Fiery Furnace - 12/01/12

[Kuya]

Lomatium Canyon -- Fiery Furnace, Arches National Park (http://canyoneeringutah.blogspot.com/2012/12/lomatium-canyon-with-luke.html)

Having just done the Lomatium route a couple of weeks ago, I was aching to go back and do it again. I wanted to find the route myself with out the help of someone else. Fortunately for me, one of my very best friends was able to sneak away from his family this Saturday (December 1st) and come with me on the route finding adventure.

Luke and I took off to Arches NP early Saturday morning and arrived there at 9:00. By about 10:00 am we finally were at the trailhead ready for the days adventure. We were not the only group to be doing the technical canyon this morning. A group of about 6 arrived just as we were starting the hike. They eventually passed us on the trail, so we slowed our pace so we would't crowd them in the actual canyon.

We starting the day off with some good adventure. Needless to say, my route finding skills in the Fiery Furnace still need some refining. I took a right on a trail instead of a left, and that caused Luke an I to up-climb some rocks and cliffs that we needed not have to up climb! It as a fun diversion though. We even were able to crawl through a cool little arch.

After we got back on track we enjoyed finding the route. It was Luke's first time ever in the Fiery Furnace, and I was fun to see him enjoying the area!

The hike to Lomatium was really fun and we had a great time finding the way. The route we took requires much scrambling and more up and down climbing. Because we were now behind another group, we decided to take some extra time to rest and explore some of the areas we were visiting.



By the time we arrived at the Rappel into Lomatium Canyon, we had it to ourselves and enjoyed a lunch at the cliff/arch. It is such a beautiful place to rest and have a lunch.

After rigging the retrievable rappel, I rappelled of the cliff first so I could get some video footage of Luke coming down his first rappel over 80 feet! It is such a scenic rappel, I was so happy that his first technical canyon would be this one!

All in all, the day was SO MUCH FUN! Lots of climbing, scrambling, stemming, bouldering, and rappelling to be had in a VERY BEAUTIFUL place!


http://youtu.be/rfMf1qi9A_Q
The Feature Film! One of the best video trip reports I have done so far. I give credit to the beautiful music.
Alex Boye - I Will Rise (Emi Yo Leke) ft. LDC

See it on YouTube here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FQb-cVwbKE&feature=plcp). Buy the music here (http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/chris-tomlin-i-will-rise-emi/id517259566).

[Kuya]

Into the Belly of the Whale (Just like Krill)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejozXEPJQx4

After we did finished the technical section of Lomatium we went looking for the rappel into the "Belly of the Whale" The rap into the Belly of the Whale is a REALLY NEAT rappel. Once you finally get to it you get to squeeze through a narrow crack in the fins. Once you are though the crack, this chamber appears and opens up wide, and you find yourself hanging free for the next 70' or so down. It is beautiful and it truly does look like you are rappelling in to a belly of a giant whale!

Before we arrived at the final rappel into the "whale', Luke and I had quite the adventure getting to it. The canyoneering route that involves this rappel is known to canyoneering as Krill. The Krill route is quite a bit more technical than Lomatium. We experienced a lot more technical bouldering and some serious up-climbing and stemming. In one section, I was stemming over a really really narrow slot. Below me I could see a Gatorade bottle lying there. Little did I know that my GoPro HD camera was soon to join that Gatorade bottle. As i was stemming across the 4 inch wide crack, I knocked my head agains the rock wall in front of me and my helmet camera fell 15 feet or so down into this CRACK! I couldn't believe it. We are almost done for the day and I had over an hours worth of video on that camera! It made me sick to think about loosing it to the canyon gods! I didn't really know of a good way to get the camera back, but Luke thought of a brilliant plan. We were going to go FISHING for it. He rigged up a few loop snares out of some climbing cord that I had in my pack. With my webbing we lowered theses snares down to the fallen GoPro and with my loop I pulled the GoPro enough to allow Luke's Snare to be placed in a position where he could cinch it around the bracket that connected the GoPro to my helmet. I was ecstatic! After about 30 minutes of trying, Luke and I finally saw the camera rising out of the 4 inch crack! I could have kissed the man (but I didn't cuz that would have been gross)! LUKE HAD SAVED MY GO PRO! his quick thinking and hunting/trapping skills were what allowed us to successfully fish for that camera! I was amazed and I was even more GRATEFUL! I could hardly believe that we actually were able to get the camera out of that 15' deep, 4" wide crack of doom! I just couldn't hardly believe it! THANK YOU LUKE!!!!!!


Krill canyon was a lot of fun! It did require a significant amount more energy to accomplish than other routes I have hiked in the Fiery Furnace, but it was really fun. I enjoyed the technical up-climbing and stemming. I even enjoyed fishing for my camera (I can say that now that it back safe in my possession and NOT in the bottom of a crack!) Luke was a great sport for letting me lead him in to unknown territory. We had a really good time and we loved the rappel into the "Belly of the Whale!"

[moab mark]

Glad you found the way.:2thumbs: Nice video.

[Kuya]

Glad you found the way.:2thumbs: Nice video.

Thank YOU Mark! Your help help was perfect!