Over the last 13 years, I have done Imlay many times. I believe I have succeeded in doing it every year since, though my record-keeping is non-OCD, so who knows? About 5 years ago, there was a large fire up on the West Rim above Imlay, and a large amount of sand washed into the canyon, raising the bottom of the potholes, and generally making it quite a bit easier. Imlay was just not itself, it just gave up too easily. It was a cruise.

Well, something happened, and Imlay is back. Kinda surprising after a mild winter — one would expect this, perhaps, after a big winter with big floods through the canyon. The trip this spring saw quite a few changes in the canyon, more than usual. Lots of logs cleaned out. Lots of sand pushed out, re-deepening many potholes. It is fun to see Imlay returning to it’s sharp, acerbic, and satisfying personality.

Perhaps it would have been more fun if we were well-prepared for our mid-may descent as part of Brendan Busch’s introductory tour of Zion. Thankfully Brendan is energetic and talented, psyched to be in front working out the problems, and clever enough to have snuck a Talon hook into his pack. The team included Stefanos Folias and Dean Brooks, both returning to action from the injured reserve list – though Stefan’s injury being his faculty position in Anchorage. Add two cranky, old, barely-function men (that would be me and Ram) and our team was complete.

Ram and some of those guys did Full Left Fork the day before, so we got kind of a late start. Without the pass, we were waiting on the first bus which this time of year is 7 am. Yikes! A kind person braved the wrath of the rangers and drove us in at 6:30, so we hit the trail at 7 am, about 2 hours later than the usual summer Imlay Sneak Route start.

The flowers out were amazing. Lovely purple Penstemon laevis was prominent along the Angels Landing trail, and the Palmer’s Penstemon were out too – seems a little early for them…

It was a bit strange to hike up Angel’s in the light, since most Imlay trips start an hour before dawn. Being Brendan’s first trip up this way, he and Dean dashed off to summit Angels Landing while us slow pokes poked our way up the trail. We waited for them at the small bridge over a branch of Telephone.

Ram and Stefan catching up near the little bridge

We then proceeded to cross Telephone Canyon and hiked up the ridge, then down right for the right hand Sneak route. Thankfully, in mid-May, the sun is not all that high, so we had pleasant temperatures for most of the up-hill sections. We slid down into the canyon and walked down into this former log-soup area to get away from the mosquitoes and gnats, and suited up. Despite the showers the last couple years, the canyon would prove to be quite a bit drier than expected.

Into the canyon! Only a few very short sections of log soup, and none that were swimmer. There was some pretty good light bouncing around up above. The water seemed really cold. There were quite a few significant changes from last summer. The birth canal was choked with log debris, forcing us to go higher and rap down the other side. Several potholes required hooking to get out… thinking the canyon would be fullish, I was foolish and did not bring a hooking kit. We did not even have an etrier! Thankfully Brendan had a Talon in his pack and he put it to good use. A little more gear would have made this a lot easier and a lot faster!

Dean crawling out of a pothole

The big potholes out near the end proved to be troublesome, taking a lot of time and effort. Since this was Brendan’s and Stefan’s first trip through Imlay they got to be out front solving problems. Hanging in the back I formulated a new Tom’s Law of Pothole Escapes:
a. If you are in the front working the problem, you are creative, high-energy, getting lots of stuff done, moving quickly and efficiently – and solving the problem as fast as humanly possible;
b. If you are in the back, observing, the people in front are slow, unimaginative, trying things that obviously won’t work, fumbling with their gear, and generally taking as long as humanly possible to finally get out of the pothole in the way it was obvious to try all along…

At least, that’s the way it FEELS!

Eventually, cold and tired, we get to the last rap, descend, hike down the Narrows, and catch the infamous LAST BUS! This time of year, that was 9:30.

—-

One curious and dangerous thing noticed: On several rappels, the black 11/16″ webbing I placed last year was frayed on one end, frayed back to the knot. Call me paranoid if you wish, but I think when the fray goes into the knot, the rigging is no longer safe and must be replaced. I am always a bit disappointed in the casual attitude many people have towards anchor webbing, especially when they are tired and cold… I’m sure many people rapped off these with the webbing frayed back. I replaced 2 or 3 of them with fresh webbing.

Brian had done it. Kip had done it. Jonathan had done it. Ram had done it, but I hadn’t done it. Looking forward to a second edition of the guidebook, I really ought to do it, even though they had made it sound not so appealing. When my fellow guide at ZAC Bailey suggested we do a canyon this spring, Jacob seemed like a good choice. Bailey is strong and competent, and doing Jacob would be fairly close to a first descent, since the canyon is done rarely.

We loaded up the packs with a 300′ rope and bolt kit, just in case, and headed out. Jacob starts with a short approach, in a way. Technically, it is only 1-1/8 mile to the summit of Lady Mountain, but it IS 2700 feet of gain in that distance. Thankfully the day was somewhat cool, so it was blistering hot for only the last 700 feet or so. We had a lunch at the top, then picked out the most-reasonable-looking route for getting down into the canyon.

