Sandthrax Canyon

[nat]

Went down last Saturday to do Sandthrax, in North Wash, with Ryan Cornia and my friend Jeff. Ryan and I both had it on our list for a while, and the time seemed right. We had done a number of high stemming slots in Escalante and elsewhere in the last year. Also, I had finally accumulated some large off width camming devices, which could used for the crux 5.10 off width section, and Ryan had borrowed some Big Bro's (another kind of protection that can be wedged into wide cracks) from a friend. We started at 8AM, and hiked up on the north rim. On the way to the head of the slot, we left a rope (one 300ft tied to a 200ft) tied to a boulder and hanging into the slot for a possible escape if things didn't go well. It turned out that it wouldn't have done us any good, as it was placed down canyon from the crux off width and the other major difficulties. It took us about 15 minutes to walk the rim from a point above the mouth of the slot to the head of the canyon (in contrast, it took us about 3 hours to descend the same section of slot). At the head, we downclimbed 25ft into the slot. There followed some moderate downclimbs, and straightforward walking in a narrow canyon for about a hundred yards. After a 30ft rap from a chockstone, we had to stem up high. For most of the rest of the slot we were high stemming, usually 30-50ft up. It was usually pretty straightforward, though occasionally harder when the slot changed width. We eventually came to what was supposed to be the firrst hard upclimb. The slot widened, and we had to chimney down, and then after the wide part climb up to some chockstones. The climb up to the chokstones turned out to be a moderate (5.4-5.6) chimney. This brought us to the infamous three chockstones where Shane, Hank and Chris engineered their escape, when they tried this without any beta. We could still see a few bolt holes leading upwards on the right wall. From here, we stemmed horizontally for a ways, and came to another silo (widening of the slot). There was a fixed piton here in a drilled hole. It looked like some people rapped to the bottom of the slot here, but it looked really difficult to climb back up at the far end of the silo, so we downclimbed halfway to the bottom, and did some wide stemming accross (with belays). After a turn in the canyon, we came to the crux off width. We were stemming horizontally about 20ft up, when the canyon abruptly narrowed to a slightly overhanging flared 6 inch wide crack. Thankfully, it was only about 25ft high (starting 20ft up). Ryan set up belay at the base, and I started up the crack. I placed a #3 Big Bro right at the start. It was quite a struggle to get up. I placed a #5 and higher, a #6 camelot, and ended up pulling on one of them. After I got a few feet above the #6, the difficulties eased, and a couple of moves higher, I was able to get my whole body in the crack (whew!). After belaying Ryan and Jeff up, from a stemming position, we continued. There was one more silo with a wide stem across ( a previous party had rappeled here off of a couple of pretty sketchy looking hueco's), and about a half an hour of more high stemming until we could chimney down at the the mouth of the slot. We got back to the car around 12:30.

Some comments: 1. Contrary to a couple of the reports that we had read, we all found it to be a really good canyon. It was pretty scenic, and had a number of interesting technical problems. For such a short canyon (perhaps a quarter of a mile), it packs a quite a punch. 2. For a group of canyoneers experienced at high stemming, and with the right equipment, and experience with wide cracks, it is a reasonable endeavor. For the offwidth, I would recommend 1 #5 and 2 #6 camelots. The #5 could be placed at the start, and the #6's above; these can be slid upwards a bit as you climb. If you had to aid the whole thing, you might want a #4 Big Bro to place above the last #6. 3. This obviously would be much more serious without beta, and especially without any of the cams or big bro's.

Sorry, no pics, although Ryan took a few photo's.

[Iceaxe]

Thanks Nat.

:2thumbs:

[rockgremlin]

Wow! Impressive!! :eek2:

We're not worthy! :hail2thechief:

So, how would you rank this one as far as difficulty? The hardest slot you've ever done? If not, which canyon is more difficult?

[nat]

So, how would you rank this one as far as difficulty? The hardest slot you've ever done? If not, which canyon is more difficult?

Maybe the second hardest? There's a slot on King Mesa (Escalante), CATNIP (sort of an acronym) which overall, I thought was quite a bit harder, though none of the climbing in it was as hard as the 25ft off width section in Sandthrax. But CATNIP is relentless (about 7.5 hours of high stemming, and 12hrs car to car), with a lot of strenuous upclimbs (about 5.8). Jeff and I were thouroughly whooped at the end.

