South Fork Of Maidenwater - A request

[ajroadtrips]

Hesse and I did S. Fork of Maidenwater recently. I was surprised to see how well traveled it has become. When I first did it several years ago, it hadn't seen much traffic, but that has changed since.

:soapbox:
A request: When doing SF Maidenwater, take a 50M rope, or a 22M rope and a pullcord and rappel the headwall off one of the obvious natural anchors available. This first rappel is 70' / 22 M.

When first done, the route was described to downclimb on the south side of the canyon below the headwall to avoid this initial rappel. Not sure why this was the described route, but it is starting to cause some erosion. Easily preventable by just rapping straight in. Besides, it's a photogenic rappel... :haha:

The canyon was much more beautiful than I had remembered, and a fun place to work on downclimbing and natural anchor skills. Beware some of those deadman, they looked a little "light"...

deserthiker
( my write-up http://www.outdoorzen.org/site/beta/north-wash/southmaiden.html )

[goofball]

that is a VERY nice canyon. one of my top 5 i think. i've been lucky though, every time i've went thru it has been full of water more or less. and i love all the granite boulders that have washed in off mt. hillers. walk, drop, swim, walk. perfect.

hopefully people will start entering from teh very head now the erosion is becoming obvious. sneaking in the side door is cheating anyway.

[ratagonia]

that is a VERY nice canyon. one of my top 5 i think. i've been lucky though, every time i've went thru it has been full of water more or less. and i love all the granite boulders that have washed in off mt. hillers. walk, drop, swim, walk. perfect.

hopefully people will start entering from teh very head now the erosion is becoming obvious. sneaking in the side door is cheating anyway.

Not granite, but a diorite porphyry, also an igneous rock.

Tom

[goofball]

that is a VERY nice canyon. one of my top 5 i think. i've been lucky though, every time i've went thru it has been full of water more or less. and i love all the granite boulders that have washed in off mt. hillers. walk, drop, swim, walk. perfect.

hopefully people will start entering from teh very head now the erosion is becoming obvious. sneaking in the side door is cheating anyway.

Not granite, but a diorite porphyry, also an igneous rock.

Tom

aw, man ! now you have ruined my cherished memories. :razz:

[rockgremlin]

diorite porphyry = granite to the layperson. :lol8:

[Iceaxe]

diorite porphyry = granite to the layperson. :lol8:

All I know is.... Slippery when wet. :2thumbs:

[Deathcricket]

Beware some of those deadman, they looked a little "light"...



Pass that crack pipe, looks safe enough :haha:

Seriously though, I have a new level of respect for you guys after seeing this. Maybe this isnt a sport i want to get into.

[ajroadtrips]

Beware some of those deadman, they looked a little "light"...



Pass that crack pipe, looks safe enough :haha:

Seriously though, I have a new level of respect for you guys after seeing this. Maybe this isnt a sport i want to get into.

That one is definitely a bit light. It should likely be noted though, the drop is pretty short (4M / 12 ft or so).

We down climbed many of the short drops instead of using anchors like that one..... Or, I would let Hesse rap off me, then I would down climb the drop. (Last man at risk.)

It pays to have one competent member in the group to either evaluate the anchors, or be the last man down and down climb.

When in doubt, if I can't down climb it and didn't like the anchor, I would likely have Hesee backup the anchor while I rapped and tested it, then she would rap second since she weighs substantially less than I do.

Natural anchors can take a fair bit of experience and judgement to construct or evaluate. Be careful out there!