Canyoneering first descents in the Grand Canyon

[Iceaxe]

Canyoneering first descents in the Grand Canyon
Rich Rudow


BY RICH RUDOW'S estimate, the Grand Canyon (http://www.nps.gov/grca/index.htm) holds some 300

[ratagonia]

some of the details may be slightly exaggerated.

Tom

[Byron]

Outstanding. I'm up for this anytime with anyone that is capable.

[moab mark]

Three Thousand foot rappel to the River? Who hauled that rope? I assume it is multiple rappels down to the river. Pretty impressive.

[Byron]

It's probably 300'. The Supai combined with the Redwall wouldn't be three grand. Typo, I'd bet. I'll have to bust out the map and have a look...

[Slot Machine]

OH MAN! Thanks a lot Outside Magazine! I just purchased a 3000 ft rope from Tom's site last night for nothing! :angryfire:

Heh, looks like the total vertical loss from marker #2 (on the map above) to marker #6 is approximately 1200 feet.

There is a series of drops just before the river that look interesting... but not 3000 ft interesting.

36

[ratagonia]

[QUOTE=Slot Machine;494070]OH MAN! Thanks a lot Outside Magazine! I just purchased a 3000 ft rope from Tom's site last night for nothing! :angryfire:

Heh, looks like the total vertical loss from marker #2 (on the map above) to marker #6 is approximately 1200 feet.

There is a series of drops just before the river that look interesting... but not 3000 ft interesting.

36

[Slot Machine]

Did I say "nothing"? I thought I said "next to nothing". Six weeks for them to make up that special 5X super-spool for you. One week in transit. Got a forklift at your place? - 150 lb spool of rope is hard to handle.

Now, about that pull cord...

Tom :moses:

Holy crap! You sell canyoneering forklifts now too!?! One of those will save us a lot of strain in the future... certainly if we ever need to do a 3,000 foot rappel.

See, we were very excited for the chance to rappel a half-mile. We had it all worked out; I would carry the 5X spool and my wife would carry the pull cord.

However, I had to make sure she was tough enough before we committed to such a canyon. We fashioned a pull cord and she lugged it around for about 30 seconds, then collapsed. (Verdict: not tough enough.) Not to worry, other than a slipped disk in her back, she is just fine.

52946

Bob

[CarpeyBiggs]

funny thing is... a 3000 foot rappel has been done in grand canyon before.

the guys from PMI rope rappelled from the toroweap viewpoint down to the river as a stunt some years past. don't think they pulled it though, they walked around to lava falls route and back up. :lol8:

[ratagonia]

Heh, looks like the total vertical loss from marker #2 (on the map above) to marker #6 is approximately 1200 feet.

There is a series of drops just before the river that look interesting... but not 3000 ft interesting.

Bob

One thing you learn on explorations - never trust the map. Yeah, it's a good first estimate, but always to be taken with a grain of salt.

Tom