Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 10:30 am Post subject: Vivian Creek Canyoneering
Yesterday, amidst the thunderstorms in the mountains, 3 of us did an exploratory of Vivian Creek above Halfway Camp looking for good rappels. We had hiked from the Vivian Creek trailhead, dropped our rappeling gear at Vivian Creek Camp (we were coming back to rappel the last 1 and 1/2 mile section of the creek from the camp down to Mill Creek).
On our exploration of the creek above Halfway Camp, we found one 125 foot drop to go back and do. Then, we reversed directions and started heading up the creek. We went up all the way up to just below High Creek. We encountered some beautiful waterfalls on the way up. We ascended along the wet, slippery rock, much of it very loose. There was also a fair amount of bushwhacking where the creek narrowed. It was a combination of Class 2 scrambling and some Class 4 sections. But again, it was beautiful. At the end of our exploration, we made the very, very, very steep ascent to the Vivian Creek Trail at High Creek.
The 3 of us then hiked up the Vivian Creek Trail to the overlook and waited for 4 others of our party who had elected not to do the exploration but rather went to the summit. About 1 pm, we all started down from the overlook. We got down to Vivian Creek Camp and retrieved our gear By the time we were suited up and ready to start down, it was already 4 pm. Not only that, but the light showers we had had up to this point turned into a deluge.
At this point, things actually looked bleak for 8 people to do 5 rappels of 160, 120, 90, 70 and 70 feet before it got dark. Not only that, but the storm had ensured that all the waterfalls were pouring. We would have brought wetsuits had we anticipated the storm.
Partly due to the fact that we had a newbie with us, it took a whole hour for everyone to get down the first 160 foot waterfall. Then, a rappeler's worst nightmare: our rope got stuck. We pulled and pulled and pulled and it became apparent it was good and stuck. Our most experienced ascendor started up with prussik loops to fix the problem but the technique wasn't working for him. We then inventoried what everyone had in terms of mechnical devices and someone came up with one that worked great. Still, it took our hero a good half hour to jumar all the way up to the anchor and fix the problem.
So, now it's 6 pm and we've got 4 more long, cold, wet raps to go. At this point we started using various techniques to expedite the raps. We set up single lines side by side (using the Stone Knot) to get 2 people going down at once. Rope crossing was a little bit of an issue using this technique, but it worked out. We also had 2 pairs that matched up in weight and those pairs simul-rapped. My 150 lbs. matched up with a gal who weighed 120 lbs. and had 2 wet 10 lb. rope bags hanging from her harness to even things out.
We got soaked on all the rappels, but the wettest was the last one where there was no way to avoid descending all the way directly under the pouring water. This drop also had, about 1/2 down, a 30 foot section of free rappeling which made things exciting.
As people came down from the last rappel, they took off for their cars to avoid approaching hypothermia. I stayed with last 2 down to collect the ropes, etc. The last person got down at 7:45 and it was about 8 pm when we started down to Mill Creek and the cars.
Would you believe me if I told you that the entire day was an amazing adventure?
I haven't yet uploaded my pics anywhere. ( I assume I can't insert images directly from my hard drive to here. If this is incorrect someone let me know). First, I'll be creating images on SummitPost because I plan to do a TR there on this outing.
[quote="TacoDelRio"]! Always a great adventure, so long as nobody gets hurt.
[quote]
Oh no no no...now Im giving a free pass because it was an honest story...well sort of a free pass. I would like to see what should have been done....and yeah I do know, but.....oh alright since maybe this tr wasnt cleared by the other members of the group lets let it be. But this kind of trip is typically smashed in the canyoneering community.
[quote="AW"][quote="TacoDelRio"]! Always a great adventure, so long as nobody gets hurt.
Quote:
Oh no no no...now Im giving a free pass because it was an honest story...well sort of a free pass. I would like to see what should have been done....and yeah I do know, but.....oh alright since maybe this tr wasnt cleared by the other members of the group lets let it be. But this kind of trip is typically smashed in the canyoneering community.
Free pass? "Cleared" by others? Taco hit it dead on --"Huh?"
Yes, I have been in precarious situations..more than once. But they werent fun at all. Ive hated all of them. Bad decisions, but not proud of them. Even for trips that looked perfect...because it makes a person a better decision maker.
There are two ways to look at it:
1) Just read the trip and ignore the style of the trip and any bad decisions- free pass - aka its just a tr, not my problem if something went wrong.
2) Speak up about it - this needs the facts and not one persons intrepretation if available. What one person thinks was the case may not be the same as what another group member thinks was the case. Heck, sometimes the entire group is unable to come to grips with something.
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