Hey, did you guys find my pack in there?!?!
Great to hear the report and find out it truly was hard, and not that we were just soft when we gave it a go. The crux you describe we did the squeeze through, and down a short distance to where it really pinched down. I studied going up before the squeeze long and hard, and had almost talked myself into trying, but would not be real interested in giving it a go without a bit of gear. It looked “reasonable”, and height probably would have helped, but the fall potential was very ugly. I think a couple of Big Bros / BD #6’s would protect it well, however. A couple of scoops at the start made for a reasonably comfy place to hang out. Had it been our last resort, I’m sure we would have given it a go.
Coming back through the squeeze on our retreat was one of the most intense moments I’ve had in a canyon. As I tried to reverse the squeeze (which was very tight on my 180 lb frame), my hips slotted in and got stuck. I literally couldn’t move my legs but 1 inch and had visions of being left as a permanent fixture. After a few serenity now moments, and much cursing under my breath for getting stuck, I was able to sort of roll out of the squeeze. That had it’s own moment though, as I had to catch myself before falling into the up canyon silo. Phew! Just thinking about it again makes me tense.
Cristina and I went back a year or so ago and I rapped in at the crux to scope it out again. Still seemed hard, and I saw the down canyon silos from the crux on the rappel. What a place, congrats on getting it done!
Thanks for brining back the memories, I think…. -Ryan
stevebrezovec
We didn’t see your pack, though we kept a casual eye out. We all agreed that much respect was due you guys for making it as far as you did. The canyon did in fact get harder after that section, rest assured – higher, wider, worse wall angles, more flaring offwidth cracks. We were curious as to the emphatic declarative from MK about the necessity of the g-pick & Ibis for reversal – I don’t imagine you agreed with this assessment but do you have any insight into his rational? We found neither reversed downclimb to be that significant, and the hook holes we saw chipped seem to have been chipped high, as if by someone who had already reversed the downclimb successfully, rather than in the effort to surmount. Any insight?
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “roadtripry” wrote:
Hey, did you guys find my pack in there?!?!
Great to hear the report and find out it truly was hard, and not that we were just soft when we gave it a go. The crux you describe we did the squeeze through, and down a short distance to where it really pinched down. I studied going up before the squeeze long and hard, and had almost talked myself into trying, but would not be real interested in giving it a go without a bit of gear. It looked “reasonable”, and height probably would have helped, but the fall potential was very ugly. I think a couple of Big Bros / BD #6’s would protect it well, however. A couple of scoops at the start made for a reasonably comfy place to hang out. Had it been our last resort, I’m sure we would have given it a go.
Coming back through the squeeze on our retreat was one of the most intense moments I’ve had in a canyon. As I tried to reverse the squeeze (which was very tight on my 180 lb frame), my hips slotted in and got stuck. I literally couldn’t move my legs but 1 inch and had visions of being left as a permanent fixture. After a few serenity now moments, and much cursing under my breath for getting stuck, I was able to sort of roll out of the squeeze. That had it’s own moment though, as I had to catch myself before falling into the up canyon silo. Phew! Just thinking about it again makes me tense.
Cristina and I went back a year or so ago and I rapped in at the crux to scope it out again. Still seemed hard, and I saw the down canyon silos from the crux on the rappel. What a place, congrats on getting it done!
Thanks for brining back the memories, I think…. > -Ryan >