Special Report - The Keyhole Seven

[Iceaxe]

When a group of canyoneering beginners were swept away in a flash flood last September, it was the worst disaster in Zion's 97-year history. And it illustrates a growing question: How far should national parks go to keep their visitors safe?

The complete article is here:
http://www.outsideonline.com/2072666...-keyhole-seven

[kiwi_outdoors]

First wet canyon I did - with my wife and daughter. This incident will stay with me till the day I die.

[dakotabelliston]

Climb-Utah posted a really detailed report the other day that included interviews from the group that passed the 7 in keyhole canyon, & even the group that found one of the bodies in keyhole. The report contained a lot of information that I was unaware of. The report was fairly long & still left a lot of opened questions that will probably never be answered. I have made 2 trips down to zion already this year & I feel like there has been increased difficulty trying to get permits with new limitations on closing down the site if there is currently a flashflood warning. At least I never noticed this before & this year it has been frustrating for me getting permits.

I feel that the park already has a difficult permit system including requiring that the person obtaining the permit checks off each box individually agreeing to all the risk & liability. I think more red tape is going to result in more restriction & increased difficulty for those canyoneers that exercise caution & have the skills required to successfully complete the canyons we do. You can put a warning label on a light socket, you can educate someone all day long of the risk, but in the end you cannot prevent that person from sticking his finger in UNLESS you block off the socket. I don't want to see that happen to our canyons all because 1 group took a risk that ultimately cost their life.