Rantings and ravings

lounging at work in my new purple cords.

2012-01-22T16:55:00.001-08:00

So comfy!

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yet again setting late.

2012-01-17T22:54:00.001-08:00

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Finishing up a day at work.

2012-01-14T21:12:00.001-08:00

Boys are all put to bed. Just doing sweeps and a little relaxing in between.

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comp setting continues .

2012-01-13T22:45:00.001-08:00

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my other job.

2012-01-13T09:55:00.001-08:00

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Adam Lawton

2012-01-12T11:41:00.000-08:00

Last week my boss, mentor, and good friend passed away while back country skiing up in British Columbia, Canada. In the last week the amount of people that have come together in so many different situations to honor him. The net that he cast covered an amazing amount of people that run in so many different social circles that wouldn't otherwise have any relation. He open to everyone and treated everyone the same with dignity. Your were the truly the most interesting person in that moment.

On a personal side of things his belief in me and my abilities was far beyond my own. He was always setting me up to be successful at work and building my confidence in what ever the task was.

It is very bitter sweet to me that through his passing I have been able to move up in my job. Due more to how he set me up at work while he was still alive then in his passing. It has caused a big shift in my life and forced me to step into a role that I never thought I would be in.

Adam, you know the effect you have had on the people that you met during your life. The number of students that have come through Gateway Academy and been able to have you as a mentor and role model. You will be missed. I'm glad that you went the way you did. It wouldn't have been fitting any other way.

Rivers run and rivers yet to be run.

2012-01-11T11:23:00.000-08:00

My brother Matt

The Redfish inlet going off!!!

A section I saw when I was in Spain that looked like this for 15 miles.Matt dropping the waterfall in the Zion Narrows.

Wilderness fun.

2012-01-11T11:16:00.000-08:00

A video from when I used to work Wliderness Therapy.

Undone project.

2012-01-11T11:12:00.000-08:00

This is a splitter in a secret bouldering area that some friends and I found outside of Moab,UT.

I'm Back!

2012-01-11T10:51:00.000-08:00

I have recently acquired a computer and thus will be posting again.

Work weekend in Great Basin National Park.

2010-09-27T20:35:00.001-07:00

We took the boys to Great Basin National Park this weekend and got them to summit Whealer peak. The tallest peak in Nevada at 13,063 feet.

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Injury at inopportune time.

2010-03-09T10:40:00.000-08:00

So my finger started to hurt after setting for the Valentines comp here in SLC. We had nobody to front run any of the problems and I over did it trying to do 70ish problems after setting for 16 hours. I feel now like i may have a partially torn pulley in one of my fingers. I am still training on free weights and cardio the finger is getting better quickly but not fast enough.
I was approached by a lady in the gym the other day and she asked me if I was training for anything in particular. I told her I was training myself and trying to get sponsorship from somewhere. She and I talked a while about it. Turns out she has a company that focuses on training athletes and they are looking to move into training more extreme style sports. So I am going in to have a consultation and possible get a sort of sponsorship from this company to have them train me and help me focus they way that I train to push my level of climbing/ kayaking and possible gain sponsorship elsewhere.
I'm still working on mountain guiding this summer as well. I just sent off my work schedule of the days I cannot work and now it is just a waiting game to see if it will work out.
Other news is that I was approached about being a body double in a film about the climber Aron Rolston(the guy that cut off his own arm) I got to meet Daniel Boyle(Slum dog Millionaire director) as well as hang out with James Franco(pineapple express, Spiderman) I got some misinformation at one point and was told I had the part. Alas it was not meant to be. I was and inch and a half to short.it was a cool experience either way.(I'm actually relieved that I did not get it.)As well the people whom approached me about the movie also had me take body shots of my torso. It is for some soccer thing out of Italy. At first my though was no thank you but then they said if I where to get it I would be going on some sort of tour to different places in the world. Free world tour for being in shape? Hmmmmmm, OK I could do that.
Still waiting to hear back on that.
That is life. I am ready to climb outside and float rivers and just be.

Prespective

2010-02-24T15:34:00.000-08:00

So last night I went to the Banff film festival last night. It turned out to be one of the best that I have seen in all the years I have been going. There where the usual visually stimulating and awe inspiring films that are pushing the limits of whatever sport was being showcased. There where two films that hit me The first was about a solo sea kayaker that attempted to cross from Austrailia to New Zealand via the Tazman sea. It was mind blowing and very hard to watch as he had to spend all day in that cockpit and even sleep in it. He made it all the way there surviving a storm with 30-40 foot waves and 70 mph winds only to capsize 30 kilometers from shore and drown.
The other film that struck me was about a gentleman whom used to climb pretty strong but had an accident that partially parallized the right side of his body. He came back to an area he helped develope when he was younger. He did one route and that was cool, but it was more his prespective of life now. For instence he was talking about the friends he had made in his life and how the ones he made in his twenties climbing where the ones that stayed the closest and formed the strongest bonds. Now I am not out of my twenties but I can already sense what he is talking about. Those that I have spent a lot of time on the rock or in the water with I have a much tighter bond and more of a longing to be around moving in what ever endevor we might be connected through. This isn't to say that those I was close to in high school and previous to it are not my great friends but I do not feel a strong connection with them in the same sense.

