Ropes for Mistery Canyon

[ocanler]

Hello,

I have a reservatiion for Mistery in September and this would be my first time. The topo guide I looked at show the last rappel is between 120 and 135 ft. Does anybody know the exact length? I have a 240 ft rope. I hope it will make it double.
Also the second to last rappel looks a bit exposed at the top. Is there a fix line or should I bring an extra rope to fix a safety line (I'll a newbie in my group)?. If so, how long should the rope be, and is there a bolt at the top?

Thanks

[ratagonia]

Hello,

I have a reservatiion for Mistery in September and this would be my first time. The topo guide I looked at show the last rappel is between 120 and 135 ft. Does anybody know the exact length? I have a 240 ft rope. I hope it will make it double.
Also the second to last rappel looks a bit exposed at the top. Is there a fix line or should I bring an extra rope to fix a safety line (I'll a newbie in my group)?. If so, how long should the rope be, and is there a bolt at the top?

Thanks

Welcome, Oncanler.

From your use of the language, may I presume that English is not your first language? I will avoid my usual snide remarks based upon that assumption, and just provide answers to your questions.

Mystery gets talked about a lot, so please feel free to search " Mystery Zion " here on Bogley.

There are only two rappels longer than 60 feet - the last two rappels. Both these rappels are about 110 feet, perhaps a smidge longer. Most people would carry two 120 foot ropes (or so) in Mystery Canyon. If your group is larger than 4 people, perhaps 3 x 120 foot ropes would work well.

There may or may not be a fixed rope across the "Mystery Springs Sidewalk". There is a single bolt at the start, and a many-bolt anchor at the far end. You can easily fix a retrievable safety line across here. Please do not leave a fixed line in place - it is litter. It is at most 50 feet across the traverse, so a 100 foot rope would suffice for a retrievable safety line.

Perhaps your first question should be "where can I get reliable information about canyons in Zion?", to which the answer is:

http://canyoneeringusa.com/shop/product.php?productid=16309&cat=108&page=1

Much of the info there is also available here:

http://www.canyoneeringcentral.com/canyon-descriptions/zion-national-park/technical-canyons/moderate-classics/mystery-canyon.html

though it is not quite ready yet.

While you COULD bring a 240 foot rope for the canyon, you might do better to learn canyoneering single-rope technique, and bring two 120 footers for that. Actually, I guess if you know how to tie two ropes together, you can double line them both, if so inclined, and avoid all that fancy stuff, and still carry two or three 120 foot ropes rather than one monster rope...

Tom :moses:

[canyonguru]

Tom is the Master of Disaster so i would take his advise to heart. I am doing Mystery on Wed. and i too had questions about the rope length and tom set me straight a couple of weeks ago. I however have a 110ft rope and a 145ft rope, kind of some weird sizes but thats what they ended up being. So for me if the 110 does not stretch all the way i will do a BINER BLOCK to make the pull rope (110) longer so that we can pull the rap line. I would take the next couple of months before you go and read up on Toms website all about ropes and knots and such and if you can go out and practice a little bit if you can. It really makes a difference when you get out in the canyon to understand and have the skills it takes for when things go right and most importantly when things go WRONG. Just my 2 cents.

[ocanler]

Thanks for the information, Tom. You are correct, English is not my first language, and I'm glad you spared me your snide remarks.
Thanks again for taking the time to provide so much useful details.

[shagdeuce]

The new site looks great Tom!

[nonot]

Carefully matching the ends of a 200 ft rope will get you down the last drop. It seems about 106-110 ft, depending how you measure. You come off rappel, hang onto one of the strands, and slide about 6 ft. It is not necessary to do this, but what the heck. Mystery Springs rap seems a little higher, more in the 120-130 ft range. The ropes you have should work well.

[Iceaxe]

The topo guide I looked at show the last rappel is between 120 and 135 ft. Does anybody know the exact length?

115'

http://www.climb-utah.com/Zion/mystery.htm

:cool2:

[ratagonia]

Carefully matching the ends of a 200 ft rope will get you down the last drop. It seems about 106-110 ft, depending how you measure. You come off rappel, hang onto one of the strands, and slide about 6 ft. It is not necessary to do this, but what the heck. Mystery Springs rap seems a little higher, more in the 120-130 ft range. The ropes you have should work well.

but...

How long is your 200 foot rope, Nonot? Have you measured it recently, or perhaps right after your Mistery Canyon trip?

Not all 200 foot ropes are the same length, when new and also especially when used. A little dodgy recommending a dodgy technique, especially to a new poster who seems unfamiliar with canyoneering technique...

Just trying to bring a little reliability to the discussion...

Tom

[nonot]

but...

How long is your 200 foot rope, Nonot? Have you measured it recently, or perhaps right after your Mistery Canyon trip?

Not all 200 foot ropes are the same length, when new and also especially when used. A little dodgy recommending a dodgy technique, especially to a new poster who seems unfamiliar with canyoneering technique...

Just trying to bring a little reliability to the discussion...

Tom

True enough, and to be clear I wasn't recommending the OP do this. Just that even if a 200 (let's say it's even 220) doubled can do the last drop, the OP's 120+135 would be fine.

[Iceaxe]

I have split the posts on gathering and writting beta into its own thread.

Beta and the Unexplored (http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?57275)

[rick t]

Did Mystery this week, biggest change is that the Springs pool is only 6 inches deep. Seems just yesterday that it was a swimmer.

rickt

[jman]

Did Mystery this week, biggest change is that the Springs pool is only 6 inches deep. Seems just yesterday that it was a swimmer.

rickt

just curious - Do you have a picture of it being full of sand?

[canyonguru]

This was Wed. we did mystery lots of sand at the bottom.

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