Backpacker Magazine – November 2011

Ultimate Adventure Handbook: Drop into a Slot

Explore wildly sculpted rock.

by: Kelly Bastone

Tags:
• Skills
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• Feature Stories
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• Navigation
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• Utah
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» Learning curve (+++*) You’ll need basic scrambling and navigation skills for nontechnical slots.

*(+) = Low effort, low risk  (+++++) = Get a lesson and life insurance
 

How
» Simplify navigation challenges by hiking slots out-and-back. 

» “Don’t go down what you can’t come back up,” says Aaron Johnson, owner/guide at Grand Staircase Adventure Guides in Escalante, Utah. 

» “Avoid jumping off stuff,” Johnson adds. The tilted, rock-littered surfaces make landings risky. Instead, ease yourself down by “stemming” (pressing into opposite walls with your hands and feet). 

» When crossing angled slabs, place the entire sole of your shoe on the rock (low-cut hikers, with good ankle flex, make this easier). In steep, narrow sections, make a “body bridge” (with your feet on one wall and your hands on the other).

» Be careful around chockstones. “They got there by falling, and they might not be done falling,” says Johnson.

» Check the forecast: Rain can produce flash floods a day after the storm. 

» Identify bailout points on long routes.

Top spots
» Utah Spooky/Peekaboo Canyons offer a three-mile loop that gives a taste of all-fours travel and 12-inch-wide spaces. Like it? Hit nearby Little Death Hollow/Wolverine Canyons loop for a 17-mile weekend. Contact: ut.blm.gov/monument

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