Canyoning in the Rocky Mountains

Canyoning via packraft in the U.S. southwest deserts.

Canyoning (also known as canyoneering) is traveling in canyons using a variety of techniques that may include walking, scrambling, climbing, jumping, abseiling, and/or swimming. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 569 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (719 × 758 pixel, file size: 513 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 569 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (719 × 758 pixel, file size: 513 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a broad mountain range in western North America. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... An Alpacka Raft paddled via kayak paddle. ... Grand Canyon, Arizona Noravank Monastery Complex and Canyon in Armenia. ... An animated demonstration of a six-legged insect walking. ... Scrambling on Crib Goch, Snowdonia, Wales Scrambling is a method of ascending rocky faces and ridges. ... Rock climbers on Valkyrie at The Roaches in Staffordshire, England. ... Jumping bottlenose dolphin A person jumping on a trampoline Two participants in a game of leapfrog A handballplayer jumping towards the goal Jumping is an ability that most humans and many animals share to some degree. ... In British English, abseiling (from the German abseilen, to rope down) is the process of descending on a fixed rope. ... This article concentrates on human swimming. ...

Although hiking down a canyon that is non-technical (canyon hiking) is often referred to as canyoneering, the terms canyoning and canyoneering are more often associated with technical descents — those that require rappels (abseils) and ropework, technical climbing or down-climbing, technical jumps, and/or technical swims. Two hikers in the Mount Hood National Forest Eagle Creek hiking Hiking is a form of walking, undertaken with the specific purpose of exploring and enjoying the scenery. ...

Canyoning is frequently done in remote and rugged settings and often requires navigational, route-finding and other skills and preparation needed for wilderness travel. Table of geography, hydrography, and navigation, from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ...

Canyons that are ideal for canyoning are often cut into the bedrock stone, forming narrow gorges with numerous drops, beautifully sculpted walls, and sometimes spectacular waterfalls. Most canyons are cut into limestone, granite or sandstone, though other rock types are found. Canyons can be very easy or extremely difficult, though emphasis in the sport is usually on aesthetics and fun rather than pure difficulty. A wide variety of canyoning routes are found throughout the world, and canyoning is enjoyed by people of all ages and skill levels. This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Close-up of granite from Yosemite National Park, valley of the Merced River Quarrying granite for the Mormon Temple, Utah Territory. ... Red sandstone interior of Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona, worn smooth due to erosion by flash flooding over millions of years Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-size mineral or rock grains. ...

Canyoning gear includes climbing hardware, static ropes, helmets, wetsuits, and specially designed shoes, packs, and rope bags. While canyoners have used and adapted climbing, hiking, and river running gear for years, more and more specialized gear is invented and manufactured as canyoning popularity increases. A surfer in a wetsuit. ... In J. R. R. Tolkiens fictional Middle-earth, the Celduin or River Running was a 600–Númenórean miles long river that ran from the Lonely Mountain south through the Long Lake where it was joined by the Forest River and thence through the easern outskirts of...

Canyoning around the world

Mystery Canyon, Zion National Park

In most parts of the world canyoning is done in mountain canyons with flowing water. Countries with established canyoning include: Australia, New Zealand, Spain, France, Ecuador, Japan, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Reunion Island, Greece (Crete), Jordan, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Croatia, Turkey, Israel, Mauritius and the United States. In South Africa, canyons that involve lots of jumping are common, and it is called Kloofing. Even in Hong Kong, where there are numerous stream gorges, a similar activity called stream or river trekking is popular. In Japan and Taiwan it's called river tracing and typically involves traveling upstream. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1280x960, 578 KB)Mystery Canyon Zion National Park -- 2004 The above image was taken at the top of the final drop into the Virgin River Narrows. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1280x960, 578 KB)Mystery Canyon Zion National Park -- 2004 The above image was taken at the top of the final drop into the Virgin River Narrows. ... Zion Canyon as seen from the top of Angels Landing at sunset Zion National Park is a United States National Park located in the Southwestern United States, near Springdale, Utah. ... Réunion is an island and overseas département (département doutre-mer, or DOM) of France, located in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar, about 200 km southwest of Mauritius. ... Kloofing is a hiking a trail that follows a river through a gorge. ... Gorges, the plural of the French word for throat, usually refers to a canyon. ... River Trekking is a form of hiking or outdoor adventure activity, particularly popular in Hong Kong, and, in some ways, similar to canyoning or canyoneering. ...

In the United States, descending mountain canyons with flowing water is often referred to as canyoning, and descending non-flowing (though often wet) desert canyons is referred to as canyoneering. Most canyoneering in the United States occurs in the many slot canyons carved in the sandstone found throughout the Colorado Plateau. Outside of the Colorado Plateau, numerous canyoning opportunities are found in the San Gabriel, Sierra Nevada, Cascade, and Rocky Mountain ranges. Photographers in Antelope Canyon. ... The Colorado Plateau, also called the Colorado Plateaus Province, is a physiographic region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. ... San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains are located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, USA. The mountain range forms a barrier between the Greater Los Angeles Area and the Mojave Desert. ... This article is about the mountain range in the Western United States. ... Mount Jefferson in Oregon. ... The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a broad mountain range in western North America. ...

