Imlay Canyon Sneak

If a co-worker approached me with a handful of papers saying, "Take a look at this.", I'd probably be concerned that I either did something wrong or they have a project for me to take on.

When this happened to me on a Thursday, my sense of concern turned into confusion when I took the papers and saw that it was a Zion National Park backcountry permit.

Either this guy is inviting me on a trip or he is showing off that he's about to do something super cool.

Seeing the confusion on my face, Christian Weaver explained that it was a permit for Imlay Canyon. "A guy in our group just dropped out. Would you like to fill his spot?"

I had only done two technical slot canyons before in the North Wash of the San Rafael Swell and I had actually been craving to try out any of the canyons in Zion National Park. The last thing I wanted to say was, "no." Thanks to my wife and her willingness to move around her weekend plans, as well as a friend that let me borrow his wetsuit, I was able to accept the invite and head out on a not-so-regular-for-me type of adventure.

There were five of us and we only had a day to get things done. Our objective was to do the Right Sneak variation of Imlay Canyon.

I'll let the photos tell the story:

Photos by Ben Eaton and Christian Weaver.

Lunar Ecstasy

Abraham Shreve and I spent 48 hours aid-climbing the notorious Lunar Ecstasy in Zion National Park, UT.

(click on any photo to start the photos gallery.)

For being my second ever aid route, I found that Lunar Ecstasy was a bit hard for me to bite into. It was right outside of my experience, but well within my reach. I guess there’s never a bad time to raise the bar. Once again we took it slow and ended up sleeping two nights on the wall. I must say, there sure is something amazing about sleeping on a nylon platform that is suspended on the side of a 1,200-foot cliff.