Escalante Slot's

[dude9478]

Hello everyone! I just joined, though I've been reading this site for a few months. My wife and I have been hiking in Colorado for quite a few years and in the last couple years we've been getting into slot canyons. We don't have any repelling equipment. We want to take a course, but can't afford it at this point(500 per person is a bit much) I think the hardest canyon we have done is ding and dang and we loved it! We are heading to Escalante from March 16-19th and we are looking for canyon's that are similar to ding and dang...Anyone have any advice? Also, does anyone know of course's that are a bit cheaper? Thanks,

Kevin

[asdf]

Check out Peek-a-boo, spooky, and brimstone.

[uintahiker]

Escalante is a great area with several beginner slots in the area.
Spooky & Brimstone come to mind.
Egypt 3 is does require some gear, but you might want to do some research on it. Wetsuits would be a necessity in March.
Pick up Kelsey's book for a pretty good area overview and further ideas. *It's a good overview/starting place, but there's better info out there.

[ratagonia]

http://www.zionadventures.com/zion-p...ng-course.html

Our One Day Basic would set you up for doing many canyons in Zion, and maybe elsewhere if you are a quick learner. $199.00 per person at Zion Adventure Company. It is good to schedule a couple of days of canyoneering after your course, so you can work those skills into your memory better. After a course, gear can be rented for about $25.00 per person per day (without wetsuits or dry suits). For most people, another day of instruction would be required to safely navigate canyons outside of Zion that require some natural anchor skills.

Rick at Excursions of Escalante can do much the same thing for you, might even be less. http://www.excursionsofescalante.com...s/courses.html Yes, he lists the ACA 3-Day course for $500.00 per person, but he might maybe take you out for a one day custom course for about the same - ie, $400 for one day course for two people... but give him a call.

Tom

[Scott P]

Egypt 3 is does require some gear, but you might want to do some research on it.

Unless you do the very last section, Egypt 3 is a walk through. Usually it doesn't have any swimming either (except for the part at the end which you would skip anyway if you didn't have a rope). Since the route is reversible, it would be very reasonable to go there without a wetsuit. If you did get to a swim hole (which is somewhat unlikely), you could just turn around and reverse the route (but don't climb down anything you can't climb back up).


Peekaboo, Spooky and Brimstone (from the bottom or top rather than through) is also good. Little Death Hollow is another good one (with scrambling). If you can stand wading the Escalante in March (I've done it several times that time of year, but yes the water is chilly), Ringtail from the bottom is another possiblity. Hurricane Gulch also has some nice little slots dropping into it (explore from the bottom up).

[dude9478]

Our One Day Basic would set you up for doing many canyons in Zion, and maybe elsewhere if you are a quick learner. $199.00 per person at Zion Adventure Company. It is good to schedule a couple of days of canyoneering after your course, so you can work those skills into your memory better. After a course, gear can be rented for about $25.00 per person per day (without wetsuits or dry suits). For most people, another day of instruction would be required to safely navigate canyons outside of Zion that require some natural anchor skills.

Rick at Excursions of Escalante can do much the same thing for you, might even be less. Yes, he lists the ACA 3-Day course for $500.00 per person, but he might maybe take you out for a one day custom course for about the same - ie, $400 for one day course for two people... but give him a call.

Tom

Ahh! Very good to know! I was in contact with Escalante excursions, but I didn't think to ask if they could do a custom course, I'll give them a call to see what they can do for us. Thanks everyone for the great suggestions, I can't wait to explore the area.

[dude9478]

My wife and I ended up going to Zion and taking a one day course with Zion Adventure Company. Tom was a great guide/teacher, I think we are hooked! We ended up doing Keyhole Canyon a couple days after the course, it was amazing! Now we just need to scrape more money together for equipment :) Thanks again everyone for the suggestions, and thanks Tom for showing us the "ropes"! I think we will be heading back to Zion in late summer to explore some more.

Kevin

[AJ]

Awesome! Glad you had a good time.

If "Tom" is Tom Jones, I'm sure you learned lots. He's a great guy, as well as very knowledgeable...

