First time...

[TreeHugger]

I'm going to do Pine Creek Canyon with some friends in July. This is the first canyoneering experience for me, I'm a little nervous. I've had a lot of climbing experience but havent done so in a long while, and what about claustraphobia - is it that bad? Any advice?

[stefan]

pine creek is very very beautiful and very very fun.

as far as your concern with claustrophobia, i took a good friend of mine for the first time, and i found it wasn't exactly claustrophobia that was the issue, or at least not in the sense i usually think of the word, i.e., confined *tight* spaces.

what his apprehension came from was the sense of committing to a very confined space. he wasn't so much afraid of the confined space itself but rather what it represented, confounding problems like flashflood or injury.

pine creek and other zion slots aren't nearly as tight as the *tight* utah slots which very easily can induce claustrophobia, but then again, they are narrow enough that if you do have fears they can be excentuated, especially as the walls loom high above you.

do you have such fears?

[TreeHugger]

I'm not claustrophobic per se, it's more like what you describe as the fear of being committed to a small space with no escape.... yeah, that's it.
:-) How did your friend do?

I'm happy to hear how fun Pine Creek is. I'm really excited to experience it, and get myself out of my comfort zone, I think I'll really enjoy it.

Thanks for the reply!

[stefan]

my friend did fine the whole time, technically, but i really felt he was uncomfortable. to be honest with you i didn't expect him to react this way, but at the same time i realized that he didn't have enough of a realistic conception of what a slot entails. so then top it off with the very cold water in may and the comfort factor goes down further.

but i will say he very much wants to try it again. i think he just needs to get into it inch by inch. i should also say that one aspect that was fueling this was the 10-20% chance of rain and the formation of clouds. rain seemed unlikely in any copious amount, but the unknown made him nervous enough.

[moabfool]

I'm going to do Pine Creek Canyon with some friends in July. This is the first canyoneering experience for me, I'm a little nervous. I've had a lot of climbing experience but havent done so in a long while, and what about claustraphobia - is it that bad? Any advice?

Pine Creek was one of my first canyoneering experiences. It's a great canyon. I still rank my first time down as my favorite Pine Creek trip. I didn't find it frightening at all, except for the fact that I got hypothermic because I was in the water so much helping people across pools. The hardest rappel was off a log jam that got washed out last spring. All the other rappels are reasonably straight forward. Starting the final rappel takes some courage, but once you're in the air it's so fun. The bummer is that the canyon will probably be mostly dry by the time you go so you'll miss out on the swimming.

Pine Creek is a true slot canyon in some places (an average height person can touch both walls with their hands at the same time), but it's not a super tight squeezer like down in Escalante. When you park at the second switchback take a few minutes and go down into Pine Creek to scope out the exit. Make a small cairn for yourself in the streambed. This will save you a lot of trouble on the exit hike.

[LJ]

I'm going to do Pine Creek Canyon with some friends in July. This is the first canyoneering experience for me, I'm a little nervous. I've had a lot of climbing experience but havent done so in a long while, and what about claustraphobia - is it that bad? Any advice?

Hey Karen -

I've got a bit of claustrophobia in me and anytime I'm in a canyon where you have to walk sideways for any amount of time I start sweating and breathing heavy and have to rush to the other end. It's gotten better over time but I still have nightmares about the first time it ever happened to me in Peak-A-Boo of all the easy stupid little canyons. Anywho, in Pine Creek I don't have any problems at all. It's a fun canyon and the last rappel is freakin' awesome! Have a great time. In fact if you have room for a joiner I'm always looking to get out!

LJ

[bruce from bryce]

Actually there is very little 'slot' like areas now with the water being so low. I went June 3rd and it was so different without water, almost like a hike through Willis Creek or Lick Wash. Yes the wall were closer but a lot of the charm was missing.

About the last rap. Being alone I was worried a little about getting on the rap smoothly without a drop so I just added extra friction. I placed a biner on my leg loop thus causing me to hold my hand up instead of behind me (the extra biner reverses the braking). Worked perfectly as I just swung out and when clear of the rock I started a cool descent.

It was nice to have some water flow on the hike out as it was hot and a couple dips in small pools was refreshing.

[hesse15]

I'm going to do Pine Creek Canyon with some friends in July. This is the first canyoneering experience for me, I'm a little nervous. I've had a lot of climbing experience but havent done so in a long while, and what about claustraphobia - is it that bad? Any advice?

Hey Karen -

I've got a bit of claustrophobia in me and anytime I'm in a canyon where you have to walk sideways for any amount of time I start sweating and breathing heavy and have to rush to the other end. It's gotten better over time but I still have nightmares about the first time it ever happened to me in Peak-A-Boo of all the easy stupid little canyons. Anywho, in Pine Creek I don't have any problems at all. It's a fun canyon and the last rappel is freakin' awesome! Have a great time. In fact if you have room for a joiner I'm always looking to get out!

LJ

Hi Lj,
was so cool to meet you
small world
did pinecreeck sunday,short little canyon,
my suggestion is to go there with somebody with some canyoneer experience and rope managment
no claustrofobia at all
all the space pretty open wide
sometime too open
just be safe and play a good team job!!!
cri

[TreeHugger]

Thanks for the comments, everyone, very helpful!

Sounds like this will be a good first canyon to do. I'm going with some friends who have done it before so the guess work isnt there, that will be nice. I'll let ya know how it goes!

[marc olivares]

we did it saturday and the water was super low, but the swimming hole at the trail exit is still full enough to jump into.
no wettie needed, just a 200 foot rope in a bag

have fun

[LJ]

Hi Lj,
was so cool to meet you
small world

Was great to meet you too Hesse. It is a small world. Hope to stop by the potluck next weekend so can hear about your new adventures. Maybe I'll join up with you all on Sunday for a canyon and maybe we can get Iceaxe to carry all out gear!


LJ

[Iceaxe]

Was great to meet you too Hesse. It is a small world. Hope to stop by the potluck next weekend so can hear about your new adventures. Maybe I'll join up with you all on Sunday for a canyon and maybe we can get Iceaxe to carry all our gear!

If you want to give me the same "deal" Deserthiker got I would be thrilled to carry your gear

Hey LJ, I just signed up for Toms bake-fest, hope to see you around

[LJ]

Was great to meet you too Hesse. It is a small world. Hope to stop by the potluck next weekend so can hear about your new adventures. Maybe I'll join up with you all on Sunday for a canyon and maybe we can get Iceaxe to carry all our gear!

If you want to give me the same "deal" Deserthiker got I would be thrilled to carry your gear

Hey LJ, I just signed up for Toms bake-fest, hope to see you around

You were supposed to miss that post!

Yeah - I saw that you signed up. I'll at least hit the poluck on Saturday for sure and I'll try to sign up for the Sunday canyon with you if Tom will let me! Would be nice to finally meet you - heard lots of stories and trying to figure out how they all relate to one guy!


LJ

[Iceaxe]

heard lots of stories and trying to figure out how they all relate to one guy!

Time to start anther party.........