Hades Canyon (Dante's Variation)

Be prepared to slide down sections of scree before reaching the first rappel. While you're sliding down the scree, be sure to keep an eye out for golf balls, bowling balls, trash cans and various other large roll-able objects. Overall, the alternate route was not quite as scenic as Hades (proper) and required a good amount of extra effort to get through this side canyon. See the beta from Bluugnome for complete details.

From the parking lot, walk directly west towards bad water. Once you reach the edge of the parking lot, find a comfortable way down the hill. Be sure to follow the Bluugnome waypoints to make sure toy stay on track, but generally you're heading down hill and should get funneled into the alternate canyon. If you drop into the scree field, near the trail going to the peak, you'll find the natural pit in reddish-pink stone further downhill. Be aware this pit is surrounded by typical, terrible and crumbly Death Valley rock and it sounded like it was at least 20 ft deep.

Rap 13 (alt-rap 13) before dropping into Hades Proper: webbing was badly cut due to rubbing, so be sure to thoroughly inspect the webbing here. Rap 8 (Hades Proper): an additional cairn was added to split this into a 90 ft and 40 ft rappel (not exact) Rap 11 (Hades Proper): There is a 90 degree corner and a pinch that will make this pull very troublesome if you pull from inside the watercourse. If walk the rope far RDC so the rope clears the 2nd stage, the pull was not bad. Descent Rap details from Dec. 22' Descent

Once you exit the canyon, follow one of the main washes west for a ways, but do not follow it all the way to the road because it will likely angle southwest. Instead, walk north for a few minutes up hill until you find a wash that will take you west and slightly north. You should be able to see your car once you have gone far enough north.