- What's going on everybody?
I'm Mark Vins and today I'm taking you on an adventure
with me to go canyoneering, and if you're wondering
what that is, I'm about to show you.
(dramatic music)
(energetic music)
(upbeat music)
All right, so this starts our adventure today,
canyoneering in Southern Utah.
We're just outside of Zion National Park,
and this is one of my absolute favorite activities
to do in this area.
Not only are we going to be scrambling,
like I just did there, we're gonna work our way
through really tight canyons,
and we're also gonna have to do some technical repels.
But before you do that, we gotta
get a little further up the trail.
Let's go.
All right, so just to get into the canyon, guys,
we've got to do a little bit of scrambling.
A little bit more technical than a simple climb up,
we gotta use our hands and just a little bit of technique.
All right, here we go.
(upbeat music)
All right.
There we go.
Scrambling, sometimes going up,
is easier than going down and through.
All right, just gotta wiggle our way through here.
We have the first descent coming up,
our first repel of the day.
All right, Corey, come here, check this out.
Approach slowly.
All right, yep.
This is going to be our first technical repel of the day.
In order to pull this off, we're gonna bring in the expert,
my good friend, Jonathan, the Zion Guru,
who I've been on many adventures with.
Jonathan, we're going canyoneering today,
but this is sort of where it gets technical.
- Yeah, in order to make our way down canyon,
we're gonna have to navigate some big drops.
Here's a 45 footer to start with, and we're
gonna use some specialized ropes and equipment
to make it really safe and really fun.
- Okay, so Jonathan's gonna go through some
of the safety protocol of this repel,
and this is something that we're going
to repeat multiple times on today's adventure.
- This is not your average rope.
We have a Dyneema core and a Technora sheath on it;
super strong piece of equipment that's designed
to hold thousands of pounds of weight, so we
can effectively travel on it
through these abrasive canyon conditions.
Because we can't see the bottom,
we're gonna use this knot to keep us from going
off the end of the rope if necessary.
There's no way that that rope can slip through.
- All right, cool.
It's about a four story building down.
Not too bad.
I feel very confident about all the rigging.
You know, confidence is the number one asset
whenever you're doing an activity like this,
and I get a lot of my confidence
from having a great guide, like Jonathan.
Safety check, about time to get on rope.
And we're gonna do a number two position today,
right Jonathan? - That's correct.
Just to make sure that we have enough friction.
- That's a one, that's a two, this is what's called,
"a third hand."
I'm always going to have two hands on the rope
at all times.
This piranha is what's providing the main point of friction
on the rope; it's what's going to allow me
to control my rate of descent, but the third hand
is my backstop, it's my backup in case like
something happens and for some reason I have
to take my hands off the rope, this is going to stop me.
Jonathan, am I approved?
- Everything's click safety.
- Safety off, I'm now on rope.
Okay, gonna just get over the edge here.
Here we go.
- [Jonathan] Whoo.
- Whoo, yeah. - Look at that,
great transition.
- Yeah.
Coming down, Corey.
All right, let's make contact.
Down.
All right, first repel of the day.
(upbeat music)
Safety off.
Off rope.
All right, Jonathan, that was pretty good.
It looks like you may have done this a couple of times.
- I'm getting better.
Thanks for getting me some practice.
I pull this rope, it's unthreading like a needle
from up above.
- Okay, let's go do it again.
Here we go.
(rock music)
Okay, so got a fork in the road here.
Sounds like left is the way we want to go.
Didn't have to go far for another technical part
of this canyoneering expedition.
Rope.
Lock that.
Okay, we're locked, we're locked, on rope.
Little bit more of a squeeze.
Okay, yeah this looks awesome.
Whoo, headed down.
All right, swinging around to the left.
Got a little bit of a wall behind me.
All right, we're down.
That was awesome, look at that.
All the way back where we came from.
Man, that's cool.
All right, we got another one right behind us,
but we'll wait for the rest of the team to get down here,
and do that again.
Canyoneering, whoo, man this is awesome.
This is a little bit of a down climb.
We're not going to use a rope on this one,
but we are going to use pressure and friction
to slide and wedge our body down through this canyon.
