fun in Middle Echo & Spry Canyons – question on rope grooves

We took the dogleg as it looked a lot more fun than the tree rap plus we weren’t sure the tree rap would work with only a 200′ foot rope (didn’t feel like pulling out another another rope)

Glad we did – it was a nice fluted drop into the pool which was only waist deep, looks like it would be a nice swimmer when full.

Question – noticed a lot of drops had very deep & numerous rope grooves, we decided to double rope rappel to avoid having a knot/dlink on the rope which could catch on the grooves which worked for us as we had no problem pulling ropes but I have noticed on several canyoneering sites it is better to single line to avoid getting ropes stuck – what is the current thinking on rappelling drops with such grooves?

thanks,

Joe

PS Kids are 15, 12 & 10 – My personal joy was found when the same kids who would fight over the stupidest stuff all of a sudden worked together to figure out how to navigate safely down canyons without any instruction from me.

— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “RAM” wrote:
Joe
Thank you for the report. Lovely. Echo is a great place to spend a hot day. In Spry, did you take the left hand dogleg rap, from the flat chockstone or go out to those big trees to the left, looking down canyon? This is the drop after the big vertical one with all the rope grooves from the bolt on the ledge. I ask because that dogleg rap usually has the deepest water in the canyon and is so much nicer than either of the tree rap options. Again, thanks for sharing and glad you had a fine time. Oh and how old are your kids?
Ram
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “bollinger_joe” wrote:

MIDDLE ECHO
Took the family down middle echo this last weekend and had a great time, what a fun little canyon. No snow/ice in the canyon but cold water! used 4/3 fulls with booties & glove – do not go in without wetsuits right now! The “toilet bowl” pothole was full of logs and debris and the escape was a bit tough for the kids without assistance
so be ready to assist on this one if bringing noobs or kids down it. The webbing is adequate and will need replacing this summer and one of the hangers on the second drop is getting quite rusty – did not have the time or tools to replace on this outing. Go out and enjoy this one right now! No crowds like keyhole and the water does not yet smell like “poo” as been noted in the past

SPRY
Oldest son and I went down Spry and had a great time. Left at the crack of noon so suffered quite a bit climbing up to the bench overlooking the Lodge & Spry junction. Did not follow Tom’s route description to go right descending the bench to descend into the junction so had the pleasure of an extra rappel off a tree prior to the official spry start. Most of the webbing looks to have been replaced recently and the bolts all appeared to be in good shape. Caught up with a group of five and they graciously let us pass on their ropes. A couple of the gals in the group worked in the park maintaining trails. Made a point to thank them for their hard work keeping Zion great! As noted in Tom’s book, we did find a couple downclimbs and early rappels to be “spicy” so plan on a long day if bring noobs or a large group. Lastly no wetsuits are needed – only a few places to get waist deep wet at most and even these could be avoided if you really wanted to put in the extra effort to stay dry
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