TR: The Squeeze!

[forum8fox]

Nathan, Eric and I took off Friday evening to go do some canyons out in Utah. We were planning on Quandry Direct and The Squeeze. We got some insider information from RAM and we drove from Hanksville to Muddy Creek. We found our way past Factory Butte and down to MC where we spent the night. Got in close to 4 in the morning, and woke with the sun (3 hours of sleep or something crazy like that). We got ready with expectations of this being one of our hardest days yet experienced.

We took off up the long arduous hike up MC crossing it many times. This resulted in soaked feet, with mud and gravel in the shoes. Some places you would step and the ground would move like Jello, I sank to my ankle early and pulled out a boot covered in chocolate pudding! Brutal! If you were walking the banks you had tamarisk to contend with which make your skin all sticky and covered in vegitation. Not too pleasant.

It was pretty though:



We came to a split and took the wrong way since we didn't have a map and didn't know there was a split. Shortly we realized our mistake by studying the hill side, MC goes between the moroni slope and the swell. We took a path back to MC following a slab on dry open ground albeit off camber some what.

There was a well worn trail heading up the slope but we weren't sure if it was the right one or not. We studied the map and read the description off Tom's site and weren't 100% sure yet, so we walked up canyon a little and found the end of the squeeze. This was good because it helped us have some more perspective on where the canyon was and how to get there. We walked back to the first place we could climb out of the canyon and onto the slope. This was a steep washed out face which lead to a alpine like ridge scramble upto a gentler ridge where we discovered a less worn hiking path. We followed the path for a while till it died off and we just took off up the slope and slightly towards the canyon to the high point seeing a cairn and a big horned sheep in the process.


Eric was fortunate enough to get to see the sheep charge strait up a nearly vertical cliff.

After reaching the top we had to come to grips with the fact that we had some weather moving in. It had spit sprinkles at us a little on the way up but what was closing in on us seemed to be something more. We scouted the way in and took some pictures and worked our way towards our possible way in.




It started blowing and raining enough for us to seek shelter, not pouring or anything but enough to be uncomfortable. We waited it out and ate lunch. Eric didn't seem to think it was a good idea to proceede, due to all the nasty looking clouds looming around in the distance before we left the peak.

I can relate to the validity of this concern, however I had noticed that the part of the storm hitting our area was the smallest of the group of clouds surrounding. I noticed sunny weather in the distance beyond before we left the peak. I prayed we could just wait it out and get some nice weather and move on. I never once saw any flowing water, but it did wet the rock a little. We let it dry up as we liesurely finished our lunch and waited for the sign that things were good to go (blue skies). We went down a series of gullies and I was in the back.

Near the bottom I got split up when they went in the other of the 2 gullies. I stayed in the one I was in and last noted them in. I went down a slotted section with some short easy down climbs untill I came to the final drop to the canyon floor.

It was a 20' drop about and they had the rope. I had some other stuff but I didn't want to fuss with it. I found a ramp leading onto the fin which split us up, and tried to walk over to them. I couldn't, but I did manage to find a way to down climb the front of the fin to the floor. I beat them down as they are rigging for their own drop. You can see them on the right here and the spot I downclimbed aswell on the front of the lookers left wall of the slot they are in:

Down canyon we go, enjoying the aesthetic narrows section before the technical fun show's it's head:








Just below this log is our first pot hole:

It's dry and easy though and we keep cruising:

















Up to this point:


We had not needed to rig any ropes up. We came to this drop and it was large enough and shapped in a manner to prevent us from jumping or down climbing. We had decided we wanted to ghost as much of this canyon as possible. So we filled a pot shot and rapped off it bypassing useless bolts.
Eric and nate work on pulling the single heavy pot shot:

Nate basically batmaned up the rope to near the lip, and pulled it free since it wasn't too high up he just dropped back down. Lesson learned, don't fill them too full if planning to pull them.


We continue down canyon encountering nothing too serious(no need to rig in other words):




Untill we came to this:

This time we rigged up 3 pot shots, maybe 3/8 full. Eric went first as Nate watched the bags and made sure they were going to hold.


Eric did a test pull and they seemed like they would pull, so we re-set them and had Eric test them again to make sure they were solid to rap off again.



Then I got to pull them this time:


I only grabbed one for the first pull, OOP's I'll grab both this time!



On we went:


Bypassing bolts left and right(2 anchors to cross 1 pot hole):




I took the high road like a silo, Eric rapped off Nate into the hole and used me as an anchor to handline out the other side. Then Nate took the high road also.

According to the pictures the next major obsticle was a downclimb into a drop into water Eric told us was neck deep. Nate and I never touched the bottom!