AMGA bound?

2010-02-17T15:03:00.000-08:00

SO I have been in contact with a few old friends whom own a mountain guiding service in the Sawtooth mountain range in central Idaho. It is not a for sure thing yet but things look positive that I will be working with them as a grunt at first of coarse. That is life in the guiding indestry. Anyways, if it works out I will be back in southern and central Idaho for the summer season guiding in the Sawtooth range, the City of Rocks and after a few other places. In a few years I could possible be leading back country ski trips in the Sawtooth's as well. One of the other coolest things about this gig is that I would learn how to build Yurts from scratch. It is side gig that one of the owners does so they can go from yurt to yurt in the winters. It is not for sure yet but still pretty exciting either way.
Other then that I'am totally primed to send some hard routes this coming season and cannot wait till the water starts to flow because I think my training will transfer over to kayaking very well. I have been training my core very intensely. Bring on the sunshine!

Its starting to feel a lot like SPRING!!!!

2010-02-09T09:43:00.000-08:00

So though it still snows and is still cold there seems to be a change coming very soon. At least that is what I'am hoping for. My training continues even though I am going nuts on plastic. I am consistently doing at least three V10's per session even on my sloppy tired days. I feel great about this coming season and am very excited to be heading to Idaho just about every weekend to boat and climb hard.

Ah to be psyched and fully commited.

2010-01-20T13:48:00.000-08:00

So I have no new pictures or really inspirational stories just a quick update. This last fall one of my river guiding buddies and very good friend moved in with me. He is one Derek Herndon from Florida. Derek is new to the climbing world and is really excited about climbing. Thus I told him that I would climb with and help him in training. He is on the slow but steady rise to becoming a good climber. By spring time he will very likely have gone from a V0-V2 climber to a V5-V6 climber. A huge jump in ratings. There has also been a great side effect for me. I am really psyched on climbing again. More so then I have been in years. I am full on training to send hard at bouldering right now. As I am at this moment I am sending most V10's with in three goes if not flashing them. I have a pretty rigid schedule of which my job is a vital part because it forces me to take two to three days of rest. I have a good friend whom is acting as a sort of personal trainer. She has me doing some crazy workouts that are a great help. The craziest is that she has me standing on swiss balls(exercise ball) and using free weights. So thats the short of it. I feel healthy, happy, and excited.

HI

2009-10-17T22:50:00.000-07:00

I still live, I still love, and I am still alive. One day I will throw down a real post. Life is good and crazy. That is all.

It is true

2009-09-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

I am still alive.

2009-06-05T09:23:00.000-07:00

So with the time off i have had this past week it was time to play. So myself and good friend Carson Workman loaded up his van and headed to Jackson Hole to get wet in the whitewater. We spent most of the time running the Gros Ventre (Grow Vaunt)it was running higher then it had run since the 1990's from what I kept hearing around town. Just a fun rolly bouncy splashy fun section with big holes every few hundred feet.
We also met up with some of my very good friends that are working in Jackson for the summer to run the Hoback section. Now this would have been one boring section but we didn't know what we were getting into. We had 16 paddlers with us and many of them novices. Now the entire section is only 2 miles long averaged out we had 4 swimmers per mile. It certainly made it an interesting run. Good practice at gathering people and gear.
The next day we made one run at the Gros Ventre then headed over to run the Greys which was pumping huge! We met up with some locals that we met a half hour before. Got the shuttle squared away and geared up. Now they were all pulling their creek boats off their cars and looked over to see me slide my playboat out of the back of the van. With slightly preplexed looks on their faces they asked are you going to run it in that. To which I replied "yeah, left my creek boat in SLC." We put on and the section was good real good. We got down to Snaggletooth the IV+ V- every body knowing their lines. them going right, right, right. My line right, hard left, left. Not what happened. They stuck their lines for the most part. I on the other hand we right got flipped rolled and then hit the big wave in the middle that I most wanted to avoid. After a few seconds of side surfing and sliding back into the meat of the hole I was able to grab bit of green water and bounce out into the boulder garden. One of the locals named Snug looked at me and asked if I stayed on my line or if I got worked. I got worked.

Some time to myself.

2009-05-30T15:08:00.000-07:00

So I finally got some time and warm weather to play for myself instead of others and it has been fantastic. Wed I spent a few hours bouldering on some solid routes. Sent two V10's and just played a lot on fun stuff. Thursday after setting in the morning I met up with my brother and his girlfriend and went to AF and played on some good old twelves. Fri I met up with a bunch of buddies and we made the trek to central Utah to fun the Left fork of the Hunington. A very fun log choked scout every corner steep slides type of IV+ section. I got worked in one particular rapid where you had to make a right to left move under a log suspended over the river. Didn't make the move hard enough and flipped in the hole. Upside down and down the 100 foot slide I went tearing my dry top and bruising my back. This morning was supposed to be north face of Olympus day but the late start diverted us else where to a good multi-pitch of good 5.9-10a.

