May 7, 2021 Day 20: Springdale UT (Zion National Park) 锡安山攀岩

Today we went canyoneering with Zion Adventure Company. This meant that we would climb cliffs and rappel off of them with ropes. To me, the rock climbing was the best part. Our guide, Aimee, seemed to have ample trust in us and encouraged us to try difficult climbing routes. She was a young woman with a lot of zest for the outdoors. In a few parts, we needed to shim through a crack barely wide enough for us between two vertical rock faces. We needed to push off with our hands or feet and wedge our backs against the other side to be braced between the rocks. In another part, we needed to climb sloping rocks without handholds. Aimee taught us how to walk up the rocks on our toes while maintaining our weight and helped push the backs of our feet into the rocks below us. She was a climber herself, so she was experienced with different levels of rock climbing. She had also been a guide with the company for several seasons so she could change the path could be changed based on the experience that we wanted.

Rappelling seemed easier than climbing. We would strap into the rope after Aimee set up, and then push off while lowering ourselves gently down a cliff. Besides the height and safety precautions, this was not very difficult. We ended the hike with another shim through a narrow rock hallway, and Aimee took us on an extra rappel. When we were on the top of the rocks, it was only air between you and a long fall.