Leisurely day down Spry and bolt placement question

[bhalvers2002]

Had a nice trip down Spry in September - been a few years since doing this one. Great day.


Nothing new to report, but I have a question about the best way to approach rap 4(?) in Spry. The placement is on the far wall and requires stretching over the opening. We used a meat anchor to reach it, set the rope and rappel, but it was a bit awkward. With such a popular route, wonder if others have a better idea.






Cut out from minute 2:05 from video below
http://youtu.be/EgtiTy7Cke4

[jman]

Yesh! I like that rappel. It makes the canyon a bit more exciting when you have to clip in a little further away.

Most of the time, people believe that anchor placement in canyoneering is about the safest route. Yes, safety is always the highest concern but with a lot of bolted anchors the anchors are placed with the retrieval path in mind.

Basically, what's going to leave the fewest rope grooves (or non at all) or do the least damage to the rock.

And given the nature of spry, especially in your video - you can see all of those rope grooves as they drag across the rock. So in that specific rappel, there are no rope grooves for that very reason.

Sure, clipping in across the gap may scare a lot of people initially, but that is an inherent part of the sport - In my opinion. It's problem solving while doing very minimal damage to these canyons. And your group handled it well it seemed.

I haven't thought about other anchors in that area for that rappel, but I'm sure others exist there.

Great question though.

[Scott P]

I just reached over and threaded it. It was no big deal (the only person with me was my 10 year old kid, so it would have been pointless to set up a meat anchor anyway). There was another anchor present, but it was causing bad rope burns, so maybe someone removed it. The anchor pictured has a very clean pull and is the one that should be used. As long as the ledge isn't icy or if you are a midget, it shouldn't be hard to reach.

Hundreds of people have used that anchor without any problems, but setting up a belay won't do any harm.

[ratagonia]

Had a nice trip down Spry in September - been a few years since doing this one. Great day.

Nothing new to report, but I have a question about the best way to approach rap 4(?) in Spry. The placement is on the far wall and requires stretching over the opening. We used a meat anchor to reach it, set the rope and rappel, but it was a bit awkward. With such a popular route, wonder if others have a better idea.

It's a little freaky, but not difficult. Can always set up a belay.

The rap used to be done off the little tree upcanyon. But it was killing the little tree. There is occasionally a sling off the little tree, presumably as a safety line to get to the bolt anchor. Please remove this sling if it is there - there are plenty of ways to do the same thing without leaving a sling.

Someone put in a solid bolt where you see it now, and I put in another one next to it. The rock in this area is very inconsistent, and I considered other places to put the second bolt, but did not find quality rock in a more-desirable location.

Tom