ActionPacker
12-17-2013, 08:37 AM
Last weekend my son and I decided to go south to warm up and do some hiking.:facepalm1:
The weather forecast was not ideal but it did make for some interesting rappels and hiking.
Due to the weather and my young son's experience level, we decided to take it a little easy.
On Saturday we stopped in at Red Cliffs Rec Area near Leeds and hiked up the canyon from the camp grown. The fun summer swimming hole was a frozen skating rink. (sorry the images are uploading sideways)
711757116671167
The trails were snow packed but we had the place to ourselves. The stream had good flow but was iced over most of the way up the canyon. After my Benchmade checked the ice over some of the deeper pools (about 5 inches thick in spots) We did some redrock ice skating.
71176
The ice actually let us get further up the canyon than expected allowing us to cross over some of the deep pools.
On Sunday we made our way to Lambs Knoll for some slot and rappelling practice. With the North side approach we hiked through 6 inches of snow to get to the rocks. We had never been there before and the trail was covered in snow so we just picked our way over toward the knoll. Not knowing the usual route, we found a tight little slot going up and went through. We didn't get far before it opened up into a narrow grotto with no real exit.
71182
The spin drifted snow made for some deep patches and very cold feet.
I stemmed up the back of the grotto to see if there was an exit but slipped on the snow at the first ledge and took a 10 foot fall into the sand. Not too big but definitely and ankle-breaker if I had landed wrong.
We decided that must be the exit route and backed out the small slot. We hiked up the next canyon over and found the route back down the first slot but we decided to top out on the knoll to find the sun and warm up a little.
7118071181
The snow was deep and slick but once on top the sun felt nice.
On our way back down we found the 2 rappels into the slot. The rappels were icy but fun.
71172
Rap #1
7117971183
Rap #2 was a bit sketchy for the little guy but he managed it artfully. The rap required a wide split over the ice until the line was long enough to swing to the side of the ice curtain. I was so proud.:2thumbs:
Super short excursion but the snow and ice made things beautiful and challenging enough for our group.
We swung by Rockville to see the tragic rock slide area. Very different to see it in person. 71177
The weather forecast was not ideal but it did make for some interesting rappels and hiking.
Due to the weather and my young son's experience level, we decided to take it a little easy.
On Saturday we stopped in at Red Cliffs Rec Area near Leeds and hiked up the canyon from the camp grown. The fun summer swimming hole was a frozen skating rink. (sorry the images are uploading sideways)
711757116671167
The trails were snow packed but we had the place to ourselves. The stream had good flow but was iced over most of the way up the canyon. After my Benchmade checked the ice over some of the deeper pools (about 5 inches thick in spots) We did some redrock ice skating.
71176
The ice actually let us get further up the canyon than expected allowing us to cross over some of the deep pools.
On Sunday we made our way to Lambs Knoll for some slot and rappelling practice. With the North side approach we hiked through 6 inches of snow to get to the rocks. We had never been there before and the trail was covered in snow so we just picked our way over toward the knoll. Not knowing the usual route, we found a tight little slot going up and went through. We didn't get far before it opened up into a narrow grotto with no real exit.
71182
The spin drifted snow made for some deep patches and very cold feet.
I stemmed up the back of the grotto to see if there was an exit but slipped on the snow at the first ledge and took a 10 foot fall into the sand. Not too big but definitely and ankle-breaker if I had landed wrong.
We decided that must be the exit route and backed out the small slot. We hiked up the next canyon over and found the route back down the first slot but we decided to top out on the knoll to find the sun and warm up a little.
7118071181
The snow was deep and slick but once on top the sun felt nice.
On our way back down we found the 2 rappels into the slot. The rappels were icy but fun.
71172
Rap #1
7117971183
Rap #2 was a bit sketchy for the little guy but he managed it artfully. The rap required a wide split over the ice until the line was long enough to swing to the side of the ice curtain. I was so proud.:2thumbs:
Super short excursion but the snow and ice made things beautiful and challenging enough for our group.
We swung by Rockville to see the tragic rock slide area. Very different to see it in person. 71177