Conditions:Inconceivable Canyon-20180220160430

Latest:	18 Feb 2018 (7 yrs, 3 mos ago)

Reported by:	AmandaC (40 reports), Johnbcaves (158 reports), Danielson (93 reports)
Quality:	Great
Waterflow:	Dry
Wetsuit:	None
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Special challenges
Time:	9 hours

Team: 6 people with experience level Beginner to Expert

Trip report URL:

Comments: A very Death Valley canyon with a very Death Valley approach... and several long open rappels and a few interesting downclimbs as a reward. Large pothole at the bottom of the (previously 285') long drop was dry. Pothole requires a bit of escape- probably a lot more interesting when full of water. We rebuilt two anchors, including a "gift-wrapped" large round boulder (WTF?) and added an anchor at an exposed downclimb.

• • Daniel's notes: that gift-wrapped large round boulder tho... lol

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
15 Feb 2025	Great				7 hours	4 people Intermediate to Advanced	RFontaine (270 reports)
Comment: Pretty neat route with great rock quality. Tons of sculpted smooth limestone throughout. Most rappels are sheer, plenty of fun solid downclimbs. Approach took us 2.5hrs. The walk overland to the fin you climb seems to take forever! Climb up is pretty solid, not loose. Lots of crinoid fossils embedded in the limestone if you know where to look! All anchors in good shape, very straightforward. Nice smooth limestone with some neat colors! Once at the bottom we explored the conglomerate "slot canyons" and hiked up to ButterCup/Humperdink. We up climbed Humperdinck and the last drop on Buttercup for fun! spent about an hour on sidequests. Very neat area!
8 Jan 2022	Amazing	Dry	None	Special challenges	8 hours	5 people	Willie92708 (997 reports)
Comment: The is some water in small potholes; easy to stem over. The big pothole was a touch muddy at the bottom, also easy to avoid. We rebuilt rock cairns / replaced webbing on many the anchors (special challenges). The first and last (doubled up webbing) could use replacement; other older stuff was OK. There are two feed trough on the bigger rappels in the final sequence, that we backed up with knot chocks, as there is not any loose rocks in those locations to build rock cairns. Overall the canyon is super solid bedrock limestone, except the lower part of last rappel. This is quite different than most DV canyons that are full of chossy rock that crumbles on touch. It's truly a DV gem!
15 Nov 2020	Great	Dry	None	Normal	6 hours	3 people Advanced	DMonroy (188 reports)
Comment: We removed 2 anchors where you can downclimb, and replaced all the remaining anchors. The only one we left was a little blue sling on a bush. The series of small drops at that place can also be downclimbed.
15 Feb 2020	Great	Dry	None	Normal	7 hours	6 people Advanced	Erek (206 reports)
Comment: Replaced webbing on a few of the anchors. All other anchors were good.
30 Nov 2019	Great	Dry	None	Normal	7 hours	12 people Brand new to Expert	Michelle (60 reports),Dominik (64 reports),Natasha (14 reports),Morgan (103 reports)
Comment: We rebuilt several anchors. Matching rappels to the RW or Bluugnome descriptions was challenging at times, but the long rappel can still be broken into two stages as of this report. Watch for loose rock midway down the final rappel.
30 Nov 2019	Good	Dry	None	Normal	7 hours	12 people Expert to Beginner	Dominik (64 reports)
18 Feb 2018	Great	Dry	None	Special challenges	9 hours	6 people Beginner to Expert	AmandaC (40 reports),Johnbcaves (158 reports),Danielson (93 reports)
Comment: A very Death Valley canyon with a very Death Valley approach... and several long open rappels and a few interesting downclimbs as a reward. Large pothole at the bottom of the (previously 285') long drop was dry. Pothole requires a bit of escape- probably a lot more interesting when full of water. We rebuilt two anchors, including a "gift-wrapped" large round boulder (WTF?) and added an anchor at an exposed downclimb. Daniel's notes: that gift-wrapped large round boulder tho... lol
6 Jan 2018	Amazing	Dry	None	Advanced	16 hours	7 people Brand new to Advanced	Wyoung (12 reports)
Comment: Road conditions were good, only a few minor dips in the trail near the airport. Rebuilt all of the cairns and replaced old webbing on the jugs. The tree before the last rap looked pretty healthy. Overall, it was an awesome canyon and felt totally different from Black Mountain canyons. Side note: It took us 16 hours because a beginner was brought along and became so anxious/nauseous after the first rap (20 ft!?) that he had to be lowered off of anything longer than 30 ft. Without him, our estimated time, including rebuilding anchors, was 11-12 hours (2 of us also had colds).
13 Feb 2016	Great	Dry	None	Extreme	9 hours	6 people Intermediate to Advanced	CC (93 reports)
Comment: Additional anchors have been installed in various sections to increase the rappel count from 7 to 11+. Following the original beta by count may be misleading so be prepared to use advance skills to navigate and understand your location. Advance knowledge and understanding of natural anchors and rope management is important in this canyon. Inspect all webbing and in many cases rebuild the anchor to make sure it is intact. Backup all anchors and be vigilant in safety. All webbing was in place during our visit as there were recent groups to our knowledge that went through in December & January. It is still recommended to bring enough materials to rebuild every anchor as conditions change quickly here. The 285ft rap has been cleverly converted to a 2 stage and the 2nd portion to the pothole will require a rope that is exactly 200ft. The walls of the pothole have a lot of grip and the upper section has a few ledges to walk around the hole on RDC. It is not necessary to rappel down into the hole that has mucky water.
13 Dec 2015	Great				8 hours	5 people Intermediate to Advanced	DMonroy (188 reports)
Comment: All of the anchors had washed out, completely in many cases from the Oct floods. We rebuild everything and added some cairns to allow for descent on 200' ropes. A fantastic, beautiful steep canyon!
15 Feb 2015 Trip report	Amazing	Dry	None	Special challenges	10 hours	3 people Intermediate to Advanced	French de (33 reports)
Comment: Fantastic Canyon with eye popping views. The canyon was in great shape. We replaced some webbing on one anchor and added a backup to the last rappel. The anchor at this last rappel is off of a small horizontal bridge like formation. Initial reaction to that anchor is less than 100 % confidence. Added a backup using a removable wire nut in a crack above the main anchor and equalized the webbing. There is very little else to provide anchor material at that rappel. Farming rocks from way above might be an option. The rope pull in the big 285 foot rappel proved to be a challenge. The whole system including the webbing tends to twist as the pull cord pulls down causing some binding up top. we tested it three times and rigged it three times before we felt comfortable sending the last man down.
1 Jan 2015	Amazing	Dry	None	Special challenges	6 hours	5 people Intermediate to Expert	Lucach (75 reports)
Comment: Very nice canyon. Long drops and nice sculpted dry falls. All anchors in perfect condition.