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.

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.

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.

The drive to Vegas

Leaving Indian Creek I didn't fancy the drive back to Moab again (I've had to do this several times to email) so I went south into Arizona and through Monument Valley, West and back into Utah (through Zion) and then down to Nevada. This took way longer than I had anticipated. I didn't and haven't yet got to Las Vegas but I did and am at least in Nevada.

One of the nice things about driving is not the famous tourist sites but the little roadside things. For example I saw these odd little towers, I've no idea what they are but they looked pretty fun.

Bigger towers in Monument Valley. This would provide amazing climbing but they are in Navajo lands and climbing is not allowed. From a distance the rock quality looked pretty variable.

Tommorow, I'll meet Anni. I can't wait. I've seen some fantastic things and I'm looking forward to sharing the experience with her.

Last Day in the Creek

The day started wet. Frustratingly, it didn't seem so wet to abandon hope of climbing but it was too wet to actually climb. We decided to look at some of the less popular crags and were set to spend the day, in Tom's words, "like the Foreign Legion - carrying around heavy packs without actually doing anything". To get to the unpopular buttresses isn't easy. The paths are poorly defined and the terrain quite challenging. We first went to the Sabatical wall. I was overwhelmed because I had only really heard about a couple of Buttresses and suddenly there was 30 or more Indian Creeks all in a row. As I saw these close to it became apparant that for a lot of them the rock quality was quite poor and that there were considerably fewer possible lines and even fewer that I'd actually like to do. That being said there were some absolute gems there. Sabatical Wall was unsurprisingly wet, we didn't want to wait for it to dry so we went to Critic's Choice. This is home to "Belly full of Bad Berries" which is a hard wide crack that is well known after featuring in the film Return2Sender.

Belly full of Bad Berries follows the crazily steep arch shown in the picture. It starts off fingers and finished off width. In the film they make improbable moves. They seemed to spend as much time upsidedown pulling on their feet as the right way up. It was great to see but I know I'll never try it.

Getting to the base of the route was really hard. It was interesting because we had to cross strange improbable formations of sand, loose rock and mud. I've shown some images below. The approach was eerie and seemed otherworldly. It was also moderately scary as stable was one word that I would be reluctant to associate with the terrain.

I didn't go very close to this. I have no idea how it has survived or if it will be there tomorrow.

We had to detour around formations like this. How can you possibly ascend them. Apart from destroying something beautiful I think on a practical note it would be virtually impossibe.

We actually climbed one route (Bunny Slope). It was 5.9+ and after a sandy start followed a perfect handcrack up a slab. The route was over 50m and after the first 7m was all yellow camolots. Luckily we had a small arsenal. It was a joy to climb after the wider stuff on Blue Gramma. Nevertheless, I was struggling to keep up with the pace and decided that it was time for a change of scenery. Las Vegas was calling and I was hearing its call.

more Indian Creek action

I had now spent longer at Indian Creek than I had intended, but was reluctant to leave as the climbing and the company was so good. I headed out with Kevin and climbed a couple of routes on the smaller Blue Gramma cliff. This seemed a little different from what I had done previously, as things were either a little wider or a little narrower. We had met (Jim Donini) a veteran of Indian Creek climbing the night before. He had explained that the grades at the creek were a little meaningless and could be seperated into more logical demarkations such as "anatomically incorrect". A good example of this can be seen at http://www.bigupproductions.com/bigUpSite2/parallelojams2.html
I haven't been climbing finger stacks or ringlocks, but the person who sends (climbs) this is the one whose fingers best fit the crack. As the cracks in Indian Creek are often the same size for their entire duration, what matters most is if it is a good size for you. If the crack works for you, it'll seem easy, if it doesn't it'll be a struggle. For this reason the grades are only crudely defined. I've been climbing 5.10. Usually this is subdivided into a,b,c and d. But here most of the routes have just been plain 5.10. On Blue Gramma we were planning to climb some of the wider stuff. I have small, delicate, girlish hands and the wide stuff was going to be a challenge.

Blue Gramma cliffs

Gearing up for some wider stuff. Not a yellow camalot in sight. For me yellow is "perfect hands", red is "tight hands". I can climb reds where some struggle (e.g. Kevin - I hope you don't mind). Although I loved Supercrack that was tight blues and for me nice "cupped hands". I'm gearing up for a wider blue crack which I found to be shakey "cupped hands" but too tight for "fists". Kevin cruised this, I like to think because he has larger hands, Toby would have loved every moment of it. I was unsteady but managed to complete the Unnamed route 5.10.

Kevin at the base of two routes. We climbed both Dawn of an Age 5.10b (left) and the unnamed (right). Dawn of an Age was problematic as the crack became awkwardly wide and you had to layback on rounded edges. Laybacking is a funny buisness because when you do it, it's virtually impossible to place gear. You also have to layback quickly as it's strenous. It's also more demanding in Indian Creek (compared with Finland or Norway) because the friction for the feet is worse meaning that more force is necessary on your arms. This is also my least favourite, elbow-injury inducing move. Also when you're laybacking the most challenging thing is to stop laybacking (this is invariably done above your protection as it's almost impossible to place whilst laybacking). Anyway for me this was the crux of the route, and it was with relief that the angle eased, and I could get the weight onto my feet to place a cam.

