http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2349121
We'd looked at this over the years and always seemed to have something else to do.
We started up the Bill Riley Trail and joined the paved Mt Disappointment Rd. We turned left and started up. My fellow canyoneers said we're going the wrong way! Nah! it just a head. We'll wait here for you.
I figured it was just around the next bend... Not really. When I got to the drop-in for Supercloud I turned back.DUH!
Should have zigged instead of zagging when we got to the road...
We setup on a bomber oak tree canyon right taking a gulley on the very chossy cliffs that are the head of Cloudburst Cyn.
My biggest concern aside from knocking some big rock loose was pulling the rope. Bernd went first with my 300ft 11mm rope deploying out of my pack.
The place we descended while better from the stand point of less potential rope cutting edges, but has lots of potential for rope damage from falling rocks. There was also lots of potential for getting the rope stuck on bushes or rocks.
After trying to lower the other end of the rope it came up short so we tied on the 200ft rope we had. Johanna went next laying out the pull rope and dis-entangling it from the brush and rocks.
I got "OFF ROPE!" and went next . I took a bit of a different line down and moved the rope away from several potential hang ups dodging the rain of pebbles and a few bigger golf ball sized rocks.
I'd though I'd go across the canyon an get a clean pull when I got down but it is too steep and loose.
As I pulled the rope a rain of pebbles came down. Well We are unsure if we will need a rope further down cyn so I endured and pulled the rope to the knot getting whacked real good a couple times. I kept the rope moving while descending to a spot out of the fall line.
I noted the rope would just reach double to the spot we reached the canyon floor/ chute . Some discussion about leaving the rope was had, but I figured I had a decent pull on it a bit further down the scree / gulley. Well out of the fall line.
Sure enough! it came down about as easy as could be expected with such a heavy rope.
There was no more rappels and I wondered where Chris Brennen and Company came down. None of it looked any better than what we did.
Lower in the canyon we entered the Station Fire burn area with a "Pick Up Sticks" jumble of down trees and lots of scree that came down when the brush was burned away leaving nothing to hold it on the mountain..FUN!.
Eventually after failing to encounter "Dr Livingstone" we joined the well worn route for Supercloud and out to Angeles Crest Highway.
Cloudburst Cyn 10/6/2013
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davantalus
- Posts: 203
- Joined: Mon Jun 08, 2009 9:09 am
I love your canyon shorthand. Nice report. 
I believe you could make it all the way up Cloudburst. Brennen says, "The remainder of the hike is quite straightforward. Cloudburst Canyon itself is rocky but easy going with little brush and no significant downclimbs.". With "remainder", he's referring to 'after the initial drop-in'. So at the very least, with non-technical up-canyon travel you could reach the base of Brennen's drop-in. As I recall (I was on the the trip with Chris), the drop-in could also be reversed with some careful routefinding and scrambling, allowing you to reach the paved road. We rapelled in large part because we had two first-time canyoneers in the group that day. Though be advised that finding the optimal gulley to ascend would be difficult, and there certainly are other gulleys that would require rappelling for most anyone.
As for Supercloud, whether you can upclimb it would depend on your tolerance for exposure, your skill at handling chossy rock, and your definition of what it means to be "in the canyon". Staying very true to the watercourse would definitely require some fifth class climbing on loose, dirty, and wet rock. But I suspect a Class 3 route could be found without deviating more than 50m laterally from the watercourse. It's a decent canyon (especially in winter), but it's hardly a "committing" slot. It's relatively open, and there are likely reasonably direct routes around most every obstacle.