Canyoning Intermediate Skills Practice Session (June 7, 2025)

During this practice session we will perform some of the competencies included in the American Canyoneering Association (ACA) Sovereign Canyoneer Skills checklist (More on that below).

This is not a course and I am not a guide. No formal training is provided.

This practice session will not take place in a canyon. We will practice in low-risk conditions, such as on a flat/ low angle slab or on high-angle faces with a top-rope belay. Location will likely be somewhere on the North Shore.

You don’t need to have canyoning experience for this practice session, but you should be familiar with the ACA Core Skills competencies (see resources further below). Participants should also arrive at the practice session already knowing how to tie the following knots:

• Frost knot
• Alpine butterfly
• Directional Figure 8
• Munter-Mule-Overhand (MMO)
• Asymemetric Prusik

In addition, participants will need to bring their own gear. If you already climb, you likely have most of what you will need:

• Climbing or canyon harness
• Helmet
• Whistle
• 4-5 locking carabiners
• Adjustable Friction Descender (rappel device) 
• Lanyard / cow tail
• Foot loop (cord sling or webbing)
• VT prusik
• Ascender (mechanical ascender or friction hitch)
• 3-5 meters of 1 inch tubular webbing
• Rope – static and semi-static ropes are the standard in canyoning

Sovereign Canyoneer Skills

The skills we will practice can be divided into three broad categories: Rigging, Belaying, and Vertical Movement. The objective of this practice session is for participants to be able to move through each core skill as a sequence of a larger progression – that is, first rigging a natural anchor, then setting up and using using a hand line to traverse to an intended rappel station, followed by setting up a rappel system, and finally rappelling. While on rappel, other participants will provide a belay. I envision the progression as having two forms: one rappel used to practice knot passing, and a second rappel used to practice guided rappel practices. See below for the skills to be practiced.

Rigging

• Set up and use a retrievable safety line to protect a traverse (Belay & Block / Self-Lowering)
• Set up a releasable (SRT) system for rappel (using an MMO, Compact Figure 8 Block, and an EMO)

Belaying

• Release contingency rigging and perform controlled lowering of a rappeler with hands free backup (e.g., slow release/ rope creeping & exploratory rappels)
• Set up and perform a top-rope belay with hands free back-up

On Rope Techniques, Companion Rescue

• Ascend a fixed rope using friction hitches / mechanical ascenders
• Pass a knot while rappelling / ascending
• Tension and tie off a guide rope at a bottom anchor
• Demonstrate rappelling on a guided rappel

Recommended Resources

American Canyoneering Association (2020). ACA Core Skills Checklist. Retrieved from https://www.canyoneering.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ACA-All-Skills-Checklists- 12-21-21.pdf

American Canyoneering Association (2020). ACA Sovereign Canyoneer Skills Checklist. Retrieved from https://www.canyoneering.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Sovereign-Skill-Checklist-3-7-22.pdf

Canyoning Level 1 (n.d.) V7 Academy. https://www.v7academy.com/courses/canyoning-level- 1

Clark, Kevin (2021). Canyoning in the Pacific Northwest: A Technical Resource.

How Not 2 Canyon (n.d.). How Not 2. https://hownot2.com/blogs/canyon-rope-systems? srsltid=AfmBOorFIyrPA3SFGNQ_0kxX6QERuYvTM4Wmsel8PQ0x9nVSE4h3NG4m

Knowledge Base (n.d.). Canyons and Crags. https://canyonsandcrags.com/knowledge-base/