Photos: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=210534497/a=38054161/t_=38054161
Thursday 12/27:
Finally getting out to FreezeFest; which is a canyoneering event over New Years, including a swimming canyon for New Year’s Day. We were supposed to leave yesterday, but there is just too much work to do. Probably shouldn't be going at all, but I can always just pull some late nights after I get back. On to fun stuff! Jonas and I drive out after work, and arrive at the Sandthrax campsite late. Everyone has already gone to sleep. We get the camp spot that I love; score! We quickly set up camp, and head to bed. It's moderately cold out; the thermometer in the car was registering single digits on the way, but it was 13 near Sandthrax.
Friday 12/28:
Jonas and I get up at 7am; not knowing when others will be waking up and heading out today. We make a warm breakfast. Folks started moving around 7:30am, when the sun was starting to crest. Beautiful views of the mountains in the early light. We meet a bunch of the folks there, and will head out with Ryan, Moe and Tom to do Upper Stair and Fooling Around. Upper Stair has some stemming, and Fooling Around ends in a swim. Should be quite refreshing considering the high's are only supposed to be in the upper 20's today. It will be a good test of my new wetsuit.
We make a Hog's run (bathroom), and then head up to the approach for Upper Stair. We start the approach for Upper Stair around 9:30am. It's pretty chilly out. The sun hasn't done much to warm things up yet, and there is a pretty stiff wind. It's a relief to drop into the canyon; which blocks some of the wind. There are some sections of the canyon with a bit of snow; drifted there from winds, and it hasn't been warm enough to melt it yet. Adds anticipation to the thought of swimming. Upper Stair was a fun canyon. It has some stemming, but all of it felt pretty solid. It would be a good canyon for someone starting to stem. Maybe do the Shillelagh canyons or similar; purposely staying a little higher first; and then this would be a good next step. Neat canyon, but not a lot of beautiful features.
We climb back out to the car, drive to the spot where we will leave the cars for Fooling Around. We hike and drop into Fooling Around at about 12:30pm. Fooling around is a neat little canyon as well. Fun downclimbs. There are a couple of rappels that look worse than they are. Both would be downclimbable. There are a couple really cool sculpted sections, and then we made it to the spot just before the swim at 3:30pm. We were debating. Do we really want to drop in? It hadn't really warmed up that much, and then we would be wet (and likely icing over) for the hike back. Moe had been wearing her wetsuit the entire time, and she wanted to go. That decided it; all of us were going. We suited up and dropped in around 4pm.
There was a bit of stemming prior to dropping into the water. Wish I would have known that (though I should have guessed) as I didn't put my outer layers back on to protect the new wetsuit. Oh well. We dropped into the water, which was pretty cold. Felt it pretty quickly through my 2mm neo socks. The wetsuit did pretty well; up until the swim. Quite the chill when the water makes it's way through the zipper and hits your back. That'll wake you up. Tom had done the hard part and broken the ice. Thanks Tom! We had the fun of marveling at the big and thick pieces along the way. The water section really wasn't all that bad. We stayed in the wetsuits back to the car, and that kept us pretty warm. We got back to the cars around 5:30pm, and had a chilly change out of the icing over wetsuits.
Drove back to camp and enjoyed the company around the fire. Met more canyoneers that I had only conversed with over the internet. Very cool to finally meet them in person. People were discussing what to do the next day. Looked like almost everybody was going to go through Monkey Business. While on one hand, that would be fun; I was kind of looking forward to getting away; and while I'm sure everyone at FreezeFest was really competent, I was still looking for a different type of experience. That's just a few too many people for my tastes. I talked to Jonas, and we decided to finish up the rest of the North Wash proper canyons. I had done most of them (some again) this year; Sandthrax, Leps, Blarneys, etc. We would try to hit both Shillelaghs and Lucky Charms; maybe more if time allowed.
Saturday 12/29:
We woke up at 7:30am when the sun was just starting to crest. Had a quick breakfast, and then drove over to the Shillelagh area. Started the approach around 9:15am, and was at the head of the canyon around 9:30am. Pretty short approach. I found the Right (East) fork of Shillelagh a great little canyon; this was my first time through it. There was some beautiful sculpting, and lots of fun climbing. It can be a great learning canyon as you can go high for lots of it, along a relatively safe level. Lots of great footholds. We hit the confluence with the left fork all too soon around 10:45am.