Bailey climbing Lady Mtn

Down the side of the mountain, we went. Brief sections of downclimbing alternated with rappelling through brush from trees. Old slings indicated that others had been this way before, which offered encouragement. Finally, we rigged up off a stout Serviceberry Tree and rapped 210 feet into the cool confines of the canyon. Bailey did an excellent job of retrieving the rope without it getting stuck, something it was wont to do.

Rap into the canyon, finally.

The canyon bottom was lush with spring vegetation, including a bit of poison ivy that was deftly avoided at times with same acrobatic boulder hopping. A few short rappels punctuated long sections of scenic walking. A mid-canyon 170 foot rappel was a scenic treat. After a couple hours, the canyon ahead gave way to air, and the Court of the Patriarchs could be seen below. With 500 feet of air below, we downclimbed 3rd class ledges for 150 or 200 feet to where the canyon REALLY dropped off. A four-tawdry-bolt anchor showed where at least some had rappelled before.

Tom goes over the edge

We re-rigged the anchor using a good chockstone and the only bolt that had anchor-value, and I rigged up and crawled to the edge. Just over the edge, I noted that the rope pulled into a rope-eating crack, and let Bailey know she would need to stuff something in this crack to keep the rope from getting stuck. Mis-reading the beta indicated that the rap would be 130 feet to a ledge with a piton anchor – but we brought a 300 foot rope and I could see the bag lying on the ground. I saw the ledge, and the anchor did not look all that hot, so I continued to the ground. Bailey rigged the pull line and came on down.

We spent the next hour trying to get the rope to pull, to no avail, we could move it about 5 feet back and forth, but clearly the biner block was getting stuck on something. From 250 feet below, flicking the rope proved decidedly ineffective. We tried untwisting the ropes each way – no change. The hour was getting late. We climbed up as high as possible and cut off as much rope as we could.

There was still a drop below us. How far – in the thickening gloom it was hard to say, but at least there was a halfway ledge that we could see had a prominent chockstone. We rapped down to that, the cut length of rope being 10 feet short, but the walls close enough together to allow a reasonable downclimb. Bailey came down and we retrieved the rope using a bunch of slings tied onto the shorter rope – a smorgas-cord! The next drop looked longer, and had a little waterfall running down it. If we had to spend the night here, at least we had water! I rigged up the ropes for a Heaps lower, the longer rope below, and eased over the edge. I was delighted to see the ropebag swinging in the breeze, about two feet above the ground. We rapped down and retrieved the remnants of our rope, boulder-hopped down the creek to the Court of the Patriarchs, hopped the shuttle into town. Cold beer and warm burritos were next on the list – check and check!

Technical Trip Report: Jacob Canyon Zion – May 1, 2013 – Tom Jones and Bailey Schofield

Jacob Canyon is not named on maps, but is the canyon that descends from the summit of Lady Mountain between Jacob and Isaac. Jacob is a rarely-descended canyon. I had a trip report from Brian Cabe who had done it with Dwight Curry on 31 March 2001; and verbal notes from Steve Ramras who had done it a couple years later.

Gear: we carried in a 300 foot 8mm rope, a 70 foot 8mm rope, a 235 foot 6mm pull cord, a bolt kit (unused), webbing, rapid links and a FiddleStick.

We started by climbing the Lady Mountain Trail to the top of Lady Mountain. Quite a workout it is, we were glad the morning was a bit on the cool side. We left the Old Visitor Center at 7:30 am so probably hit the trail at 8 am. Summited at 11:30 am.

The goal was to traverse to the notch between Lady Mountain and Pk 6945 to get to the REAL head of the canyon. Looking at the slopes there from where the Lady Mt Trail crests the Jacob-Lady ridge, it looked very unpleasant. We scoped it from close to the summit, and it still looked unpleasant, so after enjoying the summit, we proceeded to where we thought other parties had descended into Jacob Canyon, near where the Lady Mt Trail crests the ridge.

Looking across from near the summit of Lady Mt, the descent from the ridge did not look pleasant either, except maybe for a ramp or gully or crease that held many large trees, promising rappel anchors if not down-climbable terrain. We traversed the ridge to the head of the steep gully and downclimbed approx 200 feet. A short cliffband was below us. A tree perched above the cliffband had a sling around it, and we rapped about 100 feet. From there, we were able to downclimb briefly as our ramp became more like a gully. Several short nuisance drops were rapped mostly from slings in place on small trees. Eventually this let us out onto a low-angle dirt/vegetation apron.

Once on the lower-angle terrain, we crossed to the north to intersect the canyon as high as possible, aiming for a large and prominent ponderosa pine on the apparent rim. Once there, below this tree were two more ponderosas, the lowest having a sling on it. We rapped from there through brush toward a lower pine tree. The natural line of descent turned out to be down and right (facing out), to the right of the pine tree. We stopped at a small ledge tucked in a rock gully at about the same level as the pine, and set a rappel off a sturdy serviceberry tree. From here a rappel of 210 feet descended an interesting vertical slot to the canyon floor. Bailey did an excellent job of not getting the rope stuck, which it really wanted to do. We arrived at the canyon floor at 2:45 pm.

The main canyon above us was an interesting narrow slot, and we could see parts of the canyon all the way up to the notch between Lady Mountain and Pk 6945. It looked clean and interesting. (Maybe next time).

