Stewart Falls

[Slot Machine]

On July 29th, 2013, I used up one of my 9 lives. My pictures suck, but the story is pretty good.

On our way down to Capitol Reef, we stopped and met Blake (@Kuya ) and his crew in Provo Canyon. Oddly I'd never visited Provo Canyon before and was impressed with it's beauty. Our objective for the day: Stewart Falls.

We start loading up gear for the hike and I notice that my helmet is missing, forgotten at home. This was the first of several mishaps.

We hike up the side of the falls without incident. Blake is an excellent leader and the ascent is very efficient. Once we reach the top of the falls everyone begins pulling out wetsuits. "Wetsuits?", Josh and I both proclaim. The need for neoprene was news to us on this warm July day.

If I had done my homework, like I normally do, I would have quickly learned that the falls are fueled by almost frozen water. I stick my hand in the creek. It is colder than the coldest water that comes out of your shower at home. "Josh and I will tough it out.", I say.

I go first down the initial rappel. The water is unavoidable. Instantly, I'm drenched with ice water. I quickly set up the next rappel....

Down we go, setting up and tearing down rappels as quickly as we can in order to complete the route by dark. Josh and I are very cold. We arrive at the final rappel and are greeted by webbing that has been set up by chimpanzees. I cut it all out and rebuild it. Soon the 300 foot rope arrives and we get the rappel line set. We turn on the walkie-talkies and Blake heads down with one of them.

Just as he arrives at the bottom, the walkie talkies die.

We all look at each other and take turns pulling on the rope to see if Blake is done. It's tough to tell; the rope is heavy and the falls are pulling hard on the rope. Cautiously, the other members of the group rappel down the 250 foot drop.

I look at Josh and say, "Shoot man, what else can go wrong?", then thunder rumbles around us. I look above him and see a HUGE thundercloud rolling over the mountain. It begins to rain just as it is my turn to rappel. I work my way towards the edge and it begins to POUR.

I look over the edge and try to see the team at the bottom. So much rain was hanging in the air between me and the ground that it was difficult to see anything at all around the base of the falls. It was impossible to see people. It was pouring THAT hard.

So, I decide that I want to get to the bottom fast. I set up my ATC with minimal friction. Another mistake.

It starts raining even harder. I step over the edge of the falls; the sight I see is surreal. An ENORMOUS 250-foot waterfall covered in a foot of moss. I feel like Luke Skywalker when he first met the Rancor; overwhelmed by the daunting power of the falls. There are strips of moss falling off my feet the size of doormats, then falling out of sight, obscured by the water. To my side, an astonishing display of water accelerating off the lip of the falls then away from me.

A LOT of water that will be hitting me very hard, very soon.

I clip a biner into my leg loop and reach for another, in case a Z-rig is needed. Then I discover I have no more biners... they've all been used for biner blocks and are now safely at the bottom of the rappel with my other teammates. Half Z-rig will be good enough, right?

No. Not right.

I head down knowing that if I pull a rock from above, I could die. If I get stuck on rappel, same result. This must be fast and perfect. My hands are frozen and almost useless.

I get halfway down the rappel and clip into my leg loop and pull up. HARD. NOT enough friction. The waterfall is pummeling me and I begin to loose control. I'm still at least 100 feet off the deck.

I scream to Blake, "Fireman!! Fireman!!", but he can't hear me over the roar of the falls, over the thunder, and the rain. I manage to stop myself and scream for assistance some more. Blake then realizes I'm in trouble and quickly bolts for the rope. He pulls with a few pounds of tension via fireman belay and assists me to the bottom.

Josh quickly and skillfully follows me then we pull the ropes in the freezing rain. We bolted quickly back to our cars and cranked up the heaters, happy to be alive.

_________________

Thanks to Blake and his team for inviting me on this adventure. I'm fully accountable for forgetting my helmet, my wetsuit, my biners and my common sense. The thunderstorm was terrible luck. We all did our homework on that one, just hours before, and it still snuck up on us.

Thanks again Blake for saving my bacon! I would have cratered without your assistance, and I am grateful.

Bob

Top half of the final rappel.


Bottom half of the final rappel.


Josh on Rap #3, I think.

[Kuya]

Love the TR! Did I send you my pictures of this trip? If not, let me know and I will. Sorry it is taking me so long to get the video made! My harddrives are FULL and it is making video editing slow!

What a crazy adventure this was! If I would have been a real canyon leader, I would have reminded everyone of the need to bring their own wetsuits, helmets, and other technical hardware.

