Mumbai Canyon 4/2/22

Mumbai Canyon has been on my radar for a while, and I finally got the chance to make it happen on the 6th of April, 2022. We had a late start and underestimated the time it takes to drive from the Chimney Rock campsite to the head of 50 mile canyon (about an hour), but managed to do the overland approach in about 2 hours. We were able to hike down to the midway entry point and drop off our gear between the upper and lower sections. We had at least two members of the group bring harnesses and we brought one 50 foot rope to the top of the upper X-section. Otherwise, most of us did not bring anything with us for the upper section.

(Walking the rim to the top of the upper section - PC Bryce Fehlig)
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Eight people out of our group of eleven had done an X-canyon before, but after dropping into the upper section, I quickly realized that this was not an ideal X-canyon for the first timers. From the get-go, the stemming was awkward and somewhat tedious. You couldn’t just galumph down hallways like you can in other X’s due to the spacing and vertical nature of the walls. At the end of the first hallway, there is a 30 foot downclimb that’s a bit too wide to elevator down, requiring some cautious and narrow butt-to-feet moves, providing the first real test of head-game. The upper section is very exposed to the sun and hot, with shallow canyon walls giving little protection from the sun.

(Stemming in the upper section - PC: Stephen Dunne)

(Nearing the silo - PC: Bryce Fehlig)
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Next we encountered the “main-event” silo of the canyon, which was easily crossed by myself at 6 feet tall, but was certainly more intimidating to those who were shorter. Group members were able to cross it both by star-bridging and butt-to-feet stemming. It is very open underneath with a 30-40 foot fall potential, but as far as technically goes, it is very straightforward. We didn’t need to, but a solid belay could be given from the down canyon side of the silo. The first few people across the silo started working on the next obstacle, the Bombay downclimb, while a couple members of the group struggled to work up the head game to cross the silo.

(Chris Puga crossing the silo - PC: Bryce Fehlig)

(Bryce Fehlig crossing the silo)
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The bombay downclimb marks the end of the upper canyon, and is not very straightforward. We lowered someone to the ground in order to scout the downclimb, and found that those who are skinny could pretty much just go straight down to the ground without hitting the bombay. Most people had to go down-canyon 10 feet or so where they could fit better, and then had to move back up-canyon about halfway down in order to avoid the bombay. Once the path was scouted, it wasn’t too difficult to get the group through the bombay, though there would be a worse bombay downclimb in the lower section of the canyon.

(Myself at the top of the 1st Bombay - PC: Bryce Fehlig)

(Chris Puga downclimbing before the first rap)
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After reaching our packs in the open midsection of the canyon, three group members decided to hike back to the cars, which was a good decision considering that two of them had struggled in the upper section. There was about 1 hour of waiting for the struggling group members through the upper section, which made the section about two hours long. I think it would be totally reasonable for anyone with X-canyon experience to complete the upper section in less than an hour. Everyone who bailed out could have made it through the lower section, though it would have been slow going, so I think it was a good call on their part overall. After picking up our packs, we quickly made it down to the first rappel into the lower section.

(Braden Tobler getting wide in the lower section - PC: Stephen Dunne)
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The lower section immediately had a different character than the upper, with the walls reaching much higher and shading pretty much all of the stemming in the afternoon. After the short rappel there is some walking with short upclimbs between until the canyon takes you back up to the X-zone. There was a good amount of galumphing in this section, which was a nice change from the upper. There were three silos that I can remember, but none of them were too challenging because you could downclimb and cross them low if needed, unlike the silo in the upper section. This section reminded me of DDI due to it having high walls above while high-stemming rather than being exposed to the sun in a shallower slot. It kept us off the deck for quite a while, and progressively got less cruiser as we neared the final Bombay.

(Enjoying some good geometry - PC: Bryce Fehlig)

(Myself upclimbing after a silo crossing- PC: Bryce Fehlig)
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The final bombay was quite a bit higher than the one in the upper section, with the downclimbing appearing to be much riskier. Chris started having the group rappel off of him while we scouted a downclimbing route. We ended up finding Chris a somewhat exposed route down, but with good ledges most of the way. This downclimb is no joke, and probably the sketchiest part of the canyon. There might have been a path down up-canyon from where we came down, but it appeared too tight, forcing a wide downclimb. Chris said he felt solid on the downclimb, but I would guess that there would be a less exposed route down.

