[Video] Kolob Canyon @ 3 CFS, 2013-06-28

[JBartlett]

Last week, when we did Kolob Canyon, I put a borrowed GoPro on my helmet and let it run. I didn't think the battery would last all the way through the main technical section of the canyon, but it did -- my co-conspirator and I finished up just under 2 hours after rigging the first rope -- and here are the results. This video includes all 12 rappels of the main technical section, but I didn't get any footage of the handline/swim just before Oak Creek or the short rappel/swim just after it. Hopefully it's useful beta for those considering this canyon, or at least fun to watch.

Forgive the fast pace of the edit, as this is a lot of action to cram into 5 minutes or so. It's also my first time using a GoPro and my first time using any kind of editing software, so it's probably not going to be picked up by National Geographic anytime soon. :)

Watch at 720p... and enjoy! http://youtu.be/OrXyVJA35FU



Notes: we're a bunch of dirty cavers, and you may recall our how many CFS is this? thread from earlier this year where we tried to figure out what 3 CFS looks like. As it turns out, we've rappelled and ascended through MUCH more water than this in Tennessee/Alabama caves.

The rope is a piece of 9mm Bluewater "Canyonator." We're using micro-racks and wearing our frog ascending systems, caver-style; the former is predictably wonderful for swimming disconnects, of which there were 5 or 6. All rappels were single-strand with either a clove hitch 'biner block or a figure eight block rigged for lowering if needed. It was only needed once... though I guess we could've been a bit closer to the water line on that last one!

[Eric Holden]

Beautiful!

[Bclark29]

Nice. Like I said earlier in posts, I did this 2 weeks ago and she was dry. She's a lot funner when she's flowing.

[qedcook]

We combined raps 5 and 6, and slid rap 7. I've wondered both times I did Kolob if rap 9 was jump-able. It looks like a fun jump if the water is deep enough! Great canyon and great video!

[JBartlett]

We combined raps 5 and 6

Yeah I could see that being wise. It may be tough to tell from the video, but the rig for Rappel 6 is a sling around a chockstone. The problem is that you can't put two people at that rig. What that meant, realistically, is that for me to pull down R5 to let Brian rig R6, I basically just bobbed around in the pothole while he rigged in, finally getting out of the water to take the video of him starting that rappel. Since we were wearing rented drysuits -- likely overkill, but given the choice between 3-4mm neoprene and drysuits we wanted to go with the "safer" option -- the additional time in the water was a non-issue.

We weren't sure if we could chain them with our 220-foot working rope, so we didn't try. Realistically, though, this being our first time through the canyon we were just pulling down every time we saw a trustworthy anchor for the next one. If you have the rope for it (and of course we did, though it was packed away) a two-stage would likely be smoother and easier!

[jman]

Nice edit for your first time! It's probably one of the better kolob vids I've seen of it. Nice job!

[Taylor]

Awesome!

[Chanobelli]

Great video as Jman said best video on Kolob I've seen

[lrnohl11]

Great video, Jeff!

[taatmk]

Very nice. That canyon remains on my wish list. Just waiting for the escalator to be put up the MIA trail.

[edsbay]

So just to confirm this is 3 CFS? We do quite a bit bigger in Pisgah National Forest near Brevard although I will say hydraulics an other things come into the equation that I may have not seen in this video....great video nonetheless. How tough was the permit to get?

[JBartlett]

@Ed, I've definitely rappelled (and ascended) through a lot more water than this both in TAG caves and in Southeastern creeks. I can't say I was disappointed, necessarily, but it certainly wasn't enough water for me to feel like any kind of flowing-water "skills" were actually required. I really only found myself in the flow of the water briefly on R1, R5 and R12. Every deep cave in TAG moves more water than this for about 4 months each year!

In any event, there were no hydraulics at this level. I'd say at about twice this amount of water, which is coincidentally the point where they'll no longer issue a permit, things would be downright sporting in there. There were at least a half-dozen swimming disconnects, all of which I'd imagine could be fairly dangerous with too much flow. None of the approaches seemed particularly inclined to sweep the rappeller off of the lip, though two require re-attaching to the rope on a narrow saddle between a pothole and subsequent drop.

Permit wasn't bad. They grilled me a bit more than some of the other permits, but they didn't make me call the water district right in front of them either. The same girl had already given me 2-3 permits earlier in the week, so I think by that point she'd figured out that we knew what we were doing. I will say that several trips went to Kolob last week at a reported "3 CFS" and it sure seemed like there was a different amount of water reported by the parties earlier in the week, so either it takes a while for the canyon to fill up after a week of no releases or the water company is giving rough estimates.