[Iceaxe]

For the offwidth, I would recommend 1 #5 and 2 #6 camelots. The #5 could be placed at the start, and the #6's above.


Nat, I noticed the gear in your recommended list to aid the crack is different from the gear you listed as actually using in your TR.

Here is what you listed in your TR: "I placed a #3 Big Bro right at the start. It was quite a struggle to get up. I placed a #5 and higher, a #6 camelot, and ended up pulling on one of them."

Here is my current recommendations of gear needed to aid the crux: "Two or three #5 camlots, one #6 camlot or #6 friend, big bros the next two sizes up from the #6 cam range."

It appears that carrying the correct gear to aid the crux and knowing how to use it is the secret to unlocking this canyon. Anyhoo..... I would like to refine my gear list some and was interested in your thoughts.


.

[nat]

Nat, I noticed the gear in your recommended list to aid the crack is different from the gear you listed as actually using in your TR.

Here is what you listed in your TR: "I placed a #3 Big Bro right at the start. It was quite a struggle to get up. I placed a #5 and higher, a #6 camelot, and ended up pulling on one of them."

Here is my current recommendations of gear needed to aid the crux: "Two or three #5 camlots, one #6 camlot or #6 friend, big bros the next two sizes up from the #6 cam range."

.

Shane, you are right. My first piece of pro was a #3 Big Bro, and it worked fine. It was completely compressed, and used like a tube chock(somewhere from 4 to 5 inches), and I think that here a #5 camelot would be fine, and in fact would be more versaitile. Above, where I used a #5 and then a #6 cam, I think that a #6 in place of the #5 would be better (also, the #5 I was using was an "old #5" which is bigger than the "new #5" ). Above the highest #6, I just went to the top, but it might be wise to have something larger than a #6 cam. My #6 cam wouldn't go any higher (crack widened some), and there were still a few moves to go, before it significantly eased. Therefore it might be wise to bring something bigger than a #6 cam, either for pro, or if aid was needed to get up the last bit. I think probably a #4 Big Bro would be the one.

[Iceaxe]

So think a good rack would be 1-#5 camelot, 2-#6 camelots and 1-#4 Big Bo?

You should try this route with No camlots and No Big Bo's :haha:

Your time through was amazing.... what really stopped us on the first attempt was we just ran out of day light.

[rock_ski_cowboy]

Great TR, Nat. Exciting stuff. Thanks for sharing. Josh and I (and Eric) have been talking about this canyon and with this info, will probably do it next fall or winter some time.

If anyone around Salt Lake has the pro Nat mentions and doesn't mind lending it out for a trip (I can leave some collaterall and plenty of beverages, if you like) send me an email (benjaminroberts et hotmail daht com)...

If not, are there climbing shops that rent pro? I wouldn't be too excited about buying a bunch of pricey offwidth-specific gear that I will likely only use once.

Ben

[hesse15]

Went down last Saturday to do Sandthrax, in North Wash, with Ryan Cornia and my friend Jeff. Ryan and I both had it on our list for a while, and the time seemed right. We had done a number of high stemming slots in Escalante and elsewhere in the last year. Also, I had finally accumulated some large off width camming devices, which could used for the crux 5.10 off width section, and Ryan had borrowed some Big Bro's (another kind of protection that can be wedged into wide cracks) from a friend. We started at 8AM, and hiked up on the north rim. On the way to the head of the slot, we left a rope (one 300ft tied to a 200ft) tied to a boulder and hanging into the slot for a possible escape if things didn't go well. It turned out that it wouldn't have done us any good, as it was placed down canyon from the crux off width and the other major difficulties. It took us about 15 minutes to walk the rim from a point above the mouth of the slot to the head of the canyon (in contrast, it took us about 3 hours to descend the same section of slot). At the head, we downclimbed 25ft into the slot. There followed some moderate downclimbs, and straightforward walking in a narrow canyon for about a hundred yards. After a 30ft rap from a chockstone, we had to stem up high. For most of the rest of the slot we were high stemming, usually 30-50ft up. It was usually pretty straightforward, though occasionally harder when the slot changed width. We eventually came to what was supposed to be the firrst hard upclimb. The slot widened, and we had to chimney down, and then after the wide part climb up to some chockstones. The climb up to the chokstones turned out to be a moderate (5.4-5.6) chimney. This brought us to the infamous three chockstones where Shane, Hank and Chris engineered their escape, when they tried this without any beta. We could still see a few bolt holes leading upwards on the right wall. From here, we stemmed horizontally for a ways, and came to another silo (widening of the slot). There was a fixed piton here in a drilled hole. It looked like some people rapped to the bottom of the slot here, but it looked really difficult to climb back up at the far end of the silo, so we downclimbed halfway to the bottom, and did some wide stemming accross (with belays). After a turn in the canyon, we came to the crux off width. We were stemming horizontally about 20ft up, when the canyon abruptly narrowed to a slightly overhanging flared 6 inch wide crack. Thankfully, it was only about 25ft high (starting 20ft up). Ryan set up belay at the base, and I started up the crack. I placed a #3 Big Bro right at the start. It was quite a struggle to get up. I placed a #5 and higher, a #6 camelot, and ended up pulling on one of them. After I got a few feet above the #6, the difficulties eased, and a couple of moves higher, I was able to get my whole body in the crack (whew!). After belaying Ryan and Jeff up, from a stemming position, we continued. There was one more silo with a wide stem across ( a previous party had rappeled here off of a couple of pretty sketchy looking hueco's), and about a half an hour of more high stemming until we could chimney down at the the mouth of the slot. We got back to the car around 12:30.

