Marble Canyon (disambiguation)
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| | Difficulty:3B I (v4a2 III) Raps:4-7, max ↨180ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:Required 2 hours Vehicle:Passenger Watercraft:Yes Rock type:Schist/Granite | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Best season: | Spring, Summer, Fall
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38.9999, -109.1319
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WaterflowIntroduction
Marble Canyon is a really nice technical side canyon of Westwater Canyon. It is the only Granite and Schist canyon that I have done in Utah. There is no marble here, so the canyon is misnamed, at least from a geological standpoint. The canyon is beautiful and narrow, but isn't a slot.
Approach
It's complicated. By far the easiest way to access the canyon is via raft.
There is a steep scree route up to the bench not far upriver (Colorado River) from the mouth of Marble Canyon. An much easier route on foot, but more complicated route logistically is to hike up to the bench from the mouth of the Little Dolores River and follow game trails along the bench to the head of Marble Canyon.
I won't go into too many details here because you need route-finding skills to access this area.
Of note, there is a good place to land a raft just upriver from the mouth of Marble Canyon.
Descent
Everyone considering a descent of this canyon should be well versed in natural anchors. While the canyon is fixed with anchors as of 4/9/2022, they will eventually wear out. Expect to do 4-7 rappels, depending on where you set your anchors. We did five rappels including a multi-tiered 180 feet rappel, but the number of rappels can be more or less.
In April 2022 the first drop was flowing, necessitating a rappel off a tree, but this part could be downclimbed when dry. Below this drop is another one that we used the same anchor for.
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R2: The second rappel was a multi-tiered drop of up to 180 feet off a cairn anchor.
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R3-5 to 7: After the first technical section, the canyon is gentle until there are several downclimbs and a few rappels. One of them had a tricky anchor of a wedged rock so if the sling isn't there, look around for it. After that are a few other short rappels. The final drop can either be downclimbed, rappelled, or bypassed on the right depending on your skill level or what you want to do. Be aware that the rock is slippery though, so be careful with downclimbing.
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Exit
After you descend Marble Canyon, enjoy rafting the rest of Westwater Canyon.
Red tape
You need a permit to raft Westwater Canyon.
Beta sites
Trip reports and media
Background
Possible first descent by Jocelyn Mullen, Norm Goltra, and Scott Patterson on April 9 2022