Last evening, Andrew and I hosted our fourth Ask Us Anything event in two weeks. The topic was canyoneering and our special guests included Jose Mendez and Jeff Wohl, the guides for our inaugural canyoneering trips last spring.
Jeff is a senior NOLS instructor with over 200 weeks of guiding experience. He’s guided courses in technical canyoneering, vertical caving, rock climbing, backcountry skiing, backpacking, backcountry horse packing, and Wilderness First Aid instruction.
Jose is an experienced thru-hiker, climber, and canyoneer. He is an AMGA Climbing Single Pitch Instructor and has completed an Advanced Canyoneering 3-day course for Assistant Canyon Leader training with Zion Guru.
Topics we covered:
- What canyoneering allows you to do that you can’t get with backpacking
- How our approach to canyoneering is different than what you may find elsewhere
- Required gear, including technical gear, backpack considerations, and safety gear
- Preferred skill and fitness qualifications for our canyoneering trips
- Tips for getting started in canyoneering
- How to retrieve your rope when rappelling
- Risks of canyoneering and techniques to increase safety
- A typical itinerary on our 5- and 7-day canyoneering trips
- The fun and challenges of canyoneering
- The typical rappel length on our trips
- The difficulty and complexity of the canyons we run in Escalante
- The type of trips you can expect to be capable of after our canyoneering course
I am an ultralight backpacker from the East that wants to explore cliff areas of the Red River Gorge Ky. I would like to be able to rappel in a similar way you describe canyoneering.
Here is my question, if I am not actually vertical climbing can I use 6mm rad line ? Also is this something you would use canyoneering solo to save weight?
Appreciate any info ….thanks a million love your “ask us anything” series
Ropes are not all created equal. I would check the breaking strength of the rope and compare that to standard recommendations for rappel lines.