April 7, 2008
Today, we launched the Sierra Canyons Beta site, a website offering route descriptions for the canyon routes we established over the summer! This is a major milestone for the project because the website will provide much needed information for canyoneers looking to explore the Sierra Nevada. We are thrilled to be where we are today with the project. Everyone has access to introductory information about the canyons. For more in-depth route descriptions, you may request an invitation. Check the site out here:
The film producting is about to leap into high gear now that the website has launched. We have finished logging all of the footage and are in the midst of editing. The story evolved so much throughout the project, so we are having a great time weaving it into a finished piece.
December 18, 2007
The project is rolling along in post-production. We are enjoying looking through all the footage, reliving the excitement and wishing it was summer again. Altogether we shot more than 60 hours of footage, so we have our work cut out for us. It's thrilling to find the gems. We are almost done logging all the footage and will soon begin editing together the film. Our goal is to have the documentary done in the spring.
Also in the spring, we will launch our route beta site. We're designing the site now and distilling our notes into usable information. The whole team is looking forward to sharing information about the canyons we found.
August 21, 2007
"Out of the chaos and into the clear." We have completed our last two canyon descents of the project and they we exciting, fun and spectacular. The first canyon we descended in the Sequoia/Kings Canyon area we are calling "Little Utah Brown Water Dream" (3C III) for its lovely dam released turbid water, fluted rappels and surprising number of chimneys that lent themselves well to elevator downclimbs. The canyon was really a romp! There were a ton of slide rappels and rope-free slides all mixed with splishin' and splashin' in the brown water, of course. Later in the canyon, the rappels turned to nice chimney downclimbs in the watercourse, kinda rare for the Sierra. Then after a lot of swimming, Little Utah Brown comes to an end, but a 1/4 mile hike further on brings you to beer. A nice finish to a great day.
The second canyon we did in Sequoia/Kings Canyon was one we are calling "Chrysalis." This place is amazing, really one of the best of the entire expedition. The canyon is steep, highly committing and made of marble! Yup that's right unbelievable, white marble with emerald green pools! Being in this place was a treat that is hard to describe. Most of the raps went on natural anchors and took you through the teeth of many of the falls. Flow was just about perfect for us to get a good pounding but without being too scary. It was an awesome canyon that is destined to be a Sierra Classic!
The team is all back home now in the Bay Area. We are remembering fondly an expedition that has exceeded all of our expectations. In all, we established nine canyoneering routes that summer. We will be returning to the field at least once more in September as well as settling back into our home and starting on the post production process for the documentary.
There is still a lot of really great creative work to do on the project as we weave the footage into our story. Please keep checking back here for updates on the progress of the film, sneak peaks and beta on our new canyon finds.
It has been an amazing journey so far and we look forward to completing it with an exciting Sierra canyoneering film.
For now, check out our Sequoia/Kings Canyon slideshow.
August 7, 2007
Our last set of descents have yielded some of the hardest won canyon routes of the expedition so far. On the Yosemite area leg of our expedition we explored to routes "Canyon... of the Dammed" (3C V) and "Why The Long Face" (4C R III?). The descents of both of these canyons involved unplanned bivies in canyon.
Canyon... of the Dammed is a beautiful granite canyon with no shortage of impressive waterfalls, pools and a spectacular granite dome. We took a high entrance into the canyon and discovered evidence of past human passage in the canyon. Part way through our descent, single bolt anchors started to appear at the drops. Some of these anchors were next to completely bomber natural anchors!? We have never seen any documentation of a descent of this drainage but apparently it has been done by a party that does not have faith in a 75 foot tall cedar tree's ability to bare body weight. We re-rigged all the rappels that we could to go on the natural anchors (unfortunately we did not have patching gear with us so did not pull the unnessassary bolts). For the raps that did require bolts, we added a second all stainless rig to the anchor. Between our high entrance and the anchor work we ended up 3/4 of the way through the canyon at dusk, so we camped. It was a windy night, but not too cold and we had plenty of food with us. All members of the party were in good spirits and we did just fine. In the morning, we finished up the canyon, met up with other members of our worried team and headed for cheeseburgers! Using our entrance, Canyon... of the Dammed would be a two-day affair for most or perhaps a long, long day for a fast, small party. We believe that with some additional scouting, a entrance could be established that could make the route a one day trip for most parties.
Why the Long Face is a tremendous canyon that is extremely committing. The canyon starts with a lovely splash through magical potholes and then plunges down a 650 foot head wall into a spectacular, smooth, rocky canyon. We descended the headwall via a series of ledges on the vertical face by establishing 4 rappel stations. The raps went at 150 feet to a watery pothole ledge, 150 feet to a 5-person dry ledge, 50 feet to a 2 person dry ledge and finally a 300 foot rope stretcher to the canyon floor. The exposure on this sequence is spectacular. Most of our 5 person team was rappel/lowered on a 300 foot rope tied into a 200 foot rope from the 5 person ledge. Two of us then descended to the 2 person ledge established an anchor consisting of a single bolt and a knot chock (our trusty drill battery ran out of steam after the first bolt due to the exceptionally hard rock) and rapped gingerly to the ground (thanking all the stars for aligning and letting the 300 foot rope reach the whole way down). The falls from below were quite a sight and we dubbed them "Knot Chock Falls."
