Have you hiked & scrambled quite some streams? Do you have experience in rope climbing? Do you want to increase the difficulty level? Canyoning might be for you.

First and foremost, do not try this on your own before joining a course and doing it several times with experienced people. Any little error might be fatal. I have seen people who thought they had everything under control and an incorrect knot had, in reality, their anchor on the edge of breaking 30m high… Even when the canyoning teacher explained them so, initially they were not able to understand their error. But this is more personal. As I explained already, I broke my foot canyoning. Trying to rush and not assessing the danger correctly. 4 meters fall. Fractured calcaneus and I was lucky. It could have been a lot worse.

This, therefore, does not mean to be a guide similar to those written about coasteering or stream hiking. The chances of serious injury here are a lot higher. To be honest, I have never been confident with my canyoning skills. I can easily imagine all the things that could go wrong and there are a lot. That is why I mainly have done it in very controlled environments or with people like Roland or Colin who have spent long years practicing. This post is, partly, for me to easily remember everything learned in the different courses and outings with those experienced friends and partly so that friends can read the basics and we can discuss different options.

Gear – Anchors – Knots – Problem-solving – Routes
Gear

Spreadsheet with all the gear for one person, with prices (2020), the shops where I bought them, and reference links.

The upper part, above the dotted line, would be the minimum required material (+ some accessory cords, for emergency prusik ascent) for pure downstream canyoning. Lower items used for climbing + extra belay device that you can use for descending or helping someone else.

A climbing helmet. It is mainly meant to protect you from rocks falling on you. In Hong Kong, you might want to look for something not excessively bulky and that does not overheat your head, with quite some vents. You are going to be under the water and therefore you want a material that will not absorb it. Attachments for holding your headlamp in place are a good option that not all the cheaper helmets have.

You could use the same harness used for climbing. But usually, it is a slightly modified more rugged version, including an ass-protecting plastic for when you slide on it and an attachment point specially designed for setting up easier the descender and others.

The ropes for the inexperience look the same as those used for sport climbing, but they are not. To simplify, they are not as stretchy and they are made to resist harder environments. Length and thickness will define the highest falls you will be able to rappel down & the safety. But also the overall weight you will be hiking with. Longer + thicker = heavier. A full article explaining how to choose your rope and take care of it. We bought a super static Sterling 60m 9mm rope, as per Colin’s recommendation. Very good reviews and so far happy with it. Less bulky than others handled before and water absorption is minimal, which helps with the weight. It is static, therefore not made to hold big falls, be cautious when climbing. Video explaining a lot more about climbing ropes in general, not canyoning specific.

Be careful when uncoiling your new rope (how-to video). New ropes tend to twist more and create pigtails easier. You might want to flake and coil several times a new rope at home so that you avoid having these problems on the field. Every day check the rope before using it. If compromised (wear + able to touch both sides when pinching) isolate with an alpine butterfly or just cancel the day.

When should you get a new rope? The max life span of Nylon products (that includes, harnesses, slings, and ropes) is 10 years. But you might need to retire it significantly earlier depending on your usage.

You might want to consider similar regular inspections for your soft gear. Metal ones tend to last longer. You should retire them if you have a 10% reduction in their width, you have created undesired sharp spots, springs do not work correctly, etc. Talking about metal shiny objects.

Carabiners. You can find all kinds of shapes and sizes. Here a brief explanation of most.

Or a full long explanation.

Descender

A metal piece used to attach the harness to the rope and control the descent speed. It can be a simple figure eight to way more complex forms.

The additional edges help avoid accidental blocks and are used to add friction and to lock off the rope easier. They have further functions. For example, I have seen them used to set up different types of stoppers/anchors in bolted routes.

Most people I have seen in Hong Kong canyoning use the two in the middle: Kong Oka & Petzl Pirana. Relatively small, light, and simple.

Ascender

They are used, obviously, for ascending 😄 There are tons of options (full article). Here are the types that we use.

