Conditions:Alcatraz Canyon-20250519032852
Latest: |
16 May 2025 (20 days ago) |
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| Reported by: | RFontaine (276 reports) | |
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| Quality: | Amazing |
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| Waterflow: | ||
| Wetsuit: | ||
| Water temperature: | ||
| Difficulty: | ||
| Time: |  4 hours
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Team: 5 people with experience level Intermediate to Advanced
Trip report URL:
Comments: Really incredible squeezy stemmy canyon!
First off, I dont know how the beta has had the 1st rappel as “197ft” for so long but that is WRONG and I can confirm a 120’ rope will reach comfortably…Still a very nice drop in! Leave your rope fixed, no need to drag it through the canyon.
We brought 3 50’ ropes between us and only needed 2 of them once.
The slot is incredibly beautiful especially in the after noon with the sun shining down in.
There are indeed sections of prolonged darkness, needless to say, headlamps should be brought.
Our largest teammate was 230lbs and although fairly new to this style of canyon, did really well. No problems fitting through.
There are a few un avoidable pools mostly knee deep, 1 waist deep. Not cold, no wetsuit needed.
All condition reports
| Date | Quality | Waterflow | Wetsuit | Difficulty | Time | Team | Reported by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazing | | | | 4 hours
| 5 people Intermediate to Advanced | RFontaine (276 reports) | |
Comment: Really incredible squeezy stemmy canyon!
First off, I dont know how the beta has had the 1st rappel as “197ft” for so long but that is WRONG and I can confirm a 120’ rope will reach comfortably…Still a very nice drop in! Leave your rope fixed, no need to drag it through the canyon. We brought 3 50’ ropes between us and only needed 2 of them once. The slot is incredibly beautiful especially in the after noon with the sun shining down in. There are indeed sections of prolonged darkness, needless to say, headlamps should be brought. Our largest teammate was 230lbs and although fairly new to this style of canyon, did really well. No problems fitting through. There are a few un avoidable pools mostly knee deep, 1 waist deep. Not cold, no wetsuit needed. | |||||||
| Good | Deep pools 
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal |  6 hours
| 2 people Intermediate to Advanced | Ameister (43 reports),Dirk (8 reports) | |
Comment: It's wet in Robbers Roost! Waist to chest deep pools throughout. We did it with no wetsuits but were quite cold on the last rap and on the hike out.
There is a handline placed on the last rap, but I recommend doing it as a rap unless you are otherwise confident in the downclimb. It's quite dark and squeezy, so if you like that kind of canyon, it's one of the best. It wasn't really for me. The hike out feels long. The topo route lists it as 800' elevation gain but I'm guessing we did at least 50% more than that with routefinding.
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| Great | Very Low
| None 
| Normal | 4 hours
| 4 people Advanced | MMclimbhigh (24 reports) | |
Comment: The Roost is bone dry. Ran through the TCB canyons over the weekend. Only small pools in Alcatraz and Smallcatraz. Easily avoidable. No need for wetsuits at this time
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| Amazing | Deep pools
| Full wetsuit
| Special challenges | 6 hours
| 3 people Brand new to Expert | Ingalls (28 reports) | |
Comment: Attempted to access via BLM Road 1619 which is strongly not advised. With a high clearance 4x4 we almost got stuck several times crossing washes and had to dig out one wash where the road was washed out to make it even remotely passable. Eventually got to a wash that was going to be too time consuming to pass and left the truck. ~5k later began our descent into the canyon. As we didn't have a vehicle to rappel off, left a small amount of brown webbing to the east of the traditional entrance, and a tree anchor at the second "stage" of the first rappel. The canyon itself is strenuous and technical in nature - definitely wish I had a small pack throughout the journey. Potholes were entirely full and while the first half of the canyon was possible to only get wet up to the calves, the second half of the canyon guaranteed full immersion. Going without wetsuits would be extremely ill advised. The hike out of the canyon, while long, is heavily cairned and fairly straightforward.
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| Great | Very Low
| None
| Special challenges | 5 hours
| 5 people Beginner to Expert | TEnzweiler (6 reports) | |
Comment: Road to Alcatraz was in good condition as of 02/20/2022, but there were strong winds blowing sand as we left.
It appears there have been quite a few good flashes since I was there in April 2021. A large amount of the bottom of the canyon has been washed out making it a lot tighter and forcing at least twice as much stemming as before. The pothole to rappel wasn't holding any water (but that may change with the recent snow), but it should be noted that the anchor doesn't currently extend to the outer lip of the pothole. The rappel itself is still roughly 27' but make sure to account for rope reaching the anchor. The 17' downclimb/rappel has a handline hidden amongst some debris.
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| Amazing | Dry
| None
| Advanced  | 3 hours
| 2 people Advanced to Expert | Dwentzel (18 reports) | |
Comment: Fun canyon. A little bit of water, but you can stem over it. The final bolt isn’t there, but the 2 useless bolts mid canyon are there. No idea why.
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| Great | Dry
| None
| Special challenges | 5 hours
| 5 people Beginner to Expert | DMonroy (188 reports) | |
Comment: All pothole with a little water were avoidable.
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| Amazing | | | | | CanditionBot (2103 reports) | ||
| Amazing | | | | | CanditionBot (2103 reports) | ||
| Amazing | | | | | CanditionBot (2103 reports) | ||
| | | | | Beerslot (17 reports) | |||
Comment: Great canyon!! Excellent opening sequence with the rappel off the car and the rest of the canyon included tight squeezes, down-climbs, and really only one actual rappel after the start. The canyon was wetter and colder than expected so we ended up travelling through nekked at times. Had a few near misses with the lesson of the day being to bring shoes with traction! Long, scenic, meandering exit hike ended with a potential sighting of a bobcat (or whatever feline may live in the desert). Excellent day! ST, LT, MS, JT, DC
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| Amazing | | | | | CanditionBot (2103 reports) | ||
| | | | | Candition.com (287 reports) | |||
Comment: Most recent conditions reported at Candition.com, see Trip Report for full details.
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| Amazing | | | | | CanditionBot (2103 reports) | ||
| Amazing | | | | | CanditionBot (2103 reports) | ||