Canyoneering is often times thought of as a warm weather endeavor and rightfully so. You are constantly swimming and splashing through narrow slot canyons where the sun doesn't shine and the earth seems to swallow you up. When you get done with the cold water swims you quickly seek out the opportunity to bask in some warm sunlight and strip down the layer of neoprene that has protected your body for the past several hours. This is what it's like in June and July, when it's 100+ degrees outside. Now take away the sun and 100+ degree temps and do it all. Now you have Freeze Fest.
The winter months can be somewhat agonizing for the Canyoneer to get through when it's cold out and all you do is dream about your next slot canyon adventure. Freeze Fest was dreamed up 12 years ago by some die hard Canyoneers who just couldn't take sitting around the house during the winter months any longer. Dubbed as "The Bad Idea that Caught On" Freeze Fest has been gaining momentum ever since. The "Main" event as it has been dubbed is a trip through "The Black Hole" which is a section of White Canyon in south eastern Utah just north of Lake Powell. While most of the Freeze Fest canyons done during the 5-8 day event are dry canyons, meaning there is no water in them, The Black Hole event is designed to completely mess with your body and test how much cold you can endure, or how much neoprene you can pack on in order to stay warm.
I don't always get to go out and participate in this event, but living only an hour away from it, I try to meet up with them each year as I am allowed between work and weather conditions. For Jan 1, 2014, the weather forecast was set to be one of the best ever and I was not working so it worked out great. Aside from that, it was my 10 year anniversary from the first time Dave Black took me out to this event and I met some of the best Canyoneers and later friends that you can have in this sport.
I took along Aaron who was eager to just get out of the house and play during his Christmas break. We loaded up the Tahoe and hit the road at 8:30 a.m. Knowing there is usually a 10:00 a.m. start time this would give us time to get out there and gear up.
As we arrived there were several cars already in the parking lot. Turns out one would be Jenny who I have spent some time canyoneering with. She was excited to see us and greeted us with great big hugs. As more and more people arrived from their campsite in North Wash, we continued to greet old friends and start making some new ones. We shuttled vehicles and made the start of the hike with 30 participants (a record number I understand).
Photo by Malia
The hike into White Canyon turned into a sweaty march and showed how warm it was for January. Hats were removed and jackets stored for later. We approached the suit up point and as the group had kinda spread out, we all started combining together again as we changed into wet and dry suits. As small groups finished changing they set out through the water and off into the canyon.
Photo Sequence by Aaron
It turned out to be a great day. Everyone kept moving and stayed warm. One key was to keep your hands out of the water, but after a while that became tiresome and you started swimming just to get out and walk to warm up. We kept calories going in to keep our internal core temps up and we kept moving as much as possible. What a great 10 year anniversary for me and to be able to spend the day with some old friends and find some new ones, it was fabulous.
Photo Sequence by Jared
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