french_de
05-01-2009, 12:09 PM
After spending some time in Arches NP the last few days, my brother Paul joined us Sunday for a day in the Swell. The weather in the Utah desert was sporadic with some high dusty winds and snow flurries mixed with breezy partial sun. As we drove down the road to the Baptist Draw TH we were joined by a Sheriffs s posse from the Emery County Search and Rescue. The day before a group of Colorado canyoneers had discovered the body of a hiker who had gone missing last November and the SR team was out to set up a command post at the BD TH. Apparently the woman, after hiking up Bell canyon, continued further east and become stranded in a side-drainage of Upper Chute. The SR team ended up retrieving her from the deep canyon with a helicopter.
Baptist Draw is short, dark and tight with several nice down climbs. BD culminates with a 70 foot rappel into Upper Chute Canyon. We were surprised to find this rappel fixed with a three bolt and chain anchor. There are by the way plenty of ways to rig this anchor with webbing only. Since the bolts were there we used them.
At the junction of BD and UC we took a left up canyon. What a surprise this upper section of Upper Chute turned out to be. It has some great Cedar Mesa sandstone narrows not unlike the type you would typically find in Navajo Sandstone. There are tight sections, lots of up climbs, dark and sunken chambers, and beautiful cathedral like hallways. Upper Chute was dry. We exited left out a side drainage as the Chute begins to widen. This is a nice canyon. We circled back around Teepee rock and headed back to the vehicles where we began to hear chicken teriyaki sandwiches with fries and fry sauce at Ray
Baptist Draw is short, dark and tight with several nice down climbs. BD culminates with a 70 foot rappel into Upper Chute Canyon. We were surprised to find this rappel fixed with a three bolt and chain anchor. There are by the way plenty of ways to rig this anchor with webbing only. Since the bolts were there we used them.
At the junction of BD and UC we took a left up canyon. What a surprise this upper section of Upper Chute turned out to be. It has some great Cedar Mesa sandstone narrows not unlike the type you would typically find in Navajo Sandstone. There are tight sections, lots of up climbs, dark and sunken chambers, and beautiful cathedral like hallways. Upper Chute was dry. We exited left out a side drainage as the Chute begins to widen. This is a nice canyon. We circled back around Teepee rock and headed back to the vehicles where we began to hear chicken teriyaki sandwiches with fries and fry sauce at Ray