Eaton Canyon (water conditions)

[cougarmagic]

I've recently had a few conversations with various friends who were asking about current conditions in Eaton Canyon. Eaton is an extremely popular route here in Los Angeles, and most canyoneers have been down it many times.

It's common for people to look for beta on water flow conditions during and immediately after our winter rainy season. However if it hasn't rained in a few weeks, typically the canyon has drained well and most assume it will be "normal" in there. This year though, several unusual factors are all in play at once. I pulled together a few photos of the last waterfall (which anyone can hike to the bottom of) to compare the flow at different times.

Summer - low flow:



June 2010 - moderate flow (was challenging to the newbies):



April 12, 2011 - high flow:



Spring 2005 - Extreme flow after record rainfall season:



I thought it would be interesting to look at them and ask the following questions:

1. Have you ever been down a canyon so many times, you can't imagine the experience being dramatically different?

2. In any of these photos, is the flow rate strong enough that you would chose not to rappel? (your only option is an extremely exposed use trail that climbs up and around the falls. There are no rappel options that will keep you out of direct waterflow)

3. Would you be surprised to know that the April 12, 2011 photo is three weeks after the last measurable rainfall, in a La Nina year (typically very dry)?

4. What difference does it make if the water is warm or cold?

5. How would you modify your rappel to deal with the different conditions?

Here are some hints about other factors at play: recent fire, La Nina does not lend herself to total predictability, and SNOW.

I descended Eaton on February 12, 2011 (my 10th or 11th trip there) and even with my own complacency, I found this last falls to be tough, and scary.

I hope you find this to be an interesting "study" too, and look forward to your opinions.

[Johnny Bronson]

It's nature,it's ever changing and adapting.

Adaptation=adventure.

My opinion is too many people are comfortable with readily available beta and the internet to truly understand what a "genuine" adventure is.Especially when it comes to easy canyoneering.

[Zach]

is it possible for the level of the water to be so high that you could possibly be swept away? in that case would you do "roped" canyon travel and belay the person setting up the anchors near the lip of the waterfalls?

[cougarmagic]

would you do "roped" canyon travel and belay the person setting up the anchors near the lip of the waterfalls?

Yes - we've done this before with an anchor that is difficult to get to safely (an exposed climb or scramble). The brave climber goes first, on belay, then sets a guide line that others can clip into to make the traverse to the rappel anchor.

But I haven't done swiftwater training, and I think that being connected to a rope in strong water is a big no-no.

[Taco]

That does not look like fun to me at all. Strong flows suck bigtime, no pun intended.

[Rick Kent]

Looks like too much flow for me too. Obviously it depends in part on the experience level of all group members. Even with experience however the likelyhood of an accident certainly goes up with the increase in flow. If it were me and I found myself in a canyon with much higher water flow than expected I'd certainly be considering all escape options. In some cases perhaps setting up an alternate anchor could get you further to one side of the falls to avoid the worst of it. A guided rappel would be another option. First person still has to deal with it but the remaining canyoneers could be "guided" away from the direct maelstrom.

-Rick

[AW~]

Maybe if you triple the waterflow

Sounds like that bypass almost claimed another victim:
http://altadena.patch.com/articles/resc ... ton-canyon

@ Dan Heres what happened... We are on spring break, and we have to do a school project. So we ch0se eaton canyon falls. We wanted to get a better view of the falls from above so we went up. On our way back, I dropped my backpack. The three of us were not all going to go get it... so i went... being the most experienced. While climbing back up from where the backpack fell, my foot lost grip and i slipped falling a few feet... I grabbed a branch and swung back and hit the side of the cliff. I still had to climb up even though my shoulder was fractured, when i got there my mom called search and rescue because if i tried to go back it would have most likely resulted in death. And thats what happened