Subway 4/10/2015

[Archie]

This was my first time through a canyon like this and the trip was long and rewarding. A little background I am in my early 30's between July 2011 and September 2014 I had 8 surgeries on my legs / knees and spent a total of about 7 months on crutches. With the surgeries behind me it made me realize that i will not be young and active forever and made me want to enjoy life more.

this trip was my 9 year old son, myself and PPurdom from this forum. The trip went pretty smooth. There were a couple swims and a lot of wading. A couple rappels that was good to give practice as I have never really done any previously.

a couple things I noticed. The approach and exit were the most difficult as I have bad knees and lots of Boulder climbing and down climbing. During these sections my son did awesome and I was only slowing him down. During the subway itself my some was a little nervous and slowed us down a bit as he was not used to it and did not trust the rope and thought the water was cold.

We all wore wetsuits which was plenty. I didn't think it was cold by any means and was warm as soon as I got out of the water. Wetsuits are recommended however. The group in front of us at the last rappel was inexperienced with a couple not having wetsuits at all and another couple that were wearing wetsuits but still hypothermic. I learned that they did not put the wetsuits on until after the third pool which at that time was too late. They also managed to only bring two harnesses for 9 people to share.

a trip like this made me learn a lot. I learned that I need to get in better shape as I was pretty sore the next morning. The subway is not difficult if you understand what you are getting into and plan ahead and come prepared with the correct equipment and use it appropriately.

[Iceaxe]

I love seeing kids being introduced to the sport. There are few things more rewarding than completing a route with your kids.

[Slot Machine]

^ X2 ^

Way to go Archie!

[TommyBoy]

The subway is not difficult if you understand what you are getting into and plan ahead and come prepared with the correct equipment and use it appropriately.

This is actually true of a lot of the canyons out there. Congratulations on your first successful canyon, I hope you have many more to come as this is a great sport and one of the best/only ways to see the greatest parts of Zion NP as well as other areas in southern Utah.

[Iceaxe]

This is actually true of a lot of the canyons out there.

I'd say this is true of 95% of the canyons on the Colorado Plateau. Even the Zion big 3 (Heaps, Imlay and Kolob) fall into this group, they are a very long day but nothing that will stop your typical physically fit, properly trained and well prepared canyoneer. The canyons that fall into the other 5% all involve high stemming and/or exposed climbing at a high and/or prolonged level.

Or to put it another way... all canyons are easy right up to the point they are not.

[TommyBoy]

I'd say this is true of 95% of the canyons on the Colorado Plateau. Even the Zion big 3 (Heaps, Imlay and Kolob) fall into this group, they are a very long day but nothing that will stop your typical physically fit, properly trained and well prepared canyoneer. The canyons that fall into the other 5% all involve high stemming and/or exposed climbing at a high and/or prolonged level.

Or to put it another way... all canyons are easy right up to the point they are not.

Heaps I would agree to for most of the time, since it sounds like it rarely gets into truly low water conditions. Same with Kolob, it just depends on the water in there, you could go in with high water (but still low enough that its not suicide) and that would make it fall into the other 5%, buts that just me splitting hairs.

[Archie]

I think the most rewarding part was being able to do a hike like this after having the doctor cut my tibia almost in half on both legs in order to straighten my legs. It just goes to show that if you set your mind to something you can accomplish a lot. I learned that I need to work on building my sons confidence with the rope and to learn to trust the rope. I also learned that I need to train more with strengthens my muscles in my thighs as I was pretty stiff the next day.