UT: North Wash – No Kidding 3-16-13

Bob’s group had expressed interest in doing No K idding Canyon. I thought it a great opportunity to show some of the new ghosting methods in a place that demands great anchoring creativity. But the canyon offers more than that. Captures and pothole escapes are part of the package too. I had this vision that 82 pound Justin could be our gun in places and that folks could see 115 pound Jenny plying her awesome climbing/capture skill set. All of this I hoped would be a classroom of the “possible, nay practica l, done safely.” Oh and I thought we would have a lot of fun too.

I will share a familiar dance…..Folks coming to try the sandtrap for the first time are usually quite skeptical. They are willing to go off of it, because they recognize that it is backed up for them. But they fret for the last person. They watch the testing process and are impressed, yet not sold. Then all are down and we give them the rope to pull the tr ap. There is something magic about seeing your anchor follow you down the canyon. The moment of release i s often trans-formative on their opinion of the trap.

But there is more. The spotting, several methods having their own names, ‘thigh belay,” “Circle of love” etc……….. get your spot, then give a spot to the next person. Then your standing on a pack as someone goes down the attached and extend ed daisy chain and one is amazed at how well it works.

Then you lift light weight Justin out of the pothole and he has to belly his way over the lip. He is uncertain, then nervous, then exhilarated with success. But the best is yet to come. He is instructed to get himself wedged, with good geometry and then with the rope attached to him, his father, weighing twice his weight, uses him to do what he could not have done himself…get out of the pothole.

Then dad becomes the anchor…but in both directions at once. A rope for getting out of the pothole..he is the anchor. A rope from him downcanyon, to a drop that folks rap or hand line off him. He is the anchor for that too. He gets it! Its a team doing well what is very hard for individuals. A 200 foot rap is broken in two. I am at a mid station offering a me at anchor down the lower 100 feet of the rap. Jenny is testing and manning the station at top. Tony is hauling sand up in potshots to build the mid rap station and spotting folks out of a pothole. Two people are rapping on the same rope at the same time. People with gear and rope head down first, to start working on the next problem.

It resonates with everyone. Sharing the work and looking out for each other. This teamwork canyoneering is pure joy!….and everyone is having a blast. It is MORE than hiking with ropes. For some, the best the sport has to offer. Scott even goes last on the last anchor and he can hardly believe it himself . We are out of the canyon. We have left only footprints . And gained so much more.
Pictures?

Impossible to find the RSS link

Featured Image for the Homepage