Conditions:Ice Cube Canyon-Candition20120904 tley430
Latest: |
4 Sep 2012 (12 yrs, 9 mos ago) |
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| Reported by: | CanditionBot (2103 reports) | |
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| Quality: | Amazing |
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Trip report URL: http://www.candition.com/canyons/ice-cube-canyon-the-maze
Comments: See the full condition report at Candition.com. Submitted by tley430.
All condition reports
| Date | Quality | Waterflow | Wetsuit | Difficulty | Time | Team | Reported by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazing | | Full wetsuit 
| |  8 hours
| 4 people | RFontaine (282 reports) | |
Comment: Beautiful narrows, lots of swims, gorgeous rock features and fun rappels make this a top notch route, one of my favorites!
Drove my Nissan Frontier up the 4x4 trail to the approach. Trail suitable for stock high clearance 4wd. 1 hr hike to top of ridge and another 30 mins to canyon head at a moderate pace! I was very comfortable in my 5/4 wetsuit with splash jacket. We were fluid and efficient in canyon. The descent took us 5.5 hrs at a comfortable pace, with a lunch break. 30 mins to change and reset. 45 min exit hike/downclimb fest back out to Ice Box TH. Hiking the road back to Lost Creek TH took 15mins. Team of 4 Total time: 8.5 hours.
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| Amazing | Very Low 
| None 
| Normal  |  9 hours
| 7 people Intermediate to Expert | Exitfiftyone (22 reports) | |
Comment: Fun run through the Maze on a hot day! We did the shuttle and found Rocky Gap Rd to be in good shape, though high clearance 4x4 is still required.
Water levels were quite low, with only a handful of brief, mandatory swimming exits. Some pools were fairly cold, but with air temps in the 90s and little submersion required, they were more refreshing than anything. Only one person wore a thin wetsuit for the last portion of the canyon. We all bought wetsuits to be safe, and those of us who kept them dry bagged were happy to have done so. Nothing remarkable otherwise - a beautiful, full-value fun day.
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| Amazing | Deep pools
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal | 11 hours
| 2 people Beginner to Expert | Ingalls (28 reports) | |
Comment: Leisurely run through the canyon. Most anchors were in good shape. A couple had tat starting to build up, from which I removed the most egregious sun-bleached webbing. Water levels were at their max and wetsuits were definitely required.
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| Great | Deep pools
| Thick wetsuit
| Special challenges | 8 hours
| 6 people Intermediate to Advanced | Lukemurray2016LV (11 reports) | |
Comment: We ran the maze in January so you don’t have to. Considering the mild winter, it was probably an easier trip than it could have been. Only signs of ice were in the very beginning, but the water was freezing cold the whole day. Thermal protection ran from 5/4 with base layers and rain shells, to dry suits. Cold feet, but warm bodies all day. Several updates: the down climb/rappel underneath the jammed log in the upper section has had its (terrible, awful, dangerous) bolt removed. Some members of our party multi staged from the bolt RDC of the previous rappel, last two pulled as usual and down climbed. The rappel afterwards had the webbing removed from the tree in the water course because there is a bolt LDC.
All in all a great (and quick) day. Cold is a good motivator. | |||||||
| Amazing | | Thick wetsuit
| | 12 hours
| 5 people Beginner to Advanced | Cheveran (92 reports) | |
Comment: Started at 36.15110, -115.52345, where the road briefly had fairly tough driving conditions without true high clearance. Time is start of hiking to return to car at the exit TH. Canyon anchors are in good shape. Lots of water, mostly nice and clean. It was windy and not that warm, was happy for 5 mm neoprene. Gorgeous canyon.
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| Amazing | Moderate Low
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal | 9 hours
| 7 people Beginner to Advanced | Lukemurray2016LV (11 reports) | |
Comment: Maze run post hurricane Hilary. Conditions were excellent. Full pools and slight flow all the way down. Water is muddy up top but clears out nicely in the lower portion. Anchors were largely in good shape, someone has been through recently using ungodly amounts of webbing and cordelette to adjust anchors that were previously perfectly good. One note: while at the top of the final rap, as the fourth to last man went down a hole must have formed in the mud pack around the chockstones and the hallway pool up top started draining, fast. Don’t know what this might mean as to the integrity of the chockstones/canyon floor right at the edge of the final rap, but something to note.
