The family trip to Lake Powell is usually filled with waterskiing, wake surfing, tubing, and some exploring. This year I decided to bring along the ropes and harnesses to spice it up a little more. I noticed Endless Eden was a short canyon not far from where we usually park the boat for the week. My brother-in-law Bill was in for the adventure, so we took one last dip in the lake and set off in the 100 degree heat. We trailblazed our own path starting from a low spot in Halls Creek Bay across the never-ending sandstone and dropped in an hour later. This was my first real Lake Powell canyon and I can definitely see why the potholes down there get so much respect. After the usual stemming, downclimbing, and some easy pothole escapes, we came to the two pendulum rappels over the 20 foot deep smooth edged potholes. These provided some good challenges and got the heart rate up for a minute or two as I learned that being 6’6″ has some advantages. In one section the direction of the wall changes and tries to throw you in the pothole but I was able to stretch my legs some 7 feet or so from one foothold to the next one to get past this. Bill was happy to use a couple guided rappels over these puppies and an hour after we dropped in we made it to the final pour-off rappel. Ram had mentioned an arch can be used as an anchor way up high on the right LDC and I must say it is way up there and may add 50-70 feet to the last rap. Instead, we were able to slide some webbing into a crack maybe 20 feet off the lip and give it a go. This rappel is sweet as all but the first couple feet is a free hang and it drops roughly 230 feet straight into the lake (3601′). As we came down, roughly 6-7 boats stopped to watch and we got a round of applause. Fun little canyon. Great finish.
The first pendulum rap
The second pendulum rap
The finish
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Mountaineer
Nice job in carefully skirting that pothole, arms in the holes for support. Looks sketchy, and mentally daunting. A misstep there would give you some air time!
Ram
A fine effort. It is a really short canyon. That approach is new to me. Nice find. If you had not been able to do the 7 foot stretch, what would you have done at that pothole? Just asking because others not so lengthy may follow. Taking one hour down canyon is quick. Nothing ground you to a halt. Two folks in a pothole canyon can be intimidating. Your reach and skill compensated, but I bet you can see the potential merit of numbers in places like this. Its neighbor canyon has two spots that are much more committing.
You mention two pendulums. Were they established or did you build it and how was it set up? The final drop…are you describing building a knot chock anchor? What exactly did the crack yield? How much rope did you have? With water level changing, a way to refer to the size of the final drop is 130′ plus low water. Or if you use the arch 190′ plus low water. That is helpful but it can be more complicated than that. I have seen this final rap land on solid ground, if you can call mud flats solid. The reservoir was lower back in the 2005 time frame. At times 45 feet lower. What we have figured is that often 20 feet of silt can be dropped into the water annually and that when water recedes and flood occurs and scour, the final size of the rap can be quite variable and the figures you had “last time” can get you in trouble
And finally, the applause? I have found the applause one gets at the Emerald Pools, on touch down from the big Heaps rap I describe as a polite “golf clap.” Is the Powell applause more ruckus?
Ram
Jolly Green
The walls definitely vary depending on how high or low you choose to go. I chose the line that I thought would be the best for my abilities and that was the challenge I faced. Your point is definitely important though- these are serious obstacles above serious potholes that could stop groups not able to defeat them. That was one of the reasons I mentioned the difficulty I had- this isn’t a stroll through Pine Creek. Setting up a belay line so the first person can be pulled back to the top is a good idea here.
Agreed. Every drop and DC we came to we made sure to assess whether we could reverse back out of the canyon before we proceeded. We brought along the standard pothole escape tools and felt we could make it back if needs be. The toughest spot would be the last pendulum, but it is only 50 yards from the last rap, so you can make sure a decent anchor is available before pulling your rope.
There were anchors in place looking up and to the left LDC- set up on small arches in the wall. The second one is a serious climb a good 30 feet up- climbing experience is important. We inspected the anchors thoroughly and felt they were secure enough to use. A warning however- they look like they have been there for awhile.
If you look at the second to last picture, you can see the edge of a small outcrop that the webbing comes around. There are a few edges to tuck the webbing under. Where it rejoins the rest of the sandstone, there is a small crack roughly 8-10 feet long that we were able to floss the webbing into to secure that side of the webbing. Sorry, it’s difficult to describe but we didn’t use a knot chock.
330 footer, 200 foot pull cord, 150 feet of webbing. I didn’t know how high up the arch you mentioned in a previous post was, so I was planning on this being a 300 foot rap. The webbing from the area you mentioned can still be seen but we didn’t go up there- it looks like a serious climb.
I did Heaps on Memorial Day weekend with Bootboy and company and from what I could tell from 450′ up, the first member of our group got a rowdy applause from about 150 people watching. I was the third one down and only got a courtesy clap from one guy. The Lake Powell boaters held their own, with a little help from the echoes off the walls.
Thanks to you and Tom for the earlier input on this.
Ram
Ha ha! By the time you got down there the crowd was bored! Sooo human. On my first Heaps (mid 90’s) we all got polite applause from about 30 folks there.
I was in my late 30’s but was pre maturely gray. I was 50 feet from the bottom, second of three in our group and we heard an older gent say “If I were that fellows age, I would do that too!” I landed to the applause, took my helmet off revealing my gray locks and and the fellows wife spoke up to her husband and quite clearly said “OK big shot! When are you going?” Laughter echoed off the walls of Lady Mountain. Poor guy!
Jolly Green
The rats nest of webbing is some of the leftovers from our new anchor and some old stuff we found to dispose of. It looked OLD. I hadn’t quite put it away yet. Doesn’t look like this one gets done very often. Lots of webbing is a must.
yetigonecrazy
Nice! Always wondered what it looked like in there. Those potholes look burly! Thanks for sharing with us!
ratagonia
Nice… What is that tangle of webbing at the last rap?
Tom
Jolly Green
I’ll apologize in advance for the topless photos- helmets were unfortunately left behind in our haste to get going.