Bruce, my wife and I decided to make a run through Hidden Star. None of us had ever done it before and we headed out towards the canyon. We could have read the beta a little better, but nonetheless we ended up at the head of the main Hidden Star drainage. We bushwacked and downclimbed through the canyon, eventually meeting up with the side drainage that most use to enter the canyon. The side drainage gets you a long rap, but using the main drainage allows you to not pack a 200' rope. Although we did carry a 200' rope, at this point we knew it was just dead weight the rest of the way. We stemmed a few potholes, eventually getting to a section that was a little sketchy to stem so we just dropped in the water. It was a little chilly, but at least all the water was relatively clean and there was no smell that I had heard so much of. A few more wades, stems, downclimbs, etc., we came to the keeper pothole. It had a 3-4' lip and was definitely in keeper mode. We decided at this point to put on our wetsuits in case we ended up spending some time in the water trying to get out. Our plan at this point was to use our 200' rope as a toss. We pulled about 40' of rope out of the bag, and tied the remaining is so it wouldn't unspool. I tossed the bag across the keeper and it barely made it, landing just over the lip. We then clipped a Tibloc onto the rope with a ladder binered to it. With a few little flicks, the Tibloc and ladder slid all the way down the rope up to the rope bag. I went into the water first, and with a long stick was able to get a push onto the bag and it slid farther down off the other side which created enough friction to get up and out using the ladder that we had slid down the rope previously. Bruce, the packs, and then my wife came across and it all happened within a matter of minutes.
A little break to get out of the suits and eat some food followed by the steep but short exit up and out of the canyon.
Not sure why, but I didn't take one picture of the keeper but maybe Bruce got some.
There is definitely a choice on whether you want to downclimb the main drainage or pack a 200' for the side drainage for the one long rap into it http://canyoncollective.com/attachme...2047-jpg.4889/ http://canyoncollective.com/attachme...2048-jpg.4890/ http://canyoncollective.com/attachme...2049-jpg.4891/ http://canyoncollective.com/attachme...2050-jpg.4892/ http://canyoncollective.com/attachme...2051-jpg.4893/ http://canyoncollective.com/attachme...2052-jpg.4894/ http://canyoncollective.com/attachme...2053-jpg.4895/ http://canyoncollective.com/attachme...2054-jpg.4896/ http://canyoncollective.com/attachme...2055-jpg.4897/ http://canyoncollective.com/attachme...2056-jpg.4898/ http://canyoncollective.com/attachme...2057-jpg.4899/ http://canyoncollective.com/attachme...2058-jpg.4900/ http://canyoncollective.com/attachme...2059-jpg.4901/ http://canyoncollective.com/attachme...2060-jpg.4902/
