Canyoneering Route Description
Icebox Canyon - 3A II
Red Rock Canyon, Nevada.
Pictures 10-07-07
Quick Facts
10-07-07, 3 people, 1 Day (Travel time in route 10.5 hours)
Using the alt. from the bottom only to the top of the last 2 rappels.
Distance for lower route to top of the last 2 rappels - 4 miles Total,
200 feet Technical.
Rappels - 2 Rappels (if using the lower route as
described here), Longest Rappel 160 feet.
See the
Canyoneer Trip Report Explanation Notes page
for an explanation of how the technical mileage or the gear used
list is determined.
Gear Used for Canyon
Rappelling and anchor gear, two 200 foot ropes, 50 feet of 1” webbing for sling
placement and wet suits. If the fall is only trickling and it
is a HOT day no wet suit is needed. The pool that needs to be
crossed to get to the final rappel can be quite chilly and full even
in mild weather with little water flow, that is why a wet suit is
still recommended.
General Comments
Icebox canyon is located in the Red Rock Canyon National
Conservation Area near Las Vegas Nevada. There is a hiking trail
from the Icebox Canyon trailhead that ends at the bottom of 160 foot
water fall. Spring snow melt can result in a lot of water flowing
over this water fall but the rest of the year water flow is
minimal. The hike up the wash in the canyon up to the bottom of the
water fall, is a popular hike in Red Rock. When there is
significant water flow this water fall is a beautiful hike
destination.
There is a canyoneering route for the entire Icebox Canyon.
That route uses most of the same approach as the route to
Ice
Cube Canyon, then down Icebox Canyon down to and over the water
fall then out to the trail head via the standard hiking trail. That
is not the route covered here.
This "alternate route" starts at the trailhead and soon climbs up
the left (north) side of the canyon then drops back to the canyon
floor just above the large water fall. Very little of the actual
Icebox Canyon canyoneering route is followed for this route.
This alternate route to do only the lower water fall, shows and
describes the route for only the fun part. This alternate
route for Icebox Canyon does not mess with the long approach and not
so challenging canyon of doing the full route. We have hiked
all the way up Icebox canyon with no gear. The upper part of
the canyon does not feel like it would be interesting to descend as
a canyoneering route.
This Alternate route involves a lot more work than some may
think it is worth. Most of the approach route involves a lot
of scrambling and light climbing. The payoff is rapping down a
water fall that is about 160 feet. Because the approach
requires a lot of scrambling and light climbing, it is recommended
to pack as light as possible. You will thank yourself for the
smaller pack size when you see how much you will lug it around only
to do 2 rappels.
Getting to the Trailhead and Exit Vehicle (Escape Pod) Parking
To get to the Trailhead
From the entrance gates to Red Rock Canyon Scenic Loop, drive
8.1 miles on the scenic loop to the Ice Box Canyon trailhead.
Park in the parking lot.
To leave the Exit Vehicle / Escape Pod
No exit vehicle is required. The end point is the same as
the start point for this route.
Maps
Map showing entire route.
Click for High-Res version.
Right Click then select "Save Target As" to save the Hi-Res version.
The black line is the Red Rock Canyon Scenic Loop.
Map showing the beginning portion of the route.
Click for High-Res version.
Right Click then select "Save Target As" to save the Hi-Res version.
Map showing the upper section of the route.
Click for High-Res version.
Right Click then select "Save Target As" to save the Hi-Res version.
GPS Waypoint Information
Approach Waypoints
1. - tIcBxCnyn
Icebox Canyon trailhead. The trail ends at the bottom of a
large seasonal water fall in Icebox Canyon.
N36 09.004 W115 29.042, Elevation 4290 ft.
2. - wIBHpthStrt
The path here leads toward the first climb on the route.
It does not look frequently traveled, but is
easy to follow.
N36 08.864 W115 29.416
3. - jIBHleaveTrail
This is the point where the route leaves main trail and heads up the North side of the canyon.
It starts out as an easy to follow route that gets occasional foot traffic.
Soon after, it becomes a scrambling / climbing route up the side of the canyon
N36 08.826 W115 29.334
4. - wIBHScrmbl
A short distance after leaving the main trail is this spot where
you must climb up a chimney
into a gully.
N36 08.860 W115 29.505
5. - wIBHleftOutGully
After climbing a short up the gully past the chimney, climb out
of the gully here to the left (southwest).
N36 08.863 W115 29.517
6. - wIBHovr2Horn
After climbing out of the gully and reaching this point, you
should be able to see the
large, flat, brown black platform of rock.
N36 08.857 W115 29.527
7. - wIBHhornRock
Climb between this horn rock and the canyon wall to get to the
next gully.
N36 08.837 W115 29.532
8. - wIBHleftOutGully2
After getting past the horned rock, climb up the gully you find
yourself in.
This is the point you climb out of the gully.
N36 08.884 W115 29.711
9. - wIBHridgeCrest
This is a point on the ridge after leaving the second gully that
makes the route easy to find.
N36 08.864 W115 29.707
10. - wIBHshortCrevice
There is a short crevice about 30 feet to climb up here to
continue the route.
