Crossing Clear Creek without tyrol

For those of you with rafting experience:

If the creek is too high to wade and the tyrols are down, is it reasonable to use an inflatable to cross in non-whitewater areas?  I have no experience rafting (beyond a guided class 3 tour in a huge rubber raft) and I'm wondering if this is a reasonable way to cross around New Econ cliff.  I know half of you will say "just wait until fall" but what do the other half of you think?

AFAIK, there is never a tyrol to New Economy.
It is an OK crag, and arguably worth the effort when the water is low.

Have you looked at the crossing?
Clear Creek is currently running at 400 cfs. VS 50 in the fall.
At low water it's fast water with riffles, waist deep in spots. I haven't looked at high water.
Be prepared for a life and death survival swim if things don't go well.

Mark E Dixon wrote: AFAIK, there is never a tyrol to New Economy.
It is an OK crag, and arguably worth the effort when the water is low.

Have you looked at the crossing?
Clear Creek is currently running at 400 cfs. VS 50 in the fall.
At low water it's fast water with riffles, waist deep in spots. I haven't looked at high water.
Be prepared for a life and death survival swim if things don't go well.

Mark,

The MP page talks about a tyrol ( mountainproject.com/area/10…) but has an annotation that it's no longer there.  I believe JeffCo takes down tyrols regularly, citing liability concerns.  The only one that's sanctioned is the cable tyrol at Mission (and strangely there are two now).  The one at Primo seems to have more staying power for some reason.

I have looked at the New Economy area, but haven't seen a reasonable crossing.  I've waded Clear Creek up and down the canyon, but it's currently (no pun) not within my comfort zone.  That's why I was asking about rafting across.  My (naive) assumption is that it'd be pretty routine to cross class 2/3 water in an inflatable. 

The crossing isn't bad in the fall, esp with hip waders.
I haven't looked at the crossing in these conditions. If I get a chance, I'll try to check tomorrow.
I'm not a rafter, so can't offer an informed opinion on your odds in a small inflatable.
But I'm pretty certain that swimming would be a bad idea, so if you go for it, don't capsize!

Primo isn't in JeffCo. Neither is the high tyrol at Creekside.
Unfortunately the ladder at Primo has disappeared :-(

Mark E Dixon wroteUnfortunately the ladder at Primo has disappeared :-(

Do you know why? I mean, I've got an aid etrier (because screw aid climbing and/or etriers) or 2 to donate, won't be nearly as nice the old ladder.

The ladder at Primo was not always there, it only showed up a few years ago about the same time I was replacing the tyrol, you can bear hug the tree to get up to the line still, but if you add another ladder no one would (probably) care.

Speaking of, no one is officially monitoring that tyrol. So if it looks like crap replace it! (I might have some extra line if needed, just PM me.)

John RB, as stated earlier- the tyrols that are still up in CCC are due to not being in JeffCo or being grandfathered in after JeffCo stopped allowing them.

Just to state the obvious, please DO NOT set up more tyrols in JeffCo, it can severely impact access.

 With regards to crossing the water this summer, Clear Creek has claimed a handful of lives in the past when kayaks have flipped - it might be best to wait out the tide on this one.

-Ryan 

1. Tried to wade across last week but water was moving fast and really cold. Could not find any flat water crossings. Expect high water conditions for another month.

Wes Farrar wrote:

1. Tried to wade across last week but water was moving fast and really cold. Could not find any flat water crossings. Expect high water conditions for another month.

Where were you attempting to cross, Wes?

About a half mile n of little eiger. Water looked manageable but i was loosing my footing around knee high water. The slack water was too deep to wade. 

i remember looking for a reasonable place to cross over to get to new economy in moderate to high water and it looked pretty bad.  i don't remember any slow water areas near by, at least such that it would get you across to a spot that would be an easy traverse to that crag.

slim wrote: i remember looking for a reasonable place to cross over to get to new economy in moderate to high water and it looked pretty bad.  i don't remember any slow water areas near by, at least such that it would get you across to a spot that would be an easy traverse to that crag.

I'm going out there this afternoon to check it out... I'll report back, but it doesn't sound good from what you're saying.

I guess if I'm super psyched, there's always the tyrol at Mission and then about 1 mile walk upstream.  But I suspect a packraft and some basic skills (which I currently lack) should get me across.  I posted on a whitewater forum as well, and of course they're telling me I'm going to die.  Lol...

Wes Farrar wrote: About a half mile n of little eiger. Water looked manageable but i was loosing my footing around knee high water. The slack water was too deep to wade. 

Yeah, I have hip waders and I've found it to be pretty casual up to about mid-thigh, but quickly gets dicey after that.  And I'm using pole for stability (the so-called 3-point method), facing upstream, etc.  This made Clear Creek quite easy through mid-April but it quickly got sketchy after that...

I went by New Economy today.  There are a couple of spots that look reasonable, but the guys on the whitewater forums are still telling me it's too dangerous for an inexperienced person to cross.  I'm probably going to do it anyway.

The spot that looks best (large eddys on both sides with a fairly deep slow center) is about 100 meters downstream from where New Economy kisses the water.  This means I'd need hip waders to skirt the toe of the cliff to get around to the west side (where the climbs are).  There is another reasonable spot upstream from the cliff, but it's not quite as good.  I'm planning to getting a kayak and messing around in slow water perhaps as soon as this weekend, then I'll try the crossing.

The crux will be finding a partner who's willing to cross after me though. :)

whitewater forums are still telling me it's too dangerous for an inexperienced person to cross.  I'm probably going to do it anyway.

An excellent use of resources right here

John RB, please get video of your 'attempt'   

John RB wrote:"...but the guys on the whitewater forums are still telling me it's too dangerous for an inexperienced person to cross.  I'm probably going to do it anyway."

"I'm planning to getting a kayak and messing around in slow water perhaps as soon as this weekend, then I'll try the crossing."

If I am correct on location, Black Rock rapid (class IV+/V-) is just downstream of New Economy.  Good luck not dying.

Frosty Weller wrote:

If I am correct on location, Black Rock rapid (class IV+/V-) is just downstream of New Economy.  Good luck not dying.

Yeah, it's a ways to Black Rock.  I think hypothermia should set in before I get that far.

And I will video this for you guys I promise!

If you perish it might just be the catalyst the local community needs to push for tyrols in the JeffCo portion of the canyon. God speed. #climbingmartyr

John RB wrote: And I will video this for you guys I promise!

HAHA...PM me if you need a camera man, I'm only 10 mins from CC.

The Tyrol to primo kinda sucks right now. The five lines are all pretty slack. And dismounting isn’t super easy on the way back.

trevor stuart wrote: The Tyrol to primo kinda sucks right now. The five lines are all pretty slack. And dismounting isn’t super easy on the way back.

Yeah, I saw it yesterday and some of the lines look pretty ratty.  A friend of mine went out to get on Skippin Stones and just decided he didn't want to do the tyrol in its current state.  

I waded to Primo in March but it looks way gnarly now.