Another email:
More on the Quandary Canyon saga: Myself and a friend headed down Quandary
in October of '99. Like yourself, we decided we were there for the real deal
and headed down the throat of the triple pothole section.
The first two were relatively easy--we hand lined the first guy in, moved
the packs across and boosted the first guy out the opposite side, then the
first lifted the second out. The second hole took a few tries to get the
second guy out, but nothing too serious.
Then we came to the lip of the deep third hole. By October, after a
dry summer, the hole was very deep, probably 10 to 15 feet from the top of
the water to the exit point. And the water was of unknown depth. With low
water we could see that it was overhung, with sheer, smooth, vertical walls.
The pool was so deep that it had started corkscrewing itself down into the
rock. We could see the corkscrew fins, under water when you were there, but
now exposed. Beautiful but deadly. If we both went in, the best we could
hope for was to ascend back up our rope. Even if the water was only a foot deep
(unlikely) I doubt I could have reached the exit point standing on my
friend's shoulders.
We saw the anchor you had placed and puzzled over how it could be
used. With the low water, it made no sense to us at all. What could you possibly do with that anchor to help you cross?
Finally, wisely (or luckily) we decided that the anchor was of no use.
There was no going forward through the pool and no backing up--we had
not set ropes in the upper pools and the high side exits were unreachable when
in the water. The walls of these pools were baby-bottom smooth (to use your
terminology), almost vertical, and our feet were muddy and wet.
Our only escape was up--climbing without protection about 40 feet up the
west side wall of the canyon and over the shoulder of the wall onto a
wide ledge. Fortunately we had our climbing shoes with us, and they were
dry. Rhett, being the more experienced climber, got the unenviable duty of
making the ascent. Portions of the rock were crumbly, adding a little
difficulty to the climb, which was in the 5.5 to 5.6 range. Once up on the ledge,
Rhett set up a belay for me to climb out. Total time at the pool: probably
in excess of an hour and a half.
From the ledge continuing down canyon was easy. We went up onto a wide
relatively flat slickrock area and worked our way downcanyon along the
rim. Once past the deep pool, we looked for another entry point and soon
dropped back into the dry canyon bottom. We encountered more obstacles on the
descent, but most could be passed with no rope or a hand line. Only one
rappel remained, and that one was a mostly a low angle descent.
We considered ourselves lucky. After we got back home, I purchased the
new edition of Kelsey's San Rafael hiking guide. In it he states that to
continue down into this area is certain suicide. After reading yours
and Myke's reports, I feel even more fortunate to have gotten out that day.
Perhaps we were lucky that the water level was so low that we did not
even consider entering the deep pool. Sounds like your experience wasn't much
better than ours. For those not able to climb, reaching the pool in low
water would certainly make that spot impassible. Smart hikers would
await rescue, the unwise might attempt the pool and not live to tell about it.
Steve M
From: "Tom Jones" tom@jrat.com
To:Steve
Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 12:00 PM
Subject: Re: Quandary in Quandary
Thanks for the whole story.
Actually, I think smart canyoneers would carry a bolt kit and engineer
their way out of difficulty.
I'm not slagging on you, but I would like to know, because it is a common
problem: what were you doing, heading down an unknown canyon ill prepared
(no bolt kit, no hooks)?
(And I did the same thing this past weekend, having left the hardware
sitting at my desk. But my not-too-reliable information said the canyon was fixed,
and it worked out, though the hardware is in terrible shape and we just barely
made it .
tom
From: Steve
To: "Tom Jones" tom@jrat.com
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2000 12:00 PM
Subject: Re: Quandary in Quandary
Tom,
Our case was similar to yours. We had read accounts describing Quandary
that made it sound very passable without the need for a bolt kit. And it
would have been if we hadn't missed (or ignored) the route that bypasses
the potholes. Once we got to the third pothole I don't believe a bolt kit
would have helped us much anyway. Perhaps we could have used bolts and aiders
(etriers) once inside the pool, but I wouldn't like to stay in the water
that long, even with a wet suit.
I don't have any problem with the anchor you placed. Hey, everyone needs to
rely on their own judgement and skills in the canyoneering world. I just
wanted to relay another story about the "fun" of that section of Quandary.
Steve
