SRG
04-23-2012, 09:03 PM
So I rounded up three friends for a trip to The Roost this weekend, we all left Boulder around 7pm and got to our campsite at Bull Pasture at 1:45 in the mornin... pretty dern quick.
Got some good sleep and headed to High Spur. The "bad spot" that Kelsey refers to before the drill hole is an uphill sandy spot, we didn't have to air down the tires to make it past, but bringing an air compressor is probably a good idea.
We parked just beyond the drill site and left our car 'round noon to hike down into the canyon above the corkscrew.
We ascended the canyon(from our entry point up to the circular feature is mostly walkthrough under current conditions) the upper slot is very beautiful... well worth the walk.
We then descended the canyon, there were two small potholes to climb out of just before the corkscrew.
Damnnnnn was the corkscrew section beautiful.... deep reds and lots of twists and angles.
We encountered an owl underneath a giant wall collapse. It appeared content to stare at us and didn't seem upset by our presence.
After some thigh-deep mud that smelled like cow crap we encountered a fun downclimb that can be belayed.
Lastly we hit up the 70ft(?) free rappel. We encountered problems with the pull so I jugged up and re-rigged the anchor.
We took a steep gully out instead of the Moki-steps and took an access trail back to the road and the car. It took us 5 hours round trip.
Sunday was Alcatraz.
We all suited up cause we weren't sure what to expect. The wetsuits would prove to be a huge pain because the canyon was completely dry... but better safe than sorry I guess.
We dropped in round 10:30a. Anchored off a car for the big rap which was a blast. There are two downclimbs of about 20-30 feet right off the bat, this was the highest off the ground that any of us got.
In the pothole we found a piton anchor on the downstream side of the pothole which made the climb out of the pothole much easier than we had expected... kinda disappointing.
Then came the fun part... lots of squeezing and jumping and (low)stemming and all sorts of fun. I'd say this canyon is similar to Middle Lep but twistier with more ups and downs and overall character to it.
The hike back out was hot. Took us about 6 hours round trip.
All in all it was a short but fantastic weekend.
Got some good sleep and headed to High Spur. The "bad spot" that Kelsey refers to before the drill hole is an uphill sandy spot, we didn't have to air down the tires to make it past, but bringing an air compressor is probably a good idea.
We parked just beyond the drill site and left our car 'round noon to hike down into the canyon above the corkscrew.
We ascended the canyon(from our entry point up to the circular feature is mostly walkthrough under current conditions) the upper slot is very beautiful... well worth the walk.
We then descended the canyon, there were two small potholes to climb out of just before the corkscrew.
Damnnnnn was the corkscrew section beautiful.... deep reds and lots of twists and angles.
We encountered an owl underneath a giant wall collapse. It appeared content to stare at us and didn't seem upset by our presence.
After some thigh-deep mud that smelled like cow crap we encountered a fun downclimb that can be belayed.
Lastly we hit up the 70ft(?) free rappel. We encountered problems with the pull so I jugged up and re-rigged the anchor.
We took a steep gully out instead of the Moki-steps and took an access trail back to the road and the car. It took us 5 hours round trip.
Sunday was Alcatraz.
We all suited up cause we weren't sure what to expect. The wetsuits would prove to be a huge pain because the canyon was completely dry... but better safe than sorry I guess.
We dropped in round 10:30a. Anchored off a car for the big rap which was a blast. There are two downclimbs of about 20-30 feet right off the bat, this was the highest off the ground that any of us got.
In the pothole we found a piton anchor on the downstream side of the pothole which made the climb out of the pothole much easier than we had expected... kinda disappointing.
Then came the fun part... lots of squeezing and jumping and (low)stemming and all sorts of fun. I'd say this canyon is similar to Middle Lep but twistier with more ups and downs and overall character to it.
The hike back out was hot. Took us about 6 hours round trip.
All in all it was a short but fantastic weekend.