Heaps
June 23, 2024
Heaps. To canyoneers, it needs no introduction. It's "The Big One" in Zion National Park and it's serious, technical, beautiful and demanding.
A month prior to our trip, Laura and I were canyoneering in Escalante with our friend Joshua. He mentioned that he and Daniel, another mutual friend, had a permit to run Heaps. They were planning to go on a Friday and assumed that we would not be able to make the trip out to Zion. Laura asked if we could jump in on the permit; almost immediately Joshua replied, "If you want the slots, they're yours". That evening while camping, Laura figured out a plan to have her mom drive to Las Vegas and visit her sister, setting it up so Hazel, her and I could fly out and borrow the car. Hazel would spend a few days at the pool with her Aunt Annie and Laura and I would make the 3 hour drive to Zion to join the group.
The evening before we were set to fly to Las Vegas, the weather in Zion turned for the worse. Rain was now forecasted and we thought that the canyon trip would be cancelled. You simply don't go into canyons when there is rain forecasted as the chance of flash floods is far too high. With the poor forecast for Friday, our planned canyon day, Laura and I made a backup plan of climbing Middle Palisade in California and quickly packed mountain gear in our carry-on bags. Something adventurous was happening on this trip regardless of the weather.
Wednesday afternoon rolled around and through a group text, the Heaps Crew determined that the weather forecast was too poor to go into the canyon. Daniel suggested that Sunday still had open permit slots and wondered if switching days would work for everyone. As we landed in Las Vegas, my phone blew up with messages about the trip and I quickly responded, letting everyone know that we would make Sunday work if the crew could too. The dates were changed and we were now scheduled for Sunday and hoping for a better weather forecast.
After a relaxing few days in Las Vegas with family, Laura and I took off for Zion at 3 am on Saturday. We met Joshua and Jonathan and drove into the park to add Daniel and Talena. We'd run Englestead and exit up Orderville as a warm up for Heaps.
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| Justin on the 300' rappel into Englestead |
The day was beautiful and with a car shuttle, we had quite a late start. Laura and I last did Englestead in March several years ago and this time it felt like a completely different canyon.
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| Talena on one of the many rappels in Englestead |
It is beautiful and enjoyable and gave our group a chance to see how we would work together before heading to Heaps the following morning. We had a mishap when exiting the canyon and the group disappeared while Jonathan was eating. He looked up and the rest of us were all gone. In an attempt to catch us, he passed a junction in the canyon and added an extra few miles to the already hot exit hike. A little upset, he ended up at the truck before the rest of us and understandably took a few minutes to accept our apologies. We ended up at Oscar's for dinner and were back at camp packing bags for the next morning by 8pm.
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| Cooling off in Pine Creek after running Englestead |
Ropes were distributed, bags were packed and Daniel's car was loaded by 10 pm. We would leave camp at 3 am and Talena would drop the five of us off at the West Rim Trailhead. Waking up at 2:30 am, we ate breakfast and discussed the weather forecast. The forecast was for 15% chance of rain after 4 pm. As a group, we decided that we all felt comfortable going and were quickly loaded into Daniel's car and driving to the trailhead.
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| Looking towards Heaps from the hike in |
We shouldered packs at 3:59 am and wasted no time getting moving. Pressing on along the mostly flat 9 mile hike, the team only stopped one time and arrived at the first rappel before 7 am. The hike in went smoothly and as the sunrise lit the sky, the views of Zion and down toward Heaps were amazing.
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| Justin gearing up near the first rappel |
Arriving at the first rappel, the group quickly put on harnesses and began lowering down to the next level. We were all quickly at the second rappel and moving downward once again. As Laura and Joshua headed across the valley to the main entrance to Heaps, Jonathan went last and had trouble with the pull rope. He was fighting to keep in untangled, but in the mess of bushes and while rappelling over 200 feet, it tied a knot in itself without him noticing. At the bottom, we realized that we would not be able to pull the rope, so Jonathan set up to ascend and get things cleared up. While ascending, a second group arrived at the rappel and helped to unstick our stuck rope. Talking with Daniel and Jonathan as we coiled ropes, we all agreed at that point to slow down a bit and be sure to not make any more mistakes.
Hustling to descend and catch Laura and Joshua; Daniel, Jonathan and Myself met up with them right at 8 am. 30 minutes later we had wetsuits on and were headed into the first stretch of narrows.
