After a frosty Inferno, I came back to camp to find Alane had arrived from Colorado. Next day we joined Ram and others to do a super-duper, double-cross-your-heart secret canyon, which of course was totally wonderful (400 foot rappels next to hot-water waterfalls, dolphins in the pools, a couple 40 foot jumps… you know, all that secret canyon stuff) but I can’t show you pictures or even let you know it was over by Bluff.
But super-secret was a long cold day, despite the sauna caves and hot tub pools, so we lounged for the next day, the 30th. Deeps had come in the night before and Ramoo had been called home. With a seriously casual start (11 am), Alane, Deeps, Ryan Nilsson went off to do the mighty Hogwarts…
Climbing the approach gully
We made the long drive, grabbed the gear and were soon making our way up the rocky gully that is the approach. Shady gully led to sunny places higher. Up over the ridge then down the other side into the head of the canyon. Some discussion ensued of where the best place for the first rap was… Ryan had not used the FiddleStick before and wanted the opportunity to give it a try. We Fiddled the “usual anchor” with a discussion of how to use the FiddleStick to get the rope stuck. We put on big coats and rapped down into the shade.
Ryan rapping rappel 2
Scuttling over the “Drop-the-Rope Hole”
A brief stroll took us to the Big Arch rappel, so down we went. I was happy to see the pool below that completely dry. Soon we were at the Scuttle-Over hole, then down to the hueco rappel. None of the numerous huecos were rigged for rappel, so we chose a different hueco and line of rappel than usual; and Ryan got to set it up.
Sunny platform
Then finally onto the great slickrock platform in the sun. We re-rigged the webbing on the Alligator and descended the final rap; soon walking the line back up to the picnic area. Roundtrip, 2-1/2 hours.
After a late lunch back at camp, Ryan, Deeps and I hiked up to Sandthrax to take out the bolt at the entry rappel. Ryan and I visited the exit from the canyon, where we found that carving one’s name after doing the canyon has become popular with a certain vandal-class of human being. Arghhhh! We hiked up around, getting the blood pumping again. We looked at climbing down the canyon to the first rap, but it was harder than we remembered, so no one was really psyched to work that hard. We circled back around and I rapped to the first anchor off a equalized meat anchor off Deeps and Ryan. One single bolt and one empty hole find did I. I removed the bolt and tried to fill the holes with epoxy putty, but the cold was not so good for the glue, so it is not sure that it stuck. I’ll have to check out this coming spring sometime.
first bolt in Sandthrax
Then back to camp for dinner, then extended campfire time… bliss.
Taylor
World class jackasses do that. Unfortunately, the world is full of them.
Bootboy
Moved
Deagol
Uggg… that sucks.
The Colorado flag has definitely become a fashion symbol in the last 2 to 3 years or so.. to the point of being tacky.
Worn possibly more by the recent transplants, from what I have seen. Way to give us bad name, Kyle…
ratagonia
A bit of a drainage goes over the edge near the first drop, so you can actually see the bottom of the canyon at the top of the first drop from the rim. It was in about 50 feet. So this one was no problem. Rumor has it there are 4 or 5 other bolts in there.
Cleaning up the crux will require some special tools and a rim team. I hope we can organize that sometime this spring, along with a descent.
Tom
townsend
Tom,
Thanks for the trip report. The vandalism (see pictures at Rave), of course, makes me sick. Why don’t we start a “vandalism” thread here at CC? Somebody (who is local, it can’t be done from TX!) could catalog all the instances, and might even discuss ways to “efface” (= erase) the instances (think of the fantastic reparations done on that canyon in CA). This catalog could reflect the geographical distribution of the vandalism (much like law enforcement does with pins on a map on a corkboard). Do any patterns emerge?
Also, I think it would be interesting to catalog all the names. correlated with locations/canyons, and create a list. There are only so many Seth’s in the canyoneering community and, of course, this person may be outside the community anyway, but somebody in the community may know him. While all acts of vandalism could be committed by lone rangers, I think some probably are not — there are witnesses present, or the offender may even tell others (“brag”) of their “achievements.”
We could circulate the list of names, ask around, post them on relevant forums, etc. I’m not a social media hound, but that would provide other venues. We may even get lucky and run into these individuals. We could kindly ask them not to efface nature — negotiations always should be tried first.
We might not ever be able to tell the effects of this effort. But even if we don’t know, it may be that through “word of mouth,” someone would mention to these individuals that their names are circulating, it might dissuade them from committing further flagrant acts of vandalism. It just might work . . .
ratagonia
There is a good chance I mis-interpreted these as “bragging plaques” made by descenders. They could also be scratchings from people who just wandered up to the end of the canyon. There are historical inscriptions like this in Zion. I don’t *remember* seeing these scratchings on my first visit there 12 years ago… but they might have been there. They were not freshly scratched. The “14” seems to indicate they are recent in origin.
My theory is that these come from the climbers in Moab who come down to do the canyon. Sandthrax is kind of a crossover climber/canyoneer resource. I am surprised that *these people* (whoever they may be) feel free to add bolts to an established route, which is NOT the ethic climbers have for climbing routes, and certainly not the ethic we have tried to spread in the canyoning community.
Tom
Bootboy
On every one of my trips to the North Wash in the last 2 years or so, I have encountered scratchings, etchings, graffiti, what have you. In each instance we’ve taken some time to try to buff it our with handfuls of sand. Its getting to be a problem. Certainly the popularity and ease of access contributes.
As to their significance to their owner, some canyons have been claimed for other states. Apparently, Kyle from Colorado has claimed West Leprechaun. Indicating as much by inscribing Colorado’s flag at the bottom of the first drop…
canyoncaper
Tom, why did you remove the bolt?
Felicia
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ratagonia
Quite a few bolts have been added to Sandthrax Canyon, long after many people have done the canyon without. They do not serve a management purpose such as decreasing impacts. They are therefore Retro-bolts and subject to removal as litter.
This particular bolt was partly responsible for one un-informed person thinking he was in a “traderoute” canyon. No real reason for a bolt here, other than laziness. There are some rocks there to sling as a deadman or chockstone – the bolt is entirely unnecessary (as the numerous descents without the bolt indicate).
Tom
Mike
To me that is the most important reason to remove it. How many North Wash canyons have bolts? None? I could see those with poor navigational skills wandering in there. Like this: http://canyoncollective.com/threads/sandthrax-rescue-march-11-2014.19299/ To have the hardest canyon in that immediate area to be the only one bolted seems pretty senseless.
Apparently there is plenty more hardware in there that needs removal. Plus a rock with a ton of purple webbing tied to it at the crux that some dudes having an epic tossed in there. What a pain. To have the energy in reserve to remove the bolts is one thing, but having the energy to place them on a descent is actually pretty impressive. Rapping in from the rim requires a lot of rope (300+), at least to find a good meat anchor spot. Brejcha and I tried unsuccessfully to rap in with a 200′ once. Thanks Tom n’ Deeps for removing that first bolt, probably the most critical one to get out of there.
First anchor as I recall was a very obvious rock or pinch. If you need that bolt for your descent you’re already in trouble.