Quandary Direct

[Slot Machine]

On June 13, 2016, Tom C ( @TommyBoy ), Cristina ( @hesse15 ), Micah ( @MiCamp ) and Meg ( @Megeggleg ) and I splashed our way through Quandary Direct.

This canyon frightened me when I first got into canyoneering. Keeper potholes? Gosh, they sounded intimidating. Skeleton soup? Gosh, I don't want to be an ingredient. So, I put it on my 'do not attempt' list.

A few years later, and a few potholes later, it had became a canyon that I'd left to the cosmos to arrange. Finally this week, things came together. (Thanks @Mountaineer , sorry we missed you.)

Today there is no intimidation. Quandary was a insanely fun splash park; a relaxed laugh fest led by the skilled and talented Tom Collins, who had been through Quandary a couple of times before. I'm still smiling as I write this, it was such a great day.
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Meg playing the flute at dawn. A great way to start a day of canyoneering.




















Tom using The Force to help rinse potshots and bag rope.














Tom Collins doing an epic slide.

[Scott P]

Cool. It must have rained. Someone said that it was pretty dry in late May.

Good report.

[ratagonia]

Cool. What was the anchor for the first rap in the direct? Into the first big keeper?

Tom the deep nose explorer.

[Slot Machine]

Cool. What was the anchor for the first rap in the direct? Into the first big keeper?

Tom the deep nose explorer.

I rapped off meat, Cristina did too. Then the others jumped.

[Mountaineer]

Ugh. Wish I would have been there.

Very strange to organize a trip, and then not be able to go at the last minute. Rare for me, as I always find a way to move heaven and earth to make a canyoneering trip. Excluding weather, I think my first miss. We were actually driving later that day to still make it, but had to turn back around. Not in the "cards" so to speak for me this round.

However, I was confident you would still have a blast, and glad it turned out!

I'll see you on the next one!

[TommyBoy]

I like the way the series of photos showing me downclimbing eliminate all the indecision and going back and forth trying to find the holds, it makes me look cooler than the video.

[Iceaxe]

Quandary waterpark is a great canyon. It's one of the first technical canyons I took my kids through. They were 5 and 7 :-)

[hesse15]

the exit was brutally hot

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[Slot Machine]

I'll see you on the next one!

Sure hope so!

I like the way the series of photos showing me downclimbing eliminate all the indecision and going back and forth trying to find the holds, it makes me look cooler than the video.

I had a front row seat, and your execution looked pretty cool to me.

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@MiCamp , @TommyBoy , @Megeggleg , @hesse15 ,

I'm dying to see your pictures. You got some eye candy for Bogley?

[hesse15]

Yeah I was worried as usual but it was executed perfectly and confident with great style.

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[Taylor]

Awesome. A Quandary/Squeeze weekend ranks super high on our list. Did you exit up Ramp?

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[Slot Machine]

Awesome. A Quandary/Squeeze weekend ranks super high on our list. Did you exit up Ramp?

We did. It is a nice way to get back to the camp.

But real climber must be in your group in order to get past the crux. It's harder than the pictures make it look.

[Scott P]

But real climber must be in your group in order to get past the crux. It's harder than the pictures make it look.

When I was first there with my friend and my 8 year old kid, I started to climb it very carefully, but my 8 year old ran up the thing around me and without a rope. I was actually pretty mad at him at the time.

[Iceaxe]

We did. It is a nice way to get back to the camp.

But real climber must be in your group in order to get past the crux. It's harder than the pictures make it look.

I never considered the ramp much of an obstacle. I know my wife and kids all walked up it.

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[jman]

I never considered the ramp much of an obstacle. I know my wife and kids all walked up it.

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When it's dry...

If it's rainy or muddy - it ramps up the difficultly significantly.


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[Slot Machine]

When I was first there with my friend and my 8 year old kid, I started to climb it very carefully, but my 8 year old ran up the thing around me and without a rope. I was actually pretty mad at him at the time.

Curious, did he go across the top, where it looks smooth? I seem to remember seeing a photo of your son on that climb.

[Iceaxe]

A picture of the 'ramp" in question. You just walk up the seam between the two canyoneers. When my kids (5 and 7 at the time) and wife walked up l did spot them from below in case of a fall. Not sure I could really help much other than making sure they didn't land on their head. And yeah, snow, mud, rain changes things, both those should not be considered normal conditions and should be taken into consideration before doing any canyon if they are expected.



Hey Bob, have you ever considered the fact that you just might be a great big pussy?

[Slot Machine]

It's impressive that your family made the climb. I'll give Shauna a high five the next time I see her.

Well, we had something happen while we were there that prompted my recommendation to bring a real climber. While Micah was traversing the climb, he lost his footing but held on with his right hand. As he fell, his momentum dislocated his right shoulder. Amazingly, he pulled himself back up then finished the climb.

Everyone left at the bottom was psyched out by this, me included. Micah is a much better climber than me, so if he slipped, then I thought I'd surely slip. The rest of us didn't even try the little ramp. We elected to go up through the crack on the left. I jugged/climbed (ugly), Tom pulled up the ladies on a 2:1 haul (elegant).

[TommyBoy]

A few more pics


@Slot Machine climbing out of the pothole





@Megeggleg going for a wide stem for her first time







@MiCamp in motion

[hesse15]

It's impressive that your family made the climb. I'll give Shauna a high five the next time I see her.

Well, we had something happen while we were there that prompted my recommendation to bring a real climber. While Micah was traversing the climb, he lost his footing but held on with his right hand. As he fell, his momentum dislocated his right shoulder. Amazingly, he pulled himself back up then finished the climb.

Everyone left at the bottom was psyched out by this, me included. Micah is a much better climber than me, so if he slipped, then I thought I'd surely slip. The rest of us didn't even try the little ramp. We elected to go up through the crack on the left. I jugged/climbed (ugly), Tom pulled up the ladies on a 2:1 haul (elegant).

I was for a pleasant stroll been under lot of stress lately and Tom deliver a full low key outing to a water park and actually was highly efficient and fast been haul up like potatoes bags!!! I always love to make my partners practice rescue skills in non rescue situations

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