Spry Canyon

[Aj84737]

So me and my gf decended "rope groove canyon" i mean Spry canyon for the first time yesterday. The weather was great and it ended up being a perfect day to be out exploring. Being our first time through this canyon we dont really have a baseline to compare it to. The walk in was pretty easy some snow and ice most of the way but nothing to bad on the hike in. the snow at the head of spry was up to knee deep in spots though. Soon as we got to the first rappel we were faced with the first problem. There was tons of ice between us and the anchor with no safe way to walk to the anchor. We debated turning around and going back thinking that if we were already having to problem solve to reach anchors and we werent even in the canyon yet. We ended up deciding to push through and iam glad we did. I was able to belay her to the ancher and set up a rope for me to get down there. We ended up having to do this a few times to reach some of the anchors. We also had to tie off a new anchor to a tree to rappel down and reach some of the anchors due to all the ice. There was quite a bit of water and ice inside the pools in the canyon. It was really inconsistant though some pools would be almost solid then others would crumble with a little weight then some pools had no ice at all. maybe its just my mind playing tricks on me but the water seemed warmer to me in the pools where i fell through the ice then in the pools where there was no ice. overall most of the water was avoidable and the pools that werent avoidable were waist deep with one exception which was a very short swim. i stayed warm in my 4/3 suit and booties but the temps yesterday were above normal so if it was a cold day i would recommend more neo then that. we replaced webbing on a few of the anchors but overall most anchors werent in terrible shape. I couldnt believe the amount of rope grooves in this canyon. we definatly paid more attention then normal looking at lines for cleaner pulls to avoid sticking ropes. we normally use biner blocks for at least 80 percent of the raps we do but i found myself removing the block and rapping down double strand quite often in this canyon worried about sticking the rope. It looked like it had been some time since anybody did this canyon we never seen any human footprints in the snow. I was however amazed with all the animal activity inside canyon. We ran into a huge group of mountain goats between rap1 and rap 2. we sat and watched them climb up the side of the mountain, i wish i could climb that good. We did it in a hair under 8 hours at a pretty causal pace. We did kick it up a knotch toward the end of the canyon when you couldnt avoid getting wet to keep moving and stay warm. Overall great day, we cant wait to get back in there in the spring to see how different it looks. i ended up bumping the power button on my go pro on the drive up to zion so i didnt get much video before the battery died but ill upload a few pics in a little while.

[Slot Machine]

Cool report! Sheesh, way to get out to those anchors! A couple of those ledges are sketchy when dry, I can't imagine them covered with snow. Glad you made it through safely.

Looking forward to your pics!

Bob

[Aj84737]

well i ended up having a few extra moments and put together a real quick video of the little bit of the canyon i got on film. i filmed a few frames on the way up and then forgot to turn it on again till the bottom of the first rap then was only able to record to the section i believe thats called the mae west section, i could be wrong if its not called that, before the battery was dead. so i missed the majority of the fun in this canyon but oh well, its better then nothing.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/p8jGKhcE768" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Felicia]

Wow - beautiful!

[Brian in SLC]

Nice report! As a mild suggestion, breaking it up into a few paragraphs would make it a ton easier to read.

We ran into a huge group of mountain goats between rap1 and rap 2.

I'll assume sheep?

Cheers!

[Aj84737]

I'll assume sheep?

Cheers!

Yep that's correct, my bad.

[arnellfam]

Nice video - great info in the TR. Congrats on successfully navigating Spry under those conditions

[moab mark]

Impressive I would of bailed at the first rappel but hey I am a wuss.

[Aj84737]

Thanks guys. It was a blast but a little bit nerve racking too. But to me at least that's half of the fun. I love a little bit of problem solving. Can't wait to get down this one again.

[tanya]

wow