Hogwarts

[Slot Machine]

On New Year's Day, 2013, Steph and I took a leisurely hike through Hogwarts.

At the first rappel we were greeted with an obnoxious blue anchor. It appears that the group that built it did so in order to keep their feet dry, because it bypasses a water-filled pothole at the head of the drop. After that group used their anchor, they left a rope groove, and subsequent groups have as well (see the lower left corner in photo #1 & #2). I cut out the blue anchor and we began looking for a better spot.





The problem with trying to bypass the pothole is that starting the rappel can be very awkward/dangerous if your anchor is extended over the edge. If you leave your anchor short, you simply can't avoid grooving the lip around the first drop.

Steph selected a nice rock at the top of the drainage and we put a green sling around it. The rock is above a very convenient shelf and makes starting the rappel very simple. However, there is the aforementioned pothole below. I saw that the pothole below was frozen, and hoped that it would hold my weight. It held about half of my weight, but it wasn't a big deal; my shoes and ankles got wet. I was able to gallantly get Steph across without her suffering the same fate. The pull was very easy and clean.




Moral of the story: Do your best to prevent rope grooves, even if it means you have to get your feet wet.



The arch in Hogwarts is possibly my favorite feature in all of the North Wash. It is spectacular!





If you look closely, Steph is at the top of the rappel.


Afterwards, there is an interesting keeper pothole in the middle of the canyon. I mentioned to Steph that people sometimes stem over the pothole. She looked across the pothole at eye level and said "Not possible". I pointed higher, at the only possible route, some 20 feet above the mud in the bottom. You should have seen the look on her face- pure disbelief.

Since neither one of us like wheelchairs, we tossed a pack across. I didn't load much into my pack, so the rope only provided about 6 or 8 pounds of tension. I hooked ascenders and aiders to the rope, but the foot loops were useless because the rope wouldn't hold my weight. I'd step in and pull the rope back towards me and slide to the bottom of the pothole. I eventually just climbed out and used the 8 lbs of rope tension and top ascender to the best of my advantage. (yes, I could have redone the whole damn thing, but didn't want to.) The final move was a mantle starting with the entire underside of my left arm on top of the exit lip of the pothole. Tough for me, but I'm a crappy climber.



Attachment 62525





Thumbs up if you didn't fall backwards into the mud.


In my opinion, Hogwarts is a North Wash Classic. It is in very pristine condition. The rope pulls can be tricky; be a good canyon steward and take your time and think about your setup and pull. If you leave a groove in there, you're just not paying attention.



Bob

http://amazingslots.blogspot.com/2013/01/hogwarts.html

[hikster11]

Great report as always. Thanks for sharing

[Mountaineer]

Awesome report! Thanks for fixing that pull. Rope grooves are one of my big pet peeves.

I love Hogwarts. Easy approach, and the the last rap drops you almost on top of the road.

[ratagonia]

Thanks for pointing out the bad choices of the people that put in the blue-sling anchor. Did you remove it? Removing bad anchors is a good thing to do.

Tom

[Slot Machine]

Thanks for pointing out the bad choices of the people that put in the blue-sling anchor. Did you remove it? Removing bad anchors is a good thing to do.

Tom

I've learned a fair amount of "pointing out" skills from you. It's kind of fun, and hopefully educational enough to keep that drop looking nice.

We did remove the blue anchor, and I fixed my report to articulate precisely what we did.

Bob

[ratagonia]

I've learned a fair amount of "pointing out" skills from you. It's kind of fun, and hopefully educational enough to keep that drop looking nice.

We did remove the blue anchor, and I fixed my report to articulate precisely what we did.

Bob

Excellent! Thank you.

Tom

[Felicia]

Nice Trip Report!

We went through the day before. I agree that the first anchor was unsightly. We discussed re-working it, but ultimately decided against it. I honestly can't remember why - I really hated the rope groves and I was disappointed that we might to contribute to them. As I was first down, I'm not sure where our rope was ultimately placed and where the pull occurred. I know that our goal was to not contribute to the grooves. Thank you for fixing the anchor. Your actions motivates me to be more responsible in the future.

For the silo, the first person stemmed the silo, the second person was sent across on a guided rappel and I traveled across zip line style. I landed beached whale style halfway out of the pothole - the dried mud dust was extremely slippery! It did not help that I was laughing so hard that I was useless in helping in getting my carcass out of the pothole I thoroughly enjoyed the canyon all the way through. We did keep our feet, and our rope dry.

[Slot Machine]

Your actions motivates me to be more responsible in the future.

