Conditions:Heaps Canyon-20230905213622

Latest:	4 Sep 2023 (17 days ago)

Reported by:	RFontaine (145 reports)
Quality:	Amazing
Waterflow:	Low
Wetsuit:	Full wetsuit
Water temperature:
Difficulty:
Time:	15 hours

Team: 4 people with experience level Advanced to Intermediate

Trip report URL:

Comments: Very full! Super fun! All potholes overflowing! Incredibly gorgeous in these conditions! I wore a 5/4 wetsuit and was warm. All anchors have new webbing on the final sequence down to the bird perch. My favorite Heaps run yet!!

We started at 4am from Lava Point with 5 of us. Once we got to the ridge, one of us turned back due to twisting an ankle on the hike in. We split up gear and kept moving. We decided to check out the “bowl rappel” option someone had mentioned to us but the terrain was loose, moist, and the sandstone anchor was saturated so we bailed on that idea, back up to the original ridge drop in.

On the ridge we got off track as we found an an anchor with 1/2” red webbing on a tree, shortly after the initial 60’ drop. Thinking this was the next drop, we went down and found ourselves 200’ down some precarious terrain. We ended up having to wrestle with a stuck rope for some time before finally freeing it. More sketchy downclimbing eventually got us to another tree we were able to fiddle with my 300’ rope to get us down. Was bushy and not ideal, ate up a bunch of time, do not go this way!!

After a rough start, we moved quick to get to the canyon. Luckily, the rest of the day went silky smooth and we all had a blast!!