Freedoms

2009-05-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

So I haven't posted in a while and I apologize for that. I haven't really felt I had much to say.
Life is good right now. It is steady and out of control all in the same moment. I am working at Gateway academy which is keeping me busy with a steady pay check as well as river guiding in Moab. Thus the "out of control." The commute is a little interesting with not having a vehicle. I am glad to say that this will be a very good money year for me due to the amount of work that I have lined up for this summer. A few trips here and there in southern Utah as well as a few trips up on the Salmon in Idaho. I am headed out to New York for a short visit to see a good friend that will be there for the summer.
The cherry on top though is my trip to Spain in August. Myself with a few friends are headed over to take the deep plunge with some deep water soloing in Mallorca. We will spend some time in Barcelona as well. It will be two weeks of culture and heights over the Mediterranean. Soon after returning to the states will be the annual Poci Pump with my very good friends from Idaho.
I am happy and content with life.

Quick up date.

2009-04-09T12:11:00.001-07:00

Sorry it has been so long there just hasn't been that much going on. Just the usual. On the new end of things I have been dating a girl for two months now. Spring keeps teasing us and it is driving me crazy. I have the biggest desire to quit my job and go play. Climbing wise I am sending in the v11 v12 range due to setting and climbing at the front. It is time to be outside on the goods of real rock. Many kayaking trips in the works for this spring. next week I will be on Cataract canyon running a trip.
That is life.

Back to The Front.

2009-02-05T14:34:00.001-08:00

So the other day my old boss at the front sent me a text about extending the dormers on his roof sometime this spring. So I went to his place and looked at them told him what it would take. We chatted for a while about this and that. He then asked if I wanted to help out setting at The Front again. I told hem I could do that so I am setting the front once again. Nice to have it feel like my gym again. My shoulder is still keeping me from doing to much and my tendon is still and irritation.
As well I will be helping here and there with building some new gyms. One in Heber, UT. The new Ogden gym as well if it goes through the new Boise Front.

This place never fails to amaze.

2009-02-01T08:43:00.000-08:00

So I have been in Moab for the last week just hanging out with some good friends and kicking it. Yesterday the whole group of us headed down river road almost to Gold Bar a little ways above the put in to Cataract canyon. We parked the car and headed up this little side canyon of which I had never been nor had I ever thought that it could contain anything unique. I should know by now that those are the places that will have the most in them.
It started out just as a normal hike up a creek bed and the canyon quickly boxed in at the end. If you didn't know it was there you would never find this little cattle trail cut into the cliff side that ran up to the rim of the canyon. It was only about 3 feet across but quit nice for hiking. At the top of the canyon wall was another large cliff as you can imagine. We followed the base of this cliff to find many peteroglyphs and the remains of some very large dwellings. One of the dwelling even had a old trash pile near it that you could sift through and find old pieces of maze cob and shards of flint among other random trash. We spent several hours just exploring this area searching up and down small draws and unknowingly rousing several young bucks which the dogs gleefully chased.
We all settled upon a good sized sandstone dome covered in the cobble stones from when the river flowed there. We all enjoyed the great amusement that comes with a properly rolled rock. Watching it as it trundled and bounced its way following the contours of the sandstone.
After hiking back we all rounded up some sort of food to eat. At this point my good friend Levi Kepsil allowed me to use him as my first test subject to ink. I did the outline of a Buddha with a mohawk on the inside of his wrist. All things considered with this being my first time inking human flesh It went really well. It took me a bit to figure out the depth so that the ink would take but once I did it went smooth. It looks much more professional then many tattoos I have seen done by people whom have been inking for a while. Pictures will be posted once I get it filled in a all finished. It is a great mental image getting a tattoo in a trailer park style trailer in Moab by someone who has never tattooed human flesh before while a move about LARPER"S( Live Action Roll Players) was playing.

Oh the urge and how it is hard to combat.

2009-01-30T08:58:00.000-08:00

So thus far the year of 2009 has been one of injury. A few weeks ago I went with my father up skiing at Alta ski resort. Now my father is working on fine tuning his turns attempting to improve so that he may be able too join his sons in their exploits. Which is fantastic we love having him. On this particular day we where riding the lift to take our first run of the day. Chatting as we rode in the 15 or so degree weather I was giving him a few pointers on how to turn without using as much upper body. He retorted that today he was going to work on his turns and just take it nice and mellow.
We slide off the chair and gained velocity as we headed down the slope. I figured he will work on his turns I will just cruise and do my thing. At one point I looked back to see where he was at. Which happened to be a little ways back. At this same moment I noticed a kicker on the left side of the run as I was on the right. Picturing myself in the air and through the trees drew me to the left. Which in turn just happened to be the moment that my father decided that he was going to b-line it and go for speed. I have never in my life hit someone so hard while skiing. I didn't even see him till I was making contact. His ski's where left ear where I stood, his poles a little farther down the slope followed by his gloves and so one till the trail led to my very stunned looking father. My first reaction was for his back. it had been tight on him the last week or two. I though that I had just crippled my father.
I merely stood up just fine and brushed himself off. We collected his belongings and off we went. This is when I noticed that my shoulder felt a little tender. I thought it was just a flare up of another injury I had had with my shoulder when I was in high school. Yet the same remedy was not working to bring relief. Turns out I have separated my shoulder and still to this day nearly three weeks later it is still very tender. I can do anything I was able to before but I am trying to baby it as to not make it worse.
Injury #2: Just a normal day climbing not doing anything out of the ordinary. Bouldering in the Momentum climbing gym circuiting and doing 4x4's. I decided to try a problem that had been spitting me off but would go with a few tries. I pulled off the ground and slid my heal in for the first heal hook and pulled. Now it wasn't a loud "I just tore something pop!" Merely a "Oh Crap, this is going to be soar for a while!" pop.
So as it stands I can ski and climb and do any of those fun things that drive me in life. And God knows that I want to yet I am fighting the urge with great diligence.

