Conditions:Portal Canyon-20200303175852

Latest:	29 Feb 2020 (5 yrs, 4 mos ago)

Reported by:	Eric24pete (1 reports)
Quality:	Good
Waterflow:	Dry
Wetsuit:	None
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Special challenges
Time:	13 hours

Team: 8 people with experience level Intermediate to Advanced

Trip report URL:

Comments: All anchors were in place and looked fine except one, one deadman anchor was replaced as when we pulled on it, it came out of the ground. A majority of the anchors as of this report were tree anchors or natural anchors, some rappels have chains in place to make it easier for pulls. Be prepared to make anchors (lots of webbing and links) just in case as it may be days or weeks before someone passes through the canyon and this canyon has a lot of potential for flash floods to take out all the natural anchors.

Start this trip early as it can take all day depending on your speed and level of experience in the group. You will cross the Virgin River from the parking area so be prepared for that and make sure the water flow levels are safe before heading for this canyon. The approach isn't difficult, but it is steep. It took us maybe 2 1/2 hours. The GPS coordinated path leads you up a wash, then on a ridge to Cherry, and then on a wash again until you have to go up a steep vertical all the way up to the ridge. From there you path across a bowl with a lot of steep rock screes along the way. Finally you hit the ridge above the bowl where you can descend into the canyon. If you want a "shorter route" but is still fairly steep, you can go directly into the bowl (right side of the ridge where Cherry starts) and cross / climb it instead.

We ended up counting 20 rappels, some other reports of people online say you can down climb some of them, we didn't see an obvious way how to do that, but those crews may be more advanced in skill. We were in the canyon for close to 10 hours with a varied in experience group of 8 and we had several ropes to help us leap frog so my opinion is this canyon leans more on the longer side.

The second long rappel is a beast of a pull (for us it was rappel 8) from where the anchor is. This anchor is on a sturdy tree that is right up against the wall of the canyon, it then stretches out onto a jagged ramp for about ten feet before descending into a 100 foot wall. That adds for a lot of friction. We ended up putting two people on the pull chord with full weight before it would budge. Consider bringing a smooth operator or fiddle stick to make it easier to undo your rigging above and provide as little friction as possible on the pull.

The rappels are fairly straight forward though a few have chains that are far out over the edge and do not have a good way to anchor yourself in with a safety before reaching out to get the chains. I'd suggest having two people tether to the person who reaching for the chains for the most safety as possible, or someone can add a bolt closer to the safe part of the rappels so they can leash themselves to that while they reach for the chains.

Several of the short rappels have face smashers so prepare your crew for those techniques if they don't know how to get around those.

