The Exploration of Burrly and Swurrly Canyons

Looking down the massive final rappel of Swurrly Canyon

     Back in 2017, I descended Burr Slot while preparing to do my first X-canyon. I scoped out the Burr Point area on Google Earth before going and noticed some unmarked slots nearby. I marked them on my map to check out after doing Burr Slot. After finishing Burr Slot, we drove a very overgrown road to the southernmost of the slots. We descended the canyon as far as possible, doing one 80-foot rappel and several downclimbs before reaching a large drop in the 200-300ft range. We had spotted an escape from above but had to do a brutal elevator up-climb to get there. Overall the canyon wasn’t very deep or interesting, so I never put together a return trip to do the last rappel. However, this initial exploration did get me interested in the neighboring drainages, which looked deeper and more committing. I returned to the area briefly in 2019 and got my eyes on the drainage that would later be named Swurrly Canyon. The canyon looked very interesting from the rim, but I couldn’t find any viable exits for the canyons and I shelved them for a future date. 

Christain Felger rappelling into the unknown canyon in 2017

    In the Fall of 2023, I convinced Josh Allen to stop by and check out the canyons while he was in the area. With the exit being very uncertain, Josh planned to ascend/climb up anything he went down, and not do the final drops. Descending into the drainage that would later be named Burrly Canyon, Josh found old anchors on the first two drops. However, the anchors stopped showing up after the canyon became difficult. Josh was faced with what looked like an X-section. He did some exposed stemming down the canyon to a chockstone, followed by a roughly 60-foot downclimb to the canyon floor. He couldn’t get a clear view of the final sequence without committing to another large down climb, so he decided to bail. 

Josh hadn’t fixed a line on the 60-foot drop he had just climbed down and was faced with a daunting chimney climb to get back up. Having done some of the most difficult X-rated canyons in Utah, Josh described the upclimb as one of the most burly things he had ever done in a canyon. This experience led to naming the canyon Burrly after we later did a full descent of the canyon. Josh continued on to descend the upper part of Swurrly Canyon to where he could escape the canyon before the final sequence. He wasn’t able to get his eyes on the final sequences of either canyon, but his descriptions convinced me that I needed to go do a full descent of both canyons. Josh believed that Burrly was an X-canyon, so the possibility of finding a new X-canyon really got me excited. 

Looking up at the "burly" chimney climb

    In early December 2023, I put a group together to fully descend the canyons and find a viable exit. Before the trip, I reached out to several people involved in canyon explorations in the region to see if they had been to the area or had ideas on a possible exit. Multiple people I reached out to had the area on their radar but hadn’t been out there due to there being no clear exit from the canyons. Studying the contour lines on the map, a peninsula between Burrly and Swurrly looked like the best possible candidate for an exit. However, there would have to be a viable climbing route through the initial cliff band. If that exit didn’t work out, we would have to traverse 3 miles to the south for the next possible escape point. 

    With the scouting that had been done, along with elevation data, I knew the final drops of the canyons couldn’t be much more than 300 feet high. We packed a 320ft, 150ft, and 80ft rope with us, along with 460ft of Dyneema pull-cord. Josh wasn’t able to join us for the descent, but all six people in the group had experience doing X-rated canyons. You never know what you are going to run into while doing explorations, so it is essential to have a good base of high-stemming and pothole escape skills. I’ve been caught off-guard by both high-stemming and potholes in past explorations, so I brought a full set of pothole escape gear in addition to my standard kit. 

    When we arrived at the trailhead, a recent snowstorm had iced up all of the north-facing slopes, which further complicated our plans for finding an exit on steep terrain. We dropped into Burrly first and found it largely snow and ice-free. After one initial rappel, the down-climbs came one after another, getting bigger and bigger as we progressed down the canyon.

Sam near the bottom of one of the down climbs 

Overlooking the many down climbs to come

    We soon got to the drop that marked the start of what Josh had called the X-section. The high-stemming did not look fun with our large packs, so we sent our smallest group member, Amanda, to scout out a possible downclimb on belay. Amanda discovered that by immediately downclimbing right at the drop, you could walk through on the bottom and bypass the high-stemming. A 60 foot downclimb is still X-rated in my book, but this drop could be easily rappelled, which only makes it X-rated by choice.

