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| Canyoneering | 10.00 Miles |
3,300 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 10.00 Miles | 9 Hrs | | 1.33 mph |
| 3,300 ft AEG | 1 Hour 30 Mns Break | | | |
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| | Canyon Hiking - Non-technical; no rope; easy scrambling; occasional hand use | | A - Dry or little water; shallow or avoidable water; no wet/dry suit |
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[ show ]
| no partners | | Supposed to be a Marble Canyon Monday exploratory... but the snow was obscuring most of the area, and John committed to the long drive over from El Paso. I gave him the option of a short hike then heading up the mountain for even more snow and his first snow shoeing outing... or, we could do an interesting bit of Marble on our way to Ortega Peak.
He opted for the hiking.
I loaded up the new Peak log ammo box Jim had found up in Short Canyon... and off we went.
We walked in snow once up a couple thousand feet... and I was hiking in my usual open net running shoes... with no overshoes in the pack. Soaked feet by the peak. Oh, well...
After placing the new box and reclaiming the old one... and taking in the snow shrouded views... we headed down. I suggested some options... and we decided on Ortega Ridge. I thought it might be sun exposed enough to move us out of the snow. Eventually, it was... but we had to descend through ankle deep for miles. I finally got to strip off the soaking wet socks and put on dry... alas I still had to put the soaked shoes back on.
I'd hiked the upper and lower section of Ortega Ridge as relief routes from the surrounding canyons; today was my first full ridge descent. It started out with a more thorough exploration of the Rock Garden area.. very nice!
Lower down I checked out the details of the avalanche cleft that we've always figured would be an optional route into Ortega South, middle section. Not only was it good at the top, it oriented around a Rift that cut all the way through the Ridge over to Yubao's Cut off of Ortega Canyon North.
Below The Rift, we discovered a route along the high ridge line that was accented with exceptional rock walls, creating a corridor walk that descended repeated drops... a much nicer route than hiking the easier canyon edges down off the ridge top... my usual path when traversing up or down Ortega Ridge.
We eventually reached the Saddle... dropped down into Ortega South. John solo'd up canyon... even attempting to scale the big falls!!!
As sunset hit we'd exited the canyon and made our way along the pipeline trail back to our cars.
I feel like I should re-write the description for Ortega Ridge to include this higher oriented route... or... just let folks be surprised by what I failed to say about the Ridge?
All in all.. great day out!
Pics tomorrow! |
| _____________________
| Ageless Mind... Timeless Body... No Way! Use It and Lose It. Just the way it is... |
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