Pine Creek - floating iPhone

[Iceaxe]

all smart phones are iphones like all copiers are xerox.

It's easy to tell the difference.... those that pee sitting down have an iPhone. Those that pee standing up have a real phone.

[rurri]

The story is not all that interesting, but I'll let Solaris tell it.

Of course, he won't be able to share any photos or details about the man who showed up out of nowhere to help. He asked we not talk about him or share any photos.

Part of the reason for the late run was to avoid causing a bottleneck at the last rappel and also to avoid rangers asking questions.

[ghawk]

Of course, he won't be able to share any photos or details about the man who showed up out of nowhere to help. He asked we not talk about him or share any photos.

And it came to pass that Canyonman appeared again, to renew the hope of the downcast hearts... then he was gone into the night...

[denaliguide]

It's easy to tell the difference.... those that pee sitting down have an iPhone. Those that pee standing up have a real phone.

apparently i STAND corrected.

[solaris]

So after a week of thinking about how to get my phone back from that cliff. I got word from my friends who did Pine Creek last friday that the cell phone was indeed still there. There was a few small rocks surrounding the phone and it seemed like the phone moved a little from it's original resting spot. Weather reports indicated that it did not rain since I left my phone there the previous saturday so there is a chance that the phone was still intact.

First thing saturday morning, I headed off to Zion from LA with a friend of mine and we brought wetsuits, climbing rack and 70m rope. I also picked up my newest piece of canyoneering gear. Mr. Longarm Painting Pole.

We make it to the start of Pine Creek at about 630pm and parked. In plain view across the street was a ranger waving traffic in and out of the tunnel. We decided to sit around and hide our gear behind the car and wait until the right moment to head into the slot. A few tourists walked over and peppered us with questions on hiking in the area and if we were canyoneering. Of course I denied doing any canyoneering and said I was gonna doing a short hike. After some time of shooing tourist away, we quickly moved into the slot with a 8 ft bright yellow pole and large packs, hoping the rangers didn't notice. I changed into my wetsuit and threw on my harness and soon it was time to get things done.

We made quick work going down the slots, the pole prussiked on harness or simply carried down with the non rap hand. After 5 rappels it was time for the moment of truth. My climbing partner had only seen pictures of the phone perched across the slot and thought it was ridiculous that we are here for a phone.

After some discussion on how to approach the other side of the gorge, going from crazy to complete insanity. One idea was to rap 10 ft, then swing over to the other wall. Then you had about 10 feet of 5.9 friction climbing to retrieve the phone. Of course the exit out of that area would required a 12 ft swing into the cathedral with no way of knowing if you would slam into a wall.

My climbing partner was clipped in with a sling on the anchor and was leaning off the 90 ft drop. Mr. Long Arm extended into 3 sections for a total of 24 ft. At this time there was sand and dirt between the sub poles and extending the pole became tough. We extended the pole out and sure enough it reached right over that gorge with about 5 ft to spare. In my dry bag I had brought an angled mount and paint pad attachment. We tore off the foam part of the pad and applied 3m outdoor double stick tape. It was rated 5 lbs. We stuck 3 strips on the pad and attempted to grab the phone.

The phone stuck on and we lifted it 2 feet and it dropped right back on the slope and we had the front face of the cover. We moved the pole back and I had retrieved my front cover. Now the cell phone was sitting under the back plastic cover. We then picked up the back cover and was able to bring the back cover to our side. Now it was time for the cell phone. We pressed the back side of the cell with double stick tape and lifted, the cell unbelievably was sticking on to the pad. It was amazing, we starting bringing the pole back and second by second of carefully moving the pole back my partner reached out and then had my cell in hand. We were all smiles at that point. I could not believe it. The sun was setting, we rapped down and begin our scramble out.

On the exit my climbing partner was way ahead of me and I didn't see him down the stream after a while. I walk up the usual exit and reached the road, sure enough he is nowhere to be found. It's about 9pm at this point, I sit around and yell for him for a while, no response. I start walking up the road towards the tunnel. There is cars going up the tunnel every 10 minutes and I try to flag a car for a ride. I finally bump into my partner and he exited higher up the road ahead of me. After a few attempts at hitch hiking, we hit the tunnel. We were jogging inside the tunnel and when ever there was an approaching car, we quickly cut to the side and feel a quick rush of wind and momentum of a moving car pushing past us. We hit a open window and looked out, the view is extends to a massive expanse of the canyon and valley with a large overlooking arch. A full moon is starting to shine over the valley. So finally a car pulls over to an open window and the people inside are shocked to see us walking towards them. We ask for a ride and their car is already full of people. They offer to give us a ride on their back bumper and soon after I am standing on the back bumper inside zion main tunnel with a roof rack as hand holds. A few cars start tailgating us and I had to wonder what they were thinking. Riding the back bumper inside Zion Main Tunnel was the coolest thing I had done in a long time. At the end we get out and inside the SUV were a group of 4 canyonneers who had just finished going down Ordervile Canyon. I tell them about our cell phone rescue and they were amazed about our story. We thank them heartily and soon after we were on our way to North Ridge, we finished the night with a sumptuous dinner, warm fireplace, and hospitable company.

Solaris

[Dan-wild]

Ahaha! That's hilarious. I know it probably was not very funny at the time. In retrospect, all things are laughable I think.

[rurri]

And the real item rescued? 739 contacts. Years of girls phone numbers.

[Taylor]

Awesome and nice work!

[Sandstone Addiction]

The story is not all that interesting

Every bit of that story was awesome!

[Iceaxe]

And the real item rescued? 739 contacts. Years of girls phone numbers.

Can't lose the little black book!

[Deathcricket]

OK that story was friggin awesome! thanks for sharing, now back up those contacts, haha.

[denaliguide]

awesome story.

[ghawk]

excellent rescue!

[blueeyes]

nice

[dude9478]

That's a good story. I'm curious, why were you trying to hide from the ranger?

[bigred72]

you did. see solaris' first post

Besides the direct mention of iPhone seven times in the first post, it's all a mute point now.

[jbick]

Ditto dude9478's question. Didn't bother to get a permit-type of situation?

[rurri]

Ditto dude9478's question. Didn't bother to get a permit-type of situation?

"bother" implies permits were left on a saturday night at 6 PM.

Not saying they weren't or that they didn't have one.... Not quite sure what kind of can of worms that kind of statement would open up on bogely...

[jbick]

"bother" implies permits were left on a saturday night at 6 PM.

Missed that part.

[spinesnaper]

Gosh, you mean if you had your phone backed up, you wouldn't have needed to rescue the phone? Let that be a lesson. Helmet-check, rapides-check, rope and harnesses-check, phone backed up-check.

This was definitely a job for Canyonman.

Classic.

Ken