TR: Imlay Sneak and Pine Creek

[CarpeyBiggs]

Back from a pretty decent weekend in Zion. I headed down with alusul (John Varn) and ryebrye (Ryan), from the forum, and Ryan's friends Chris, Porter and Kat.

Had a somewhat bumpy ride through Imlay, as a drysuit failed and left us scrambling at the end. All in all, the canyon is in good shape.

TR for Imlay is here: http://www.danransom.com/TripReports/?p=58

TR for Pine Creek is here: http://www.danransom.com/TripReports/?p=57

Enjoy.

[Alex]

Man I love your photography man.....your pictures really tell the story! Do you offer any classes? :naughty:

[rockgremlin]

Geez man! You're rackin' up the canyons fast! Your canyon resume at the year's end should be pretty impressive. Did you break up w/ your girlfriend or something?

[Iceaxe]

Did you break up w/ your girlfriend or something?

:lol8:

[Jaxx]

Awesome TR and pics as usual. Imlay is on my list, for sure. I guess I will wait until I purchase my own drysuit though. :haha:

[CarpeyBiggs]

Geez man! You're rackin' up the canyons fast! Your canyon resume at the year's end should be pretty impressive.

What can I say? I'm hooked right now. Until more snow comes off the Uinta's, I think I've found my hobby of choice...


Did you break up w/ your girlfriend or something?

Not yet... I try to keep the chain at a comfortable length though, and the ball isn't all that heavy.

[CarpeyBiggs]

Awesome TR and pics as usual. Imlay is on my list, for sure. I guess I will wait until I purchase my own drysuit though. :haha:

Honestly, I'd go with a wettie. Say a 5mm full, and you should be set, at least when it is summer. The drysuits are just a hassle for this canyon in those conditions. Then again, the other guys were mostly dry. Of course, I received that same advice before I went, and I ignored it...

[rockgremlin]

Awesome TR and pics as usual. Imlay is on my list, for sure. I guess I will wait until I purchase my own drysuit though. :haha:

Honestly, I'd go with a wettie. Say a 5mm full, and you should be set, at least when it is summer. The drysuits are just a hassle for this canyon in those conditions. Then again, the other guys were mostly dry. Of course, I received that same advice before I went, and I ignored it...

Yup, I second that. When I did Imlay, I had a 5mm full wetsuit, and it was perfect -- not too hot, nor too cold.

[Scott Card]

Nice report and great photos. Your buddy with the midnight call-to-wife deadline is a familiar tale for me. I thought my canyoneering career was over a couple of years ago when I missed an ambitious deadline. I now way overestimate my canyon time so as to not rush or worry my wife.

[nosivad_bor]

[quote]But the night wasn

[montanablur]

Great TR and Pics...

what are you shooting with?

[Ryebrye]

I now way overestimate my canyon time so as to not rush or worry my wife.

I was the buddy with the midnight phone call... And that was the way over-estimated time. :roll:

It was a good trip. I'm a little sore today, but not so bad. Next time I do it, I'm going to make sure we set a faster pace from the get-go and haul ass through it. Those potholes all look so similar, it's hard to really tell what point in the canyon you are by looks alone - but I've now thoroughly burned into my mind the looks of the last few raps. (another helpful hint: if you can't hear the narrows you ain't even close)

We sort of set our pace slower than our max speed because I knew of another group of 4 going through before us, and we didn't want to jam our group of 6 behind another group of 4.

Since I went through last year, the 2nd to last rap has become much easier to get to. Last year when I went through, there was 1 dead tree there to crawl out on. This year, there are a couple of huge logs jammed in there that feel like they were almost installed there for canyoneering use...

You kind of forgot how important hauling ass is through imlay until you get to the last rap in the dark and have to send a runner out just to catch the last shuttle. Thank goodness Dan can run fast...

Oh - and my wife didn't cut my canyoneering career short QUITE yet - she was more understanding than I anticipated - but I don't think she was happy. I think she's come to realize my call-in times are horribly sandbagged, so she was actually expecting the call much sooner.

[Ryebrye]

Until more snow comes off the Uinta's, I think I've found my hobby of choice...

You do much climbing up there? What other hobby would you be referring to?

Oh - and the drysuit comment... My drysuit is my own, and I was 99.9% dry. The only water I had on me was on the last 2 inches of the running pants I had on. They were damp because at one point I jumped in a pothole with too much air trapped in my suit and it "burped" out of the ankle gaskets.

If you don't squish air out, it's possible for it to seep in when the air burps out - or if you rent one and have bad luck, it's possible for water to leak in one of the dozen or so holes in the not-so-dry suit.

[Scott Card]

I now way overestimate my canyon time so as to not rush or worry my wife.

I was the buddy with the midnight phone call... And that was the way over-estimated time. :roll:


Oh - and my wife didn't cut my canyoneering career short QUITE yet - she was more understanding than I anticipated - but I don't think she was happy. I think she's come to realize my call-in times are horribly sandbagged, so she was actually expecting the call much sooner.

YIKES.... I overestimate and add 12 hours. Not always but sometimes depending on the canyon. Yes it is sandbagging but every once in a while...... stuff happens in a canyon or to a shuttle car etc. Glad you are not cut off from canyoneering.

[CarpeyBiggs]

Until more snow comes off the Uinta's, I think I've found my hobby of choice...

You do much climbing up there? What other hobby would you be referring to?


Mostly backpacking, and some fishing, with a few peaks if I'm feeling saucy. But the real reason I go is for the photography and solitude.

[chabidiah]

I also have Imlay on m list. I have heard tons about it and I want to try and bag it this year. My problem is time... I also really want to hit Behunin (sorry i butchered the spelling). :nod: