Route: Epic Blarney Loop (UT)

Epic Blarney Loop 3A

Safety Note: Slot canyons should always be approached with respect and research ahead of time, unlike a mountain where you can often just turn around, once you drop into a canyon, down through every obstacle is often the only way out.  Search and Rescue makes rescues from these canyons every season. KNOW BEFORE YOU GO! Rehearse before you run. (see this video)

Courtesy Note: These are used as beginner technical canyons. So during the main season they have many users learning canyons for the first time. Please plan for shoulder seasons, lower use days of the week (not weekends), and lower use times of day (early morning or last one through in the evening) for FKT efforts to be good representatives of the FKT community. No one needs you climbing over them in a slot canyon/ruining their experience. BE KIND. BE COURTEOUS.

The car-to-car "Epic Blarney Loop" is fun-filled challenge that the canyoneering community thought up to turn what would normally be two separate downhill canyon runs into a pretty rad loop. They propose, "Go UP East Blarney and DOWN West Blarney" the first crew to fashion this moniker adds "[we felt it] would be a great route to apply the label "Epic Blarney" to.  Try it, see what you think! I'm hoping it sticks." To the canyon-FKT-aficionado, the chance to upclimb  Road Trip Ryan claims West Blarney is the best canyon of the North Wash area, found south of Hanksville, Utah. Casually, it is slated to take 4 hours round trip.

The car-to-car lap to the speed-inclined-canyon adventurer...it is: 
Nature's Obstacle Course Race. All out. ~3 miles. car-to-car. In sand. 4th and easy-5th class obstacles on the way up East Blarney. Scramble up and over the use-trail to the 4th class downclimb corner into West Blarney. then crazy chimneys/stem problems and one biiiig drop (5.7+ish chimney, 15 meters) that you will want a rap or handline for on West Blarney. (Note: I regularly free solo 5.6-5.7 multipitch and I brought a handline, sandy chimneys...seems wise to back it up) Do your research and rehearse the route for a lap or two before trying with the gas pedal down.

If you do this it will be the most fun 5k-10k equivalent effort you do all year.

Further Research:
https://www.roadtripryan.com/go/t/utah/north-wash/blarney
http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?77257-Epic-Blarney-09-24-2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mfxkL9zYBw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCQMjc0tijc

Who's next?

by Jason Hardrath (Follow on IG or FB)