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bdawg
Mar 18, 2005, 5:13 PM
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My friends and I want to go down to Zion next week for springbreak and do some canyoneering. I know there is alot more water down there than normal, so some of the canyons might be pretty wet. That doesn't bother me to much, but not all of the people going have wetsuits. Has anyone on gone lately? If so, what did you do, and what was the water level?
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edge
Mar 18, 2005, 5:15 PM
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edge moved this thread from General to Regional Discussions.
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brianinslc
Mar 18, 2005, 5:22 PM
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In reply to: My friends and I want to go down to Zion next week for springbreak and do some canyoneering. I know there is alot more water down there than normal, so some of the canyons might be pretty wet. That doesn't bother me to much, but not all of the people going have wetsuits. Has anyone on gone lately? If so, what did you do, and what was the water level?
Note that the park service won't issue canyoneering permits for anything that requires coming out of the narrows when the river is flowing above 120 (or 140?) cfs. Its over 170cfs right now. So, Mystery Canyon, Imlay, Corral Hollow, etc etc, no can do.
Yeah, there's a ton of snow in the high country down there, and most canyons that flow during runoff are still flowing. You wouldn't want to do Pine Creek right now, for instance, without good cold water protection (dry or wet suit). Pretty sure its still flowing. Ditto a bunch of other canyons down there.
Some canyons might be ok, though. Behunin. Spry (some water but with good rope techniques, ala guided rappels, you can avoid some of the wet for the wetsuit-less folks). Swim the last pool quickly, and, if its sunny, you'll warm up pretty quick on the ledge at the last rappel. Lodge aka Employee Canyon. Fat Man's (can avoid getting in the river). Etc.
Also, I'll bet the approaches on the east side are pretty muddy/snowy still. Big snow year down there. Some canyons will be quite hairball with all the snow. Very dangerous, perhaps until summer (!).
Have fun!
Brian in SLC
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flhoodoo
Mar 18, 2005, 6:08 PM
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seriously, don't go through any canyons if not all of the group members have wet/drysuits. the water temp isn't much above 40 and the high temps haven't been higher than 60 the past few days. be ready to be cold and miserable.
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rockprodigy
Mar 18, 2005, 6:38 PM
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You're going to freeze your ass off! I did Orderville back in the day in March, and it was freaking freezing, and that was when the river was low. Right now there would be a serious risk of fatal hypothermia without drysuits.
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ae33
Mar 18, 2005, 7:41 PM
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I talked to my brother who works at one of the outdoor stores in St. George and he highly recommended against going this early in the year. I guess the search and rescue teams have already been sent out a couple of times this year. Everything is wet and very, very cold. I've done quite a few routes in that area and have froze every single time regardless of how warm it is outside of the canyon. If you are dead set on going, Behuhin (you do have to rap down a couple of waterfalls) or Spry would be good options. If people don't have wet suits don't let them come. I would also stay away from Oak Creek, Mystery, Pine Creek, Englested and Orderville. Good luck and be careful!
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brianinslc
Mar 18, 2005, 8:30 PM
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In reply to: I talked to my brother who works at one of the outdoor stores in St. George and he highly recommended against going this early in the year.
Hey, you just have to pick your venue.
Here's the egress from the top of Englestead last 20 March (in a much lower snow year than this year):
http://mtncommunity.org/...405f42bb46ef92c5.jpg
We started on the east side, then bailed on plan A (Englestead), plan B (Mystery) and ended up in middle Echo. Note that everyone had wetsuits or drysuits, we still froze our butts off and there were very sketchy 40 foot snow drifts...!
Snow in Echo:
http://mtncommunity.org/...405f4433472c0e5f.jpg
Brian in SLC
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bdawg
Mar 19, 2005, 2:43 AM
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hmmm, ok well spry and behunin are definate options. Have any of you ever done hidden canyon from the top? From reading Toms canyoneering guide it sounds like that one should be dry also. We have all done spry and behunin so we would like to try something new, but at the same time its not worth the risk.
btw, thanks for all the informative posts.
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