On 20 July 2013 Natalie, Carrie, Ryan and myself did the canyoneering route of The Great White Icicle, Little Cottonwood Canyon.
I thought it was pretty neat to do something so close to home for a change. The day was pretty simple... Wake up, small hike, rap, rap ,rap and off to lunch and back home. This is definitely an adventure to save for a very hot day if going without an exposure suit, that water is pretty cold. Also, we started pretty early so we didn't get baked in the sun towards the end. I'd recommend bringing a rain jacket and fleece even on the hottest days for colder members in the group.
This adventure is suitable for small groups only, or larger groups that have independent leadership and hardware. Reason being is that the anchor stations are very small and it can feel crowded even with small amounts of people. I've been twice now, this time with four total and another time with only three and was glad to have only a small group. Communication can also be difficult at times between persons below and above because of the noise of the falls. Two-way radios might be something to consider.
Years ago there used to be a bridge to cross LCW creek in this area but it washed away in floods past. So first step is to get across the creek and find the trail on the other side. Next step is to navigate through the forest up to the base of the granite cliffs above. We found the approach pretty straightforward. Up one drainage hike over, go down the other. The trick I think is knowing where to cross over. We were all new to this canyon so we found a GPS very helpful.
Using Beta from http://www.climb-utah.com/WM/icicle.htm and the GPS we measured the 900 vertical feet (from the parking lot) to our crossover point. I found that we had to go a little higher (~+100ft) to actually get to the start of the crossover.
We brought two ropes, 215ft & 165ft, a 200ft pull cord and 60 ft of webbing.
Here is an overview of the canyon
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Looking at the base of the granite cliff from about 30 feet up
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Looking up the ascent drainage
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About 950 vertical feet up the ascent drainage just before the crossover point
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This is what the crossover looks like while hiking up it to gain the ridge. Look for a large slab of granite that is located on the left (East) side of the main drainage while hiking up.
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After hiking up the crossover and gaining the ridge, we traversed horizontally and came to a spot looking down at this log. This is also the place we put on harnesses and got ready.
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Ryan on the first rap
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Natalie about to drop the second rap
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Natalie on the second rap
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Ryan on the third rap
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Natalie completing the third rap
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Natalie on the fourth rap
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Standing at the top of rap 5 looking back up
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Carrie on rap 4
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Natalie on rap 5
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Carrie on rap 6 (final rap)
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After rap six don't continue down the drainage like we did:facepalm1: (white X X X on the overview image). Hike immediately West and over to the main trail down and out of the area. This was a fun canyon experience. I think that there must be dozens of ways to complete this route. While looking around I found so many different anchors, bolts, pitons, trees etc... What's mentioned in this trip report and in Shane's beta is only what is generally used to complete this canyon.