I had noticed the clouds over head again and was starting to keep an eye out for high ground. I saw a fair amount so I didn't feel overly anxious, although when I felt it spitting sprinkles again I started to worry a bit. We Quickly continued on through a little more water and a few cool archways(I skipped a bit through here due to my worries of the rain):





Untill we came to a fixed tyrol across a pothole, Eric got through without the aid of the tyrol(while waiting for me to shoot pictures), he came to this on the other side(after raping off his pack, and tossing it out the other side):

Realizing this was below and the fact that it could start raining, we didn't want to wait around for a flash flood:

We decided to scrap the ghosting idea and just start using the bolts as we didn't know how much was ahead of us(Nate and I just used the tyrol and we rapped off a pre-existing bolted anchor, no sweat).

I feel like we could ghost the whole canyon if we had clear weather and a full day in the canyon, more potshots might make life easier too. Me comming down from the top of the double pothole rap.







We continued down canyon in this fashion as we were concerned about time and the fact we couldn't see the whole sky:



looking back up from the last part of the rap:

I think we only used 3 or 4 drilled pre existing bolt/baby angle anchors total in the whole canyon, down climbing alot where there was already fixed webbing.
I think this was the last anchor we used:


We continued down some more fun jumping and downclimbing into other pot holes:

Jump to the island!

Then we came to the final rap:


Eric wanted to ghost it so we rapped off his pack (small haul bag). Nate went first, tested the pull, it was good. We re-set the pack, I went next, I set it extra good on the way down once I was close to the ground and Eric got the pleasure of going last. The pack was tough to pull this time, we had to extend the rope to the other side of the pond and pull with the 3 of us. It ejected like a missle into the pond!

We hiked back out as it got dark, It was dark by the time we were walking down MC. It seemed like a slog to me, I sank into silt to my knee in one spot!
I was so happy to be back at the car. We ate and passed out. We were so tired and didn't want to do the hike again so we when we woke up we ate and took off for Hanksville. Unsure of what's to come next....
There is more to come though.

[ratagonia]

Nathan, Eric and I took off Friday evening to go do some canyons out in Utah. We were planning on Quandry Direct and The Squeeze. We got some insider information from RAM and we drove from Hanksville to Muddy Creek.

...

I was so happy to be back at the car. We ate and passed out. We were so tired and didn't want to do the hike again so we when we woke up we ate and took off for Hanksville. Unsure of what's to come next....
There is more to come though.

Excellent! A super-strong effort in trying conditions.

Tom

[Cirrus2000]

Excellent TR - thanks! Looks like a great job!

[Don]

Nice TR. LOTs of pictures! Thanks!

[denaliguide]

very cool!

[ratagonia]

shoot me a shipping address, and I'll send you a couple REAL Pot Shots to try out.

Tom

[theking648]

Thats how you do a TR!! awesome

[Cirrus2000]

Hey, if I post trip reports using my hardware store ropes, will ya send me some REAL ropes to try out?

[rockgremlin]

One of the best Squeeze reports I've seen in a while. Thanks a bunch.

[Iceaxe]

[ratagonia]

Hey, if I post trip reports using my hardware store ropes, will ya send me some REAL ropes to try out?

If'n you post TRs with Harbor Freight ropes rather than the couple you have bought from me, AND SURVIVE, then yes, perhaps I would toss you some scraps...

T

[Jaxx]

loving all the pics. Looks like you had a good time. I am glad the weather kindof cleared up for you.

[pablosnazzy]

great trip report, great pics, thanks!

[forum8fox]

Thanks everyone, I'm glad you all liked the TR.
Tom my address is 93 aspen lane Evergreen Co. 80439
Thanks a ton, BTW In this photo:



I'm ascending the back side of an 80' pit in Fixin to die cave, the rope (red) is a home depot special (I'm guessing 8 mil, thin sheath). I could really use a static line for canyoneering and caving.
I'll try to post up the rest of the weekend tonight (up lep)

[trackrunner]

Hey Tom. How many potshots do you like when using it for sandbag anchors to rap off. Noticed in a latest rave TR you only used one.

think this is the best place to post this question since it's such an important part of this TR.

[ratagonia]

Hey Tom. How many potshots do you like when using it for sandbag anchors to rap off. Noticed in a latest rave TR you only used one.

think this is the best place to post this question since it's such an important part of this TR.

If the geometry is PERFECT, two potshots are sufficient, assuming your last person weighs about what I do (185). But, in many places, 3 is the required set, and sometimes 3 plus a pack or two, or a rock or two placed on top.

Pot Shots can burst when they hit the ground full of sand. It helps to leave the top open, but they can still burst. Thus, if depending on them, it is a good idea to carry several spares.

If you are doing a throw across a pothole, and the far side drops more than 10 feet (say total drop more than 20 feet), there is a fair chance that the potshot will burst the side seams on impact. I am working on this for next year, but - folks should be aware that if the landing is too hard, the potshots will burst.

Be careful out there.

Tom