For Mary Pat Jones ’09, climbing Longs Peak (14,259 feet) in Rocky Mountain National Park was just the warm up for a week spent testing her mettle on foot, rope, bike and horseback. From the mountains of Colorado to the riding rings of her home state of Georgia, the third week in September was a busy one for the 20-year-old double major in economics and German.

The Black Canyon, near Estes Park, Colo.
The week revolved around a rappelling trip to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, a 1,500-foot-deep chasm near Estes Park, Colo. Her goal was to be the youngest person to tackle the Black Canyon, West Virginia’s New River Bridge (876 feet) and Mexico’s Sotano de las Golondrinas (1,100 feet).

Jones has been rappelling – more specifically, “vertical caving” – since she was 13 years old. It’s a relatively new sport, started in the 1950s by the “Father of Vertical Caving,” Bill Cuddington. “It was basically created so that people could descend into pits in the ground without damaging the walls,” Jones explained prior to her trip. “Caves are amazingly delicate, so rock climbing on cave walls would be devastating.”

Her economics books in tow, Jones traveled to Colorado with her parents and a small group of accomplished climbers. On the first day, they acclimated to the higher altitude with a six-mile-long recreational hike in Estes Park. Early the next morning, the team geared up, grabbed trekking poles and set off to hike Longs Peak.

Jones, impersonating Kenny from “South Park,” said she’s never been as cold as she was on Longs Peak.
“That was a really neat experience,” Jones said during her trip via e-mail. “We started up the trail at about 2:40 a.m. and hiked upward all morning long. It was necessary to start early to avoid the afternoon storms on the mountain. We went through many different types of weather, including wind, snow, sleet, and even big ice balls falling from the sky! Down below the tree line it was relatively warm, and by that I mean it wasn’t freezing, but above the tree line we were much more exposed to the elements and it was cold!”

Jones later offered a photo as evidence, one in which she is bundled up in a hooded orange parka like Kenny from “South Park.” “I’ve never been so cold in my life,” she said.

Look Mom, cell service! Jones took a few minutes to text message some friends near the summit of Longs Peak.
Although the icy conditions forced the party to turn back in sight of the summit, Jones did take time to enjoy the scenery and text message a few friends. “I had full service there, a completely full signal, so I text messaged people for about ten minutes,” she said, adding with a laugh that her dad chided her for text messaging in the Mt. Everest-like conditions. “[He said,] ‘This is not the time and place!’ ”

For three nights, Jones and her group stayed at the Stanley Hotel, the historic and allegedly haunted resort that inspired Stephen King’s “The Shining.” References to the spooky twins from the movie were endless, Jones said, as was good-natured ribbing from her father. “It was pretty scary,” Jones said. “My dad … for months, he’d say, ‘You know that place is haunted. You’re going to die, Mary Pat. The ghosts are coming to get you.’ ”

Specters aside, Jones’ real challenge was the Black Canyon. After rigging up ropes, she and her team would rappel down a cliff taller than the Empire State Building. From where they would descend, the Gunnison River snaked across the canyon floor like a narrow, emerald ribbon. Far across the canyon, ant-like rock climbers slowly zigzagged up the opposite rock face.

Despite the obvious similarities – rocks, ropes and potential for danger – Jones is quick to point out that she’s not a “rock climber.” Vertical caving differs significantly from the rock climbing pictured on inspirational posters and the glossy pages of outdoor magazines.

In vertical caving, she explained, ropes are designed to stretch as little as possible and specially designed “climbing systems” enable climbers to “descend into, and climb out of, places that could otherwise not be accessed by man without use of damaging, relatively dangerous equipment such as winches, cable ladders, and other interesting configurations.”

Jones prepares to descend into the Black Canyon.
Even with the assistance of high-tech gear and gravity, making a 150-story descent can be tedious. It also requires significant strength to feed 120 pounds of rope through the rappel rack, a ladder-like device through which the rope is woven. The heavier the rope is, the more friction, which can make descending problematic.

Jones took one bar off her rappel rack, which relieved some of the tension. “You can only take off so many bars before it’s dangerous that you could fall or lose control,” she said. “So, I took off my bottom bar, which wasn’t enough, and so I was literally picking up one-hundred-twenty pounds of rope and feeding it through the rack, which took forever, and my arm was so tired.”

“Forever” must be relative because the trip down the rock face took Jones about 20 minutes. The trip back up, however, was an arduous two hours. “[That’s] actually pretty good time, believe it or not,” she said, laughing.

On the way back up the cliff, Jones and her father alternated – she’d climb 50 feet, then he’d climb 50 feet – which gave her a chance to rest. The only problem with this scenario was falling rocks, particularly on the bottom 900 feet, where the climbers were closest to the rock face.

“The rock, it’s impossible not to touch it because you’re right up against it and you can’t climb without touching it, but when you do touch it, big chunks of rocks fall off onto the person below you,” Jones said. “So it made my job so hard because you have to push off with your finger into a spot that you can tell is not going to break off, and then quickly climb and then reach up to another spot.”

Eventually, Jones and her father made it safely back up to the top and bid the Black Canyon good riddance. “I don’t think that I would do the climb again until I forgot about that part,” Jones said of the precarious 900-foot section.

“And nobody did the climb twice. Everyone, once they climbed once they were satisfied. That doesn’t happen all the time. Usually, when you have the opportunity to climb more than once … you’ll do it, but it just wasn’t that pleasant. It was fun and I’m glad that I did it, but I don’t need to do it again anytime soon.”

One would think hiking a mountain and scaling a precipitous canyon would provide enough excitement for one week. Instead of relaxing on the couch, however, Jones went back home to Georgia, where she did a 75-mile bike ride. Last weekend, she also competed in a jumping contest on her horse, Halo.

The only unanswered question at this point should be: What are you doing next week?

Jones and her father, Bob.
The Stanley Hotel, inspiration for Stephen King’s “The Shining."
Also inspired by her stay at the Stanley Hotel, Jones takes a swing at her father with her rappel rack.
Jones contemplates the descent.
Jones sits on the edge of the Black Canyon.

– By Suzanne Ramsey, SBC staff writer