We climbed up the slickrock near the confluence, and headed over to the head of the Left (West) Fork of Shillelagh. There was a really neat section before the entry rap; very pretty. We stopped for a quick break here as it was out of the wind. The entry rap was next. Overall, I thought the Right Fork was much better. The Left fork was still good, but I thought the Right was much more beautiful and fun. (Maybe since the Right was new to me, it added to the experience.) We again hit the confluence pretty quickly, and hiked back out to the car. We drove over to the start of Lucky Charms, and started the approach around 12:30pm.
Lucky Charms turned out to be a great little canyon. Some great sculpting, fun spots to go high on, and some great upclimbs. I was really impressed with the quality of this short little canyon. The only downside is that it's over before you know it. We climbed out the head around 1:30pm, and hiked over to the start of the next canyon East. The description says there is a walk out, but it wasn't really apparent. The next canyon over had a great little downclimb, to a spot that didn't have any signs of previous passage. There was a pretty good sized rap, and a decent anchor. I wanted to set it up, but Jonas wanted to go find the walk down. I climbed back up to him, and we continued to walk around the rim. We found a great spot to do a 200-ish foot rappel. Made a mental note of that for next time. Would be a good training spot for folks. We spent the rest of the time exploring all of the slots eastward (nothing too good), and found a walkdown near the 276 and 95 intersection.
It was still only 2:30pm. We discussed the possibility of going and doing Death canyon. That would put us back at camp right around dark. We decided that we would just head back to camp today; and make another big day tomorrow; attempting to do all of the Hogs. It would be nice to sort stuff out when it was still light.
We got back to camp, relaxed and chatted with some of the canyoneers there. Scott, John, Spiderman and the rest of the Dutch Oven crew were sharing their tasty food. I wish I hadn't eaten my cold ravioli from a can. I was already pretty full. I tasted a little of the Dutch Oven treats, and they were really good. Thanks!
Some folks headed out; and the big group got back from Monkey Business. Sounds like everyone had a good time. We stayed up chatting by the campfire again. When we were discussing the plans for tomorrow; Ram had the same idea as us - to attempt all of the Hogs in a day. We'd team up with them. Everyone seemed to be doing the Hogs; but some groups were just doing two, some were doing three, and a small group would attempt all four. Good times.
Sunday 12/30:
We woke up at 7am, as we wanted to get an early start on the day. Weather was the same as it has been. Fairly cold; likely around the teens at night; but clear skies though, which is the most important. I had a quick breakfast, and then we made last minute gear adjustments. Out for a quick Hogs run, and then out to the trailhead. There were 7 of us attempting all of the Hogs. Jonas, Brian, Mark, Michelle, Ram, Aaron and I. We started the approach around 8:15am. We got to Hog 4, also called Miss Piggy a little after 8:30am. Miss Piggy was a short but fun little canyon, with some good downclimbing. The final rappel dropped us near the intersection with Hog 1 - Boss Hog, around 9:30am. We continued down Boss Hog up to the confluence, and started the climb up around 9:45am.
The initial moves for the climb up were pretty sketchy. I was glad others who had done it previously led it. There was certainly no easy protection. There was a rope, and I was glad to have it nearby on this first climb up, just in case. We made the climb up, and was at the head of Hog 2 around 10:15am. So far, we were making pretty good time.
We dropped into Hog 2. It was another fun canyon. Some fun stems, and a cool darker section. The rap was neat, and dropped down near a pothole that was filled with sand. Ram had experienced it when the pothole was deep and filled with water. That would be neat to see. Amazing how much the canyons change. There was a frozen spring in one section, and the canyon dropped you through a cool elevator nicknamed the birth canal near the end. We then hiked back to the confluence again, and met up with all the Hog's groups for lunch around 11:30am. Very cool that we were all in the same spot at the same time. We had a quick lunch, and then did the climb up for the second time.
We dropped into Hog 1 - Boss Hog, around noon. Boss Hog was a really neat canyon with some fun downclimbs and a neat dark section. It also had a pretty cool tight section, and some fun stemming. I liked it the best of the Hogs canyons so far. Ram was hyping up the final canyon - Hog 3, the Razorback. Sounded pretty challenging. I was looking forward to it. Boss Hog had a breakdown section near the confluence with Miss Piggy - Hog 4; and then another tight section and finishes with a cool elevator. We hit the confluence for the third time around 1:15pm.
Jonas started downcanyon; thinking maybe Hog 3's exposure might be a little much for him. Good for him to know his limits. I certainly wasn't looking forward to making the climb up yet again. It wasn't really all that bad, but it's just a slog. I got into the adventure racing rhythm, and made it up in pretty good time. Took some photos, and had a seat in the sun while the others continued up. We regrouped at the top around 1:30pm, and headed over to Hog 3 - the Razorback.
