Participant agreement

Overview

Welcome to the 2024 PNW Canyon Rendezvous - a gathering of independent canyoneers in the South Cascades! We are so excited to bring together a community from all regions and share our canyons with you. This is a community event, hosted by volunteers, and we want to make sure everyone clearly understands their roles and responsibilities to set this event up for success.

Your hosts

The Rendezvous is hosted by local volunteer canyoneers who have extensive knowledge of the canyons and are deeply connected to the community. Our job is to organize campground activities like workshops, pot-lucks, and social events, as well as serve as a resource for those who are new to the area. 

Your hosts have also created a risk management plan for the event, including recruiting volunteer leaders who have experience leading others in our canyons.

Leaders

The canyon leaders and assistant leaders are volunteers who are excited to share our canyons with others. They are not acting as guides, nor are they necessarily trained as guides. Their job is to facilitate a canyon descent, with the expectation that all participants fulfill their participant responsibilities as listed below. Canyon leaders reserve the right to make the decision to not take a group member for any reason they see fit. 

Participant responsibilities

All participants, including leaders, are responsible for reading and agreeing to the responsibilities outlined below.

Each canyoneer is responsible for their own safety throughout the entirety of the event.

Registration & Camping

Transportation

You are responsible for providing your own transportation to and from the event as well as getting to the canyons. All canyons are accessible via passenger vehicles although it helps to have AWD/4WD. Plan to drive on dirt/gravel roads with occasional potholes. Most canyons will require carpooling due to limited parking. If you are not willing to carpool, you may be limited in the choices you have for canyons. Carpools for each canyon/group will be determined by the group before each canyon, not by the leaders or event volunteers.

Food

You are responsible for providing your own food, including storage, bowls, plates, utensils, stoves, and any other gear needed for preparation.

You will have the option of joining a pot-luck one night, with the knowledge that no one - not even the event hosts - are monitoring food preparation or safety.

You are responsible for ensuring that the food you bring into the canyon:

Self-Assessment

You are responsible for an honest self-assessment of your canyoning experience. You are responsible for using the following charts, and disclosing your experience objectively and honestly.

Overall Experience

Your overall experience in both dry and aquatic environments is an important factor.

Aquatic Canyoning Experience

Due to the aquatic nature of our Pacific Northwest canyons, it’s important that you also provide an honest self-assessment of your canyoning training and experience in the aquatic canyoning environment, meaning canyons that would have been rated a3 / Class C or higher at the time of your descent.

You are also responsible for disclosing to the hosts injuries or health concerns (both acute and chronic) that would impact your ability to travel safely in an aquatic canyon environment, or would impact treatment in the event of a medical emergency or evacuation.

You are responsible for being able to independently swim 50 feet in light current with and without flotation, with and without a pack, and with and without canyon gear.


Canyon Preparation

You are responsible for making informed decisions about the canyon trips you choose to join, both ahead of time and on the day of the trip. This includes:

You are responsible for supplying your own personal canyon gear, including harness, helmet, whistle, canyon descender, ascending gear, closed-toed shoes with sticky rubber soles, and wetsuit (minimum 5mm on the core) or drysuit.

You are responsible for bringing a headlamp into the canyon.

You are responsible for bringing a first aid kit or ensuring there is a group first aid kit in the canyon.

Canyon Behavior

You are responsible for playing an active teammate role in the canyon. This includes:

Participants, including Leaders and Assistant Leaders, who are under the influence of alcohol or marijuana (which includes use of it within 6 hours), or whose behavior is altered by over-the-counter or prescription drugs will not be allowed to join a canyon team that day.

General Behavior

You are responsible for contributing to a welcoming and respectful space throughout the event. This includes:

The following behavior is prohibited, and will result in the removal of the individual who committed the behavior from the remaining canyon rosters of the event: