Iceaxe
05-16-2006, 05:16 PM
I have been cleaning out my computer and here is anther story I found that you might enjoy..... I wrote this one in 2002...
Fortress Canyon
By Anonymous Coward
The best trips are to canyons that have seldom been visited before. One such trip was the first documented descent of Fortress Canyon. Abrupt cliffs, swirling water and high altitude all devise to make this chasm a most inaccessible and lethal place. No known crusade had ever been launched into this threatening abyss.
It was before daylight on a cool autumn day when we departed camp and began climbing the long approach ridge. Our group consisted of two experienced canyoneers and one gumbie, which is the disdainful name often given to novice climbers and canyoneers. At over 3,500-meters in altitude our lungs burned as we trekked upward. The thoughts that are always foremost in our minds during first descents are what if the canyon gets too narrow to scramble through, what if the current is to swift and what is the biggest drop? An earlier scouting trip to the bottom of the canyon gave us plenty of motivation since we knew the route contained several rappels and a long, deep section of narrows. We were also concerned about a section of canyon where the stream appeared to retreat underground for a distance. Although our original scouting trip had been in summer we were forced to wait until autumn for the stream flow to decrease to a somewhat manageable 0.9 cubic meters per second. We entered the canyon high to get above the upper cascades that begin carving the canyon. The first few obstacles were in a shallow slot that contained many short down climbable drops. Soon the canyon narrowed to a constricted slot with polished limestone walls.
The first rappel was from a small pine tree growing from the canyon wall. This 15-meter rappel was rather straightforward and deposited us in a cold, deep pool that requires a short swim to exit. Pulling down the ropes cut off our retreat and committed us to a complete descent.
The second rappel was from a chockstone at ground level. This created a swinging start under the waterfall. Caution was the name of the game as we were all aware of the care needed while using 8mm ropes.
This led us down to the third rappel of 45-meters. We anchored this rappel from logs placed across the top of the drop. The canyon walls narrowed to less than 50 centimeters wide and 150-meters in depth. The canyon was very dark and dramatic as it snaked its way through the limestone with the stream roaring through. The stream current in this narrow slot was agitating and great care was required to stop from being swept down canyon and jammed under rocks or logs. The roar of the cascading water was deafening.
A long section of swimming through the deep dark slot deposited us at the top of the fourth rappel. Three knot-chokes wedged into a crack created a usable anchor. If possible we did not intend to use our bag of courage, which some referrer to as a bolt kit. Our belief is that bolts are to be used in emergencies only and not as a method of dumbing down the canyon to serve up gumbies. This 25-meter rappel dropped into a pitch-black pit. It was necessary to dig out our headlamps to see in the bottom of the pit. At first it appeared that we were trapped as the water disappeared out the bottom of the devil pit. After a bit of searching we found a hole in the chaos of logs and debris at the buttocks of the pit. A bit of squeezing and rearranging would allow us to crawl out the rectum of the devil pit.
We sent our smallest experienced canyoneer through the debris squeeze first with little problem. Keeping with good safety habits we next sent our gumbie through the squeeze. It
Fortress Canyon
By Anonymous Coward
The best trips are to canyons that have seldom been visited before. One such trip was the first documented descent of Fortress Canyon. Abrupt cliffs, swirling water and high altitude all devise to make this chasm a most inaccessible and lethal place. No known crusade had ever been launched into this threatening abyss.
It was before daylight on a cool autumn day when we departed camp and began climbing the long approach ridge. Our group consisted of two experienced canyoneers and one gumbie, which is the disdainful name often given to novice climbers and canyoneers. At over 3,500-meters in altitude our lungs burned as we trekked upward. The thoughts that are always foremost in our minds during first descents are what if the canyon gets too narrow to scramble through, what if the current is to swift and what is the biggest drop? An earlier scouting trip to the bottom of the canyon gave us plenty of motivation since we knew the route contained several rappels and a long, deep section of narrows. We were also concerned about a section of canyon where the stream appeared to retreat underground for a distance. Although our original scouting trip had been in summer we were forced to wait until autumn for the stream flow to decrease to a somewhat manageable 0.9 cubic meters per second. We entered the canyon high to get above the upper cascades that begin carving the canyon. The first few obstacles were in a shallow slot that contained many short down climbable drops. Soon the canyon narrowed to a constricted slot with polished limestone walls.
The first rappel was from a small pine tree growing from the canyon wall. This 15-meter rappel was rather straightforward and deposited us in a cold, deep pool that requires a short swim to exit. Pulling down the ropes cut off our retreat and committed us to a complete descent.
The second rappel was from a chockstone at ground level. This created a swinging start under the waterfall. Caution was the name of the game as we were all aware of the care needed while using 8mm ropes.
This led us down to the third rappel of 45-meters. We anchored this rappel from logs placed across the top of the drop. The canyon walls narrowed to less than 50 centimeters wide and 150-meters in depth. The canyon was very dark and dramatic as it snaked its way through the limestone with the stream roaring through. The stream current in this narrow slot was agitating and great care was required to stop from being swept down canyon and jammed under rocks or logs. The roar of the cascading water was deafening.
A long section of swimming through the deep dark slot deposited us at the top of the fourth rappel. Three knot-chokes wedged into a crack created a usable anchor. If possible we did not intend to use our bag of courage, which some referrer to as a bolt kit. Our belief is that bolts are to be used in emergencies only and not as a method of dumbing down the canyon to serve up gumbies. This 25-meter rappel dropped into a pitch-black pit. It was necessary to dig out our headlamps to see in the bottom of the pit. At first it appeared that we were trapped as the water disappeared out the bottom of the devil pit. After a bit of searching we found a hole in the chaos of logs and debris at the buttocks of the pit. A bit of squeezing and rearranging would allow us to crawl out the rectum of the devil pit.
We sent our smallest experienced canyoneer through the debris squeeze first with little problem. Keeping with good safety habits we next sent our gumbie through the squeeze. It