The canyon floor was lush with growth, including poison ivy. We descended several short steps with rappels from trees, most of which had old black 1” tubular webbing slings around them with SMC rap rings. One long, scenic rappel of about 170 feet was found in the middle of this section. We did not find a prior-party’s sling for this one, and FiddleSticked a tree. We got our feet wet once, but it has been rather dry in Zion of late.

We came to the end of the canyon about 4:45 pm. Ledges allow about 150 feet of downclimbing at a 3rd class level, with 500 feet of exposure. Careful! We worked down to the real edge, and found a 4-bolt anchor against the right-hand wall (looking downcanyon). Two star-dryvin bolts with thin hangers were linked to two more-recent ½” studs, only one of which had a bolt hanger on it. This anchor was in line of flow as the perlon linking the bolts was highly damaged and had a bundle of debris tangled with it.

We cut the tat off the bolts and used a length of webbing to equalize a solid chockstone about 6 feet up the corner crack with the only good bolt. I rapped over the edge and noted that I had two options there, both with a problem. The right hand option, the continuation of the corner crack, had a 12” long section of rope-eating crack right at the wrong place. One could also rap 5 feet to the left (LDC), but the rope would cross a sharp edge of ironstone; hard on the rope but not necessarily suicidal. If I had it to do again, I would bring a rope protector and rap on the left. But in this case, I rapped on the right, noted the rope-eating crack to Bailey as something for her to deal with, and rapped on down. The notes said look for a ledge 130 feet down with a piton anchor, and I saw that, but the ledge was small and the anchor suspect (from a distance). The 300’ rope made it easily to the ground, so I went all the way down.

Since we expected to rap 130 feet, the pull cord was in my pack. I pulled it out of my pack and tied the end to the main rope, and Bailey pulled it up and set the rope up for pulling, stuffed the crack with debris as much as possible and eventually rapped down to join me at the huge ledge at the base of the rap. Total rappel length was about 225 feet.

We then spent about an hour jacking with the rope to try to get it back, with no luck. We could pull the pull side until the biner block hit the narrow slot where the rope-eating crack was. And we could pull the other side back up to the block. But with lots of ineffective flipping and trying twists one way or the other, we spent a lot of effort and got nothing. It was clear there was a rappel below us, but it was unclear how long it was. We had the 70 foot we had started with, and climbing up as high as possible, we cut the main rope and recovered 90 feet of it.

Looking down, we could see a ledge with a chockstone available for an anchor. We set up a FiddleStick on a tree and rapped, downclimbing the last 10 feet and using our collected slings to extend the retrieval side just long enough. We rigged some webbing on the chockstone, and our ninety foot rope reached to three feet from the ground – just long enough to allow retrieval. Whew!

A bit of boulder-hopping got us out to the Court of the Patriarchs, and we were soon in Springdale enjoying cold cervezas and bison-burger burritos!

Pavement to pavement was almost exactly 12 hours.

I hurt.

For me, hurting and the Grand Canyon go together like ham and cheese. In this case I hurt in many places: bruised feet, stiff quads, funky shoulder, left ankle a bit odd, and the lower back – of course. Unfortunately, this was BEFORE we headed into the Big Ditch, having spent three days with the Unbreakable Ram and Jenny the previous week. But it was Alicia’s spring break and she was a bundle of enthusiasm, so off to the Grand Canyon we go.

My hope was for a ‘mellow’ Grand trip (words not usually used together), being into the LITTLE Colorado River, and doing a canyon called BIG, on a relaxed 3-day schedule. The vertical was ONLY 2800 feet, about the same as starting Heaps from Zion Canyon floor; and also on an actual trail, though not a Park Service trail and still rather steep by anything-other-than-Grand-Canyon standards.

Malia was in too. Carol had spoken highly of the canyon, but included dire warnings about drinking water problems. Malia carried down 6 quarts of water so we would not have to pump the minerally Little Co River, which was running silty in flood anyway – too thin to plow, too thick to drink as they say.

We followed the directions in Todd’s Amazing Grand Canyoneering book to the Tee, and parked early in the morning at the trailhead. Well, not early. Not in the morning either. A break-of-4 pm start gave us pleasant temps for the whole descent, and we made it close to the bottom as the sun set, giving us only the last 45 minutes by headlamp. We pulled into camp to find three dudes relaxin’ around the fire, a variety of relaxin’-type fluids displayed on a bench.

Campable spots in the area are few, even here, at the bottom of Salt Trail Canyon where it meets the flooded Little Colorado, so we set up our camp next to our three new friends, made a quick dinner then joined them around the fire for tales of the outback, singing songs and perhaps a few bottles were passed around…

“swapping lies, swatting flies…”

Morning we got going reasonably early. Stage one was to climb back up through the Redwall. Stage two was to traverse the top of Redwall to the next canyon up-stream, which would be BIG canyon, our target for the day. We climbed up. We traversed. It was a fine day to be out in the wild. The traverse took longer than expected… as expected. We dropped into Big Canyon and walked downcanyon a few minutes to the first pools. Carol had warned us about the mineralized water further down, so at the first pool we pumped our containers full (turned out to be a good idea – no, a GREAT idea, especially since Malia carried it).