Nastalgia of music

2009-01-11T20:25:00.000-08:00

As of late I have been visiting a lot of old places in my head. Much of the music that I have randomly ended up listening to over the past few weeks has taken me back to different moments and places. For instance I happened upon "The undone sweater song" by Weezer the other day. Now admittedly not my favorite band. Yet, that song brings back to mind one particular day. Not a special day by any means but it was when I was in 7th grade and late for school. My sister Kristen was the one that got the honor of escorting me in our old truck named "Tony the tiger." Undone came on the radio and stuck with me.
The music inspires feelings that would otherwise be lost and that is one of my favorite aspects of music.
The music that has brought these feelings the most as of late are one of my absolute favorite bands The Push Stars. Listening to their album "Paint the town" takes me back to my first year as a river guide. One evening after finishing a daily my self and a group of guiding rookies decided to drive to Telluride for the bluegrass festival. There was Carson Workman, the driver. Amy Lawsen, the Canadian. Lindsey, Carson's girl friend at the time. Carrie Porter, Carson's unbeknown st to him future wife. Lorenzo McGregor, whom is 6'7" 320lbs and myself. Crammed into Carson's Jeep for the two hour ride. Arriving after dark we proceeded to to sneak into as best we could to the concert. My first time seeing Spearhead Micheal Franti. Crashing someones campsite inadvertently. The next day cruising through the beautiful ski town in spring. Taking the chance at a hippie bath in the freshly melted snow of a creek. This is the trip that I was introduced to the Push Stars. They became the Anthem band for that summer. from beginning to end. The salmon river holds more memories of that album then any other place does any other album.

Snow patriots.

2008-12-26T17:59:00.000-08:00

Another Christmas bringing the same feelings of family dread. This was turning out to be a traditional Christmas of five minutes of socializing then disappearing into the bowels of what ever structure I happen to be being held captive in. This year was a little different in that there where far fewer siblings due to work schedule.
After the traditonal festivities my eldest brother and I vacated the premisiss to hes domicile in Sugar House, Salt lake City. The night brought alot of very mellow fun. Starting with Phillep whom is in town from Hunigton beach, California. We shot the breeze for a whaile before stepping out into the heave snow fall that would bring more then a foot of snow to most of the valley. We headed out to the house some of Phill's high school buddies. After much chatting and stories of a good friend whom passed many years past we stepped once again into the now shin deep snow to meet up with more of the crew that Matt(my eldest brother) lives with. A very good jam session between Matt and Phill and a few more hours later we set out on cross country skis through the streets of Sugar House long about midnight My self adorned in my verywarm puffy coat an American flag so Haus(one of Matts room mates) could get some photos in the flakes and street lights. Upon arriving at Mo's house and gorging our selves on left overs and watching youtube clips of the 1981 Disney cult classic(the group I was currently with being the cult) Condor Man. Once the gorging and distubance of Mo's family ended slidding once again through the clam flakes back to my brothers residence for more conversation and live music to wind down the night as we all trickeled off to our corners to slumber.

Old stomping grounds.

2008-12-17T14:31:00.000-08:00

Then new paint job of a year and a half old hiding the adventures of my many hours spent grunting, sweating, chalking, and throwing is the first thing to catch my eye as I walk through a door from my memory. I haven't been here for coming up on nearly a year and a half to two years. I take it in as the youth playing the same games that I played at their age. Showing the testosterone that there bodies are just starting to produce. Going for the biggest most aggressive moves to try and grab attention. As for myself I am lured now by the smoothest most graceful lines. Making the moves as fluidly as my out of shape oxygen deprive muscles will allow. For me it has been a while since I have moved with any distinguishable steadiness due to a good year on the river and an injury to boot. My session today began around 4:30pm. A slower time where the mothers and fathers are just finishing there circuits before the rush of youth and strength ascend to send.
The group that is the influence of each and every line in this place starts to assemble. Dressed in their down and beanies soon to be removed to reveal the liberating attire of free movement. People like Chris, Luke, Amy, and many others in this very unique and diverse group. Some of these characters have been around these valley since I was the awe struck punk kid the inspired. There are also a few older faces that I used to spend nights creating with to keep the masses intrigued and satisfied. Sometimes we would be in this place with a fresh canvas just cleaned by the those thirsty to drink what we will create for the cricus that will be coming to town to showcase their talents. 24 hours of twisting and tweaking tightening an removing. One hold father will make the movement work just right.
The mood almost changes like people changing shifts at work. Exactly as I remember it when I was the most permanent fixture here. The light outside goes down as the chalk content in the air rises. It is time to send. In one night I would send all but five of the lines the place has to offer. Hitting the point of failure but not satisfied resting and doing it again. At one point I looked up and watched through the air filled chalk and watched and was transported back to age 22. This place was my home I just slept somewhere else. Getting re acquainted with more then just old friends, the way my body moved on this wall was just like a reunion. 5 hours later its is time to leave. This trip to The Front climbing club was the best session of climbing I have had in a long time.

