Conditions in IMLAY and HEAPS

[brian]

hoping someone has been in imlay recently. trying to get out in about three weeks. if we have time then Heaps as well. Have not been either this early in the season before, anyone have comments or concerns?

Were going early for a few reasons, one of which is were hoping the pot holes are nice and full. of course were prepared for the worse, but can anyone confirm relative levels to this time of year?

last time I took 6m wet suits. worked but very cold. thinking wet suits with dry suits? is this over kill?

its been a while (several years) so if there are any recent obstacles or anything worth noting, please do.

THANKS. brian.

[ratagonia]

hoping someone has been in imlay recently. trying to get out in about three weeks. if we have time then Heaps as well. Have not been either this early in the season before, anyone have comments or concerns?

Were going early for a few reasons, one of which is were hoping the pot holes are nice and full. of course were prepared for the worse, but can anyone confirm relative levels to this time of year?

last time I took 6m wet suits. worked but very cold. thinking wet suits with dry suits? is this over kill?

its been a while (several years) so if there are any recent obstacles or anything worth noting, please do.

THANKS. brian.

Haven't been through recently, but, best guess is:

Snow up high, slowly melting out because it is not that warm out, and still freezing at night. It has been very dry in Zion for 2 months, which means that even with melting, the canyons may not be full. A couple of quite warms days would release snowmelt into the narrows and it will be closed.

Imlay: runs E/W and gets little sun. Usually snowmelt fills the canyon in the spring - might not be the case this year. Hard to say. Might be hard getting in the shortcut - expect snow near the highpoints of the hike in, especially on the north sides. From the top, some of the same problems. I'm thinking there is a little bit of snow on top of the West Rim - but not enough to require snow shoes.

Heaps: very deep, gets little sun. The basin is larger and a little higher, more consistently flows, but I have not heard of the waterfall going off this spring. Might be full, might not.

The water will be VERY cold. Might have ice floating on it.

Wetsuit inside drysuit is unworkable. Way too hot. Bring extra dry clothing for your drysuit. The tendency is to over-dress, but it may take a try or two to get the temperature right. Bring aquaseal with cotol - it works when wet. Bring a stove so you can make hot drinks in the 2 hours it takes to get the drysuit fixed. Small leaks are part of the game, and not usually a problem. bigger leaks - yeah, you need to stop, undress, fix it, dress again with dry clothing.

Stuff comes and goes in those canyons. A lot of that usually happens in winter. Big snowfall, then melt in early winter might have knocked a lot of junk into the canyons. So, hard to say.

But what are you going to do in the afternoon???

Let us know how it goes, if it goes.

Tom

[Brian in SLC]

hoping someone has been in imlay recently. trying to get out in about three weeks. if we have time then Heaps as well. Have not been either this early in the season before, anyone have comments or concerns?

Were going early for a few reasons, one of which is were hoping the pot holes are nice and full. of course were prepared for the worse, but can anyone confirm relative levels to this time of year?

last time I took 6m wet suits. worked but very cold. thinking wet suits with dry suits? is this over kill?

Last year, there was snow drifts in Kolob Canyon until at least the third week of June. So, in around 3 weeks is only early May.

Runoff is way below normal right now. My bet is that as the season starts to heat up, the runoff will start and the Virgin will peak in the next couple of weeks. That would mean the narrows would be closed and you couldn't do Imlay. Also might mean that both Heaps and Imlay could have significant running water. My bet is they usually run in a decent snow year with snow melt and if they haven't yet, then, they will soon.

Both of those canyons are so deep and dark in places, my bet is that there is still significant ice in some of the pools. April/May is just not the season to do either of those canyons. You'd be better off going through something a bit less committing, IMHO.

The fact you don't know what would work for cold water (not just standard summer time cold, but, spring cold, way way colder and more sustained) makes me wonder if you really have this type of gig dialed. Maybe a bit more experience with spring conditions in some of the easier canyons first?

I've been through Imlay several times, in summer and in winter (and Heaps a couple of times in summer). I probably wouldn't attempt either in spring conditions, unless I'd spent some serious time sussing out conditions in the park. I'm not sure anyone does either canyon in April, and, probably only May if its been a really dry, warm spring (and low snow winter).

Could be very risky in the least. You'd better have your "stuff" together!

Cheers,

-Brian in SLC

[Iceaxe]

I probably wouldn't attempt either in spring conditions, unless I'd spent some serious time sussing out conditions in the park.

Excellent advice.

[kilo]

Brian,

FYI, I was in Imlay late-September 2008, and ~ 3/4 of the hook holes were stripped in the first, deepest keeper pothole. The moves in between the usable hook holes were fairly difficult. It took me three attempts to figure out which holes were usable.

If I were to go through again, I would probably consider having a plan for dealing with that obstacle if the keeper is not full.

Kevin

[ratagonia]

Brian,

FYI, I was in Imlay late-September 2008, and ~ 3/4 of the hook holes were stripped in the first, deepest keeper pothole. The moves in between the usable hook holes were fairly difficult. It took me three attempts to figure out which holes were usable.

If I were to go through again, I would probably consider having a plan for dealing with that obstacle if the keeper is not full.

Kevin

And that first big keeper (Big Bertha) is rarely full enough to be easy. Good equipment and good technique is usually the ticket. Yes, Hook holes blow out. Can be cleaned up with careful use of a drill. If someone can stand at the base of the wall (uh, you know, without their head underwater) than a shoulderstand works well there, to get to the highest hole and hook out quicly. If not, it can be quite troublesome.

Tom

[Brian in SLC]

And that first big keeper (Big Bertha) is rarely full enough to be easy. Good equipment and good technique is usually the ticket. Yes, Hook holes blow out. Can be cleaned up with careful use of a drill. If someone can stand at the base of the wall (uh, you know, without their head underwater) than a shoulderstand works well there, to get to the highest hole and hook out quicly. If not, it can be quite troublesome.

When Stevie B did it sans hooking any drilled holes (and, ahem, sans clothes), he was able to use a happy hooker with a etrier on it and hit a feature near the top of the pool to hook from. Barely worked. We had a 15' cheater stick and felt that with maybe 5 more feet, you could easily hook the slings at the top of the pot hole on the anchor above the pot hole. That'd be pretty efficient. But, a lot of cheater stick to carry too.

-Brian in SLC