We then climbed a fantastic unnamed 5.10. The guide book description read "tight hands to off width". The guide book description didn't lie. I thrashed my way up, but it was a really good summary of almost everything that was Indian Creek. I placed every camalot from number 1 to number 6. The photo shows Kevin in front of the crack (which is tight #1s at this stage). He's holding a #6 which shows how wide the crack got. I was pretty solid from sizes 1 until 4, then things got really hard and Kevin had to hold me on the rope several times as I puzzled the, what then seemed intractable, wide wide moves. Eventually I topped, with all the style of a sumo wrestler performing ballet. I had bled over the route and Kevin's larger cams. I felt truely beaten up, but I was laughing as I lowered down. I doubt I'll ever place all the camalots from 1 to 6 on a single pitch again (not least because I don't own a #5 or a #6).

Kevin not seeming to mind his bloody big cam. I refer to the presence of my blood on the hardware, but bloody as a adjectivoral modifier works just as well.

Day 8

There is a huge wealth of climbs in Indian Creek and I’d realised that it was important to play to my strengths. I’m better suited to endurance climbs than steep test pieces. I also prefer the splitter style cracks to the corner cracks. My mind kept coming back to Generic Crack that we had done on the first day. I’d got it clean despite it’s length and my newness to Indian Creek climbing. Also, I was the only person in our group who could either do it, or liked it. The bottom part of the crack was flared and I think that this phased some people. To me it wasn’t a problem as I had spent a large amount of last year working on a flared crack project in Haukkakallio . On lead I felt the same as I did on Supercrack, I didn’t plan the gear well and brought too few #2 camalots and too many larger ones. This meant that I had to run things out a little further above the pieces I did have, but even then I felt in control in a similar way to Supercrack. I felt good and confident again but exhausted, particularly by the unrelentless heat of the desert. I then climbed Binou’s Crack 5.9. This was a bit different from where my strengths are but I felt fine the whole way. It involved a bit of laybacking, and the top part of the climb was protected entirely by Aliens. Aliens are small cams, and with their counterparts from other manufacturers they have revolutionised the climbing of thin cracks, providing protection where previously none was available. Small camming devices are not as good as the larger ones and whilst people do fall on them even on soft sandstone I don’t trust them in the manner that I trust the larger pieces. Despite this I stayed calm and in control. At this stage dark clouds provided some relief from the sun but the wind picked up and rain looked imminent. Despite just having done two routes, we decided to call it a day. Calling it a day wasn't a bad idea, the weather turned windy and blew dust into the tents, I don't know whether it counts as a dust storm, but the combination of dust and wind was enough to convince a Northern European not to climb.

A random punter on Generic crack. Actually, I told the belayer the URL of this site and offered to email photos if they got in contact. So if you want them, you can have them.

Day 7

The previous day had been a rest day and was spent at the Internet Café, gear shop and supermarket. I went back to Supercrack Buttress with Dennis, Tom and Kevin who were all on the Splitter Camp. I was fired up to do Supercrack, it had been the picture which had inspired me to cross the Atlantic, it had felt solid on top rope, and there was no excuse not to climb it. The initial section felt awkward, the layback more complex, and the contorted position from which the crucial cam can be placed seemed more unsteady. Regardless, I was soon standing on the rock pedestal staring up at the apparently endless crack cleaving the face in two. One thing to note about Indian Creek cracks is not to look up. The higher you climb the further away the ground looks and, whilst it might not sound intuitive, this is quite relieving. When you look up, the top of the route looks exactly the same distance as when you were standing on terra firma relaxed. I couldn’t resist looking up, I wanted to see the crack in all its perfect glory. Every jam with either hands or feet felt secure. I had complete faith in the gear that I was placing (yellow camalots to the roof, blue camalots above). I fell into a routine – place gear at chest height, climb until the gear was below my feet, make two more moves, place gear at chest height. With this routine I felt confident and started to count 4 and then 6 moves after my feet had passed the gear before I placed the next piece. This felt completely safe as I had absolute trust in every cup of my hands and twist of my feet, and unless I ran out of steam I couldn’t see how I could possibly fall off. On reaching the anchor the adrenaline of the climbing was replaced by a wave of lactic acid. I clipped myself to it and fell exhausted on the rope, with the satisfaction of a job well done. I’d climbed the line that I had stared at in magazines, and dreamed of climbing; it had also, dare I say it, felt fairly easy. When I got to the ground the joy remained but I was enveloped in a feeling of tiredness. I’d climbed the route in Indian Creek that I had most wanted to, I’d done it in a style which I was proud of, and I’d proved to myself that I was able to repeat what I’d learned when it really counted. Supercrack deserves its name and more, WorthcrossingtheAtlanticforcrack would be an equally fitting name.

