Steve begins an extended rappel on a Petzl Pirana, using a “third hand” backup technique. Does he look skeptical?

Why Canyoneering?

Are you planning a canyoneering adventure in the Mountain West? If so, learning rappelling and anchoring skills in advance can help you explore beginning to intermediate-level canyons with a guide or on your own.

Canyoneering is a wonderful, accessible outdoor sport that combines aspects of rock climbing, rappelling, hiking, and route-finding in the desert canyon systems of the Southwestern U.S. (and elsewhere around the world). Canyoneering has grown immensely in popularity over the last two decades because it is amazingly accessible, and visually incredible. Canyoneering skills help every-day people explore some truly amazing places in places like Zion National Park, Arches National Park, Escalante National Monument, the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell National Monument, and Death Valley National Park.

Canyon Skills, Not Canyoneering

Let's be clear: There are no real "slot canyons" or canyoneering opportunities at Devil's Lake, nor anywhere in the Midwest. Pewit's Nest is the closest thing to a slot canyon Wisconsin has to offer, and while beautiful, it does not offer much technical difficulty.

However, you can still learn canyoneering skills at Devil's Lake that translate well to canyon descents you can do as self-guided events in Utah and Arizona. We train aspiring canyoneers in:

building natural anchors with trees and boulders
inspecting, building and replacing webbing anchors on bolts
rope deployment and retrieval
fixed and retrievable anchors
rappelling on a variety of friction devices, such as ATCs, Pirahnas, Critrs and Sqwrls
climbing, spotting and belaying
group communication

All these are essential skills to any descent of a technical slot canyon.

Custom Curriculum Based on Your Plans

Here's the concept: You're planning a trip to Utah or Arizona, and you'd like to do some canyoneering while you're there. You could take a class once you're out there, but you will only have a few days and might not have time to fit it all in.

Maybe you're nervous about being able to learn everything you need to know in one class. Or maybe you're meeting a group of more experienced friends out there and you'd like to get some experience under your belt beforehand. Whatever your reason is, it has brought you here.

If you think we might be able to help, we probably can. Pricing options follow our standard Anchors course curriculum. Contact us to learn more.

Experienced Canyoneering Guide & Instructor

Nick Wilkes guided canyons in the greater Zion National Park area for six years before moving back home to Wisconsin and founding Devils Lake Climbing Guides. While he missed desert canyons, he does not miss the ubiquitous sand and heat. He loves preparing folks for desert slot canyon descents and look forward to hearing about your plans.

Take Your Training Further In Utah

To learn more about desert slot canyons, check out Tom’s Utah Canyoneering Guide for free tutorials on canyoneering vocabulary and concepts, as well as canyon descriptions.

If you'd like to take your training further under the tutelage of an experience canyoneering instructor, we recommend Jonathan Zambella and his team at Zion Guru in Zion National Park for 5-star canyoneering experiences around Zion National Park and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.