It's good to hear about the ripple affect.

For the silo, the first person stemmed the silo, the second person was sent across on a guided rappel and I traveled across zip line style. I landed beached whale style halfway out of the pothole - the dried mud dust was extremely slippery!

What?? You didn't stem it either? I'd like to go back and try that silo after a rainstorm fills it, so a fall doesn't mean broken bones.

[jman]

Awesome, thanks for sharing slotty!

[Felicia]

What?? You didn't stem it either? I'd like to go back and try that silo after a rainstorm fills it, so a fall doesn't mean broken bones.

Exactly! I would love to have tried the stem. We could not figure out how to protect my fall if I tried to attempt the stem. Our reasoning was that there was only three of us and we were a long way from civilization; the risk was too great. I REALLY wanted to try that stem. Let me know when the pothole is full, I will try the stem with you.

Felicia

[moab mark]

I may be mistaken but can't you just walk around that pothole on the right side? Might of been a bit sketchy but not to bad. Great report, my wife was looking at your pictures and wanted to know why she hadn't been there.

[ratagonia]

I may be mistaken but can't you just walk around that pothole on the right side? Might of been a bit sketchy but not to bad. Great report, my wife was looking at your pictures and wanted to know why she hadn't been there.

Nope! Might be thinking of a different place. CAN be stemmed over, but it is a little tricky and definitely intimidating. Once one person is across, CAN set up a guided rappel from a meat anchor, but the stance at the far side is not so great so it really helps if the weight ratio is favorable.

Tom

[moab mark]

I'm pretty sure that is the spot. When Tad and I were there that had a bunch of water in it. We backed up a bit and climbed up and went over and chimneyed down the crack that you drop into after you climb out. We did not go thru that hole. It doesn't look doable but it was pretty easy. Where he is giving the thumbs up in the picture there is a crack coming down on the other side of that wall that is where we came down. We were quite proud of ourselves.

Mark

[ratagonia]

I'm pretty sure that is the spot. When Tad and I were there that had a bunch of water in it. We backed up a bit and climbed up and went over and chimneyed down the crack that you drop into after you climb out. We did not go thru that hole. It doesn't look doable but it was pretty easy. Where he is giving the thumbs up in the picture there is a crack coming down on the other side of that wall that is where we came down. We were quite proud of ourselves.

Mark

I looked at that, but thought it looked kinda dicey.

Tom

[ilipichicuma]

Sweet report! This canyon is high on my list for the next couple weeks. Sweet pictures!

[Slot Machine]

I'm pretty sure that is the spot. When Tad and I were there that had a bunch of water in it. We backed up a bit and climbed up and went over and chimneyed down the crack that you drop into after you climb out. We did not go thru that hole. It doesn't look doable but it was pretty easy. Where he is giving the thumbs up in the picture there is a crack coming down on the other side of that wall that is where we came down. We were quite proud of ourselves.

Mark

Nice!

Steph mentioned this when we were hiking out. She said that we could have climbed up on the right and rapped or handlined from a hueco anchor near the top of the crack. I didn't look at it, so I can't attest to it's difficulty. I was too busy getting muddy.

[Mountaineer]

Have the first person across put their foot against the opposite wall as an encouraging target and brace, back against the wall, then encourage the others to stem and don't look down. :-)

I don't remember it being so bad. Certainly climbing those Moki steps for Notminbender with a pack on felt more exposed...

[Don]

I'm pretty sure that is the spot. When Tad and I were there that had a bunch of water in it. We backed up a bit and climbed up and went over and chimneyed down the crack that you drop into after you climb out. We did not go thru that hole. It doesn't look doable but it was pretty easy. Where he is giving the thumbs up in the picture there is a crack coming down on the other side of that wall that is where we came down. We were quite proud of ourselves.

Mark

I was thinking the same thing, if you stay high and right (looking down canyon), you could get into a crack and slide down easy. But it's sketchy, we didn't try it. A few of us stemmed, and a few rapped in and were helped out.

[TheBird]

Nice photos. Hogwarts is definitely on the to-do list. thinking of heading that direction in the spring. Would Hogwarts be suitable to me bringing along some canyon newbs? they are good hikers but no canyon experience. High stemming and much water are probably not a good idea. I don't want to get too crazy for their first time.

[TheBird]

I don't remember it being so bad. Certainly climbing those Moki steps for Notminbender with a pack on felt more exposed...[/QUOTE]

Yeah, those Moki steps are not as straight forward as Kelsey makes it sound. I had to apologize to the wife after that one. oops.