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| One of the first potholes with unavoidable swimming |
The water and rappels came quickly. Rap down and into a pool, cross and try to climb out. We did several of these before reaching a pothole that the upper lip of was about 2 feet above the water level. Joshua and I struggled to get out on our own, but managed, and when Laura attempted, she simply could not reach a good hand hold and pull herself out of the pothole. We lowered her a rope and she tied a knot to stand in as I moved to the next pool below and counterbalanced the rope. She made easy work of the escape once the rope was there for her and we moved on. Daniel and Jonathan had now caught up to us and we were once again a group of 5.
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| Joshua was stoked after stemming across a tricky pothole |
The next obstacle was to stem 15 feet above a partially water filled pothole. Joshua was able to stem across as Laura and I decided to use a rope for a bit of safety. We all cleared the pothole and exited the first section of narrows.
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| Beautiful area after the first stretch of narrows |
The canyon opens up here and is beautiful and very green with vegetation and soaring, tall walls. Walking along, it is so huge that it almost feels like the narrows in scale.
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| We did plenty of jumping throughout the canyon |
Before long, we were entering the second set of narrows. The group was efficient and we rappelled many times, passing ropes ahead to be rigged by whoever was in front. Daniel and Jonathan continued in the back for the time being, pulling rappel ropes and bagging them to be sent back ahead to keep the group moving as quickly as possible.
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| Jonathan in the second stretch of narrows |
For reference, we had 1 - 100' rope, 1 - 150' rope, 1 - 200' rope and 1 -300' rope. The 300' stayed in a dry bag between the second rappel and the final rappel. The remaining ropes were passed ahead and used as working ropes for the many rappels throughout the canyon.
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| Joshua preparing to jump |
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More scenic narrows and fun obstacles
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The group exited the second narrows and moved onto the final and longest stretch of difficulty, the third narrows. This section of the canyon holds a lot of cold water, swimming, probably 20 rappels and plenty of climbing through and over logs, downclimbs and more.
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| Final open stretch before the last narrows |
Jonathan took the lead here and helped to move the group at a very quick and efficient pace. As he pushed ahead with ropes, I'd follow with another. We would reach rappels and he would rig them very quickly. I'd usually be off rappel by the time Laura, who was moving along in the middle of the group, arrived. Jonathan and I passed ropes up and over many obstacles as we moved through.
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| So many fun and interesting narrows |
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| Justin working across some logs with Daniel watching |
Several of the highlights of Heaps are held within the last narrows. The gold room with iron seeping from the walls and the green room that is covered in moss, both of which are spectacular!
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Justin rappelling into the Green room
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| Daniel rappelling into the Gold Room |
There was one swim where we encountered a dead deer in the water that had been there for months and was not pleasant, but the group passed by without any unfortunate events!
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| Finally some light after a long, cold, dark stretch |
After exiting the last narrows, we all stopped to have a break and eat some food before heading to the final rappel sequence. This is the highest consequence part of the canyon and a mistake here is very problematic. People have died on the final rappels and we wanted to be sure that we were clear minded, warm and alert.
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More rappels
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Lunch break
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Daniel and I wanted to lead the final sequence. After climbing up a short block of 5.2 rock, we arrived at the rappels. The first rappel is 80' to a tree below. It's the first tree you come to on rappel. The second rappel is 165' to the bird perch. As you're rappelling, you arrive at a small ledge, just big enough for 2 people. Facing in, there are 4 bolts with webbing to your left. Daniel went first and I followed second. When we were at the bird perch, we rigged the 300' rope and double, then triple checked our setup.
The final rappel is the big one. Starting off, you rappel through an overhanging crack and are immediately free hanging. The remaining 275 feet of the rappel is open air above the tourist crowds and emerald pools until you touch down on the ground. Daniel completed the rappel first and was applauded by the onlookers. He radioed to me that I was clear to go. On rappel, there were nerves even though I've gone through the motions hundreds of times. Once in the air, it's easy to look around and out over the main Zion canyon. It's a beautiful, and amazingly scenic.
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| Jonathan making the final rappel look casual |
Daniel touched down to the ground just 9.5 hours after we left the car and as a group, we all descended the ropes to the ground in 10.5 hours. We chatted with a few tourists and high fived each other. Bagging the ropes, we were very happy to have had such an awesome crew. Everyone did their part and everyone was amazing.
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| Joshua starting down the final rappel from the bird perch |
We arrived to the shuttle exactly 11 hours after leaving the car at the west rim trailhead.
This canyoneering group is the best I've ever gone with and experiencing Heaps was an awesome time. We all agree that we would go back as a team any time and with some luck, it will happen very soon!
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Awesome Heaps Crew at the Emerald Pools
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| Yep, Laura was there too taking all of the photos |
