Into the heart of the canyon

[Iceaxe]

Into the heart of the canyon
LAKE POWELL (UTAH)
Story and images by Scott Willoughby (The Denver Post )

After days of scouting, research, curiosity and debate, the edict came like the refrain from a canyoneering hip-hop classic in the making.

"We just need to drop that slot," former rock-climbing guide Charlie Ebel of Red Cliff announced with rhyming conviction.

The decision ultimately arrived easier than the plan. From the houseboat base camp several miles up the Escalante River arm of a nearly deserted Lake Powell, the mission seemed plausible, but reliable information was impossible to come by. A network of the Southwest's most dedicated slot canyoneers knew next to nothing about the remote half-mile ravine connecting Clear Creek Canyon to the lake at what's known as the Cathedral in the Desert. Guide books, websites, GPS and Google Earth imagery offered little more.
The scenario is hardly unusual in the realm of desert canyoneering, in which hidden geologic intricacies peel away like layers of a sandstone onion. Within the Four Corners region of the American West, the labyrinthine web of gor- ges and chasms making up the Escalante River Canyon might constitute an "inside" corner, an almost underground passage easily overlooked in the larger desert picture surrounding what we now call Lake Powell.

Oh, sure, it has long been on the map, in bold typeface since the 1996 designation of the surrounding 1.9 million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. But near as we know, the river canyon bearing missionary explorer Silvestre Velez de Escalante's name was never actually discovered on the circuitous route that brought that first party of non-natives through Utah in 1776. And much of it remains relatively hidden.

Modern explorers of the region tend to plod through the canyons the way Escalante himself might have

[Iceaxe]

"My guess is that fewer than 50 people have ever done that route," Chamberlain said after emerging from the daylong epic.

"That was about as challenging as any slot I've ever done," Ebel added. "A classic."

So.... am I the only one that finds humor in this? Clear Creek (Cathedral in the Desert) is almost as difficult as Pine Creek in Zion... Probably several thousand people have done this route. When doing the route from the lake it's a half day cake walk.

[Jaxx]

But they need to sell news papers. Mabey they were trying to scare people away from doing it?

[trackrunner]

Checked out the online slide show from that link. Would love Tom to post a coment about lack of helmets



http://photos.denverpost.com/photopr...bum-5186&num=1

[Jaxx]

why pics of goblin valley in that slide show?

[davehuth]

Here is a Clear Creek Rave:

http://www.canyoneeringusa.com/rave/0809clear/

it gives a pretty good picture of the route.

[moab mark]

"My guess is that fewer than 50 people have ever done that route," Chamberlain said after emerging from the daylong epic.

"That was about as challenging as any slot I've ever done," Ebel added. "A classic."

So.... am I the only one that finds humor in this? Clear Creek (Cathedral in the Desert) is almost as difficult as Pine Creek in Zion... Probably several thousand people have done this route. When doing the route from the lake it's a half day cake walk.

Beta please

[ratagonia]

"My guess is that fewer than 50 people have ever done that route," Chamberlain said after emerging from the daylong epic.

"That was about as challenging as any slot I've ever done," Ebel added. "A classic."

So.... am I the only one that finds humor in this? Clear Creek (Cathedral in the Desert) is almost as difficult as Pine Creek in Zion... Probably several thousand people have done this route. When doing the route from the lake it's a half day cake walk.

Beta please

All the beta you need is in the various sources cited. T

[ratagonia]

"That was about as challenging as any slot I've ever done," Ebel added. "A classic."

So.... am I the only one that finds humor in this? Clear Creek (Cathedral in the Desert) is almost as difficult as Pine Creek in Zion... Probably several thousand people have done this route. When doing the route from the lake it's a half day cake walk.

Hey, hey, hey. Cut the guy some slack. If that's the most challenging slot he's ever done, the guy is obviously a beginner. So, other than me and Ice, we were all beginners once...

Tom

[ratagonia]

Checked out the online slide show from that link. Would love Tom to post a coment about lack of helmets



http://photos.denverpost.com/photopr...bum-5186&num=1

(check!)

[Scott Card]

"That was about as challenging as any slot I've ever done," Ebel added. "A classic."

So.... am I the only one that finds humor in this? Clear Creek (Cathedral in the Desert) is almost as difficult as Pine Creek in Zion... Probably several thousand people have done this route. When doing the route from the lake it's a half day cake walk.

Hey, hey, hey. Cut the guy some slack. If that's the most challenging slot he's ever done, the guy is obviously a beginner. So, other than me and Ice, we were all beginners once...

Tom

Some were born to greatness the rest of us are mere foot soldiers. Besides I like being a beginner. No pressure to be profound.

[Iceaxe]

So, other than me and Ice, we were all beginners once...