The Squeeze

Group of 3 beginning and ending at Hidden Splendor. 8.5 hours car-to-car with 30 min break at the river. Water level wasn't full, but wasn't low either. Cooler temps and a little cloud cover. Wore farmer john wetsuits and were very comfortable in and out of the water.

Almost all of the water is nasty, smelly, black with scum, and or full of dead things. A few swimmers but most were knee to waist deep.

Anchors that have webbing are in good shape. Replaced a few quicklinks that were just too under rated. A lot of single bolts with just a quick link. Bolts seem to be good based on visual inspection but do we truly ever know. Webbing on the tyrolean and in good shape. We did not drop into that keeper but water level was about 4 feet below the lip.

5 of us departed Hidden Splendour at 0800 and returned at 2030. Miner’s trail approach in 3 hours. Spent 7 hours in canyon. Water level is what I would call medium-full after personally descending this canyon 6 times. Most pothole water was “manky/black/disgusting”. Anchors are there when needed and the tyrolian over the crux? pothole is set up with strong yellow webbing. I always forget how much work it takes to descend The Squeeze.

The water level was almost full. Used farmer john wetsuits. Anchors normal for the squeeze. Group of 3 10 hours via airstrip and shortcut.

Group of 5, mixed abilities. Water was low, mostly waist to chest deep. Swam a few short spots. Did not need to tread water in any of the potholes.

We took wetsuits and didn't really need them. Mid canyon a few of us put them on so we wouldn't have to carry them anymore. We were still comfortable and not too hot in the the wetsuits though.

Navigated potholes chiefly by down climbing/sliding and partner assist. Probably rappelled about 8-10 times. Only threw potshots once.

One keeper has a busted off bold sticking out of it midway up the wall. With the low water level it was visible about waist high and is a bit jagged and safety concern as it could slice open a person escaping the pothole. In my opinion it should be cut out.

A lot of the bolt hangers spin and flop around the bolts, but bolts themselves don't move. One anchor is a single piton that is a bit iffy. Webbing on anchors is decent. We replaced one and a few others will need it soon.

Group of 3 did the Squeeze in 9 hrs 45 minutes. Water level in potholes was low (typically water was 4-7 feet deep and the downside lip was usually 4-6 feet high). We did lots of slides & captures, shoulder stands, and pack tosses. We could tell the potholes would be more difficult with another foot or two of water because then the water would be over your head & the downside lip would still be high & vertical. We brought wetsuits but never put them on because we hit the water at midday and it was 102 degrees with plenty of sun in the canyon. We only did about 10 raps because we downclimbed many optional raps. Webbing was in good condition but some of the bolts are getting rusted enough that we did meat anchor backups for the first couple people. Great canyon!

Low water level. Canyon in full keeper mode, potshots required. Anchors in good condition, some webbing starting to fray. May need to be replaced soon. Sand trap still good. Wetsuits helpful.

Super full of cold water.

pretty full of water wore 5mm wetsuits and were fine. Anchors in great condition.

Agree with Amy's report from April most of the longer raps have loose anchors that are spinning. Sandtrap still well advised. Took 3 people 11.5 hours car to car taking the hidden Splendor approach. We only stopped for lunch. Under half full, all had sweatsuits we were overall glad we had them. Mind your pulls, some preventable rope groves are showing up where they are completely preventable. Some really nasty pools in there, we found a dead bat in one.

Took the Hidden Splendor approach. Canyon is in keeper mode. Mostly dry potholes. Only potholes with water were waist deep. Could partner-assist on most. Also used a 2-1 haul, etrier, and potshot to mix it up. Definitely not one to swim through. No wetsuits needed.

Group of 4 took 9.5 hrs car-to-car from Hidden Splendor via the Miners Approach.

Mostly dry with a few wades. No one wore wetsuits, but we got pretty cold and a long lunch to warm up in the sun was necessary.

Many bolted anchors throughout. Nasty water. Gnats are out around sunset.

Mostly dry with a few waist-deep potholes. Wore a 4/3 wetsuit about halfway through the canyon but might not have needed it. Perfect temps!

Water is a little below half capacity so all potholes are in keeper mode. Partner assists were used on all potholes and there was a fixed line on the crux keeper. The crux keeper has a 5ft lip from a swimming position so it will require multiple potshots due to its sloped other side. A wetsuit was a good thing to have. Quite a few bad smelling swims.

Water very low. Only lost foot contact briefly once. Used potshots to pass keepers & hooks for a couple of raps. Can't jump right now.

Very low water. Only one brief swim, otherwise not wet above the waist. We didn't wear any neoprene. Gnats are still unpleasant.

rope grooves getting worse at main keeper. Please throw more more sandbags than necessary so they don't slide up and worsen the grooves.

Great canyon conditions... water has dropped from previous post found all in keeper mode. Potshots and partner assist were the order for the day. 12 hr for 3 of us using Miners approach. The last rap webbing will need to be replaced sometime this year...starting to look worn.

Pretty full lots of water, easy in easy out of the potholes and lots of jumping. The big pothole was probably 3' from the lip.

Canyon was great but pretty dry like maybe 1/3 the max water level. we wore 3-4mm and we were fine did get a little chilly due to wind. high for the day was around 80. the canyon was pretty uncrowded, there were no fixed lines in place and all of the bolts seemed to be in good condition.

Fantastic canyon. Lots of challenges and drops.

Most sections are dry or knee deep, however there are a few that are chest to neck deep (i.e. keeper). Water is surprisingly clean, and very cold. Wetsuits recommended, as we did get chilled once with 5mm at the keeper.

Anchors in great shape. Road is in great shape.

Be prepared for nuance drops with rocks and no sand. Ankle biters. Lots of foot traffic, the canyon seems to get a lot of traffic.

The Squeeze is full! 5 of us used the miner's approach and and had a fantastic time splashing through this awesome canyon. We had a roundtrip time of 10.5 leisurely hours. I try to do The Squeeze once a year and it never disappoints. The road to Hidden Splendor is washed out in several places and gets worse the closer you get. The worst one is about a half mile before the landing strip and will keep any passenger car from passing. Go do this canyon!