Video showing a Petzl Micro Traxion in Action vs a Gri Gri.

We use a similar but modified climbing method. As per my canyoning guide teacher: you need to have a security backup always. In the case of the descender adding a prusik (explained later) or someone belaying you from below (fireman’s belay) or atop (with a bit more complex set up that you can see when with HKOutsiders for example). For solo ascending, we put the rope grabber, the one with the teeth (Rock Empire Chest up, similar to his Traxion), at the sternum level with a thin accessory cord (I like this sling “chest harness option too) and an extension (double carabiner or quick draw) attached to the harness. Below the Climbing Technology RollNLock that functions as a backup.

The Petzl Ascension or similar remains in the harness and is used to “cheat”: to pull yourself up in any section you can not climb on your own. It can be used also to help yourself out of different problems, similar to how you would use a prusik.

Sling / Daisy Chain / PAS / Cowtails

Focused on being your means of connecting to anchors and guidelines, so that you do not slip down from the top of the waterfall.

So you should never use a daisy chain as a personal anchor. The most appropriate would be a cowstail or an Adjustable Dynamic Lanyard. Using a climbing PAS (personal anchor safety) or sling is not so recommended in a wet canyoning environment. Higher chances of slipping and shock loading the static materials. So here is the Standard HKOutsider guides harness setting with the cowstail. It is just a piece of dynamic rope knotted to the belay loop. Not exactly in the middle so that you have two tails that are slightly different sized and with a carabiner at the end. The descender, knife for emergency usage, a couple of ascenders, a sling, and ready to go with quite some other material (ropes, biners, etc) to be shared by the full team.

If you are going to be canyoning in less controlled environments, above all when you are not going to be able to see the full waterfall from atop and below, bring a whistle. Some backpacks have one incorporated. Otherwise buy an emergency whistle. We use it to communicate. Once I have rappeled all the rope and I am out, I long whistle to let my buddy above know that he has the rope ready for himself. Fast continuous whistles to communicate problems or any kind of danger down the rope (twists for example). Just agree at the start of the outing on the meaning of each. The whistle should be loud enough to be heard on big noisy waterfalls. Protect your ears if you have one of those crazy loud ones 😅 In our case we bring it on the neck under the t-shirt, but I have seen others that tie it to the helmet with a thin elastic cord (safer).
Anchors

There are a few bolted streams in Hong Kong. Setting up an anchor there is easier. Nevertheless, you could be doing quite some things wrong… A video with some basics.

You want therefore the two biners setting the anchor to be reversed and opposed. So that the gates make an X when they cross over each other. Mentioned RENE principle when building an anchor:

  • Redundant, so that if one of the bolts or whatever else breaks you are safe with the other.
  • Equalized, so that when rappeling the force is correctly directed to the bolts.
  • No-Extension, to avoid shock loading in case of failure of one of the legs.

For quite some people, Colin, our sifu, included, the fun includes doing it all on your own. With no bolts. Setting up all your security and anchors with the surrounding nature. That usually means rocks and trees. For the latter, the tree needs to be at least 15cm thick, well-rooted and alive. The Upper you go on the trunk, the better angle you will have for your abseil, but it might be less stable. We usually use slings. Here is a similar approach with a cordelette.

If you want to know a loooooot more about Canyon rope systems here is a full tutorial (it might be too extensive for Hong Kong stream possibilities, as focused on bolted routes) with tons of linked videos made by HowNOT2. Highly recommended Youtube channel for climbing, slacklining, canyoning, caving, and knowing in general how much force is needed to break all their gear. Another very educational Youtube channel, sport climbing focused: Hard is Eay, of which I have already linked several videos above.
Basic Knots

I will add here those that I have used or been taught for emergencies with videos of how to tie them. On my phone, I also have an app (Useful Knots – Tying Guide in Android) with them and more in case I forget. Video explaining the basics of knot terminology: hitch around an object, bend joining two ropes, bight vs loop, etc.