Start of BIG

Down the canyon we go, and it got good quick. One nuisance rappel (Todd and Rich probably downclimbed it), then the bottom dropped out. We built a new anchor to avoid the incredibly-scary-drop-over-the-edge rap-start. Nice rappel, then a beautiful swim. Downcanyon, more good raps, now with built-up mineral fans. Anchors were pinch points, and we replaced some. Final anchor was junky, so we found a super knot chock a bit off to the side. A totally beautiful section of canyon. Drop-dead Gorgeous, as it is said.

An hour hike on the edge of the Little river brought us back to camp. A fine dinner, songs around the fire, a few relaxin’ fluids…

Around the Campfire

In the morning, we got up a BIT earlier to get in as much climbing as we could before the day’s heat set in. Up up up. Malia was moving faster than me so after the initial Redwall climb, she set off for the top and the drive back to SLC at a good pace. Alicia and I sauntered our way up to the rim, to fresh Mango Margaritas and junky-delightful snack foods. Ah.

I drove home to a hot shower and soft bed. Alicia drove south for a wander-trip off the Bass Trail… another tale, perhaps told, perhaps not.

Kody invited me over for a lap down Johnson Arch Canyon in St George, and said the magic words: “no need for an early start”. I’m in!

This sweet half-day canyon is just north of St George in Snow Canyon State Park, and has great views of the recently-developed California-style housing developments that crowd the valley floor south of Snow Canyon. The Canyon is closed from mid-march to mid-september for raptor nesting, so it is good to get a lap in before it closes. All anchors are bolted, a decision the Park made because it is so close to the city and draws a bunch of beginners. It requires a permit from Snow Canyon State Park, with group size limits and daily quotas, but the permit can be obtained on-line. The locals call it “Arch Canyon”, but since there are many Arch Canyons in Utah, I refer to it as Johnson Arch Canyon.

Four inches of snow the day before put a nice frosting on Zion, but WeatherUnderground showed it well above freezing in St George, so the canyon was likely free of snow, but would definitely be wet and cold. Any debate about the need for wetsuits was now moot.

I pulled into the Johnson Canyon parking lot at 12:35, five minutes late, and started getting my gear sorted out when Kody and Rick pulled up three minute later. We sorted out ropes and drove around to the top. Kody’s daughter had a game that morning, and I guess two hours of running around in the “Seattle sunshine” had been enough, so it was just Kody and son Kyler, plus Rick Mellen also of St George, and myself.

The walk into the canyon was accomplished without difficulty. We took the official, long-way around, stretching out the approach to a full thirty-six minutes. We soon arrived at the first rappel. My friends Amelia and Matt were showing a few people their first canyon, and were ahead of us in the canyon, having taken the “short cut”. They evidently walked around this “first rap”, perhaps deterred by the pool of unknown depth below, since they did not all have wetsuits. We changed into rubber and geared up, then downclimbed the first rappel and discovered the pool was indeed chilly, and chest deep on me. Glad for the rubber, were we! Next came the crawl-through and a couple of short downclimbs. Soon we came to the second rappel where we caught up with Amelia, Matt and gang, who let us use their rope. Thanks Guys!

Second and third rap, check! The fourth rap sometimes ends in a big pool where we planned to join with Amelia’s group to set up a guided rappel to get their friends past the swim. We were surprised to find – no pool! The flow had filled the previous pool, 20 feet back, but had apparently run out of steam right THERE, so… no cold swim, no guided rappel. So we rapped regular, the rope got a little stuck on the pull (but Kody climbed up a few feet to clear it from a chockstone) and we proceeded downcanyon to the final 200 foot rappel down a corner. We thought about FiddleSticking the final rap, but it also had potentially rope-grabbing chockstones, and a conventional pull-through would probably be better for keeping the rope away from them.

Down we went. A crowd gathered. Applause, etc. A short walk out to the car…

Admittedly, when everything goes as planned, it doesn’t make for a very exciting story… Actually, I’m liking that idea!

Finally, a storm brought moisture upon us, first time since New Years. Not the best timing, however, as Ram was just blowing into town. Kip had proposed snowmobiling up to Chamberlain’s Ranch and descending The Narrows as his final Zion blast before he moves his family to The Big Apple for a few years, but a bit of snow made that untenable. They did Englestead Canyon instead, and it was divine, but kinda long in the snow and cold and short days of February.

I declined The Narrows and thus also the Englestead venture. But was given front for the next day, when Dean Kurtz would be joining us, if he could find a babysitter. We considered Spry Canyon, but ended up choosing Pine Creek as the best available given current conditions. Dean’s babysitter fell through, but he brought his two wonderful boys down to Deep Creek Coffeehouse in Springdale to have breakfast and socialize with Ram and Jenny. And by default, me too.

Heading into Pine Creek, Feb 2013

Dean gave us a car shuttle (thank you Dean) and snapped our picture as we entered. We dropped down into the snow under the bridge, and finished suiting up. We used the SAR anchors to rappel into the pool before the “first rappel”, and immediately found out how well we had dressed (well enough, but still). The ramp up to the first anchor was snowy AND icy – Jenny crawled up this on-belay. And off we went!

