mitchellggreenhalgh
Todo List
North Wash
Tick List
Box Canyon - Maple Canyon
Date: 03/26/2022
Went with Sam Fjerstad. A really good time. Camped the night before just outside of Maple Canyon, then hiked from the campsite and did the route. Tacked on a few extra miles. Would definitely need at least medium clearance if you're trying to drive to the top and then run it and hike back up to the car. Really fun with remaining ice and snow. The approach was long because we couldn't drive very close because of mud, but it was worth it. Didn't really have snow until like half way through the canyon when the walls got taller. Would've been helpful to have crampons, but I'd still do it again even without them (definitely worth boots and long pants, maybe gaiters if there's enough snow at the top). 100 ft rappel, 15 foot handline, 50 ft rappel. Last rappel (the first waterfall if you're trying to go from bottom up) was an icy waterfall with a stream flowing underneath some of the ice. The handline set up there was core-shot, wouldn't trust it. Wanted to remove it so others don't use it, but the ice had frozen over it and we couldn't free it enough to take it out or bight it off with an alpine butterfly or something. Really good bolts though, big and long because of the cobbly substrate. Felt safe on them. A lot more fun than I thought it would be. The ice forced some fun down climbs, was really pretty with the melting ice and mosses growing b/c of them. Found some bugs (some type of beetle larva and some diptera larvae in some of the pools, and one adult beetle on some ice). Didn't get a picture of the adult beetle because it was in the middle of the icy waterfall rappel. A lot of cool offshoots you could explore, some with caves. Pretty easy to follow, just one or two parts where there were lots of big boulders and massive chockstones and you had to meander around or under to find the way. Only took a minute or two to figure out those parts. Lots of spots for cool ice climbing it seems. Wanted to run the canyon then on the hike back down to the car hit up Tachycardia, a really cool looking multipitch climb with a cool descent, but we ran out of time. Knowing the canyon now, we could probably do it faster and have time for the climb. When we were doing the approach, we went down off the ridge too early and had to back track/find our way back up to the ridge, so make sure to hit the peak and stay on it as best as you can while you go down to the saddle where you descend into the canyon.
Went with Sam Fjerstad. A really good time. Camped the night before just outside of Maple Canyon, then hiked from the campsite and did the route. Tacked on a few extra miles. Would definitely need at least medium clearance if you're trying to drive to the top and then run it and hike back up to the car. Really fun with remaining ice and snow. The approach was long because we couldn't drive very close because of mud, but it was worth it. Didn't really have snow until like half way through the canyon when the walls got taller. Would've been helpful to have crampons, but I'd still do it again even without them (definitely worth boots and long pants, maybe gaiters if there's enough snow at the top). 100 ft rappel, 15 foot handline, 50 ft rappel. Last rappel (the first waterfall if you're trying to go from bottom up) was an icy waterfall with a stream flowing underneath some of the ice. The handline set up there was core-shot, wouldn't trust it. Wanted to remove it so others don't use it, but the ice had frozen over it and we couldn't free it enough to take it out or bight it off with an alpine butterfly or something. Really good bolts though, big and long because of the cobbly substrate. Felt safe on them. A lot more fun than I thought it would be. The ice forced some fun down climbs, was really pretty with the melting ice and mosses growing b/c of them. Found some bugs (some type of beetle larva and some diptera larvae in some of the pools, and one adult beetle on some ice). Didn't get a picture of the adult beetle because it was in the middle of the icy waterfall rappel. A lot of cool offshoots you could explore, some with caves. Pretty easy to follow, just one or two parts where there were lots of big boulders and massive chockstones and you had to meander around or under to find the way. Only took a minute or two to figure out those parts. Lots of spots for cool ice climbing it seems. Wanted to run the canyon then on the hike back down to the car hit up Tachycardia, a really cool looking multipitch climb with a cool descent, but we ran out of time. Knowing the canyon now, we could probably do it faster and have time for the climb. When we were doing the approach, we went down off the ridge too early and had to back track/find our way back up to the ridge, so make sure to hit the peak and stay on it as best as you can while you go down to the saddle where you descend into the canyon.
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