There were cairns there at one time.
N36 08.848 W115 29.730
11. - wIBHridgeCrestBowl
This is a point on a crest of a ridge just before you get to the
bowl to hike around.
N36 08.731 W115 29.887
12. - wIBHbegBowl
This is the start of a large bowl to hike around.
N36 08.674 W115 29.964
13. - wIBHendBowl
This is the other side of the bowl you will hike around to get
to the other ridge.
N36 08.605 W115 30.086
14. - wDrp2IcBxFl
This is the top of the gully that drops into Icebox Canyon near
the top of the falls. Follow that gully down to the floor
of Icebox Canyon.
N36 08.571 W115 30.087
15. - wIBHiceboxfloor
This is the bottom of the gully that takes you to the floor of
Icebox Canyon
a few hundred feet from the water fall.
N36 08.537 W115 30.076
Canyon / Technical Section Waypoints
15. - wIBHiceboxfloor
This is the bottom of the gully that takes you to the floor of
Icebox Canyon
a few hundred feet from the water fall.
N36 08.537 W115 30.076
16. - yIceBoxBot
This is the bottom of the Icebox Canyon route. This is the
large water fall that is so
popular on the Icebox Canyon hiking trail. From here follow the main hiking trail to get back to the trailhead.
N36 08.575 W115 29.986
Exit Route Waypoints
16. - yIceBoxBot
This is the bottom of the Icebox Canyon route. This is the
large water fall that is so
popular on the Icebox Canyon hiking trail. From here follow the main hiking trail to get back to the trailhead.
N36 08.575 W115 29.986
17. - Trail2Wash
This is where a path leads up the side of the wash to the main
trail.
The path is through a dense section of vegetation and is easy to miss.
N36 08.662 W115 29.736
18. - tIcBxCnyn
Icebox Canyon trailhead. The trail ends at the bottom of a
large seasonal water fall in Icebox Canyon.
N36 09.004 W115 29.042, Elevation 4290 ft.
Details
The Approach:
From the trailhead (1), follow the main hiking trail and work your way, a
little less than a half mile, to where you will leave the main trail (2) and
hike off trail to the right. About 500 feet away you
will find a path (3) that leads toward the first climb. From here you will not be traveling on the main trail. It starts
out pretty easy to follow, since there are signs of occasional
foot traffic. The terrain will get a bit steeper as you
approach the walls of the canyon. The first climb (4) is a
climb / scramble up to a chimney, then up the chimney and into a
gully.
Ron and Bonnie shortly after leaving the trailhead.
Approaching the area with the first climb.
A closer look at the first climb.
Details of the first climb.
Once you have climbed up into the gully, continue up it for
about 60 or 70 feet to where you will climb out of the gully (5) to
your left.
Shortly after exiting up and out of the gully, make your way to
where you will be able to look left down the ridge (6) and see a
large, flat, brown black platform of rock. This platform
is not your goal. It is a land mark so you will know you
are in the right spot.
This is a look up the gully from where you should exit the gully to the left.
This is not a section of the gully you will go up!
It is a visual queue of what it looks like in the gully above
your exit point.
Large rock platform to look for as a landmark.
From here continue about 140 feet
to the southwest 210° to a large horn like rock (7). To get
there you will need to scramble over some large boulders.
Climb between the horn and the canyon wall.
On the other side of this passage, traverse a
ledge to get to the next gully.
A view of the horn like rock.
Climb between the horn like rock and the canyon wall here.
Traverse the ledge on the other side of the horn like rock.
Climb about 1,000 feet up the gully on the other side of the
horn. This gully is wide and has what appear to be gullies
that branch off of it. While climbing this gully stay on
the left side of anything that appears to be a fork. Exit
the gully (8) to the left just before getting to a large dead tree.
A look down the second gully (the gully after the horn like
rock).
After traversing the ledge after the horn like rock, this is
what you will see looking down the gully you find yourself in.
A tree just above the exit point of the second gully.
Travel up the second gully (the gully passed the horn like rock)
almost to this tree.
Remember to stay to the left at any point in this second gully
that appears to be a fork.
Exit point on the left side of the second gully.
Exit the gully on the left side and get out to the ridge through
here.
Climb to the crest of the ridge on the left side of the gully (9).
From the crest of the ridge continue southwest 220° about 150
feet to a short crevice or chute (10) running up about 80 feet
to the
northwest.
After climbing up the chute or crevice continue southwest 227°
about 1,000 feet to the crest of the next ridge. The route
from the chute or crevice to the next ridge crest (11)
is pretty easy travel. There area couple obstacles to climb up and
over.
Climb the short crevice - chute.
There were cairns at top and bottom but they may not always be
around.
Just past this ridge crest is a good view of the Buffalo
Climbing Wall in the distance. Keep your eyes open to the
left, at one point along the route you get a good view down to
the water fall you will eventually end up at. Continue
about 500 feet to the southwest to the beginning of a large bowl (12)
you will need to hike around.
A view of the Buffalo Climbing Wall.
