North Wash

[moab mark]

My buddy and I were down to the North Wash for a few days. It was the first time we had done any of the canyons there. We base camped out of my Toy Hauler trailer. Nothing better then a nice shower each night. We had a great trip we shuttled around and hit East Lep when we got to the intersection we went up Middle a ways. I assume Belfast Boul. is the section before the intersection where west came in? We went up thru a couple of more skinny sections after west and then bailed. Pretty abusive on the body. I will never be much of a skinny slot guy. I had to go high most of the time. After lunch we headed over and went up East Blarney and then down West. Those canyons were really fun. Before the Sun set we whipped thru Morocco, great little canyon.

The next day we headed over to Slideanide and Arsenic. Those two canyons are awesome. We were really suprised at how fun they were. Awesome rappels and great downclimbing. The final rappel in Slideanide is cool.

I've got to share something that happened at Arsenic. We took Shane's suggestion and took one 200' rope for the first rappel which we left and picked it up on the way back. We set the rope and my buddy Tad headed down. When I went the rope kept fireman belaying me due to all the cracks and pinches in the slot. I struggled to get to the bottom. When I got off rappel I said to Tad we could have a hard time pulling the rope back up without it getting stuck. We then headed thru the canyon, when we got back to the top we reached down grabbed onto the rope and could not move it. It was really tight. We figured I had pulled the rope down into one of the cracks while rappeling and now we were going to be donating more $$$$ to Tom for a new rope. We walked out to the edge and could not see where the problem was. At this point we decided to try and untie the clove hitch and see if we could pull the rope over to the watercourse and free it. It was so tight that it took all I could do to get the clove hitch to release. Yea I know should of used a releasable We then took the rope and moved over to the watercourse and started pulling, we moved the rope and someone in the BOTTOM yelled up. SCARED THE *&*& out of Us!! We hadn't seen anyone in two days and someone was rappeling on our rope!!!! The Odds of that happening have got to be astronomical. We looked over the edge and did not see or hear anyone and at the same time I am trying to remove the clove hitch when someone was on rappel!!!!

If someone reading this happened to be in Arsenic Monday afternoon did you hear us before we pulled the rope up? Not only did it freak us out but if they did not hear us and right when someone got off rappel all of a sudden the rope started started going up had to be freaky.

All in all we would give the North Wash area a 10. Short approach and return hikes with each canyon only taking a couple of hours. We had a great time.

Can't believe there was someone spending the night so close in Sandthrax while I was snoring a way.

Here's a few picture.
Ok I am struggling with the new bogley pic posting? Maybe it's just me but I use to be able to post my picasa, I'm feeling lucky pictures, now can only post orginals and they did not stay in the order I attached them? Oh well better than nothing I guess. How do you now put a description with a picture?


Mark

[Iceaxe]

At this point we decided to try and untie the clove hitch and see if we could pull the rope over to the watercourse and free it. It was so tight that it took all I could do to get the clove hitch to release. Yea I know should of used a releasable We then took the rope and moved over to the watercourse and started pulling, we moved the rope and someone in the BOTTOM yelled up. SCARED THE *&*& out of Us!!

I can't wait for the TR that begins.... "We were rappelling on this rope we found and someone above started to untie the anchor....."

[ratagonia]

And as a point of canyon etiquette, it is not polite and not all that safe to rappel on someone else's rope without an invitation.

If the rope has obviously been there awhile, it is trash and should be removed and packed out. Personally, I don't like rappelling on trash.

You know the rope goes down as far as you can see it. What happens below there? Maybe it got stuck, maybe it got dinged up, maybe it is cut off 20 feet from the bottom.

Friends don't let friends rap on found ropes.

Tom

[Sombeech]

How do you now put a description with a picture?

This might help:
http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthre...s-in-your-post

By the way, crazy story. I wonder if they had their own rope and just chose not to use it.

[moab mark]

This might help:
http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthre...s-in-your-post

By the way, crazy story. I wonder if they had their own rope and just chose not to use it.

I imagine they showed up with their own and went look here is a nice Imlay rope already rigged let's head down. What I want to know is did they hear us up top and were just being quiet or did they drop a brick when the rope started to disappear? We had a good discussion walking out about what if we would of dropped whoever was on rappel. It should of been obvious someone was on the rope but since we couldn't see them and I thought the rope was going to get stuck it became the chance for a perfect storm.

[Sombeech]

So how long was that particular rap?

[moab mark]

So how long was that particular rap?

It can be staged as multiple shorter rappels but total top to bottom it's just under 200'.

[DWayne27]

Awesome TR - all of the above are some of my favorites. I keep trying to branch out and do canyons in other areas... but the North Wash is definitely my favorite. All pretty easy, and quite excellent.

[Brian in SLC]

Wild rope story!

What are the odds? Fair, I'd guess.

Some what if's for me to think about. What if they'd have damaged the rope (core shot or worse)? Yeah, what if they were at a flat spot, decided to unweight for a second, or, you did a mini haul to free it, untied the clove hitch, then...yikes!

Must have been wild timing for you guys not to have seen or heard each other? Crazy.

Wondering if I'd rappel on someone's rope...hmmm...brand new, fixed nicely...hmmm...apparently abandoned...or at least unoccupied (!). Probably not? I guess I'd feel bad if I damaged it.

I guess be glad they just didn't "liberate it".

Instead of the clove hitch, I sometimes use a double bowline which seems easier to untie after rappelling on.

Fun times!

-Brian in SLC

[ratagonia]

Instead of the clove hitch, I sometimes use a double bowline which seems easier to untie after rappelling on.

Fun times!

-Brian in SLC

Maybe we need a new thread - easiest knot to untie while someone is rapping on it!

T

[moab mark]

Wild rope story!

What are the odds? Fair, I'd guess.

Some what if's for me to think about. What if they'd have damaged the rope (core shot or worse)? Yeah, what if they were at a flat spot, decided to unweight for a second, or, you did a mini haul to free it, untied the clove hitch, then...yikes!

Must have been wild timing for you guys not to have seen or heard each other? Crazy.

Wondering if I'd rappel on someone's rope...hmmm...brand new, fixed nicely...hmmm...apparently abandoned...or at least unoccupied (!). Probably not? I guess I'd feel bad if I damaged it.

I guess be glad they just didn't "liberate it".

Instead of the clove hitch, I sometimes use a double bowline which seems easier to untie after rappelling on.

Fun times!

-Brian in SLC

Yea we talked about if we had showed up and the bag and rope were gone. After they scared the snot out of us they did ask if we were coming on down to join them. The girl in their group also said that they appreciated us letting them use our rope. We still do not know where they came from. When we got back to the trailhead there were no vehicles around.
Brian on a side note I'll send you that book soon. Have been busy playing and working.

[Sombeech]

Maybe we need a new thread - easiest knot to untie while someone is rapping on it!

T