Zion - Echo Canyon Conditions

[rogerlodge]

Hi

I am headed down to Zion for this busy weekend and have a permit for Echo Canyon. I am curious if anyone knows if it is melted out yet/any other helpful condition info.

Thanks,
Roger

[moab mark]

We were down there last week. The word was the snow is gone. They have issued a bunch of permits. We pulled one for last Sat but didn't make it.

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[rogerlodge]

Thanks! Looking forward to it.

Roger

[JTMiller]

Roger,

Please post a condition report after your trip through. We have a permit during the following week and any info you can pass along would be helpful.

Thanks much.

[Felicia]

I was in there a couple of weeks ago and the ice blocks were awesome - super super cold! Now, the snow and ice blocks are gone. There is still a lot of water and it is very very cold. There is a pretty good keeper pothole right after the usual pothole. Also, there is a section that has a lot of floating debris - reminded me of being in Imlay. Most people that are wearing dry suits are still wearing two layers of fleece on the top and the bottom. I've not heard from anyone that has used wetsuits. I'd double up on neoprene if wearing wetsuits. A common complaint is very very cold hands.

Have fun!

Felicia

[JTMiller]

Thanks for the report Felicia. Very helpful.

[rogerlodge]

We plan on using wetsuits 4 and 5mm - hopefully we won't freeze!

Thanks for the report Felicia. Very helpful.

[rogerlodge]

We plan on using wetsuits 4 and 5mm - hopefully we won't freeze!

We came down all the way from the top and there was one spicy downclimb/slide/fall that we meat anchored for the rest of the group. We used 4/3 wetsuits and we were a little cold especially the first two into the semi-keeper pothole who had trouble escaping. One anchor had one of the two bolts out (looked old), but we rapped off the one that was left.

[ratagonia]

We came down all the way from the top and there was one spicy downclimb/slide/fall that we meat anchored for the rest of the group. We used 4/3 wetsuits and we were a little cold especially the first two into the semi-keeper pothole who had trouble escaping. One anchor had one of the two bolts out (looked old), but we rapped off the one that was left.

Pictures of bolts, especially the bad one????

Tom

[rogerlodge]

Here is the only photo I took of the bolt...maybe it's been that way a long time, but I don't remember from 2 years ago.


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[Scott P]

Of note in Echo, there is a new rappel at the beginning of the Echo Chamber off a log jam. That rappel wasn't there before and we had already de-harnessed before reaching it on Friday.

[ratagonia]

Here is the only photo I took of the bolt...maybe it's been that way a long time, but I don't remember from 2 years ago.


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Thanks for the photo. Sad the old bolt went away. But at least the "good bolt" I put in 15 years ago is likely still good.

Tom

[Scott P]

Here is the only photo I took of the bolt...maybe it's been that way a long time, but I don't remember from 2 years ago.


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Does anyone know what the purpose is of the shiny rapid link attached to the other one? I assume you didn't put it there, but I have seen a lot of this and it seems to make a mess without adding any safety or convenience. (I'm not saying that this one is a mess, but some of the anchors I have seen have many of them-sometimes six or seven).

[Taylor]

Does anyone know what the purpose is of the shiny rapid link attached to the other one? I assume you didn't put it there, but I have seen a lot of this and it seems to make a mess without adding any safety or convenience. (I'm not saying that this one is a mess, but some of the anchors I have seen have many of them-sometimes six or seven).

Yes, people leave those extras for me. I haven't bought a rap ring or rapide in many years.

[rogerlodge]

I had been meaning to ask about a pothole obstacle we ran into early in the upper portion of Echo. I found this picture on climb-utah.com which shows one view of it. I just found this second picture in an old post about this... sorry for the repost (the previous posted didn't get much of a good answer).

When we went through Echo this past weekend there was no anchor at this point. Previously there had been a cairn anchor here when I went through a few years ago that was busted up and I reassembled it and we rapped through no problem. This time with no anchor present I couldn't find much to build a decent anchor out of so I was a meat anchor for the rest of the group and then I downclimb/slide/fell into the pothole which contained about 4 feet of water thankfully. If it was empty I would've thought twice about the downclimb (looks relatively easy, but the angel of the portion the rope is going over and the small alcove on the left don't line up well. I was curious if most others are downclimbing this or constructing an anchor out of something further back?

[Iceaxe]

There is no reason in the world you should ever be without anchor building material at this rappel as you can walk back up canyon and have the entire east mesa to scrounge from.

You can also farm the rocks from the bottom of the rappel from the pervious anchor that washed over the edge.

[dakotabelliston]

I ran echo canyon 2 weeks ago. I posted a pretty in depth trip report already if you want to look at it.

We dropped in at "Road Trip Ryans" recommended drop in for the upper section which I would definitely recommend dropping in high this time of year. The canyon was full of water from the first rappel. We wore 5mm wetsuits, 3mm socks/gloves. We were perfectly warm that day and the temps were in the 60's. We were able to down climb or rappel everything off anchors that were already set & many of the short rappels were jumpers for us (after of course we checked the water depth). There was 1 keeper pothole that was nearly full of water. We were able to slug out of the hole with a little bit of assistance. We were not able to touch at the exit point so be prepared to possibly need a pack toss if the water is a little bit lower.

We came across that same bolt that was bad. After inspecting & giving a couple pull test the single Newer bolt was perfectly fine. I was tempted to replace the second bolt but the drop is so short & the single bolt seamed to be holding up perfectly. And obviously we'd prefer the canyons to be bolted as little as needed.

Hope your trip goes great !!!

[Iceaxe]

The upper drop in point is the "standard" drop in point and the only entrance detailed on Climb-Utah.com. It is also the only way you will encounter the interesting pothole in the picture. Why the dumbass Lower Entrance exists is beyond me. The upper entrance is only an extra 5 minute walk and gets you a lot more good canyon. I mean really, you hike all the way up to do Echo and skip and extra 5 minute walk, that's just stupid.

I believe the only reason the lower entrance exists is that is how the slot was first publicly betaed.



The first 40 seconds of this video shows a lot of the canyon that is cut off if using the lower entrance. It's worth doing the upper entrance just to see that cool pothole, which is no problem for two people to escape. It's also fun the try to escape it on your own.