A look down to the water fall.
Go around the bowl by hiking around it to the right.
Follow around the bowl while trying not to loose elevation.
Just before getting to the other side of the bowl you will need
to drop into a wash (it had water when we were there in October)
then back up out of it. On the other side of the wash make
your way up to the ridge point with a large rock on it. This ridge point is the end of the bowl (13).
A view of the ridge on the far side of the bowl.
A view of the route to the ridge on the other side of the bowl.
The wash to travel across just before reaching the other side of the bowl.
Walk a short distance around the ridge, is the top of a gully (14)
going down to the left.
Work your way down the gully about 300 feet to the bottom.
It is possible to travel right down the center of the gully but
there is a lot of bushwhacking there. I traveled down the
right side of the gully with little trouble and almost no
bushwhacking.
A view down the last gully to the floor of Icebox Canyon.
The Canyon / Technical Section:
Once at the bottom of the gully (15) you are on the floor of Icebox
Canyon about 500 feet from the top of the water fall.
Travel down the wash (east). You will quickly come to a
pool of water that stops your travel. Look right to find a
large boulder to the right. Go up and over this boulder to the
right to bypass the pool.
Just before reaching the water fall (16), will be a
pool, which is right at the top of the water fall. The first rappel
about 15
feet into the pool. Even with little water
flow in the canyon this pool will be a swimmer. Unless it is
HOT out you will want a wet suit on this one. On the other end of
the pool are the anchors for the second rappel down the falls.
The anchor for for this 15 foot rap is a large tree about 40 up canyon of
the pool. Sling the tree and leave it long so there is less
drag on the rope when you pull.
After raping down the water fall, hike back to the trailhead by
following the wash to a path (17) on the left leading up to the main
trail.
Follow the main trail about 0.8 mile back to the trailhead.
Anchors on the other side of the pool at the top of the water fall.
The second rappel is about 160’ down the falls and into a larger
pool. It is anchored from 2 bolted hangers LDC. Enjoy
this rappel since it is the reason you are doing this route.
It is a beautiful sight from the bottom looking up. If you
have ever hiked up to the water fall and looked it over from the
bottom, you may find it even more of a thrill to rap down the fall.
A look over the edge of the 160 foot rap down the water fall.
A view from the ledge pat way down the water fall.
Rapping down the water fall.
A look down canyon from the bottom of the rappel of the water fall.
The Exit:
After finishing the rappel down the
water fall, walk down canyon (east) following the standard hiking
route down the wash. About 0.3 miles down the wash start
looking for one of a few trails the leave the main wash you are in.
Take any one of these trails heading up the steep left (north) bank
of the wash. Once on top of the banks you will be greeted with
a few trails webbing all over but all leading back to the Icebox
trailhead.
GPS Waypoint Information
In the future I may start to have GPX
files for down load but not quite yet.
Most
GPS units and mapping software use the common gpx file format
including Google Earth.
National Geographic TOPO! hides the feature
to import GPX files. To find the feature........
1. Click on "Handhelds" in the menu at the top.
2. Select the option for "Import (from GPS or .txt)
Wizard..
3. Select "In a .gpx file....... and click
on Next
4. Use the window that opens to navigate to the GPX file
you wish to open.
Garmin MapSource will open a GPX file in
the same way it opens other formats by simply using the File
then Open.
If you wish to convert between formats to
get your data from one software title to another you can use the
free GPSBabel software.
Elevations are approximate. Waypoints with no elevation
data will display NaN in place of the elevation.
Elevations are in meters so multiplying by 3.28083 is necessary
to get elevations in feet.
The first letter of a waypoint denotes the type of point.
Rappels start with d. Technical top and bottom of canyons
start with y. the letter w denotes a generic point.
Scenic spots start with s. Trailheads start with t.
Junctions of trails or canyons start with j.
Notes for GPS information:
Waypoint coordinates are listed with
WGS84 datum and in Lat/Lon hddd.ddddd° format.
Waypoints are listed alphabetically by waypoint name
(not in order on the route).
BEFORE entering coordinates from this website, please ensure
your system (GPS or mapping software) is set to the same datum
used here (WGS84). Entering coordinate information with
inconsistent datum's can result in the waypoints being off by
hundreds of feet. It is important to keep this in mind
when entering waypoints from any source.
tStrike2Cyn |
- Place to start up the wash toward Strike 2 Canyon. Be sure to check out the incredible arches on the hills to the west. Walk up under them to see double arches and incredible views.
- N37.87477252073586 W-111.04432057589293
Elevation 1,776.98
Meters - (for feet multiply by 3.28083)
|
yStrike2Tp |
- Top entry for Strike 2 Canyon on a saddle. Rap 1 starts from here and is anchored from a rock about 15 feet back embedded in dirt at the base of the saddle. Rap 1 drops about 200 feet to the top of a down climbable slope IF the webbing is extended a minimum of 30 feet down from the anchor. A longer extension is recommended, see route description.
- N37.876566667109728 W-111.04138330556452
Elevation 1,812.34
Meters - (for feet multiply by 3.28083)
|
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