X-fest Pt.2 P.I.N.T.A.C

[forum8fox]

After doing “Big Tony” I was having a little bit of anxiety, wondering if I would hold up for the trip or if I would fold like a little girl. The original plan was to do “DDI” the following day. We started mulling it over and it made more sense to do “PINTAC” next if there was any chance of knocking all of the canyons that were planned off. Or more should I say the important ones (“PINTAC”, “Long Branch of Sleepy Hollow”, and “West Scorpion”). Unfortunately I already knew I was going to miss WS because of time constraints.

I personally felt that I didn’t want to have to do both xx slots back to back, and the others felt they didn’t want to deal with 3 xx slots back to back. So it was decided that unless RAM shot the idea down then we were going to do “PINTAC” the following day.

From that point on I became very nervous, as I was exhausted already from “Big Tony”. I think I felt just as I had before the first time Eric Harvey, Steve Crisp, and I had done “Sandthrax”. Very unsure of what was to come or if I could hang. I think the fact that I was so far from home and so far out on bad roads was getting to my head a bit. Also that I didn’t realize how involved these canyons really were, the approaches and exits are no cake walk as far as effort are concerned.

[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]It’s not like “Sandthrax” where you show up and your only like a

[forum8fox]

At one point we had acknowledged at least 5 serious climbs, but I’d guess it was more like 10 by the time it was said and done. I don’t think any of them were harder then 5.9 or maybe even 5.8??? But they sure took lots of work, and were very long and unprotected for the majority. I’m sure they could be harder for some people as different people do things different ways (body proportions, and having a realistic body image play a big role too).
In the bottom image Steve is making his way up one of the many long, tiring, and exposed up's:
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w232/forum8fox/PINTAC/P5230220.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w232/forum8fox/PINTAC/P5230221.jpg
The canyon had 3 stemming sections with a little bit of open riparian features near the bottom The upper 2 are for sure the real deal, X rated goodness(WTF is XX anyway, I thought x was fall and be seriously injured/dead). Both are very physical and scary as the walls are un-friendly to travel (steep walls, very little to work with most of the time, sand and exploding moki balls, rotten stretches, silos etc.). Oh and don’t let me down play the exposure, it is rarely fleeting especially with all of the climbing.

I was getting pretty worked because I wore fleece pants under my shorty and jeans, thus overheating and dehydrating. Also I carried a trout in there and less snacks because of it and alas found no time or place to enjoy it until the end.
The problem was that there is still a section of r rated stemming after all of this madness! The stemming in this section is mostly a lot lower, but still a lot of work. I definitely felt like I was near “hitting the wall” and I wanted it to be over. My partners coaxed me to eat but I didn’t feel I could digest anything, and if I could it was a loss of energy diverted to doing so. Luckily for me Steve forced some water and power shots down me (thank you a ton), we powered through it and it was essentially over!

There were some really pretty stretches in the middle section. We were fortunate to at least have some good light through the day. There was lots of fluted, convoluted, sculpted stone through out the narrow bottoms of most of the canyon. Also a bit of moss graced the walls adding color. Occasionally you could shuffle along the floor, but only when it was obviously worth it as you were climbing enough already.

If that didn’t make it worth it already the open section is gorgeous, beautiful streaked ampetheaters and sheer walls. Also a very unique (to me) cathedral subway with awesome carved out old erosion patterns down the walls and floor. It also had great colors (moss and salt or calcium deposits perhaps), and spots where the land had slid from above and piled up. Gorgeous! (this paragraph mostly sums up the visual aesthetics of the open section of the canyon)

We come to a rappel and find no anchor, then we realize the water course takes you through poison ivy and we look up on the bench to the right where we find a cairn deadman anchor. We dismantle it and replace the webbing then re-assemble it and rap diagonally to avoid the ivy with a meat anchor (me) and last man at risk (me).

Eventually there is another drop with no anchor and after a fair bit of effort we find a way to avoid it and all of the poison ivy that seems to thrive all around it. This involved a bush whack up against the wall on the left (LDC) and down the precarious hillside once the ivy relents.

Then we arrive at the final rappel and find no anchor, this time it was really swept out. We work down to the lip and find a small pot hole and build an equalized deadman cairn anchor after a bit of rock hauling from a little ways up canyon. I go first then Aaron (on meat), and then Steve B takes the last man at risk position as he had the privilege of building it and wanted the honor.

We marched back out like zombies, taking a short break to share a trout. I don’t think there was too much time messing around but I could be wrong. The canyon took us 4.5 hours of stemming and 11 total car to car… BIG DAY!!! I took the next day off while Aaron, Landon, RAM and Jenny explored a new find. Steve hiked them in but otherwise also took the day off, we enjoyed the afternoon in Escalante.

[Cirrus2000]

Another good report. Sweet! :2thumbs: