Nearly home and the destruction of something beautiful

I arrived in the United States to a full moon and as the next full moon dawns I feel a lunar call that it’s time for my journey to end.

This image was taken whilst the forests of California were burning. The loss of such ancient forests is deeply upsetting and regrettable. But the forests were splendid once more in the skies of Nevada. There was a beautiful colour inversion caused by the airbourne particulate matter. I had seen this before at Lappeenranta whilst the Russian forests were ablaze. Whilst this feels eerie to the mind, the soul can’t help but enjoy the colours.

Sin in Vegas

Vegas advertises itself with sin, tourists buy T-shirts with the logo "I sinned in Vegas" and the reputation of the city equals this. After spending an almost puritan time in the desert I wasn't ready for the bright lights, packed casinos and hustle of the city. In the desert we cooked and went to bed soon after it got dark, and only occasionally did we drink a beer (and then only one). We were simply too tired.

I felt at home in the desert. Of course the conditions were tougher than every day life but so were the rewards. Every night the sky shone with a plethora of stars and we could pick out and name individual stars (even Vega). I loved this remoteness and the freedom from light pollution. In Indian Creek we only had what we carried in. Water was a scarce resource and this suited life in the desert. Elsewhere water was rationed, in Zion we had 8 mins showering water per day and to me this felt both frivolous and luxurious. I only used my full 8 mins once; how can one justify wasting water in the desert. Edward Abbey (author) commented that "water isn't short in the desert, there is in exactly the right amount" and his words felt true. One doesn't need much water, the usage seemed in tow with the resource... up until I set foot in Vegas.

Vegas is to me, a city, where a city shouldn't be. I understand that living in a city is different to living in the wilderness and that the citizens demand energy and water. Vegas is however a city blessed with being surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery that I have seen. But the city doesn't respond by adapting itself to its surroundings but opposing them. Water isn't a scarce resource in Vegas. It's everywhere. Every casino seems to have its own waterfall. They use water to keep flamingos and to sink pirate ships in. They burn electricity to power a million lights, each trying to be brighter than the next. In Red Rocks you can't see the stars, but you can see a beam of light projected from the Luxor. The water and power to fuel this comes largely because of the damns which have destroyed the countryside of Utah and Arizona. They not only mock the very essence of the desert by scandalous wastage of water and light but destroy the desert in the process. To me, this is the biggest sin in Vegas.

Superior Ethics or Environmental Recklessness

My friend Toby has a blog and this topic has been dealt with there http://lightfromthenorth.blogspot.com/2007/07/superior-ethics-or-littering.html (albeit in a different context). I wanted to raise the question again as this is read by different people.

This is the first of three rappel stations from the top of Lotta Balls buttress.


The American Safe Climbing association has done a fantastic job replacing bolts at Red Rocks. They haven't retro-bolted routes (as far as I'm aware) but replaced old dodgey bolts with modern safe ones. The bolts on Lotta Balls are new and I would assume placed by them. Someone has gone to the trouble of equiping the rap stations with slings and rings. I wonder is it acceptable to bolt descent routes when no bolts were previously placed? Do we have to wait until the tree dies of semi-natural causes before bolts can ethically be placed? I for one, would happily see two expansion bolts here and the holly given a fairer chance for life.

Lotta Balls

On Wednesday morning I met a Japanese lady named Tacos and we decided to do a multipitch route. Although I had some longer lines in mind, as it was already quite late and as we hadn’t climbed together before we decided to do something shorter. The Lotta Balls buttress seemed to house routes which would fit this bill.

We hiked in with the plan to do either Lotta Balls itself (5.8 four pitches) or Black Magic which was a similar grade and a similar proposition. When we got there, we found that both routes were taken by various groups of old timers. Later, I discovered Joanne Urioste was among them. In the old days, Red Rocks was never considered a world class climbing destination, long approaches, loose rock and poor protection made Red Rock climbing something esoteric. With the spread of Vegas, the inevitable development of new roads, cleaned up rock by increased traffic of climbers, the advent and widespread use of camming devices and the placement of bolts, the popularity of Red Rocks grew. But compared with other climbing places where the routes were done by a huge number of people, Red Rocks is unique in that very few people did most of the first accents. Jorge and Joanne Urioste’s routes are perhaps the most popular, they believed in safe climbing and as such placed many bolts on their climbs. This was a huge achievement as all the holes were hand drilled by Jorge and most of the time on lead. Don’t think that the Urioste’s made sports climbs. We climbed Olive Oil and Cat in the Hat (which were both theirs) and there was not one protection bolt on either of the routes, but when needed they were prepared to bolt and many of their face climbs have plenty of bolts. One of the other pioneers was Joe Herbst, he favoured clean climbing and most of his routes are bold and adventurous (even today with modern protection). Certainly there was controversy between the two styles, but they seem to co-exist perhaps most likely because of the huge quantity of good rock in Red Rocks.

I only had the Select Climbs and it didn’t show many other choices but Joanne suggested that we climbed Trihedral, which was one of Joe Herbst’s routes. I later noticed that the Select Climbs mark this as “ugly loose corner” in their topo. It wasn’t ugly and loose, it was aesthetically pleasing and loose. Joanne did say that she didn’t remember the route very well (it was 25 years ago when she climbed it). I remember it well, it was hard, the crux felt like very sandbagged 5.8 and was poorly protected. I had an excellent cam 7m below me and managed to get a so-so microwire and an appalling cam to protect the crux. This involved cutting on to the face and making thin face moves for about 3m. The moves felt shakey, and I was very nervous on them.

Trihedral is marked in red. Lotta Balls is marked in blue. Subsequently, when I saw the definitive guide I noticed that about as much information is given in this picture as in the guide, and now readers of this blog will know more than those blessed with owning the guide. It's not a bad route, but very testy at the grade.

