Iceaxe
01-31-2011, 09:52 AM
The following is from MARK ROSEN and is posted with his permission:
This is the story from my perspective. There were 15 people on the trip. Each of them saw different aspects of the event and from different perspectives.
We left Murray and drove to Green River on 21 Jan 2011. We stayed in the Motel 6 and got up the next morning and left just after 7 AM.
There was more snow by the freeway than we were expecting and there was snow on both sides as we went down the frozen Yellow Cat road. The directions led us right to Winter Camp Ridge and the trailhead was located without problems. The ground was frozen solid which made driving easy.
We divided into two groups with Mark Rosen, Drue Kehl, Spencer Brown, Ben Neilson, Dan Turney and Randy Willes in doing Under Cover and Jeff Dredge, Jordan Dredge, Amy Hansen, Mike Wagstaff, Paul Morris, Jake Wiscomb, Ned Hacker, Darrin Miller, and Scott Jones doing MMI. We left the cars at about 8:44. It was a bright and wonderful day with a clear blue sky and sun. It was cold but not bad while hiking and going down the canyon. We were headed down our drainage when the MMI group appeared on the rocks above the drainage we were walking down. We teased them about their route finding skills and getting lost and being in the wrong drainage. Fact is that I was following the map and Drue had taken a GPS reading that was just a little off from what I expected so we had a little uncertainty. I was relieved when we arrived at the first rappel through the natural bridge and the correct drainage was confirmed. One had to be careful at the down climbs with the ice and snow so we set up a hand line at times. It was a gem of a canyon. We did the last rappel at _______.
We followed the directions down canyon to join with MMI and then up to the exit point. It looked like the right place and was confirmed by finding cairns. The sun was shining and warm, the sky was deep blue, and we were in high spirits. Soon we would be up by the cars having lunch and then down another canyon in the afternoon.
The crux of the shortcut out was snow covered. I tried a vertical section just to the right of it that much of the snow had melted off already. In warmer days with better shoes I might have been able to smear my way up but not today. I went up for a while, then came to a stop, and then started to slide down the slope. I slid right past everyone until I reached a flatter area and came to a stop. I had lost a little skin but no big deal. Poor Ben, this was his first canyon and he didn
This is the story from my perspective. There were 15 people on the trip. Each of them saw different aspects of the event and from different perspectives.
We left Murray and drove to Green River on 21 Jan 2011. We stayed in the Motel 6 and got up the next morning and left just after 7 AM.
There was more snow by the freeway than we were expecting and there was snow on both sides as we went down the frozen Yellow Cat road. The directions led us right to Winter Camp Ridge and the trailhead was located without problems. The ground was frozen solid which made driving easy.
We divided into two groups with Mark Rosen, Drue Kehl, Spencer Brown, Ben Neilson, Dan Turney and Randy Willes in doing Under Cover and Jeff Dredge, Jordan Dredge, Amy Hansen, Mike Wagstaff, Paul Morris, Jake Wiscomb, Ned Hacker, Darrin Miller, and Scott Jones doing MMI. We left the cars at about 8:44. It was a bright and wonderful day with a clear blue sky and sun. It was cold but not bad while hiking and going down the canyon. We were headed down our drainage when the MMI group appeared on the rocks above the drainage we were walking down. We teased them about their route finding skills and getting lost and being in the wrong drainage. Fact is that I was following the map and Drue had taken a GPS reading that was just a little off from what I expected so we had a little uncertainty. I was relieved when we arrived at the first rappel through the natural bridge and the correct drainage was confirmed. One had to be careful at the down climbs with the ice and snow so we set up a hand line at times. It was a gem of a canyon. We did the last rappel at _______.
We followed the directions down canyon to join with MMI and then up to the exit point. It looked like the right place and was confirmed by finding cairns. The sun was shining and warm, the sky was deep blue, and we were in high spirits. Soon we would be up by the cars having lunch and then down another canyon in the afternoon.
The crux of the shortcut out was snow covered. I tried a vertical section just to the right of it that much of the snow had melted off already. In warmer days with better shoes I might have been able to smear my way up but not today. I went up for a while, then came to a stop, and then started to slide down the slope. I slid right past everyone until I reached a flatter area and came to a stop. I had lost a little skin but no big deal. Poor Ben, this was his first canyon and he didn