Sandthrax Video 10-11-12

[PG Rob]

Was supposed to go do Poe, but my group fell apart. We were down to 3 of us; Me (red shirt), Weston (on camera) and Shawn (black shirt). We decided to run down to Sandthrax to not waste the day. This was Shawn's 2nd canyon ever, with his first being No Kidding. Great Canyon!!! Very physically and mentally challenging. Be safe out there.

Rob

[2065toyota]

Nice video

[Bshelton]

Very nice👍

[Iceaxe]

Great video.

Sent using Tapatalk

[spinesnaper]

Inspiring

Ken

[Slot Machine]

The question is, what will happen to Shawn now? Will he...

A. Develop post traumatic stress disorder from canyoneering with Rob
B. Find all canyons without an X rating mind-numbingly boring
C. Never flinch during a scary movie again
D. All of the above

I joke, I joke...

Seriously Rob, AWESOME TR!! It's a shame that you'll have to save Poe for another day.

Bob

[Eric Holden]

2:05...... Got to love it....

Weston is fighting hard and getting stabbed by sharp rocks when this happens.

: Weston!.......Weston!
: What
: Look up at me dude.
*Weston looks up and gets rock dropped on head...*
: Yaouch!
: Oh, Sorry, you ok? you ok? Look up at me again.

[Absolute Gravity]

2:05...... Got to love it....

Weston is fighting hard and getting stabbed by sharp rocks when this happens.

: Weston!.......Weston!
: What
: Look up at me dude.
*Weston looks up and gets rock dropped on head...*
: Yaouch!
: Oh, Sorry, you ok? you ok? Look up at me again.

Fool me once, shame on you...

[penmartens]

That was a great vid! I liked that you left the chatter in instead of putting it to music.

Rob, you made the big silo look easy. I guess a few inches in height makes a difference.

How about that elevator?! Completely secure, but it is a long one.

Set your hands, swing through, set your feet = galumphing

I would have liked to see/hear the reactions when you first stood on sand again after having been up for so long.

Everyone looked/sounded like they got the full meal deal.

Thanks for sharing. That was terrific.

Penny

[Mountaineer]

Very physically and mentally challenging. Be safe out there.

I believe you...wow. Great video and sold skills. Thanks for sharing. Well done!

[peakbaggers]

Really nice video - gives a great sense of what it must be like to go through, in part by leaving music out and the grunting & groaning in.

[RaceBannon]

Great video. Made my hands sweat while watching. Looks like Sandthrax is a NO GO for me!

[ratagonia]

Great video. Made my hands sweat while watching. Looks like Sandthrax is a NO GO for me!

I your hands don't sweat, then you're not paying attention!

Great vid, very evocative.

T

[JennyMae]

Whoa, you guys! I can hardly type, my hands are so sweaty! Great video. I especially loved the commentary. It made it feel like the viewer was right there with you! I will recall some of the passages for a long time to come.

Weston: "Down, I love...unless you have to go up".

Weston: "That's where they got to. They got over there and they thought, 'What are we doing?'." (pause) "What ARE you doing?"

Rob: "This actually is NOT a big deal."

Weston: "It is if you fall! It is if you make a stupid mistake."

Congratulations, and thanks for sharing.
Jenny

[Brian in SLC]

"Stuck?"

"No, I wanna be stuck. I'm alright."

Hewl ya!

Thanks for reminding me why I don't need to spend much time in these kinds of canyons...ha ha...

So, from a climbing perspective, how hard is that OW crux section? Didn't even pull out the Camalots! Em'er-some big Wild Country cams, though!

Great stuff! First person, thrutchy canyon porn!

[Iceaxe]

So, from a climbing perspective, how hard is that OW crux section?

I've been asking that question of climbers for the past 10 years and the concensus I get is you had better be able to lead a 5.10 off-width to climb the crux, and everyone in your group should climb at 5.8 or better to attempt the canyon.

I don't climb enough to be good at climb ratings but those numbers seem reasonable to me.

But I'm always interested in what other climbers have to say about the crux...

[Brian in SLC]

Me too.

Someone from this site's opinion would be interesting:

www.widefetish.com

[PG Rob]

So, from a climbing perspective, how hard is that OW crux section?

None of us 3 are climbers so I am not able to give a technical rating. The climb is VERY awkward. It varies in width between 6 and 9 inches. If the crack was more narrow or wide, it would have been much easier. If it didn't flare open it would be much easier. We used the cams to aid with etries on them, rather than use for protection. This helped to a point. It helped you gain elevation with less skill, but also made the climb more awkward. In effect, the ladders would pull your feet into the crack, which in turn made your upper body get pushed out away from the crack. Enhancing the difficulty is fatigue from doing the canyon up to this point. Exposure is not to be overlooked. Your starting point is about 25 feet off the ground at a point where the canyon below alternates coming inward to sharp corners (30-45 degree). The climb is about another 20 feet up. Additionally, the climb starts slightly beyond vertical. Physically, the climb takes a lot out of you. You are using muscles you are not familiar with. There is no good opportunity to rest.

Overall, in response to how hard, I would rate it somewhere between Quite Hard and Dang Hard.

[Brian in SLC]

Shane and/or Hank, did Chris go back and do the OW? Wonder what he rated it if so. Fairly well travelled and talented climber...

OW is hard to grade, especially for folks not versed in that technique, as well as folks that haven't done what would be considered standard OW at a specific grade. Even then, fairly subjective.

Folks here get bouted on Crescent Crack all the time, some quite good climbers. Had some friends who spent the better part of a week climbing Indian Creek 5.9 and 5.10 handcracks and they thought Crescent Crack was harder than any of the routes they'd done at the Creek. Funny. Its rated 5.7. 2:55 below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAe2Yp_p61c

Hard to find folks who've both done Sandthrax, and, done a vetted OW in a climbing area at a certain grade. Be fun to sic some of the OW masters on it and get their take. There's a few floating around and some that might take up the challenge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b6oo9mu5JU

The "Wide Boyz" is part of the Reel Rock tour. Was in SLC last week (awesome, really). Its 4 short films. Great stuff. Its showing in Park City tomorrow night if anyone is interested. Their tick list of climbs had a bunch of stuff in Utah, including a local Little Cottonwood stuff. Great footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKpaXKZtdls

Good stuff to know. Tossed in a chicken wing and knee bar last weekend m'self...

[Eric Holden]

OW Cracks = just horrible....

Oh and lots of hung over Language nsfw.