1. Flash Flooding
Water levels can rise rapidly in a canyon. The inherent nature of a canyon (sustained constrictions, large catchment areas, etc) means that even small amounts of rain can lead to flash flooding within minutes. Steady flows turn to forceful torrents and innocuous pools become turbulent whitewater!The fatal consequences of high water (and other hazards such as cramps, rock falls, and incorrect abseiling technique) in Blue Mountains canyons is well documented. As such, it is important that you avoid canyoning when rain is predicted. The photos below illustrate how dramatically canyon water levels vary based on the amount of rainfall recieved.
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| Empress Falls in regular conditions | Empress after HEAVY rain! |
2. Navigation Skills
Most canyons require off-track walking, aka bush bashing! Remote canyons require navigation through tracts of rugged bushland and pagoda mazes. The wilderness is often featureless and views can be obstructed by tall trees and thick scrub.Proficiency in reading a topo map, compass and GPS is important, but you should solely rely on them. Inherently magnetic rocks can alter compass needles (see pic below), GPS batteries might be dead and the topo may be incorrectly marked. You should learn to recognise the lie of the land to identify your position on the topo map. Observations of creek junctions and bends, cliffs, spurs, ridges, saddles, peaks, etc and minor contour variations are the key to doing this, and requires a bit of practice. Ashley Burke has a good tutorial here.
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| The compass needle decided to swap poles completely! |
3. First Aid
Canyoning involves inherent hazards such as hard slippery surfaces, swift water, heights, deadly snakes, low temperatures and sun exposure to name a few. These can culminate in injuries not limited to broken/fractured bones, snake bites, hypothermia, sun burn...OR WORSE! The sheer remoteness of some canyons means that even minor conditions are exacerbated.A senior and/or remote area first aid course is a worthy investment in peace of mind and is potentially life-saving. As is having a well-stocked first aid kit that is kept up-to-date. As a minimum it should contain plenty of bandages, a space blanket, band aids, painkillers and matches.
Advice on typical first-aid situations can be found on these sites:
- snake bites
- hypothermia
- broken/fractured bones
- sunburn (during walk in/out)
- unconscious casualty
Examples of when first aid might be/was required:
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| A tigersnake in a constricted part of Claustral canyon | A fractured ankle halfway through Kanangra Main! |
Hot Tips
I have compiled a range of useful tips for canyoning. It is far from exhaustive though. If you know of others, feel free to email me and I will include them too :)Planning
- Personal Locator Beacons are lent FREE OF CHARGE from Police stations (Katoomba, Springwood and Windsor) and NPWS Visitor Centres (Glenbrook and Blackheath)!
- Leave an itinerary with someone responsible and brief them on the appropriate emergency action. Getting benighted in a canyon is not uncommon and usually a simple situation to deal with. It's not (usually) necessary to intitiate full-blown search and rescue operations if you aren't back by nightfall.
- Most Aussie canyoners swear by Dunlop Volleys. They're cheap and grip to almost anything! The iconic zig-zag soleprint is well placed on the sand banks of popular canyons! Get a pair...or multiple pairs! Price wars between K-mart, Big-W and Target see their price regularly dipping to ~$16. Big W have an everyday low price of $21, while Rebel Sport is currently selling them for $39! (extortion!)
- Learn and improve abseiling/rescue techniques in a controlled environment BEFORE entering a canyon. Mt York is ideal.
- Head out with more experienced canyoners as often as you can, especially when starting out.
Keeping Warm
- Stay warm in long pools by lying on your rucksack and swimming backwards.
- Cotton clothing is no good for canyoning; it gets cold and stays cold. Fleece and other synthetic fabrics are far superior.
- Use layers to keep warm. A rain jacket over your wetsuit/thermals/jumper does wonders, even when fully immersed.
Canyoning Technique
- Keep a low centre-of-gravity when traversing slippery, moss-covered rocks. It's best to get down on your bum for difficult sections!
- Water jumps are very fun but present submerged hazards. Always check the depth first. That being said, some are unavoidable and every effort should be made to stay safe (down-climb as far as possible, use sun rays hitting the water to guage depth, etc).
- Carry plenty of extra sling/webbing/tape in case you need to replace old or broken ones.
- If you have long (~50m) ropes, you can coil them in halves. If you go through a canyon with medium sized abseils (~20m), you have less rope to pull down and recoil...or just use Single Rope Technique if you're that way inclined!
- Make observations while canyoning. If you see things like camp caves, exit points and great lookouts and record them you will start to gather a fair amount of handy information that you might use again one day.
Abseiling Technique
- On overhang abseils, lower yourself as much as possible near the edge. It creates enough rope above you to swing under the ledge without hitting your head on the rock! Also keep your non-brake hand away from the rope above your descender.
- A lot of canyons have awkward abseils (ie, tricky ledges, wierd angles of sloping rock, darkness, pounding water). It's best to abseil in the direction the rope wants to take you. If you're trying to traverse against the will of the rope one slip could send you swinging hard into a rock face!
- Your hands/legs are good for aiding awkward descents by pushing off walls. It's sometimes easier to abseil left-handed.
- If your ropes are getting twisted on abseils, the last person can use an inline device to straighten them for the pull-down.
