Arscenic

[Slot Machine]

On the frigid morning of December 30th, 2012, Steph and I bundled up and ventured through Arscenic Canyon.

As we approached the first rappel our breath froze to our glasses and eyelashes. Our 2 liter water bladder was half frozen within 90 minutes, and while still inside of Steph's pack.

The only rappel was very fun, and seemingly endless. The canyon was longer than we anticipated, and contained a few more obstacles that we imagined. None were particularly difficult, but they kept the canyon interesting. We moved at a snail's pace and were done in about 4 hours. Arscenic would be much prettier with a little better lighting (during the summer).

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Frozen platypus, 90 minutes into the hike.
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[SRG]

Niceeee :2thumbs:... but damn thats cold!

Way to get at it, hope you guys weren't camping.

[ratagonia]

Great little canyon. Yup, pretty cold out there. Unfortunate you could not make it to Paradiso with us this day - we had a good day too.

Tom

[Slot Machine]

Niceeee :2thumbs:... but damn thats cold! Way to get at it, hope you guys weren't camping.

Thanks Sam. Heck no we weren't camping! 4 f***ing degrees man! What would you put on your cereal in the morning? Scotch? What would you bathe in? More scotch? :haha:

We had the heat in our room cranked up to 80 and the shower cranked up to 110 and savored every second of it!

Shoot, it is a 24 minute drive from Hanksville to Sandthrax. Staying at motel is a no brainer in my book.


Great little canyon. Yup, pretty cold out there. Unfortunate you could not make it to Paradiso with us this day - we had a good day too. Tom

Some other time. I hope. :gents:

[peakbaggers]

Thanks for the post. Nice report - but this time of year, we'd rather be skiing if it involves that kind of cold.
What/how much snow did you encounter driving to the start? Apparently not enough to stop you but it appeared on satellite that the area had at least a modest amount of coverage. The canyon shots appear free of snow.

[Slot Machine]

Thanks for the post. Nice report - but this time of year, we'd rather be skiing if it involves that kind of cold.
What/how much snow did you encounter driving to the start? Apparently not enough to stop you but it appeared on satellite that the area had at least a modest amount of coverage. The canyon shots appear free of snow.

Managing the cold was an interesting challenge. 5 layers on the chest and 3 on our legs made movement a little challenging. By the end of our 4 day visit, we had a system down and were using fewer layers and smaller packs.

The snow ranged quite a bit in the North Wash area. 2-3 inches at the top of Poison Springs, but none at the bottom of those canyons, or on the exit route. There was snow everywhere around Hanksville, raising some concern, but then we hit the 15 mile mark heading towards Sandthrax and it was almost non-existent.

[accadacca]

Hard core man! Nice pix!