Instead of the latter, Colin showed us his version using a VT Prusik. Allows putting the prusik above the descender safer and other benefits.

Double EDK with at least 40cm tails. How to tie two ropes together and have fewer chances the knot gets caught in edges when trying to retrieve it. BTW, the main reason why most people do not use figure 8s and a few other common climbing knots in canyoning, as they are easy to get stuck.

Biner rope block in case you need to use almost all the length of your rope.

The stone knot that I think HKOutsiders like to use for bolted anchors.

For me, to remember from a course. The size of the accessory cord for a hand prussic should be from your thumb to the sternum. Leg prussic, thumb to the opposite shoulder.
Problem-solving

Everything is fine canyoning till suddenly a problem arises and you are meters above safe ground… Try to minimize the risks. In one of my courses, they taught me to create healthy habits. For example, always follow a last A-B-C-D-F check before starting any abseil:

      • Anchor. A basic inspection of the anchor. Usually one of us sets it up and another one checks it. Do the knots look safe, RENE, solid enough tree, etc.?
      • Buckles. Is everything fine with the harness?
      • Carabiners. Properly closed, opposite, and reversed if needed?
      • Device. Check that descender is correctly set and you have all the additional gear you want with you (ascenders, carabiners, accessory cords…)
      • Friend. Is the backup ready? That can be the prusik or a friend under fireman belaying you.

No matter how well you prepare everything, if you canyon enough times, a problem will eventually arise. The main reason why you should never do this on your own but after some serious training. Real things that happened to us or friends.

One of the usual problems would be a knot on the rope. If with enough material you could climb up and untie it on safe ground, or otherwise just try to use a pair of prusiks (or a prusik and a jumar or…) to past the knot.

You are descending too fast and you can not control the abseil. Add friction.

Your hair or t-shirt gets stuck in the descender. Depending on how bad the jamming is you might need to use the knife and cut part of it. Otherwise use prusiks/ascender to go up enough to solve the mess.

You release accidentally the prusik just exactly when you were in the last meters of the waterfall and you get stuck under strong flow. The best option is to have a big guy like Tyler below ready to pull you up out of the water flow 😉 Real recent solution. Before your descent, you should assess if a prusik is a good option or if someone can belay you from below instead. If the prusik is the option and you get stuck, knife to cut the accessory cord.

You start your descent and midway you realize that the rope end is several meters above the lower section. In this case, I had an extra 20m thin rope with me. Not a good enough rope type to securely abseil the whole 30m+ waterfall, but safe enough to tighten it to the lower part of the other rope and allow Roland to go down to safe ground. If you do not have an extra rope, climbing time, with either prusiks (slow even if you have practiced before) or proper ascenders.

You are trying to climb a waterfall and when you are almost atop, tired you take a fall and you are under an overhang with nowhere to hold yourself. Time to transition to the descender mid-air. If you have the hand ascender it might be easier. Doable too with some prusiks.

In our case, we would be using directly the descender instead of the grigri or others.

I will keep on adding here problems that happen to us while canyoning. In your case, think about your setup, what could go wrong, and practice how to solve it.
Routes

I will start adding the “canyoning” tag for those routes I know have been bolted or those that are the main routes enjoyed in this mode. For example, Ping Nam & Ma Dai streams. Video threading the needle in Bride’s Pool and in Dragon Ball waterfall in Wang Chung stream.

As per the request of good friends, I will keep some routes undisclosed. Either cause too dangerous or to avoid anyone coming to bolt them.

Last reminder. If you would ask my advice and you want to try this, join HKOutsider for a fun day out. If you want to learn how to do it on your own talk with Ben Wo & WildernessExplorersHK team or others for proper rope courses. May be join specific online courses like V7 Academy‘s. Find buddies with experience and increase difficulty slowly. Be safe you all!