Rappelling Off Wilson Arch Near Moab

I've been over in Moab in eastern Utah for the past couple days with five other climbing guides from Front Range Climbing Company. We were guiding a group of 30 teenagers from Indian Head Camp in northeastern Pennsylvania on a canyoneering adventure through the Medieval Chamber, culminating with a rappel off Morning Glory Bridge.

This morning I headed over with three of the guides to Wall Street to climb some sandstone routes in the morning sun. After three hours of climbing, however, we were spent by the heat and fled south on U.S. 191 from Moab to Wilson Arch, which lies almost 2,000 feet and 10 degrees cooler than Moab.

Wilson Arch, with a window 91 feet wide and 46 feet high, is a spectacular arch that rises above the highway and one of Utah's most accessible and visible arches. Our plan was to climb an easy route up a narrow fin to the flat summit of the arch and then simul-rappel, which is when two climbers rappel together on strands of rope draped off either side of the arch.

A great and airy time was had by all and, of course, the foreign tourists in the parking area below snapped lots of photos to take back to show the folks in Frankfurt and Amsterdam. We rappelled safely by tying stopper knots in the ends of the ropes, rappelling with rappel devices backed up with autoblock knots, and double-checking our rappel rig before sliding over the edge.

To learn more about rappelling, read my comprehensive articles about rappelling:
Learn How to Rappel
6 Essential Rappelling Skills
What Can Go Wrong Rappelling
4 Knots for Rappelling
Essential Rappelling Equipment

Photograph above: (Top) Cliff and Lee swinging freely from Wilson Arch. (Bottom) Logan and Isaac simul-rappelling in a semi-choreographed aerial ballet on Wilson Arch in southeastern Utah. Photographs © Stewart M. Green.