Hog 3 was a fun canyon. It had some fun stemming sections, some with a bit of exposure. I found the footing pretty solid though. There were a few blind corners, one with a pretty good stretch. There was one small water section that required a full body span to get across as well, but before I knew it, we were at the final rappel. Didn't find it anywhere near as bad as Ram had described it; which is likely the way he planned it. Will definitely come back and bring Jonas through it another time. We completed the rappel, and made it down to the confluence with the main canyon around 3pm. From here, it was around a 3 mile hike out. The hike out wasn't bad at all. The sand was frozen, so it was pretty easy walking. We had to try to avoid water in a couple spots; but it was usually frozen over. We made it back to the cars around 4pm, and was back at camp around 4:30pm. Nice. We even had some time with daylight to prepare for tomorrow's canyons.
A few more canyoneers took off, and a few more showed up. We had dinner, and again enjoyed everyone's company around the campfire. We talked about what to do for the following day, and it looked like Shennanigans was the destination.
Monday 12/31:
We woke up with the sun, and got off to a lazier start. We drove up to the trailhead, and dropped everyone off around 9:15am. A few people went to drop a vehicle at the end of the canyon; and the rest prepped for the canyon. We all got back together and headed out around 9:40am, and reached the head of the canyon around 10am. There were again seven of us today. Many of the same folks as the previous day; Ram, Bucky, Brian, Michelle, Jonas, Matt and I.
Shennanigans is an awesome canyon. It starts out with a fun downclimb, and has lots of stemming and some downclimbs early on. There is one downclimb that normally has water, sometimes a swim, which was completely dry. I was happy to see that as the temps were still pretty chilly and there was a steady breeze. Not too bad, but if we were wet, it would be chilly. The third narrows is pretty tight and a little slanted. Fun to make it through, and takes a bit of good effort. Some great tight, deep and dark canyon with some great sculpting. Then a nice big wall section just afterwards.
We sat and had a bite to eat around 11:45am; near where some groups exit. We were going to go for the fourth, and tightest, narrows. We took a rim walk side trip, and looked down into the deep tight fourth narrows. Pretty cool. We went back to our packs, prepped, and dropped back in around 12:15pm. The fourth narrows is awesome. Not too far along, you come to the grim crawl. It's a slanted crawl with a big dropoff if you mess up. A few decided to rap here; I was their anchor. Did the grim crawl; didn't seem as bad this time. Definitely partially due to the greater experience level this time.
The narrows were tight though. Really tight. I was definitely having trouble with my ribcage barely fitting in a couple of spots. Lots of breathing out and wiggling through. When we hit the silo just before the tightest spot; Bucky went through and said it was tighter than the previous stuff. No decision there, I went up the silo around 10 feet to a small undulating section. Still had a couple of squeezes, and it was a lot more effort; but I knew I would fit. Michelle had gotten stuck down below me; so after I dropped back down, I tried to get back to help her. No go. I was bummed I couldn't make it over to help her, but definitely glad I went high. Darn canyons shrinking over the years... ;) We all made it through without incident, and then the canyon opened up a little. Really neat sculpted section. One more stemming section, and then the downclimb to the rappel.
The rappel went down into a spring and pool. There was supposed to be a small ledge around a foot under the water. I rigged the rappel, and dropped down first. Found the ledge, which was slanted and small. Made my way across, being very thankful for the sticky rubber. Slipping here would mean a swim. It was mentioned that one in five usually goes in, so I was joking that since there were seven in our group; at least one was going in... Everyone was quite experienced though, so we all made it across fine. There were some icicles hanging just past the pool. Yep, it's still cold out. A swim would have been most unpleasant.
We continued downcanyon, to the intersection with Monkey Business. There was a possibility that Aaron might be there to join us; but he wasn't. We did the exit climb out, and then headed over to East Leprechaun. It was pretty windy up top. Instead of doing the entry rappel, we followed Ram to a walk down that he knew of. We hit the head of East Leprechaun about 3:30pm. We'd have to move efficiently if we wanted to be out before dark.
I had forgotton how nice East Leprechaun was. Very beautiful canyon with some great sculpting. Had some decent light too since it was getting later in the day. There are some really fun downclimbs in the canyon as well; with just one handline near the end. The group moved pretty quick, and we were at the end subway section around 4:45pm, and back on the road as the sun was going down around 5pm. Good timing and a great day.
