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.
My oh my. This is some seriously messed up stuff. More deserving of profanity than Mr. Cobain's personal torment, but since I've had a couple days and movies to get extracted from the evil madness of Warren Jeffs, I can speak without profanity. But first, what this movie is NOT about...
Read MoreWhile my range of movie genres is large, sex comedies are not usually within my circle of interest. Something about being a frustrated guy of a certain age, I kinda don't need more stimulation in that arena. But I got a ticket for this one so...
Read MoreOh my Heck. This is some seriously f***ed up shit! Told via the stuff found in Cobain's archive - journals (he kept tons of journals), home movies, concert footage, tasteful and sparse interviews with bandmates, mother father and sister, old girlfriends and the widow... developed into a tight, amazing, crazy (as in, clinical), extremely personal look inside the life and mind of Kurt Cobain.
Read MoreSecond movie of the year is this drama from Lithuania. Laura Dahl and Shelley Carver joined me for this one. Here are Laura's impressions:
I knew nothing about the film before arriving at the theater. In fact, I wasn't even sure of the title of the movie - this is what happens when someone else does all the planning for your first Sundance Film experience...Read More
When dogs look upon us, they look upon us as like Gods... and we are white (at least, in Hungary); thus "White God" What an amazing film, and so hard, deliberately, to characterize. Coming of age film? Check! Eleven year old Lili is pushed off to live...
Read MoreYes, it is still winter. After a few days of rain, we were psyched to go sneak another canyon in, and also psyched for a lazyish start, given the festivities the night before, Amanda and Kat's going away party in advance of their coming-up-fast South Africa adventure. The day was grey and not all that warm. The plan was to do Lower Lower Echo...
Read MoreFor this adventure, my two favorite and best canyoneering partners, Amanda Josephine Jessop and Bailey Camille Schofield. THEY went skiing and boarding the previous day, so *I* got to play the man this time, carrying the 300' rope up the hill, holding open doors, helping with seatbelts, etc.
Read MoreThe idea was to sneak in one more good canyon before the weather hit, and Diana really wanted Kolob, so we scheduled a trip Monday Tuesday, hiking out the narrows and... And then it snowed. Plenty of snow up top, so Kolob was not going to be a good choice. Second choice...
Read MoreZion. Tabernacle Dome. A fine easy climb before pigging out on Thanksgiving victuals. What an amazing fall we have been having. The warm, sunny weather has persisted, and it seems our obligation to take advantage. Tabernacle Dome (or Turtle Rock) seemed like a good choice for a pre-feast romp - half-day, not too far, mostly just fun fun fun.
Read MoreCanyoneering? It is getting kinda cold at night, but the fine weather in Zion National Park is holding so, when someone mentioned that ropes were hanging on the last rap in Not-Imlay, we thought we would throw together a trip and go get ‘em sooner rather than later. Invites went out and were quickly returned - guess more people than me have a touch of the cabin fever. Weekday travel would allow driving into Zion Canyon. Sweet temps would allow a reasonable start.
Read MoreFrank from Colorado was paying his first canyoneering visit to Zion, and wanted to get in a "big boy" before escaping, so Amanda suggested Kolob. While it is kinda long day, it would be less tortuous than our last couple of days out - sounds good. I drove over to Lava Point and camped in the cool of the high altitude, while Frank and Amanda drove up early in the morning.
Read MoreWe were in Ouray for Wayne and Laura's wedding, which went well. Ira invited me on an exploration - Wetterhorn Creek - presumably because he knew I enjoyed suffering -- certainly not for my uphill speed. Also on the team was Chris Hood from Salt Lake and Lori Shindel from Denver. We drove up the Cow Creek "road", which was an adventure in itself. Glad it was Ira's brand new well-insured Tacoma, rather than a lesser vehicle. Parked among the big trees at 8300 feet. From there, the trail went UP!
Read MorePart of the heat is to chose one's adventures carefully. In this case, we kinda did, kinda didn't. The idea was to check out an "easier" approach to a canyon Kip explored about 10 years ago, as the original approach we took was long and tedious. Would the new approach be short and easy enough? Would the canyon be good enough to make it worth the walk?
Read MoreHeaps - the Big Kahuna! What a great canyon. I got the opportunity to do it three times this year - and this is the one where a bunch of pictures got taken. A mellow trip put together by Deeps, with Brian Olliver, Louis Johnson, Everett Boutillet and myself. Two days in the middle of the summer - LOTS of daylight. With the canyon full from recent thunderstorms, and a strong team... SHOULD be no problem. (Pictures this Rave from the whole team!)
Read MoreIn this kind of heat, even in Zion it is hard to find reasonable objectives. We chose Checkerboard with an early start. Skipping along Dakota Ridge in the early morning light was the plan... and we got some of that.
Read MoreWhat is NOT-Hidden? Why, conspicuous of course. My friend Rick Thompson had attempted Hidden Canyon from the Top last fall, and due to navigational difficulties found him and his companions in a nearby canyon, thus the name... well actually, it already had a name, Grotto Canyon, and was listed in my book with the line "I did it, so you don't have to".
Read MoreMost (sane) people try to avoid the MIA Exit as much as possible. But, there is a pretty nice canyon that parallels it, and I wanted to check that out, so I recruited Diana from ZAC for a casual run through. Since she had not exited up the MIA, this would be a good chance for her to get her first go at it without carrying all that much weight.
Read MoreWent off to do Dead Eye Dick with Amanda from Zion Adventures on Thursday. Since I had not done the one-car approach, and needed to for the website, WE (as in I) decided to do it that way, by starting down The Narrows, then climbing up a side-canyon to get to the top of the canyon. No problem.
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