The future of Desert Canyoneering in the USA
TWO VISIONS OF THE FUTURE: CURIO SUBCULTURE, OR INTERNATIONAL HOMOGENIZATION
Originally posted in Instructional Canyoneering Resource on July 5 2024
Curio, Subculture, or…
Curio: Something considered novel, rare, or bizarre (a curiosity).
Subculture: a cultural group within a larger culture, often having beliefs or interests at variance with those of the larger culture.
Homogenization: To make uniform in procedure, structure or composition.
As the sport grows, and practitioners embrace the seasonal and regional (or international) aspect of canyoning, they encounter that the American Southwest seems to be trapped in a bubble of practices, beliefs and circumstance that sets the area apart from what is known and common in the rest of the country or world.
Curio anchoring and rigging practices:
Deadman and cairns anchors
Ghosting everything...even bolted stations
Ubiquitous use of webbing
Bolting on far back locations
Engaging in human acrobatics/pyramids to solve drops
Some of these curio practices are ingenious, and incredibly useful for route explorations, and access remote locations. But when presented, embraced and defended as a 'standard' practice, they come across as disingenuous.
Newcomers, eager to fit in and get included into the community and trips, rush to learn these curio practices. They learn them even before learning basics on self-rescue or contingency rigging. And after several generations these practices go from curio to part of the curriculum in regional instruction.
Good? Bad? Adequate?
Hard to tell. The arguments for, or against homologation of practices have been hard to weigh based on objective repercussions.
Accidents that reflect lack of anchoring and rigging know-how are still there...but hard to tell if they are up, or down in numbers.
Rock damage due to lack of anchoring and rigging know-how is going up
Requests for remedial training to learn how the rest of the world uses anchors and rigs seems to be going up.
Is the future one of a prevailing Subculture Curio? Or a slow drift towards Homogenization?
And who is moving the needle? Or arresting the development?
Coalitions representing the sport? Land managers? Anonymous bolters?
Questions worth pondering to walk that road clear-eyed.
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