Amanda scouting out the 60-foot down climb

The big downclimb from below

    After marveling at the horrendous upclimb that Josh did, we continued down the next drop, which gave us a view of the final sequence. We were anticipating a big rappel at the end of the canyon, but surprisingly, it looked like the entire 300ft drop could be down-climbed. Back-to-back down climbs led to one short rappel. It took three of us to rig the rappel off of a chockstone due to how tight the slot was.

Nearing the final rappel

The rappel from the bottom

    After the rappel, more downclimbs led to the canyon floor. I can’t remember doing another canyon with as much sustained downclimbing as Burrly had. I was relieved that we didn’t have to deal with a large drop at the end of the canyon, but we still had to find an exit. 

Amanda on a tricky rabbit hole downclimb

The final downclimb

The final narrow of Burrly Canyon

    As we approached the peninsula that I had marked out as a possible exit, it looked like a cliff-band was blocking access. However, continuing on around the peninsula, I spotted a route up the cliffs that I thought I could climb. A short chimney led to one exposed crossover move onto the face, followed by another short chimney. After getting to the top, I scouted ahead and was convinced enough by what I saw to throw a line down for the rest of the group to climb up. I thought that the climb wasn’t difficult, but falling from the climb would probably kill you, so a lot of groups are going to want a climber with them or to set a fixed line beforehand. The hike out took us up a narrow peninsula with impressive views of the Dirty Devil River Canyon below.

Myself leading the exit climb

Nearing the top of the exit

Before reaching the top, we cut over to the head of Swurrly Canyon. Some group members weren’t feeling up for a second canyon, so they decided to provide rim support while three of us descended the canyon. They brought our packs down to the exit before the final sequence so that we could do the upper section without packs. The upper section of the canyon required some mandatory stemming 10 feet or so off the ground, along with a lot of downclimbing. The whole upper section only took us about 10 minutes to descend, moving very quickly without packs. After reaching our packs, we entered into the unknown lower section that Josh hadn’t explored. 

downclimbing in the upper section of Swurrly

The canyon deepened with a twisty 20-foot downclimb, leading to scenic deep narrows. Multiple downclimbs in the 20-foot range led to a straight corridor ending in a large drop. Similar to the mid-canyon rappel in Burrly, there were chockstones wedged in the canyon floor that would work as anchors.

Thomas dropping into the lower section of Swurrly

Lower Swurrly Canyon

    From the scouting we had done, we knew the drop couldn’t have a vertical drop more than 300 feet. However, I never judge by the vertical drop alone, due to sometimes being forced to set anchors far back from the edge. With this in mind, I tied the 150 ft, and 300 ft ropes together and set up a contingency block right behind the knot, allowing me to lower an additional 150 ft of rope if needed. The tight slot made the whole anchor construction process very difficult, but we eventually managed to get the first person off of the edge. After visual confirmation of the rope reaching the ground, Thomas and Sam rappelled to the bottom.

Thomas starting down the final rappel

Looking down the final rappel

    I usually use a toggle on rappels of this size, but the narrow bottom of the canyon made me go with a standard pull with my 3mm Dyneema pull cord. The final rappel was airy, with sweeping views of the Dirty Devil River Canyon. It reminded me of the final rappel of Montezuma Canyon and was similar in size. There was a pool at the bottom surrounded by trees, reminiscent of the final rappel of Heaps. We had a difficult time getting a clean pull, and had to climb a nearby hill to get the right pull angle. We could have made it easier on ourselves by extending the webbing further off of the edge, but we had completely run out of webbing between the two canyons. 

