Went down last Saturday to do Sandthrax, in North Wash, with Ryan Cornia and my friend Jeff. Ryan and I both had it on our list for a while, and the time seemed right. We had done a number of high stemming slots in Escalante and elsewhere in the last year. Also, I had finally accumulated some large off–width camming devices, which could used for the crux 5.10 off–width section, and Ryan had borrowed some Big Bros (another kind of protection that can be wedged into wide cracks) from a friend.

We started at 8 AM and hiked up on the north rim. On the way to the head of the slot, we left a rope (one 300ft tied to a 200ft) tied to a boulder and hanging into the slot for a possible escape if things didn’t go well. It turned out that it wouldn’t have done us any good, as it was placed downcanyon from the crux off–width and the other major difficulties. It took us about 15 minutes to walk the rim from a point above the mouth of the slot to the head of the canyon (in contrast, it took us about 3 hours to descend the same section of slot).

At the head, we downclimbed 25ft into the slot. There followed some moderate downclimbs, and straightforward walking in a narrow canyon for about a hundred yards. After a 30ft rap from a chockstone, we had to stem up high. For most of the rest of the slot we were high–stemming, usually 30–50ft up. It was usually pretty straightforward, though occasionally harder when the slot changed width. We eventually came to what was supposed to be the first hard upclimb. The slot widened, and we had to chimney down, and then after the wide part climb up to some chockstones.

The climb up to the chokstones turned out to be a moderate (5.4–5.6) chimney. This brought us to the infamous three chockstones where Shane, Hank and Chris engineered their escape when they tried this without any beta. We could still see a few bolt holes leading upwards on the right wall. From here, we stemmed horizontally for a ways and came to another silo (widening of the slot). There was a fixed piton here in a drilled hole. It looked like some people rapped to the bottom of the slot here but it looked really difficult to climb back up at the far end of the silo, so we downclimbed halfway to the bottom and did some wide stemming accross (with belays).

After a turn in the canyon, we came to the crux off–width. We were stemming horizontally about 20ft up, when the canyon abruptly narrowed to a slightly overhanging, flared 6–inch wide crack. Thankfully, it was only about 25ft high (starting 20ft up). Ryan set up belay at the base, and I started up the crack. I placed a #3 Big Bro right at the start. It was quite a struggle to get up. I placed a #5 and higher, a #6 Camelot, and ended up pulling on one of them. After I got a few feet above the #6, the difficulties eased, and, a couple of moves higher, I was able to get my whole body in the crack (whew!). After belaying Ryan and Jeff up from a stemming position, we continued.

There was one more silo with a wide stem across (a previous party had rappeled here off of a couple of pretty sketchy looking huecos), and about a half an hour of more high–stemming until we could chimney down at the mouth of the slot. We got back to the car around 12:30 PM.

1. Contrary to a couple of the reports that we had read, we all found it to be a really good canyon. It was pretty scenic, and had a number of interesting technical problems. For such a short canyon (perhaps a quarter of a mile), it packs a quite a punch.

2. For a group of canyoneers experienced at high–stemming, and with the right equipment, and experience with wide cracks, it is a reasonable endeavor. For the off–width, I would recommend one #5 and two #6 Camelots. The #5 could be placed at the start, and the #6s above; these can be slid upwards a bit as you climb. If you had to aid the whole thing, you might want a #4 Big Bro to place above the last #6.

3. This obviously would be much more serious without beta, and especially without any of the Cams or Big Bros.

My first piece of pro was a #3 Big Bro, and it worked fine. It was completely compressed and used like a tube chock (somewhere from 4 to 5 inches), and I think that here a #5 Camelot would be fine and in fact would be more versatile.

Above, where I used a #5 and then a #6 Cam, I think that a #6 in place of the #5 would be better (also, the #5 I was using was an ‘old #5’ which is bigger than the ‘new #5’).

Above the highest #6, I just went to the top, but it might be wise to have something larger than a #6 Cam. My #6 Cam wouldn’t go any higher (crack widened some), and there were still a few moves to go before it significantly eased. Therefore it might be wise to bring something bigger than a #6 Cam, either for pro or if aid was needed to get up the last bit. I think probably a #4 Big Bro would be the one.

When Jeff, Ryan and I did it, we did it as an off–width, however, I led it and didn’t entirely free it (pulled on a Cam for the first move or two). Jeff did follow it free, and reported around 5.10+. Jeff did it without tension. He did some hand/fist stacks. No belay anchor; I was just wedged in at the top, belaying through an ATC on my harness.

I have done a number of off–widths in Yosemite around 25–30 years ago: Mental Block 5.10C, Peter Left 5.10B, Jam Session 5.10D, Reed’s Left 5.10A, Galen’s Crack 5.10D, and Generator Crack 5.10B. Since I didn’t do it completely free, and since I am 50 years old, compared to being in the 20s when I did the above routes, it’s a little hard to compare, but I would guess that as a conventional right side in off–width it would be about 5.10C/D.

If you are going to free climb it, or mostly free climb it as a conventional lead, I would bring the equivalent of a 5′′ Cam for anchoring the belay (something to fit a 4′′ crack) and then two 6′′ Cams or equivalent size Big Bros (for a 5–6′′ crack).


Nat
May 10, 2006



Tales of Sandthrax:
  Dog–Gone–It Name Entry • Steve Allen
  Sandthrax • Hank Moon
  Chasm of Doom • Shane Burrows
  Sandthrax Canyon • Nat Smale
  Sandthrax Solo • Scott Card & Steven Jackson
  Flyby—The Crux of the Matter • Ram
  Sandthrax Canyon • Ram
  Sandthrax Upclimb • Ben Hebb & Jason Kaplan
  Type 3 Fun in Sandthrax • Page Weil
  Five Canyons in a Day • Aaron Smith & Angus Wiessner

© 2006 Nat Smale