We then did Lotta Balls. It was again done by Joe Herbst but this time with his wife and had two very important protection bolts (I don’t know if the bolts were her influence). This felt excellent, the protection was secure (albeit spaced) and the climbing felt intuitive (perhaps having a guide book helped). There was a fantastic and memorable section of the second pitch where you leave a crack system and start face climbing on bizarre looking nipples of rock. This wasn’t difficult but required extreme care. When you placed your foot on one of these, you had to keep it very still as the slightest movement could twist it off. The only handholds were the nipples which you had to pinch in a strangely sexual way. I had previously thought the buttress was so named because you had to have a lot of courage to climb on it, but after this pitch it was obvious how it got its name. The face climbing was protected by two bolts, it felt run out and strange but contrary to the previous route I felt in control and confident at all times.

See I wasn't telling lies about the nipples.


And the same for feet.

A days sport climbing in Red Rocks

It was the multipitch routes which drove me to Red Rocks, however I also really enjoyed the sports climbing. Although I had left notes on message boards, I found the best way to meet people was to turn up at the popular crags and start chatting with people. In the morning I went to the Gallery area of the Calico Hills and met Johnathon and Phil. I climbed with them in the morning and then in the afternoon with a guy named Joe, with whom I also hatched plans for some multi-pitch later in the week. I'd hoped that the day wouldn't be too strenuous but in the end I climbed 9 routes, 8 of which were on lead, and 7 of which were tens. I climbed 10c on-sight clean and very nearly 10d (one small fall due to poor reading of the route). All of the routes were overhanging and crimpy. I like crimps but as soon as the terrain gets steep I find the climbing really challenging. That being said I loved the sport at Red Rocks, and now can really imagine myself going on a Sports climbing holiday and getting really into it. Actually, my parents live close to Portland so if anyone is interested in some English Limestone let me know.

Johnathon climbing the insanely overhanging "Fear and Loathing" 5.12. I always enjoy watching good climbers in action, his footwark was really precise and he had a technique where he twisted his foot into the holds and edged with the outside. I often read Neil Gresham's Masterclass column which gives tips for high preformance climbing; Johnathon probably hadn't read Neil Gresham but if he did he'd paid great attention as he climbed exactly the way Neil describes. I'd like to climb like this, but balance and careful footwork aren't easy things to learn.

Phil top-roping a 5.10c. The consistently slightly overhanging angle was typical of the day. I actually on-sighted this route and felt pretty pleased with myself as it felt very touch and go with perhaps more touch than go. As I said previously, crimps and overhangs aren't a good combination for me. However, the whole exprerience has whetted my appetite for overhangs and I can see myself training this aspect of my climbing this winter. More importantly, I am proving to myself that the tendons in my elbows are stronger and can cope with more rigourous climbing.

Joe checking out the guidebook under a 5.10d route. It wasn't any steeper than the others but the holds seemed smaller and further in between.

Root Beer

Anakaisa, a colleague at work who had lived in the US asked me if I'd tried root beer. I hadn't. She had said that it was strange and tasted like the mouthwash you get at the dentist. I was sceptical, either the Americans have very odd soda or more likely the Finnish dentists give very odd mouthwash. Well there's only one way to test this, and so I tried the Root Beer. The photo says it all. I tried to tell myself to swallow, but something inside my mind told me to swill it around and spit it out. The verdict: America has vile and strange sodas.

Olive Oil 5.7R

UThis was Anni's second multi-pitch climb. It was a grade harder and every one of the six pitches was 5.7. Sounds like a tough challenge? You bet it was. The first challenge, which we didn't even consider was finding the route. We followed the description in the guide book and as is so often the way ended up bashing our way through vegetation and scrambling up loose rock slopes. Eventually we found the route and when we did were amazed at how good the path was and how quickly we could have got to the route.

The line follows the obvious crack system, traverses across the face on huge jugs and finishes up the corner to the right.

The first pitch was the crux, it wasn't hard but it was awkward. It involved climbing a chimney and then pulling on to the face to make some initially difficult lay back moves before gaining comparitvely easy terrain. I had found it quite tricky but not hard and Anni raced up in no time. There was a pair climbing ahead of us, I had anticipated that we would be fairly slow, but Anni dispatched the pitch so quickly we were soon behind the pair ahead. Normally it isn't nice to have people climbing so close behind you, but as another pair started behind us we realised we had to do it. We were much quicker than the pair in front, bearing in mind it wasn't either of their second multipitch climbs and that one of them had done the route before it was a huge testiment to our climbing abilities. On multipitch routes climbing quickly can be a vitally important skill as it could mean finishing the route in the day light or not.


One thing that could have acounted for slowing things down was that all of the bolts (only for belays) had been removed. This is the belay at the top of the fourth pitch. The wire is fantastic and the tied off flake felt solid. However, this isn't an ideal belay and it would have been awful to have shared it with two other parties. Bolts are a big debate in Red Rocks, whilst I'm generally against bolts where they are not required, I wouldn't have minded some nice belay bolts here.

Anni looking happier after we had warmed up. We got surprisingly cold waiting for the others, we started the route in T-shirts and finished with fleeces and waterproofs on. It was windy and shady, and in combination with the slow moving party meant that we got quite cool waiting.

Tourism in Canyonlands - Needles district

English (Anni): Canyonlands is something different, again. This time I wont go into geological details. The amount of rock in this place is something I have never seen before. The whole time you're visiting just two places: either the edge of a canyon, or a bottom of a canyon. In the canyons, which can be so eroded, that you don't realize that you're actually in one, the sheer cliff faces loom over you, half buried in red gravel. On top of the tables you only see the zig zag of canyons splitting the earth to isolated islands. Standing on the edge it is impossible to see, where the canyons actually go. The eye cannot follow the twists and turns.


Finnish (Anni): Canyonlands on alueena taas hiukan erilainen kuin aiemmat paikat, joissa olemme vierailleet. Täällä tuntuu siltä, että seisot joko kanjonin reunalla, tai sellaisen pohjalla. Pohjalla ollessa et tosin aina hoksaa käveleväsi kanjonissa, sillä ne saattavat olla niin laveiksi kuluneita. Minkä kyllä huomaa, ovat valtavat kivseinät, jotka kohoavat joka puolella, niin kauas kuin näkyvyyttä riittää, perustat hautautuneita punaiseen soraan. Missään en ole nähnyt näin paljon pystysuoraa kiviseinää. Kanjonin reunalla seistessä silä ei kykene seuraamaan, minne kanjonit kulkevat. Koko maa on rakoillut ja uurteinen, jakaen maan jalkojen alla saarekkeisiin.


