The Rise of Cliffeniring
In the American Southwest (and around the world)
Photo credit: https://sedonaarizonausa.com/
What is Cliffeniring?
It is something in between canyoneering and sport rappelling.
Going down on cliff sides or open drainages and retrieving the rope in a canyoneering style instead of fixing the rope, ascending or doing laps like in sport rappelling.
The rise in popularity of cliffeniring
When I started in the sport in the American Southwest, the areas around Moab UT were notorious for "cliffeniring" routes. Open drainages that people defaulted to when the weather was unfavorable. But all in all, a secondary option to the prefrend narrow cave-with-an-open-roof narrow routes i.e slot canyons.
Years later, cliffs in Sedona AZ gave cliffeniring a huge boost. Like many things outdoors in the last decade, photos in social media played a role in the rise of attention and popularity. Cliffenirung offers a photo op point of view that most of the time is not available in canyoneering. A point of view from the bottom or mid rope with a person hanging mid air against rock and sky, very photo photogenic.
Easy + Photogenic = Guided experience?
Some of these cliffeniring routes also offer a far less punishing experience than canyons. Closer to roads and/or front-country areas, no need for wetsuits, and shorter days. What is not to love?
Because of this, these routes in some areas become popular or commercially guided routes, where guides or leads take clients or newbs.
How do anchors affect cliffeniring?
Open drainages or cliffs offer a particular anchoring challenge that is common in the Colorado Plateau (and other areas):
The absence of vertical walls/surfaces parallel to the water course.
This results in anchor opportunities (natural or artificial) close to the ground/rock and far back from the rappelling edges, a recipe for coreshots, rope-grooves and rock scarring.
The spectrum of tools to deal with this challenge ranges from:
Exposed rap station out of the water course
Ghosting
TRR
Courtesy rigging.
Re-belays near the rappel edge
All with pros and cons, and attached to a prerequisite of know-how.
Your decision on how to anchor and rig these routes also affect the required skill set of the people that are taken to these routes.
Marginal anchors far back from the edge requiere soft-starts
Bomber anchors far back from the edge requiere stuck rope and rock damage mitigation
Hard to strike a balance between safety, conservation and recreation:
Awesome for
Cliffeniring routes offer a good opportunity to practice some skills like:
Soft starts
Ghosting
Re-belaying
Transient Releasable Rigging
Class 4 climbing
Related post:
https://adolfoisassi.substack.com/p/understanding-the-colorado-plateau
Photo credit: