Conditions:Alder Creek (Christmas Canyon)-20220808175923

Latest:	8 Aug 2022 (2 yrs, 8 mos ago)

Reported by:	Szr (2 reports)
Quality:	Great
Waterflow:	Deep pools
Wetsuit:	Rain jacket
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Normal
Time: "h20m" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property.	11 hours

Team: 3 people with experience level Beginner to Advanced

Trip report URL:

Comments: Flow: Completely dry creek bed at the top, then stagnant pools including one swimmer, only a trickle at R1-R4, some flow at R5

Water temps: The water was quite cold, especially the swimmer at R2, but we warmed up quickly while walking and didn't put on wetsuits, and only one of us needed a rain jacket. (The forecast was for 76F, not sure what the actual temps were.)

Anchors: We used most of the existing anchors but replaced one that was damaged and doubled up the one for the 140ft R4b rappel. Note that most of the anchors are single webbing only. We did 7 rappels - we downclimbed R1 (very easy) but rappelled the "downclimb" from the beta, and added one other short rappel straight from a tree (without leaving webbing) just before that. There's also a downclimb just before R4 that some people might want to protect.

Time: Our total time was 11h 20 mins, of which about 5h were spent at the rappels (including teaching a beginner various skills and practicing a guided rappel), but more than 6 hours were spent walking/scrambling the rest of the way (including some short breaks).

We didn't take the "up to 10 hours" part of the beta seriously enough, for several reasons. 1. We assumed that the upper end of the time estimate was intended for higher flow conditions. 2. We understood "we tried a side exit, would not recommend; although we didn't try it the next ridge downstream looked more promising" in one of the trip reports to mean "tried and gave up on the first exit and walked past the second", and therefore believed that the group in March did the whole top down route in 5 hours. In retrospect that's probably not what they actually meant. 3. We misunderstood "the last 500-1000ft of creek walking is a little trickier and has more vegetation in the way" as a horizontal distance when in retrospect it was likely intended to mean "vertical feet", i.e. half of the route. (Adding this in the actual beta.) 4. We had never done a canyon with such sustained scrambling and couldn't imagine that 2.7 miles could possibly take that long.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/28484683@N05/albums/72177720301145816

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
8 Aug 2022	Great	Deep pools	Rain jacket	Normal	11 hours	3 people Beginner to Advanced	Szr (2 reports)
Comment: Flow: Completely dry creek bed at the top, then stagnant pools including one swimmer, only a trickle at R1-R4, some flow at R5 Water temps: The water was quite cold, especially the swimmer at R2, but we warmed up quickly while walking and didn't put on wetsuits, and only one of us needed a rain jacket. (The forecast was for 76F, not sure what the actual temps were.) Anchors: We used most of the existing anchors but replaced one that was damaged and doubled up the one for the 140ft R4b rappel. Note that most of the anchors are single webbing only. We did 7 rappels - we downclimbed R1 (very easy) but rappelled the "downclimb" from the beta, and added one other short rappel straight from a tree (without leaving webbing) just before that. There's also a downclimb just before R4 that some people might want to protect. Time: Our total time was 11h 20 mins, of which about 5h were spent at the rappels (including teaching a beginner various skills and practicing a guided rappel), but more than 6 hours were spent walking/scrambling the rest of the way (including some short breaks). We didn't take the "up to 10 hours" part of the beta seriously enough, for several reasons. 1. We assumed that the upper end of the time estimate was intended for higher flow conditions. 2. We understood "we tried a side exit, would not recommend; although we didn't try it the next ridge downstream looked more promising" in one of the trip reports to mean "tried and gave up on the first exit and walked past the second", and therefore believed that the group in March did the whole top down route in 5 hours. In retrospect that's probably not what they actually meant. 3. We misunderstood "the last 500-1000ft of creek walking is a little trickier and has more vegetation in the way" as a horizontal distance when in retrospect it was likely intended to mean "vertical feet", i.e. half of the route. (Adding this in the actual beta.) 4. We had never done a canyon with such sustained scrambling and couldn't imagine that 2.7 miles could possibly take that long. https://www.flickr.com/photos/28484683@N05/albums/72177720301145816
14 May 2022	Good	Low	Thin wetsuit		7 hours	4 people	Sri (30 reports)
Comment: It's a good canyon. Webbing was all in good condition. Water levels fairly low, a thin wetsuit top recommended. We took the sneak exit up the ridge canyon left, and it was horrible and scary, full of loose scree. I haven't done the shuttle exit with the creek walking, but it might be the safer option even if it's a slog.
13 Mar 2022	Good	Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	5 hours	3 people Intermediate to Advanced	Rodtel314 (36 reports),Rbowru (54 reports),Epeairs (68 reports)
Comment: Wetsuits were necessary for a warm spring day. We tried a side exit up the scree slope DCL of Cinnamon Falls, would not recommend. Although we didn't try it, the next ridge downstream looked more promising for an early escape