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| Great | Deep pools
| Thin wetsuit
| Easy | 10 hours
| 5 people Intermediate to Advanced | Lukemurray2016LV (11 reports) | |
Comment: Second run through the maze this year. Much different than a month ago. Little to no flow, pools getting stagnant and grimy. Lots of algae and bad smells, some pools cleaner than others. Removed the webbing around the dead logjam in upper section; bolt is above RDC. Replaced webbing at R1 of first section, very sun bleached. Somebody replaced the extended webbing I placed last month around the tree anchor after the logjam section, making the pull unnecessarily frictiony. All other anchors in good condition.
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| Amazing | Deep pools
| Thin wetsuit
| | 11 hours
| 4 people Beginner to Advanced | RFontaine (282 reports) | |
Comment: A beautiful fantastic canyon with lots of variety. From big rappels, swims, slots, and unique rock features throughout, this route is a total treat!
We left our vehicles at Lost Creek and had a friend drive us up to the approach in his jeep. Approach is a solid trail that disappears occasionally with the slick rock. A stair stepper, but is over quick. The log jam anchor in the upper section in unnecessary, look for a glue in anchor high above it DCR on the ground. This is a much better higher rap with a bit of free hang. The next anchor is a bolt that is only halfway installed. This should be cut out and replaced but is is good for now with a soft start. The natural arch anchor further up is not necessary (and kinda sketchy) as you can easily downclimb all the way to the next bolt. When the canyon opens up to a mostly rocky creek bed, this is the middle section that takes longer than you think. After stopping to filter, it took us about 1 hour to hike to the next rap. I was glad to have lowered my wetsuit top for this. My teammates didnt and they were overheated. The lower section is fantastic, the big rappels are fun. Most of the pools are wadeable and not super cold here. I kept my wetsuit top down up until the big deep swimming pool (that some people jump). Water gets much colder at this point. At the 2nd to last rappel (the drop over the big boulder) we got our rope stuck because it some how got twisted up top. After messing with it a bunch I ascended the rappel side and got it free. The last drop was glorious. I stemmed out to rig the 2 bolts far out DCR as these provide the best pull. Very exposed stem, best to protect the climb with the webbing slung rock below. Boulder field exit was tough for our beginner, lots of spotting on downclimbs, slow going, exit is quick once getting to established trail DCL. I wore a 4/3 wetsuit and was very comfortable. Definitely a favorite in Vegas, will return!! Beta updated!
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| Amazing | Deep pools
| Full wetsuit
| Normal | 14 hours
| 4 people Intermediate to Advanced | Austin3623 (16 reports) | |
Comment: All of our first time in The Maze. Found Brendan’s recent beta really helpful. A few additional notes:
R1/downclimb - Current webbing is really sun-baked and 100% needs to be replaced. We weren’t able to loosen it with the tools we had (needs a nut tool), so instead we added an extra knot-chock anchor for redundancy to the current webbing. The crack we placed it in wasn’t especially bomb proof, as we were only using it for redundancy. Should be tested and may need to be altered by a future group if it doesn’t inspire confidence in time. R2 - glue-in was not well-placed. Some of the adhesive is missing near the surface and pulls out in the direction of the rappel. We backed it up and rapped on it carefully. Held up well enough on a low-angle rappel. R3 - Per the beta below, my 200lb self didn’t love the dead log anchor. That thing looks like it could go at any minute. The bolted anchor is an easy climb up to the DCR ledge above the watercourse. Couple more general notes: - We all wore 5mm of neoprene and were really happy about it. - Factor more than 12 hours to problem solve in the upper section if it’s your first time running the canyon and/or if you’re not super comfortable with down climbing. Our extra time was not due to any major technical issues or setbacks. - Some of the downclimbs in the upper section feel a bit spicy at first glance if you’re not familiar with them. Had 1-2 instances where we lengthened our rope on the previous bolts to protect them (some of us used it, some didn’t). Rope pulled smoothly without any issues. Love this section. - The lower section runs smoothly because it’s well bolted (for better or worse).
