Neon, S. Fork Choprock, Ringtail, Red Breaks

[Steve Hawkins]

Hi Folks,

Just wanted to drop a quick line on conditions in the above canyons, especially since I used this forum to plan part of my trip. My partner and I (rookie canyoneers from New York), descended Neon, South Fork Choprock, Ringtail, and two forks of Red Breaks Canyon last week. Here are my observations, again from a rookie's perspective:

Neon Canyon

We descended Neon Canyon from a point much further up canyon from the point Kelsey indicates as the normal entrance. We found the descent to be straightforward, and incredibly scenic. I personally broke one logjam up canyon of the normal entrance, which leads me to believe we may have been the first party that high this year. There was only one obstacle that gave us any trouble, and it was a pothole, but not the one near the final rappel. The pothole in question was below the normal entrance, but well up canyon of the final rappel. The water in the hole was neck deep on my 6 foot partner. We used partner assist and prussiks to escape. The final monster pothole (according to Kelsey) was full with water and we just swam across it on 4/17/11. Otherwise no problems with Neon.

South Fork Choprock

South Fork was other worldly, just amazing. There were no difficult technical challenges in this canyon. No pothole issues, I am not sure if there ever is, but there were none on 4/18/11. There was ALOT of water and ALOT of swimming in this canyon. The water was cold, we had 4/3mm wetsuits and were fine, never cold. I would say the biggest technical challenge in this canyon was sustained down climbing. There was one tricky spot that may freak some folks out. The canyon was very narrow and full of water, and there was a long jam with only 6 inches of airspace between the water surface the the log jam. So I was swimming (water over my head), and barely able to get air as you move under the log jam. Problem was forcing my pack through the slot and logjam. Had to futz. around a couple minutes to force the pack through this spot. Otherwise, Choprock was straightforward.

Ringtail

Ringtail was short and sweet. Very narrow, so only skinny folks I guess. There was one very large pothole in Ringtail that required a partner assist and prussiking. Very cool canyon though, exceeded expectations.

Red Breaks

We followed Kelsey's recommended trip, up one fork and down another (can't remember the forks there were so many). This canyon is amazing! Very narrow, sustained slots. Only real technical challenge was a 5 meter downclimb or buttslide into an unavoidable ankle deep pool. You could also rap the 5 meters if you choose, there was a rap station. We found a really cool formation Kelsey calls "The Volcano" near the Red Breaks Canyon.

Well, we had blast on our canyoneering trip, and hopefully will be back again. We met forum member "bladerider" at Egypt. I think they probable had this year's first descent of Choprock, because they busted up a few logjams. Thanks for this forum, it is a good one, and hopefully this condition report is helpful to someeone. If anyone has questions about our observations, let me know and I will try to help.

[jhillock]

Thanks for the info.

[ratagonia]

Hi Folks,

South Fork Choprock

South Fork was other worldly, just amazing. There were no difficult technical challenges in this canyon. No pothole issues, I am not sure if there ever is, but there were none on 4/18/11. There was ALOT of water and ALOT of swimming in this canyon. The water was cold, we had 4/3mm wetsuits and were fine, never cold. I would say the biggest technical challenge in this canyon was sustained down climbing. There was one tricky spot that may freak some folks out. The canyon was very narrow and full of water, and there was a long jam with only 6 inches of airspace between the water surface the the log jam. So I was swimming (water over my head), and barely able to get air as you move under the log jam. Problem was forcing my pack through the slot and logjam. Had to futz. around a couple minutes to force the pack through this spot. Otherwise, Choprock was straightforward.

Just wanted to clarify - if the water was a little higher, or the log jams a little lower, then perhaps Choprock would have been quite difficult, in a few spots.

Good effort.

Log jams shift around each time it rains, so log jams in the way does not indicate "first of the year" as much as "first since last big storm".

Tom

[Steve Hawkins]

Just wanted to clarify - if the water was a little higher, or the log jams a little lower, then perhaps Choprock would have been quite difficult, in a few spots.

Tom

Tom, I agree completely. I can envision with slightly higher water how some of the log jams we swam under could be real bears to climb over since you are already in water over your head.

[slim]

Thanks for the great beta, Steve. Myself and two friends will be in Neon and Ringtail this Thursday and Friday. I'm excited.
I'll report back after after the 9th.

[bladerider]

Well, we had blast on our canyoneering trip, and hopefully will be back again. We met forum member "bladerider" at Egypt. I think they probable had this year's first descent of Choprock, because they busted up a few logjams. Thanks for this forum, it is a good one, and hopefully this condition report is helpful to someeone. If anyone has questions about our observations, let me know and I will try to help.

Hey Steve, glad to hear you had a great trip and made it with those wetsuits! Our group was definitely not the first to descend Chop this year, but we were the first to duck under one of those log jams. As you said we spent sometime clearing debris so we could squeeze underneath. Possible credit for what could be a first descent of the year goes to David Wallace at canyoneering.wordpress.com. He gave us some really great beta before we left, and I know they had to climb over several log jams that we didn't.

-Forrest