TR- Undercover (aka Lost and Found) and Winter Camp Wash

[RyanGJ]

Coming from Grand Junction, CO these canyons are close! The main road is a bladed dirt road but the last side road was a bit sandy. It was nice to have a some clearance but a car would probably make it. Not many people out here if you did get stuck though! With four people it took (car to car) 5 hours for Undercover and 1.5 hrs for Winter Camp using an optional climbing/chimney exit.

We headed out to Undercover Canyon (aka Lost and Found) which was easy to find. The anchors are all intact, the webbing seemed OK for now but will likely need to be replaced soon.

I know there has been discussion on the bolts in this canyon. For what its worth I think these bolts were well placed and thought out. You would not even see the first bolt unless you were looking for it, and only canyoneers will see the second set. Both provide good rope pull and I noticed very little grooving of the rock. Seems like they have been in place since 1997 so they have been there quite a while. Just an opinion, I always come prepared in case the bolts are gone!

The last anchor currently has three long pieces of webbing, with two pieces being more recent. I included a photos of the current anchor. I believe this may be improved by only slinging the boulder directly before the rappel. We did not bring enough webbing to really do it correctly. I will try and clean this up next time now that I know what it will need. I did remove as much old stuff as possible. There are two carabiners that were used a a wedge anchor at some point that will need a hammer (to reverse them out, not to chip the rock) to remove if so inclined. You only see them if you climb up to were the old tow strap was.

The exit was pretty simple. We simply ran up the slick rock, barley even need to touch hands to the sandstone except in a couple places, maybe 10 feet of 5.easy slab climbing. There are some rock cairns that lead right to a good point in the slickrock to ascend. I would NOT do this with any precipitation since it is very friction dependent exit with big penalty points. It did have some exposure factor to it, but if you are comfortable with slab climbing you won't really notice it much.

Winter Camp is a fun little canyon! There is currently some yellow and blue webbing in place. We did not use that anchor but used a live Juniper to the right. We needed about 50 or 60 feet of extension from the Juniper. This is not a big deal since you can easily retrieve the whole set-up. This puts you more in the main watercourse and provides for a cleaner rappel (in photos). We did a fun exit option. The second canyon on the right provides an interesting up climb. Its dirty, but fun! Tip is to stay low and go under more than over the boulders. You know your in the correct side canyon if you are weaving and climbing in and out of boulders. The end is a semi-exposed chimney climb of about 15-20 feet (there is a pic of this). Made this little canyon a great time!

I believe you could easily do MMI and Undercover in a day. Due to time constraints we had to pass up MMI this time and I don't have beta for Repeat JR, so no TR yet! As close as these canyons are to home I hope to explore them soon!

[mjhibb]

did undercover recently with a nephew/20yoa niece, she being a neophyte to these sorts of outtings. went off without a hitch, but the climb out to the rim definately the crux. and alot to ask of a neophyte. able to give her a TR belay through the sportiest section, but still quite the psychological hurdle to overcome for her. just beware...and don't underestimate the exit climb. make sure you're very comfortable on 5.5/5.6 friction with potentially large consequences. and definately heed the advise above about not doing when wet. nice SAR write-up on this very thing, in this very place in the forum. tried to include link, but too new to 'the community'.

[ilipichicuma]

just beware...and don't underestimate the exit climb. make sure you're very comfortable on 5.5/5.6 friction with potentially large consequences. and definately heed the advise above about not doing when wet.

I was down there in January and there was snow on the exit climb. Made it really hairy. We barely got out. Be really careful about this one in the winter, or like mjhibb said, when there's water on the exit climb, because it is pretty exposed. Pretty cool, simple canyon overall, though.

[RyanGJ]

We did MMI the other day and found a reasonable exit under Covert Arch. Did not take that much route finding. It is about as exposed and level of difficulty as the climbers exit, with a few moves of about 5.5 slab. We did a simultaneous rappel (pick up ropes, don't pull them over and create grooves) off the arch just for fun. From the arch, walk under the arch and along the slick rock for 5 min to an obvious rock pile to an easy exit to the rim.