NPS AM Report
Zion National Park (UT) Two Canyon Rescues Conducted By Rangers
On the afternoon of Friday, June 20th, rangers learned that Kip Lewis, 18, had climbed 100 feet up the side and end of Shelf Canyon without ropes or equipment and that he’d gotten stuck and was unable to descend safely without assistance. Responding rangers found that he was actually closer to 200 feet up a fifth class slope – but, fortunately, uninjured. Rangers Andrew Fitzgerald and Vid Walker lead a climb to the stranded Boy Scout, set an anchor, and safely lowered him to the ground. The group that Lewis was with had mistakenly thought that Shelf Canyon was the approach to the popular Spry Canyon. Craig Thexton was the operations chief on this incident. On Saturday evening, park dispatch received a report that cries for help had been heard coming from Echo Canyon. Rangers Rob Wissinger and Tom Parrack responded and located a party of four canyoneers who’d become stranded hundreds of feet above the bottom of a side canyon. They’d attempted to exit from the side canyon because a 30-foot-high wall of snow blocked their safe progress down the canyon’s traditional route. After determining that there were no injuries, Parrack made a technical descent to their location and supplied the four men with overnight gear, food and water. They were raised up from their position the following morning after receiving instructions on ascent techniques. A similar technical rescue was performed in the same canyon on May 13th, when another group of canyoneers found snow blocking their route. They were also unable to go either forward or back and had to be rescued. Craig Thexton was the incident commander. [Submitted by Bonnie Schwartz, Chief Ranger]
bruce silliman
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “Shaun” wrote:
FYI here is a link to a map of Shelf Canyon from Tanya & Bo’s page. > Upper Pine Creek is the next canyon over (east). I had no idea that > Ram named shelf. Learn something every day. > Interesting in that the first time I headed into Spry Rob Harsh and I inadvertently dropped into that drainage and started up the canyon. It soon became very difficult to move up with some off-slant moves to go higher. We came to one upclimb that was mostly vertical and then decided we were in the wrong drainage. No harm, no foul.
bruce from bryce
Shaun
FYI here is a link to a map of Shelf Canyon from Tanya & Bo’s page. Upper Pine Creek is the next canyon over (east). I had no idea that Ram named shelf. Learn something every day.
http://www.zionnational-park.com/map-shelf-canyon — In Yahoo Canyons Group, “adkramoo” wrote:
NPS AM Report
Zion National Park (UT) > Two Canyon Rescues Conducted By Rangers
On the afternoon of Friday, June 20th, rangers learned that Kip Lewis, > 18, had climbed 100 feet up the side and end of Shelf Canyon without > ropes or equipment and that he’d gotten stuck and was unable to > descend safely without assistance. Responding rangers found that he > was actually closer to 200 feet up a fifth class slope – but, > fortunately, uninjured. Rangers Andrew Fitzgerald and Vid Walker lead > a climb to the stranded Boy Scout, set an anchor, and safely lowered > him to the ground. The group that Lewis was with had mistakenly > thought that Shelf Canyon was the approach to the popular Spry Canyon. > Craig Thexton was the operations chief on this incident. On Saturday > evening, park dispatch received a report that cries for help had been > heard coming from Echo Canyon. Rangers Rob Wissinger and Tom Parrack > responded and located a party of four canyoneers who’d become stranded > hundreds of feet above the bottom of a side canyon. They’d attempted > to exit from the side canyon because a 30-foot-high wall of snow > blocked their safe progress down the canyon’s traditional route. > After determining that there were no injuries, Parrack made a > technical descent to their location and supplied the four men with > overnight gear, food and water. They were raised up from their > position the following morning after receiving instructions on ascent > techniques. A similar technical rescue was performed in the same > canyon on May 13th, when another group of canyoneers found snow > blocking their route. They were also unable to go either forward or > back and had to be rescued. Craig Thexton was the incident commander. > [Submitted by Bonnie Schwartz, Chief Ranger] >