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| Amazing | Deep pools
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal | 11 hours
| 3 people Intermediate to Expert | Brdn.gonzales (44 reports) | |
Comment: Fantastic day in The Maze, we opted for the full route! Started at 6:30AM at the Lost Creek Canyon parking lot and hiked up Rocky Gap Rd. Had a few people offer us rides to the North Peak Trailhead but we opted out. Hike up was steep but nothing crazy, trail was in good condition and route-finding was easy. All anchors looked great except the following. R3 - The tree is creaking quite a bit, but was told there is a glue-in bolt for that rappel after the trip. The tree is still fine for now, but check it. Shortly after R3 is a "down climb" but we opted to stay on rappel. There is a horribly placed single bolt anchor that is sticking about 2 inches out of the ground. The hanger glides up and down, but the bolt didn't move. Definitely check this one before rappelling on it. The webbing on R8 is way too long and makes for an awkward low start. we locked off our devices and down-climbed a bit before rappelling. All other anchors, especially in the lower section, looked great. Some water in the upper section, maybe 1 swimmer. Forested section is mostly dry. Lower section had a lot of water with multiple swims and jumps! Lots of options to filter water. I wore a 5mm, another wore a 5/3mm, and the last wore a 3/2mm. All of us were comfortable, but a 4/3mm should work great for most.
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| Amazing | Deep pools
| Full wetsuit
| Normal | 10 hours
| 4 people Intermediate to Advanced | Lukemurray2016LV (11 reports) | |
Comment: Great run through the full maze route. Seemed to be the first ones through for the season, we rebuilt several anchors in the upper section. Lots of deep pools throughout, very cold water. Wonderful time had by all
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| Great | Deep pools
| Thick wetsuit
| Special challenges | 12 hours
| 2 people Advanced | Reiternick (36 reports) | |
Comment: Great canyon. Comfy in 7-10mm suits. Last rap has 3 options, we went for the higher of the two bolted options DCL which required a a fee easy 5th class moves which we did on belay. That anchor seems to offer best rope pull.
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| Good | Deep pools
| None
| Normal | 8 hours
| 2 people Advanced | Sammy1185 (1 reports) | |
Comment: Maybe I'm spoiled, but this isn't Zion quality as it's commonly called. It's a good canyon for southern Nevada, but overall it's not super impressive. The shuttle is a myth, basically. Just walk the trail up to a cairn on your left marking the start of the slope up. Shuttle is definitely not required. If you shuttle, it's absolutely HCV 4x4 and is a pain. With 2xShoes it's an easy cruise up a jeep trail that takes about 55 minutes. You'll need to walk back to Willow anyway from ice box after you finish the descent. Almost every rap is bolted. There's no actual challenges, just "challenges" if you want to avoid a small swim. An example would be stemming over some easily wade-able pools. The only minor challenge is the stem/chimney movement to the very last anchor bolt (two feet on the anchor wall, back on opposite wall). 8 hours, 57 minutes car-to-car without a shuttle. It's more like 3+Biv.
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| Great | Deep pools
| Thin wetsuit
| Normal | 11 hours
| 2 people Intermediate | Coalemus (160 reports) | |
Comment: Amazing canyon. Water in the upper section was pretty low with one swimmer and one deep wade, the rest was largely avoidable with difficulty. The lower section was more aquatic with several swims, though all but one was short. water was pretty warm for the most part, seems like it gets sun. One person wore 2mm shorty with rain jacket and only got cold right at the last sequence. Lots of sun and warm air. The final rappel has an exposed stem to get to the anchors which can be protected from above but it's really a very easy stemming move. The lower part is all bolted, the upper part is mostly natural anchors with a lot of the challenging downclimbs currently lacking anchors. We used LAPAR techniques several times. Did ~14 raps.
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| Good | Deep pools
| Thin wetsuit
| Special challenges | 15 hours
| 4 people Beginner to Expert | ESR (2 reports) | |
Comment: At the beginning of the canyon the pools were ice covered and therefore quite cold. I wore an Xterra 4/3 with 4mm Argos booties and 3mm fourth element gloves. I never got cold. Our leader wore 5mm full suit with a 3mm jacket and was too warm. The other two in our party froze and were shivering much of the canyon. Water flow was low but the pools will filled. Several swimmers throughout the canyon. Nearly every rap was bolted except for a few. We fiddle sticked two of them and rigged a fresh anchor on another a we could not see anything viable in place. The 15 1/2 hours was not due to any specific technical challenges. We just took our time and did not leap frog until the end. This could easily be run in under 12 that day if we were on our game. We brought three 200 foot ropes as were concerned about sticking one and the length of the final rap. The final rap turned out to be truly under 200 but we rigged a contingency as it was dark and we could not see the rope hit. Plenty of extra rope. The bouldering after the final rap is fairly long. I advise that you immediately look for the trail likely using a tool such as Gaia as it will save you much time rather than following the creek bed. Overall, a beautiful and long day but an amazing canyon that has a little bit of everything. You really want to shuttle this. And the shuttle for the rocky road better be high clearance and 4x4 or you will not make it.
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