The bouldery awkward start to Supercrack

Passing the small roof.

You feel all alone as you climb the perfect crack,there isn't a hold in sight.

Without resting properly and with overconfidence that I was a 5.10 climber I jumped on to The Incredible Handcrack too soon. I’m not sure what convinced me that I could climb this, I’d only just scraped through on top rope and I knew that I was suited to the long endurance climbs like Supercrack but not the overhanging lines like Incredible. Initially it went well and I had climbed the overhanging section and had my feet a metre past the last cam. I was on the crux, climbing overhanging cracks is hard but the hardest part is the transition from overhang back to the vertical. Again my feet popped and this time my hands couldn’t hold me. I fell but thanks to Dennis’s excellent belaying not far. I lowered to the ground, rested more and then went for it, I managed to pull through the crux, but whereas every point of contact with the rock had felt secure in Supercrack, in Incredible I felt like I was adhering to the rock by a delicate combination of sufficient friction and luck. The top eases off and despite there being many points which one can rest the calmness and composure that had been there on Supercrack was replaced with uncertainty yet determination.

I knew that Incredible had been an ambitious plan and after resting I thought that I should try something else, something new. This saw me at the bottom of 3 a.m. crack. 5.10. It was more of the same but a little more varied (tight hands, into perfect hands, into wide hands). The confidence that I’d had on Supercrack wasn’t there. I felt I put in a good effort but had to rest on the rope twice. At the end I was shattered, on top of the physical strains of crack climbing I’d found the merciless sun delapitating. It was time to call it a day, collect my thoughts and re-evaluate my targets.

Tom climbing 3 a.m. in better style than myself.

Splitter Camp - Day 3

This was the final day of Splitter Camp, I was battered, bruised and exhausted. Despite this I felt a surge of energy when it was announced that we would be at Supercrack Buttress. Supercrack Buttress is so named as it is the site of the infamous Supercrack (also known as Supercrack of the Desert and previously known as Luxury Liner). Supercrack Buttress is also home to The Incredible Handcrack . You may be thinking that the Buttress is also home to inflated naming, but I didn’t – I’d seen pictures and I believed these would live up to their names.

So I founded my cut, tired and scraped self at the bottom of Incredible Handcrack. I only just managed it on top rope. The crack itself is perfect but I definitely have problems when the terrain becomes overhanging. At one stage my foot popped out of the crack and I was left hanging on my hands which were jammed into the crack. This shockloaded my elbows and caused some discomfort. I then declined any further top ropes as there were rumours of Supercrack being put up.

Dennis on The Incredible Handcrack

This didn’t quite go as I’d intended it as I climbed Twin Cracks (5.9) because they looked easy and non-strenuous. Then some rain started to come in (yes in the desert) and as I thought the chance to climb Supercrack was about to pass, Dave offered to put it up as a top rope. I then got the chance to climb Supercrack in the drizzle. The crux is getting into the crack and requires some awkward layback moves. The crack itself is perfect hands up to and through a small roof, after this it becomes cupped hands and goes on and on in some kind of wide hand endurance test. As the crack becomes wider the feet become better and I got into a rhythm and found myself running up the crack, the feet are so solid that it is really easy to rest and I was amazed at how easy I had found the climbing. Of course I was tired when I reached the anchor chains but I wasn’t exhausted and this I found really encouraging. As all climbers know climbing these routes on a top rope is one thing but climbing on the sharp end, when you have to hang around and place gear, is a different matter altogether. As the rain came in and we moved back to the vehicles I considered how I would do when I came to lead these routes. The Splitter Camp was great in practising the techniques required, but until I started to lead some of these routes the jury was out with regards to my performance.

Todays routes

The Incredible Handcrack 5.10c (only just)

Twin Cracks 5.9

Supercrack 5.10

Splitter Camp Day Two

The day started with a couple of laybacking routes. I think that the problems I’ve had with my elbow are related to laybacking so I took these pretty easily. The first was no problem but the second proved to be more of a challenge. We then climbed the Jolly Rancher, 5.10, a fantastic endurance splitter which required tying two ropes together to top rope. It was varied and epitomised what Indian Creek climbing was all about. We had to concentrate on everything we had previously been told and combine almost all of the techniques as the crack varied from a size where we could barely squeeze our hands in to one where they felt loose within the crack. Two of us (Dennis and I) flashed this and Dave Medara (the instructor) seemed pretty impressed and decided that it was time to put us on something hard - the wildly overhanging route of Spagetti Western (5.11+). The list of routes Short and stupid 5.9 Skidmarks 5.10 Jolly Rancher 5.10 Spagetti Western 5.11+ (1 fall, three rests) Pinjon Pining first pitch 5.7 Chambered Round 5.10

Concentrating on the footwork necessary to climb sustained cracks

Nearing a quarter way of up Jolly Rancher

The unbelievably challenging Spagetti Western. I actually climbed all that is visible in the photo with only one fall. However, I was so completely spent that I needed three rests to complete the route. This is Dennis not me in the photo.