Orderville Gulch - Zion NP (HD Video)

[Iceaxe]

It had been 5 or 6 years since I was last down Orderville Gulch and it seemed like a nice canyon for those I was with for the weekend. Everyone in the group had already done Subway the year before so Orderville seemed like a nice logical progression in the world of Zion canyons. I consider Orderville to be a small step up over Subway skill wise, your mileage may vary.

The canyon was in more difficult conditions than I had encounter before in any of my previous dozen trips through over the years. Both the major drops were in rappel conditions for most people as opposed to downclimbable on logs as in years past.

The canyon had been cleaned out by previous floods and contained several swimmers and some nice long wading through crystal clear water. The canyon currently contains one nice jump, which is a rare item for Zion slots. If you do the jump make certian you send someone down first to check the water depth as jumps have a habit of filling in with debris fast.

Just for giggles I asked the group how they thought Orderville compared to Subway and just about everyone in the group said given the choice of only one they preferred Orderville because of the extreme depth of the canyon and the beautiful narrows.

Enjoy the video.



Music - Mozart's Greensleeves

[Felicia]

OHHHHHHH - I've got to get back into Orderville!!!!

Shane, this is great video - I really like your choice of music for this canyon.

[Iceaxe]

I really like your choice of music for this canyon.

My kids have been instructed that Greensleeves is to be played at my funneral.

[jb56chevy]

nice vid ! Thanks for posting.

I did Orderville twice last year and were you were jumping there used to be a large log to climb down. It looks like it got flushed. I love that canyon.

[ststephen]

My kids have been instructed that Greensleeves is to be played at my funneral.

Bill Graham always played Greensleeves at the end of the rock shows in the Bay Area. It was a nice civilized way of letting everyone know the show was over and also left you walking out of the venue with a warm "Man, that was *great*" feeling.

[Scott Card]

I am really liking your videos, Ice. Fun stuff.

[Iceaxe]

I am really liking your videos, Ice. Fun stuff.

I'm having a blast.... my kids are really getting into canyoneering this summer. Between the kids and the new camera I have a great excuse to do a bunch of old classics that I haven't repeated in years.

[oldno7]

Nuther nice video....

[Krrristi]

no wetsuits!? would that be recommended for a wimpy girl from Phoenix planning on doing Orderville next weekend? Or are you guys just nuts? :P

[skiclimb3287]

I did Orderville twice last year and were you were jumping there used to be a large log to climb down. It looks like it got flushed. I love that canyon.

That is definitely the spot! When we did Orderville last year, my girlfriend had an "incident" with that log. The water was deep enough to jump in, but it was late in the day (did Birch Hollow first) and everyone was getting a bit chilled, so we opted to climb down the log. Being 5'3'', she had trouble reaching the nubs from where the branches used to be. Near the middle of it, she slipped and went scooting right into the deepest part of the pool...under she went . Unfortunately, the nub she missed caught the bottom of her pack and gave her back a good jerk. She quickly swam ashore and slowly stood up. I couldn't help but take a picture being the good boyfriend I am. She looked like a drowned rat (but a cute drowned rat...). Here's the pic (posted with her permission):



Ever since that day she has gone to bed praying for the demise of that log. As soon as the flooding occurred this year, her first question was "Do you think that damned log is gone?!" Thank you Iceaxe for making her day!

[Iceaxe]

no wetsuits!? would that be recommended for a wimpy girl from Phoenix planning on doing Orderville next weekend? Or are you guys just nuts? :P

Predicting if others will stay warm without a wetsuit is a tough call. Lots of factors to take into account, but here is my take. The temperature was in the 90's the day we did the route, we were a large group which means we were moving in the slow to average range. We had two skinny young women with us who get cold easy. None of us required a wetsuit to stay warm. One of the young women mentioned starting to get chilled at one point when we were standing around and I told her to get hiking and she would warm up quickly, which she did.

So bottom-line, we all had wetsuits in the motel but elected to leave them there and save the weight. If we were doing the route again under the same conditions we would make the same choice....

Of course there is always the flip side.... its better to have and not need than to need and not have....

Hope that helps....

[Krrristi]

Got it! Thanks :)

[ratagonia]

Predicting if others will stay warm without a wetsuit is a tough call. Lots of factors to take into account, but here is my take. The temperature was in the 90's the day we did the route, we were a large group which means we were moving in the slow to average range. We had two skinny young women with us who get cold easy. None of us required a wetsuit to stay warm. One of the young women mentioned starting to get chilled at one point when we were standing around and I told her to get hiking and she would warm up quickly, which she did.

So bottom-line, we all had wetsuits in the motel but elected to leave them there and save the weight. If we were doing the route again under the same conditions we would make the same choice....

Of course there is always the flip side.... its better to have and not need than to need and not have....

Hope that helps....

You're tossin' 'em down the middle for me Shane...

reminds of the Ultralight Backpacker adage - If you need it, and you don't have it, then you don't need it!

T

[Iceaxe]

reminds of the Ultralight Backpacker adage - If you need it, and you don't have it, then you don't need it!

If we had some beacon we could make beacon and eggs if we had some eggs.

[Scott Card]

I would never eat a beacon. I don't want Zion Park to track me. They may realize I am having fun and try to kill it.

[bowjunkie]

nice video !!!