Maybe Mindbender Canyon, Robbers Roost, UT

Mindbender - check! Not Mindbender - check! But there IS a bit of a canyon in-between. Let's see, half way between X and Not-X must be Maybe Mindbender!

I've been trying to do a canyon with this guy Wade Christianson for a couple of years, and we finally got it together for this little, probably pretty mild project down in the Swell. Wade brought along his buddy Jayson Christensen. The weather was brilliant - and away we go...

Almost all photos this Latest Rave: Wade and Jayson.

Wade sneaking through the start of the canyon

Trying to keep the feet dry

First drop – time to suit up and put on harnesses.
We omni-slung the tree in the background.

Jayson getting at it on the first drop.

Some careful swinging avoids dropping into that nasty pothole.

Well, maybe not that nasty. Only knee deep.

Tom sneaking further into the canyon.
It had a little bit of narrows work – fun, not hard.

Jayson going high to avoid getting wet.

Jayson and Wade chimneying along.
Sometimes these small drainages are the hardest, but not in this case.

Tom and Wade staying high.

Jayson bringing up the rear. Bunch of narrows was fun. Any drops?

We were surprised to find bolts at the second drop.
Two nice ones, no slings, no rapid links. Interesting…
The same was to be found at the third drop.

Hey, look at that – an actual contingency anchor.
Wasn’t sure how far down the bottom was, so figured might as well…

Wade getting down there.

Next – go! go! GO!

A little climbing move out near the end.

Jayson chimneying along the narrow slot just before the 3rd rap.

Heading down the third rap. Which puts us in the main Not-Mindbender canyon.

Tom on the Third Rap.

Third rap from below.

About 15 minutes downcanyon, we came to the final rap in Not-Mindbender. Wade showed us how to avoid the pools, while I lowered the packs from the rim above.

Tom checks out the rappel anchor. One good chockstone, and one good Tricam. Mysteriously, the previous party had replaced a bunch of the webbing, but left the detritus sitting right there on the rock. Hmmm. So we carried it out.