North Wash Slots and Black Holes
The End and The Beginning, 2003-2004

A new tradition. The Black Hole for New Years. Ram rounded up a bunch of folks, most of whom backed out when they checked the weather forecast. So off with a small group of die-hards to the slots of North Wash for a little Mae-Westing before the Hole.

Starting into Upper Stair Slot

Upper Stair

. We selected Upper Stair Canyon as our first target, working to complete exploration of the Butlers and related canyons. It also had the honor of being avoided by Mr. K when he was in the area - usually a good sign that something of interest was at hand. The weather was, well, cold, windy, overcast. Traipse across the topland as fast as possible, and get into the canyon to get away from the wind.

The slot gets going right away.

Ryan Cornia gave me the great gift of taking my pack around the narrow section, thus allowing me to Mae West without baggage. A long section of Mae West was great - not too hard, not too easy. Slabs allow the less-interested to climb around the section fairly easily.

We continued down the canyon, doing a couple of rappels and a short swim, all the way to Three Forks. Since I dropped my camera, I have no pictures of this. Duh! Thankfully, I found the camera in good shape when I went back two days later.

Notes: The Upper Slot of Stair is really good, but is fairly difficult and involves some high chimneying. Probably the best way to do it is as a quick sport route, without packs. The narrowest, collest slot can be bypassed on slabs to the right, and the canyon can be exited back to the top on canyon left at the bottom of the section. The chimneying is about 40 feet off the deck, probably about 5.8, depending on height, and even the smallest canyoneers will not be able to go down. Enter at your own risk.

And we spent a lot of time sitting around the campfire, drinking Cream Soda and bubbly water.

Lots of this. Yeah, really bad pictures when the flash suddenly goes off.