Etta Place and Sphinx Beta

[SRG]

This is a combo trip report and beta so I apologize if it gets really long. Big thanks to Ram for offering his expertise and consulting with us pre-trip. If these canyons already have names I don't know of them, we named them Etta Place Canyon(after a companion to The Sundance Kid) and Sphinx Canyon.

A month or two ago I was checking out the Robbers Roost area on Google Maps when I noticed a canyon draining into the South Fork of Robbers Roost Canyon from the north about half way between Robbers Roost Spring and the Dirty Devil River. The canyon appeared to drop about 600ft over the course of about a mile. It appeared to be about 4 miles from the nearest drivable road. After lots of armchair scouting and map making I rounded up two competent buddies, Will and Brandon, and we headed down to the Roost on Halloween evening for some exploring!

Our plan was to backpack in the 4 miles, setup camp for a couple nights and explore this unnamed slot and maybe another unnamed slot located about 1 mile directly north of it. This other slot drains into the Middle Fork of Robbers Roost and it didn't look like much on a topo map, but I could see a slot on Google/Bing maps, so we figured that if we had time we'd investigate.

Early thursday morning, we drove into the Roost and past the Not-Mindbender trailhead. When we got to a fork in the road, we took a right and headed west towards Shane's "Optional Not-Mindbender Trailhead" instead of taking a left and heading south towards the Robber's Roost Spring. After about .5 miles from the fork, the main road heads north and an old overgrown road continues straight. We continued on this old overgrown road for about 100 yards and then took a left onto an even older and more overgrown road that Kelsey calls an "Unused 4wd Track". We drove this for about 1 mile(which we had anticipated hiking) and we parked where the track drops down from the rim onto slickrock.

In our packs we had 6 ropes of various lengths along with LOTS of webbing, biners, rapides, four potshots, pulleys, ascending gear, way too much neoprene, hooks, and a whole shitload of other technical gear. We also had cold weather gear(low 30's at night) and food and 3 gallons of water per person. Our packs were the heaviest I've ever felt... we really struggled getting them off the ground and onto our backs... this was gonna be a painful 3 mile hike.

About a mile and half in we were in pain but still super excited for our impending first descent when off in the distance we saw something. People? Cows? People, and they were coming our way. When we met up with them they told us that they were backpacking for 30 days in the Roost, needless to say we were impressed! When we told them why we were there, their response was "Oh, that's probably the canyon we did yesterday". After comparing topos we were heartbroken to find out that the "undescended" slot that we were here for was in fact the same on they had done the day prior... what're the odds? Feeling dejected we continued on to the head of the slot and damnnnn was it impressive. We set up camp on the rim and explored the next day.

Etta Place Canyon. Friday Nov 2nd 2012. 38.341548, -110.449279
After breakfast and organizing, we headed into the canyon around 10am. Our plan was to fix ropes at each rappel and then ascend them... no one wanted to do the many mile hike out of the South Fork of Robbers Roost Canyon. This canyon was a blast. Not too easy but not too treacherous. Immediately we encountered a rappel(that can be bypassed on the right side{LDC} via a low angle slickrock climb/walk with exposure). After that was a little low stemming, some higher and difficult non-mandatory stemming over a long pool to stay dry then a fun 25ft downclimb/rappel. After some more beautiful narrows we ran into another 25ft downclimb that was easier. Finally, after some more walking through nice narrows(the kind that narrow to inches at your feet, but are about 3 feet wide at your shoulders) we came to the final 70ft(?) rap into a wide box canyon that led to the So. Frk. RR Canyon. Someone had slung a small Hueco with accessory cord and it was quickly sawing it's way through the hueco, so we set a deadman. After building the deadman we noticed the obvious and bomber large arch just to the right of the rappel, we slung that as well and rapped off the backed up deadman. After eating lunch in the South Frk of RR and ascending the canyon, we were back at camp just after 3pm... damn we got that done quick.

Upper Sphinx Canyon. Friday Nov 2nd 2012.
After exploring Etta Place Canyon we still had some daylight so we decided to hike a half mile north from camp to the rim overlooking the other canyon that I had seen on Google Maps(Sphinx Canyon). Standing at the rim we were looking directly at(perpendicular to) a unique feature that we named The Hallway. We weren't sure if there was a slot in it, but the wall closest to us was only between 20 and 40 feet high. Instead of starting at the top, we decided to enter Sphnix Canyon from what appeared to be an entry midway through the canyon and just below The Hallway feature. The entry/exit requires some low stemming and a moderately exposed downclimb through a small(15ft?) fluted dryfall. When we got to canyon bottom I was awestruck... looking up at The Hallway I saw an amazingly beautiful slot. It had grey, undulating parallel walls and a sandy bottom. It was about three feet wide. Incredibly excited because we expected it to be a dud, we rushed upcanyon. We encountered a moderately difficult upclimb of about 20 feet then immediately after that the canyon opened up and there was a big pothole holding what looked like lots of water. We bypassed it on our left side(right LDC), I'd say the bypass goes at 5.9 maybe easy 5.10 with minimum exposure(see pic). After that it slots up again and is a spectacular slot once more. We then came to a difficult upclimb of about 15 ft with two chockstones at the top blocking the finishing move, then the narrows ended. On the hike back to camp that night we were all re-invogareted an determined to explore the lower half of the canyon the next day. Unfortunately I don't have any video of this Hallway exploration.

