Pushing Keng Dang Dang: A rift with attitude

By Imogen Furlong

This year two SUSS members, Jeff Wade and I went back to Tian Xing in Wulong, China to continue exploration of the systems out there. We were caving with Hongmeigui the international caving society.

The main cave to be explored in September was Keng Dang Dang. This had been explored to a depth of -180m in 2004 and then left when it was deemed to be too tight and squalid to continue pushing.

In February 2009, Rob Garrett and Duncan Collis returned to push to a terminal shaft, but saw potential of a bolt traverse across the blackness.

So In September 2009 we returned and bolted  across. Here we found on going rift passage. It was quite an arduous task to explore. With no place to camp we continued to make slow progress, retreating to the surface after every pushing trip.

Towards  the end of September trips were up to 20hours or more and the cave-550m deep with ongoing rift passage, getting tighter and tighter. Still no sign of the main drain, although it must be close by. It will be quite an undertaking in future years to  progress this, with camping in hammocks really quite likely.

The great thing, as this survey shot shows (Keng Dang Dang in the red) is that the cave is just pushing off into the great unknown and unexplored blackspace. So it could literally do anything, and with a last turn from heading dead north to twisting west, we really have no idea where its final destination will be. (Entrance is on the right hand end).