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Three day weekend: Ghost Rider, Lambs Knoll, Water Canyon, and Birch
5 of us went on a long weekend trip and did Ghost Rider, Lambs Knoll, Water Canyon, and Birch Hollow.
Conditions were great and it was pure joy to be out there again.
- Day1: Ghost Rider with 6am start and beautiful sunrise lighting. Later on we practiced some more in Lambs knoll (fun to see the guys struggle with the tight areas :))
- Day2: Water Canyon (Full) - Started hiking ~7am and bit the sun for the most part. Good thing we brought wetsuits, as it was a long day and towards the end, we got cold and tired. On the 170' rappel, rope got stuck, and required connecting handled ascenders and two guys to pull on it with FULL body weight to get it out (had to repeat the process for +30 times, and changing angle didn't help).
- Side story: I tried a ~new setup at the top (i.e. two ropes connected with figure8 follow through knot on the rappel side, and releasable figure8 contingency block on the other side ready for lowering if needed without having to do "pass a knot"), but I forgot to undo the fig. 8 block, which means there were blocks on both sides, hence had to climb up 170' up with tiblock and uTraxion to release it :(. I have my lesson learned, but before I share, was wondering what others are doing in such scenarios.
- Day3: Birch Hollow...I just love doing this canyon as it's only getting better and better as you go into the canyon. 1st time I'm doing during Fall, and the colors are striking!
All in all - fun trip. I hope you enjoy the pix.
