Beware of the Skull!

I have a hard time sitting still during the summer when there's so many fun things to do. This past weekend, me and a group of 23 others, headed down to Southern Utah and floated the Westwater Canyon section of the Colorado River.

I've floated many rivers but there's something about the Colorado that always gets me excited. We spent Friday night in Moab in the Kane Springs campground (not my favorite spot, but we got in late and jsut wanted to find somewhere quick). We then spent all day Saturday climbing along Potash road. There are tons of great routes along Potash but it was so hot we had a hard time climbing so we ended up just swimming in the river all day.

We spent Saturday night with a bazillion flies and mosquitos along the river at the Westwater Ranger Station. There were 24 of us total by that time with 4 rafts, 1 was a gear boat ore rig, and the other 3 were paddle boats. We feel asleep to the sound of the river running next to us and the smell of freshly caught catfish cooking over the fire.

The next morning, after packing up and shuttling the cars, we ended up on the river by 9:00. The first section is a mellow float where we saw a bald eagle and enjoyed the sun. It then narrows into a black canyon full of 11 named rapids and gnarly whirlpools. One of which is named Skull rapid which is closely followed by the nasty whirlpool, the Room of Doom. These are infamous for trapping rafters in the swirling currents which leads to disaster.

I was guiding one of the paddle boats through the canyon section and had 3 others with me in the boat. We had nailed all of the previous rapids but when we got to Skull, I was luanched out of the boat early on in the rapid and ended up swimming the infamous Skull Rapid, leaving the others in the boat without a rutter. They ended up getting swept into the Room of Doom and having a hard time getting out.

A few minutes later, although it seemed like an eternity, we all ended up below the rapid with a dislocated shoulder, a tipped boat, a missing paddle, and a missing bag. To say the least, Skull had its way with us.

We ended up at Cisco a few hours later, looking back and saying, "it doesn't get much better than this." All and all, it was an awesome trip. I would recommend to anyone who hasn't floated the mighty Colorado to do so. It's quite an amazing river, just remember to watch out for the Skull!

Inland Sports Adventure - Ice Wall

When the sun goes down and you just haven't had enough, what do you do? We just kept on climbing. June 12th, was Inland Sports' Climbing Adventure. We had planned on climbing up 9th street but due to the 9th street crag having 4,000,000,000 people on it (no exaggeration), we ended up climbing the Ice Wall up Ogden Canyon.

The Ice Wall is a challenging, yet fun and intriguing wall containing various routes rating anywhere from 5.9+ to 5.13a. We had a pretty good turnout and want to thank everyone who joined us for participating. Everyone got a good amount of climbing in and I think it's pretty safe to say we all had a blast. In fact we had so much fun, when the sun went down, we didn't want to leave so we just kept on climbing. It was about 10:30 by the time we got off the rock.

If you missed this adventure, that's a bummer; Don't let it pass you again and join us June 26th for backpacking up Taylor's Canyon.

City of Rocks - Idaho

City of Rocks

After last year’s trip to the City and being rained out; this year was about as good as it gets. When it rains at the City, there’s not a whole lot to do so we lucked out when we left on a Thursday night and had Friday, Saturday and Sunday to climb in perfect climbing weather. The mornings were a little cold but by 10:00 am it was a comfortable 65 degrees.

We started by knocking off a City Classic, the Rye Crisp on Elephant Rock. It’s an easy but exhilarating 5.8 trad route that extends up over 50m. We then moved on to other City Classics such as Bloody Fingers, at the top of the City on the Bread loaves, and Bat Wings, by far the most popular route at the Parking Lot Rock. Bloody Fingers is a fun but very tough 5.10d crack route. Bat Wings was one of my favorites of the whole weekend and is a fun 5.8 route as well.

On Saturday we spent a lot of time on the cheese routes (Scream Cheese and Swiss Cheese) and the Morning Glory Spire. We had a tough time on a new three pitch route up the back side of the spire. I’m not sure what it is called but it was a lot of exposure and a wide variety of moves and holds. The second pitch’s crux took us some time and several attempts but we made it and the view from the top made it all worth it. Skyline, a classic 5.8, was another excellent route we climbed on the Spire.

After three solid days of climbing, what I’m going to go as far as to call the best routes around, we had to pack up and take off. City of Rocks always has a way of making you yearn to come back. If you still think that Idaho is only good for its potatoes, check out the City of Rocks. Unless it rains, I guarantee it won’t let you down!

-For directions to City of Rocks: http://www.visitidaho.org/thingstodo/outdoor-recreation/city-of-rocks-national-reserve.aspx

Zion - Behunin and Englestead Canyons

Zion National Park is one of the most spectacular sites I have ever seen. It is located in Southern Utah, near the town of St. George. The monstrous walls carved by the Virgin River tower thousands of feet above you as you drive along the river up Zion Canyon. The views are absolutely amazing. Memorial Day weekend is the busiest weekend for the park. Swarms of people from all over flock to Zion to take pictures and wade in The Narrows, yet this Memorial Day weekend I was there and spent the majority of the time in peaceful solitude. We lucked out and snagged backcountry permits (almost impossible to get on Memorial Day weekend the day of) for Englestead Canyon and Behunin Canyon. Both are technical slot canyons requiring advanced rapelling and rope skills.

Englestead Canyon starts out with a breathe taking 300 ft. rappel and is followed by many other rappels up to 80 ft. After several hours in the tight slot canyon we dropped into the Orderville Canyon. Orderville is much wider than Englestead requiring less technical skills yet incredibly gorgoues. The 10 hour canyon adventure ends up heading out the Narrows at the Temple of Sinawa. The best part of the whole day was that we never saw a single soul the entire day! This Canyon is a must for any Canyoneering enthusiasts out there.

The next day we ran Behunin Canyon. This is a much more popular canyon yet again, we went seven hours in the canyon and didn't see a single person. Behunin is a much wider canyon yet drops rapidely, offering several long rappels, many of which are free hanging, and surreal scenery. This canyon is another must for anyone into canyoneering. Don't let the holiday crowds scare you away either. Take a few steps off the main trail and you're completely alone.