WorkBad
04-01-2013, 02:16 PM
On 28 March 2013, wife and I slipped through Merry Piglet. We completed this canyon with a 165ft rope and 100ft of webbing. Last Candition (www.Candition.com (http://www.Candition.com)) said to expect dry conditions except the middle pothole which was thigh deep. We were pretty excited because we enjoyed the other mini slots in the N. Wash area. Having done Morocco, Hogwarts and Merry Piglet I can say that this slot was the most challenging of the three, Hogwarts being our favorite.
Before doing this canyon I read every piece of beta I could find but I was still a little unsure of the approach. The approach turned out to be simple but I will still attempt to clearly explain it for others who want to visit this canyon.
Here is a general outline of how the approach works.
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From the parking area we headed up the canyon.
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We stayed on the left (West) side through the boulder field because the middle looked unstable and more complicated. When we couldn't go any further up we worked our way Right (East) to an area that could be climbed over. The first picture is of the short climbable wall (from a distance) and the second photo is of me (up close) on the wall completing it. I hip belayed wife to the top and then headed straight to the ravine going up the sandstone.
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Here is another photo to help with perspective, taken from the ravine looking back at the up climb.
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We hiked carefully up the sandstone gaining elevation to the white layer. We then traversed our way (North) to the start of the canyon. This is a pic from the canyon head looking down.
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Shortly after heading down we encountered the first rap which is from a tree. This rap can be accessed by a short 10ft down climb Left Down Canyon (LDC). It looks like the bottom of the first rap could hold a fair amount of water if there has been recent rains. We then down climbed to a wider area that looked like it too could hold a lot of water. Exiting this section we found a down climb that ended in a 2' deep pool but could be bypassed on the left or right. After this we hit a section that held a lot of larger plants and trees in a sandy bottom.
The next drop is a rappel off a rock cairn anchor. I rebuilt this because the webbing looked old and wasn't properly lengthened anyway. Here is a pic of the rap from the bottom looking up. Notice the lack of water here.
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Just after rap two is the rap that is known to hold water at the bottom.
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We used two different methods to complete this obstacle. First the wife's method:cold:.
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We weren't sure exactly how deep this pool was going to be so she left her pack to keep it dry. When she got out we zip lined both our packs across.
Here's what worked for me.
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I found this move challenging, the hand holds were very small, I'm not sure I could repeat this 100% of the time. I've seen others jump it from the ledge I was standing on but with my wide hips I'm certain my jump would've been thrown off by the wall and landed me straight into the drink.
We then encountered a series of three raps, all from choke stone anchors. Here is a pic of one of the raps.
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The anchors only allow one person at a time because the walls are so tight. While inspecting one of the choke stone anchors I discovered that someone had secured their main anchor webbing using a simple overhand knot:facepalm1:, not a water knot, :crazycobasa:AN OVERHAND!:nono: I couldn't believe it so I took a pic before fixing it back to non kill mode.
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One more final rap off a choke stone.
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Then back to the final 10ft drop that was originally up climbed, we decided to rap down it.
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We reversed the approach down the boulder field and walked back to the very patiently waiting truck.
Before doing this canyon I read every piece of beta I could find but I was still a little unsure of the approach. The approach turned out to be simple but I will still attempt to clearly explain it for others who want to visit this canyon.
Here is a general outline of how the approach works.
64906
From the parking area we headed up the canyon.
64907
We stayed on the left (West) side through the boulder field because the middle looked unstable and more complicated. When we couldn't go any further up we worked our way Right (East) to an area that could be climbed over. The first picture is of the short climbable wall (from a distance) and the second photo is of me (up close) on the wall completing it. I hip belayed wife to the top and then headed straight to the ravine going up the sandstone.
64908
64909
Here is another photo to help with perspective, taken from the ravine looking back at the up climb.
64900
We hiked carefully up the sandstone gaining elevation to the white layer. We then traversed our way (North) to the start of the canyon. This is a pic from the canyon head looking down.
64901
Shortly after heading down we encountered the first rap which is from a tree. This rap can be accessed by a short 10ft down climb Left Down Canyon (LDC). It looks like the bottom of the first rap could hold a fair amount of water if there has been recent rains. We then down climbed to a wider area that looked like it too could hold a lot of water. Exiting this section we found a down climb that ended in a 2' deep pool but could be bypassed on the left or right. After this we hit a section that held a lot of larger plants and trees in a sandy bottom.
The next drop is a rappel off a rock cairn anchor. I rebuilt this because the webbing looked old and wasn't properly lengthened anyway. Here is a pic of the rap from the bottom looking up. Notice the lack of water here.
64902
Just after rap two is the rap that is known to hold water at the bottom.
64903
We used two different methods to complete this obstacle. First the wife's method:cold:.
64904
We weren't sure exactly how deep this pool was going to be so she left her pack to keep it dry. When she got out we zip lined both our packs across.
Here's what worked for me.
64905
I found this move challenging, the hand holds were very small, I'm not sure I could repeat this 100% of the time. I've seen others jump it from the ledge I was standing on but with my wide hips I'm certain my jump would've been thrown off by the wall and landed me straight into the drink.
We then encountered a series of three raps, all from choke stone anchors. Here is a pic of one of the raps.
64910
The anchors only allow one person at a time because the walls are so tight. While inspecting one of the choke stone anchors I discovered that someone had secured their main anchor webbing using a simple overhand knot:facepalm1:, not a water knot, :crazycobasa:AN OVERHAND!:nono: I couldn't believe it so I took a pic before fixing it back to non kill mode.
64911
One more final rap off a choke stone.
64912
Then back to the final 10ft drop that was originally up climbed, we decided to rap down it.
64913
We reversed the approach down the boulder field and walked back to the very patiently waiting truck.