The Latest Rave is your resource for Utah Canyoneering know-how. From Utah canyon condition reports to narratives of mind-bending epics to wildflower sightings, you will find all the beta you need from Tom and his team on The Rave.
Ramoo was doing a prodigious (as usual) May trip, on which I was invited but, c'mon, this is my time to make hay, as in dough, so alas... But it was INSISTED I participate on one particular project, where certain chunks of metal were inserted in backcountry holes, rather unnecessarily, with our job to remove them and patch carefully with epoxy. Yes, dear friends, nothing like a little bolt removal to get ME motivated.
Read MoreIt was the last day of a 10 day trip for me. The previous days had been fantastic and today's agenda was to drop into a canyon Ram had heard rumors of. The story was that a pair of bolts were sitting near a tree at the end of the canyon but as to what was between where we would drop in and the final drop was pretty unclear.
Read MoreLess for the thrill and more for the fun, the Xcalante canyons have been calling me all winter. I watched the film “Gorging” and sweat through a portion of a man shuffling, scraping, and screaming through DDI. I don’t know what personality type looks at that and thinks “Huh.. I wanna do that..” but here I am.. With a particular weakness for trials of strength. And I love stemming. And a good downclimb or two. Silos and stretching? I wouldn’t use the word “love”..
Read MoreWent down to Escalante for a little Neon action. It being June and all, and a hot year to boot, and knowing Neon was dry dry dry; for this trip Mike Schasch and I convinced our guests that running daytrips out of a car-camp would be a much better plan than backpacking down
Read MoreIt was the project of others. Dan Ransom had been spying it for a few years. So had Rick Green. When I considered that they may be talking about the same canyon, I put them in touch with each other and proposed some dates.
Read MoreWent down to Escalante for a little Neon action with a delightful couple from Palo Alto, Xu and Xueshan, from whom I learned quite a bit about the Maoist Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, the period of Chinese history during which they both came of age.
Read More“How do you know an unexplored canyon is going to be good?”
Well, there are the obvious hints ...
Read MoreI think it is a little over two years since the three of us met for part of a wonderful trip down to Escalante. If I recall, part of the purpose was for Todd to try out his legs and head on harder canyons, in a safe (sorta) incremental way.
Read MoreFor me the approach really sucked... my full 5mm wetsuit weighs 6 pounds dry and it was still damp from the day before. On top of that, I was carrying a 100 foot, 8mm rope and 3 liters of water…
Read MoreI've been lured to Escalante before. I remember the first time I saw a photo of the Golden Cathedral, and I had to convince myself it was real. Anxious to see it myself, I recruited a few friends, and we set off to spend the day hiking and wandering, but without any ropes.
Read MoreWe'd seen some really good stuff, but it was weekend menu that really had me salivating. With a few hours to kill before making the approach hike down into Fence Canyon in the cool hours of the afternoon, we decided to make a half-day out of Egypt 2.
Read MoreAll this coincided with me finally biting the bullet and getting a digital SLR - so many of the shots here are my new rig, but I haven't read the instruction manual yet, so there's some degree of just plain playing around with it
Read MoreHead south again? Sure, why not. Escalante in the middle of July - uh, well.... Many people think because I am a "desert rat", that I do well in the heat. Not true!
Read MoreLet's jump right in... The Escalante River was up, so Ram and Hank had rigged a rope the night before. Now, early in the morning, most stripped naked to hand traverse the rope across the river, body hanging downstream in the current. It was cold. Better than coffee.
Read MoreWent down Escalante-way for Memorail Day. Crew was Alicia, Tom and Sharon Talboys, Tom Wetherill up from Tucson for the occasion, and Tom Jones (me) (a 3-Tom trip!).
Read MoreHere we are in the Escalante. Coyote Gulch is extremely popular, but actually, come to think of it, it never really felt crowded. Great thing about canyons, turn a couple of corners and you are there by yourself again.
Read MoreThe man with the white hands denies responsibility for all that occurs on our last day in the Escalante, when fate had ordained our encounter with the dreaded canyon, Nasty Ass.
Read MoreAnother morning, another early start, another day humping the pack through some wonderful terrain. Today’s objective was the mysterious Moe Slot, an unusual find I had not heard of before. It promised cold swims, strenuous climbing and beautiful sandstone slots.