2008-12-04T10:51:00.000-08:00

The top is of me in a suit. It happens about once a decade. the bottom is one of my self portoraits at cedar breaks by Cedar City.

Corey your the greatest.

2008-12-04T10:37:00.000-08:00

Corey King helped me figure it out through a round about way.

Technologically retarded

2008-12-04T07:58:00.000-08:00

So you may or may not laugh at me for this but, I have been trying to figure out how to send photos from my phone to my blog and cannot figure it out. Would someone help me in this. I have many good funny and gorgious photos just waiting to go on to the old blog.

So?

2008-11-25T14:12:00.000-08:00

Well, I am sitting in SLC a.k.a. Salt lake city at my parents house. Hanging out for thanks giving. My fingers are finally back to where I can climb on them so I have been getting out and vertical quit a bit lately. Though I am so very out of climbing shape it is good to be moving again.
The Mancation to Mexico was a smashing success I would have pictures but I found out on the trip that my camera battery was completely dead. So I will have to track some down to post. It was just a good time with friends and shuffle board, snorkeling, waterfalls, natives, late night dancing, bingo, five course meals, and yours truely dressed up in a suit.
This past weekend I went to Boise to do a bit of scouting to decide if I want to move there. Do I? Yes. Am I? Unfortunately no. The economy has slammed the job market up there. Thus I will not at this time be moving to Boise.
My tattoo guns came in the mail and I am really excited to learn how to operate them and start to ink people.

Huh.

2008-10-26T22:03:00.000-07:00

For some reason I cannot seem to sleep tonight. One of those nights that your mind decides that it would much rather spend hours doing laps around the inside of your brain banging pots and pans every time you close your eyes.
I have been down in Moab for quit some time now in a very confined world considering I am in moab where the world is your play ground. A typical day for me is to get up between 7:30 and 9am and wander down to where the Hazelets are building their house. Like saturday I got to spend 10 hours on a 8/12 pitch 30 some odd feet up shingling. My body is still reeling from it.
I am restricted in my travels at the moment even if it is just heading out to go and boulder because I recently sold my car. Other then working on the house I ride my bike a lot and read. Working out is one of my usual past times. I have come up with a few more of my ideas of things to do. As whom people may know I get a lot of them. For instance I have been doing a lot of drawing lately. More specifically tattoo designs for my own amusement of using my creativity. As well as for others to have a little bit of my slightly different prospective on things permanently inked into their skin. Doing so and thinking "Huh, now I am designing these tattoos for my friends and they are going to take them in and pay someone else to put it on them. They are going to pay good money for it to. So I have been pricing tattoo guns and all of the fun little things that come along with a gun so that I can just design and ink people myself.
Also even though winter is on the verge of sliding into its cozy little recliner like it is ready to watch a long and slow movie (A chick flick of course) that I am not really that escited about. Though I did just finish watching a few ski movies which helped a little to give me something to look forward to. Mostly I am not looking forward to another year fighting to keep the happy juices i.e. serotonin flowing. Up to this point I have done really well at fighting of the abominable depression monster. He isn't quit as love able as the abominable snow man. Yet I definitely feel him behind me. He keeps winking at me and it is creeping me out. Back to the point that I was making when I entered into this rant about the winter. Seeings how I have recently sold my auto mobile I am pondering what my next form of transportation will be. Even with the snow on its way I am leaning towards a motorcycle.
In the spring I am going to be taking a course on how to build bicycle frames in Ashland, Oregon. I want to build custom bikes. Like the tattooing I want is as a little something something that keeps me cruising on a creative level. A good outlet.
Pondering on my future I have become more firm on the path that I want to take. I want to become AMGA certified. Now going for your AMGA is as hard as going for a PHD and twice as expensive. So I am going another route to being able to afford and support myself during. I have decided and laid out a time table. In approx. just shy of a year I am going to enter into the largest move of my life thus far I am going to become a helicopter pilot. It will pay well and allow for a single fellow that lives very simply such as me to live happily just about anywhere I would want. It will also allow me to afford my quest to become AMGA cert. This wll allow me one more year of the guiding the river before I dive into it all.
In one week I will be in Mexico on a Mancation with a few friends. Then i have to make my decision on what I am going to be doing for the winter. Cedar City or Boise. Recently I was also offered a decent paying gig in SLC building Climbing walls with good pay. Cedar and SLC would be much better money wise, but I as you when has money been something I have wanted to be wise about? My heart leans toward boise. It is a town that I seem to fit in pretty well seeing how I don't really do the church thing that the vast majority of my core group of friends in SLC do. It has a very strong up and coming climbing community that is really phsyced. There are a few kayaking spots that run year round and people that will boat year round, more then the one or two in SLC. Cedar would be fun and amazing I would most likely be able to get my EMT out of the way. Or I could fall back into my same old groove in SLC which is why I do not want to go back there.
This summer has been a great summer as a single fellow just out to have some fun and goof off but as of late i have felt a little bit off. I am still enjoying bachelor hood but something has shifted. I cannot figure it out.
The town of Moab seems to have gone into a comatose state. Their are fewer and fewer people here. The amount of people in my age group is very slim pickings. I have one very good friend in town. I consider him to be one of my best friends. We are very similar in many ways. One way that we are not is in the way of the ladies. Now this good friend recently ended a relationship and he is pretty hard when he does such a thing. He is an investor in relationships. He goes all out from the beging which I agree with but he goes all out. Anyways he is my many outlet to a social network but as of late I have had to play the baby sitter keeping him in check and sane. It has been an interesting week. I usually get a call around 8 or nine in the evening and he is at the bar shooting pool. So my pool game has improved and I have met the true Moab locals. Many grizzled men and women to boot. It makes me want a little more out of myself.
This week alone I have been called a renaissance man, intriguing, and a few other things that have me a bit baffled. All of them good things to which I say thank you to those who said them. I look at myself and have to wonder why I am being referred to as such. I ponder this because I am a very simple person I seek enjoyment out of life and that is about it. There are so many people that live to have family's and careers that further their lives and others. I don't trade that path. I seek not the American dream by any means. In my pondering of what these people have said I think this way and try to see back in from the outside and only thing I can gather is that those are the things that people find interesting.
I think I am finally ready for some sleep. good night.

