One of the most exciting ways to explore the outdoors is by canyoneering. The sport combines rock climbing with slot canyons and other exciting locations. However, the sport isn’t for the faint of heart and requires lots of training to have fun and get home safely.
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A recent video shows one such canyoneering trip into Utah with one of the most challenging slot canyons around. The clip on Instagram does make the adventure look equally epic and terrifying.
Check it out for yourself:
What is Canyoneering?
Simply put, canyoneering is exploring a canyon. In order to do so, people mix hiking with scrambling, climbing, and rappelling to squeeze around rocks, climb chimneys, and slowly lower themselves off massive drops.
The sport is especially popular in places like Utah, where vast rock formations create awe-inspiring areas to get outdoors.
In fact, the best-known mainstream storyline of canyoneering is centered around Aron Ralston. He’s a real person who, while exploring a slot canyon in Utah, became trapped under a boulder. His story was a popular book and was made into the movie 127 Hours. While that’s one of the worst-case scenarios of the sport, you’ll find that there’s plenty of fun to be had and that different routes exist at all different skill levels.
How to Get Started Canyoneering?
Do you want to give it a try?
Canyoneering is definitely not something you do on your own. Places like Zion National Park have multiple local guiding companies with the gear and know-how to get you started. Guiding services can show you the basics.
Some advice before you go: having a background in rock climbing can help. Understanding the basic movements needed to traverse rock can be helpful, so before a trip, it could be worth hitting up a local climbing gym for some training.
Would you try canyoneering?
