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Trip Report: Ramfest '05 (Day 6)

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Day 6 and we find ourselves in Robbers Roost, rappelling into a canyon known as Alcatraz. As you can see, the approach to the canyon is extremely grueling. We rigged the rope from the bumper of the car and jumped over the edge just like we saw in a car ad on TV, then we drank some Mountain Dew and called each other 'Dude'. Here Ram is about to find out whether he remembered to put the parking break on.
 
 
The canyon starts out with some steep down climbs.
As you can see from the picture, this crack as about a 60 degree angle to it. Ram has an aggressive technique for negotiating drops of this type. Here's a short video.
 
Soon we enter the main body of the canyon, which is rather dark and twisty. We wear headlamps to illuminate the darker sections.
 
The canyon gets its nickname from a pair of adventurers (one a well known guidebook author) who explored the canyon without prior information and became freaked out by the dark, tight, narrows after having committed themselves by pulling their ropes. They decided to retreat and only escaped the canyon after using a rock pick, hooks and aiders to climb the steep walls of the canyon.
 
Here's Ram, emerging from one of the more narrow sections.
 
The canyon widens, offering better opportunities to take pictures. I prefer photos taken with natural light, even though it limits where you can get a picture, particularly in a canyon as dark as this one.
 
Here's our happy group, and the only photo in which you'll see me in this report. I don't look very comfortable since I didn't have quite enough time to sit down before the self timer on the camera started beeping.
 
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