Hazards

Stemming, Utah, USA

Canyoning can be dangerous. Escape out the sides of a canyon is often impossible, and completion of the descent is the only possibility. Due to the remoteness and inaccessibility of many canyons, rescue can be impossible for several hours or several days. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (640x853, 100 KB) Summary Benny Stems Copyright Steve Brezovec Licensing Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (640x853, 100 KB) Summary Benny Stems Copyright Steve Brezovec Licensing Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ...

High water flow / hydraulics

Canyons with significant water flow may be treacherous and require special ropework techniques for safe travel. Hydraulics, undercurrents, and sieves (or strainers) occur in flowing canyons and can trap or pin and drown a canyoner. A 1993 accident in Zion National Park, Utah, USA, in which two leaders of a youth group drowned in powerful canyon hydraulics (and the lawsuit which followed) brought notoriety to the sport.^[1] In general, a sieve separates wanted/desired elements from unwanted material using a tool such as a mesh, net or other filtration or distillation methods. ... Zion Canyon as seen from the top of Angels Landing at sunset Zion National Park is a United States National Park located in the Southwestern United States, near Springdale, Utah. ... Official language(s) English Capital Salt Lake City Largest city Salt Lake City Area  Ranked 13th  - Total 84,876 sq mi (219,887 km²)  - Width 270 miles (435 km)  - Length 350 miles (565 km)  - % water 3. ...

Flash floods

A potential danger of many canyoning trips is a flash flood. A canyon "flashes" when a large amount of precipitation falls in the drainage, and water levels in the canyon rise quickly as the runoff rushes down the canyon. In canyons that drain large areas, the rainfall could be many kilometers away from the canyoners, completely unbeknown to them. A calm or even dry canyon can quickly become a violent torrent due to a severe thunderstorm in the vicinity. ^[2] Fatalities have occurred as a result of flash floods; in one widely-publicized 1999 incident, a group of tourists on a commercial canyoning adventure trip drowned in Saxetenbach Gorge, Switzerland. Lower Antelope Canyon was carved out of sandstone by flash floods A Flash Flood is a rapid flooding of geomorphic low-lying areas (washes), rivers and streams, caused by the intense rainfall associated with a thunderstorm, or multiple training thunderstorms. ... Saxetenbach Gorge is a narrow ravine near Interlaken above Lake Brienz. ...

Hypothermia and hyperthermia

Temperature related illnesses are also canyoning hazards. In arid desert canyons, heat exhaustion can occur if proper hydration levels are not maintained and adequate steps are not taken to avoid the intense rays of the sun. Hypothermia can be a serious danger in any canyon that contains water, during anytime of the year. Wetsuits and drysuits can mitigate this danger to a large degree, but when people miscalculate the amount of water protection they will need, dangerous and sometimes fatal situations can occur.^[3] Hypothermia due to inadequate cold water protection is cited as a cause of a 2005 incident in which two college students drowned in a remote Utah canyon.^[4] Hyperthermia is an acute condition resulting from excessive exposure to heat, it is also known as heat stroke or sunstroke. ... Hypothermia refers to any condition in which the temperature of a body drops below the level required for normal metabolism and/or bodily function to take place. ... A surfer in a wetsuit. ... drysuits are used in a number of sports to provide a barrier between the occupant and cold water. ...

Keeper potholes

Some canyoneering, especially in sandstone slots, involves escaping from large potholes. Also called "keeper potholes," these features, carved out by falling water at the bottom of a drop in the watercourse, are circular pits that often contain water that is too deep to stand up in and whose walls are too smooth to easily climb out of. Canyoneers use several unique and creative devices to escape potholes, including hooks used for aid climbing attached to long poles and specialized weighted bags that are attached to ropes and tossed over the lip of a pothole. The city of Los Angeles is famous for its large potholes. ... Aid climbing is a style of climbing in which fixed or placed protection is used to make upward progress. ...

Very narrow slots

Narrow slot canyons, especially those narrower than humans, present difficult obstacles for canyoners. At times a canyoner is forced to climb up (using chimneying or off-width climbing techniques) to a height where one can comfortably maneuver laterally with pressure on both walls of the canyon. This tends to be strenuous and can require climbing high above the canyon floor, unprotected, for long periods of time. Failure to complete the required moves could result in being trapped in a canyon where rescue is extremely difficult.

Narrow sandstone slot canyons tend have abrasive walls which act as sandpaper as a canyoner moves or slides along them. This abrasion tends to rip clothing and gear, and can cause painful skin abrasion.

External links

• OutdoorZen.org-Beta and Updates on Canyoneering in Utah and the Colorado Plateau
• Canyoneering.com-Guidebook Updates
• American Canyoneering Association
• International Association of Professional Canyon Guides - (German) (English)

References