Looking up at the final rappel of Swurrly Canyon

We exited using the same route as we had used for Burrly but got off-route at one point. I had to do a very difficult mantle over an icy ledge to get us past a dry fall. This could have been avoided if we had stuck to the ridge, but we were totally exhausted from doing the brutal exit climb twice. Hiking back to the cars, we discussed possible names for the canyons we had just descended. I ended up going with the names that Josh had originally thought of when he was scouting out the area. The names Burrly and Swurrly are word plays on the nearby Burr Point and relate to different features in both canyons. Both canyons are high quality with Burrly being the better of the two of them. The exit climb is impressive on its own and enhances the experience of descending the canyons. It was surprising to find both of these canyons in a region that has been thoroughly explored and shows that there are still some good canyons out there waiting to be discovered.

Sunset on the canyon rim

Route beta for both canyons: 

https://ropewiki.com/Burrly_Canyon

https://ropewiki.com/Swurrly_Canyon

Group members: Austin Farnworth, Jared Wall, Elsie Cluff, Amanda Cluff, Thomas Cluff, Sam Cluff

Scroll Cave

 

The Scroll

Late in December of 2023, I had the chance to explore Scroll Cave in Arizona. After rappelling into the cave, we spent multiple hours crawling through muddy passageways trying to find the feature the cave is named after. Passages shot off in every direction, so we had to leave breadcrumbs to find our way back out. We followed multiple passageways only to have them lead to nowhere and were forced to retrace our steps.  After a few hours, we managed to find the main room that contained the scroll feature. Part of what makes the scroll so impressive is that the rest of the cave is relatively undecorated, making it stand out. We did a good job leaving breadcrumbs and had no problem exiting the cave afterward. This cave could be dangerous for groups who aren't rigorous in marking their path. After only a few hundred feet of crawling, you've passed 10 or more side passages going off in every direction. It's probably for the best that this cave stays hidden. 

Looking through one of the tight crawls 

Stalactites and flowstone

Climbing out of Scroll Cave

Climbing Gannett Peak: Wyoming's Galcier Covered High-Point

Gannett Peak, The highest point in Wyoming, had been on my to-do list for over ten years. I’ve talked to many people over the years who also have Gannett Peak on their to-do lists, but never met anyone who had actually done it. Gannett Peak is long and hard, with most trips coming in at around 50 miles round trip and over 9,000 feet of cumulative elevation gain. That’s not to mention all the technical mountaineering gear you need to bring with you to safely cross the glaciers and climb to the top. All of these challenges made climbing Gannett Peak a brutal but rewarding experience, with some of the most amazing views you can get anywhere in the Rocky Mountains. 

Gannett Peak from the Dinwoody Glacier

On 8/4/21, our group of nine met at the Pole Creek trailhead at 4:30PM and got on the trail, hoping to get in as many miles as possible before dark.  We managed to hike for 7 miles before setting up camp in a small valley above Hobbs Lake.

Approaching Hobbs Lake

     Day two was very difficult, with a 10-mile push to our base camp in Titcomb Basin. I packed way too much stuff, which made this day of hiking harder than summit day for me! After we passed Island Lake, we were treated to incredible views of the glacier-capped peaks around Titcomb Basin. The Island Lake/Titcomb Basin area might be the most scenic mountain area in the Rocky Mountains that I've ever visited. It should certainly be on every backpacker's list.

Entering Titcomb Basin

Titcomb Basin with Bonnie Pass in the background

    We ran into trouble entering Titcomb Basin when it started raining on us. The light rain turned to a downpour by the time we were passing the second lake, forcing us to abandon our plans to camp up under Bonnie Pass. We ended up setting camp in the pouring rain between the second lake and Bonnie Pass. Conditions further worsened and I got a weather update on my inreach that forecasted storms and even snow throughout the night in higher elevations, with the following day being bad as well. We were going to start our climb at 2am, but this new weather report made it clear that it would be too dangerous. The storm was so intense during the night that one of the tents collapsed and its occupants had to squeeze into other still standing tents. I had never experienced a storm as bad as that up to that point, and probably only got a few hours of sleep.

After a night of horrible storms and little sleep, we woke to see fresh snow on Bonnie Pass. Three members of the group had to pack up and hike out due to us missing our summit window. The rest of us had the flexibility to stay an extra day and try for the summit again the following day. The storm cleared briefly in the afternoon, so we used the weather window to practice self-arresting with our ice axes on a nearby snowfield.

