Zion National Park and the surrounding Southern Utah and St. George areas comprise a diverse rock climbing mecca.  Thousands of climbs at varying locations provide amazing year round rock climbing of all styles, lengths, and difficulties.  It is a perfect place to take a rock climbing course and build upon your skills and experience. At Zion Mountain School we provide a range of instructional rock climbing courses that are suited for climbers of all levels and abilities.

Christine and her son Brian came to Zion to take our Top Rope Rock Climbing Course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christine and Brian has some experience rock climbing in a gym and some climbing outdoors.  They were interested in learning the skills needed to safely climb on their own outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This two day course is for the climber with basic climbing and belaying skills looking to learn the skills needed to safely top rope climb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brian and Christine got lots of experience setting up anchors on climbing routes and then getting climb on them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We visit different climbing sites in the area for more variety and hands on learning opportunities.  This course gives you the opportunity to get a lot of practice and experience under the guidance of a professional instructor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the top rope course Brian took our 2 day Lead Climbing Course and then visited some of the local rock climbing areas to climb with his mom.

 

 

 

 

Canyoneering is a great activity for a group on their trip to Zion National Park.  Suzy signed her friends up for an ultimate canyoneering trip to celebrate a birthday and a couple’s anniversary in the group. Suzy and her friends are on the adventerous side and were certainly up for the long hike and rappels up to 175 feet in length that the Ultimate Canyoneering Trip affords.  We customize all group events and offer half-day and full-day guided trips suited for groups that range in age and experience.

Here is a shot of the group on the hike in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A view of the big 170′ foot waterfall rappel from the approach trail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A great shot of the group at the top of the hike. This is just before we begin descending the canyon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very excited and happy to be out with friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A great shot of Kimberly on the big waterfall rappel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One last shot of the group climbing through the slot.

Some cliffs that have been closed due to peregrine falcon nesting have been reopened.  As of 04/26/11 the East Temple, Mt Spry, Cable Mountain, and the Great White Throne have been reopened.  Due to active nesting sites Angels Landing, Mt Issac, Mt Kinesava, Mountain of the Sun, North Twin, Middle Fork of Taylor Creek, and Tunnel West area which included all routes west of the tunnel entrance including the Kung Fu amphitheatre.  The confluence, cragmont, and routes on Ataxia tower are not affected.  More information can be found here on the NPS website. The cliffs with active nesting sites will remained closed until sometime in June.

The week of April 16th thru the 22nd is National Park Week.  During this week all entrance fees to the park are waived to encourage people to get out and explore their National Parks.  This was an idea spearheaded by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to help promote access to our beautiful parks, “Americas Best Idea”.  The fee  free days apply to all National Parks and National Monuments.  This is a great deal for people visiting the Zion area and wanting to see other parks nearby like Bryce Canyon or Grand Canyon.  Many of the parks are having special events and volunteer opportunities to get further involved.

To help show our support and gratitude for the National Parks System Zion Mountain School is offering a 10% discount on all guided trips and instructional courses during National Park Week.  It is a great chance to visit Zion and try something new like canyoneering, rock climbing, or a mountain biking trip.  Just mention this post when call to book or enter the coupon code “npweek” into our online booking system.

 

Zion National Park has closed the backcountry campsites in the Zion Narrows.  This is as a result of the  major flooding that occurred in December 2010.

This mainly affects people trying to use the online reservations system to book permits in advance.   It will probablly be at least a month before backcountry rangers can  assess the damage.

It is likely that some of the sites will reopen but some may need to be moved or repaired. This Zion National Park press release has more information about the closures.

Zion National Park has annual cliff closures for Peregrine Falcon Nesting.  This affects many of the popular cliffs for rock climbing in the park and include Angels Landing, Mt Kinesava, Tunnel Wall west, East Temple, Mt Spry, Issac, Mountain of the Sun, Great White Throne (climbs longer than 2 pitches), Sentinel, North Twin, and Middle Fork of Taylor Creek.  They go into effect on March 1st and get lifted in two phases.  Initially they close all cliffs with a history of nesting.  After monitoring  by park biologists they determine what cliffs have active nesting and keep those closed until the summer.  Check out our Zion Current Conditions page for more information on these closures and when they get lifted. Here is a link to the official Zion National Park press release.