North Fork of Robbers Roost

[DWayne27]

Is anyone here decently familiar with the North Fork of Robbers Roost, or have done that route recently? I am specifically wondering how familiar you are with the exit. I have read beta talking about a 'false exit' and farther down canyon is the real exit. Anyone think they could identify which is which with a picture?

[stefan]

i don't know about a false exit, there is a well-known easier exit and a harder exit.

here're some photos courtesy of tom jones' utah canyoneering guide, page on north fk robbers roost:

the first photo here is the partner assist exit, perhaps what you're calling the false exit?



the standard exit/aka crack route:


for more description on these two exit routes and detailed map see tom jones' "ho hum fork" page
http://canyoneeringusa.com/utah/roost/hohum.php

[stefan]

ahh, okay, if the beta you're referring to is climb-utah, then yes, that particular "false exit" is the same as tom's jones' "partner climb exit"

so in that case, the photos should address your question. if not please post back.

[DWayne27]

OK- that makes sense. My wife and i and her little brother did this route yesterday. we were all definitely hoping for the easiest route out as we are pretty new to canyoneering and have almost no experience climbing. We were using the climb-utah beta, and saw the 'false exit' and continued down the wash for a while but never saw any other exit. rather than messing around in the heat of the bottom of the wash, we just headed up the exit we found, not knowing if it was the easier or harder exit. i dont even think we went according to toms description of the partner assit, because there was no easy ramp. there was at least 6 times where i had to let my wife, and then her brother climb up me, and then push them up from the bottom, have them set up a human anchor and i ascended the rope... the canyon itself we all thought was fantastic, easy and straight forward, and until we got lost finding our way out, i was thinking it would be perfect to take some other people who we want to introduce to canyoneering. but after the exit route i changed me mind. any other info on helping to indentify the easiest exit would be great.

[DWayne27]

I am 99% sure we didnt take the easy route... I wish we got more pictures of the exit we took, but at that point i was more concerned with making sure we made our way out.

[Don]

Dwayne,
Sounds like fun! Really wish I could have made it now. Any pics from your trip?

[stefan]

I am 99% sure we didnt take the easy route... I wish we got more pictures of the exit we took, but at that point i was more concerned with making sure we made our way out.

so, your photo here exactly matches tom jones' photo of the "partner climb exit." this is the more difficult of the two exits.

if you continue downcanyon from this one there is another sidecanyon to the right (looking downcanyon). that is the standard "crack exit." walking up this a very short ways leads to the climb up spot shown in the second photo i posted above. (it should be noted that while this exit is easier it's not necessarily easy. YMMV

[DWayne27]

Dwayne,
Sounds like fun! Really wish I could have made it now. Any pics from your trip?

It was a lot of fun. The exit we took definitely had us worried, but we all survived. I will try and get some pics up.

Stefan-

Thanks for the info. As we were climbing out the harder exit we didnt think it could be the standard route. I am sure the other route isnt 'easy' but man, anything easier than what we did would have been great. I just wish we saw the other exit. we kept walking for 5-10 minutes or so scanning the canyon wall on the right and we didnt see anything. we were following the wash bottom, so we werent close to the canyon wall, but i just figured if there is a slot or crack or exit drainage, i would still be able to see the crack going all the way up the wall, but we didnt see a thing

[Iceaxe]

This is a picture of the CORRECT EXIT or Crack Exit....



If you went this way you went the best way.....

What I call the "False Exit" sucks.... you can get out using the False Exit but it involves a lot more effert and some pretty big exposure...

Buy a cheap $60 GPS, it works wonders for verifing you are in the correct location and removes all guess work...



Stefan... your pictures in post two are miss identified.... this is NOT the partner assist exit. This is the standard or "Crack Exit".

[ratagonia]

This is a picture of the CORRECT EXIT or Crack Exit....



If you went this way you went the best way.....

What I call the "False Exit" sucks.... you can get out using the False Exit but it involves a lot more effert and some pretty big exposure...

Buy a cheap $60 GPS, it works wonders for verifing you are in the correct location and removes all guess work...



