Conditions:Dothraki-20250120174443

From ropewiki.com
Jump to: navigation, search

Latest:

19 Jan 2025 (27 days ago)

Reported by: Braxtagonia (6 reports)
Quality:

Great
Waterflow:
Dry
Bar0.png
Wetsuit:
None
Bar0.png
Water temperature:
Difficulty:
Special challenges
Bar3.png
Time: Time3.png 5 hours Bar3.png

Team: 5 people with experience level Intermediate to Advanced

Trip report URL:

Comments: Group of 5, car to car 5hrs 15mins Took the Dragon’s Back approach, I’d highly recommend it over the Water Canyon approach to anyone comfortable with class 3/4 scrambling. For an athletically inclined group, I’d say it’s definitely the faster approach option (we did it in ~2hrs). The views were awesome and the approach was half the fun. The canyon had gorgeous lighting and lots of fun drops. Be careful with the rope pull on the last rap. We toggled it and the end of the rope got stuck in a crack as we were pulling it down. We were able to get it down using a 3:1 MA from the bottom.



All condition reports


Date Quality Waterflow Wetsuit Difficulty Time Team Reported by
19 Jan 2025


Great

Dry
Bar0.png

None
Bar0.png

Special challenges
Bar3.png
Time3.png 5 hours
Bar3.png
5 people
Intermediate to Advanced
Braxtagonia (6 reports)
Comment: Group of 5, car to car 5hrs 15mins

Took the Dragon’s Back approach, I’d highly recommend it over the Water Canyon approach to anyone comfortable with class 3/4 scrambling. For an athletically inclined group, I’d say it’s definitely the faster approach option (we did it in ~2hrs). The views were awesome and the approach was half the fun. The canyon had gorgeous lighting and lots of fun drops. Be careful with the rope pull on the last rap. We toggled it and the end of the rope got stuck in a crack as we were pulling it down. We were able to get it down using a 3:1 MA from the bottom.





Time3.png 8 hours
Bar3.png
4 people
Beginner to Advanced
Cheveran (85 reports)
Comment: Good fun. Time is car to car, including a short shuttle from Squirrel to Water Canyon TH. Kept our feet dry. Kudos to recent group through for replacing webbing on many anchors. Good canyon, mostly straightforward but has a few moves :)




Ok

Very Low
Bar1.png

None
Bar0.png

Easy
Bar1.png
Time4.png 11 hours
Bar4.png
4 people
Advanced
Tcarlisle (70 reports)
Comment: Four advanced canyoneers. 11 hours car to car with a short, 1-mile car shuttle. Very little water, all of which can be stemmed over. Some spots with water are likely deep enough to potentially be swimmers.

We reworked one anchor on a chock stone to make is a cinch anchor with a courtesy. The webbing on the final anchor has two independent strands of webbing. One strand is good but the other one is starting to show some bleaching. All other anchors we bolted.

This was our first time through. We understand that most [all] of the spicy down climbs have bolts now which makes this canyon easier than it was in the past. Given the history of down climbing accidents in this canyon none of us were feeling the need to do downclimbs that are now optional.

As we descended the canyon our thoughts were with those who died in the recent Seven Teacups accident. Some of our group knew, and were even close friends with, those who perished so we kept them in remembrance while we canyoneered.




Great

Dry
Bar0.png

None
Bar0.png

Time3.png 8 hours
Bar3.png
3 people
Intermediate
Dyln cole (43 reports)
Comment: Replaced webbing R1 and R9 or R10 (Small diameter tree LDC of descent, RDC of line of rappel). Did fewer than 17 rappels, approach was hot but cools in canyon. Overall good conditions, very dry.




Great

Very Low
Bar1.png

None
Bar0.png

Special challenges
Bar3.png
Time4.png 9 hours
Bar4.png
4 people
Intermediate to Advanced
Mastyle2000 (2 reports)
Comment: Group of 4. We were dropped off and started hiking from Water Canyon Trailhead, just before 0700 hours. Took us 4 hours to get to the top of first rappel. Steep climb up to the top of Water Canyon and another 2 miles in mostly sand made for a tiring approach. Took us 9 hours from start of first rappel to the bottom of last rappel. Even though the write up here says there are 17 rappels, did 18 and possibly 19. We hiked out to Squirrel Canyon Trailhead.

Watch out for fine sand on rock and ledges. Makes walking slippery. All anchors are in good condition. For many/most anchors, you have to extend your reach so make sure you get your safety tether in FIRST before rigging it, especially considering there is fine sand to make the reach a little slippery.

For the 150 rappel, there is another anchor we passed at about 100 feet down, on a 15-inch wide ledge. It could be useful to stop there if one wanted to make it a 2-part rappel.

