Wife 1

More technical than some of the other “Wives.” Expect multiple anchors, awkward starts, and a few downclimbs. Published beta (Road Trip Ryan, BluGnome) is not quite right but will give you a place to start, but in practice you’ll find intermediate anchors that change rappel counts and lengths. Rope length estimates in some guides are short. Wife 1 has several spots that can be downclimbed but the down climbing will be tricky/spicy for most. There are different options for anchors and anchor work is more challenging than some of the other Wives. The final rappel is a nice, semi-free-hang rappel with some scrambling and downclimbing to finish out the canyon. This Wife is best done last in the day because it comes out where the exit down to the campground is shortest, only a 15 minutes hike.

Park at Fruita campgrounds. Hike up to Cohab Canyon. The Wives are on the right side as you walk through the canyon. Definitely grab some GPX/KML and beta to make sure you know which wife is which!

Rappel 1 The first drop begins from a massive boulder, rigged with a simple sling. The rappel itself runs about 50–60 feet into a cavern-like alcove, with the final 10 feet easily downclimbed if preferred. The challenge here is not the rappel length but the rope pull. To avoid snagging on the slot walls, you must walk well back when pulling the rope, which means additional rope length on the pull side is needed. On our first descent, a 150 ft rope worked smoothly, leaving plenty for the pull. On the second, we tried a 110 ft rope, which covered the rappel but we then connected about 30 ft of webbing to extend the pull line for clean retrieval. Without that extension. Rappel 2 The second rappel is straightforward: anchored with a sling around a very large boulder in the canyon. The drop is about 25 feet. The main consideration is the anchor setup—approaching the boulder requires care, as it slopes off and can be slick. Move carefully while rigging and clipping in. Rappel 3 As the canyon narrows, you'll encounter two different options for Rappel 3: a chokestone that's wedged between the canyon walls, or a jug-handle-shaped solution pocket just below it. You can downclimb from, or rappel off the chokestone. If you descend from there, you’ll see the jug handle just beneath it. The two anchors are close to each other, and either one will work for R3. The drop itself is short, only about 15 feet, but as you'll soon see you want enough rope to rappel this drop plus enough to get you down to R4. Once down this short drop, you walk out a bit on relatively flat terrain before encountering a short, but tricky, downclimb that leads to the landing where Rappel 4 begins. However, there's no natural anchor at the landing itself, so the anchor for R4 must be built at the top of the downclimb. At the top of this slope, on the canyon wall, there’s a crack with a chokestone wedged in it. This is where the R4 anchor is built. From that chokestone, you’ll need about 20 to 30 feet of webbing to extend through the crack, down to the landing, and close to the edge of the final drop. Without a long enough extension, the rope pull will be a nightmare. In essence, you must build the R4 anchor first, then get down to the landing where you’ll actually rig the rope for the rappel. That downclimb starts out manageable, but the last few feet become sketchy: the slope steepens, the canyon walls widen. This is why Rappel 3 is so helpful. If R3 is set up with a long enough rope—about 85 feet from the R3 anchor—you can rappel directly to the landing for R4. This lets you build the anchor above, finish your descent to the landing on rappel, and avoid that awkward downclimb altogether. Rappel 4 (Final Drop) Rappel 4 is anchored off a chokestone wedged in a crack at the top of a sloping downclimb. The rope must be extended with 20 to 30 feet of webbing down to the landing where the actual rappel begins. This landing is still several feet back from the edge, so careful rigging is required to get a clean pull. If your rope isn’t extended far enough or routed cleanly, the pull will be problematic. Even with proper extension, expect to walk a fair distance back from the base to retrieve the rope. Rope length is critical. On our first run, a 150 ft rope came up short, forcing an awkward finish. On the second, a 200 ft rope was more than adequate and made the sequence much cleaner.

Return the same way you came. Be sure to stop by the historic cabin if you're in the mood for some fruit pie. Delicious!