Kwangde? Nope, Pine Valley Mountains, from LaVerkin. Snowy, here in Utah. All over. Rainy down in California, but it stopped raining in time for us to head out to Death Valley for a few days. Dante View road, the main access to canyons, was closed by mudslides but was 'likely' to be open soon. I picked up a virus and coughed my lungs out for a week or two leading in, so I claimed I did not HAVE to stay for the whole Ram-Program. Ram flew to Vegas and got picked up by Dan Ransom. Add local hardmen Rick and Mike, plus quite a few other fun people invited down - a FEST! A Valley of Death Fest!

Parking and packing for the climb up the ridge. Those Guys did Natural Bridge Canyon on Saturday, and Dante's was still closed, so Ram suggested a mellow day hiking up a ridge to, somehow find a way into, then down Grotto Canyon, which Rick had done in the dark a couple weeks prior, and wanted to see with daylight on it. Chris Brennan had done it by ascending Mosaic Canyon on the other side of a ridge, than popping over the ridge and down Grotto - Rick was looking for a more reasonable approach. A mellow day? I looked at Ram in disbelief... what had come over my OCD friend?

Brendan and Juno paid us a visit, a stop on a long drive. Juno not so up for canyoneering.

Climb the ridge. Michael from Flagstaff enjoying an aerobic workout.

Climb the ridge more. Ram and Dan gots some smiles a'goin'. Something must be wrong if I can keep up with Ram...

The warmth of the sun felt good, but climbing steeply uphill, it started feeling hot! After we climbed 2000 feet or so, Ram and Rick chose a route in, and we downclimbed a steep, loose, dangerous gulley (no pictures), traversed back and forth on an extremely loose, chossy, steep, scary face (one picture, from below) and eventually found ourselves in the delightful shade of the canyon bottom. Ah yes, the Death Valley experience, I remember it well... Ram and a few others traversing the extremely loose, chossy, steep, scary face to get to the ridge left to find a reasonable way down to the canyon bottom.

Ali and Steve from San Diego enjoying the cool of the canyon floor.

Ali on one of the several raps in the upper canyon.

Ramoo practicing his second-most-favorite sport, canyon-golf.

Michael smirking beside a short drop. A side canyon came in with what looked like an extended narrows, but this short drop prevented further exploration upcanyon.

Hale hale the gangs all here! The 'lazy' group from camp, Malia, Heather, Rick, Carol and maybe a few others hiked Grotto canyon up from the bottom, to enjoy two sets of narrows. We crossed paths here in the upper set.

Abby, Death Valley Ranger on rappel in the lower narrows.

The one and only, Bill Wolverton from Escalante. Then we went back to camp at Slabby Acres and drank beer.