Black Hole logjam torched

[Angel]

Someone just torched the lower logjam in the Blackhole. Fire is wall to wall.

[rockgremlin]

Interesting. How did you stumble upon that info? I wonder how much debris it cleared away?

[Iceaxe]

It will be interesting to see the final results. I know of more then one discussion involving a lit match and the logjam. But that was all back when it first appeared. I was under the impression the logjam was disintegrating on its own. Its been a couple of years since I last did the Black Hole.

No matter what it will be a mess for a while.

[Iceaxe]

I just received the following from Dave Black, Mister Black Hole himself......

I did the canyon in both directions today. I do have pictures, but I need a shower and some down time before I get them sent to you.

The bad news is that the fire is still burning. There's considerable heat and the ash & embers appear to be quite deep...probably at least 3 or 4 feet in some places and overlaying ash mud. Big tossed rocks just make a deep crater and disappear into the ash. Enough rock has spalled off from the heat that it is posssible to cross the ash on the far opposite sides of the canyon, but the rocks start sinking in the ash as soon as they're stepped on and it makes the crossing extremely dangerous.

Additional concerns are:

1. The fire is below the major difficulties. Retreat for most parties would be difficult. Ram, the old logjams have strained out the logs from the uppper jams. The worst jam is well below the Hole itself and has to be passed via a dense log soup (about 50 feet)under the jam or a rappel. I believe these are the remains of the big second jam from '04.

2. The fire is about forty feet upstream from another much larger jam. All the wood is dry. It's conceivable (though not likely) that a hard downstream breeze could carry embers to that jam.

The good news is that the fire is very much smaller than I expected. 22.5 feet wide by 35 feet long. The soot is not bad, but the rock is still spalling off the wall, so there's that additional hazard.

What I don't get is why anyone would torch that little logjam when much larger and more dangerous jams are both upstream and downstream of it.

At any rate, the canyon is serously dangerous right now. There's a warning about the fire posted on the board at the parking area. It's dated June 25, 7:00 a.m. and is probably from the party that e-mailed Tom.

I hope this helps. Pictures later tonight.

Thanks Dave

[rockgremlin]

What a frickin mess!!!

[Iceaxe]

It appears the Black Hole is currently safe from fire. An update from Mr. Black:

I went back in on Saturday. There was less heat & smoke and the right (canyon right) side of the burn was stable & easy to get around. Sunday there was a big rain, so I imagine it swept the burn away & modified the logjams. I guess you just never know what you'll find in there.

Thanks Dave