Conditions:Cerberus Canyon (North Fork)-20190325215809

Latest:	24 Mar 2019 (6 yrs, 2 mos ago)

Reported by:	Xenonrocket (102 reports)
Quality:	Great
Waterflow:	Very Low
Wetsuit:	None
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Advanced
Time: ":23" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property.	12 hours

Team: 7 people with experience level Beginner to Expert

Trip report URL:

Comments: Fun day-pre dawn start with a great sunrise over badwater basin. Had to ascend R2 to fix a rigging issue, and slowed down a bit as the sun came in from the west and the day warmed u to almost 80F, as well as a minor medical issue between R26 and R27. A bit of a trickle in the North Fork section, as well as on a couple of the lower rappels. Used the 2 piton and rock chalk on the first 270' to break it into a shorter rappel and a second rappel, both under 200'. We didn't measure it exactly or try the downclimb, but it seems really likely you could get off rappel at <200' from the top of the 2nd 270' and downclimb a gully just below the cave on that rappel, eliminating the need for a long rope. Additionally, it's at most 250' from the anchor to the actual ground, based on measuring the rope left on the ground. All webbing replaced and cleaned out except R28 and R29-most of it was replaced with 9/16", so anyone running it after the 18/19 season will want to replace again.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
16 Mar 2025	Amazing	Dry			12 hours	4 people Intermediate to Advanced	Abby Wines (50 reports)
Comment: Perfect weather. Fun downclimbs, beautiful rocks (especially while still in the north fork), and awesome views in the lower canyon. As a bonus, the north fork has what is probably the easiest approach of any canyon in Death Valley: a 5 minute walk uphill to a saddle, then a mellow downhill walk until it becomes technical. No 3,000' ascent! No scree scariness!
30 Nov 2024	Amazing	Dry		Normal	8 hours	5 people	Jcsjcs (120 reports)
Comment: Lots of fun downclimbs and interesting rappels. The two 270' were great. Many rappels had a short step at first leading to an easy place to rig a fiddlestick for the pull. Anchors were generally in good condition.
10 Nov 2024	Great	Dry	None	Normal	12 hours	4 people Advanced to Intermediate	Celes (26 reports)
Comment: We ghosted the rappels that did not already have webbing. We changed ~4 crispy webbing. In rap 21 (the first big rap), there were 2 pitons with webbing after the first 2 stages (before the big drop). Our FAPAR tried using it as anchor and 1 piton popped out while he had just gotten on rap. He was able to came back to the ledge. We should have taken the popped-off piton and webbing with us but didn't think of it as our usual descend order was off and we had to do some problem solving. So next group in the canyon, please take the piton and webbing with you and do not use. Most of the canyon was pretty straight forward. There were cairns guiding in the sections which we were supposed to stay high.
17 Feb 2024	Amazing				9 hours	7 people Advanced to Expert	Cheveran (92 reports)
Comment: Awesome canyon! Moved fast with a great team.
15 Dec 2023	Amazing	Dry	None	Normal	10 hours	3 people Brand new to Advanced	Lukemurray2016LV (11 reports)
Comment: I believe we were the first group through NF Cerberus since Hurricane Hilary. Of the 27-30 rappels (we lost track at some point), we rebuilt anchors and replaced webbing at all but 2 or 3. Manu drops there was no evidence of previous anchors left behind, others were so buried and caked in mud and rock they were at times impossible to remove. We brought a little over 200’ of webbing into the canyon and used all of it. Some drops we fiddled around natural features, meaning you will not find anchors rigged at these drops. We did the best we could to install quality anchors that would enable good pulls but we had to be very discerning given the amount of webbing we were forced to use. I would echo the sentiments shared in previous reports that this is a super fun, gorgeous canyon. Further, I do believe the first 270 could be done with 200’ ropes and a new anchor at the final stage. I did not see any evidence of pitons mentioned elsewhere at that drop. One note. In the upper section, not too far from the confluence, I broke off a toaster oven sized rock from the rappel route and was struck in the shin. I was able to move my leg enough to just take a glancing blow. Be very careful with the rock in this canyon, as you should in many DEVA canyons, but just thought I’d mention it.
18 Mar 2023	Great	Dry	None	Normal	11 hours	6 people Intermediate to Advanced	Abby Wines (50 reports)
Comment: Such a nice, mellow approach. Downclimbs, lots of rappels, what's not to like?
24 Mar 2019	Great	Very Low	None	Advanced	12 hours	7 people Beginner to Expert	Xenonrocket (102 reports)
Comment: Fun day-pre dawn start with a great sunrise over badwater basin. Had to ascend R2 to fix a rigging issue, and slowed down a bit as the sun came in from the west and the day warmed u to almost 80F, as well as a minor medical issue between R26 and R27. A bit of a trickle in the North Fork section, as well as on a couple of the lower rappels. Used the 2 piton and rock chalk on the first 270' to break it into a shorter rappel and a second rappel, both under 200'. We didn't measure it exactly or try the downclimb, but it seems really likely you could get off rappel at <200' from the top of the 2nd 270' and downclimb a gully just below the cave on that rappel, eliminating the need for a long rope. Additionally, it's at most 250' from the anchor to the actual ground, based on measuring the rope left on the ground. All webbing replaced and cleaned out except R28 and R29-most of it was replaced with 9/16", so anyone running it after the 18/19 season will want to replace again.
4 Dec 2016	Amazing			Advanced	13 hours	6 people Advanced	Freddy (51 reports)
Comment: All anchors inspected,rebuilt,webbing replaced.
4 Dec 2016 Trip report							DanielleMonroy@Facebook (6 reports)
Comment: extracts from Facebook posts, click link for full details (privacy restrictions may apply) " We ran Cerberus NF yesterday. Great great canyon. Replaced a dozen anchors webbing material with new black stuff. We rebuilt the webbing on the big drop off the 2 pitons - I wanted to do that last year but we were short for time. Canyon booty: 1 carabiner, a couple rapides in the sand, and an old rope isolated with a core shot isolated by an alpine butterfly, set up in an anchor and with a tiny thin pull cord attached Not sure if anyone would want it back. Yellow rope." Southwestern Canyoneering
15 Feb 2015	Great	Dry	None	Normal	9 hours	10 people Brand new to Expert	Tiffanie (139 reports)
Comment: Anchors are in good condition. Be sure to look for already built anchors on some of the longer tiered drops that will facilitate in an easier pull. We set up the shuttle car the night before to save some time. It took us 10 hours from the time we started hiking to the time we got to end of the canyon/back to shuttle car. If I had to compare between Typhon and Cerberus, I'd say Cerberus was more memorable. Cerberus has several multi-tiered long rappels and doesn't have that knee killing approach (descent of ~2,600 ft). I could still walk after Cerberus; Typhon hurt for a couple days.
9 Jan 2015	Great	Dry	None	Normal	9 hours	6 people Intermediate to Expert	Bronic (3 reports)
Comment: The Canyon is a bit of a dirt pile with loads of downclimbing but the 2 270' rappels make it well worth it! Check all anchors but they were all strong and great for us.