Guided Trips

Canyoneering courses: Required and preferred gear

In addition to our normal backpacking trips in Escalante, Utah, we offer “expeditionary canyoneering” courses in which we:

  • Carry everything with us for a 5- or 7-day backpacking trip, plus equipment to
  • Complete technical canyons (up to 3A/3B) that require roped rappels and Class 3-4 scrambling

For trip information, go here. On this page, we discuss required gear.

Gear: Group (provided)

Gear: Personal (available)

You can bring your own equipment, or you can borrow ours (free) by signing up for them. If you bring your own, they must be inspected and approved by your guide.

Gear: Personal (you provide)

Simply put, canyoneering requires more gear and more of your gear. Your camping equipment (shelter, sleeping bag and pad, stove) can be ultralight, but your clothing and backpack must withstand significant abrasion and must keep you comfortable in deep canyons that can be dark, wet, and cold.

Backpack

We are unaware of a perfect backpack for these trips. Many popular backpacking backpacks are not sufficiently durable and not properly featured for canyoneering. And canyoneering backpacks are not sufficiently lightweight and not properly featured for backpacking. A few backpacks are at the intersection of this Venn diagram; even so, we may see moderate damage to them.

Your pack should:

  • Be made of Challenge Ultra 400, heavy-duty Cordura, Spectra, or similar
  • Have 50L of capacity, but 60-70L is preferred

Packs with dangling items are discouraged, as are attachments for water bottles or phones on shoulder straps. All gear needs to be stowable on the inside of packs or very secured on the outside (such as trekking poles) as pack passes, pack lowers, and rappels can cause items to tumble out of loose pockets or shoulder pocket attachments. Dangling items can also get in the way while rappelling.

Recommended packs

  • Superior Wilderness Designs Wolverine (great choice, order early)
  • Hyperlite North Rim (good choice)
  • Hyperlite Southwest (not as good as the North Rim)
  • Black Diamond Speed
  • Kelty White Cloud (all spectra)

Not recommended

  • Packs with mesh exterior pockets
  • Packs with 200d Dyneema bottom or pockets
  • ZPack ArcHaul
  • Gossamer Gear Mariposa
  • Standard ULA packs

Packs from Andrew’s gear library are not available for loan on the canyoneering trips.

If you have an old pack from the “not recommended” list, you may opt to use it anyway, knowing that it may be its last trip. A catastrophic failure is unlikely; it will probably have many small holes and tears afterwards. Imagine repeatedly scraping sandpaper along the outside of this pack.

Shoes

Read this article and select one of the more robust options like the La Sportiva TX-3. One of the more backpacking-oriented models should make it through the trip, but they won’t perform as well and they’ll get more shredded.

Gloves

A simple knit glove with a synthetically coated palm and fingers (e.g. PU, nitrile; not real leather, which absorbs too much water) will reduce abrasion on your hands while rappelling. This pair is a good example; these Milwaukee gloves can be sized and purchased at your local Home Depot. With extensive canyoneering they will fail and as such with regular canyoneering use they are often replaced.

Sun gloves, even those with a faux leather palm and finger tips, are not sufficiently durable.

Knee pads (optional) and elbow pads (discouraged)

To protect boney joints and perhaps clothing, knee pads and elbow pads can be worn on the inside or the outside of clothing layers. On our trips, knee pads would be helpful for those who don’t have a climbing background or who are less agile/nimble.

Pack waterproofing

Some canyons may involve swimming or deep wading. On our trips, these sections are not long.

To waterproof your belongings, you will need at least one true dry bag. If you have a second dry bag (best), or a pack liner made of heavy-duty plastic (e.g. trash compactor bags, Nyoflume) or semi-dry bags made of DCF (okay), you can fully protect items not in use (e.g. sleeping bag, pad, shelter, sleeping clothes) and mostly protect items you need occasional access to while in the canyon (e.g. insulated jacket, stove).

Pants abrasion control

The sandpaper-like canyon walls are hard on normal trekking pants, especially the seat. Your options:

1. A new pair made of normal nylon pant fabric (not too light) will make it through one trip with some wear and tear.

2. Bring an extra pair for the canyons that can be destroyed, keeping your primary pants dry and in tact.

3. Long shorts worn over your primary pants, plus the optional knee pads. Use an old pair of shorts or make shorts from an old pair of pants; this is a good thrift store item.

A purpose-built product for this is the Imlay Shuffle Butt. It’s not necessary for our trips.

External heat

In canyons that are cold, wet, and/or shaded, it is helpful to have a canister stove and 0.5- or 1.0-liter wide-mouth bottle (e.g. Nalgene HDPE bottle) so that you can quickly heat up and drink hot water during breaks. Size up to an 8-oz fuel canister for our 5- and 7-day trips; normally, a 4-oz canister would be enough.

Thermal protection

To maintain body temperature in the canyons, thermal protection is required. Neoprene is the only acceptable solution; a dry suit will quickly become thrashed. Your options:

  • 0.5-mm short- or long-sleeve top with an inexpensive windshirt/windbreaker
  • 1.0-mm short or long-sleeve top (no windshirt required)
  • If you run colder, go with 1.0-mm layers and consider a long-sleeve shirt
  • Women may use a “spring wetsuit,” which has a bathing suit bottom and long sleeves

In addition, a mid-weight wool sock is strongly recommended. For those with cold feet, neoprene socks would be even better, but their thickness is usually too much for footwear that is properly sized for even moderate hiking.

Sleeping/camp clothes

If we exit a wet canyon late and clothing cannot dry before nightfall, you will want dry clothes for camp and sleeping. A lightweight and simple pair of underwear/leggings and short- or long-sleeve shirt is fine.