Lower Sphinx Canyon. Sat Nov. 3rd 2012.
After taking water inventory in the morning, we realized that we only had 1.5 liters per person to explore this canyon, ascend it and then make the 3 mile backpack trip back to the car... uhh this was gonna be interesting. We entered the canyon at the same entrance point, but instead of heading up The Hallway, we continued downcanyon. It alternates between beautiful shallow slot and wide open canyon for a while. As we neared the final 200ft rappel(according to the topo) we were nothing but contented and we were sure that we had the canyon in the bag. The wide open canyon that we were walking in took a sharp right and as I rounded the corner I couldn't believe my eyes... I wasn't looking at a 200ft rap... I was looking at a canyon of a much different nature than anything we had seen this trip. It very quickly narrowed up to where it was way too tight to fit though. To stay above the constriction would have meant to stem gradually about 20 feet up from eye level... this wouldn't have been too bad except that the canyon also immediately dropped from eye level into a deep and dark silo... we couldn't see the bottom. It would have been possible to full body stem over the silo and then stay really really off-the-deck but Jesus Christ... we really didn't want to do that. We decided to send someone into the silo to see what was at the bottom. We used a meat anchor to send Will down instead of taking time to build a deadman because I was sure that once down it would be too tight to continue and Will would have to come right back up the rope. Sure enough Will shouted back up "Yup it's too tight to pass down here!".. my heart sank... "wait a minute" I heard from the depths "it actually might be possible, but it's really really tight. I'm gonna explore, send someone else down!". I really can't explain what is down in this chamber and most of it isn't in the video because it was pitch back... but I'll try. After the 30ft rappel, you low-stem of a little, then you reach canyon bottom. From there it pinches to about 5 inches at head height so you need to remove your helmet and get low and make yourself small and just push through. After that we were stemming kinda high up with our left knee and elbow on one wall and our right knee and elbow on the other... at this point you're stemming/crawling through a small tunnel and it's super tight below and above you. Finally it spits you at at a very small perch above a 170 ft(?) rappel into a wide box canyon, about 150 ft(?) of this is a free rappel. We all completed the rappel, drank to our hearts desire from a spring at the bottom of the rappel, then proceeded to jug back up the 170ft rappel using Tiblocs and Bachmann/Prussik hitches... talk about nerve racking. We finally made it back to the car just before sundown, we were all on the verge of exhaustion and glad to enjoy the relative comforts of car camping(calories, water and fire).

Etta Place Canyon is a fun full day... I highly recommend it.
Sphinx Canyon is a very unique and special place. It is PG rated and may be R or R-, I don't know. If you go there please treat it right. We left if the way we found it... with no webbing/bolts/rope grooves or trash of any kind. Please do the same.

I've got a 11X17 HD topo that I made from the new USGS quads, but I can't figure out how to attach it to this thread.. any suggestions?

Here are pics and vids... be sure to switch the resolution to 720p.
Sorry, I forgot to rotate the pics... rotate your head instead

Etta Place:








Sphinx:

[peakbaggers]

You made this sound like a realy exciting trip. Thanks for being willing to share it with all. Great report. (My neck now has a nice kink in it from turning sideways though!)

[yetigonecrazy]

thanks! great TR!

[oldno7]

great report

[nonot]

Good stuff, nice video and pictures, looks fun!

[Eric Holden]

Great picture!!!!!

[Slot Machine]

Wow, nice trip report Sam! Great videos and photos! That 170 foot rap looks like a blast!

"Oh, that's probably the canyon we did yesterday". After comparing topos we were heartbroken to find out that the "undescended" slot that we were here for was in fact the same on they had done the day prior... what're the odds? Feeling dejected we continued on to the head of the slot and damnnnn was it impressive. We set up camp on the rim and explored the next day.

Oh man, my heart sank when I read this. That sucks. Good thing they were such good canyons, which hopefully makes up for it.

Bob

[SRG]

Thanks for the positive responses everyone!

Bob,
Goin' down the 170 footer was really fun, coming back up is wasn't.
Yeah we were all heartbroken, but then we found Sphinx which appeared to be untouched and is a really cool and unique canyon, so we felt better.