English: Wildlife in Canyonlands is perhaps a little 'wilder' than it is elsewhere we've visited. First of all, the reliable tourist-indicator chipmunk is essentially missing. Instead, I was woken up on two mornings by a pair of coyotes. I assume they were a pair. Someone who knows these animals could tell you differently. To me, it sounded like Mr. Coyote started the early morning show, and after a moment, Mrs. Coyote joined in. The song did not last too long, but it surely woke me up enough so I could mumble: "Shut up, you two."

Finnish: Luonto Canyonlandsissa on ehkä hiukan villimpää, kuin mitä se on ollut aiemmissa paikoissa. Ensinnäkin, aina luotettava turismin ystävä ja opportunisti chipmunk loisti poissaolollaan. Ilmeisesti pohjoisemmalla alueella on vilkkaampaa ja pähkinäpusseja tiheämmässä. Lisäksi kahtena aamuna minut sai hereille kojoottipari, ainakin kuvittelisin että kyseessä oli pariskunta. Asiasta paremmin perillä olevat voisivat valaista. Aikaisin aamulla, ennen auringonnousua, herra Kojootti aloitti konsertin, johon rouva Kojootti liittyi hetkeä myöhemmin. Esitys ei kumpanakaan aamuna ollut turhan pitkä, mutta sai minut kuitenkin sen verran hereille, että kirosin ääneen mokomia kukkujia.

Nervous in Suburbia

I’ve been pretty happy with the way that I’ve been climbing recently but almost all of the routes that I’ve climbed have been on cracks. As a climber there are many skills that are required, and despite how this blog may sound, crack climbing is but one of them. I was keen to test myself on a face climb, and I was keen to try Nervous in Suburbia which I had done on top rope near the beginning of the trip. The route requires a cool head, I didn’t think that the route was dangerous, but it would be a bad one to fall off. It’s 5.10a, and consistently difficult for its entire length. In comparison to the security of the cracks, the moves are delicate and balancey, and required neat footwork on small holds. It is only 65 feet long and protection consists of one bolt and three drilled pitons. I stood at the bottom of the route and looked out at the dark clouds, I knew that it was going to rain, but I thought that I could do the short route and then feel content for the rest of the day. As I started towards the first drilled piton, I felt the inevitable pit pat of rain and saw small drops appearing on the rock. One shouldn’t climb sandstone in the rain. Really climbing in the rain generally isn’t good as the friction is reduced. This is as true for sandstone as it is for any other rock but in addition sandstone becomes brittle when wet and holds can break off. I had one more difficult move to make before I could clip the piton which involved a step around a pillar on to a good foothold but with virtually nothing for the hands. I decided to downclimb. Downclimbing is never easy and despite the fact that I hadn’t yet reached the first piton I was still quite a way off the ground. With Anni’s guidance, I made it to the ground and the rain ceased. I was ready to call it a day and use the excuse that rain had stopped play. Anni pointed out the blue clouds and suggested that I gave it another go. Her faith in me felt really significant. I think she knew that I really wanted to do the route; I also think she believed that I could do it, and more importantly I think that she trusted my judgement that I could do the route. Like I said earlier, I didn’t consider the route dangerous in the sense that I would seriously harm myself, but I was aware that if I fell before clipping the first protection then twisted/broken ankles would be the likely result. Also the protection on the route was such that if I fell at the wrong time, whilst I wouldn’t hit the ground I would probably fall a reasonable distance. I knew that I could climb it, I just needed to keep a clear head. Despite being nervous, the actual climb went uneventfully, which is probably the best way for such a climb to go. I felt really pleased to have done it but even more touched by the support and encouragement that Anni had given me. I think that climbing essentially is a safe sport, or more accurately, could be a safe sport if you carefully chose what and how you climbed. But the things that draw people to climbing - the trust in one’s ability, the beauty and simplicity of commitment and the aesthetics of clean featureless lines up a rockface - don’t always draw one to the safest routes. Of course this inevitably means taking risks, and calculated risks form a great part of climbing. Many climbers will solo (climb without a rope) routes that they know are well within their comfort zones, others will place less protection on routes that they think are easy, knowing that if they fall they will get injured but having the confidence in their own abilities that they won’t. Well, for me Nervous in Suburbia was a calculated risk. I wasn’t playing with odds as high as the prementioned examples, but I could easily have chosen safer better protected routes. It must be difficult to have a partner who is prepared to (albeit occasionally) test himself on hard suboptimally protected climbs but Anni responded in the perfect way with faith and encouragement. With the complete security of a top rope she was able to try the climb herself but unfortunately rain really did stop play just short of the first drilled piton (which did I mention was quite high off the ground)


I have never seen drilled pitons anywhere except Utah. I can’t see that they would work on anything other than soft sandstone. Basically, the first ascentionist drills a 1/3” hole and hammers a 1/2” piton into it.

Resting in the USA

In Britain we rest when we're fatigued. And I would've imagined a restroom to be with nice comfy arm chairs. But it seems in the USA there's another meaning - a restroom is to be used for excreting. We've also seen Restops on the highway, and it would appear that these aren't tended to weary drivers, who'd like to close their eyes for a few moments, but again they tended to be for excreting.

My interpretation is that to rest must have a different meaning. The question to the American readers is, is it OK to say "Excuse me, I'm just going to go for a rest. I'll be back in few minutes." Is 'restroom' used by those who see no logic in naming a room that does not have a bath in it a 'bathroom'? Is it considered vulgar to use the word 'toilet'? My main reason for writing this post is that I didn't want the American audience to misunderstand, when I said earlier: "The route was so strenuous, I had to rest on the rope."

Aamiaisesta - About breakfast

In English: Our second day in Arches ended with nasty dust storm, and we decided not to camp, but seek the comforts of a hotel. The hotel advertised a 'continental breakfast'. We did not ask, which continent this would be. The continent in question was clearly inhabited by people with sweet teeth. The coffee was fine, although there was no option for milk, but only cream, or the wonderful half-n-half. They also had, what would at first glance look like orange juice, except orange juice does not fluoress, or taste like sweetened mixture of E-numbers. The food was a choice of muffins and sugared pastries.

