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Kelsey”s New Book

By Shane Burrows · May 9, 2003

I finally got my hands on a copy of Michael Kelsey’s new book “Technical Slot Canyon Guide to the Colorado Plateau”. I understand it is being delivered to distributors and will be in stores when they place an order for it. My best guess is to bug Black Diamond to place and order if you are in a hurry, the book is at their distributor now. Might even be in their store by now.

This is a typical Kelsey guide book, lot’s of information packed into a very small space. If you like Kelsey’s guide book’s you will like this one. If you hate Kelsey’s book’s you are going to hate this one. I am certain that most canyoneer’s will end up with it in there collection sooner or later.

As is typical of a Kelsey guide book about 1/3rd of the routes are detailed in anther of his books (mostly in his Hiking the CP book) and the remaining routes will be new to Kelsey fans. The book contains more pictures than most his work.

The book contains lot’s of canyons which have never before been published to the general public. Many of these canyons were known and shared inside the inbred hardcore canyoneering circles but not to the public. This is particularly true of the Robber’s Roost area where a large number of canyons have been published. Kelsey has provided enough Roost info to keep you busy for at least a solid month.

Kelsey has faithfully maintained his commitment to the metric system but in this book most distances are given in Km (miles) which is nice since my car is a big old American SUV which has no intention of learning metric.

This book has also adopted the “Canyon Rating System” first put forth by the ACA and adopted by most CP websites. This is the first time Kelsey has added a rating system and I think it’s a nice touch to keep folks within their skill level. His ratings are on the conservative side in my opinion but ratings are very subjective. It’s better to be conservative than to sandbag some unsuspecting soul.

For the Zion Canyoneer I doubt you will find much new, all the Zion canyon’s in the book are well known among the Rap-N-Swim crew. Oak Creek has been added which should delight a certain local guide service. Several of the popular “local” canyons were missed in this go around, but I hear a 2nd edition is already in the planning stages.

An assortment of six canyons on Navajo Land, five of which are officially closed. Four of them he placed in First Place on his favorite canyon list. The First Place list now contains seven canyons.

Several Capital Reef Canyons have been publicly published for the first time. After that the book is more or less a collection of miscellaneous canyons which are being publicly published for the first time. I know more than one of you is going to lose a “secret” in this book. “Moe Slot” is one of them.

For the first time in a Kelsey book there is mention that consideration’s other than bolting should be explored. I wish he had stressed this point a little (OK, a lot) more. The book is what I would call pro-bolt, but it appears that the effort’s of some to educate Michael might be beginning to pay off. At least the hardcore canyoneers of the CP are no longer referred to as “environmental fruitcakes”

As always with a Kelsey book, the route descriptions should be taken with a gain of salt and common sense should be used. Particular attention should be placed on the “author’s experience” since several canyons are partially betaed but if you read carefully you will note that the entire canyon was not completed for various reasons. In at least two places I know the canyon turns really nasty in the section that Kelsey did not explore.

As I said, Typical Kelsey Guide Book with lot’s of info in a very compressed space. Most canyoneers will find it impossible to resist adding to their library.

Shane Burrows Climb Utah – Canyoneering & Mountaineering http://Climb-Utah.com

Message Details

AuthorShane Burrows
DateMay 9, 2003
Discussion7 replies
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