Team members:  Sean Staverman, Cera Edgley, Ryan Fontaine, Brent Mecham, Brett Allen.

The seed for running Jacob was planted last year when my friend Mark mentioned it. After that I quickly started looking for beta on the internet. The only information I could gather was on Canyoneering USA. Tom does a good job in providing helpful information on many of the Zion Routes. I like his old school approach with a topographic map and some coordinates.

I generally just download a track from the awesome ropewiki community.

I know the old guard likes to keep certain routes a secret. They only share it with a few. I may be guilty of that myself. I sure do like the convenience of getting a bit of information before heading into the unknown. Mainly because I hate carrying too much gear, being cold, and taking unnecessary detours. If I have a track, water conditions, and the max rappel I am good to go.

While running Right Fork, Ryan and I discussed routes in Zion we hadn’t done. Jacob has been on my list this year but the window was closing. He mentioned he would be interested in coming on Veterans Day weekend. After a week passed and I saw the weather was nearly perfect, it was time -- I couldn’t pass up this opportunity. I rearranged my schedule, reached out to Ryan and just like that we had a weekend full of adventure.

With only 10 hours of daylight, the right team was vital to getting out before dark. Cera and Sean are extremely talented canyoneers. But I was open to adding one more. I felt like the right crew could get through with no issues. Then Brett reached out to me and was quickly added to the team. He is a real asset to have in any canyon; definitely one of my favorites.

Our team was complete and we said no to another badass friend who wanted to join. If I knew we were going to make it out in 9 hours, which is well under the 10-14 hour timetable, I would have considered adding another to the permit.

Jacob Canyon

The plan was to start hiking at 6:30am, 30 minutes before daylight. The approach starts at the Middle Emerald Pools trail but then veers west up Lady Mountain. The Lady Mountain Route is not for beginners or those afraid of exposure. Two spots in particular got my attention. I will mention that we are climbing this route with 35 pound backpacks full of gear, water, and ropes.

These 2 locations would be hard without packs, especially up the well-known chimney crack. It was here where I could imagine my pack hitting the back wall and knocking me down the cliffside. The two big strong guys were uncomfortable making that move with packs on so we removed them. We however made that climb unassisted. I was definitely out of my comfort zone as a fall here could be fatal. In hindsight the best practice would have been to have one person at risk and set up a belay for the rest of the team.  Brett, Cera, Sean and Ryan looked like lizards moving through that area, I however took my time and made careful foot and hand placements to ensure my safety.

(editor’s note: not difficult but VERY exposed. A belay for all but the first person highly recommended.)

The second spot had a few handholds, but the first step was about three and a half feet up a 20-foot wall. Unlike the chimney crack, if you failed to make the move here you would probably just bounce down a bit before stopping. So I removed my pack while the others took on the challenge with the extra weight. No pride lost for this survivor. (editor: this one too).

The rest of the route weaves up various shelves/ramps on the mountainside. From the road, the face of Lady Mountain looks like a cliff face. I quietly admired the early trailblazers that found a not-very-technical route to the top, though this did involve quite a few cut steps and handholds. This was a popular hike with chains and ladders to assist hikers through the dangerous sections, until it was dismantled in the early 1960’s when the Park decided it was just too dangerous.

The climb to the top of Lady Mountain is two miles, which sounds really nice but the elevation gain is almost 2700 feet. There are only a few horizontal reprieves going up this cliff face.

During the climb up I felt off my game. I couldn’t believe I was struggling to maintain a pace I normally can. I was thinking I should have brought a slower hiker than myself. I found out later that I had caught a bug that was draining my energy. With that said we still made it to the top in 2 hours. Tom has this as a 4 hour hike, so I was happy with our time.

At the top of Lady Mountain we enjoyed the incredible views that only this place can offer. We wrote our names in the registry and began our traverse to the top of Jacob Canyon.

The ridge has sections of loose rock that makes every step a bit of a risk, especially at the very top of Jacob. Sometimes I would just sit down and slide to the next clearing. After about 45 minutes of this nonsense we made it to the first rappel. Tom’s beta had this as an 85 foot drop anchored off of a tree. For us this was a 65 foot rappel off of a tree, which is the 2nd rappel on Tom’s beta. Somehow we bypassed the first drop.

Jacob Canyon starts out surprisingly narrow unlike the popular Zion routes. A carved out slot through the rock, the crack gets very tall the further you get down. It has one drop after another. I was surprised to see all the bolted anchors. If it wasn’t so hard to get to, it would probably be a popular route. The ranger issuing the permit mentioned that it is seldom run -- in the last month there were only four permits issued.

Most of the anchors were in good condition. We re-rigged a few that needed new webbing. The 2nd anchor was an easy downclimb, especially considering the difficult terrain it took to get to it, so we removed a sling. The 10th anchor is a 150’ spectacular drop off the base of a bush. Ryan reinforced that one with a TriBushAnchor, a new term we made up.