Whilst camping, we've been partially successfull in finding real grain containing cereals without too much sugar in them. It takes some effort, and in smaller shops search is plainly hopeless.



Suomeksi: Toinen päivämme Archesissa päättyi ikävään hiekkamyrskyyn ja päätimme jättää telttailun yhdeksi yöksi ja etsiytyä hotellin suojiin. Kyseinen hotelli mainosti 'mannermaista' aamiaista, emmekä me kyselleet, mistä mantereesta mahtoi olla puhe. Tämä manner on selvästi sokeripeikkojen asuttama. Kahvi oli ihan juotavaa, mutta maitoa ei ollut, ainoa vaihtoehto oli kerma tai paikallinen half-n-half, kerman sekainen maito. Appelsiinimehu lähemmin tarkasteltuna osoittautui sokeroiduksi lisäaineiden ja keinotekoisten aromien paraatiksi. Varsinaisena 'ruokana' oli muffinsseja ja sokerikuorrutettuja viinereitä. Nam.

Telttaillessa aamisvaihtoehdot ovat olleet paremmat. Tiukalla etsinnällä supermarketin hyllyiltä löytyy ihan oikeaa viljaa sisältäviä aamiaismuroja, joihin ei ole lisätty liiaksi sokeria tai väriaineita. Pienissä putiikeissa etsintä on toivotonta.

Photography

Perhaps you've noticed the somewhat variable nature of the photography in this blog. I bought a digital SLR (Cannon Rebel XTI) from Amazon USA before I left and had it delivered to the company who ran the Splitter Camp. From after the Splitter Camp most of the images have been taken with it (with exceptions such as canyoneering). This camera is similar to Caroline's and I wanted to direct you to some of my favourites images.



In the post "New Friends" http://desert-climbing.blogspot.com/2007/10/new-friends.html I have kept the apeture size large and used the very fast autofocus function directed with a single spot to focus on the Chipmunk's head. This has kept the focal plane narrow, such that whilst the head is in sharp focus, the rest of the body has less detail and the ground is blurred out. The partial automation of this camera has made this possible and as the creature was moving pretty fast I couldn't have set up my old 35mm in time.



In the post "Zion Narrows - Part Two" http://desert-climbing.blogspot.com/2007/10/zion-narrows-part-two.html there are a couple of images where I have used long shutter speeds. These have two purposes, one is to capture the dynamic nature of the water showing the path rather than the object itself. The image of Big Springs for example has the shutter open for 2 seconds. Despite the darkness, the apeture is set to F32 to compensate. In another example, you can see the walls of the canyon and even see colours. This simply wouldn't be possible without long exposure times because there was simply too little light. In both these examples my father's tripod was used.

Also, there is another image (on Anni's hard disk) which I particularly like. It isn't framed well but the focal planes are spot on. I photographed Anni in front of Delicate Arch. Contrary to the usual images of people standing by landmarks, I wanted Anni rather than the arch to be the principle object of the photograph. The shape of Delicate Arch is so destinctive that even when blurred it is easily recognisable. By setting the camera to a short focal plane and positioning myself extremely close to Anni, I was able to focus (manually) so that she was in sharp focus and the arch in soft focus, such that its shape is recognisable only and that the viewer is drawn to Anni's face.

Unfortunately, there was a problem with the flash and I had to send the camera back. If the situation resolves itself I should be able to buy a new one and then hopefully the quality of images will go up, but in the meantime, I'm back to point and shoot.

Wildlife in The Arches

My efforts in crack climbing

Well, I did not become a crack climber overnight. I was very keen to try, believe me. Tony picked a route called The Naked and The Dead, which wasn't actually a real Indian Creek crack, but a little varied corner. I could not get off the ground. Tony claimed that technically I seemed to be doing everything right, but I had a splitting pain in my feet, when I tried to step up. I first thought that I had injured my toes in the Narrows trip (I had a little incident involving a small rockslide), and actually, when I took my shoes off, I could find the sore spot by poking. It didn't hinder my walking, and I had a nagging feeling, that it would be something more complicated than just an incidental injury.

The next day we decided to first do some touristing in the Canyonlands, and climb the afternoon. This time Tony picked a 5.9 wide twin crack, called The Twin Crack, and I started going. It felt better. My feet felt definitely a lot better in the wide crack, although this crack meandered quite a lot, and almost provided steps at times. But the wide crack was not OK for my hands... The relatively narrow start was good. I got half way up, and the crack opened more. I just couldn't find a position, where my hands would stick. Bugger. Anyway, it was promising, and I thought, well, let's try something narrow again.

Tony did something interesting looking on top-rope - courtesy of our neighbor climbers, there were queues forming here and there - and we continued after that to our next target. It was again 5.9, but looked fierce. And it was, judging by the way Tony had to fight to top off. But the start looked inviting, so I took position and was ready to go. Knee down left, foot in crack, twist knee back up.

Again, a bone splitting, teeth rattling pain in my foot. I could have cried for frustration. I knew I had it right, but still somehow, I didn't. It was getting dark, and we had to give up. Tony noted a few times about me being incredibly silent in the car on our way back. I felt cheated. Others could do it, without tears running down their faces, why couldn't I?

After an overnight sleep, I have come up with a few ideas to try, when I get the next opportunity to try cracks. Let's see, if they are the correct ideas.

Arches - tourism day one

Arches Kansallispuisto ja Canyonlands ovat Colorado ja Green jokien alueen geologisia kummajaisia. Tässä lyhyesti, mitä Archesissa on tapahtunut, viime aikoina:

Arches, kuten muukin Colorado tasanko, on vanhaa merenpohjaa. Meri vetäytyi, ja jätti kerroksen suolaa jälkeensä. Alue aavikoitui, ja hiekkadyynit pakkaantuivat ja kivettyivät kerroksittain, muodostaen alueelle tyypillisen hiekkakivikerrostuman. Alla oleva suolakerros vajosi, liukeni tai muuten vain katosi hiekkakiven alta (en ole ihan varma kuinka) ja koko tasanko romahti alaspäin. Romahdus aiheutti samansuuntaisia halkeamia hiekkakivessä. Seuraavaksi koko tasanko nousi ylöspäin, maankuoren liikkeiden seurauksena, ja olemassaolevat kivihalkeamat 'aukesivat', synnyttäen 'lapoja', pitkulaisia samansuuntaisia kiviharjanteita, joiden reunat vesi ja eroosio söi pyöreiksi ja syviksi.