Jenny crawling up to the first rappel anchor

Pine Creek was very full of water, but also full of sand, so many of the pools were less-deep than expected. But it was really cold in there, especially with the snow and ice making our progress slow and careful. Fingers and toes became slow and stiff. Not many pictures were taken, and I certainly did not take the time to make adjustments, given the difficult light. At the end, we tossed a big sling around the top of the rock, rather than try to climb up the slab to get to the bolted anchor. We took the upper trail out as hopping down the boulders in the streambed would have been both difficult and dangerous. A big burger at Oscar’s, and an extra sleeping bag on the bed that night and… well, really, I’m STILL cold!

SUNDANCE

Sundance is divine. Sundance is my chance to see real movies on real screens, in rooms with every seat filled with excited, interested, intelligent people. Essentially, my opportunity for Culture, for the year. I LOVE Sundance. It is a very good thing.

This year was my best Sundance ever! Of 14 movies, one was good (but sad), three totally knocked my socks off, and the rest were at least very good. I tend to see Documentaries, though I get a few Dramas too (though this year, one of the Dramas was pretty close to a Documentary). I have a lot of interests – Africa, energy policy, reproductive rights, women’s rights, social justice, drug policy, gun policy, environmental policy…  I was missed quite a few movies I wanted to see, but 14 seemed like enough so I headed home on Sunday; in time for my dentist appointment on Monday if nothing else.

So yes, this is a Tom Latest Rave unrelated to Canyoneering. Each year, Sundance seems to have a theme. No, not a stated, deliberate theme – more like, my experience of Sundance each year tends to have a theme. This year, the theme was Bravery – as in Personal Courage. As in, People, let’s call them Heroes, who really lay it out there for the betterment of us all. Those who put some bend in the Arc of Justice…

“The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long, but It Bends Toward Justice”   - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Most of these films will show up somewhere, but won’t get much publicity or hang out very long, so you need to go out of your way to see them. ‘Like’ them on Facebook, so you will get FB updates as they progress through the release process.

I blew in Monday night to catch ANITA at the SLC Library.

ANITA

WOW. Excellent movie about an amazing woman. For those who don’t know, shame on you. Anita Hill is the reason in this year of 2013, we ALL know what Sexual Harassment IS, and know it is a big deal, and why it is no longer tolerated in the workplace. When Dr. Hill stepped forward to calmly detail Clarence Thomas’s behavior to the eight 50-ish white men of the Senate Judiciary Committee, she was met with absolute disbelief. Beyond their grasp. But it was nationally televised, and about 50% of the population got it. Women knew EXACTLY what she was talking about.

The personal price exacted from Dr. Hill was substantial, but she stepped forward to the opportunity, and has been working quietly to empower women, especially woman lawyers, ever since. The movie is very personal, very direct, very clear. This is an extraordinary woman, and an extraordinary movie about her.

There is a very good book that (also) covers the details of the events in 1991, in greater detail: STRANGE JUSTICE. The film did not rag on him much, but from the book it is clear that one of the villains of those hearing was slippery Joe Biden. I hope Joe will take the opportunity to apologize to Professor Hill sometime in the near future, but I’m not holding my breath…  (I have a copy of the book someone can borrow.) Wikipedia entry on Anita Hill

I have no idea why Anita did not sweep all awards at Sundance.

YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN: Ben Fulton’s review of Anita in the Salt Lake Tribune. This is a movie about both subtle and overt sexism in the workplace. Perhaps Mr. Fulton meant to be ironic when he started his review with: “Resplendent in gold jewelry and black-brown ensemble, Anita Hill …” – or maybe he just went to a completely different movie than I did, that had the same title?

RadioWest piece on the film Anita

Tuesday Jan 22 I got up early (well, not that early) to try to pick up tics down at the SLC box office – not much available. So I ended up in Park City for a noon movie, then at the Rose Wagner SLC with Alicia and Ryan for a 7 pm movie, with a bunch of errands in-between. First movie of the day:

INEQUALITY FOR ALL

Robert Reich was Clinton’s Secretary of Labor and is currently a Professor at UC Berkeley. His cause is the Economic Inequality now a major part of our economic system, and the instability that this produces not only in our economy but also in our democracy. He quips that his son summarizes it best: “you’ve been talking about this stuff for years, dad, but now that I’ve seen the movie, now it all fits together and makes sense.”

Robert is an interesting character, and while this is a complex subject, the movie ties a lot of stuff together. It’s not so much about who gets what portion of the pie (as the 1% would have you believe) but is more about how to make the pie as big as possible so there is more to go around… uh, yeah. Maybe you should go see the movie. Robert Reich is funny and entertaining even when talking about a fascinating (NOT) topic like economic policy. A very well put-together film, as Economics is not known for being all that jolly as a topic.

It won the Special Jury Award at Sundance.

Film Website:  Inequality for All (like on facebook, and the future of the film will be revealed as it develops.)

