Canyoneering first descents in the Grand Canyon

Canyoneering first descents in the Grand Canyon
Rich Rudow


BY RICH RUDOW'S estimate, the Grand Canyon holds some 300

some of the details may be slightly exaggerated.

Tom

Outstanding. I'm up for this anytime with anyone that is capable.

Three Thousand foot rappel to the River? Who hauled that rope? I assume it is multiple rappels down to the river. Pretty impressive.

It's probably 300'. The Supai combined with the Redwall wouldn't be three grand. Typo, I'd bet. I'll have to bust out the map and have a look...

OH MAN! Thanks a lot Outside Magazine! I just purchased a 3000 ft rope from Tom's site last night for nothing! :angryfire:

Heh, looks like the total vertical loss from marker #2 (on the map above) to marker #6 is approximately 1200 feet.

There is a series of drops just before the river that look interesting... but not 3000 ft interesting.

36

[QUOTE=Slot Machine;494070]OH MAN! Thanks a lot Outside Magazine! I just purchased a 3000 ft rope from Tom's site last night for nothing! :angryfire:

Heh, looks like the total vertical loss from marker #2 (on the map above) to marker #6 is approximately 1200 feet.

There is a series of drops just before the river that look interesting... but not 3000 ft interesting.

36

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ratagonia

Did I say "nothing"? I thought I said "next to nothing". Six weeks for them to make up that special 5X super-spool for you. One week in transit. Got a forklift at your place? - 150 lb spool of rope is hard to handle.

Now, about that pull cord...

Tom :moses:

---

Holy crap! You sell canyoneering forklifts now too!?! One of those will save us a lot of strain in the future... certainly if we ever need to do a 3,000 foot rappel.

See, we were very excited for the chance to rappel a half-mile. We had it all worked out; I would carry the 5X spool and my wife would carry the pull cord.

However, I had to make sure she was tough enough before we committed to such a canyon. We fashioned a pull cord and she lugged it around for about 30 seconds, then collapsed. (Verdict: not tough enough.) Not to worry, other than a slipped disk in her back, she is just fine.

Attachment 52946

Bob

funny thing is... a 3000 foot rappel has been done in grand canyon before.

the guys from PMI rope rappelled from the toroweap viewpoint down to the river as a stunt some years past. don't think they pulled it though, they walked around to lava falls route and back up. :lol8:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Slot Machine

Heh, looks like the total vertical loss from marker #2 (on the map above) to marker #6 is approximately 1200 feet.

There is a series of drops just before the river that look interesting... but not 3000 ft interesting.

Bob

---

One thing you learn on explorations - never trust the map. Yeah, it's a good first estimate, but always to be taken with a grain of salt.

Tom