Undercover and Winter Camp

[moabmatt]

I placed those bolts in 1997, which predated my adoptance of a (mostly) natural anchor/clean canyoneering ethic. It also predated the canyon's addition to the park, which was basically a ridiculous political move by Rep. Chris Cannon as a follow up to Clinton's designation of the GSENM. Just had to throw that in... Anyway, the reason I didn't place bolts at the last rappel was because the rock along the walls is crap. It's extremely fractured Entrada sandstone. There just wasn't a good place I could find for a pair of trustworthy bolts. The bombproof (looking) logjam high above was, for me, the obvious anchor choice for providing an easy start and well out of the way of floodwater. You could find some decent rock on the ledge itself for bolts, but that would lend itself to an awkward low start and subject the bolts to floodwater.

The "tow strap" is 2" webbing rated to 12,000lbs and has been there since '97. I got a spool of that stuff back in the late 80's from a military surplus sale. Over the years my supply dwindled and that anchor basically finished off the last of that spool. Last time we were in Undercover was '08 and we still used that webbing.

There's a lot of loose rock in that canyon. It seems like every year we go in there there's some new significant rockfall. The big chockstone below the logjam at the last rappel wasn't there in the fall '07 and was there in the spring '08. Also, there used to be two little arches spanning the gap at the first rappel. A flood or just plain old mechanical weathering in late '97/early '98 took out the upstream arch. We now call that remaining arch Widow Arch.

[moab mark]

Did you add the bolt at the first drop, it looks a lot newer? I think the tow strap only has one end now.

[ratagonia]

I placed those bolts in 1997, which predated my adoptance of a (mostly) natural anchor/clean canyoneering ethic. It also predated the canyon's addition to the park, which was basically a ridiculous political move by Rep. Chris Cannon as a follow up to Clinton's designation of the GSENM. Just had to throw that in... Anyway, the reason I didn't place bolts at the last rappel was because the rock along the walls is crap. It's extremely fractured Entrada sandstone. There just wasn't a good place I could find for a pair of trustworthy bolts. The bombproof (looking) logjam high above was, for me, the obvious anchor choice for providing an easy start and well out of the way of floodwater. You could find some decent rock on the ledge itself for bolts, but that would lend itself to an awkward low start and subject the bolts to floodwater.

The "tow strap" is 2" webbing rated to 12,000lbs and has been there since '97. I got a spool of that stuff back in the late 80's from a military surplus sale. Over the years my supply dwindled and that anchor basically finished off the last of that spool. Last time we were in Undercover was '08 and we still used that webbing.

There's a lot of loose rock in that canyon. It seems like every year we go in there there's some new significant rockfall. The big chockstone below the logjam at the last rappel wasn't there in the fall '07 and was there in the spring '08. Also, there used to be two little arches spanning the gap at the first rappel. A flood or just plain old mechanical weathering in late '97/early '98 took out the upstream arch. We now call that remaining arch Widow Arch.

Thanks Matt. What kind of bolts are they, probably?

Tom

[ratagonia]

Has anyone got any info on any accidents where either the bolts pulled out of the wall or a natural anchor let loose and someone went splat?

Canyoneering: very few. There is a tree in the subway that gave way, but they were off-route on the approach, and just made a poor choice of tree to rap from, especially for the 250 lb guy who rapped last.

Climbing: some of each, here and there.

Tom

[moabmatt]

They're 3/8"x3.5" Rawls. I only placed one bolt at the first rappel. Two at the second.