Stefan... your pictures in post two are miss identified.... this is NOT the partner assist exit. This is the standard or "Crack Exit".

Ah, mi amigo Shane... I beg to differ.

I have done both exits, and the offered thumbnail (alas, the full size has slipped into the cyber-void) demarks the harder, 'partner climbing' or "false exit". It seems to match the description - as it involves a few hard steps, but not really too much exposure. The trip the thumb comes from was before I knew about the "crack" exit, which is decidedly easier, and can be climbed without assistance at a reasonable level. Perhaps your 'false exit' is another one entirely.

A little sleuthing has produced the following trip report from the dark ages:

http://www.canyoneeringusa.com/utah/secret/mind.htm

Tom

[DWayne27]

well, that is the only exit i have ever done as it was the first time i did the route. i know my climbing isnt fantastic, but the whole time we were thinking 'man, there HAS to be an easier way'. i had my eye out for the pic of the crux of the crack exit on climb-utah, and never saw anything like it. i know that isnt fool proof as the pic could have been taken from different angles, different lighting, etc... but i am sure we never ran across it. also, i know FOR SURE we didnt see any other slots or drainages entering the main wash before that one, it was definitely the first we saw, and i kept looking for a little bit but couldnt find anything else down farther

[Iceaxe]

OK... what I call the "False Exit" is a low spot in the right (north) wall just before the crack exit.

At the False Exit it's easy to climb up and over the low spot and the route out the false exit is pretty easy hiking over slick rock at first. The problem is you get cliffed out as you near the rim. We found a way through the cliffs but it took some partner assist and some unprotected 5.8 climbing with high penalty points.... I'm sure there are other ways through the cliff band, some are perhaps easier.

The Crack Exit is not just a walk up.... it involves some pretty strenuous and physical climbing, but because you are always in the crack any fall would be short and the penalty points are very small.

Anyhoo... that's how I remember things.

I consider the Crack Exit to be the best exit.... at least for a guide book, because once you get folks funneled into the crack than navigating and route finding is no longer an issue....

[stefan]

had my eye out for the pic of the crux of the crack exit on climb-utah, and never saw anything like it. also, i know FOR SURE we didnt see any other slots or drainages entering the main wash before that one, it was definitely the first we saw, and i kept looking for a little bit but couldnt find anything else down farther

maybe i am misunderstanding you here, but that photo of the short climb out of the crack exit is taken a short ways up a sidecanyon, so that slab isn't something you would see directly exiting out of the north fork proper. if you walk downcanyon from where you exited you'll find a wider sidecanyon to the right (LDC) which, if you wander up, will constrict and force you up the slab that's depicted in the photo (on climb-utah, tom jones' site, MK's book).

the distance between the "partner climb/false exit" is about a quarter of a mile. perhaps it was just a little bit further downcanyon than you wandered.

[DWayne27]

i think you are right. i am sure we took the partner assist route out and just didnt go quite far enough down canyon to find the easier route. we followed the wash bottom as we went down canyon, which took us away from the north wall, so we werent right up against the wall looking for an exit. no i wish we would have wandered for another 10 minutes or so to find the crack exit

[ratagonia]

i think you are right. i am sure we took the partner assist route out and just didnt go quite far enough down canyon to find the easier route. we followed the wash bottom as we went down canyon, which took us away from the north wall, so we werent right up against the wall looking for an exit. no i wish we would have wandered for another 10 minutes or so to find the crack exit

As I remember (it has been a while), the PC exit has the benefit of being at the ground level as it enters the main canyon; while the crack exit slot requires climbing up some rocks or dirt or something maybe 20 feet to where you enter the slot - so it is a lot less obvious.

Anyway, that's part of the adventure, right? Good at ya, working it out despite the uncertainty and difficulties. I'm not sure it gets done a whole lot.

Tom

[DWayne27]

i do have to admit, after we finally made it back to the truck we were pretty proud of what we'd done- especially since we dont consider ourselves good at climbing... now we definitely want to go and do the canyon again and try to find the other exit