[katiedid]

Sounds like you had fun and had great advice. I just wanted to point out that you probably do have repelling equipment...in the form of OFF or some other bug spray. rApelling equipment, however, is a different story.

[dude9478]

Sounds like you had fun and had great advice. I just wanted to point out that you probably do have repelling equipment...in the form of OFF or some other bug spray. rApelling equipment, however, is a different story.

ha! Woopsy :) Good eye, looks like I need do a little proofreading before I post!

AJ, that's the guy, he is a bada**!

[ratagonia]

ha! Woopsy :) Good eye, looks like I need do a little proofreading before I post!

AJ, that's the guy, he is a bada**!

Glad you had a good time. Now go out there and git yourself down some canyons!!!

[dude9478]

Glad you had a good time. Now go out there and git yourself down some canyons!!!

Oh yeah buddy! We are planning on it, looking for some stuff a little closer to CO, like Moab, arches etc to hone our skills before we come back to Zion. I thinking U-turn might be a good one to try....Do you all have any other ideas for beginner technical canyons in that area?

[ratagonia]

Oh yeah buddy! We are planning on it, looking for some stuff a little closer to CO, like Moab, arches etc to hone our skills before we come back to Zion. I thinking U-turn might be a good one to try....Do you all have any other ideas for beginner technical canyons in that area?

A lot of people here on Bogley do stuff in Moab. You should try to hook up with them for a canyon or two...

Tom

[moab mark]

Oh yeah buddy! We are planning on it, looking for some stuff a little closer to CO, like Moab, arches etc to hone our skills before we come back to Zion. I thinking U-turn might be a good one to try....Do you all have any other ideas for beginner technical canyons in that area?

If you were comfortable after finishing Tom's class and can remember what you were taught you can handle any canyon in Moab. Climb-Utah has the beta on most all of them. Stay away from Plieades in the spring and you'll be good to go. If you are in Moab this weekend we will be there and you could go ahead of us on a few routes. My group is to big to add any more but hey if you got confused we would becoming along behind.

[dude9478]

If you were comfortable after finishing Tom's class and can remember what you were taught you can handle any canyon in Moab. Climb-Utah has the beta on most all of them. Stay away from Plieades in the spring and you'll be good to go. If you are in Moab this weekend we will be there and you could go ahead of us on a few routes. My group is to big to add any more but hey if you got confused we would becoming along behind.

Hey Mark,
We are feeling pretty confident after taking Tom's class, that's great to hear that they are all doable! I'm not sure if we will be coming this weekend or not. If not, I'll post up when we do to see if we can get a small group together. Thanks a bunch for offering the help! You guys are awesome, I love this community :)

Thanks,
Kevin

[ratagonia]

If you were comfortable after finishing Tom's class and can remember what you were taught you can handle any canyon in Moab. Climb-Utah has the beta on most all of them. Stay away from Plieades in the spring and you'll be good to go. If you are in Moab this weekend we will be there and you could go ahead of us on a few routes. My group is to big to add any more but hey if you got confused we would becoming along behind.

Don't some of those have some fancy, leave-no-trace anchor caveats on them? We did not get that far in our day together.

Tom

[Matt Lemke]

Check out Red Breaks...hands down the best non-technical in all of Escalante

[AJ]

Kevin, where are you from in CO?

Moab is definitely a good place to start out with for beginner canyons. There's a lot of shorter canyons to choose from. Read the descriptions though; as some might have harder anchor problems than others (as Tom pointed out.) Another good place to go for more beginner canyons is North Wash. Those canyons get a lot of traffic, and you could likely even join a group that you meet there if you wanted to. Note that most North Wash anchors are natural anchors. If you are looking for bolts to play on; then Zion has some good shorter canyons that can be suitable for beginners (Keyhole, Pine Creek and Spry come to mind.)

You could also consider doing one of the Bogley Fests (look for the sticky posts at the top of the forum.)

Lastly, I'm also from CO; Boulder area. I'm likely running a beginner trip more towards the fall. You would be welcome to swing on out and join us for some of the canyons...



Take care,
A.J.

[Iceaxe]

[moab mark]

I think to Moab?