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
17 Sep 2023	Amazing	Deep pools	Full wetsuit	Advanced	13 hours	4 people Intermediate to Advanced	Caverfirst (1 reports)
Comment: Started at Lava Point at 4am, made it to the first rappel just after sunrise. The second rappel was a bit further down the ridge than we were expecting, about 500ft from the bottom of rap 1, and took us awhile to locate. I wore a 3mm wetsuit with a 3mm vest on top and was comfortable all day. The canyon had some flow, and no pothole escapes were required. We carried (2) 100ft ropes and a 320ft rope, and stashed a 230ft rope at the Emerald Pool. The 320 was adequate on its own for both the "200ft" second rappel and the penultimate rap to the bird perch. The 4 of us fit on the bird perch with no issues allowing us to pull the 320 and rig the final rap. 5 people might fit very snugly, but 6 probably won't, so if your group is 4 people or less this rope combination was ideal.
4 Sep 2023	Amazing	Low	Full wetsuit		15 hours	4 people Advanced to Intermediate	RFontaine (145 reports)
Comment: Very full! Super fun! All potholes overflowing! Incredibly gorgeous in these conditions! I wore a 5/4 wetsuit and was warm. All anchors have new webbing on the final sequence down to the bird perch. My favorite Heaps run yet!! We started at 4am from Lava Point with 5 of us. Once we got to the ridge, one of us turned back due to twisting an ankle on the hike in. We split up gear and kept moving. We decided to check out the “bowl rappel” option someone had mentioned to us but the terrain was loose, moist, and the sandstone anchor was saturated so we bailed on that idea, back up to the original ridge drop in. On the ridge we got off track as we found an an anchor with 1/2” red webbing on a tree, shortly after the initial 60’ drop. Thinking this was the next drop, we went down and found ourselves 200’ down some precarious terrain. We ended up having to wrestle with a stuck rope for some time before finally freeing it. More sketchy downclimbing eventually got us to another tree we were able to fiddle with my 300’ rope to get us down. Was bushy and not ideal, ate up a bunch of time, do not go this way!! After a rough start, we moved quick to get to the canyon. Luckily, the rest of the day went silky smooth and we all had a blast!!
27 Jun 2023	Amazing	Deep pools	Thick wetsuit	Advanced	12 hours	5 people Intermediate to Advanced	Braxtagonia (5 reports)
Comment: Was that the best canyon ever?!?! Heaps in easy mode, swam over all the potholes. Beautiful views around every single corner. Started from Lava Point at 4AM, last man touched down at emerald pools at 4:30PM. Used walkie-talkies for the bird perch rappel sequence. Everything went smoothly. Loved it!!!
27 May 2023 Trip report	Amazing	Low	Thick wetsuit	Easy	17 hours	5 people	Brdn.gonzales (36 reports)
Comment: Heaps was amazing and in "easy" mode! Water levels in the canyon made for a light flow throughout and all the potholes were full, no aiders or potshots required. A log shifted towards the end of the canyon, causing strong flow for an already awkward down climb. We added some webbing and a quick link to assist with this, but the next party probably won't encounter any difficulty as the flow started to die down as we finished. Everything else looked great and the canyon was stunning. We all wore a minimum of 7mm neoprene and that got us through comfortably, but I wouldn't go any less unless you run REALLY hot or enjoy shivering for 10+ hours.
8 Oct 2022	Amazing	Deep pools	Thin wetsuit	Normal	11 hours	4 people	Jcsjcs (84 reports),Kristoffer (8 reports)
Comment: 4 am start saw everyone a bit tired walking up the West Rim trail. The long uphill near Behunin felt like it would never end. Approach took 3:25 and we did the first two rappels just as the sun was coming out. The first two narrows were amazing; potholes were totally full due to a recent storm and water sloshed out making small waterfalls whenever we jumped in. Easy walking other than the narrows. Drop in to crossroads took 3:40. There was much more swimming and super fun obstacles like logs to walk over potholes in the third narrows. We jumped or slid to bypass many rappels and probably did about 17-18 rappels in the whole canyon. 3.5 hours from the crossroads through the final rappel sequence.
10 Jun 2022	Amazing	Deep pools	Thin wetsuit		17 hours	3 people Advanced	RFontaine (145 reports)
Comment: Had a team member with a knee injury so we had to stop quite frequently and take long breaks. Nonetheless an absolutely incredible canyon! We did the shuttle route. Started at 4:30am from Lava Point. Loved the approach trail was vey pretty. There is one pot hole at the end of the 1st narrows section that would be tough to escape without assistance but can be stemmed over to avoid. Other than that canyon was pretty full and a few potholes required some effort to pull out of but no escape tools. I wore a 4/3 and was fine. The last rap sequence is a real treat!!
29 May 2022	Amazing	Deep pools	Full wetsuit	Special challenges		6 people Advanced to Expert	Natureboytimflair (58 reports)
Comment: Amazing day. Water level still full. Had to parter assist/bag toss on two potholes. New pine tree has fallen and is unstable be careful when standing on it. Great day.
20 May 2022	Great	Deep pools	Full wetsuit	Normal	14 hours	4 people Intermediate to Expert	Aquamoo (85 reports)
Comment: First time through heaps for everybody. Had a couple of mishaps that included a harness being left at the cars. The last rap in a Swiss seat was fun. We started and exited at the grotto. The potholes were completely full, we ended up using one potshot in the first narrows section and that was it. The pools were very cold but okay when we were moving.
30 Aug 2021 Trip report	Amazing	Deep pools	Full wetsuit	Special challenges	11 hours	3 people Intermediate to Advanced	Airkewled (12 reports)
Comment: Bottom up from Grotto, via Phantom Valley on trail at 4:30AM. 1st time through Heaps for all of us. Potholes all full to brim. No anchors required re-rigging. 2x60', 1x 200' & 1x300' + a 200' fiddle pull were used. 3/5/3 wetsuit provided enough warmth.
6 Oct 2019	Good	Deep pools	Full wetsuit	Advanced	17 hours	6 people	Morgan (103 reports)
Comment: Team members with numerous prior Heaps runs stated water in the potholes is the lowest they've ever seen it (rangers had warned during the permit process that this might be the case). Progress through the technical sections was extremely slow, and sustained effort by all was required. Our party all wore 5/4 wetsuits or better, and most of us still got cold while navigating the extra keepers exposed by the extremely low water levels. Pothole escape equipment and experience is absolutely mandatory under current conditions. Based on footprints in the sand it appeared there had been one other party through the canyon since the last rain.
6 Oct 2019 Trip report	Great						CanditionBot (2096 reports)
Comment: See the full condition report at Candition.com. Submitted by JimE.
1 Jul 2018 Trip report	Amazing						CanditionBot (2096 reports)
Comment: See the full condition report at Candition.com. Submitted by cjhaines.
19 Jun 2018 Trip report	Amazing						CanditionBot (2096 reports)
Comment: See the full condition report at Candition.com. Submitted by ratagonia.
9 Jun 2018 Trip report	Amazing						CanditionBot (2096 reports)
Comment: See the full condition report at Candition.com. Submitted by Jyjor.
2 Jun 2018 Trip report	Amazing						CanditionBot (2096 reports)
Comment: See the full condition report at Candition.com. Submitted by Nathanm4.

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