Canyoneering: Bailey Canyon

Augie · Post by **Augie** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 12:43 pm

My son and I descended Bailey Canyon yesterday, a nice temperate day. The canyon was dry except for a couple of smelly pools and two drops where wet slippery moss covered the waterfall.

We did 11 rappels. All are bolted. Many of the bolts are positioned such that you have to stand on sloping rock to rig so safety tether is a must. The longest drop was about 95 feet. My 60 meter rope barely made it on that one. We did all rappels on one strand with a releasable figure 8 block. On the 95' foot drop, I brought the bag down and that second strand barely reached the bottom (I had with me a second 30mx8mm rope in the event I would have needed it). There were also a couple of 60 foot raps, a 50 footer and the rest 25-30 feet.

A final point that may be of interest. I usually do not use a back-up (some call it a "third hand") when canyoneering and definitely not if I expect to drop into water. Just for the heck of it, I used an autoblock (used a short sling to wrap around the rope) on a few of the raps. On one, the autoblock stuck and would not budge. After a few minutes of just hanging, I finally managed to loosen it enough so it would start sliding again. This experience just reminded me of why you would not want to use a backup (either autoblock below or prussik above your rap device) when rapping in a waterfall).

Anyway, Bailey Canyon was a great outing. No still pics; all I took was video.

Post by **Taco** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 2:47 pm

Sweet! And understood about autoblocks in a waterfall... sounds like a great way to get cold.

Augie · Post by **Augie** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 6:51 pm

TacoDelRio wrote:Sweet! And understood about autoblocks in a waterfall... sounds like a great way to get cold.

A great way to get cold or worse!

EnFuego · Post by **EnFuego** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 8:38 pm

Nice report. So where's the video? Those who don't do, want to see those who do.

Augie · Post by **Augie** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 9:18 pm

EnFuego wrote:Nice report. So where's the video? Those who don't do, want to see those who do.

Still in my camera. Will have to get it to UTube.

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 11:08 am

Where is bailey canyon? sounds interesting!

Augie · Post by **Augie** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 12:19 pm

Zach wrote:Where is bailey canyon? sounds interesting!

See this link for description and driving directions. It is located above Sierra Madre.
http://www.summitpost.org/canyon/240464 ... anyon.html.

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 5:55 pm

thanks!

were ALL the raps bolted and were there slings and 'biners at each belay?

Augie · Post by **Augie** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 9:44 am

Zach wrote:thanks!

were ALL the raps bolted and were there slings and 'biners at each belay?

All the raps, with one exception, are bolted. The anchors are complete, that is, with webbing tied through the bolts and with rap rings/rapides attached. The one exception is an anchor around a tree. In other words, I didn't need to construct a single anchor although I always carry plenty of extra webbing and rap rings in case I need to back something up or replace a worn anchor.

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 10:36 am

sweet! thanks again

Augie · Post by **Augie** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 1:07 pm

EnFuego wrote:Nice report. So where's the video?

Here's one short clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ8E7x_gCh0

EnFuego · Post by **EnFuego** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 3:21 pm

Check your PM