investigated in 1988) seems to have grown by collapse (frost action? memory lapse?) since it was first seen in 1986. After removing the regular cobweb choke it is now possible to creep down the exceptionally spiky manhole and look along a floor level crawl onto the head of a 10-12m pitch! The head of `Shit Creek' in 2/6 is 200m vertically below. Awaits following up.

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4/6
Location: Follow ridge as on the way to 3/6 but carry straight on to boulder jumble at foot (righthand side) of 2/6 hill. 4/6 is straight on in the S corner. The entrances were passed by many cavers en route to 2/6 in 1986 but never noticed except by Fred; they were rediscovered, marked and initially explored in 1988. GR: 41164.5E, 88084.0N, 1946A.
Description: A 2m climb down very loose boulder pile to tiny chamber with hole to drop ahead and another hole to smaller drop on left. Slide down the latter into very interesting cavity underneath a car-sized rock slab (supporting everything you've been treading on whilst approaching the entrance), and squeeze down another hole to floor level of first drop. This is in 1m wide 5m long 3m high vadose passage with clean scalloped walls, unfortunately with a solid gravel floor and ending as parallel 1'' and 3'' cracks in the far wall. Total depth is about 8m.

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5/6A-B
Location: 5/6A is a few steps west of 4/6. 5/6B is only 20m SW on the Polish side but difficult to find at the surface; it's easier from inside (and this is how it had been found in the first place!). GR: 41156.6E, 88090.6N, 1942A (5/6A); 41138.9E, 88088.2N, 1940A (5/6B).
Description: 5/6A is entered by scrambling down loose overhang into rift and traversing forward to 10m pitch (natural and 2 bolts). Penduling forward in the 167${}^\circ$ striking rift gives access to a blind 5m pit (diggable?) whilst at the foot of the pitch a step under a rock arch gains the main chamber. The snow cone gave rise to the name of `Pozu Paseo Nevado'. The snow is derived from the 5/6B shakehole upslope. The latter can be entered from outside using a short ladder or by carefully climbing through an eyehole but the rock is very loose and holds and belays tend to come off. A planar fracture at strike 167${}^\circ$ dip 38${}^\circ$ E controls some remarkable phreatic tubes both in the E wall of the chamber and at the surface above 5/6B. In the S wall of the chamber a too tight meander leads off, but it seems to widen below; pebbles aimed through gaps in the wedged gravel floor drop at least 3m.

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