Bolts @ Lower Calf Creek Falls

[cynhermit]

The other day while peering over the lip of the Lower Calf Falls I noticed a couple of bolts (adorned with some poorly arranged webbing) on a ledge about twenty feet down on the right (LDC). An intermediate station which keeps one out of the main flow I suspect. Does anyone out there know who installed these or use these? I'd like to get the community's feelings on their potential removal or reasons to leave them The Box Elder tree ~50' back from the lip of the falls seems to be the most commonly used anchor which myself and other locals clean hundreds of feet of webbing from annually. At least so far this year folks have been kind enough to use discreet webbing colors. -Adam

[Bclark29]

About 2 years ago, my bro-in-law and I finally decided to rap Upper and Lower Calf creek falls. Upper Calf creek is super easy to get to and setting an anchor was cake. In fact we rapped it a few times. We then walked down the creek to Lower Calf Creek falls. We set our anchor around the tree you mentioned. My bro-in-law descended first. Once he got over the lip, he realized that my 60 meter, wasn't even close to hitting the pool at the bottom of the falls. We even had people yelling up to us saying it wasn't close at all. He then noticed the bolts in the little pool, where you are talking about. We were going to put more webbing around the tree and extend our anchor, but we figured, eh, there's some bolts, lets rap of those. I honestly don't mind them being there, but I can see peoples points. Plus, you go off the side of the falls here and completely miss the fun part of the rap.

[ratagonia]

I am in favor of removing said bolts. There is a perfectly viable "clean" alternative...

Well, it is a little more complicated.

1. rapping Lower Calf Creek Falls is rarely done. If it became popular, the BLM would probably make it illegal, since it is a well-established tourist destination and the rappellers would be "disturbing" more traditional users. Adding bolts to any canyon tends to make it a lot more popular because, you know, tying webbing around a large tree is soooo difficult and dangerous.

2. using a long piece of webbing off the tree, the rappeller gets to choose where to go over the edge of the platform down there - ie, how much of a faceshot they want. Some will make bad choices, some will make good. Fixed bolts on the platform will tend to put the rappeller in one specific spot.

3. The rope running over the edge of the platform tends to get dinged up. I recommend using a rope on the stouter side rather than on the thinner side. Canyonero if you are in Club Imlay. Shifting the rope after each rappeller could also be a good idea.

4. I recommend bringing enough webbing for your ring to reach just over the top edge there. Escalante locals clean off the webbing fairly regularly, and get to keep it.

We did a guided rappel using 300' ropes once or twice, but the geometry is not really that favorable, and the guided-rappel "line" is not very good. I recommend against it.

Tom

[Byron]

That ledge has been bolted for many years...going back to at least the late nineties. Back then, very few people carried or owned ropes longer than 50m.

Yes, the tree works just fine. I also don't think that there are "very few" people going over it. Maybe not everyday, but I would bet if you hung out there you'd see at least 5 parties coming down per week.

The last time I was there...above the big falls playing in the wonderful pools, a group of 6 or 7 complete, unprepared noobs showed up to rap it. Their gear was crappy and they weren't confident the ropes were long enough. Half of them didn't have wetsuits, and they were worried about that. They psyched themselves out and left. They hiked all the way down there only to argue amongst themselves for a half hour before hiking back out. I kept my mouth shut and just watched the whole thing play out. Their "leader" was quite unimpressive.

[rick t]

Interesting, and unfortunate, that the first thought in discovering some "new" bolts, (which have been there for many years), is whether or not they should be yanked. If the webbing is old, or not your color, replace it. The bolts serve a clear purpose, and have been there for years, what harm are they, why does it seem to bother some people just that they're there? Rap off the tree, use a buttload of webbing so it reaches, but resist the misbegotten urge to yank every single piece of metal you see.

[cynhermit]

Rick, True, the bolts aren't necessarily harmful (although I have no idea what kind of condition they're in after sitting in continuously wet sandstone). However, one can see from the photo that the webbing arrangement could very well be harmful, particularly since a novice might very well blindly trust it. The bottom line is that the bolts are unnecessary. That and the fact that ,while not very conspicuous, they can be seen by non-technical visitors who don't necessarily want to see that kind of shit, makes me think they should be removed.

[Byron]

,while not very conspicuous, they can be seen by non-technical visitors who don't necessarily want to see that kind of shit, makes me think they should be removed.

Most people don't get close enough to the ledge to see them. If you go there you'll see what I mean.

Besides, if you don't like them...yank them. I'll betcha a grandad that someone rebolts it in short order.