Having finally received a day off, I decided to do what I get paid to do and went through Keyhole Canyon. Nick who I went to SAR training with and his roommate Bill wanted to go through a canyon. Having never been canyoneering before, I figured that Keyhole was about the only choice. We got going a bit after 1pm and
got ourselves all the gear from the cache. (Nice being a trip leader) We climbed the hill and dropped into the middle slot where we wetsuited up. I used a farmer john rather than a full wetsuit and I was happy. I could see Bill sweating away and I knew
what he was going through. The water was even lower than the last time and soon Keyhole will be back to its usual stinkiness. I made sure that each one of them knew what they were doing on the rappel and then I went down with a prussik on. It is highly irritating rappelling that way, not smooth at all. They went down after that and I s
howed them how to bottom belay. The rest of the canyon went smoothly. The guys picked up downclimbing on those big rocks rather quickly. The rappelling was smooth and they enjoyed the beauty of the canyon. I was so glad to only have the farmer john on because the only time the water got close to being over my head was right at the 100 ft swim which was more like a 100 ft wade as it was just barely over my head this time. A couple of downclimbs later and we were out of the canyon. I popped out first above everyone. They were grateful to me for leading them through. The truth is that anyone w
ith a bit of common sense can do this stuff. I remember eight years prior making it through Keyhole and realizing how big of an accomplishment that can be.
got ourselves all the gear from the cache. (Nice being a trip leader) We climbed the hill and dropped into the middle slot where we wetsuited up. I used a farmer john rather than a full wetsuit and I was happy. I could see Bill sweating away and I knew
what he was going through. The water was even lower than the last time and soon Keyhole will be back to its usual stinkiness. I made sure that each one of them knew what they were doing on the rappel and then I went down with a prussik on. It is highly irritating rappelling that way, not smooth at all. They went down after that and I s
howed them how to bottom belay. The rest of the canyon went smoothly. The guys picked up downclimbing on those big rocks rather quickly. The rappelling was smooth and they enjoyed the beauty of the canyon. I was so glad to only have the farmer john on because the only time the water got close to being over my head was right at the 100 ft swim which was more like a 100 ft wade as it was just barely over my head this time. A couple of downclimbs later and we were out of the canyon. I popped out first above everyone. They were grateful to me for leading them through. The truth is that anyone w
ith a bit of common sense can do this stuff. I remember eight years prior making it through Keyhole and realizing how big of an accomplishment that can be.
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