A testiment to good friends.

2008-09-28T10:53:00.000-07:00

So I recently did a sort of climbing tour of southern Idaho. Basically this could not have happend without the help of very good friends whom offered rides, a bed for a night or two, or a spot when bouldering. SO to all of you thank you. It was a good week and a half.

Elephants Perch, Sawtooths

2008-08-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

The Elephants perch AKA the El Cap of Idaho. The end of September I need a partner or two.

Sorry it is long but worth it.

2008-08-08T10:36:00.001-07:00

OK so the video I want to post is taking a while so I am just going to tell the story and hope to post the video later.
So from the start the trip seemed to be doomed we had 4 row boats rigged and ready to go the night before we launched. Early the next morning we arose to hear that we had some smaller children on the trip and the owners of the company I work for where a bit nervous about putting them on the row boats through the big water. So we had to derig two of the four row boats and re rig an S-rig which usually takes an entire day. Well we did it in about an hour. Next was the two different groups that we had one being a few family's from Ohio the other being old college buddies that just wanted to party. We ended up trying to separate the groups which turned out to be difficult seeing how the food and gear was all on the S-rig. So we combined the groups. it turned out to work well everyone got along really well. the family had no problems with partying and the college buddies toned it down a bit. The first few days above the rapids weren't anything that special just the usual hiking and playing. Yet as we went along and learned more about the college buddies we found out some rather neat things. Such as one of them was a writer for the Washington post and he was doing an article on the trip. Our bosses didn't even know this. Two of the others where photographers both of whom shoot for national geographic and climbing and all sorts of other big things. One of them was shooting for the article being written as well as for a book on rivers so my coworkers and I will most likely be in a book. Now the best part of the story and it is going to be a bit confusing so I will try to be clear about how it went down. are typical running order in the rapids is the S-rig for safety if we have two of them they will both go before the row boats then myself because I have the most experience the the least experienced the the second most experience on the row boats. this is how it went down on this particular day. The S-rig went first and eddied out right above big drop 2 and waited for the the row boat that was going to go last so the photographer could get out and take pictures of everyone going through. Brian the guide miss judged the power of the water and wasn't going to make it in to the eddy. Lorenzo on the S-rig went out to bump him in but realized it wasn't going to work so he tryed to turn Way at the last second and accidentally bumped Brian the opposite direction right at a hole know as little Niagara. The biggest hole I have ever seen in my life. He hit it dead on. He and the photographer both were thrown out and the boat was submerged for a 5 count. That is one one thousand all the way to five. but his boat didn't flip it popped up on its side and came down right side up. Brian and the photographer both got back on the boat just in time to hit the third largest hole and the did a end over end flip in an 18 foot boat. brie the other S-rig driver went down next and waited just below big drop 3. Now it is my turn Had a great run in big drop 1 and big drop 2 but in big drop 2 and 1/2 in a roller just a simple roller I snapped an oar. so now I am headed towards Satan's gut the muchiest hole on the entire section that flips more boats then any other. I had to push into an eddy called purgatory with one oar. Now this eddy is right above Satan's gut which if you go in to this eddy you have to run the gut. I switched out my spare oar and was about to row out into the current when one of my passengers said hey here comes Doug so I turned to watch Doug turn sideways to try and pull back to the main current and he did this right above a hole called the Claw. he hit it dead nut sideways. I called it before he ever even hit the hole it was the fastes flip I have ever seen. He got all his people back on to the boat really fast and all was good. Now I have to run the gut. At this point I told my passengers that chances are we are going to have a bad flip with a violent swim and if they wanted they could get off and hike around. They all told me the wanted to go for it. so we got to the top of the eddy and tryed to get back to the current but it was to strong so we tryed again. This time we broke the eddy line and where pushing to cross the current and miss the gut. with myself pulling as hard as I have ever pulled in my life with a passenger helping by pushing as I pulled we where doind OK the 30 feet above the gut my oar lock popped off. so I tryed to slam it back on when one of my passengers thought he would be helpful but he pined my oar against the lock. so after screaming at him and slamming it back on I got the oar back on an got about two more strokes in we hit the gut with the largest wall of white I have ever seen in my life it torqued us sideways as my back end stayed in the current and pulled us out without flipping. My passengers loved it. When we pulled into camp and saw both of the other boats siting on shore totally soaked with frames torqued we knew that all hell had broken loose on world wide river expeditions on this day and not a single person got hurt. Other then a few lost and one broken oar no gear was lost. We all told stories and relished life and how we got to live it that day. That night as the partying went on and the adrenaline slowly diminished on the guides life became surreal. This trip turned out to be the craziest trip I have ever done but the passengers where the prefect passengers for it and I will never have a trip top it. My voice was horse for a week after all the yelling on that day.

