Arches NP Canyoneering Update

[Iceaxe]

Thanksgiving weekend I spent some time with the rangers in Arches NP and the following is what is required of canyoneers if they do not want a permit system similar to Zion's installed. This is all unofficial at the moment but you will get the drift if you read this to the end.

U-Turn: The final rappel needs to be at the head of the canyon in what would be the natural watercourse. All other rappel options are not acceptable. If you see webbing at any of the other optional rappel points please do us all a favor and remove it. Taking 5 minutes to do it now will save you hours standing in a permit line at a future date. The rangers want this rappel out of sight of the typical tourist.

Bighorn: When you exit Bighorn please follow the wash out to the road. The rangers have installed a giant cairn in the correct wash to try and direct traffic into the wash.

Undercover & MMI: Use the slickrock exit. Do not use the sand hill exit or the through Culvert Arch Exit. If you are not exiting from wash bottom to rim completely on slickrock you are going to get this canyon closed to canyoneering. If the slick rock exit is beyond your abilities the rangers have asked that you exit out to the Lost Springs trailhead and enjoy the hike through their lovely park.

Dragonfly: Do not use the petrified sand dune viewpoint as the trailhead.

[moab mark]

We did U Turn on Wednesday and by the look of the rope grooves that are appearing most people are rappeling off of the two new bolts to the right of the original rappel. The bolts are identical to the one that is placed under the rock at the first drop. We had a guy a few trips ago give us some grieve when we walked down to the parking lot. You end up walking past those signs that state this is not a hiking trail. He was standing by one of them and vocally pointed it out to us.

Mark

[Iceaxe]

We did U Turn on Wednesday and by the look of the rope grooves that are appearing most people are rappeling off of the two new bolts to the right of the original rappel.

Yeah.... the new bolts in U-Turn also didn't go over very well with the park. The questions I received were:

"Why are they placing bolts when there is a big rock with slings right there?" Which was followed by a look of total puzzlement on the face of the ranger doing the asking.

and

"When doing U-Turn Why does everyone think they need to establish a new location for the final rappel?"

Canyoneers REALLY need to police U-turn. Anyone doing the route needs to walk out to Wiley E Coyote rock and cut out any webbing they see. You would be doing all canyoneers a big favor. The rangers also wanted to chop the new bolts but are afraid of starting a bolt war in the park. They really just want no new bolts until they decide exactly how they want to address the issue of bolts inside the park. And exact quote from one ranger "please ask the canyoneers to leave their bolt kits at home".

[mtthwlw]

The sad thing is, the 10% really don't care about these suggestions. The 90% will be punished with them.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[Iceaxe]

The sad thing is, the 10% really don't care about these suggestions. The 90% will be punished with them.

With regards to U-Turn the 90% are doing the wrong thing. Anyone that does U-Turn and does not spend 5 minutes cutting out the bandit rappel anchors is hurting us all. This route for some reason seems to get special attention from the NPS. We need to get control of this routes so please do your part and consider cutting out the bandit rappels as part of the price of admission. This is one route where a little pro-action that everyone is capable of can make a big difference.

[Iceaxe]

Something I forgot to add..... The rangers have asked those doing tech routes in the Firey Furnace avoid the Ranger Guided Tours, particularly in Lomatium. If the ranger tour is at the final rappel they have asked you step back around the corner and wait 10 minutes until the tour group leaves before completing the rappel.

It appears for the time being tech routes will continue to be allowed in the Furnace, but we have been warned that we need to be on our best behavior to keep things as is.

[skiclimb3287]

U-Turn: The final rappel needs to be at the head of the canyon in what would be the natural watercourse. All other rappel options are not acceptable. If you see webbing at any of the other optional rappel points please do us all a favor and remove it. Taking 5 minutes to do it now will save you hours standing in a permit line at a future date. The rangers want this rappel out of sight of the typical tourist.

Did U-Turn on Saturday. No webbing on Wiley E. Coyote Rock, but there of course was some on the two bolts. Bright red no less, easy to spot. I took that webbing with me and we rappelled down the water course.

Also cleaned up the anchor for Winter Camp on Sunday. Quite a bit of extra bright webbing for that one as well as a brand new backup that was doing nothing. Lots of slack in it. I just started over and left one piece of webbing behind.

[ratagonia]

Did U-Turn on Saturday. No webbing on Wiley E. Coyote Rock, but there of course was some on the two bolts. Bright red no less, easy to spot. I took that webbing with me and we rappelled down the water course.

Also cleaned up the anchor for Winter Camp on Sunday. Quite a bit of extra bright webbing for that one as well as a brand new backup that was doing nothing. Lots of slack in it. I just started over and left one piece of webbing behind.

Thanks SkiClimb. Good on ya!

Tom