It's a big deal, even if you haven't even heard of it. :)
Matt has wanted to do this canyon for some time and at the beginning of January made plans to accomplish this dream.
Having people come over to practice ascending a rope in our garage and throwing a bag full of sand across the street was only a small part of it all. Matt read LOADS about doing this canyon. He lost weight. He did lots of other canyons to physically get prepared for what he was going to find in Heaps. I was thoroughly impressed. This canyon is difficult because of how long it is, because of the pot holes you could find yourself in, and my greatest fear, the last rappel which is 500 feet in total but split up into 3 parts. The third part being 300 feet of free hanging rappel-ness.
He's hardcore. What else can I say?
Can I just say that this canyon takes A LONG time to do? Well.... they say like 10-24 hours. (depending on conditions) Matt thought they'd be done by 4. They were planning to start at 3am but got delayed to start at 5am instead. Zach's wife and family came up to watch him do the last rappel and it was suppose to be a surprise. Matt told them to be down and waiting by 4pm, but by Noon Matt was ready for it so he decided to take lots of "breaks" to buy them some time and sent a text (yes he had reception from where they were at) to Zach's wife to let her know he was there. Matt realized he couldn't hold Zach back much longer and he just went on hoping the text was received and that everyone was down below. They were done by 2-3pm, only because they had to "rest" so that Zach's family could catch up to them. I was surprised I made it! Zach's wife texted me and, and me and my dad booked up to Emerald Pools in time to see them all come down!
We all started at the West Rim trail, Matt all those guys that did the canyon, my dad, and James on Friday afternoon and they set off early Saturday morning to do the canyon. The West Rim Trail was GORGEOUS! Matt wanted me to go along and do Heaps with them but I had my own reservations, one of them primarily being the 300 foot of free fall rappel-ness.
Besides, I always wanted to hike the West Rim. :)
Matt has wanted to do this canyon for some time and at the beginning of January made plans to accomplish this dream.
Having people come over to practice ascending a rope in our garage and throwing a bag full of sand across the street was only a small part of it all. Matt read LOADS about doing this canyon. He lost weight. He did lots of other canyons to physically get prepared for what he was going to find in Heaps. I was thoroughly impressed. This canyon is difficult because of how long it is, because of the pot holes you could find yourself in, and my greatest fear, the last rappel which is 500 feet in total but split up into 3 parts. The third part being 300 feet of free hanging rappel-ness.
He's hardcore. What else can I say?
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| This is the beginning of the 300 foot rappel. |
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| My dad and I waiting at the last rappel to see these guys come down. |
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| Group photo of all who did it...Duke, Jordan, Raul, Matt & Zach |
We all started at the West Rim trail, Matt all those guys that did the canyon, my dad, and James on Friday afternoon and they set off early Saturday morning to do the canyon. The West Rim Trail was GORGEOUS! Matt wanted me to go along and do Heaps with them but I had my own reservations, one of them primarily being the 300 foot of free fall rappel-ness.
Besides, I always wanted to hike the West Rim. :)
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