Canyoneering Beta

In the US the sport is called Canyoneering.

In Europe and European influenced countries it is referred to as Canyoning.

In Africa, they call it Kloofing.

In Japan, they refer to it as River Tracing.

Canyoneering, Canyoning, Kloofing, River Tracing, whatever you choose to call it, is the action of exploring a canyon. The term Canyoneering in the United States stems from the same descriptive mentality as mountaineering or pioneering… we are a nation of “eering’s”.

Thousands of years ago, Native Americans found shelter, food, and refuge in the deep granite and sandstone canyons of America, blazing narrow exposed routes up and down these rock faces. In the Southern California desert, natives would live at the base of the canyons enjoying the lower elevations and warm winter sunshine living off the food, fish, water and material (wood) the canyons provided. In the Summer, as the valley temperatures began to rise, the tribes would move their camps “up canyon” to the higher and more cool elevations of the mountain tops. There, they could enjoy the same abundant life and energy the canyon routes supplied the tribes in the valleys below. As our nation grew under the direction of European explorers and early American settlers, the canyons became a life giving and protecting resource to Native Americans as the steep walls and difficult to navigate water courses offered the natives an easy place to live, hide, and defend themselves from attackers.

Early explorers and settlers found themselves deep within maze like canyons of the southwest as they sought passage through the rugged desert. Basic techniques for ascending and descending began to develop. Ropes and anchors became a necessity for any traveler who intended to cross these lands. The Colorado Plateau is home to some of the most unique, narrow and dangerous slot canyons the world has ever seen. Mormon settlers seeking asylum and early gold rush enthusiasts traveling out west quickly established routes through this amazing land, opening up the beginnings of economic structure and permanent settlement of areas that are today major cities, e.g. Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Phoenix, etc… Before the establishment of these basic canyon routes, travelers would have to go south for many miles to reach their final destination of the west coast, or take an even longer boat ride around the tip of South America.

As the years raced by, roads and highways became the major thoroughfares, leaving the canyon routes abandoned with the exception of the occasional group of adventurers exploring their own backyard. Modern canyoneering got its technological start as the advent of mountaineering and rock climbing equipment got underway in the early 1960’s. As the reputation of the people partaking in these vertical adventure risk sports shifted from the public view of “insane people with a death wish” and became “my child’s school has a climbing wall” & “this sport is pretty cool” other applications for this equipment was considered. The first recognized established routes in America focused primarily on Zion National Park and the surrounding slot canyons of the Southwest including Moab and the San Rafael Swell. Documented descents exist from the late 1960’s, with more technical route descriptions appearing in the late 1980’s. Outside of Zion, in America, canyoneering routes appeared sporadically, and didn’t reach a tipping point in Los Angeles until the mid-1990’s, when the beauty of the San Gabriel canyons was discovered by a local named Chris Brennen.

Canyoneering is a unique sport on many levels. Contemporarily, one of the traits that distinguishes canyoneering from other outdoor disciplines is that at the same time this sport was growing, so was a new form of communication – the world wide web. The immediate access of information has allowed route descriptions, techniques, ethics, gear, even videos of canyon descents to be shared literally instantly around the globe. Although the negative affects of this are obvious – misinformation, character attacks, etc…- the pros definitely outweigh the cons. Online communities have developed allowing one to find trip partners, plan events, and share beta. Where rock climbing grew up over a period of 80 years, canyoneering has appeared almost overnight in less than 10. This unique ability to exchange information will continue to affect the evolution of this amazing sport in the years to come.

According to Websters Dictionary, canyoning (n.) is a sport which involves jumping into a mountain stream which is flowing very fast and being carried down the stream while you float on your back. Using this as a sole definition would be a profound disservice to the sport. Canyoneering can range from a simple trail hike up or down a local canyon bottom all the way to the extreme commitment of an unexplored canyon route in a distant land with no support. Technical equipment used for canyoneering includes: ropes, harnesses, protection needed to set rappel anchors, carabiners to build rope systems, packs designed to get wet or be submerged, and layering systems designed to protect from severe abrasion, water, heat and cold.