Salmon no more

2008-07-24T21:07:00.000-07:00

Well I had two trips up on the salmon this year our third was canceled so I am now back in Moab a bit premature. The season seems to have come to a rather abrupt end. So I am currently debating my future for the next month or so.

The good life.

2008-07-01T18:43:00.000-07:00

Well my time on big water cataract canyon has come to an end just as the water started to tank. It was a good good run for me I had a perfect cat season. No flips and I never lost a passanger even with catching woth of the peaks. I still am not telling the epic story of world wide carnage till I get the movie back but it will be worth it. Today I did my first Westwater trip of the season and it was really nice not to be petrified about rowing the canyon. It was just plain fun. I am heading to jackson hole for the weekend to kind of get a little brake in before I leave for the salmon river next week. also I started to get answers back from companies in New Zealand about guiding over there for the winter so life is good right now. I can truely say I am enjoying it.

Buzz kill!?!

2008-06-22T12:54:00.000-07:00

So I had one of the 3 best trips I have ever had in my life which I am not going to write about yet, but soon. Instead I am going to grip about the buzz kill. So I was so high from the trip I got off of it could not have gone better only to get home last night to find that some one had stolen nearly 200.00 dollars of my tip money. So I left a really nasty note for all the world to read in the bunk house. This morning I got up to de rig the trip only to find out that someone thought that it was ok to just take my bike that I built. Even after I left a note for those whom seem to think that that is ok just before I left on my trip. Already this season one of the guides took my bike without asking and broke it. Leaving me to foot the bill to pay for it. So at this point I left a really angry note with many four letter words for all to ready and cower before. Now all of the new guides and some of the second year returning guides are avoiding me for Marcus is Angry and about to start taking their gear and locking it up till people get it into their heads that what is not theirs is off limits. I will post about my trip in a few weeks when I get the video that will explain it better then words.

P.S. it has been roughly 4 hours and still no bike or money. I know that the money isn't coming back but whom ever took my bike will feel my rath.

Safety of friends below

2008-06-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

So this week I was on a 5 day solo trip My self and 3 gentlemen in there mid to late 50s. We had good times They taught me how to make contact explosives and other such things of that nature. We met up with two other guides on an S rig for rapid day. It is really reassuring to have good friends like Brie and Lorenzo running safety for me below the big drops ready to pluck myself and those that are with me out if I should happen to flip. As well this last week I had even more assurance in the rapids which was nice being that the water was even higher then my previous trip. I had Brian riding along with the parks service ready to snatch me up. Thanks Brian.

They were not lying. It is BIG!

2008-05-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

So the big water has begun. I got the chance to run it a week or so ago. I was told that it would be running around 45,000 CFS when we hit the canyon. Well we caught the bubble and it turned into 66,000 CFS. Waves that are normally 10 to 15 feet tall like the ledge wave actually were 40 feet tall. I had three passengers whom decided to jump onto the S-rig just before the big rapids so it was myself and another guide whom is getting trained on 5 day cats through the big drops. We ended up having the best run I have ever had through the canyon. I am sure next trip I will end up in the drink, time will tell. We had a private group following for safety and to know the lines We got to see their gear boat a 13 1/2 row rig flip in big drop 2 a paddle raft go right into the meat of the gut and some how float out like nothing ever happened. One maned Cataraft lost the oars men but he got back on just in time to watch the gut go right by him. Then a one maned Dorey grease the big drops. Side note I am a nervous pee'er. never have I nervous pooed I pooed twice the morning before we hit the rapids.
P.S. this pic dosen't do the water level justice I will try and post a video of what is actually like.

