Hanging re belays with 60m ropes
2hrs 9h30nins 30mins
Public land
First Descent Annette Phillips, Bronwen Waters, Dave Vass and Alain Rohr, 3 April 2008
Approach: 2-3hrs
The guidebook description isn’t the quickest or easiest way to approach this canyon.
Scramble up Humboldt creek to the first tributary on the true left.
Head up the tributary, for a hundred or so meters then enter the forest to your left. Climb steeply towards the falls until you arrive on a very sharp and narrow spur in the forest. Climb the spur, sidling to avoid any obstacles until the spur runs out.
Avoiding the super steep terrain on your left, continue up through very steep forest until it flattens out. Straight away, sidle around towards little Humboldt canyon. Hike up the true left rim of Little Humbolt, looking carefully for your crossing point. There aren’t many suitable spots, but it is possible to scramble in and climb out somewhere between 320 and 360m contours.
From there, you can continue sidling towards Humboldt Creek. With some routefinding, you can access the top of the main falls themselves, which provides a likely escape point.
The canyon has been descended from the 540m contour. Continue up the true left spur then sidle in.
Descent 9h30
According to Alain, about 16 rappels up to 60m.
A high volume creek with watefalls and canyon sections, followed by the bigwall exit down the 3 main leaps of Humboldt falls (275m according to the map!)
Each of the big leaps requires a hanging re-belay on the face, some in the spray of the waterfall. The exact sequence hasn’t been recorded. Also anchors are unverified… Treat it like a first descent!