Alueelle nimen antaneet kivikaaret ovat näistä 'lavoista' kulumalla syntyneitä. Sama vesi, joka hioo lapojen reunoja, syö pehmeää kiveä niiden keskeltä, ja romahduttaa lapaa sisältä ja altapäin. Näin lavan yläosa jää kaarena pystyyn, kun taas kivilavan sisäosa häviää pikkuhiljaa. Ylläoleva Landscape Arch itse asiassa on viimeksi pudottanut kiviainesta vuonna 1995, säikäyttäen ryhmän alla istuneita, lounastavia turisteja. Onneksi kiven pauke ja narina hälytti jengin ajoissa juoksuun, kukaan ei jäänyt alle. Kaari on nyt siis olennaisesti ohuempi kuin 15 vuotta sitten, ja alle ei saa enää mennä. Muihin kaariin vastaavaa kieltoa ei ollut.


Kaaria on kaikenkokoisia ja näköisiä joka paikassa, pienen kävelumatkan päässä puiston päätieltä. Näitä kuvia riittää.


Näillä kaarilla on helppo pelleillä maisemakuvia suunnitellessa. Takaa voi näkyä vaikka mitä.


Yllä näkyy hyvin kivilapojen samansuuntainen muodostelma. Lapojen ja kaarien välistä sadevesi kuluttaa irtonaista ainesta pois, ja talvella jäätyvä vesi murtaa kiveä pikkuhiljaa hiekaksi.




Osa kaarille vievistä poluista oli merkattu 'primitiivisiksi'. Toisin sanoen, polku ei ollut päällystetty ja ojitettu. Tällaiset varoitukset saattavat aiheuttaa inflaatiota varoituksien tehossa :)


Ja viimein, Delicate Arch, Utahin osavaltion epävirallinen symboli. Paras valokuvaushetki kuulemma juuri auringonlaskun aikaan. Tästä jouduimme hiukan luistamaan, sillä taivas oli melkoisen pilvessä. Jätimme joukon toiveikkaita turisteja kameroineen odottamaan auringon viimeistä pilkahdusta, toivottavasti ei turhaan. Kaari on valtavan (jalkapallokentän kokoisen) hiidenkirnun kupeessa. Todellinen maamerkki, joka harvoin pääsee itse kuvaan.

Retkeilyn järjestäminen - Arranging your treks

In English: It is incredibly easy to hike, bike, raft, or canyoneer around in Zion, Canyonlands, and elsewhere in the recreational areas. Springdale in Zion and Moab at Colorado river both offer a range of transportations to the trail heads. You need to part from 20-30 dollars for this luxury, but it saves a lot of hassle. Our Narrows hike started actually 6.30 am at the parking lot of a Springdale adventure company. A little bus took us to the ranch and the trail head; a journey otherwise very difficult to arrange by ourselves.

Many routes and trails are one way - they don't loop - so locals sometimes arrange the transportation with two cars. One is parked to the end of the trail, then the whole bunch crams into the remaining car and drives to the trailhead. A system which for us Europeans sounds very extravagant and unecological, but is necessity in here, not only because of distances, but because of scarcity of developed areas and public transportation. It at first looked unbelievable, but the local RVs are actually towing little 4-wheel drives with them, to be used where ever the monstrously big RV is parked. These things don't look very mobile...

In Moab I've seen lots of different vehicles towing or carrying rafts, bikes, and such like. Many Colorado river and National Parks trailheads are an hour or less drive away, and you can book a place for you, your rucksack, and/or bike fairly easily and at convenient times.


Suomeksi: Retkien järjestäminen Zionissa ja muualla Utahin retkeilyalueilla on yllättävän helppoa. Springdale Zionissa ja Moab Colorado jone rannalla tarjoavat nipun yrittäjiä, jotka järjestävät kuljetuksia eri retkiä varten eri puolille Kansallispuistoja tai ympäröiville retkeilyalueille. Moabissa vastaan tulee isoja autoja jotka hinaavat tai kantavat jokilauttoja, kanootteja, pyöriä ja muuta vastaavaa, sekä tietysti lastin retkeläisiä. Lysti maksaa 20-30 taalaa, mutta pelastaa paljolta puljaamiselta. Melkein joka retkeilytavalle löytyy kuljetus. Olen nähnyt jopa jeeppejä rahdattavan paikalliselle maastoajoalueelle.

Oma Zion Narrows reissumme alkoi itse asiassa 6.30 aamulla paikallisen retkienjärjestäjän pihasta, josta pieni nelivetobussi vei meidät Chamberlain ranchille ja reitin alkuun - reissu, joka olisi oluut todella hankala järjestää itse.

Koska suurin osa reiteistä on vain yhteen suuntaan, ja paluu voi olla hankalaa, paikalliset usein järkkäävät retken kahdella autolla. Toinen auto ajetaan reitin loppupäähän, koko porukka ahdetaan toiseen autoon, joka sitten ajetaan reitin alkuun. Minusta tämä tuntui aluksi tuhlauksen huipulta, mutta paikalliset välimatkat ja harva asutus (Utah on Saksan kokoinen, mutta asukkaita on vain 3 miljoonaa) pakottavat bensan polttamiseen.

Aivan uskomattomalta tuntui nähdä valtava asuntoauto hinaamassa perässään pienempää (mutta silti isompaa kuin meidän auto) nelivetoista. 'Pikkuauto' on tarkoitettu käytettäväksi siellä, missä hirviömäinen asuntoauto parkkeerataan. Myöhemmin tästä on tullut vastaan kaikenlaista variaatiota. Kesyin on tietysti rivi maastopyöriä pakattuna asuntoauton vetokoukkuun, hauskin hinattava oli varmasti maastoauto, johon oli vielä pakattu kaksi mopedia. Noh, bensa maksaa 3 taalaa gallonalta (noin 4 litraa).