There was one more obstacle that had us all running around like monkeys in a Zoo habitat. Shortly after getting down the 150’ rappel and before the Big 240’ drop we ran into a pool of water.

We went into this whole adventure expecting to stay dry. SO this wasn’t what we signed up for. Cera and Ryan climbed up a wall to the right and rappelled down past the water. But what they were doing looked like a hot mess. Brett chose to down climb left into some shallow shin deep water, but on the way he lost control of his pack and it ended up in the water. However he only got his feet wet. Sean and I chose to strip down and just take the plunge while keeping our packs dry, but that meant drying off and getting dressed.

This whole water experience was the highlight of this trip for me. This is what happens when you get a lot of alpha males together trying to avoid a couple of feet of water.

Cera has aptly nicknamed Ryan ‘Celebrity’, although I prefer to call him ‘Hollywood” based on his contributions to ropewiki. When in his presence you will quickly see just how talented he is. She got to see this at work when we had a hard time pulling out the toggle on the big 240’ rappel. Ryan quickly went to work trying various levels of mechanical advantage to yank it out. Ultimately it took a 6:1 to finally get it free. I could tell by his expression that there was no doubt in his resolve. When the Groov-E-Ghost toggle came down there was a crack in it on the pull cord side. (Rope: BW Canyon Extreme, which is usually just fine Fiddling).

Aside: I have had similar issues with my toggle breaking near the carabiner holes – Groov-E Ghost and Smooth Operator. In my opinion, when these toggles impact the rock they can acquire a hairline crack near the weakest part of the hole. With continuing force being applied the eventually get pulled to noticeable cracks. I encourage constant inspection as I once had my 3mm Dyneema pull cord slip through one of these cracks as I was pulling it. Leaving me with a stuck rope and no way to retrieve it.  So considering there might have already been a crack, this was an incredible feat freeing that toggle considering the alternative of leaving the rope!

To be complete: Poison Ivy! It is found throughout this canyon. It lightly brushed my skin a couple of times but luckily I didn’t have a reaction. That doesn't mean I’m going to frolic around in it, but it did add another challenge in running Jacob.

Once down the 110’ final drop into the Court of the Patriarchs, there is a short boulder hop along a spring-fed creek. After a few minutes you see a trail along a small cliff band to the right that eventually merges with the main trail. From there it’s a half mile to the shuttle or if you're Cera you add another 1.5 miles, a river crossing, and go directly to Zion Lodge. She easily beat us to the Truck, but hey, we got to jump on a bus full of tourists!

What an incredible adventure!

Today’s Quote

You don't have to be crazy to be my friend. I'll train you.

Beta:

Rap 1 65’ off tree

Rap 2 30’ off tree (could down climb left)

Rap 3 2-Bolt 35’

Rap 4 2-Bolt 65’

Rap 5 2-Bolt 45’

Rap 6 2-Bolt 20’

Rap 7 Dead Log 25’

Rap 8 2-Bolt 115’ 2 stage (possible downclimb on both stages)

Rap 9 Small Tree 90’

Rap 10 Off Tri-Bush 150’

Rap 11 2-Bolt 240’

Staying in the watercourse:

Rap 12 Tree 210’ 2 stage

Or Break up Rap 12 into two

Alt Rap 12 Off Tree 75’

Alt Rap 13 Rock pinch 105’

Going to the left and scrambling down leads to a shorter rappel:

“Follow the left canyon edge about 100 feet down to the top of a drop. 

R13: 130 feet (40m) off a tree to the ground in a wet alcove.”

Guest Rave – Ryan Fontaine — Jacob Canyon - 11/9/24 - Team of 5 - 9 hrs

Climbing Lady Mountain was fun and engaging! None of the climbs were particularly difficult. The trail gains elevation very quick. 2 hours to the summit and the view was wonderful! Spent 30mins here.

Descending from the summit into the canyon quickly requires hiking/downclimbing alot of loose and very steep terrain!

The crack section early on was my favorite part of this route! Many of the rappels can be elevator downclimbed. Those that cant were pretty enjoyable! Lots of chances to stem in this neat V notch crack!

Eventually starts to open up for a bit of a hike. There is one section with deep water we were able to avoid by climbing up an off-width crack on right and rappelling off a tree past the pool. This was the only water encountered in canyon.

The downclimb to the big rappel was neat. Final rap was every bit of 240’. It is a somewhat lowish angle drop. We toggled this but for some reason could not pull our toggle out with anything less than 6:1 mechanical advantage. So that took time...

We replaced a lot of webbing throughout canyon.

Hike out was chill.

(Click on the first image to open the gallery)