(Chris Puga on meat anchor above the 2nd Bombay- PC: Bryce Fehlig)

(Bottom of the 2nd Bombay - PC: Stephen Dunne)
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The most scenic section of the canyon starts from the bottom of the bombay, and involves some potholes and pools with maidenwater ferns. This was the only area we got wet in the canyon, with the water being calf deep in the pool we had to enter. It was a 75 degree day, but with how shady it was there we would have been very chilly in the final section of the canyon if we would have had to swim. There was a very scenic section of stemming that followed, leading to a deep pothole, which I was able to cross on rappel and then set up a tension traverse for the rest of the group. More R-rated stemming led to the final rappel, which we built off of a small arch on the RDC. The arch wasn’t exactly confidence inspiring for a 80 foot free-hang rappel, but it held well when we backed it up, and I felt good enough about it to use it without a backup. The nature of the slot before the final rappel makes it so you can’t get to any anchor building material, but there is always the option for ferrying rocks up from the bottom of the last rappel.

(Pothole Traverse, 15 feet deep - PC: Braden Tobler)

(Final rappel of Mumbai Canyon - PC: Bryce Fehlig)
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We didn’t take the time to see how far the lake was from us, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a bit of a walk seeing how dry things have been. The exit hike up 50 mile canyon was incredible, and made the many miles fly by. Lots of clear flowing water and a good number of beaver dams. The slot sections were amazing and we only managed to get wet up to mid thigh, though if you slipped in deeper you could easily swim in a few spots. I can see why 50 mile canyon is a backpacking destination on its own, and it makes doing Mumbai much more enjoyable. When we made it back to the car it had taken us 12 hours round trip with about 15 miles hiked recorded on our phones.

(50 Mile Canyon - PC: Stephen Dunne)

(50 Mile Canyon narrows - PC: Bryce Fehlig)

(Under the lake only a few years ago - PC: Bryce Fehlig)​

Mumbai is a big day out, and should be on the list of anyone who is up for an X-canyon. The canyon itself is very similar to Glaucoma as far as X-difficulty is concerned. It’s obviously a much bigger day out in Mumbai, but someone who has done Glaucoma wouldn’t have an issue with the X-sections, assuming they find good routes down the Bombays. For four people in the group it was their first X-canyon. Two of the first-timers really struggled with it being their first X and had to exit halfway through, and the other two were totally confident to the end. X’s like Psycho D and Big Tony are better first X canyons with more straightforward terrain and less awkward moves. The slot in Mumbai isn’t as scenic as other X’s like Big Tony or Pintact, but hiking up a 50 mile canyon on the exit made it an excellent day out.

(Stunning spring - PC: Chris Haines)​

Awesome report and write up! Thanks!

Austin,

Thank you very much for this trip report. The place holds a special place in my heart and I love when I hear of and get reports of others doing it.
Your comments above are spot on. You were right about it being far from the reservoir now.

I am sure this is known, but PINTAC was named by Steve Allen, on 1st known descent in 1998 or so. Stands for "Pain In The A** Crack."

You handled that lower bombay perfectly. I am always interested in how folks knew to go down there. There is no clear landmark and one could continue a ways. The lower R section is so pretty, but you are spot on on the starkness above. Enough folks have done it that perhaps some of the loose stuff on the walls has fallen? You have any blocks fall off?

On the way out, did you exit the wash and go up to the overland route or take the wash most of the way out? It is magical in there.

The final rap was into a swim on 1st descent in 2010. We could have slid the slope and off 25 feet into deep water but didn't know that at the time. The 2nd time it was dry at the bottom like your picture here.

That Tyrolean traverse right before the final rap? How deep was the pothole this time? Water in it?. Yeah, pretty thin arch for the final drop. We thought it was a Godsend. Love the silo video.

Congrats. That is a wilderness canyon that takes some effort to package together. Wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

Ram

There was lots of loose rock in the upper section of the canyon. I had a handhold bust on me, and large flakes up to a couple feet long had to be trundled to allow safe passage in places. There is also some loose rock in the lower section but it wasn't close to as bad as the upper. I really don't think the canyon has been done very many times, I have a hard time finding many people who have done it. It's far enough out there and a big enough day that I think it scares a lot of people off, especially with the X-rating on top of all that. We took the wash out almost all the way back to the cars, only exiting 50 mile when a giant boulder blocked progress less than a mile for the cars. I'm glad we stuck in the wash, because the good scenery lasts a lot longer than I thought, though the overland would have been an easier exit for sure and added less mileage. The tyrolean traverse pothole was about 15 ft deep and bone dry. It was a little bit interesting trying to cross it as the first one down, but definitely not the worst pothole that that I've crossed on rappel. I can imagine that Mumbai made for a very interesting first descent back in 2010. The only thing I could think to do if the arch wasn't an option on the final rap, would be to ferry rocks up from the bottom, which still doesn't guarantee you a great anchor placement unless you have a good amount of webbing and a fiddlestick.

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