Here is my version of the trip: http://canyoneeringutah.blogspot.com...luke-made.html

I find it VERY interesting how different our reports are. haha! I think i like your write up A LOT more than mine :D

[pikan]

I had a blast on this little jaunt! But I was one of the ones that had some warm neoprene on too (rain didn't even bother me), and a helmet, and enough biners, and enough friction on the final rap, sooooooo.... sorry that your experience wasn't as....um..... comfortable
But it was good to meet you and see a different perspective on how to do things! We'll have to do it again sometime and make sure we all come adequately prepared !

[Mountaineer]

I scream to Blake, "Fireman!! Fireman!!", but he can't hear me over the roar of the falls, the thunder and the rain. I manage to stop myself and scream for assistance some more. Blake then realizes I'm in trouble and quickly bolts for the rope. He pulls with a few pounds of tension via fireman belay and assists me to the bottom.

Fortunate it worked out OK. Looks way cold.

A fireman wasn't setup initially due to the falls and slippery rock?

[WorkBad]

Great story and write up. Love the Star Wars reference too. Thanks for listing your mistakes, we all learn from them.

[Slot Machine]

Love the TR! Did I send you my pictures of this trip? If not, let me know and I will. Sorry it is taking me so long to get the video made! My harddrives are FULL and it is making video editing slow!

What a crazy adventure this was! If I would have been a real canyon leader, I would have reminded everyone of the need to bring their own wetsuits, helmets, and other technical hardware.

Here is my version of the trip: http://canyoneeringutah.blogspot.com...luke-made.html

I find it VERY interesting how different our reports are. haha! I think i like your write up A LOT more than mine :D

Nice report on your site! Had not seen that yet. I'm sure it was a very, VERY, different experience with a wetsuit and helmet. I also caught the thunderstorm at precisely the wrong time. Terrrrrible luck.

No need to send photos, feel free to post some on this thread if the mood strikes you. I am looking forward to your video, especially the scenes during the worst of the storm. I want to see if it was as apocalyptic as I remember...

I had a blast on this little jaunt! But I was one of the ones that had some warm neoprene on too (rain didn't even bother me), and a helmet, and enough biners, and enough friction on the final rap, sooooooo.... sorry that your experience wasn't as....um..... comfortable
But it was good to meet you and see a different perspective on how to do things! We'll have to do it again sometime and make sure we all come adequately prepared !

For sure, I had a great time with your group! Any lack of comfort was my own doing.

[Slot Machine]

Fortunate it worked out OK. Looks way cold.

A fireman wasn't setup initially due to the falls and slippery rock?

It was extremely cold. I could not tell my hands were frying on rappel or not (luckily not).

Blake was near the bottom of the falls filming. Large pieces of moss were falling as people were rappelling, making the belay dangerous and somewhat difficult (rocks could be falling too). The area where the water lands is also quite large, which means the belay must be provided away from the watercourse. Also, the huge amount of slack in the rope rendered the belay ineffective.

There was almost no exposed rock, so it wasn't slippery at all. Blake was also under the impression that I knew WTF I was doing. I've done some big rappels before and normally have great control of my friction. He was quite surprised that I was yelling for assistance so far from the ground, a place where I clearly should of had control. He was very quick to fix the situation once he knew I was in trouble.

My brain was as frozen as my hands when I decided to go with minimal friction (one biner under an ATC instead of two biners). By far, this was my biggest mistake. Too many errors, all on the same day. Not OK.

[hikster11]

Slot Machine

I love reading you TR. They always sound epic even if they are scary. If you wrote a book on canyons you have done I would buy it. Several canyons I have done, I did after reading one of your TR. You always write a good story. I would love to do this this water fall. So far I have only got 200 foot ropes and don't want to try to pass a knot. Because of the long ropes needed Stewart Falls has not made to to do list. If you ever want another new partner I'd like to join you on a trip.

Duane

[Kuya]

Fortunate it worked out OK. Looks way cold.

A fireman wasn't setup initially due to the falls and slippery rock?

My BAD!!! Yeah, I should have been there (or should have directed someone in my group) to act as a fireman belay.

Like Slot Machine mentioned, there are some issues with providing a fireman's belay. Water pounding on you, Rocks and moss falling, etc. BUT it is relatively simple to grab the rope and stand outside of the watercourse and fall zone. We could at least have had someone holding onto the rope. UGH... Learning, always learning. Luckily all was OK!

[Mountaineer]

My BAD!!! Yeah, I should have been there (or should have directed someone in my group) to act as a fireman belay.

UGH... Learning, always learning. Luckily all was OK!

For sure. I remember the limits, best techniques, and tests of the fireman belay which was on another great thread a few weeks ago. One important point is that if the rap device is not setup with enough friction initially, the belay is harder to slow.

[Slot Machine]

I love reading you TR. They always sound epic even if they are scary. If you wrote a book on canyons you have done I would buy it. Several canyons I have done, I did after reading one of your TR. You always write a good story. I would love to do this this water fall. So far I have only got 200 foot ropes and don't want to try to pass a knot. Because of the long ropes needed Stewart Falls has not made to to do list. If you ever want another new partner I'd like to join you on a trip.

