Nice pics; seriously though, have you ever had any near misses? You know, bad accidents that almost happened? It looks like one wrong step and you go down hard, break a few bones, get lodged into somewhere tight and inaccesible, and the closest help is hours away.

A couple of months ago we did a canyon in Zion. There still was a bunch of snow in it, you were walking on knife edges, well while I was crossing over my hands on the wall and my feet on the snow, the snow broke loose I went down about 10 feet or so, my buddy said it was like in slow mo, I was kinda bouncing off the wall and snow, it was tight. When I hit the bottom, I fell on my pack/back and could not get up, I was wedged in, on my left was the snow, which kept breaking everytime I put my hand into it, on the other side the canyon wall. I could not get my hands to my side to push up against. Another guy came down and pulled me up. Yes, I also seen people come down upside down (very scary), you can slip out of your harness. People have slipped down fast, because of not enough friction on their rappel device. A couple of weeks ago a girl in Zion doing Pinecreek on the last rappel, about 100 ft., put the wrong side of the rope thru her rappel device and fell all the way down. She is doing pretty well in the hospital I hear. Amazingly she is still alive after that fall. Same thing happened last year on a 300ft. drop, he did not make it. As for myself, I've been ok so far, but stuff does happen once in awhile.

Makes you a little more careful, realizing one mistake could end you, hmm?

You DEFINITELY want some friends along with you! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Or get banged up pretty good.

We do have some tight knit groups though. As long as we have some skilled/experience people along, we should be fine. Well, like me, I do not know how to use a GPS, so I always have someone around that can, especially when doing a new canyon, otherwise, I remember the approach and exit mostly. Also, having a skinny/excellent climber in the group is great for pothole escapes or some higher rated climbs, lol

I would imagine that GPS could prove a fickle ally when you're canyoneering; not enough sky visible to get the requisite 3 satellites. New models are getter at picking up weak signals from bounces and obscurement, but... Did you have that problem at all?

You only need the GPS when approaching (most important) and exiting the canyon. You need to find exit canyons, landmarks, a tree, trail... when exiting the canyon and getting back to your vehicle. Once inside the canyon, basically there is only one way to go, sometimes drainages come in, but you can figure it out with a map or footprints, lol I always bring a map.

Something I just realized last year (I've only been canyoneering for 5 years) is that really everyone in the group has to have the same skills/toolbox. If someone, say the person with the only skills/toolbox get's hurt and cannot finish the canyon (set up rappels, anchors, read a map, GPS, lacks some downclimbing skills...). Who is going to get help? This is why I've decide to learn how to use a GPS, improve my map reading skills. If I've done the canyon already, I most likely know where and how to get back to the vehicle, with out those skills, but........ Just an invite to anyone on this forum, if you are in Utah and want to do some canyons, let me know. We will take you out for a bunch of fun, I promise.

I did a bunch of chopping and batoning with my DMCG today. I beat it pretty hard and it took it like a champ! A few minutes on the sandpaper and strop brought it right back.

Thanks for the offer, Shaolin. If I ever get sent down that way for training, I'll be sure to look you up.

Right now, they're talking about a possibility of 2 months field training down in Texas. Kinda sucks, because we'll leave mid October, and come back mid December, just before Christmas leave. It could be worse though; they could've decided to do the training on the East Coast of Canada... we'd be dressed like abominable snowmen in the weather there! It drops to an average -5 Celsius in October, to an average 35 below in December! Train in that, I'll pass! LOL!

Hey Dogz! How is everyone today? It is beautiful here in Virginia. Only about 82 and no humidity. Been outside working in the yard all morning.