Not Tierdrop Canyon - Arches National Park

RATING: 3A

LENGTH: 2-4 Hours

GEAR: Standard Technical Gear

RAPPELS: 2-3 (2 - 60 m ( 197 ft. ) ropes are best)

WATER: None

FLASHFLOOD: Minimal

SEASON: Any, no snow

Hype

Not Tierdrop, so named because it is the neighbor of Tierdrop, is a mellow canyon in Arches. The canyon provides a big rappel, a couple of shorter rappels, interesting anchors, and phenominal views. This is a great casual canyoneering afternoon if you're in the Moab area.

Login For Full Details!

Photos (click on photo for more detail)

Comments

At the bottom of the sandy exit, head right on the ledge system for 100m or so and the only obvious downclimb appears as a body sized "Notch" on your left. It has 2 tiers, 1st is about 15', 2nd is 7', both are downclimbable, we did them belly down, spots are welcome.

by: wrayj [Mar 19, 2008]

Attempted on March 9th and the bolts for the first rappel were chopped. I asked at the Rangers if it was a NPS decision or other party on their own volition but did not get an answer. The only other alternative is to take a VERY long piece of webbing and sling a tree before the climb up to where the bolts were. It would be difficult to make this a removable anchor due to the distance involved and the amount of drag. This canyon may have fallen victim to canyoneering politics! This is really unfortunate, this was a nice easy route with good clean anchors and no rope drag. I believe more people will be drawn to Tier Drop canyon and this will ultimately cause more destruction due to the funky nature of the anchors for that canyon. After climbing all the way up to attempt Not Tier Drop and finding the bolts chopped will lead many people to do Tier Drop instead, without the necessary anchor skills. The result will be more rope cuts in the sandstone and more destruction to Tier Drop. We just descended the approach route.

by: mesa_rn [Mar 12, 2009]

That is unfortunate. A long sling (20m) would likely be enough to go off the tree. This might be more easily retrievable than you would expect, but either way, having the bolts chopped is disappointing. Thanks for the update.

by: ryancornia [Mar 31, 2009]