We made some dinner, and then sat around the fire for a while. Sharing stories, snacks, drinks and even tossing around a fusion glow ball I had brought. Jonas and I headed out around 9pm to try to get a cell signal to call our girlfriends. Didn't get one until we were in Hanksville. We wished them a Happy New Year, and checked messages. I had one from a friend Dan that didn't sound good. He said I probably already heard what happened; but he didn't know I had been away from civilization. Tried to call him, and left a message. Talked to Jonas and we definitely decided we'd cut the trip short and leave after doing the Black Hole tomorrow. We filled up on gas since we had gone all the way to town, and headed back to camp. We stayed up and celebrated New Years in the different time zones. I made it to Midnight in MST (where we were) and then headed to bed.
Tuesday 1/1:
The Black Hole. The premier event of the FreezeFest. A swimming canyon on January 1st; certain to have ice in places with the recent temperatures. There were 12 of us; adventurous souls, or certifiably insane - take your pick. Rob, Brian, Tom, Michelle, Matt, Randi, Dan, Bucky, Jonas, Ram, Aaron and I. Seven were FreezeFest Black Hole veterans; the other five of us had never seen the Black Hole. Wild that there was nobody in between (who had done the Black Hole, just not on New Years...) We woke up early, and packed up camp. Finished packing all of the gear we would need for the canyon, and loaded up the truck. On the way to the canyon, we checked the conditions, and they looked decent; low water and plenty of ice from the overlook. It was still pretty cold out.
We made it to the start trailhead, and did last minute preparations there. We then shuttled some of the vehicles to the exit trailhead; and then got a lift back to the start. We started the approach around 10:45am. Of course, we had to stop for a group photo at the warning sign. Down in the canyon proper, there was a lot of ice. Thick ice, because this section of the canyon is a little more open. We could walk on a bunch of the ice we first came across. There was a particularly large tree jammed up high in one section. Wild to think that the water gets that high, and can move a tree like that... When the canyon started to get narrower, the ice got thinner. There was some cracking and water coming up around the sides of the ice. Time to suit up; before someone got wet involuntarily. We had a quick bite to eat, and all got into our suits. There was a mixture of folks in wetsuits and drysuits. I chose to use a drysuit today.
The Black Hole was a wonderful canyon. Very pretty sculpting and features. The swims were long, and quite beautiful; albeit a little chilly now. Everyone did great though; nice to be in an experienced group. The canyon alternated with some ice you could walk on, some that you couldn't. Some of the ice we broke through was around an inch thick. Some of it, we could army crawl on; to disperse our weight. It was a strange game; you crawl, hearing the cracks. Wondering if you were going to break through for an inadvertent swim. Through the entire canyon, I kept pretty warm in the drysuit; with the exception of my hands which were quite cold. I kept them out of the water for as long as I could; but as soon as they were wet, they got pretty cold. I had neoprene gloves, but never they never got so bad where I needed them. In one of the swimming sections, there was remnants of an old fixed line from back when the canyon was jammed with logs. The October flood had cleared out the canyon. It was a pretty easy romp through it now. The cold made it a little interesting though, as my clothes were freezing up while I was still walking and wearing them.
After the water section, a few people decided to change out of their wet/drysuits. I opted to change out; as it was much easier to walk and maneuver without the suit on; as well as I didn't want to damage the suit on the hike out. The trick was changing quick enough to have the socks and shoes not freeze in between the time you took them off. Couldn't quite make it. Even before I got some of the stuff off (like my drysuit) things were frozen solid. Had a little trouble trying to get back into the frozen socks and shoes. The hike out was pretty cool; it's such a beautiful canyon. I reached the parking lot around 3:15, and we all made it back by 3:30pm. We said our good-bye's, then Jonas and I started the drive home. Overall, it was 12 canyons with some small side explorations in around 4.5 days; making a grand total of a little over 80 canyons this year - a very good year. It was a wonderful way to end the year, and open the new one.
On the way home, I was able to get more information about what happened to my friend Dan. I'm sure many have already seen the details as it was covered on CNN, ABC, etc with vigor:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22449703/
http://wjz.com/local/crash.ohio.truck.2.620520.html
It was certainly a big slap in the face from reality after such a great trip. Truly unfathomable. Times like those, it's impossible to figure out what to say or do to help (at least; I didn't, and still don't, have a clue.) After I got home, I jumped on a plane and headed to Michigan; but that is another story...
Photos: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=210534497/a=38054161/t_=38054161
Group Room (multiple albums): http://ajoutdoors.snapfish.com/snapfish