HikeArizona.COM

This is tragic.....

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/19595 ... -zion-park

RIP

Very sad situation.

That sounds like a tough way to go.

Very sad , I say let the guide services compete for the limited number of permits. It would be a lot safer for all those involved.

beterarcher wrote:Very sad , I say let the guide services compete for the limited number of permits. It would be a lot safer for all those involved.

Guide services overly complicate the permit system, and guiding in Zion is BANNED. Guiding doesn't make things safer, rather, guiding introduces individuals who have no basic knowledge into difficult environments, where they slow down or block progress of experienced parties.

If you want to be guided, more power to you. If you want to take training and learn to do it yourself, more power to you. If you want to stay away from technical canyons altogether, more power to you. If you want to go to Zion and be guided, you are out of luck.

This individual unfortunately applied a technique that is perfectly viable in some situations, but was the wrong technique what applied in this particular situation. Proper training helps beginners to understand when techniques should be applied and when they shouldn't. A sad story and condolences go out to his friends and family.