Conditions:Marten Creek (North Cascades)-20240930015645

Latest:	29 Sep 2024 (10 mos ago)

Reported by:	Sri (30 reports)
Quality:	Great
Waterflow:	Moderate Low
Wetsuit:	Thick wetsuit
Water temperature:
Difficulty:
Time:	7 hours

Team: 4 people with experience level Intermediate to Advanced

Trip report URL:

Comments: Lovely day at Marten. It was a lot of fun at current flow levels. We set a couple of new anchors with webbing to rap in the flow. We did more rappels than indicated in the beta, we will try to get the beta revised soon. At current flow levels, there were no major water hazards of consequence that have been mentioned in previous reports. The water was really cold. The downclimbs are really slippery. Overall, a really fun day in a new canyon for all of us.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
29 Sep 2024	Great	Moderate Low	Thick wetsuit		7 hours	4 people Intermediate to Advanced	Sri (30 reports)
Comment: Lovely day at Marten. It was a lot of fun at current flow levels. We set a couple of new anchors with webbing to rap in the flow. We did more rappels than indicated in the beta, we will try to get the beta revised soon. At current flow levels, there were no major water hazards of consequence that have been mentioned in previous reports. The water was really cold. The downclimbs are really slippery. Overall, a really fun day in a new canyon for all of us.
13 Jun 2024	Great	High	Full wetsuit	Advanced	6 hours	2 people Advanced	Coops (132 reports),AdamOtter (63 reports)
Comment: What a great canyon, I highly recommend this one for advanced canyoners! It's a very worthwhile day trip. It has a slide, a few jumps and a couple great rappels. It might have more slides and jumps but they would be technical, always depth check in this canyon. There are a few challenging downclimbs throughout the canyon and two crux rappels which contribute to the advanced rating + a5 conditions. One fantastic rooster tail and a fantastic jump into a giant undercut pothole were my favorite parts of the canyon. We added a few anchors to both improve safety and sustainability. It was sunny day, but the water was still very cold. The beta for this canyon is hard to follow but here's my general overview: the upper section is nice and open and playful; the middle section is where the canyon starts to slot up but sections can be bypassed with some effort (5 star nuisance rappels or downclimbs, gorgeous and dangerous); the bottom section is committing and beautiful with big sporty rappels. Rappel Crux Spoilers/beta: Crux 1: 2 stage rappel, Anchor DCR. First stage will be a messy looking slot that is actually a hidden pothole (you cannot see your teammates at all in this, from anchor or bottom). This pothole is a 'roundy roundy rain room pool' (strong horizonal recirculation, medium-low visibility, swimmer) where lots of water crashes right on the exit point making escape very difficult and potentially dangerous. Retreating from this pothole would require awkward ascending through flow. Pack management is difficult here as well, zipping bags would be the best but not sure if that's possible. Crux 2: Anchor from massive tree in the middle of the flow. Bag management is important here but its easy to zip bags. Waterflow is sporty here and looks intimidating from the top. rappel off the tree DCR and you can tip-toe DCR beside the flow for the entire rap. At the bottom there is a boil that's further out then one might expect, a swift water disconnect highly recommended. A bag or human could stay trapped here for longer than one wants to. After the swift water disconnect, swim away from logs in the center as they contain a powerful hidden strainer that a careless or disoriented teammate could easily float into. Luckily, it is very easy to swim to one of the many eddies around this danger. We exited the canyon by going right of the creek and it was slow, a better way might be to bushwhack back towards the approach trail.
27 Aug 2023	Great	Moderate Low	Thin wetsuit	Advanced	9 hours	5 people Beginner to Advanced	Jrisken (7 reports)
Comment: Great day out. This canyon doesn’t appear to see a lot of travel. You can probably drop in at the pink tape marker but we opted to keep going until we saw the river just below the trail. Watch out for Devil’s club and hornets- (hornets got a pair of hikers who went a bit off trail) Some of the downclimbs were a little spicy and we opted to rig them or use meat anchors for the beginners to save time. We rigged a few trees, and did a couple of retrievables. Folks should be comfortable using and checking chock anchors. Potholes were full, water did not present much of a challenge besides being pretty chilly and making surfaces slick, no hydraulics. Longest rap was about 80/90 feet, so plan on bringing out that 200-footer. With beginners, plan on a full day out to appropriately manage risk (8-10 hr). Small efficient groups could do it closer to the posted 5ish hours. On any higher flow than low-mod, I would not recommend bringing beginners to this canyon.
14 Aug 2020					4 hours	2 people
Comment: Many good downclimbs on surprisingly grippy rock and a couple right in the flow. We rigged retrievable anchors on all but one of the rappels and rapped in the flow on all of them. The slide, although brief, is great. Some other slide potentials didn’t pan out. For intermediate-advanced canyoneers a great canyon with many technical challenges and decent flow. Beginners will need to rappel many of the downclimbs.