[B]Neon and Ringtail Canyon Nov 5 and 6[/B]

[spinesnaper]

Neon/Ringtail TR

November 4, my canyoneering partner, Jasper, and I drove from Los Angeles to Escalante and stayed at the Circle D Motel. We got a predawn start and drove out to the Egypt Trailhead and hit the trail at 9AM.



The weather was about perfect for late Fall. It was cold predawn in the mid 30’s but it rapidly warmed with the Sun and the high was in the high sixties.



We made a beeline for Neon Canyon and nabbed the campsite at the mouth of the Canyon, dropped our backpacks, grabbed the wetsuits and gear and headed up canyon to do Neon.





Ram had indicated in a post in the Yahoo Canyoneering Group that the keepers in Neon might be filled but we planned on keeping an eye on our descent and to retreat up canyon if the final hole was in keeper mode.

Somehow I forgot bring my 8.3mm-60m Canyon Fire rope from home. However, we had a 100-foot, 8mm static rope and more than enough pull cord for the final rappel in the Golden Cathedral. My partner wanted to use the higher alternate start for Neon that Tom Jones describes on his website. However, I was concerned about our time so we did the standard start for the Canyon. As it was, we rolled back into camp at 5PM so I think that was a good choice. However, the upper portion of the canyon definitely looked interesting.

The canyon went by quickly and before we knew it we were deposited at the up canyon side of the final keeper pothole. It was so filled with water that we almost did not recognize it: Definitely in swimmer mode not in keeper mode.



The rappel out of the Golden Cathedral was amazing.









The next morning we planned on doing Ringtail and return to the car the same day. We got a slow start mostly because of the cold morning temperature. However, finally we pulled on our cold wetsuits, packed up the gear for the canyon and headed over to Ringtail. We were concerned about the two keepers in Ringtail and we discussed what condition we might find them in. We made our way into the canyon and headed down canyon to the technical start of Ringtail.





The entrance is an awkward down climb that is either a slightly flared body jam or an off width circular chimney depending on which way you do it and then into a swimmer pothole.





From there, down canyon, is a small down climb chimney around a couple of large chock stones. Then immediately one is staring down on the first of the keeper potholes. It has to be entered with a short 10 foot rappel from a heavy snag lodged in the canyon, although the route descriptions suggest it can be down climbed. Even if you are a strong climber, this should not be done unless the rest of your party has surmounted the keeper pothole you are entering.

Looking down, the pothole definitely looked like a keeper. We discussed pack tossing from our elevated position. However, we both decided it would be educational to go into the pothole and see what it would be like to work our way out from the hole. We retrievably blocked one side of the rope and both rappelled into it. We preset ascenders on the blocked side of the rope. I looked at my watch just before we entered the pothole. It was 1PM.

The pothole was waist deep on the up canyon side. The way out was blocked by a slick, nearly featureless, steep ramp leading to the lip, which was 4 feet about the water surface. The surface was greased with wet mud. Below the water’s surface the pothole was under cut with no features to use to support one’s body weight. I could not reach the bottom there, nor could my partner and he is 6’3”. We immediately went to work on a pack toss. With great effort, my partner managed to get both packs over the lip. Unfortunately the mud that greased our side of the hole must have also lubricated the other side as well. As we put our weight on the cords that held the packs, they began to pull over the lip. We tried various permutations of this including partner assisting. Jasper submerged to find the bottom of the hole. He went about a foot under water and did not find the bottom. At this point, I looked at my watched and it was now 2:15. Somehow we managed to use up an hour an fifteen minutes and accomplished nothing and I was getting cold. We also needed to break camp and get back to the car before nightfall. We looked at each other and immediately agreed it was time to retreat. We ascended out of the keeper pothole. It was an enlightening experience. We will be back in the future to try it again.

Now I would like to say that we had the foresight to leave a line hanging at the awkward start of the technical entrance to Ringtail but we didn’t. Fortunately my partner is a strong climber and did a lie-back into the circular chimney to get out of the depth of the canyon. This saved us from doing a 5.10 plus friction climb out of the canyon. He fixed a two to one pulley for me and assisted me out of the there as well.



We warmed up in the afternoon sun and had lunch before making our way back to the mouth of Neon.

We packed up and broke camp at 5PM.



We beat a hasty retreat back in the direction of the trailhead. We got to the base of the final escarpment just as it got dark and reached the car at 7:30PM with headlamps. A fantastic trip and important lessons were learned: don’t loose your height advantage on your keeper pothole, among others.

Sorry about the goofy thread title.

Ken Steinsapir

[Iceaxe]

[Bubbles]

Awesome TR! What do you think it would have taken to get out of the keeper? Have you ever encountered one that difficult?

[spinesnaper]

One that difficult-no. It is easy for me to speculate about alternative strategies but that does not mean they would have been successful. Before descending into the pot hole, we had a profound height advantage above the hole. We were thinking that filling the potshot we had with us with sand, tying an accessory cord to it, and letting it sail down canyon plus or minus a pack toss, would have done the trick. Having goofed around in the hole, we used up our time and decided to hit the road.

Ken

[accadacca]

Great TR.

[ratagonia]

Great TR.

X2 Great TR and a wise way to go about the keeper thingeemabobber... Good job.

Tom

[spinesnaper]

Thanks Tom

I am going to be adding a new 60m 8.3 mm Caynon Fire rope to my canyoneering wish list. I did not just leave my rope at home. Apparently I left the rope at Stoney Point, a climbing area in the San Fernando Valley were we practiced ascending before heading off the Grand Staircase. I sure hope that the kids don't climb on my static rope.

[Bubbles]

Haha, Stoney Point, I hate that place! Full of graffiti, plenty of sketchy Valley folk and you never know when you're going to walk around the corner and stumble into the middle of a porno shoot!

[spinesnaper]

Porn you say? I guess I haven't been practicing at Stoney Point enough.

[lofty]

Thanks for the report ...neon is on my wishlist

[rclimb]

neon is on my wish-list to do this summer look's like a lot of fun.

[shaggy125]

I must have missed this back when you posted it originally. Nice pictures. If you are interested in seeing pics of the upper sections of canyon, I have some on my blog. We did the entire canyon from the Moody Creek trail-head split between two trips (one trip we dropped in high above Tom's route and did the entire canyon to the cathedral rap, then a few days later we dropped in from Moody and did the canyon down to our footsteps from a few days before). I posted the pictures in order as if we did the entire canyon top to bottom in one trip. There is even a mini cathedral in the upper section where you rappel through a bridge. No pictures of anyone rapping it since I was playing meat anchor and was last to do it. The picture of the bridge with my friend pointing back to it is the spot if anyone is wondering.

http://utoutdoors.blogspot.com/2010/05/neon-canyon.html

[spinesnaper]

Shaggy

Your pics are great. I put the leica M9 in harms way. This is going to reopen the debate I had with my partner. He wanted to hike much more up canyon and I was not so excited. We did Neon on the day we hiked in and as it was we made it back to our base camp at 5PMish. We have to go back and finish ringtail. So many canyons, so little time.

Ken

[nonot]

Great photos and TR, thanks for sharing!