This isn't the most beginner friendly canyon, but is a great one for those looking to practice there skills in a less technical canyon who is looking for a long day in the late fall to early spring. If you have a beginner crew, definitely look at doing Cherry.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
23 Mar 2024	Good				8 hours	5 people Intermediate to Advanced	RFontaine (287 reports)
Comment: A decent, worthwhile, full day route if in the area. River crossing was for the most part knee deep. I wore a drysuit just because, and stashed it on the other side. Approach took us 2.5hrs and was not overly challenging. The canyon has some pretty unique and interesting sections with a few small picturesque spots and pretty views, interspaced between long stretches of uninteresting terrain. The big rappels were nice enough but not overly exciting. Lots of nuisance drops throughout. Lots of downclimbing. No water in canyon. The slots have some nice features but are nowhere close to Zion quality and should not be compared as such. I'd say this canyon more closely resembles the routes near Lake Meade in the Black Canyon Range but without the big river and packraft exit. Most anchors are cairn anchors except for the 2 big ones which are bolted. All webbing in good condition. I found 4 ticks crawling on me throughout the day as did some of my team so keep an eye out for them... This route would be an absolute scorcher in the summer, wouldn't recommend it then. We were blessed with cloudy cool weather this day. All in all it was a good day out with good folks. This is a decent canyon overall, and I suspect, the best in the area. However, it is a one and done for me.
28 Oct 2023	Great	Dry	None	Normal	11 hours	2 people Intermediate	Celes (28 reports)
Comment: All anchors and webbings were good. Took us 11 hours because I was a ditz and followed the descend line as approach, oops. That probably costed us half an hour. The approach was gnarly but able to see sort of a faint used trail. The canyon has same flavor as Cherry except the narrow canyon part is longer, and the approach is way longer. River crossing was generally easy in fall, about knee deep in the deepest part.
24 Oct 2022	Good	Dry	None	Normal	6 hours	2 people Intermediate	Coalemus (160 reports)
Comment: The early start was nice because we were in shade for most of the approach. There is a use trail on the ridge east of the drainage which the kml currently shows, we only discovered it partway up so not sure where it started but I'll attempt to estimate it on a new track. It's better than staying in the drainage. We did 16 raps (including bonus) and used a handline a couple of times. We didn't replace any webbing though some in the upper section were starting to get a bit crispy. The beta is pretty bad. Might take a stab at improving it but it's so hard to erase these layers of beta accretion (seems especially bad in the Vegas area)
30 Apr 2021	Good	Dry		Normal	6 hours	1 people	Morgan (103 reports)
Comment: All anchors in good shape. Lower section is rather oven-like this time of year. Last rap in Portal proper had a tarantula hanging out halfway down it :)
1 Jan 2021	Great	Dry	None	Normal	7 hours	5 people Advanced to Expert	Dwentzel (18 reports)
Comment: Snow/icy on the top of the ridge on the hike in, but other than that it was dry. There is a trail now instead of climbing up the drainage that takes you to the top of Cherry. We replaced a couple of deadman anchors due to crunchy webbing. Definitely does not rival Zion, but worth doing if you are in the area. Of the two—Portal or Cherry—I liked Cherry better.
29 Feb 2020	Good	Dry	None	Special challenges	13 hours	8 people Intermediate to Advanced	Eric24pete (1 reports)
Comment: All anchors were in place and looked fine except one, one deadman anchor was replaced as when we pulled on it, it came out of the ground. A majority of the anchors as of this report were tree anchors or natural anchors, some rappels have chains in place to make it easier for pulls. Be prepared to make anchors (lots of webbing and links) just in case as it may be days or weeks before someone passes through the canyon and this canyon has a lot of potential for flash floods to take out all the natural anchors. Start this trip early as it can take all day depending on your speed and level of experience in the group. You will cross the Virgin River from the parking area so be prepared for that and make sure the water flow levels are safe before heading for this canyon. The approach isn't difficult, but it is steep. It took us maybe 2 1/2 hours. The GPS coordinated path leads you up a wash, then on a ridge to Cherry, and then on a wash again until you have to go up a steep vertical all the way up to the ridge. From there you path across a bowl with a lot of steep rock screes along the way. Finally you hit the ridge above the bowl where you can descend into the canyon. If you want a "shorter route" but is still fairly steep, you can go directly into the bowl (right side of the ridge where Cherry starts) and cross / climb it instead. We ended up counting 20 rappels, some other reports of people online say you can down climb some of them, we didn't see an obvious way how to do that, but those crews may be more advanced in skill. We were in the canyon for close to 10 hours with a varied in experience group of 8 and we had several ropes to help us leap frog so my opinion is this canyon leans more on the longer side. The second long rappel is a beast of a pull (for us it was rappel 8) from where the anchor is. This anchor is on a sturdy tree that is right up against the wall of the canyon, it then stretches out onto a jagged ramp for about ten feet before descending into a 100 foot wall. That adds for a lot of friction. We ended up putting two people on the pull chord with full weight before it would budge. Consider bringing a smooth operator or fiddle stick to make it easier to undo your rigging above and provide as little friction as possible on the pull. The rappels are fairly straight forward though a few have chains that are far out over the edge and do not have a good way to anchor yourself in with a safety before reaching out to get the chains. I'd suggest having two people tether to the person who reaching for the chains for the most safety as possible, or someone can add a bolt closer to the safe part of the rappels so they can leash themselves to that while they reach for the chains. Several of the short rappels have face smashers so prepare your crew for those techniques if they don't know how to get around those. This isn't the most beginner friendly canyon, but is a great one for those looking to practice there skills in a less technical canyon who is looking for a long day in the late fall to early spring. If you have a beginner crew, definitely look at doing Cherry.
10 Feb 2018	Good	Dry	None	Special challenges	9 hours	5 people Intermediate to Expert	Danielson (93 reports)
Comment: River was cold to cross. Just above knee deep. Approach is not fun. I should probably knock my rating down a star just for the approach (but I didn't). Anchors were in varying conditions - some needing rebuilt, others not too shabby. Despite it being a bit overrated imo, the canyon photographed extremely well. Perhaps because of it being mostly in shadow.
15 Jan 2016	Great	Dry	None	Normal		4 people Beginner to Expert	Sarafleetwood (8 reports)
21 Mar 2015	Great	Dry	None	Special challenges	9 hours	4 people Advanced	NeonBlueDecember (11 reports)
Comment: Rebuilt a few anchors. Lots of slings with no quick links so we fixed that.
6 Dec 2014	Great	Dry	None	Normal	8 hours	7 people Intermediate to Expert	Bjp (60 reports)
Comment: The river crossing was only slightly deeper than knee-deep. Our group was thankful for clouds and a light sprinkling on the approach -- even with the cool weather, the steep approach would be brutal in full sunlight. Many drops did not have anchors and we often used retrievable riggings, so these drops still do not have anchors on them.
29 Nov 2014	Amazing	Dry	None	Normal	8 hours	5 people Intermediate to Advanced	Tiffanie (139 reports)
Comment: Our group agreed that this was a Zion quality canyon. It features narrow winding passage ways, down climbs, and large drops! The rock is sharp here so protect the rope when you can. The anchors for the first few drops were completely destroyed by the most recent flash flood and we had to rebuild rock stacks or replace webbing. This canyon has bolts for the drops where the rope can easily get jammed. Awesome canyon…except the shallow wading across the frigid Virgin River was cruel on our feet (the water level reached just below the knees).