UT: Zion – Of Checkerboard and Ice Cream Sandwiches

Friday July 22nd, 2016
Ensemble and Experience:

@Ronnie Winn – Years of scalp burning while gorging
James Rykebosch – Unknown
Bones – 13 months living in Hurricane, probably 30 total descents
RinTinTimmy – None
Guinea Valentina – Pine Creek
Ol Cal Henry – Keyhole, Pine Creek, Full Left Fork
Yours Truly – Decline to toot my own proverbial horn
Goal:
Checkerboard Canyon in under the low-par-time of 12 hours

Outcome:
Success, barely; came in at 11 hours 58 minutes 38 seconds
The Backstory:
Three weeks prior, Ronnie, Calvin, and I attempted to do Checkerboard. However, we realized after we hit the gravel by Ponderosa that our lovely, laminated, Beta + Maps (Betamaps… get it?) was left on the kitchen table. We ripped page 90 from Zion Canyoneering which was the map of The Narrows Top Part. Horrible detail for what we were attempting, but hell if it didn’t get us to Pt6817, and in under 3 hours. That bushwhack though. Upon reaching said peak, without our compass/Betamaps, we mistook Bulloch for CB. When Ronnie/Calvin got to the first rap, Ron recalled that R1 for CB was bolted RDC, not a tree anchor LDC, and concluded they were in the wrong spot. I had been split from the group, chasing an elk (and finding a nice, grey, Marmut fleece whilst doing so… anybodys?) and finding the red sheer wall of upper CB. By the time we were all reunited, we concluded it was too late to do CB, so we aborted. On the walk out, however, I found the East-West fence abutting the park fence, which I’ll return to presently. All this to say, we had a bone to pick with CB.

Conditions:
Road – The road to the approach at present is easily passable for a full-width pickup; while the washouts are creeping in you can drive an additional mile past Tom’s carpark / cattle watering hole to where the road turns south and you depart for Dakota Hill – hugging the wall will give you +3’ of good hard-packed road between your right wheel and the washouts, of which only two are notable. Though it is worth mentioning, that mile between the carpark and the TH is all downhill, so maybe that extra mile doesn’t bother you. That said, I could see it only taking a handful of hard rains to make those washouts wash the rest of the way out. Generally useless sidebar: currently the road is passable down that south turn to within 1/4mi of Walker Gulch.
Anchors – All webbing was in good order, naught needed replacing, some had been replaced this season.
Use – Nobody had driven the approach since the last rain, whenever that was. Walking down to R1 from Pt6817, thought I saw a human print, but it was muddled, and could have been a canyonape’s.

The Heart of It:

Approach – We left the vehicle at 10:13am; yes yes, a late start, but Bones was busy doing his hair, and our driver needed a hippy gluten free muffin, or some such nonsense. Doused ourselves, and took off from where the road turns south. 18 minutes to Dakota Hill where we took the obligatory group picture.

Tim, Bones, Valentine, Calvin, @Ronnie Winn

Followed the ridge a ways, then departed from Tom’s approach beta, instead heading down and west (south of ridge) to find out if my hunch was correct. Found the East-West fence 27 minutes from the Hill, and followed it due West to the North-South park fence 13 minutes later. From there, a B-line to Pt6817. Hunch was correct; find the fence, follow it west to the park line, head straight toward the western-most white peak (Pt6817). Do I recommend others do it this way? Not if they haven’t done the approach before, as Pt6817 isn’t incredibly prominent.
From the foot of Pt6817 we decided not to climb up to the north rim as Tom suggests seeing that we were sick of elevation gains, and decided to risk it with the bushwhack in the canyon bottom. Mistake. Should have stayed on the south rim (since we came from the south) and slithered down above R1. Live and learn. Regardless, R1 was attained 90min from the meeting of the fences, 2h29m en route. Decent.

The Rest – From there, I’ll skip the usual play by plays and say it was an excellent canyon, raps were had, electrolyte boosters were required, and it was a great romp.

Random slot

6 hours found us through the technical and LMAR off the final rap.

Always time for an ice cream sandwich.

Then the slog back to the Temple, where we were fortunate enough to have stashed a vehicle thanks to scoring a white pass.

Some crows who followed me a ways down the Narrows, riding the downcanyon winds.

Last man hit the Temple at 22:11, though the first two got out 21:30 and caught the sweeper, choosing not to wait around for the rope cleaners and caboose of an Italian, Valentina, whose cardio was failing her by the end. But she did it in less than 12 hours, dangit; gal done well, considering her limited experience.
Notes:

No pots stank.
Nothing dead in the pots.
There was zero water for the first 4 hours of technical, and thereby 6.5 hours through. Recommend bringing more agua than you’ll think you’ll need; it’s a long ways to filterable water.
Lost count of the actual number of raps, but aside from the first and last (both bolted), almost all had awkward starts. While I trusted all the built/natural anchors, it was a lot of slinking over the edge, and chimney/stemming starts.
No real point in trying to avoid water; while the first 2/3s of the canyon are dry, once water does show up, you’re almost instantly swimming. Best to buck up and take the plunge.
Wish I had more pics for you, but Tim’s GoPro went missing in Pine Creek yesterday.

Here’s the video mashup I made between my cameras:

PS: This is the Marmot fleece I found on the north rim of CB, found July 3rd. Lemme know if it’s yours.