The full group before parting ways on the third day

It was cold all day with periodic thunderstorms and plenty of boredom as we waited for our 2AM start time. The weather cleared up right before we woke up at 2AM, and we set off for Bonnie Pass. Using Titcomb Basin to get to Gannett is appealing because of the scenic approach and shorter total mileage when compared to the Glacier trail approach. However, the main drawback of our route was having to climb 2000 feet up Bonnie Pass, only to lose 1000 feet of elevation on the other side while approaching the peak. To get back up Bonnie Passs after returning from summitting Gannett Peak, you have to climb back up the 1000 feet that you lost descending off of the pass.

    Fresh snow and ice coating the rocks made the steep pass even more difficult. It took us three hours to get from our camp to the top of Bonnie Pass, where we could finally see Gannett Peak in front of us. Three members of our group got discouraged by the cold, and the distance of the peak from us and decided to turn back before dropping down onto the glacier. This left Maddi, Calder and I to make the summit attempt. As we dropped down to the Dinwoody Glacier, I noticed many open crevasses on the glacier. None of the trip reports I had read mentioned crevasses, but we had brought the right equipment in case of this. Nearing the edge of the glacier, we strapped crampons to our boots and tied a rope between the three of us.

A hidden crevasse on the Dinwoody Glacier

Descending the Dinwoody Glacier was a highlight for all of us due to its beauty and impressive ice features. We saw multiple deep moulins and an ice slot canyon on the glacier. The previous day’s snow only formed a thin layer, and the surface of the glacier was down to solid ice.

The Dinwoody Glacier with Bonnie Pass in the Background

    We took our crampons off after crossing the Dinwoody Glacier and hiked up a steep, boulder-strewn slope toward the Gooseneck Glacier. The glacier was very steep leading up to the summit ridge with a large crevasse called a bergschrund that needed to be crossed. We put on crampons and set out onto the glacier without roping up because we didn’t want one person slipping on the steep snow slope above the bergschrund, pulling everyone else down with them. While climbing up towards the bergshrund, our trekking poles broke through into hidden crevasses several times, though I still thought roping up might be more dangerous in the steep terrain.

Approaching the Gooseneck Glacier

The bergschrund itself didn’t look bad, with the bottom crevasse mostly still covered by snow, and the top crevasse filled in most of the way. Falling into it from the slope above could still be fatal, with parts of the bergshrund opening into darkness below. The issue became the steep slope above the bergshrund. The initial climbing move required to exit out of the bergschrund was a lower-angle overhang with nothing but solid ice to swing my axe into. Calder was belaying me on lead, and I was able to place an ice screw to help protect the move. I found the slope above the bergschrund to be either solid ice or a few inches thick of slushy snow over the ice, which made for very sketchy climbing with only one ice axe. Ice screws were the only thing I could use to build an anchor for a top belay, and luckily everyone was able to make it over the hump onto the slope. The steep slope above the bergschrund was very insecure, making me wish I had two good curved ice axes, rather than my single straight one. 

Climbing over the bergshrund

After reaching the rocks at the top of the chute, we left some gear before starting up the ridge to the summit. During the scramble up to the summit, we didn’t run into anything that would have required crampons, ropes, or other technical gear. From the top of the chute to the summit, it only took us about 50 minutes. Reaching the summit, we were greeted by thick wildfire smoke that had moved in, obscuring much of the distant views. Despite the smoke, the surrounding glaciers were visible and made for an incredible summit view.

View from the top of Gannett

Myself at the summit

The largest glaciers in the U.S. Rocky Mountains are visible from the summit, including the Gannett Glacier (the largest), which looked like something straight out of Alaska! Small clouds started to pass right above the summit, so we didn’t spend much time at all up there, fearing the quick formation of afternoon thunderstorms like I had previously witnessed on the summit of the Grand Teton. 