Zion Narrows - Part Two

Well, in the spirit of the trip as a two day trek, the blog post will also be a two part afair. The photos shown on the previous post were all from the first day. Now we have the photos from the second day.

Anni sets off in the morning. We carried all our water and our packs were noticably lighter.

We soon came to Big Spring which was, well big and a spring. It marked the point where the Narrows were their narrowest. After this there was a sustained period of inescapable narrow terrain where flash floods could prove disasterous. The trip was designed so we entered this section in the morning when the chance of thunderstorms were the lowest.

We obviously wanted to negociate this section fairly quickly, but not so fast that we couldn't take photos!

The canyon sides towered up and the water ran rapidly. From this point on most of the trekking was in the river. The rocks were loose and at points the current quite strong. But with care these didn't hinder us.

It was fairly cool and dark in the canyon despite the fact that it was clearly baking in the rest of the park. We spent most of the day wearing fleeces.

This view typifies what we saw. The sun shone tantilisingly close but rarely were we able to bask in its rays. The backdrops were illuminated spectacularly but the foreground remained dark, this made photography somewhat challenging.

A thief in the night

No matter where you go and how beautiful it is, there always has to be someone who ruins it. This was true of our trip to The Narrows. We hadn't seen anyone all day and when we camped we imagined that our castle extended several kms. Can you imagine our surprise when we discovered that we were robbed whilst we slept?

It is of course ones natural instinct to sleep closely to ones belongings but, on advice from the National Park, we didn't hoard our food in the tent but left it suspended unattended from a tree. In the morning when we went to retrieve our breakfast the evidence of a dirty thief was staring us in our face. The thief had gained access to the suspended bag by chewing through it and had taken every single one of our King Henry's hot and spicy nuts. It hadn't taken our blueberry bagels (which was fortunate as we had intended that they would be our breakfast), it hadn't taken our cereal bars, our fruit or our canyon mix. No, the thief clearly had a liking for hot and spicy nuts. We quickly blamed a cheeky chipmunk, but i was surprised that it had a taste for the nuts as they were in fact quite spicy. Anni confirms, "Yes, I thought that they were hot too, I even had to have a sip of water after eating a small handfull". We half expected to see the creature by the side of the river, clasping its belly regretting eating so many spicy nuts. But no, it had vanished like the rotten thief that it was.

The evidence. I believe this counts as forced entry and would be punished quite harshly if the courts were ever to catch the villain!

Zion Narrows - 2 päivän vaellus

Zion Narrows on Virgin joen pohjoisen haaran muovaama kanjoni. 'Narrows' tarkoittaa kanjonia tai kanjonin kohtaa, jossa seinät ovat kaksi kertaa korkeampia kuin kanjonin leveys. 'Slot' kanjoni on taas kanjoni, jossa kulkijan kädet ylettyvät koskemaan molempia seiniä yhtäaikaa.

In english: 'Narrows' means a canyon or a part of a canyon, where the vertical walls are twice as heigh as the canyon is wide. In a 'slot' canyon the walls are so close that it is possible to touch them both at the same time.

Zion Narrows on puiston suosituimpia vaellusreittejä ja sinne on loma-aikoina vaikea saada kulkulupia. Meillä kävi tuuri: ruuhkaa ei ollut. Koko kaksipäiväisen vaelluksen aikana emme nähneet ketään muuta, lukkunottamatta lähtöpaikkaa, ja kanjonin loppuosaa. Kaksipäiväiseen reissuun varataan leiriytymispaikka joen varrelta kanjonista. Meille osui pikkuinen leiripaikka nimeltään 'Spotted Owl', Pilkullinen Pöllö, joka oli enää kolmen vartin matkan päässä Big Springs -maamerkistä. Big Springs on eräänlainen rajapyykki. Yleensä leiri rakennetaan ennen sitä, sillä tämän jälkeen Narrows muuttuu 'vaaralliseksi'. Sateiden aikaan kanjonissa voi yllättää tulva, joka pyyhkäisee kaiken tieltään. Ukkosmyrky jossain kaukana voi tuoda vettä joen yläjuoksuille ja sivukanjoneihin, joka sitten pakkautuu valtavalla voimalla läpi koko kanjonin. Turvaohjeet ovat: "nouse heti ylemmäs, vähintään 2 metrin korkeuteen, ja odota". Big Springsin jälkeisellä osuudella ylämaata ei juurikaan ole, ja vaarallisen alueen läpikulku vie pari tuntia. Se on siis hyvä tehdä heti aamusta, kun ukkosmyrskyjen mahdollisuus on hyvin pieni. Syksyllä flash flood ei ole suuri uhka.

For its entirety the trek followed the Virgin River. This started as a stream through pastures, and gradually cut its way into a gorge as more streams converged with it to give it greater erosive power. The colours of the Zion fall were vivid and the trees were a riot of reds and golds.

Matka alkoi paikalliselta ranchilta, mutaiselta pellolta, jossa jäätyneet sorkanpainamat olivat ensimmäisiä esteitä. Klo 8 aamulla aurinko ei vielä paistanut kallioiden takaa ja kaikki oli huurteessa. Syksyinen ylänkö on väreissään uskomattoman kaunis. Juuri kun olimme astumassa joen mutkan taakse metsään, eteemme ilmestyi paikallisia peuroja, kolmen perhe. Kameralaukun rapina hälytti ne kuitenkin liikkeelle.

Matka jatkui joen poikki ristiinrastiin loikkien, ja reunalla kävellen. Alussa vältimme kenkien kastumista ja tasapainoilimme liukkailla kivillä. Tunnin parin päästä kahlasimme jääkylmässä joessa surutta. Joki mutkittelee niin paljon, että kävelykelpoinen penkka vaihtaa puolta joka sadan metrin välein. Yläjuoksulla syksyn punaiset ja keltaiset vaahterat ja tammet olivat reitin kohokohtia.

