Canyons in the swell

[Caddis]

My daughter, her boyfriend, my wife, and I are going to hit the swell this weekend. We are wondering which wet canyons are good ones for us noobs. We have done Lep, Baptist, High Spur, Ding and Dang, and a few others. We don't have wetsuits, hopefully it will be hot enough to get us by. Any suggestions? We hope to get 2 canyons in.

We were thinking Knotted Rope, Zero G, or Eardley. ????????
We do not have any experience with keepers!

[mrabe1979]

No keeper experience....... Zero gravity has one that can be defeated with a shoulder stand, pack toss or even a good climber can probably handle it. 5.10+ climber. Eardley is great canyon as well. Probably won't have any keepers but take eteries (webbing ladder) to clip to your pack for a pack toss just in case. I recommend an early start to avoid the late afternoon wind that comes swirling up the canyon. Otherwise you may get a little chilled without a wetsuit. I would save knotted rope canyon for another time so you can do Quandary as well since it has the same trail head. Oh and the trail heads for zero and Eardley are very close anyways have fun a be safe!

[Caddis]

Thanks for your input. Would Knotted Rope and Quandry be a better set of canyons? According to Shane's website, it looks like Knotted has quite a few keepers.

[rockgremlin]

Dunno about knotted having keepers....some tame ones if any at all. Quandary has some really nasty keepers which may be bypassed if you know where to climb out of the canyon and around them. But if you miss the climb out you could quickly get in over your head (no pun intended).


I would stick with the Eardley/Zero G combo.

[Iceaxe]

Dunno about knotted having keepers....some tame ones if any at all.

Knotted Rope has a couple potholes that can be really nasty depending on skills and water levels. There are ways around them but noob's sometimes don't see them. best to go prepared.

I really like Eardley, some hate it. The key is an early start so you are climbing up the slopes in the cool morning. I always get outstanding pictures in Eardley, the light bouces nicely in the canyon for me.

[mrabe1979]

let us know how your trip goes!!