Some comments: 1. Contrary to a couple of the reports that we had read, we all found it to be a really good canyon. It was pretty scenic, and had a number of interesting technical problems. For such a short canyon (perhaps a quarter of a mile), it packs a quite a punch. 2. For a group of canyoneers experienced at high stemming, and with the right equipment, and experience with wide cracks, it is a reasonable endeavor. For the offwidth, I would recommend 1 #5 and 2 #6 camelots. The #5 could be placed at the start, and the #6's above; these can be slid upwards a bit as you climb. If you had to aid the whole thing, you might want a #4 Big Bro to place above the last #6. 3. This obviously would be much more serious without beta, and especially without any of the cams or big bro's.

Sorry, no pics, although Ryan took a few photo's.

glad that you vere safe and sound.
and now i can get the young-canyon-gun to do easy safe scenic canyons with me!!!! :nod: like subway in bikini!!! :naughty: :bootyshake:
now that big boyhard canyon is done

[hesse15]

Great TR, Nat. Exciting stuff. Thanks for sharing. Josh and I (and Eric) have been talking about this canyon and with this info, will probably do it next fall or winter some time.

If anyone around Salt Lake has the pro Nat mentions and doesn't mind lending it out for a trip (I can leave some collaterall and plenty of beverages, if you like) send me an email (benjaminroberts et hotmail daht com)...

If not, are there climbing shops that rent pro? I wouldn't be too excited about buying a bunch of pricey offwidth-specific gear that I will likely only use once.

Ben
from what i know the team was made with very skilled expereinced sport -trad climbers
with skills ranging from leading solid 5.10 trad ,5.14 sport and v10 bouldering.
and a solid canyoneering background experience.

:rockon:

[nat]

So think a good rack would be 1-#5 camelot, 2-#6 camelots and 1-#4 Big Bo?



That should cover it, either if doing it free, mostly free, or all aid

[ajroadtrips]

Back from a few days in the Roost, so I am late to this discussion.... but....

My 2 cents would be:

It's a serious canyon with lot's of high exposed climbing moves and long periods of continuous exposure. Bear in mind Nat and Jeff are top notch climbers and canyoneers. Difficulty is relative...

Hard to rate those moves in climbing terms because they seem different to me, but if pressed, I would say some were up to 5.8. (In an old-school trad climbing way, not a sport climbing way. ;))

The crux seemed like definite 5.10-OW. I struggled with it, and would have had to aid it if not on top rope.

Due to the committment level of Sandthrax, I would view this as a place for very expereienced canyoneers with other high stemming canyons under their belt. Not a place to go to try and prove your mettle.

I also would view it as better suited for those with a climbing background. Some of the silos and other moves required more climbing technique than a standard canyon.

desert hiker

PS - Pictures didn't turn out great and don't really show a whole lot... Pretty dark in there, and I was using a disposable.

PPS - Happy to now be doing easy safe scenic canyons with the bikini clad babe.... :haha:

[rockgremlin]

Very well put Deserthiker. I've heard Nat's climbing fame extends as far as California. So, definitely if he considers it difficult, its probably twice as much to the average Joe.