Potholes

[snap101]

so had a few questions about potholes!?
what are some good skills to have before entering a canyon with keeper pot holes and is there a place around the st george valley that i might be able to find a good pot hole to practice some of this stuff in or do i just find a wall drill some holes in it and start practicing hooking and climbing up stuff when im bored??

[ratagonia]

so had a few questions about potholes!?
what are some good skills to have before entering a canyon with keeper pot holes and is there a place around the st george valley that i might be able to find a good pot hole to practice some of this stuff in or do i just find a wall drill some holes in it and start practicing hooking and climbing up stuff when im bored??

A good question, snap, and one without any easy answers. Potholes are found in pothole canyons, where there are serious consequences to not succeeding. drilling and hooking is considered, by many, to be the last resort, to be a "taint". To only be done after everything else has been tried.

Your best bet is to hook up with people who have practice in potholes for a pothole canyon, and attempt various techniques under their tutelage. Quandary Direct in the Swell is a good canyon to start with, as the potholes yield fairly easily to pack-tosses. From there, hard to say.

Tom

[Brian in SLC]

what are some good skills to have before entering a canyon with keeper pot holes and is there a place around the st george valley that i might be able to find a good pot hole to practice some of this stuff in or do i just find a wall drill some holes in it and start practicing hooking and climbing up stuff when im bored??

How's that go? "Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

Or some such.

Not sure if you're a rock climber or not, but, good hooking skills are developed as part of the aid climbing game if you're a climber. Then, you apply that "rig" to pot hole escape, as Tom says, as a last resort.

I learned to aid climb in an advanced climbing class, and, hooking was part of the drill (so to speak). You can practise hooking just like someone boulders. Close to the ground, get your "rig" on, and get a feel for what features tolerate what type of hook. Pick some hard rock, though, and some place where the kids don't boulder would be best (hooking can ruin fragile features). Oh, and where eye protection (and maybe a mouth guard if you still like your front teeth). Ie, be careful for the times a hook blows with your body weight on it: they can create tremendious force on your face.

There's a bunch of different type of hooks. Large radius Pika Ibis hooks, ditto the Verm hooks coveted in Yosemite (along with Fish hooks, bent ring angle pitons used as hooks, ect). Pretty handy for especially hooking from a distance ala Tom's Imlay Happy Hooker and for hooking very large features like fins of rock and big edges.

The hooks that work in drilled holes also work on small features. Leeper pointed hooks (find 'em while you can, Ed is callin' 'er quits is the rumor), Pika bat hooks, BD talon all made to hook small holes and features. You can also modify a Chouinard/Black Diamond cliff hanger to hook in a drilled hole (custom ones I've used are the most secure in a drilled 3/8" hole to be sure). I wouldn't just drill a hole in a rock for practise. You could drill a hole into concrete and practise just as well without "tainting" some rock outside with an unsightly hole. And concrete walls are easy to come by (most unfinished basements for example).

Some of us really like the throw of a BD grappling hook for hooking on a variety of natural features. Some folks like cliff hangers (another BD hook) but, they seem more limited to me.

Biggest thing is to get down the mechanics of "it". Ie, ascending to a top step on an aid ladder from a hook. Go get a "how to aid climb" book and see the method described there. Its a bit tricky to get the system and balance down, but, once you do, then you can stand tall and minimize any damage with those hooks.

You'd probably want a set of "tethers" (aid climbers use daisy chains) and some slings to stand in, ala "etriers" or "aiders". These can be pre-purchased (BD's alpine aiders are awesome for this stuff, and light and compact) or made from webbing or even cord. Last thing you'd want to do in the heat of battle is drop that precious hook into a murky, deep pot hole full of water...

Remember, too, that a double set of the same hooks are needed if you want to progress from similar features for any distance.

We're sorta lucky up here in the Wasatch, as, in Little Cottonwood, there's ton's of locations to practise hooking on. Can you say shot holes in partly quarried granite? Sure, I knew ya could. Easy to set up a top rope and hook to your hearts content. That experience and confidence can pay off when you really need to move somewhere off minimal features.

And, as Tom says, find a mentor or someone who's done it, and, done the problem solving thing a bit sans hooks. Can be a fun game. Quite amazing what folks can do sans hooks. I was psyched when we did Imlay in super low water without hooking on artificial features a few years back.

Good luck,

-Brian in SLC

[ratagonia]

And, as Tom says, find a mentor or someone who's done it, and, done the problem solving thing a bit sans hooks. Can be a fun game. Quite amazing what folks can do sans hooks. I was psyched when we did Imlay in super low water without hooking on artificial features a few years back.

Good luck,

-Brian in SLC

For Imlay and Heaps (and most others I have seen), there are rarely natural features that can be hooked that cannot be climbed. Therefore, most of the hooking is in drilled holes, which are in place in most popular canyons (but might need a bit of enhancement from time to time). Anyway, my recommended "Hooking Kit" is:

2 BD Talons
3/8" SDS drill bit (as short as possible)
small, no-wood hammer (Petzl Tamtam or try Home Depot) with leash.
Petzl Pecker drill holder.
1 BD Alpine Aider (the second aider I "construct" from 4 over-the-shoulder slings)
1 of those boater key-fob floats for each part (well, except the hammer), tied onto it, so if you drop it, it won't sink to the bottom.

When drilling and hooking, it is considered sporting to get the holes as far apart as possible (and damage the rock as little as possible). The holes have to be deep enough to not blow out when you put your weight on them - about 3/8".

Tom

[snap101]

thanks for the replys!
i have a drill, holder and a talon.
maybe someone can explain the mechanics of a pack toss or do you just tie a rope to your pack and let her go over the top and pray it catches something or counter weighs you so you can get out of the pot hole?
i was crusing around on canyoneering usa the other night and saw that tom said he was making these things called sand bags. is that the old version of a pot shot or completely different concept here??