Zion National Park

A year or so ago, we visited Zion for just one day as a day-trip during a trip to Vegas. After seeing the canyon, we put Zion on our ‘definite’ list for our long trip. Zion is a sandstone canyon, carved by the Virgin River and part of the Colorado Plateau/Grand Canyon basin. Basically, it has cliffs on the scale of Yosemite’s granite only in a seemingly never-ending palette of red, yellow and orange rock, skirted by a lush forest of deciduous trees. Zion is famous for ‘hanging gardens’ of plant life high up on the rocks, life that exists because of the constant, slow seepage of water through the porous sandstone. Zion is also a very well managed US National Park and includes a free, required, propane-powered shuttle to get around the park – private vehicles are not allowed!

The amazing cliffs make Zion a world famous climbing destination, however, there is a pretty big catch – Zion is, as described in a gift shop poster, not for beginners! The walls are big, intimidating and of a generally serious level of climbing difficulty. Compared to Red Rocks, which is the moderate mecca for climbers, Zion is in a different league, with mostly hard aid climbing. For non-climbers reading this: aid climbing is a somewhat esoteric branch of climbing that involves the climber ascending the rock weighting their technical equipment (i.e. rope, camming devices, stoppers). This is in contrast to free climbing where climbers ascend using their own hands and feet and use the equipment solely for protection. Aid climbing therefore requires a lot more equipment and moves MUCH slower than free climbing.

In Zion, a few easy aid ‘trade’ routes do exist and Dave took me out to learn some Aid climbing techniques on Touchstone, a classic easy Zion route. The plan was for me to try out seconding the first few pitches, and, if I was having fun and not too tired we would continue up the wall. However, after one long first pitch, my arms were burning and I came to realize that aiding is more physical than expected and the 90 degree heat wasn’t helping! We decided to call it a day and eat ice cream instead.

For the rest of our time in Zion we decided to try and relax and get a few hikes in. Angel’s Landing is a famous hike, winding up an incredibly exposed ridge line to the top of a formation. With the wind howling in our ears, it was even more exciting at the top - definitely not a picnic stop!


Soft Zion sandstone, eroded by the chain handrails on the Angels' Landing trail



Hanging on for the photo-op, on top of Angels' Landing