Conditions:Deadhorse Creek-20170905223158
Latest: |
2 Sep 2017 (7 yrs, 9 mos ago) |
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| Reported by: | Tiffanie (139 reports) | |
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| Quality: | Amazing |
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| Waterflow: | Very High |
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| Wetsuit: | Full wetsuit |
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| Water temperature: | ||
| Difficulty: | Special challenges |
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| Time: |  9 hours
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Team: 4 people with experience level Advanced to Expert
Trip report URL:
Comments: Amazing and intimidating. This canyon delivered more than we expected. This was the first descent of this canyon and from pictures of the falls, we expected this creek to have no more than 3-4 drops in moderate/moderate low flow. Instead the creek ended up having 10 rappels and a lot more water. The canyon is quite unique in the fact that it also has a beautiful and "friendly" narrow section before the water is funneled into the crack. The crack is intimidating in this flow and canyoneers must be very, very comfortable in water as it requires being in the flow, navigating and picking the right line, and poor to crappy visibility. I can't think of another canyon that has 2 big drops into such a crack that result in a 300' ft sequence. In higher flow would be dangerous. Be sure to read the notes about the reference photos before attempting this canyon.
All condition reports
| Date | Quality | Waterflow | Wetsuit | Difficulty | Time | Team | Reported by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazing | High
| Thick wetsuit
| Normal  |  7 hours
| 4 people Advanced | Coops (121 reports) | |
Comment: 3 years since the last reported descent! We used a new approach & exit to avoid the (still) closed road. Adds a bunch of hiking, but all downhill at least (>3000ft). Drove a shuttle vehicle up NF-33, from the summit hiked NWN down towards the classic drop-in point. To exit, we hiked down the road until SE of the closed Excelsior campground, where we dropped off the road down to the river, climbing the bank of the other side (staying well clear of the hydro plant) to regain the road and our vehicles. Note this shuttle setup takes ~40mins in each direction.
We did a moderate amount of anchor work: removed y-hang webbing and installed extra quicklinks, replaced a number of natural webbing anchors with bolts. But on the whole the existing bolts are in good condition. The Crack of Doom is very very impressive, and deserves its reputation as a WA highlight. It feels like the much much bigger brother of R3 in Tesseract. The longer approach & exit was worth it to get into a canyon half the team had been waiting years to do. That said, I'll also be happy to wait for the road to reopen before heading back a second time. The water was very cold, with serious brain-freeze on the first major rap (R2). Flows were high (I don’t think they ever get lower than that?) but were not problematic. Crossing the river to exit took a little strategizing, but with few down-stream hazards it wasn’t high consequence to end up swimming. A local from the hydro plant stated that NF37 isn’t abandoned, but there’s still no time frame on it being repaired due to complications around permitting structural changes needed to the road. The section of NF37 we hiked shows evidence that people are still using it either on bikes or motorbikes. Other than overgrown vegetation in a few sections the road seems in decent condition. Breakdown of time: (40m drive-up), 1h20m hike approach, 4h30m in canyon, 1h30m hike exit, (1h20m vehicle retrieval) | |||||||
| Amazing | High
| Drysuit 
| Advanced | 6 hours
| 5 people | Rernst86 (88 reports) | |
| Great | Very High
| Full wetsuit
| Advanced | 6 hours
| 5 people | Jakehuddleston (36 reports) | |
Comment: A fantastic canyon. Foreboding but awe inspiring. Water levels were very high but very manageable. Anchors in great condition, with multiple fresh webbing anchors replaced from a group a few weeks prior. Added a single bolt to aid a very sketchy 15' downclimb. Canyoneers should certainly be confident rappellers and be able to manage themselves in flow. We took our time and took lots of pictures. Great day.
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| Good | Very High
| Thick wetsuit
| Advanced | 5 hours
| 3 people Advanced | Blueshade (55 reports) | |
Comment: Very high conditions, as high or higher than the first descent. Bolt anchors on R1, R6, and R7 were in good condition- replaced webbing on R7. Wrapped a rock on a short drop below R1 (no webbing) and installed webbing on one rap below R7. Other short drops are a combination of short raps (webbing mostly in place) or semi difficult downclimbs.
R1 can be rappelled in or out of the flow. In the flow is a pretty severe pounding. We did not notice any obvious sharp spots excepting at or near the lip- just watch where you start your rappel. NOTE: While not 100% certain of the location of loss, I'm pretty sure that I lost my phone here on R1 (the 100' rappel) while rappelling in the flow. But it is most likely either in the relatively shallow pool below or possibly stuck on small ledges midway down the rap. I would be MOST grateful to get it back and would be happy to offer a finder's fee if desired. Please PM me or contact me at bluesombra @ gmail . com R6 and R7 (Crack of Doom), while both have some intense spots, are not nearly as bad as they appear to be. Much of it either passes quickly through the flow or you are able to avoid much of the flow. Worst may be the bottom part of R7. We may have been lucky, but our rope did not stick on R6. Most of the short raps are essentially nuisance rappels. Water is very cold. Bushwhack on approach does indeed have quite a lot of blueberries that are pretty annoying, especially if wet.
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| Amazing | Very High
| Full wetsuit
| Special challenges | 9 hours
| 4 people Advanced to Expert | Tiffanie (139 reports) | |
Comment: Amazing and intimidating. This canyon delivered more than we expected. This was the first descent of this canyon and from pictures of the falls, we expected this creek to have no more than 3-4 drops in moderate/moderate low flow. Instead the creek ended up having 10 rappels and a lot more water. The canyon is quite unique in the fact that it also has a beautiful and "friendly" narrow section before the water is funneled into the crack. The crack is intimidating in this flow and canyoneers must be very, very comfortable in water as it requires being in the flow, navigating and picking the right line, and poor to crappy visibility. I can't think of another canyon that has 2 big drops into such a crack that result in a 300' ft sequence. In higher flow would be dangerous. Be sure to read the notes about the reference photos before attempting this canyon.
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