[outsider]

Oh man, my heart sank when I read this. That sucks. Good thing they were such good canyons, which hopefully makes up for it.

Uhh, what? I thought you wanted everything known and documented?

SRG, nice report. I think you could go down canyon a little ways from the bottom of Sphinx and return via the Angel Arch exit out of RR? But really cool that you ascended and cleaned it. Strong work.

-john

[Slot Machine]

Uhh, what? I thought you wanted everything known and documented?

-john

Heh, what I "want" has got nothin' to do with it. To be clear (yet again), I don't expect/hope/ask/wish/want everyone to share every scrap of beta they have. My modus operandi is promoting a mindset of sharing amongst canyoneers. It's cool, it's friendly, and it's pointless to fight it.

*fends off the thread hijacker*

Anyway, Sam shared his plan to explore this area with me before they went. (Now I really wish that I could have gone!) After looking at the satellite imagery, I thought the area that they were considering looked like it had great potential. I also thought that anything in that area would be first descent territory and I'm certain that they were thinking the same thing. Finding out that they were wrong the way they did would be pretty demoralizing.

It's called empathy man, empathy.

[Mountaineer]

What a great trip! You guys really went big. Exploring "new" canyons sounds like sooo much fun. I just got back yesterday from the roost, and can't believe how big this area is. The topo is crazy. There is a lot to explore. And you guys got further out than even the remote roads. Sweet.

And yes, I'll bet a tibloc and prussik on a free hangin' rappel got the heart moving!!

Thanks for sharing. And congratulations on completing it safe.

[outsider]

OK, to re-iterate the main point I was trying to make, which got obscured by a poor joke...

Very nice that you ended up leaving it totally clean... potentially leaving the very same experience for a future party (or parties). Something we can all aspire to. Well done, SRG and friends.

And yes, I've had that rug pulled out from under me, although nothing even close to the "hour before" experience in this story. Disappointing coincidence, no doubt (and yes, I felt it too as I read the story). Sorry you missed it @slot (serious, no sarcasm); sounded like a great trip.

[hesse15]

then proceeded to jug back up the 170ft rappel using Tiblocs and Bachmann/Prussik hitches... talk about nerve racking.
I've got a 11X17 HD topo that I made from the new USGS quads, but I can't figure out how to attach it to this thread.. any suggestions?

Here are pics and vids... be sure to switch the resolution to 720p.
Sorry, I forgot to rotate the pics... rotate your head instead

wow that is bold I will be afraid f the shredding of a tibloc on a rope and the idea that multiple people are going to do the same
i think doing it clean will be easy if you reverse the canyon but other wise (hopefully the emperor does not see this and his blanket-trap option) you ended up leaving stuff behind and do grooves.
the pictures are really nice and seems a nice place, just in case how far away whithout destroyng it a subaru outback can make it ?
aka how far away I have to walk to get there?
I love the name FiNALLY a canyon named after a woman!!!

[SRG]

wow that is bold I will be afraid f the shredding of a tibloc on a rope and the idea that multiple

Funny that you mention that. I have used the Tibloc 5 or 6 times before and it had always performed well, but this trip it slid down the rope about a foot on two occasions and really scared me. I was ascending a rappel that was about at a 90 degree angle to the ground when it happened. I think the Tibloc slipped because I weighted it wrong. I think instead of weighting it with a downward pull, I still had my foot in my footloop ascender(the lower one) and pressed against the wall, so I inadvertently weighted the Tibloc(my top ascender, attached to my harness) in the downward and outward direction so the teeth didn't grab well. Both times I fell/slid about a foot until it caught. The teeth on the Tibloc clearly cut some of the sheath as it left furry vertical lines on my Canyon Fire. I don't think I need to retire the rope cause there's not a core shot but idk... any thoughts ?

just in case how far away whithout destroyng it a subaru outback can make it ?
aka how far away I have to walk to get there?

The hike in is just over 4 miles if you park half a mile past the Robbers Roost Spring, your Subaru can definitely make that.
The old 4wd track will take you another mile(southwest) until the track drops down from the canyon rim. In between the two tire treads it's pretty overgrown and your Subaru might be able to clear 'em but probably not.
Once the track drops down onto the slickrock you can't continue on much further without a seriously jacked up Jeep I think.

[dweaver2130]

Great trip report, and amazing photos!

[heliski2]

Great TR. Love to see the Hallway above in the Sphinx. It sounds like we'll have to do a little exploring on our next Roost trip. I think we'll take at least one regular ascender per person. I have a set of Tiblocs, but prefer to use them as a back up in case we get stuck. Prussiks and other ascender knots are a lot more work.