Our drill battery had died and upon eyeing the remaining drops in the canyon from on the headwall, we could see that at least 2 had a real lack of natural anchors. We decided that we were in a bad way. We camped in the sandy spot at the base of the falls. The next morning, we decided on an attempt to escape the canyon via a boulder and blackberry filled gully between the falls and a equally tall granite dome and then down a 1000 foot slope of brush, big fun... And big fun it was! We lived and we have generous helping of poison oak as a nice little keepsake. Why the Long Face is a spectacular and technically challenging canyon and we will be back very soon to finish it up. We estimate that once established, it will be a most of the day affair for most canyoneers.
The potential for canyoneering routes in this part of Sierra is really excellent. Due to our bivies we were unable to attempt a third route we had scouted. In addition there many, many more routes that will make spectacular descents.
We are now healing our brains and minor wounds and getting our last leg of exploration in the Sequoia/Kings Canyon area under way. Another report will be up on that soon. In the meantime, check out the photos from our Yosemite area explorations.
July 24, 2007
Our explorations of the eastern Sierra north of Yosemite have been a great success! We descended a new canyon we are calling "I.W.M.M." (4C R II). This was the first class 4 canyon we have found on our expedition and this one has some serious water obstacles. I.W.M.M. is a white water canyon with a lot of flow in committing narrows. On our first descent we used a rim team (Brad & Stacy) in case any of the problems were too difficult for us to overcome. As it turned out, our canyon team of three (Sati, Melody & Heather) made it through with quite a but of tangoing with stiff waterfalls.
I.W.M.M. is a really fun, challenging canyon in a spectacular High Sierra setting. We all loved it! Melody and I loved it so much we did it 3 days in a row with various team members. Over those three descents we worked out some creative ways to overcome the most difficult problems with guided rappels and zip lines.
Here's a sneak peak of I.W.M.M. as well as some stills from Conda Coolero. Oh ya, and in case you were wondering, I.W.M.M. is short for "I want my mommy!"
July 16th, 2007
Just returned from our little Coast Range exploration interlude and I must say, I like that place. The Eel River watershed is sweet! While we were there we even managed a descent of a new canyon we are calling "Conda Coolero" (3C I). It's short and sweet at about a mile long. The really neat part about Conda Coolero is that the water course cuts through chert bedrock and forms a really interested slot canyon. A slot in the Coast Range, imagine that. The canyon is as narrow as 2 feet across in places. The rock is very gray with white quartz veins. In stark contrast, the many swimming pools are bright emerald green, stunning! When we first descended Conda Coolero, we went ready for the potential difficulties of flowing water in tight narrows. But, as it turns out Conda Coolero is a romp. It's got a little of everything in its 3-4 hours of fun; jumps, slides, many nice swims, and 3 raps to boot!
We are headed for the West Walker River area now for our second big shoot. We have our eye on a route there that descends down the eastern slope of the Sierra, rare on this expedition. We are hoping it is as spectacular as we think it is going to be. More after this next weekend.
July 10th, 2007
The last week of scouting around the North Fork American River has been full of frustrations. There are some serious access issues due to privately held land. Many of the trails that could provide passage out of the American River Gorge are now in private hands and cannot be used without trespassing. A real shame cause it has closed us down on some canyons that look pretty good.
When you get a sour deal, well, you know what you should do. So, we have been eyeing these routes in the Coast Range. It's not the Sierra but is located just across the Central Valley. That's where we are headed for the next few days with hopes of putting in two new routes there. Wish us luck!
July 5th, 2007
Yesterday we finished up with our Feather River area exploration and projects. We were able to open up three new routes! We are calling them "Sleep Disorder" (3C IV), "Upper Log Ride" (3C R III) and "Lower Log Ride" (3C III). The Feather River area is beautiful and a prime area for further exploration. There are many, many more steep creeks and river branches that could yield additional canyoneering goodness!
We are now in the the American River area and planning on starting our explorations tomorrow. It's exciting to be diving in to a whole new area of potential projects. More updates as things unfold.
Here is a slideshow of some of our Feather River area descents:
June 28, 2007:
Two days ago we completed our first new canyon route. We're calling it "Sleep Disorder" on account of the midnight finish. It was awesome! The watercourse dropped at about 1400 feet per mile leading to falls after falls and technical problem after technical problem. Rating to come after a second decent in a few days.
Our first "Big Shoot Weekend" is coming up this weekend and most of the team will be in attendance. We have our sights set on a wild water descent that should be a fantastic wilderness adventure. After a week of scouting access points as well as the top and bottom of the route we are ready to go for it. Full report after the 4th.
June 24th, 2007:
We're looking at two routes on forks and tributaries of the Feather River. We scouted one from the top and bottom and we're planning a descent for tomorrow. We are working hard on the access to the second, bigger canyon. We should be ready for a descent by next weekend! The area is rich with steeply falling water, powerful and varied falls and dreamy swimming holes. The canyoneering potential around here is exciting. We're anticipating some thrilling descents this week.
June 1st, 2007:
It's June and the countdown has officially begun. We will be headed for the field in 18 days! Final preparations are in full swing and there is a little bit of shooting left to do here in town before we head out.
May 10th, 2007:
Over the weekend we shot interviews about training, gear and route research. We also shot footage of Sati, Melody and team members climbing at a local climbing area. This is one of the many ways that the team trains for the upcoming expedition.
Be sure to check out some production photography from the shoots as well as another great Jesse timelapse:
April 12th, 2007:
We had our first shoot last weekend so photography for the documentary has offically begun! Check out team member Jesse Hammons's timelapse that captures the shooting day.
Please check back often for updates on the project's progress.
Click here to contact usThe Waterway Down Project is proud to be sponsored by
