Black Hole

[goldboat83]

Well this is my first real trip report but here goes.. I posted pics as well.. although i wasn't able to get as many as I hoped because of camera problems, but enjoy :) I don't post a whole lot and Oh this is Josh By the way..

Jan. 24 2007 We arrive at the trail head for the black hole. It was a bright beautiful day temperature around 40 which we were loving especially coming from the north where we had been in the sub-zero temps for the last couple weeks. We assembled all the gear and set out for what we hoped to be a delightfully cold stroll through the black hole. We decided it would be wise to bring rope and webbing in case something did come up where we would need it, even though the TR we had read said everything was clear down there. As we made our way down the small side canyon into the main canyon there was nothing but excitementt in the air. We had both wanted to hit up the black hole with the freeze festers but were unable to this year, But we had our chance now and we were pumped!! As we neared the main part of the canyon we noticed that everything was frozen, but we disregarded it figuring the bigger pools wouldn't be frozen. As we arrived to the point where the year before we had suited up, we noticed there was way less water then had been there before, and that all the water was still frozen! So we continued on, delaying putting on our wet suites for as long as possible, until finally we hit a pool of ice and figured it was time.

After suiting up Eric tromped through the first short pool, it broke about midway through but was only thigh deep. I followed and soon we beheld an even bigger pool that had potential to be quite deep, I said "i'll take this one" and headed out on my belly to avoid falling though as much as possible. while I crossed i could see that the ice was a good 4 inches thick and felt fairly safe on it even thought there was small amounts of water flowing up from the sides of the ice. A little nervous of what we might encounter next we trekked on.. still saying to one another do you think it was like this when Ram and them did it? Neither of us recalled seeing any ice from the pictures posted and we were both a little stumped. As we weaved our way though a couple of big boulder fields and a few more pools we came up on a nasty looking pool which looked unstable and deep then headed around a corner of twisting tight narrows with no ledge or anything above it. So Eric bravely and cautiously crossed the pool, he arrives at the point were he would have to go up though the smaller part of the narrows. While this is going on I'm watching water coming up from all around the pool onto the ice and I'm waiting, rope in hand, for eric to suddenly plunge into the icy depths... he looks back at me as says "I don't know about this, it looks pretty sketchy" I was in total agreement with him at that point, because it just looked deep and nasty as all get out.. So we decided it would be best to head back and be on the safe side.. the canyon will be here next year and we will live to see another day..

Oh on another random side note me and eric had some crazy funny conspiracies we came up with, One included, at the top of the trail we saw a jackrabbit and we dubbed that he was a scout working for the rattlesnake/scorpion coalition that was out to get us.. the plan was that there would be an ambush on us while inside the canyon, and we laughed that at any minute we would hear the sound of a roaring flash flood coming right for us, but it would turn out to be a thousand rabbits with snakes on there backs charging right at us with a great deal of speed.. then we would look up to the sky to see that the birds were in on the plan too and they were dive bombing us, dropping scorpions everywhere in a plot to end our lives!!!!

[stefan]

daaaang ... awesome photos

some of those need to go up in the rotating banner!!!


thanks for the great TR

and welcome to the site



ps. yeah ... definitely no ice like that at freezefest

[Scott Card]

Nice TR. And crazy photos. Wow!!!

Ok, anyone want to start the technique thread for dealing with ice in a slot canyon? I have never run across that kind of ice or risk yet but would love the have a few ideas in my head just in case.

[goldboat83]

Yea Thats me on my belly.. the other pics are of Eric G.. guess I should have stated that better, oh well :)

[rockgremlin]

Those are reaaaally cool pics!! Thanks for the update!

[stefan]

sweet avatar josh

[Iceaxe]

I love the pictures.... makes it easy to understand what you were facing.

Welcome to the forum

and I still think you guys are crazy

[accadacca]

Yup, looks cold. But its always good to get outdoors.

Note: 640X480 is the best size for pics. Free program and tutorial here: http://uutah.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1718

[price1869]

Sweet TR. I'll be in for something in FEB. :)

[shaggy125]

Awesome pics and write up Josh, thanks for posting. Yea the theme of the trip was "What would Bear from Man vs. Wild do? " We thought about putting our ice water survival tips to the test, but decided to back out instead. BTW, we did some more sane, dry canyons the day before, so we aren't completely crazy.

Eric.

[Iceaxe]

Sweet TR. I'll be in for something in FEB. :)

Price... ping me when you are wanting to go. I have a long list of canyons to do that are still flying under the radar.
I need to get some more good routes posted for spring.

Same for any of you other jokers that want to drag an ol' man along on your trips

[Sombeech]

daaaang ... awesome photos

some of those need to go up in the rotating banner!!!

Ditto. I'd like to add one of these to the HomePage slideshow.

Nice pics, and welcome to the forum.

[bruce from bryce]

Great photos Josh. No Tiger Jumps there.

[goofball]

Oh on another random side note me and eric had some crazy funny conspiracies we came up with, One included, at the top of the trail we saw a jackrabbit and we dubbed that he was a scout working for the rattlesnake/scorpion coalition that was out to get us.. the plan was that there would be an ambush on us while inside the canyon, and we laughed that at any minute we would hear the sound of a roaring flash flood coming right for us, but it would turn out to be a thousand rabbits with snakes on there backs charging right at us with a great deal of speed.. then we would look up to the sky to see that the birds were in on the plan too and they were dive bombing us, dropping scorpions everywhere in a plot to end our lives!!!!

ooooh... don't mess w/ the cute and fuzzy bunny gang. they bad news.

[stefan]

ooooh... don't mess w/ the cute and fuzzy bunny gang. they bad news.

sooo true, one time i seen 'em take down a gang of hunters (shooters)
they were no match for the bunny gang ... beware

[Cirrus2000]

Wow, nice photos! Thanks for sharing them. I like the one of you on your stomach, and the rings in the ice are cool too.

Hmmm, maybe I'll take my crampons along for Buckskin/Paria next month, along with a wetsuit. Then I'll be ready for anything!

[Iceaxe]

ooooh... don't mess w/ the cute and fuzzy bunny gang. they bad news.

We witnessed a bunny battlefield in Parunaweap this year.... I have no clue what the actual story is, but there were bunny heads placed up-right on the ground. No other bunny parts were to be found.... really strange...
.

[Iceaxe]

Hmmm, maybe I'll take my crampons along for Buckskin/Paria next month, along with a wetsuit. Then I'll be ready for anything!

Just to scare you a little... I assume you have read this story?

Buckskin Bites Back
http://climb-utah.com/Escalante/buckskinice.htm

Buckskin ice


Buckskin ice


Buckskin ice

[stefan]

cirrus ... you're not hardcore unless you lead buckskin ... though the ice ... with no crampons or iceskates ... and no shin guards either ... just pound your shin through that ice ... grasshoppah

on a serious note, one thing about the buckskin is that it's looong ... dealing with lots of cold water and ice would be quite an adventure but a pain in the arse if you're trying to make lots of progress in a single day.

[goofball]

ooooh... don't mess w/ the cute and fuzzy bunny gang. they bad news.

We witnessed a bunny battlefield in Parunaweap this year.... I have no clue what the actual story is, but there were bunny heads placed up-right on the ground. No other bunny parts were to be found.... really strange...
.

that is pretty weird. would be interesting to know what it was all about. silly prank or psychotic weirdo ? or maybe a little bit of both.