October 25, 2012 Full Imlay

[jdrose44]

The Lava Point approach road to the West Rim trail-head was completely passable (we did it in 2 Toyota Corollas). West Rim trail was as nice as ever. The low recorded temperature the night before the canyon was 19 degrees F and sunrise was around 7am. The second rappel out of Potato Hollow had a shallow pool at the bottom with a 1/4 inch-thick layer of ice on top. Water was avoidable until about 1 hour before the bivy alcove. We suited up here and continued through, encountering the introductory and main narrows of Imlay. Water conditions were nearly full. There were two potholes just before the 60-foot rappel leading to the narrows overlook that presented awkward, but completely do-able, exits (even without a partner assist). There was PLENTY of log soup in the pool just before the narrows overlook and in several others as well as a fairly significant, but climbable, log jam earlier in the canyon. All of the anchors were in good shape, a few stands of webbing were backed-up. The exit hike through the narrows was made significantly easier by the remaining deposits of sand from the previous flash floods earlier in the fall.

From the West Rim Trail-head to the Temple of Sinawava bus stop we clocked a total duration of 11.5 hours.

Temperature: As I mentioned, the first pool we encountered had a thin layer of ice over top. Each member of the 3-person party sported a 4:3mm wet-suit, 4mm booties and 2mm neoprene gloves. With this setup, warmth was not a real issue.

Gear: We carried a 200-foot 9.3 Bluewater static line and 2 - 100-foot 8.3 Imlay canyon fire lines. We only used the 200-footer a handful of times for the longer rappels. The Canyon Fires worked superbly with both 8s and when doubled on an ATC Guide. (Thanks Tom)