There was some water (less than knee-deep) in the narrow cracks. In one narrow section, a narrow ledge provided good foothold ledge while traversing. But that ledge was just under water. However, I could not touch the bottom from the side of that ledge when I tried to determine how deep the water could.

After rap 2, what is described as a downclimb, we found an anchor on a bush that was set back about 10 feet from the drop.

After the last rappel, getting down in the wash was a bit tricky due to sliding sand/rocks and steepness. Be careful because rock is crumbly. We hiked the wash that included going over boulders for about .25 to .50 miles. After that, it was a walk in the park.




Great

Very Low
Bar1.png

None
Bar0.png

Special challenges
Bar3.png
Time3.png 7 hours
Bar3.png
2 people
Nclegg (387 reports)




Great

Dry
Bar0.png

None
Bar0.png

Normal
Bar2.png
Time4.png 9 hours
Bar4.png
6 people
Beginner to Expert
Rbowru (53 reports),Xenonrocket (102 reports)
Comment: Definitely recommend taking the approach up water canyon! Would be rad for someone to add the track of that approach to the beta in the future.

We stuck a rope at the bottom of R3 (pictured here). As I was passing on rappel, I thought to myself, "wow, what a cool and interesting unique rock column!" About 2 min later, the rope fell exactly hooking this column. One person was able to make the sketchy climb up to get it using the area up-canyon and traversing on a ledge, and then she rappelled off the column to retrieve it (which worked but I would not recommended). You could probably be spared the same fate by putting the pull side of the rope on the up-canyon side when you rig R3.

Some pools, but the group was able to stem around the water.


  • FILE-20231125064010.jpg


  • Amazing

    Dry
    Bar0.png


    Time3.png 7 hours
    Bar3.png
    4 people
    Advanced to Beginner
    RFontaine (240 reports)
    Comment: Back again! Flew through this time with ease, clocking in at 7hrs at a moderate pace. Loved every bit of it (see my last trip report). We Started early at 6:30am. Shuttled from squirrel TH. Took water canyon approach which is very straight forward. Not too hot, lots of shade available. All webbing in good shape, I noticed a few new anchors have been placed at some of the trickier downclimbs. Definitely a super fun dry canyon! Top notch for the area!




    Good

    Dry
    Bar0.png

    None
    Bar0.png

    Normal
    Bar2.png
    Time4.png 9 hours
    Bar4.png
    3 people
    Beginner to Advanced
    Canyonman117 (7 reports)
    Comment: Very dry. Highly recommend the water canyon approach over the scramble approach.
  • FILE-20230613055354.jpg


  • Amazing

    Dry
    Bar0.png


    Time4.png 9 hours
    Bar4.png
    4 people
    Beginner to Advanced
    RFontaine (240 reports)
    Comment: Incredible canyon! Immense walls all around you, seemingly cut by a giant meat cleaver! Many intricate dissolution layers etched into the beautiful sandstone. So much grandeur in this canyon, makes you feel so small.

    We took the Water Canyon Approach, which was also fantastic! Water Canyon Trail is especially enjoyable with lots to see and easy hiking up an established trail to the top. Very pretty. Once topped out and heading cross country, the travel is relatively easy with little elevation gain.

    Once dropped in, the canyon swallows you. Lots of downclimbs that require extra thought, especially the 1st one shortly after R1. Most of the rappels are quite grand and very enjoyable!

    We had no issue with pulls throughout canyon as we rigged releasable on most anchors.

    There was so much to see throughout this canyon, we all really loved this one. Absolutely fantastic route!!

    Beta has been updated!




    Great

    Dry
    Bar0.png

    None
    Bar0.png

    Normal
    Bar2.png
    Time4.png 11 hours
    Bar4.png
    10 people
    Beginner to Advanced
    JonC (3 reports)
    Comment: Decided to use the Water Canyon approach. At "Top Rock", we cut back towards the Dothraki drop in. Fun canyon, after rap 1 there was a spicy downclimb that most in our group was not comfortable with. We set an anchor pretty far back but the pull worked flawless. Some skinny sections that required pack passing. Plenty of awkward starts. The final rap says 180+/-. We noticed another anchor station down about 50'. We ended up setting another rope at the lower station but I think the 180' is counted from the top station and cuts out an unnecessary rap station. I would advise to double check this rope length before committing though.




    Good

    Dry
    Bar0.png

    None
    Bar0.png

    Normal
    Bar2.png
    Time4.png 11 hours
    Bar4.png
    3 people
    Brand new to Advanced
    Davidsnaz (23 reports)
    Comment: Great weather just over freezing at the start but the sand track gets you working quickly to warm up. . Definitely some fun scrambles up the gully. You earn the view as you reach the saddle. Canyon was dry with the exception of one small avoidable section prior to the last rap. Slower canyon movements with a couple of brand new people were a bit slow and we meat anchored a couple of the downclimbs for a total of 19 raps for day.