Spot on. A short little canyon, with a couple of drops, somewhat pretty in places vs. a wonderfully engaging anchor test piece that offers huge satisfaction to those that navigate its corridors. I am a bit surprised and very pleased that not only has the canyon been left in its natural state, there has been no complaint about that.
I would be willing to take folks through that want to see the place and have the experience.
This is the way it has worked for those who have tried and become competent at these anchoring techniques. Confidence grows with each successful solution. Here is a short tale of one such solution. Going after a storm, one would expect full potholes and one may decide to wait or have 2 water traps just in case one breaks. But storms are sometimes extremely localized and so once we found ourselves “surprised” by full pots. One of the first things we did was leave a person at the last source of sand, as the group moved forward. This meant folks got strung out, ready to spot the last person forward. New sand found? The back folks move forward and start over again. Then we got to a series of potholes that were full with a rap below the lower one. It is common to link many drops together when anchoring conditions are harder than normal. Without a water trap, we found the smallest pothole by volume, 2 up from the lowest one by the drop and bailed the water out (Helmets work well), lowering the pot level several feet. We then set up the sand trap, anchored from below, by the first person off (on meat) who kept the trap from falling into the water. Then we shuttled the sand forward (sometimes the closest sand can be BELOW the anchor you are building) and filled, tested and LAPAR’d on down. My point? The more you do this type of thing, the more ideas you come up with to add to your list of potential solutions. The more you start to believe that a solution is always there. The less likely you will carry the dead weight of bolt kits. One final thought. Unless you are Brian Cabe or have a power drill, placing a bolt safely is difficult and even more so, VERY slow. Meat anchoring out in an emergency would be way faster. Another thing I noticed in the first post was the picture of Penny being thigh belayed down. Notice how straight she keeps her legs, increasing her contact points? This is perfect form. This method is what we call a “surrender move,” and its critical that one give one’s self over. Once a person being captured bends their knees this will cause the whole method to fail. It a team sport. Support your teammates.
Great thoughts, thanks Ram. Completely agree. We did the same, pushed forward to see if we could find more sand. Many times we couldn’t, so resorted to saving as we went.
LOL! I have many visions of full potshots and someone trying to swim across a pot with one. Seen some strain on the faces of some strong folks doing that. Zipping them sometimes just won’t work. All this reminds me that i like having 4-6 folks for an exploration using the new methods..
Been there, done that. Trying to swim with a 20-30 pound potshot can get really hairy really fast. I like to clip it to my pack to help float it, clip it to a rope, and the first man swims with a rope bag then just pulls it along
tick, tick, tick, tick…yeah, no thank you! Just on an historical note, the Allen group used a water anchor in the form of a tied off and full 10 liter dromedary bag, with the smallest valve opened for the last rapper. They usually had to wait 10 plus minutes for the bag to empty enough to retrieve, which seems like a nice margin, but what if you get stuck of sumthin? Ummmm
I’m not sure what you are saying, Mountaineer. Contingency anchor from the bottom, thus increasing the load on the anchor by between 60% and 120%? Not a good idea.
Didn’t think you were. I was just thinking how cold I would get waiting 10 minutes all the time and how clever these pioneers were to come up with all these solutions in a vacuum (one group). We really have benefited and moved the sport forward (some disagree thinking these ideas and the anchoring trend dangerous) by having so many groups experimenting and having a place where these ideas are shared.
The expression LAMAR was first coined by Steve Allen for Last Man At Risk. Mr. Allen was out for a week with Jenny West in October. After watching her application of and going last on sand and water traps and then having done big captures of her, often with the help of Giles, he FULLY endorses the new acronym that has become popular among our group. LAPAR- Last PERSON At Risk. Sorry for going “politically correct” on y’all. Seed planted.
Blake Merrell
Finally got around to compiling our cell phone and camera videos of our trip through No Kidding. Enjoy
Mountaineer
Nice job Blake! What a great memory. Fantastic accomplishment.