Duane

Thanks for the kind words Duane! If you choose to do Stewart Falls please realize that the final drop is very serious. It is 'real' class C canyoneering, and the penalty points for screwing up are high.

Please send me a PM with your email and let's try to get out and do something.

Bob

[ilipichicuma]

Sounds crazy! We did Stewart Falls last year (2012) in May or June, I don't remember which, and it had a lot more water running down it. Pretty wild. You get pretty disoriented with that much water pounding on your helmet. Luckily, if you go down the middle of the last waterfall you avoid most of it on that rap. I screwed up, though, because I didn't hang my pack, which had a very wet 200 foot rope in it, so I ended up feeling sick and faint about halfway down. Like you said, not a good place to make a mistake. Great report, as usual!

[Kuya]

Sounds crazy! We did Stewart Falls last year (2012) in May or June, I don't remember which, and it had a lot more water running down it. Pretty wild.

I can't wait to do it in these conditions :D

[hank moon]

One important point is that if the rap device is not setup with enough friction initially, the belay is harder to slow.

And perhaps the success of this fireman's -- complete with non-attentive belayer and inadequate friction -- demonstrates that the technique has more merit than some might think?

[Slot Machine]

I can't wait to do it in these conditions :D

I can't wait to sit at the bottom and watch.




And provide fireman belay if needed.

[ghawk]

Nice TR. We've done stewart a couple of times and enjoyed it a lot. You mentioned that the last anchor looked like it was set up by chimpanzees. We had done it the previous year and left black webbing at each drop I think. Was that the webbing and if so, what was wrong with it? It's entirely possible that our anchor could have washed out in that year because of the water flow at that location but I am curious. I usually feel like I build pretty good anchors, but I am definitely open to feedback if that was my anchor.
Also, our group had to have a good fireman on that last rappel as well. It's a long rappel and it seems to tire people out. I know at least two in our group ended up needing support from a fireman belay, and like Blake mentioned would work, I just set up on the hill across the way and jumped down (literally) when help was needed. Anyway, great TR and a fun adventure

[Kuya]

Gavin!! It was your TR's that inspired me to go! For that I am so grateful :D

The anchor, from what I remember, had one piece of webbing connected to some bolts high up on the canyon wall. IT seems that the people who rigged the drop didn't like the direction of the pull from those anchors, and thus extended the webbing about 6 feet and used a small tree to then redirect the pull on the webbing. (this probably makes no sense at all!)

Anyway, the anchor was not set up in the typical fashion. I see why they did what they did, but the way Bob re-rigged it worked well too.

[ghawk]

Gavin!! It was your TR's that inspired me to go! For that I am so grateful :D

The anchor, from what I remember, had one piece of webbing connected to some bolts high up on the canyon wall. IT seems that the people who rigged the drop didn't like the direction of the pull from those anchors, and thus extended the webbing about 6 feet and used a small tree to then redirect the pull on the webbing. (this probably makes no sense at all!)

Anyway, the anchor was not set up in the typical fashion. I see why they did what they did, but the way Bob re-rigged it worked well too.

I don't think there were bolts there when we went. Am I remembering that right Cliff? Maybe those have been added? I think we set up off of a tree or something. Anyway, I didn't set up any redirected webbing thingy, so my anchor building ego remains intact. Stewart is a fun "almost canyon" that I enjoy doing every now and then, and there is some fun stuff I've found on the bridal veil side of provo canyon too. Keeps things interesting until I can afford the next trip south.

[Slot Machine]

Nice TR. We've done stewart a couple of times and enjoyed it a lot. You mentioned that the last anchor looked like it was set up by chimpanzees. We had done it the previous year and left black webbing at each drop I think. Was that the webbing and if so, what was wrong with it?

Thanks for the kind words!

The chimpanzee anchor: Tied to the bolts was an American death triangle, extended toward the edge. The triangle was very small, generating maximum force on the bolts (bright blue webbing). It was backed up by a very small bush near the watercourse (black webbing).

[ilipichicuma]

I don't think there were bolts there when we went. Am I remembering that right Cliff? Maybe those have been added? I think we set up off of a tree or something. Anyway, I didn't set up any redirected webbing thingy, so my anchor building ego remains intact. Stewart is a fun "almost canyon" that I enjoy doing every now and then, and there is some fun stuff I've found on the bridal veil side of provo canyon too. Keeps things interesting until I can afford the next trip south.

Yeah, I didn't see any bolts when we did it. Our anchor for the last drop was a small tree right next to the watercourse (probably the aforementioned one) that we cinched webbing around and extended out to the edge. It looked a little sketchy, but the tree was solid.