The Gannett Glacier, the largest glacier in the American Rocky Mountains

The weather held out for us as we quickly descended towards the Gooseneck Glacier. Downclimbing the icy slope through the Bergschrund did not seem very safe, so I scouted out a rappel route down the rocks on the skier's left of the Bergschrund. This rappel route had pre-existing anchors for the most part and could be downclimbed/upclimbed without a rope or gear by anyone comfortable with low 5th-class climbing who wants to avoid the steep, icy slope. It was a relief getting back down below the bergschrund because it signaled the end of the most dangerous part of the mountain. When we got back to the Dinwoody Glacier, we noticed that it had changed. Many more crevasses were visible now that things had warmed up and the previous day’s snow had melted off somewhat. 

Climbing back up the Dinwoody Glacier

As we hiked back up the glacier towards Bonnie Pass, we deviated our path slightly and Maddi fell hip-deep into a hidden crevasse. She managed to get herself out of the crevasse, but it was still an unnerving experience. Nearing the edge of the glacier, we were forced to cross a snow bridge over a very large crevasse without a discernible bottom. The snow bridge held for all of us and we successfuly made it to the base of Bonnie Pass. While Maddi and Calder rested, I got a head start and climbed Bonnie Pass, running down the other side. I made it down to our base camp near the lake and recorded that it had been 15 hours and 45 minutes since we had left camp that morning for our summit bid. 

Looking at Titcomb Basin from Bonnie Pass

After Calder and Maddi arrived in camp an hour later, the six of us remaining immediately packed up and attempted to get to Island Lake that night so that our hike-out day wouldn’t be as brutal. Backpacking 4 miles after the long summit day was horrendous, and I struggled to Island Lake, where we set up camp. The 13 miles from Island Lake to the trailhead went by relatively fast for me, though every bit of uphill reminded me how beat up my body had become over those 5 days.

Hiking out on the final day

By the time we had made it back to our cars, I had already decided that I would return in the future to do the peak again. The summit day itself was tons of fun, Bonnie Pass excluded, with enough mixed terrain to keep things very exciting and scenic the whole time. I might consider the Glacier Trail in the future to avoid Bonnie Pass, or hire a mule team to take our packs for a more enjoyable experience. I can see why so many people hold off on doing the peak, though it is a must-do for any mountaineer in the West. 

El Chorreadero Cave: An Epic Subterranean Adventure in Mexico

    

    El Chorreadero is called the sportiest cave in the world by some due to its many jumps and slides. After reading about it online a few years ago, I’ve been looking for an excuse to go to Chiapas, Mexico, and do it! For spring 2021, I found sub-$200 round trip tickets to Mexico City out of Las Vegas, so I put a trip together with the first half focused around Mexico City and the second half down in Chiapas. With our group of 11 people, we toured Mexico City, Climbed the 17,000-foot volcano Iztaccihuatl, and visited the amazing Tolantongo caves before flying into Tuxtla Guiterrez, Chiapas.

El Chorreadero

     El Chorreadero was the only canyoneering type activity we’d be hitting on the trip, so we opted to hire Petra Vertical to run the shuttle for us, provide all the gear, and take us through the canyon. We were doing this whole trip without any Spanish speakers in the group. There were very few people who spoke English down there, so we had some challenges getting around. We stayed in an Airbnb in Tuxtla Gutierrez for the first night and checked out the area. Looking back, I wish we had stayed in the nearby city of San Cristobal, which was much more tourist-friendly.

Chilling out on the roof of the Airbnb in Tuxla

The guides picked us up the next morning at our Airbnb and the driver dropped us all off at the top entrance to the canyon.  Most people who explore the cave go in through the bottom entrance for a shorter, less difficult route, but I had talked the guides into taking us to the top to do the full route. There was an incredible amount of garbage near the top trailhead, and I got the feeling that I was wading through a dump as we cut down into the canyon. The trail put us right at the head of the canyon, which was quite impressive with high limestone walls covered in greenery and vines.

The upper entrance

    The upper part of the canyon usually flows from December through the first few months of the year but was not flowing anymore by the time we got there. This initial intro section of the canyon contains a few downclimbs and short rappels, with high canyon walls and a few rock arches.

