Cathedral in the Desert

[Kyrell]

Has anyone done the "Cathedral in the Desert" at Lake Powell recently since it's unveiling? We are planning a trip down to it and I need some fresh beta. Thanks.

[mdd]

Kyrell, are you talking about just boating into it from below? If so, go to http://www.cathedralinthedesert.org and look under 'timeline'. They have estimates there as to when the cathedral should fully reappear (sometime in April). They also show the various water elevation levels to look for. As of today the chamber itself is only under a few feet of water...


M

[Brucew]

Kyrell--any luck getting beta on a descent into the Cathedral? Powell's water level was down to 3556.27 on March 28, and still dropping by about .07 inch per day. The Glen Canyon Institute thinks that the level will keep dropping and that water will exit the chamber completely at 3552 ft. Some sandbars are apparently exposed already. BuRec thinks that the pool level will start to rise again within a week or so. All depends on the weather, of course, which is anybody's guess.

I haven't found any detailed beta on the Clear Creek drainage (which pours into the Cathedral). I've seen photos showing potholes. I've read a vague description of "potholes leading to a dramatic pourover," but I don't know whether this is the pourover into the Cathedral itself. A boater I corresponded with said that several years ago he was floating in the Cathedral and had a shouting conversation with a couple of faculty people from UC Boulder who had descended to the pourover above the Cathedral, then presumably retreated the way they came.

Any info (or rumors, or wild speculation) on this would be appreciated.

[Carl Armstrong]

A group of us from So. Cal. will be out in the Moab area April 14-17
Some of us are planning to do a day trip/descent into the Cathedral.
Therefore we are Looking to compile details in regards to this trip.
Any specifics & suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

Also If there are any others w experiance interested in joining in at that time frame please feel free to contact me directly

Thanks

afeinc@pacbell.net
carms_us@yahoo.com

[mdd]

I've heard of several parties descending recently, hopefully trip reports will be forthcoming.

For beta several years old, see:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canyons/message/20837

I'd assume for safety that the big drop is well over 150ft high. Bring strong anchor building skills. Take lots of photos.


M

[Kyrell]

Brucew -- I had some friends do a trip over the weekend into the Cathedral. They will be back on the 5th. I was unable to break away and go with them but I will have solid info on the descent and exit from them and will post it ASAP.

[skianddive]

Brucew -- I had some friends do a trip over the weekend into the Cathedral. They will be back on the 5th. I was unable to break away and go with them but I will have solid info on the descent and exit from them and will post it ASAP.

Did you get that report from your friends yet?

[Brucew]

The Glen Canyon Institute has posted a route description at http://www.glencanyon.org/gcift/Cathedral%20Hike%20Description.pdf. The description ends with a remark that "[d]ue to overuse and destruction, the GCNRA has limited rappelling access into the main chamber. Please do not place any permanant anchors in this area and refrain from entering the main chamber." Beats me what they're talking about here--enough natural anchors are apparently available to make permanent anchors unnecessary; otherwise, I find no mention of such a policy on the GCNRA website, and GCI says that this statement was the result of miscommunication between the GCI and GCNRA.

This site http://canyonquest.com/cathedral?page=1 has enough photos to form a route description even without text.

[Kyrell]

So I finally connected with my friends that went down to do the Cathedral. As it turns out, they didn't go in. The route proved to be much more involved than they were expecting. The direct rap from the top was 500+ feet down and would (at least in their opinion) require setting permanent anchors to jumar back out. The other way in apparently involves dealing with several potholes and is much more time consuming but you do have the use of numerous natural anchors. I am aware of this particular route and have been wanting to do this one. My friends did not have the time or the rope to attempt it so they admired the Cathedral from the top. They also said that the bottom was dry. So there it is...sorry there wasn't more info.

[ewestesen]

Just came across this, we did it back in '05.
Has anyone been down it recently?

[thafen]

On April 13, 2005 the lake's surface was at 3555.95 feet above sea level, a few feet below the bottom of the waterfall.

Yesterday 9/24/09 Lake Powell is 64.26 feet below Full Pool (Elevation 3,700)

:worried: Looks like the Cathedral is unavailable until the lake gets low again.

[thafen]

Found some pics also:) Looks like an awesome place.

[ewestesen]

Here's some pictures from when we did it from the top back in '05... I had been out of high school for a year... you'll notice I wasn't bright enough to wear a helmet back then. :spank:

[thafen]

So have you seen the pics the guys in the boat took? That would be the way to do it. Getting picked up and not having to go back up all the ropes. Looks like the level of the lake was less than 3500 feet cause it looked like you had about 70-80 foot rap.

[ewestesen]

I never did get the pictures from the guys in the boat, I gave them my email but never heard back. :mad:

Just dug this old picture up-- my grandpa went down the river before they filled the reservoir and got this shot. My dad was probably 10 years old? Must have been shot in the early sixties.

[thafen]

Did you arrange for the pickup or did they just happen to show up when you guys were coming out.

[ewestesen]

They just happened to be there. We used bachman's to go back up the rope.

[84x4bronco]

so when you say the water level makes it "unavailable" are you referring to a dry drop in? or are there some passages that require the water level to be lower?

[thafen]

so when you say the water level makes it "unavailable" are you referring to a dry drop in? or are there some passages that require the water level to be lower?
I have never been there but from the information I have gathered it would seem like the area in the pictures (including the top of the last rap) is under 80-100 feet of water. Not too sure what it looks like above the cathedral but seems like a boat could make it up past the last rap:headscratch:

[ewestesen]

In the pictures looking upstream, you can see a large flat boulder sitting at the top of and to the right of the little waterfall. We rapped off that about eighty feet when I did it. Above that the canyon narrows, but I'm pretty sure you could still fit the average motor boat in it. I think the best part of the canyon was at the last drop, that's where the 'ceiling' really arcs over you.