NEON Canyon - WARNING - Keeper Potholes, Difficult

Just visited Neon. The canyon is very, very dry, and the last flood scoured out the last pothole before the big rappel, creating a huge, KEEPER pothole. There is also a deep keeper pothole just before the "usual" short Neon entrance. EVEN THE SHORT ROUTE IN NEON IS CURRENTLY QUITE DIFFICULT, AND COULD BE FOR A YEAR OR MORE.

The Big Keeper Pothole is just after a downclimb, where there are some neat little bridges at the top of a slab, often filled with branches. Previously, one rappelled off a slung branch in one of the holes, or slid down to a sandy floor and walked out. Currently, it is about a 15' drop into a waist-deep pothole. The exit out the other end is slopy, sandy and lacks holds, and is overhanging for the first 8' or so. A two-person shoulder stand could get your lightest person to the top. I hope you have the muscle power to get the rest of the party through.

Parties smaller than 3 people will have a VERY DIFFICULT TIME getting out.

If you are going to NEON, please bring a couple of backcountry skiing shovels, and plan on spending a couple hours shovelling sand down into the hole. There is plenty of sand down-canyon. The hole will re- fill with small floods, but that probably won't start happening until August. A couple hours of shovelling will make a huge difference in the difficulty of this obstacle (and might prevent the placement of bolts at this location).

Another foot or two of water in this pothole, and this could be a much more serious obstacle. Working from waistdeep is OK, working from neck-deep is much more difficult.

If doing an extended Neon, the pothole just before the Moki steps / short Neon entrance also calls for some concern. It can be climbed around with not too much trouble.

Tom

Has anyone tried the TEVA Rodium shoes? I'm in the market for new canyon shoes and am wondering what new shoes are out there that have been proven reliable.

Samuel Sonntag

ratagonia wrote:

> Just visited Neon. The canyon is very, very dry, and the last flood > scoured out the last pothole before the big rappel, creating a huge, > KEEPER pothole. There is also a deep keeper pothole just before > the "usual" short Neon entrance. EVEN THE SHORT ROUTE IN NEON IS > CURRENTLY QUITE DIFFICULT, AND COULD BE FOR A YEAR OR MORE.
The Big Keeper Pothole is just after a downclimb, where there are > some neat little bridges at the top of a slab, often filled with > branches. Previously, one rappelled off a slung branch in one of the > holes, or slid down to a sandy floor and walked out. Currently, it > is about a 15' drop into a waist-deep pothole. The exit out the > other end is slopy, sandy and lacks holds, and is overhanging for the > first 8' or so. A two-person shoulder stand could get your lightest > person to the top. I hope you have the muscle power to get the rest > of the party through.
Parties smaller than 3 people will have a VERY DIFFICULT TIME getting > out.
If you are going to NEON, please bring a couple of backcountry skiing > shovels, and plan on spending a couple hours shovelling sand down > into the hole. There is plenty of sand down-canyon. The hole will re- > fill with small floods, but that probably won't start happening until > August. A couple hours of shovelling will make a huge difference in > the difficulty of this obstacle (and might prevent the placement of > bolts at this location).
Another foot or two of water in this pothole, and this could be a > much more serious obstacle. Working from waistdeep is OK, working > from neck-deep is much more difficult.
If doing an extended Neon, the pothole just before the Moki steps / > short Neon entrance also calls for some concern. It can be climbed > around with not too much trouble.
Tom
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