An arch in the upper slot

    The upper slot is one of the most scenic canyons I've descended. One of the most unique features of El Chorreadero is that it switches from being a slot canyon to a cave early on. A rappel at the end of the slot section deposited us into a dark chamber where we got the last view of the sun that we’d have for the next 6 hours or so.

Heading deeper into the slot

Entering the cave

    Despite being completely underground, the cave's walls made it look like we were traveling through a slot canyon. The section from the start of the darkness to the first huge chamber was the most challenging and time-consuming part of the cave. It was filled with many pools of clear water. We even encountered a few water-filled potholes in this section, which could become very difficult to escape if water levels were lower.

Rappelling into a pool

One of the many short drops

Escaping a pothole

    Most of the rappels were in the first cave section, along with quite a few jumps. The guides knew which drops could be jumped, and saved us tons of time that we would have spent depth checking. They only agreed to take a group as large as ours through the cave because of our experience and expected us to do all the jumps for efficiency's sake. Some of the jumps were sketchy, like a precision jump into a smallish pothole, and another one where we had to crawl out on a ledge and slide into a 20-foot drop. You had to slide off of the cliff, because if you jumped you’d hit the opposite wall!

Crawling out to the jump

    There was an amazing sequence of back-to-back jumps, which was a highlight for many in the group. Cliff jumping in a cave was unique and one of the best parts of the experience. 

    We took a lunch break in a giant room and admired some amazing cave formations, including a 40-foot-tall flowstone feature called the Medusa.

The Medusa

  The giant room led to an even bigger chamber, that was so large that a passenger airplane could've fit inside it! This second large room marked a transition in the cave from a slot canyon shape to more of what you’d think of in a traditional cave. A stream soon entered from the side and we had flowing water for the rest of the canyon.

We were getting pretty cold in our 3mm wetsuits after spending hours swimming and jumping through cold pools. We were relieved to discover that the flowing water was warmer than the standing water we had just spent hours swimming through. I thought that this section of the cave was the best part. There were more cave formations and beautiful waterfalls.

Hanging out under one of the slides

    This part of the canyon can be accessed through the bottom entrance through a side passage, but I can’t imagine missing out on everything above it. The final section had jumps and even a 20-foot-tall natural waterslide! The final rappel deposited us in a large pool filled with bat guano that he had to swim across. We got one last jump in while exiting the cave and continued down to the park entrance where many people swim. 

Overall, it took us about 7 hours from car to car with nearly all of that time being spent in the cave. El Chorreadero is more like a canyoneering adventure underground than it is a typical spelunking trip. It's in my list of top five most enjoyable canyons that I’ve done. It’s kinda like California’s Jump Canyon, but underground. Multiple people in our group said they’d come back to Mexico just to do El Chorreadero again. I’d like to do it in December next time when the first half of the canyon is flowing, but I’d probably want my 5mm wetsuit to stay warm. We were fine in 3mm wetsuits but got pretty chilly at times, so if you are skinny and run cold I’d take at least a 4/3 wetsuit in there.

Group photo at the lower entrance

    Hiring Petra Vertical turned out to be a great choice. They were very flexible and provided what we needed based on our group's experience. It allowed us to fly around during the Mexico trip without checking a single bag.  They moved our group of 11 through the canyon a lot faster than we would have on our own, though from a technical standpoint, we could have self-guided the Canyon. I have heard from others that the people who own the bottom entrance of the cave have extorted foreigners seeking permission to descend El Chorreadero. The guides had a relationship with the property owners so we didn't have to deal with paying them off.

    We capped off our trip by visiting Palenque, Aqua Azul, and rafting the Rio Shumulja. Some might want to combine El Chorreadero with the Rio La Venta expedition nearby, but working your way across Chiapas from the Chorreadero area to Palenque like we did is another incredible option that allows you to see a lot and fly back home out of Villahermosa. There really aren't enough canyons down there to make a canyoneering-only trip down to Chiapas, but there are plenty of other things to do down there that any canyoneer or caver would love. 

Somewhere in the first section of the cave