In the afternoon the vegetated gorge receeded and the shear rock walls of The Narrows dominated. This environment was as dark and forboding as it was unique. We spent a good amount of time walking in the river as there was just no other way. Luckily we had hired neoprene socks and canyoneering shoes so this wasn't the frigid experience that you would imagine.

Kun ensimmäinen 'narrows' tuli vastaan, asetelma muuttui. Vaihdoimme shortseihin ja jatkoimme yhä enemmän kahlaamista muistuttavaa matkaa. Välillä polku vei korkealle joen yläpuolelle ja ohi isompien koskien. Osa ihmisistä ottaa matkalle mukaan kuivapuvun housut. Meistä tämä olisi ollut vain ylimääräinen rasite ja hidaste. Kuvittele pussimaiset housunlahkeet nykimässä jalkoja alta voimakkaassa virrassa! Paljaat pohkeet toimivat parhaiten.

Obsticals like this waterfall had to be negociated. In this case it was easy to take a canyon to the side.

Illalla leiriydyimme kosken kupeelle Spotted Owl -nimiseen leiripaikkaan. Päivän kävely aiheutti jonkilaisen happimyrkytyksen, sillä tipahdimme melko pian teltan pystytyksen jälkeen. Unta riitti kellon ympäri.

Our charming and secluded campsite by the river. After the first hour of the trek we didn't see anyone all day. We went to bed as soon as the sun went down and slept soundly lulled to sleep by the constant noise of the river.

Seuraavana päivänä sää jatkui yhtä kirkkaana kuin edellisenäkin ja jatkoimme kanjonin jylhään osaan ohi Big Springs putouksen. Kanjonin seinät kiemurtelivat mielikuvituksellisesti ja joka mutkan takaa löytyi ainutlaatuisia veden muovaamia muotoja. Tämä matkan osuus vei ehdottomasti eniten kamera-aikaa. Veden määrä ja virtaus kasvoi tasaisesti ja teki poikittaisen kahlauksen hankalaksi. Niinpä jatkoimme yhä enenevässä määrin kulkua virran suuntaisesti.

Matkan loppupäässä alkkoi tulla vastaa turisteja, jotka tekevät vain Narrowsin alaosan joko sandaaleissa, paljasjaloin (hui!), tai vuokratuissa kuivahousuissa. Jotkut suunnitellen, jotkut mielijohteesta jokeen hypäten. Meitä rinkka selässä vastakkaiseen suuntaan kulkijoita hiukan ihmeteltiin ja tiedusteltiin, onko koko matkasta todella mahdollista suoriutua vain shortseissa ja neopreenisukissa. Kyllä on.

No more "no snakes yet"

I was brave enough to photograph this non-venomous snake.

Rest Day - Angels Landing

Thundershowers threatened in the afternoon, so we decided to postpone our planned Zion Narrows hike by a day and do one of the front country trails instead. Naturally I suggested we did the hardest one, so on our rest day I made Anni hike Angels Landing. The trail isn't long, but it is brutal. It is the only one of the trails starting at the canyon floor that brings you to one of summits. We were surrounded by big mountains and I was hungry to see the view. The trail started in a gentle enough manner, but things got steeper. Initially this wasn't a problem as the path followed national park switchbacks and just meandered unmercifully uphill. For the ultra fit it wouldn't have been a problem, for the fit (which would include us) it took some real effort, and I'm sure the unfit would keel over.

Angel's Landing from the near the start of the trail.

The route follows the skyline. As we neared the mountain's shoulder, it was clear that things were going to get more technical. We had heard about the strenous nature of this trek and that it was not to be attempted by people with vertigo, but we dismissed them (as we have every other NP warning of difficulty) with the idea that "yes it's hard for the average American, but we're not average Americans, we're lean fit European climbers". Well, the trail wasn't technically demanding, but it required concentration and the terrain nurtured a certain level of interest. From a distance it looked improbable, but as we got closer everything fell into place.

Yes the trail really goes up this rock. You can see many people on it. These people worried me. I was confident that we would not fall. I wasn't so sure that other people wouldn't fall on to us.

Although the terrain looked daunting and exposed the hiking was really easy. The route had been crafted in the 1930s, steps had been hewn out of the soft sandstone and banisters (thankfully not the originals today) had been installed. It spoke of a more inventive time than the litigious society of today, when tourists would want to convine with nature rather than be shuttled around in park busses. I can't see such a trail being created in the modern era, and it was pleasing that this piece of inginuity had been preserved

From the top we were rewarded with sensational views. We had carried up my father's tripod and created a 360 degree panorama (which we should stitch together on return to Finland). We saw the scope of the park and were awed by the scale. The grandeur and verticality of the walls belittled anything that I had previously seen. As we came down, I noticed we had time for another trail, but Anni wisely recomended that we saved our energy for tomorrow, as we had a difficult back country trek planned. The next day I was to appreciate this advice.

Pine Creek Kanjoni - Canyoneering

Ensimmäinen täysi päivä Zionissa vietettiin seikkaillen. Saimme hankittua puistonvartijoilta luvan kulkea Pine Creek kanjonin läpi. Pine Creek kanjoni on yksi Virgin joen kanjoneista. Se on lyhyt, noin 4 tuntia kestävä reissu, plus tunnin vaellus kanjonin suulta sivilisaation pariin. Varusteisiin kuuluvat kiipeilyvarusteet (miinus mankkapussi), kanjonikengät (käsittämättömän hyvät märällä hiekkakivellä), ja märkäpuku. Kanjoneissa oleva vesi on yleensä alle 10 asteista. Köyden mitan määrää korkein laskeuduttava matka. Pine Creekin loppulaskeutuminen on n. 30 metriä vapaata laskeutumista.

Anni on the first abseil. The observant of you will notice that the rope is floating. I didn't know that ropes float, but I'm very grateful that they do. We had to work hard to prevent tangles, and if the rope had sunk and got caught around whatever lurked in the canyon pools I'm sure it would have been a recipe for disaster.