I really enjoy the Documentaries at Sundance, but also try to pick up a couple of dramas each year. LAST year, saw a couple great fictional flicks, this year – not so much. This evening’s film was a drama that Alicia picked out as our film together this year:

BREATHE IN

A well-made, engaging, well-acted, well-told story. Some great music, too. About, well, relationships that don’t work. People that are frustrated and miserable, and destined to be miserable. Not really the kind of film I go out of my way to see. It is fun to have the Q and A afterwards. Q: “About the ending…?” – A: “I got the characters to the point of maximum miserableness, so I figured it was time to end the film”.

But I have to give the director/writer/filmmaker credit: Hollywood would have gone for the ‘happy ending’ – instead, the characters were more like you and me, and the non-romantic, pragmatic choice was made… just like it would have been made in real life. OK, now forget that I gave it away, and catch it in a theater next fall.

Wednesday was a Four-Movie day for me – about the most I can handle. Up early to Park City for a showing of:

RUNNING FROM CRAZY

Perhaps the most deeply personal film I’ve ever seen and yeah, I cried pretty much the whole way through. The film is about the life and family of Mariel Hemingway, granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway; a family where suicide is the primary method of moving on. Crazy! With all this, how do you deal?!? Well… you just do, cause there ain’t much other choice. We follow Mariel as she tells the story of her family. Her sister Margeaux had started a film back in the day, so there was footage of her quest to understand Papa Hemingway. A large part of the film is Mariel’s quest to understand Margeaux, her glamorous and crazy older sister, who checked out in 1996. And more, much more.

It was fun for me that Mariel and hubby are recreational rock climbers, and some sections out climbing were filmed by my friends Boone Speed and Mike Call.

Another WOW! movie. See it if you get a chance. Facebook Page

VALENTINE ROAD

“On February 12, 2008, in Oxnard, California, eighth-grade student Brandon McInerney shot his classmate Larry King twice in the back of the head during first period. Unraveling this tragedy from point of impact, the film reveals the heartbreaking circumstances that led to the shocking crime as well as its startling aftermath.”

This film explores the complexity of the events, talking in-depth with the friends of both Brandon and Larry. Again, a film about Personal Courage. Oxnard is a conservative California coastal community, next door to Ventura where I lived for a year and a half. This film is dark, but what really comes through is the strength of Larry’s incredible friends, eighth graders, despite the despicability of the so-called adults involved, and a judicial system that made 4’10″ Larry King into some kind of predator. Shocking.

Another GREAT movie. Should be required viewing for every seventh grader… but would probably be banned in Utah (except Sundance) since Larry and his friends are ‘abnormal’, as in somewhere in the LGBT community.

Valentine Road Documentary FB Page

WHO IS DAYANI CRISTAL?

KUER had a great piece on this film a few days before I drove up, so I wait-listed it and got in! Viva la Redstone!

This about the migration to America Norte. A body is found in the Arizona desert with a tattoo across the chest – “DAYANI CRISTAL”. The film is about the search for this man’s identity, and why people come north to die in our desert. The filmmaker recreates the journey up from Central America into Mexico, then to the US border.

Immigration is a major policy discussion. The film is not about policy, it is about human beings.

A very good film. I guess with the leadup, I was expecting more. Certainly a must-see for anyone interest in immigration.
Who Is Dayani Cristal Facebook Page

AFTER TILLER

GREAT Film. Not really about “The Abortion Debate”, perhaps surprisingly. I was surprised. This is a film about the doctors that do third trimester abortions in the USA, all four of them. A pretty unpleasant subject, really, no matter where you are on the politics. Heartbreaking, in a way. The film explores this subject without staking out an ideology, which in itself is quite an accomplishment.

Personal Courage, in spades. And really, it INFORMS the abortion debate, a ‘debate’ not centered on a dispassionate understanding of the facts.

Another emotionally powerful movie, very moving. (and, incidentally, not graphic – it’s not about that).

After Tiller Facebook Page

I know that’s only 7 movies… a few more to go, but let me break the page here.

GO SEE THEM!

Freezefest is an annual gathering of hearty (ie, foolish) canyoneers for canyoneering at the turn of the year. Camping out in single-digit temperatures may not seem like it would be fun, but with proper preparation, plus lots of firewood, fine spirits and good friends, it works out to be one of the funnest events of the year.

Freezefest happens in central Utah, near Hanksville, in North Wash and the surrounding area, canyons within an hour’s drive. North Wash has the best weather in Utah, tucked in the storm-shadow of the Henry Mountains, and has lots of nice, athletic, shortish canyons that work well in winter. The main event is the descent of the Black Hole of White Canyon on New Year’s Day, which is a canyon with a whole lot of swimming. Ram and I chose it, 11 years ago, because it was the silliest thing we could think of to do in the middle of winter. The Bad Idea That Caught On.

The FIRST Freezefest started with the Black Hole, January 1st, 2003. Fests now END with the Black Hole, because really, one gets deeply cold during the Black Hole, and it is hard to psych up to stick around after that when one can go home and have a hot shower, warm food, and a comfortable room to hang out in, and not smell a dead racoon when you roll over in your sleeping bag.

I missed the last two Black Holes, being sick (2010-2011) and being broken (2011-2012), so I was psyched for this year, but found myself not really looking forward to being cold all that long, especially after a VERY cold Christmas descent of The Subway. I took 2-1/2 days to pack and rolled in to FreezeFest XI already in progress, on the night of the 29th, allowing me two days of canyons prior to the Hole… but that’s a different Rave… this one is about the Black Hole.

