Freezefest Updates -No Kidding

Well since you asked…;-) (quickly drafted but probably more than you wanted to know)

I missed last year’s Freezefest and the urge to return to the craziness was building (and I also ordered one of Dan’s hoodies so I had to go). So, I made the calls to the usual suspects– the Mapleton Boys, my brother and some friends in the area. I received a bunch of maybes,but Spidey, Maverick and my brother Kevin were confirmed… that was until the night before. Mav had to work and my brother got sick. The friends bailed and so it was just Spidey and I. I had previously ordered a couple of Sandtraps from Tom and hadn’t had the chance to see them in action so I really wanted to do No Kidding to test the things out and learn how to use them. The night before, Spidey told me that his family wanted to go. Cool. Spidey’s family is adventurous. The original plan was for me and Spidey and anyone else who wanted to go do No Kidding and have some fun with the Sandtraps and then meet Spidey’s wife Melisa and their two little boys and do East Lep.

We arrived in good time after leaving Mapleton about 5:50 a.m. I must say we witnessed a spectacular sunrise that morning between Price and Green River. That made the usually boring stretch very nice indeed. When we arrived at Sandthrax we found most folks still milling around camp but Ram and crew were already gone. We greeted those we knew and recognized and met some new folks. Melisa took the kids to Hog Springs and after quite a while Steve was getting worried that they hadn’t returned. We drove in my truck to find them only to be flashed by Don who was returning from Hog Springs with Melisa and the boys. Steve’s car battery was dead. Thanks Don for helping. We jump started the car and drove it back to Sandthrax only to have the right front tire blow-out just a few feet before the entrance to the camp. Dang. Bad Karma? Naw. But we were getting started much later in the morning than we had hoped.

Dan and his friend Lindsay (I hope I got that right)were on board/kind enough to go with us. No Kidding is not a long canyon and one that we thought we could bust out pretty quickly. When we arrived at the trail head we realized we were pretty late in the day given the daylight hours to try to do the combo. We decided to all do No Kidding. Dan and Lindsay were particularly nice and patient with the old guy (me) and the two kids being lowered in the canyon. I gotta tell you that watching those two boys in the first part of the slot and exiting the Kelsey exit was just a lot of fun. There is no question in my mind that Caleb(4) and David (7) are Spidey’s offspring. Those little kids took to the stemming and climbing like little mini-Spideys. They just went. It was a little disconcerting at first. The father in me kept wanting to tell them to be careful, don’t fall, don’t do that. But then I remembered who the dad was. David is now developing a healthy fear of heights as he was temporarily afraid of a couple of the rappels. Caleb, on the other hand, just clipped on and went. David rappelled a few raps and was lowered on others. It was so fun to watch the little itty-bitty canyoneers go over the edge, all three foot nothin’ of ’em. They had their helmets which were about as big as their heads firmly in place and with full faith in Dad and even me went over the edge as we lowered and Dan belayed from below. Very cool.

Dan was the only one who had been in the canyon before and was great to warn us where to collect sand. Now I just wish I could remember all those places. I carried an empty Leprechaun pack in my Mystery pack (along with my Sandtraps and my Bagarino and my Fire rope…. yes, you are welcome, Tom for the advertising ;-)) The Leprechaun pack was to collect sand. Worked like a charm. Now, I just have to figure out how to clean all the sand out of the zipper. Between my compressor and power washer I should manage. The Sandtrap is just about the coolest little tool ever. I was surprised how little sand was required along with the proper geometry to hold my 220 lb. frame. I was lucky of course having Spidey there since he went last. Dan was often first and I was somewhere in the middle of the bunch if not second to the last after helping with ropes and lowering the kids. I really do appreciate Dan and Lindsay’s patience with us as we were not very fast.

As for the canyon. I like it…. I like it A LOT. I will definitely go back. It was dry with the exception of a puddle or two. The Kelsey exit is never a favorite of mine since I am not the greatest of climbers and the rock is junk. But, this is again where Caleb and David just shined. I will share one exchange between Spidey, Melisa and their son David that took place about half way up the exit. David came to a challenging spot for him. He began to get really frustrated and asked for help. To my surprise and delight, both Steve and Melisa (Steve was above to help if needed and Melisa was below to spot David if needed) said to David to “figure it out.” “If one thing doesn’t work, try another way.” David would day “I can’t do it”. The reply was, “Come on, you can do this by yourself. Figure it out.” Some parents would be shocked by this exchange given the little tyke’s predicament on a difficult upclimb. I would guess that most parents would have rescued the kid (I probably would have) but not Spidey and Melisa. David figured out the problem and up he went, empowered with just a little bit more experience to add to the tool bag and a little more confidence that he could do hard things. Brilliantly done by these two parents and David has a necessary life tool tucked away in the memory bank too.

We all arrived at the truck to Dan’s high-fives. There is just something really good about those high fives at the truck… Anyway, what a wonderful day. It was great to hike with Dan again and meet Lindsay, they were just awesome. As Ram said, we hung around for a couple of hours trying to keep the kids awake so they would sleep the night through. That is my take on our whirlwind appearance at Freezefest.

Scott Card

— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “RAM” wrote:
Oh and I should mention that the fest saw its youngest participants ever. Spidey kids Caleb age 4 and David age 7, were accompanied by dad, mom, Scott Card and Dan Ransom on a descent of No Kidding. They descended by their own power, David rapping and Caleb being lowered the many raps. The family hung around the campfire for a bit, before heading home completing one heck of a day trip. Love to hear more about this. > R
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “RAM” wrote:

FreezeFest has NOT ended. Folks are still out there doing canyons. All stats are incomplete, as the event continues. As of January 3rd, a total of 72 folks have taken part, smashing the record of 54 which was set two years ago at the Fest with the worst weather. This one had the best. Eight dogs made appearances at the fest too. There were 2 nights in the teens, 16 and 19 degrees F. Many days were in the lower 50’s. One night’s low was 40, which is the only record temp wise. There was little wind and partly to clear skies daily. New Year’s Eve had around 35-40 folks on hand and two fires going. I am glad none of my respectable friends were on hand or I would have been even more mortified. An all time low. New Year’s was celebrated for 4 separate time zones. For the 10th annual Black Hole January 1st descent, conditions were warm and the canyon was very dry by Hole standards. Twenty-six folks made the descent between 3 hours and 45 minutes for the fastest, to 5 hours and 15 minutes recorded by the Crane (Ryan Hull) who generously ran sweeper the 2nd half of the canyon. 19 guys and 7 gals went through with ease, many seeing the Hole for the first time. Good time had by all.
Ram

— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “bsilliman2001” wrote:

Any reports on conditions for our hearty group of men and women?

bruce from bryce