South wall cave
| South wall cave
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| Location: | Dachstein , ( Styria ) | |
| Height : | 1840 m above sea level A. | |
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Geographic location: |
47 ° 27 '53 " N , 13 ° 36' 43" E | |
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| Cadastral number: | 1543/28 | |
| Geology: | Wetterstein limestone , dolomite or dolomite cataclasite | |
| Type: | High alpine cave | |
| Discovery: | 1886 | |
| Overall length: | 10,100 m | |
| Level difference: | 509 m | |
The Südwandhöhle is a cave located at the foot of the Dachstein- Südwand in Austria, known since 1886. It was examined speleologically by Hermann Bock as early as 1910 and measured over a length of about 400 m to the cathedral . Although Bock already suspected a possible continuation in the ceiling area of the cathedral, the breakthrough came in 1980 when members of the ÖAV research group Schladming climbed two wall steps and penetrated into new parts of the cave. As a result, the cave was quickly explored several kilometers in length in the 80s and 90s, whereby these parts were initially only roughly measured and hardly documented in terms of caving.
Between 1998 and 2001, as part of a diploma thesis, students at the TU Dresden carried out an approximately 800 m long theodolite measurement in conjunction with profile recordings. As part of the "Dachstein inside 2006" initiative, sections in the front area of the cave were recorded three-dimensionally with a laser scanner . The work of the TU Dresden can be the basis for further scientific research.
Since 2001, members of the Association for Speleology in Upper Styria (Bad Mitterdorf) have been systematically researching and measuring the cave. The aim of the work is to develop comprehensive scientific documentation. Samples and measurement evaluations are mainly evaluated by the Natural History Museum Vienna .
So far it has been possible to measure over 10.1 km of cave passages with a level difference of 509 m in 16 tours, mostly lasting several days (research status August 2007). Nine of the tours served almost exclusively to record parts of the cave that were already known. During a tour in April 2006, after difficult ascents, the breakthrough into large-scale new territory was achieved. The newly discovered parts of the cave extend under both the Hallstatt and Gosau glaciers.
The very large spatial formations as well as the structure and character of the object suggest a genetic connection with the caves on the north side of the Dachstein.