Gathering of the Tribe

First day of 2013, 10 am, all parties gathered at the parking lot, packed and repacked their gear, moved cars around, munched Twinkies (or, the generic equivalent) and mentally prepared for the challenges ahead. We had a few less people than last year – 20 was the final count – which seemed much more under-control than the last couple of years. We passed around some safety gear and headed out. Once off the top and into the canyon, it was pretty nice, in the sun. Perhaps less water than usual, shorter swims. But it was still plenty cold. A little splashing from people in front put a nice layer of ice on the rock, making it harder for us in the back. Fun was had breaking huge chunks of ice. Giggling occured, but not by me!

Once in the water, everyone has to keep moving, so groups form and break up as everyone progresses through the canyon at the speed that works for them. I hit the gear pretty well this year, so my hands and feet were fairly warm, but still… swimming in icewater sure makes you cold!

Anna swimming away from the Barrel

After all that swimming, we do get to walk and wade for a ways, and eventually found a few spots in the sun to warm up. Ninja Bear stationed the start of the exit climb to make sure no one got lost. And all too soon (not really) we were back at the road, drinking malt beverages with Santa Claus and changing into warm, dry clothes. Twenty people went in, and twenty-one came out – even BETTER than last year! Still haven’t lost one, so we might have to do it again next year.

The last couple years, Ramoo has put together a wondrous start to Freezefest doing a BIG canyon on Christmas Day – our contribution to the War on Christmas, I suppose. 2010 was Choprock, which I missed, being sick as a dog. 2011 was Imlay (Sneak), which I missed, being broken. This year we were gunning for Heaps (via Gunsight), but a major winter storm came in a week before Christmas, interrupting the warm, dry winter beginning. We looked for other possibilities. Something challenging, but not too challenging. We were not looking for an adventure (Yvon Chouinard: “It’s is not an adventure until something goes wrong”); we were looking for a fun, burly day out with maximum coolness and minimal risk. Considering the conditions, The Subway rose to the top, with perhaps a Russell or Das Boot start, depending on what we found when we got out there.

JZ, Tim Luke, Ram

In for the adventure:  Jonathan Zambella, Luke Galyan, Tim Hoover, Steve Ramras and me, Tom Jones.

The Kolob Terrace road was snowpacked getting to the gate at the bottom of Maloney Hill. We left the car here at 6:38 am and hiked up the road in the dark. We left the packed snow and were postholing in the shin-deep snow starting at the Wildcat Canyon Trailhead. We hoped to find less snow as we crested the ridge and started down into the Subway drainage, but found no such luck. Occasional patches of rock got enough sun to be snow-free, and we took advantage of one of these to change into wetsuits before dropping into Russell Gulch. Snow on the slickrock leading up to the slickrock pass would likely have made the regular Subway route harder than Russell, so we chose Russell. Down into the shade we went, with deeper snow, plenty of ice, and a small flow in the Gulch to keep the icewater from forming much of an ice layer.

Scrambling in Russell

The three raps in Russell proved challenging, being next to the small flow of really, really cold water. The first rap JZ anchored off a tree to the side, but the others were right next to the flow and very, very chilly. Somewhere in there, a slot choked with ice, not quite thick enough to hold our weight produced the dreaded swimming-while-breaking-ice condition, among the fastest ways to get cold to the core. Brief bits of sunlight provided brief bits of delight. Soon we were in the Subway itself, familiar territory, and not all that different than normal conditions, other than being colder.

Tim on the last rappel

Our traverse across the top and the slow pace of getting down Russell meant we were pressed for time. So we pushed through the Subway at a good pace, which also kept us somewhat warmer than really cold. A couple short raps, a couple short swims and we were out and down, and found a sunny rock to have a snack and change clothes. The walk out seemed much longer than usual, but we finally made it back to the parking lot just as it was getting fully dark. Happy, tired, grateful for not having an adventure. A good time was had by all – and for all but Ram, likely a semi-debilitated rest-day afterwards.

Mike casually mentioned he had his eye on a certain canyon, a painfully obvious one, in the heart of Zion.

“No way”, I said. “I’ve been looking at that for 5 years!”

Plans were made.  Matt was coming down from SLC to lead the hard pitch.  The approach was no chump, and the last drop looked rather big. I went up and took some pictures, did some algebra, and calculated the height at 290 feet. Hmmm. Better cut a rope somewhat longer than the usual 300 – how about 360?  It proved useful.

Getting to the head was a pain. Scenic, in spots, but… 4 pm Saturday found us atop Bee Hive Peak, ready to start the canyon – with a 240 foot rap from near the summit – down to the slabs. Wandered down a few hundred feet, then a 180 foot rap down into the bowl. Cut around to the other side, rap off a tree (200′).  Then another rap down into a cool slot by headlamp, and we were really in the canyon. 7 pm. Full dark.

