I met up with Lang and his friend, Summer, in Moab! They are from Alaska and were there to do some climbing.
First little downclimb of the canyon
First rappel... You can't tell from this angle, but Lang just rappelled under a little arch.
Lang working a downclimb
Lang making the most of this rappel
Blake downclimbs as her husband encourages from below
Jason on the last rappel
Not used to seeing an exit sign!
Beautiful stripes in the rock
Gorgeous views on the exit
Blake climbing up the exit
On Monday, I watched them climb while drinking beer, reading Better Homes and Gardens, and offering moral support.
On Tuesday, they said they were open to trying another technical activity, so we did Lost and Found canyon in Arches National Park. What a beautiful canyon!! Lang kept saying, "This is wild." I love showing people Utah canyons for the first time. I was afraid they would be unimpressed, but we had so much fun. Especially when it started raining and thundering on the last 130 foot rappel.
We (almost literally!) ran into a couple of climbers from Asheville. We joined up with them and were all good friends by the end of the day. The guy, Jason, reminded me so much of my pastor!
One thing I've noticed about climbers is how positive and encouraging they are. They were all constantly shouting encouragements to each other. I'm going to try to do this more in the canyons. I was especially grateful to be with climbers on the exit. I could never have done that climb alone, but Lang got up there like it was no big deal, and that allowed me to do the climb on rope.
I was nervous going into this day because I didn't want Lang and Summer to feel like I'd wasted a day of their vacation. I'm so glad they enjoyed it!
Looking downcanyon after the last rap
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