Clovelly Beginner Abseils

For many people (including our new canyoning leaders), we learnt to abseil not on a proper slope or anchor, but on a tree log. We would wrap a bit of rope around a tree or a telegraph pole, get someone to go on rope and set up their descender, then have them abseil down a slope or a tree log, imagining that the slope is an actual cliff edge. It works reasonably well for people who learns fast, and is good when time is a constraint, but not ideal for getting a beginner canyon-ready. 

Then, we had our beginner canyoning days: starting with an abseil practice (usually Yellow Rock), practice overhang abseils, then jump into a short beginner canyon (usually Empress). 

They're usually a fun day out, but there are a few issues. Empress is too short of a canyon with too few abseils for it to be meaningful learning for beginners. What beginners will benefit from is a canyon with ~5 abseils where they can master the technique. Another thing is that it's probably a good idea to have an abseiling session to take place on a different date to beginner canyoning, just that beginners doing the abseiling induction can go home, process what they've learnt, and have a think before committing to a canyon. 

Many uni outdoor clubs use this spot in Clovelly for their abseiling induction. It's got sufficient features to build the full set of skills needed for canyoning, and also relatively close to uni and where most people live (vs. a long trip to the mountains). A proper abseiling induction session will usually take 3 hours, hence no time to do the Bondi to Coogee walk. Due to its popularity amongst uni outdoor clubs, it's probably a good idea for trip leaders to peek into other clubs' websites before posting a trip. 

Trip leader's kit for running a beginner abseiling session:

• 2 bolt plates (can be purchased from Paddy Pallin or Climbing Anchors)

• Anchor building material (slings, tapes or short dynamic ropes)

• A few extra carabiners and their usual rigging kit

• Short static ropes for the abseil. I use a 20m personal rope and all the abseils are only ~10m

The minimum experience for abseiling and canyoning is always intermediate bushwalking experience, eg. Ruined Castle Track, something that takes a full day over 15-20km. Good rock scrambling and head for heights is a plus. This means they have the right skill and fitness to handle full days of canyons, including long and challenging walk-outs. We have stricter requirements for good communication in canyons, and will filter out those who cannot write complete sentences or have patchy English. Even with rock climbing in Hong Kong, we use English for a lot of our communication, so there shouldn't be any excuse. Given how limited the capacity for canyoning trips is, we'll also select based on how likely they'll stick around the canyoning community of our club. 

In the email I wrote a bit on what to expect and most importantly, the pre-reading. Having people read about how to use all the gear- harness, carabiners, descenders, safety information, basic abseiling techniques etc at home saves a lot of time from giving a boring lecture at the pitch. With everyone knowing the basics before they come, you can jump straight to showing how to clip in safety slings, how to set up descenders, and everyone can start abseiling straight away. 

Clovelly has a few carrot bolts, mostly used for top rope climbing (carrot bolts are uniquely Australian and nowhere else would you need to bring bolt plates for climbing). They are spaced quite far apart and can be quite difficult to equalise- I used a 3m dynamic rope for anchor building. Station 1 is just an easy walk down, using bolts from the Orange Slab. That's where we showcase and get everyone to be comfortable with using descenders, keeping the brake hand on the rope etc.  

There are 2 things that beginners struggle with. One is having trust with the descender- the only way for them to move down the rope is to put weight on the descender, lean back, sit down, and walk down the slope. It can certainly be scary going down your first abseil, but one of the main parts of learning to abseil is also learning to trust your set-up. Plus, you have your bottom belayer in case anything fails- if you fall, the bottom belayer will catch you. We can go into long technical conversations to explain how these systems work, but at the end of the world, it's just one of the "one day you'll get there" moments. 

Another main challenge is with brake hands. Those who are not used to ropes or ropecraft usually need a bit of time to know how to feed rope through their hands. You'd slide your hand around the rope, and let it slightly loose if you need to go faster. Many would start off having their hands too loose where they're not holding on the brake hand, or letting go of their brake hand to move their hands down the rope- big No-nos. Everyone got used to them eventually, but it's probably good to run through those before they go abseiling. 

As usual, everyone had a bit of a tricky moment going around the edge. It's mostly just trusting your harness and descender to let them take the lead, and abseiling roughly at the same speed as you walk down with your feet. Vyom came along, and as he was going round the edge, he slipped and tipped over, going upside down. Average abseil FAIL moment haha. First things first, brake hand on. I tried to get him to keep abseiling and let the momentum fix things, but he was quite stuck and we got him to manoeuvre his legs around, resuming normal position. 

As part of my pre-reading I have this abseil FAIL YouTube video included, where a canyoner has inverted going through the first ledge at Empress Canyon. It's still my very first time seeing this happen, and with Vyom getting quite stuck, it's the perfect opportunity to take out my phone and take some pictures. 

While everyone had their second run I've got a few people to learn bottom belaying. Ideally, everyone should know bottom belaying- it speeds up a canyoning group so much as trip leaders can attend to other tasks. The beginners did great with bottom belaying, even catching a few falls as a few people were having rough moments going round the edge. 

No one's first abseil will be perfect, and it's super common that everyone will get a few scratches here and there, usually around their knees and fingers. 

Station 2 is down this overhang, a really common feature in canyons. I'd say about 60-70% of canyoning abseils will involve some sort of overhangs. Everyone had a go at trying to pass overhangs except Vyom, who decided to go home. 

In overhangs, most beginners would struggle with the transition from walking down to descending through the air. Something that takes lots of practice to perfect. I've encouraged everyone to do the leap of faith, as it's usually the easiest, where they'll do a small leap off the wall and descend straight through. Those who're scared of heights can also use the knee method, where they'd go on their knees to work around the ledge and gently descend from there. There are usually lots of debates on abseiling techniques, but everything has its own pros and cons. Best thing to do is probably choose what you're most comfortable with, being aware of the pros and cons and being on the watch for anything that can potentially be dangerous. 

It's something that feels scary and in Empress Canyon, most, if not all, of the tourists would have an emotional episode going down the abseil. We did have a bit of an emotional episode, but she was very determined to conquer her fear of heights. With a lot of stressing out, she did eventually make it down. Everyone was quite efficient coming down this abseil- guess they're ready for proper canyons. 

Another point with beginners going into canyons is edge awareness. We try to do a bit of a canyon safety talk before everyone's first canyon, things like take a step back, no hopping no unsafe jumping no slips trips falls. In canyons, most edges are slippery and beginners getting very close to them are at a very high risk of falling through a big drop. It takes a bit of experience to build safe habits of staying off edges, and not something that comes automatically after a speech or lecture. Most canyoning beginners are seasoned bushwalkers, and it's usually something that comes naturally, as most people would've learnt about this at some stage through bushwalking. Issues with our beginners are still rare given our selection criteria, and with enough time, they will become good canyoners.