I think the canyon was pretty cool, but kinda hard to tell in the dark. Thankfully, no pools we could not avoid. About 10 raps mostly in the 50 foot range. Quite a few where we looked back up and said “um, daytime downclimb”. We wandered, then stumbled toward that big last rappel…   Found some anchors, too.  Somewhat disappointed – no First Descent for us. Some slings around rocks, a rock shoe half-buried in the sand. A sleeping bag rotting under a rock. Some empty water bottles. Junk. Unfortunate. So we did get the first-descent-without-leaving-a-bunch-of-junk-in-the-canyon consolation prize.

Finally made it to the end about 10:30 pm. Nice little perfect bivy spot, then some big boulders, then lots of air. The lights of Springdale twinkled down below. We were tired, dehydrated, worn out. A nap was suggested before rapping off. Agreed on. 15 minutes later, a bivy was suggested and endorsed.

Good decisions will be rewarded. We each had just enough gear to sleep (once Mike took pity on me and let me have his space emergency blanket). My problem was dehydration, which meant waking up a couple times with major cramps starting in my quads – uhhhhhh.

Sunlight in the morning sure felt good. We looked over the big drop. Some trees on the side offered an easy anchor, but the line of descent crossed a bunch of sharp ferrous edges – not a good idea. We went back and tried the other side. Rocks offered an anchor, but that ended in a nasty tree about 10 feet down.  We considered the possibilities, and chose to drill a 2-bolt anchor (1/2″ x 3-3/4″ 5-pc Powerbolts) (ok, mostly Matt did the work). Got a good clean line to the side of the tree. Dropped the ropebag. Heard the thud as it hit bottom; rapped down ending in a small forest at the base of the cliff, with 20 feet of rope to spare. Whew!

We still had 1600 feet to lose to get down to civilization. We stumbled downward, found some downclimbs, rappelled when we had to. Ended up being 5 more raps before we stumbled into NPS employee housing. Three PM — a half hour later –the A Team was digging into substantial piles of victuals at Oscars… ahhhh – game done.

The Stinger:  4A V  about 20 Rappels to 310 feet.  2nd known descent Mike Schasch, Matt Brejcha, Tom Jones. Nov 3rd and 4th 2012. 2 bolts placed.

Though Utah’s Capitol Reef National Park has a big handful of good canyoneering, Pandora’s Box is clearly the BESTest!  I hooked up with Ram and Brendan Busch (plus Jonathan Zambella, and Dirk and Nancy Tyler) for a few days out there, and we chose Pandora as the best canyon to show Dirk and Nancy, who had not been on the canyoning program for a couple of years. Ram and I realized we had not been to Pandora’s Box for about 5 years.  In dry years, it was a staple Dec. 26 start to FreezeFest, but we have not seen a dry December in quite some time.

Pandora is intense, and kinda long. It has a substantial approach hike and a monstrous exit hike, so an early start was called for.  Normally, Ram’s 5:30 wakeup time would be a problem for me, but given we were going to bed at 8 pm on this trip – not so much.  It also is rather complex, so I have so far avoided writing a description of it, but have started collecting information to do so sometime in the future. I do have a Tom’s Canyon Map available, and Ryan has it on his Average Joe Road Trips website. Pandora is very physical, so we make a point of doing it in cold weather – not a canyon for the summer!

An early start (5 minutes to 6) leads to a headlamp hike along the bench – the goal being to gain “Sunrise Rock” for the sunrise (achieved!)

We soon hiked out to the top of the canyon and suited up. Just downcanyon from a gnarly blocking tree, a ramp leads easily into the canyon, then an easy downclimb leads to a pool!  Fun start to the technical part. No wetsuits for us today because this canyon does not hold much water. That first pothole was really, really chilly, but no more than ankle deep. A few feet further on, we found the anchor for the first rappel: a gnarled juniper chunk that we all thought would have washed out long ago – still solid!  A couple rappels and “we’re in it now!”

I had forgotten just how much I love Pandora’s Box. Capitol Reef ‘s Wingate sandstone canyons have a different flavor than our usual Navajo canyons, making for lots of physical climbing up and over things, lots of skinny narrow spots where I had to work fairly hard to fit. Ram helped me with a helmet-stand in one place. There are a bunch of short, incredibly awkward rappels, which we mostly meat-anchored (all but one) and did some slide-and-catches for the last person, where we could. As usual, we cleaned a bunch of junk webbing off some of the anchors, but generally found the canyon quite clean.

While air temps were a little chilly, the physical nature of the canyon kept us warm. One pool was about waist deep; other than that we got our feet wet (and very, very cold) several times – leading to much stomping of feet.

After five hours of wonderful canyoning, we reached the dramatic finale: a 150-foot rap back to the “land of the living.” Lots of crappy webbing here; we removed most and built a better anchor off one of the large chockstones looming overhead.

We rapped down, coiled the ropes and headed up-canyon to find the “shortcut” climb out of the deep canyon. Very difficult to describe – head up the slope of bumps and fins and find your way to the top!  Across the mesa top back to sunrise rock. Down the gully, across the bench, back to the cars before dark – WELL before dark. 12 hours car to car. Ram took off for the drive home to Fort Collins. My suggestion to grab dinner at the local pizza shack went over well, and we enjoyed the warmth of being inside with good companions after a fine day well-filled with adventure.