Rescue in Egypt 1

On Friday, October 19th, I led a group of five into an extremely wet and muddy Egypt 1. In the prior week, this area had received over a year’s worth of rain. Normally a great beginner canyon, the conditions made it advanced on this day. Feet commonly submerged to the shin in thick mud that coated everything and made even walking difficult, much less stemming and climbing.

At the final fifteen foot rappel, the normal deadman anchor that is regularly maintained by a local guide was completely missing and in its place a deep pool of mud and water remained in the scoured out pour off. We sent all down on a meat anchor and did an incredibly sloppy thigh belay/capture for last man. It took three people to form a semi-stable human brace in the slick mud. We exited the canyon wet and covered in brown slop. Fun times. As we departed for our next target, we noted a gal and a couple of dogs in a full-sized pickup that had joined us at the canyon head and knew another party had dropped in behind us.

At roughly six pm, we drove past the canyon again on our way out and saw the truck still there, but now joined by a Garfield county sheriff’s truck and two fire trucks. We parked and geared up to see if we could assist. We found out that a lone canyoneer had entered after us and had apparently suffered a compound fracture to the leg somewhere “after the third rap”, according to his wife. We immediately knew where he had been hurt. Fortunately, his wife went for a walk on the canyon rim and heard his yelling from below. He had already activated his InReach and had been lucky to get a signal down there. We joined the rescue team and assisted in a five to one haul to retrieve the victim and he was helicoptered to Page.

Canyons can be radically different from one visit to the next. I’ve seen pictures of Poe from last weekend and the pit was simply a swim across. Monsters become child’s play and kiddie canyons can become deadly. This was a great lesson to take changing conditions seriously, be prepared for anything and DON’T GO CANYONEERING ALONE.

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