Ram
Spot on. A short little canyon, with a couple of drops, somewhat pretty in places vs. a wonderfully engaging anchor test piece that offers huge satisfaction to those that navigate its corridors. I am a bit surprised and very pleased that not only has the canyon been left in its natural state, there has been no complaint about that.
I would be willing to take folks through that want to see the place and have the experience.
Ram
This is the way it has worked for those who have tried and become competent at these anchoring techniques. Confidence grows with each successful solution. Here is a short tale of one such solution. Going after a storm, one would expect full potholes and one may decide to wait or have 2 water traps just in case one breaks. But storms are sometimes extremely localized and so once we found ourselves “surprised” by full pots. One of the first things we did was leave a person at the last source of sand, as the group moved forward. This meant folks got strung out, ready to spot the last person forward. New sand found? The back folks move forward and start over again. Then we got to a series of potholes that were full with a rap below the lower one. It is common to link many drops together when anchoring conditions are harder than normal. Without a water trap, we found the smallest pothole by volume, 2 up from the lowest one by the drop and bailed the water out (Helmets work well), lowering the pot level several feet. We then set up the sand trap, anchored from below, by the first person off (on meat) who kept the trap from falling into the water. Then we shuttled the sand forward (sometimes the closest sand can be BELOW the anchor you are building) and filled, tested and LAPAR’d on down. My point? The more you do this type of thing, the more ideas you come up with to add to your list of potential solutions. The more you start to believe that a solution is always there. The less likely you will carry the dead weight of bolt kits. One final thought. Unless you are Brian Cabe or have a power drill, placing a bolt safely is difficult and even more so, VERY slow. Meat anchoring out in an emergency would be way faster. Another thing I noticed in the first post was the picture of Penny being thigh belayed down. Notice how straight she keeps her legs, increasing her contact points? This is perfect form. This method is what we call a “surrender move,” and its critical that one give one’s self over. Once a person being captured bends their knees this will cause the whole method to fail. It a team sport. Support your teammates.
Mountaineer
Great thoughts, thanks Ram. Completely agree. We did the same, pushed forward to see if we could find more sand. Many times we couldn’t, so resorted to saving as we went.
Ram
LOL! I have many visions of full potshots and someone trying to swim across a pot with one. Seen some strain on the faces of some strong folks doing that. Zipping them sometimes just won’t work. All this reminds me that i like having 4-6 folks for an exploration using the new methods..
Bootboy
Been there, done that. Trying to swim with a 20-30 pound potshot can get really hairy really fast. I like to clip it to my pack to help float it, clip it to a rope, and the first man swims with a rope bag then just pulls it along
Ram
tick, tick, tick, tick…yeah, no thank you! Just on an historical note, the Allen group used a water anchor in the form of a tied off and full 10 liter dromedary bag, with the smallest valve opened for the last rapper. They usually had to wait 10 plus minutes for the bag to empty enough to retrieve, which seems like a nice margin, but what if you get stuck of sumthin? Ummmm
Mountaineer
I’m not arguing for a time bomb; with 2x at the anchor the FPARR (First Person At Reduced Risk) could lock/belay at the bottom…
ratagonia
I’m not sure what you are saying, Mountaineer. Contingency anchor from the bottom, thus increasing the load on the anchor by between 60% and 120%? Not a good idea.
10 liters of water is only 22 lbs. Scaaaaaaaary!
Tom
Mountaineer
Exactly, increased load. Scary indeed. At a minimum you would need more/bigger water trap(s).
Ram
Didn’t think you were. I was just thinking how cold I would get waiting 10 minutes all the time and how clever these pioneers were to come up with all these solutions in a vacuum (one group). We really have benefited and moved the sport forward (some disagree thinking these ideas and the anchoring trend dangerous) by having so many groups experimenting and having a place where these ideas are shared.
Ram
The expression LAMAR was first coined by Steve Allen for Last Man At Risk. Mr. Allen was out for a week with Jenny West in October. After watching her application of and going last on sand and water traps and then having done big captures of her, often with the help of Giles, he FULLY endorses the new acronym that has become popular among our group. LAPAR- Last PERSON At Risk. Sorry for going “politically correct” on y’all. Seed planted.
Ram