Canyoneering shares only a few similarities with rock climbing. The use of harnesses and ropes is an obvious connection, but after that, everything changes. The methods, mindsets, and equipment needed to safely descend a technical canyon route are far from any systems that a rock climber would ever use. In fact, every single piece of equipment used for canyoneering is unique. Today’s equipment manufacturers continue to design gear specifically for canyoneering. As this lifestyle sport continues to come of age, we are going to continue to see an increasing difference between the gear used for other outdoor disciplines and what is mandated by emerging canyon leaders.

In his book, “The Tipping Point”, Malcom Gladwell summarizes a theory that small things can make a big difference on a societal level. Rather, that there exists a “tipping point” for which change over time goes from the individual level to a mass collective level. Although, it is difficult to identify the exact moment when this occurs, there are hints to suggest when a process has reached its own inflection point. It is believed by some that the sport of canyoneering is currently experiencing its own tipping point on a local and global scale. The fifth largest urban center in the world, Los Angeles, is bordered on its north by one of the fastest growing mountain ranges on the planet, the San Gabriels. These astonishly tall mountains accelerate from sea level to over 10,000 feet in height in just a few miles. Being in one of most seismically active zones, this range is also one of the fastest eroding on the planet. It was here, in 1999, that a company named Alpine Training Services, “ATS”, first setup shop. Partnering up with a $500 million outdoor retail chain, Sport Chalet, allowed ATS to expand at an exponential rate – radio ads, newspaper ads, & multimedia presentations were able to show the over 17 million population of Los Angeles the beauty and wonder of rappelling down waterfalls, swimming through pools, and hiking down stream beds inaccessible any other way. As innovation goes, ATS developed what is now commonly referred to as the WCCM or West Coast Canyoneering Method. This methodology is grounded in the generational experience of canyoneer’s around the world. Influences on the WCCM include canyon associations and schools worldwide in both what to do and what not to do. Beyond this, ATS has worked with a variety of gear companies to develop new technologies for the sport. Some examples include the Chain Reactor and Canyon Tech Rope by Sterling Rope. ATS has also worked with various Search and Rescue agencies to improve upon canyon rescue tactics with training sessions occuring throughout the Southwest United States. Taking advantage of new technologies, ATS began offering instructional and adventure based video podcasts. This exposure has allowed ATS to emerge as leaders in the sport of canyoneering in the United States. To show solidarity and leadership, ATS has developed environmental initiatives with local and national authorities to continue to show the canyons and Earth the respect they deserve going so far to become a One Earth Partner. In addition, ATS continues to set new standards for safety in the canyon environment, creating redundant systems with nearly zero room for failure.

Concurrently, there is still a lot of room for improvement on both the mental and technological sides of canyoneering in order to create a safer & more responsible canyon program globally. As this sport comes of age in this era of global communication, it is important to keep our feet firmly planted. Only with a global communication collective can we establish necessary safety and environmental standards. As we learn from the poor decisions of others before us, and grow successfully from the good decisions of those around us, canyoneering can become an activity for every member of society to enjoy, young and old alike. The physical requirements to complete a canyoneering course are far less stringent than those of rock climbing or mountaineering. Due to this, we have seen a hundred times increase in the last five years of people taking canyoneering courses and getting out there on their own to enjoy new and exciting canyon routes. As routes spring up around the globe – China, South America, Hawaii, Thailand, Africa, we are reminded of how one simple thing can unite us all. Canyoneering brings us ever closer to nature, reminds us of our humanity, celebrates the clarity of living in the moment.

As John Muir put it so well, “tug on anything and you’ll find it connected to everything else in the universe”.

Now that you’ve read this essay, you might be wondering about the sport beyond ATS. The oldest canyoneering companies in the United States started in the late 90′s in Utah. Outside of Utah’s beautiful slots, ATS is the only company in the United States offering an expansive curricular based in-canyon canyoneering school.