(rock music)
And what's really cool about this particular type
of sandstone is it's super grippy.
I have a lot of confidence in my footing.
Fall down there, would not be very much fun.
- [Corey] Yeah, nice.
Nice, dude.
- That's where we just came from.
That's where we're going.
And you can see how narrow some of these canyons get
where we can actually just use friction to down climb,
but then you still have some vertical drops.
(upbeat music)
We definitely want to be on rope for this one.
Camera man, Corey.
What's up Corey?
- What's up?
- Jonathan's helping him get set up,
so he can go down there and get a cool shot,
but the fun part of canyoneering,
it's like the challenge of actually getting
to where you need to go.
That's the whole point.
I'm coming down.
- [Jonathan] It's a little tricky at the bottom there.
Do lean back (mumbles).
- This is why we wear helmets.
See this behind me?
Don't want to be all confident coming down
and whack your head.
Whoa, like that.
I didn't whack my head, I whacked my hand.
I'm okay though.
It's a little slide, no big deal, a little scrape.
- Good? - All good, yep.
All right, gettin' off rope.
(dramatic music)
- [Corey] How's the next section look, Mark?
- Well, not very wide.
That is a pretty narrow squeeze that we're gonna have
to scramble our way through.
I'm gonna have to go one strap on this,
getting to be a little too tight.
And what I want to do here is use the friction
that I can create with my body to get myself through.
Over top of that.
Yeah, talk about a tight squeeze.
Okay, well that does it for the Snake Canyon,
and all those repels, but the biggest one is yet to come.
It's time to make our way to The Wisdom Tooth.
(upbeat music)
Let's go, guys.
Look at that view.
All right here, come check this out.
Corey, you see that, right there, that hoodoo.
That is known as The Wisdom Tooth,
and that is the finale of today's adventure.
And that is going to be spectacular,
but I wanted to tell you the reason
why these formations exist.
Not only are they gorgeous and beautiful sandstone,
look at that color, it's all to do with the chemical makeup
of the sandstone.
We've got calcium carbonate, iron oxide,
and manganese combining to make this really erosive,
but beautiful color.
Wind shapes all of what you see around us,
and the water is what cuts the slots in the canyons.
That's your quick geology lesson for this adventure.
Let's get back on it.
Not quite there yet.
(upbeat music)
Gotta climb The Wisdom Tooth now.
We're at the base of The Tooth or the root of The Tooth,
and now we got to shimmy and scramble our way up there.
All right, one last little technical jaunt
to the top of The Tooth, a little sun flare there
to mark the end of the ascent.
Here we go, you guys ready for me?
- [Jonathan] Mark Vins is on the way.
- Here we go, I'm on the way.
All right.
Oh, wow.
Whoo.
Top of The Tooth, we made it.
Ha, this is what canyoneering is all about.
(gentle music)
It's not just about the adventures through canyons,
like Snake Alley, but it's also about getting up
to these outcrops and experiencing views like this.
It's an adventurous paradise up here.
All right, am I still on rope, Jonathan?
- Yes, sir. - Okay, so still anchored in.
I'm gonna make my way to the edge.
(dramatic music)
Sorry, mom.
She would not approve of this view.
Oh, wow.
Look at this.
So we're about to repel down that.
Oh boy, that's a long way down.
Oh, ho, ho.
Ooh.
Gonna get a cool shot, like that one, and that one.
Okay, everybody, this is it,
the moment you've all been waiting for,
the big finale repel down The Wisdom Tooth.
Wish me luck, here we go.
Coming down.
- [Jonathan] Nice position, Mark.
- Saddle into it a little bit.
Here we go.
Hold tight on that third hand.
Whoo, oh man.
Look at how high up that was.
That was epic.
Well, I have to say that was a perfect ending
to an amazing day canyoneering out here in Southern Utah.
I hope everybody at home enjoyed this adventure
as much as we just did.
I'm Mark Vins, be brave, stay wild.
(epic music)
We'll see you on the next adventure.
All right, let's get off rope and head home.
(logo whooshing)
(animal howling)
(birds chirping)