Kanjoneihin on rajoitettu pääsy. Pine Creek on lyhyytensä vuoksi suosittu, ja sinne myönnetään päivittäin enemmän lupia kuin muihin, vaativampiin kanjoneihin. Niinpä mekin päädyimme 'jonottamaan'. Edellämme kulki yksi kokenut nuorimies, joka opasti kahta ensikertalaista tyttöä. Varmistussolmut ja narut olivat tytöillä jatkuvasti sekaisin, jonka lisäksi joka laskeutuminen vaati ponnekasta suostuttelua.

Kanjonin näkymät olisivat todellakin valokuvauksen arvoisia, mutta se oli toivotonta. Tällaiseen reissuun emme uskaltaneet ottaa muita kameroita kuin Tonyn pienen vedenkestävän, jolla ei voi säädellä valotusta tai tehdä juuri muitakaan kikkoja. Kuvat eivät vain onnistuneet. Ylhäältä suodattuva valo tekee kanjonin pohjalla kulkemisen tunnelmalliseksi ja hiukan aavemaiseksi, ja kuvauksellisia kohteita olisi joka kulman takana, mutta niiden nappaamiseen tarvitaan jotain muuta kuin turistikamera. Harmittaa.

Mielenkiintoisin tehtävä koko reissussa oli varmistulaitteen irroittaminen laskeutumisköydestä uimasillaan. Minulta se onnistui suhteellisen hyvin, sillä kannoin selässäni kuivapakkausta, joka kellutti. Tökkäsin jalat kalliota vasten ja sain irrotella narut rauhassa selälläni kelluen. Tonylle homma oli vaikeampi. Lisäksi viimeinen laskutuja joutuu uimaan lammikosta pois vetäen pirun raskasta, märkää köyttä alas kalliolta.

If this photo just looks black then you can just think, "well that's how they must have felt", but you'd probably do better to adjust your screen. The water in the canyon was frequently waist deep but at times required swimming in. Pulling the ropes from abseiling whilst swimming presented a new challenge that either of us had faced before.

Zionissa on tähän vuodenaikaan suhteellisen lämmintä, ja kanjonissa hytisemisen jälkeen olin jo odottanut näkeväni auringon. Viimeinen laskeutuminen lähtee pieneltä kivitasanteelta, aurinkoiselta puolelta kanjonia, ja siellä jouduimmekin odottamaan melko pitkään, jumittuneen varmistusnarun vuoksi. Aurinko päätti pysyä pilvessä, ja tasanteella tuli todella kylmä. Lisäksi kanjonista ilmestyi uusi ryhmä ihmisiä, joten jono vain kasvoi. Vielä jaksoimme kuitenkin hymyillä kameralle.

As the canyon opened out we were pleased to see the light. You'll notice that we are wearing wet suits, this was pretty essential.

Viimeinen lakeutuminen oli haastavaa. Teimme koko reissun kiipeilyköysillä, jotka eivät todellakaan ole ideaalisia tähän hommaan. Ensinnäkin, ne imevät vettä ja ovat raskaita käsitellä. Toisekseen, ne joustavat, sillä niiden on otettava vastaan mahdollisesti putoavan kiipeilijän paino. Kanjoneita harrastuksenaan kulkevat käyttävät staattisia, joustamattomia köysiä, jotka eivät ime vettä. 30 metrin abseilaus joustavalla kiipeilyköydellä, ja kitkalaite täynnä hiekkaa, oli kuin olisi istunut valtavan jojon päässä. 20 metrin kohdalla pompotus oli jo huomattavaa, ja hirveän kitkan vuoksi laskeutuminen tökkivää. Tökkiminen vain pahensi köyden pompotusta, ja 30 metrin kohdalla olin jo tulla merisairaaksi. Ylösalasliike oli laajuudeltaan varmasti metrin. En tekisi yhtään korkeampaa laskeutumista dynaamisella köydellä.

Anni on the last freehanging abseil. The photo is bad because the light was poor. It isn't bad because I'm an incompetant photographer. Honest.

Viimeinen laskeutuminen onnellisesti ohi, lähdimme kanjonista tulevaa puroa pitkin kohti tietä. Loppuvaellus kesti tunnin, jona aikana aurinkokin tuli vihdoin esiin, ja saimme itsemme lämpimiksi. Vaihdoimme kuivapakkauksesta vaatteet ylle, putsasimme kanjonikengistä hiekat, ja painelimme parkkipaikalle. Tehtävä suoritettu!

Early Impressions of Zion

We arrived in Zion, found a place to camp, and arranged tomorrow's activity (today's at time of blogging). We didn't have time to explore the park but the verdict judging on the view from the campsite was sensational.

Turistina Red Rockissa

Red Rock on kuuluisa kivettyneistä hiekkadyyneistään. Red Rock ei kuulu Colorado-joen tasankoalueeseen, mutta se on kuitenkin vanhaa merenpohjaa ja myöhempää aavikkoa, kuten Colorado-joen alue. Punainen hiekkakivi on erilaista kuin idempänä, ja kalliot ovat muodoltaan pyöreitä, pehmeitä, ja niissä on käsittämättömiä koloja, hyllyjä, ja ulokkeita.

Punainen hiekkakivikallio on kuin santapaperia, ja viirukkaita kiviä ja lohkareita löytyy joka lähtöön. Kuumakin siellä on. Koko maisema on epämääräisen muotoinen, missään ei ole järjestystä tai suuntaa. Kivilabyrinttiin eksyisi varmaan helposti, jos vähän yrittäisi. Hiidenkirnuja löytyy joka askeleella nuppineulan kokoisesta valtaviin vettä täynnä oleviin lammikoihin, joihin siloinen kallio helposti viettää. Paikallisella kiipeilijällä oli koira mukanaan. Tässä helteessä hurtalla oli onnenpäivät hyppiä lammikosta toiseen. Loiske kaikui kauas.

Erään halkeaman läpi näkyi pala piilossa olevaa lammikkoa. Lammikko oli valtavassa kirnussa, puolessavälin korkeaa seinämää, jonne ei ollut minkäänlaista pääsyä. Valokuvan saimme halkeaman läpi. Paikallisille linnuille tämä näytti olevan todellinen keidas.