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- Aug 9, 2007
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September 2010
I had the pleasure to get out and do some canyoneering with Kev, Mike and Aram earlier this week. I had previously done quite a bit of rappelling, some climbing and lots of backpacking so it wasn't too far out there to go technical canyoneering. The original plan was to hit a couple shorter slots on Monday then Neon canyon on Tuesday.
I met up with Kev late on Sunday night in Collet Canyon. He had just dont Choprock Canyon and didn't get back to camp until well after dark. We were expecting Aram, Mike and some other that night but no one showed up.
Sunset at the Collet Camp
Star trails in camp. I was by myself here until Kev showed up around 9:30 or 10.
The next morning we woke up to Mike and Aram driving up the road into our camp. Apparently they had arrived late that night and assumed it was us camped at the spot we intended to camp at. The camp we ended up in was our backup spot. So they got their late and went to sleep. In the morning they woke up and realized they didn't know anyone there and then made their way over to find us. After a breakfast we were off to the Egypt Bench to do some canyons. First up, Egypt 1.
Kev dropping into Egypt 1
Aram
Kev
Mike taking the high road
That pile of rocks is our anchor, freshly rebuilt.
Looking down a pretty big slide.
Hiking back out to the cars.
Getting ready to head down into Egypt 1.5, aka Bobo.
Kev was a meat anchor for Aram and I to rap down this crack. Mike and Kev downclimbed it.
Kev down climbing the crack.
Getting the sand bags ready to rappel from. There were no other anchors available.
Kev trying to avoid a very nasty mud puddle. This thing smelled like death.
At the end of Bob the canyon became very, very skinny, no way was I fitting through. Stemming was the only way out. I'm cool with that, I had already stemmed plenty in that canyon and the one before but never so high and never for such a long stretch. It really did me in, I used muscles that haven't used in a long time. It might be easy for people who do this stuff often but it was really tough for me to wiggle my 6'4" 270 pound body way up there and over two long sections. I'm sure I'm exaggerating but I could swear I had to get like 20-25' off the canyon floor just to get to a spot wide enough to fully extend my legs.
This is the spot with the high stemming at the very end of the slot. I am the one high in the background, Aram is in the foreground. Kev is below taking the low road. This totally killed me. Photo by Mike M.
The bottom of Bobo looking back towards the two stemming sections that totally kicked my ass.
Another view looking back at Bobo.
Hiking back to the cars.
These were some of my hardiest, most durable shorts. Or so I thought.
This experience gave me a lot of respect for the canyoneering crowd. I really enjoyed it and next time I won't plan to hit them one day after another which was preceded by 20 miles of backpacking the three days before that. And now I have a shiny new wetsuit just begging to get torn up.
I had the pleasure to get out and do some canyoneering with Kev, Mike and Aram earlier this week. I had previously done quite a bit of rappelling, some climbing and lots of backpacking so it wasn't too far out there to go technical canyoneering. The original plan was to hit a couple shorter slots on Monday then Neon canyon on Tuesday.
I met up with Kev late on Sunday night in Collet Canyon. He had just dont Choprock Canyon and didn't get back to camp until well after dark. We were expecting Aram, Mike and some other that night but no one showed up.
Sunset at the Collet Camp
Star trails in camp. I was by myself here until Kev showed up around 9:30 or 10.
The next morning we woke up to Mike and Aram driving up the road into our camp. Apparently they had arrived late that night and assumed it was us camped at the spot we intended to camp at. The camp we ended up in was our backup spot. So they got their late and went to sleep. In the morning they woke up and realized they didn't know anyone there and then made their way over to find us. After a breakfast we were off to the Egypt Bench to do some canyons. First up, Egypt 1.
Kev dropping into Egypt 1
Aram
Kev
Mike taking the high road
That pile of rocks is our anchor, freshly rebuilt.
Looking down a pretty big slide.
Hiking back out to the cars.
Getting ready to head down into Egypt 1.5, aka Bobo.
Kev was a meat anchor for Aram and I to rap down this crack. Mike and Kev downclimbed it.
Kev down climbing the crack.
Getting the sand bags ready to rappel from. There were no other anchors available.
Kev trying to avoid a very nasty mud puddle. This thing smelled like death.
At the end of Bob the canyon became very, very skinny, no way was I fitting through. Stemming was the only way out. I'm cool with that, I had already stemmed plenty in that canyon and the one before but never so high and never for such a long stretch. It really did me in, I used muscles that haven't used in a long time. It might be easy for people who do this stuff often but it was really tough for me to wiggle my 6'4" 270 pound body way up there and over two long sections. I'm sure I'm exaggerating but I could swear I had to get like 20-25' off the canyon floor just to get to a spot wide enough to fully extend my legs.
This is the spot with the high stemming at the very end of the slot. I am the one high in the background, Aram is in the foreground. Kev is below taking the low road. This totally killed me. Photo by Mike M.
The bottom of Bobo looking back towards the two stemming sections that totally kicked my ass.
Another view looking back at Bobo.
Hiking back to the cars.
These were some of my hardiest, most durable shorts. Or so I thought.
This experience gave me a lot of respect for the canyoneering crowd. I really enjoyed it and next time I won't plan to hit them one day after another which was preceded by 20 miles of backpacking the three days before that. And now I have a shiny new wetsuit just begging to get torn up.