Let the perma pucker begin.

2008-05-11T20:23:00.001-07:00

So for the last few days there has been an interp program being put on for all of the guides in Moab. Today was the session with T Barry the river ranger about how saftey is going to be run in the canyon this season. Then I heard that cataract canyon is going to jump up to 50,000 CFS near the 23 of may and that will be the minimum flow for the entire month of june. I was then informed that if there is a row rig that I am the one rowing it and at that point my stomach turned.

Warmer weather

2008-04-21T17:43:00.000-07:00

So the last few weeks have been good. A good week on trail, a mellow river trip down cataract canyon and to day was my first day out kayaking this season and all together it felt really good.

Frankinstien Lives!!!!

2008-03-28T16:30:00.000-07:00

So my fixed gear bike has been completed and It is pretty cool if I do Say so myself. It is most certainly a frankinstien. Here are a few shots of it as well a few shots from working at Aspiro. Unfortunately I am not allowed to show pictures of the students for legal reasons so they are mostly scenic shots. The video at the bottom is of a guide named Zebulon. His real name. Sliding across the ice in Robbers Roost near lake powell.

Spring fever

2008-03-01T10:43:00.000-08:00

I am sure that everyone has it. Myself am feeling it very much. Particularly with all of the snow that will be melting in the coming months. As of late I have just been working climbing and hanging out with Sara. Most of the time at work I am being sent down south to canyoneer and climb which I am exstatic about yet at the same time Aspiro needs a lot of work on their communication thus make the work frustrating. I am already getting my summer tan which every year me madra says it must be spring must be close your getting darker.
Other news my fixe is just about ready for this spring as well. I have had a bit of a snaffoo with getting the parts here. I will post a few pictures because I am rather proud of it. I may be heading to cancun in may for free with a buddy and his family. Other then that not to much really going on except this summer I will be living in and renovating a bus.

The latest and greatest

2008-02-03T12:31:00.000-08:00

There actually isn't to much to report work is turning out to be very rewarding with a few irritations. I got to take the girls group into the robbers roost this last time in the field. it turned out to be a completely different trip due to snow.
Word is starting to spread so I will put it out there for everyone to know. I am dating a fantastic girl named Sarah. It is a pretty casual relationship thus far. She has done some pretty amazing things in her life that just blow me away. Such things like she is going into the peace core in September for 2 1\2 years. She got her degree in Costa Rica. She can hold her own when it comes to talking about climbing she is into it almost as much as myself. She treats me very well.
My first fixed gear is nearing completion and I am really excited to actually ride it. For those that boat the season is just around the corner and it is going to be good!!! if anyone is interested I have a boat I am selling. It is a Pyrhana S6F 191 in really good condition. Climbing is good Tolman and I where in setting lead routes last night. once the weather warms I am going to start ticking off requirements for my AMGA certification. One of these day Craig, Cory, Tolman, myself and I would imagine Jentery are going to head to Sticks and Stones to check out the new wall that they have and set some routes for them.
That is about it.

Bowie to Bowie?

2008-01-17T16:24:00.000-08:00

So I was out on the trail this week with the boys group if you can call it that. I was originally meant to be with the adult group in Moab yet I got shifted to boys group canyoneering in Robbers Roost. The trip was amazing from devouring a black forest cake like savages on a fresh kill to petroglyphs. We dropped into the Roost thus the reason I was switched to that group for my rope work skills. We called it expaneering. A combination between canyoneering and expedition style backpacking. Slot canyons and expedition packs. We made it through the slots and repels with no problems had beautiful weather and lots of ice to slide one like penguins and student bowling. the last day in the roost we had to hike to our previous camp for a note book that a student left then back to our gear to pack up and hike out to the car. This is where the adventure really begins. We arrived at the suburban to find the rear left tire flat. There was no jack, tire iron, or even basic tools. Our options are try to drive on the rime or I run the 22 miles to get the other car at the other en of the roost. So off I went. Running what I could and it turned out to be not as much as I would have liked to run for the roads had turned to mud. so I got to the other car much later then I had intended and the others started to worry about me so they took the O2 medical tank and McGivered the tank to fill the tire enough to drive on so we met each other on the road and had a dance party, well, they danced I sat soar from my all told roughly 28 mile day in under 10 hours with more then 2,000 vertical foot gain. We made it back to base the next day the majority of the groups went to ski n park city. My self and another fellow stayed behind to watch the run watch kids. We found the best natural jump for some extreme sledding. I now have the biggest bruise I have ever had in my life on my left butt cheek for I found the only large rock hiding in the snow. It turned out to be an epic and one of the funnest weeks I have had in such a long time.

My first fixie

2008-01-06T21:02:00.000-08:00

Here is the frame for my first fixed gear bike. I think I am going to build it up with orange components to compliment the metalic blue of the frame.

Talk of pay

2008-01-02T17:59:00.000-08:00

So Tolman and I both are setting for Momentum climbing gym these days which is fantastic and there is talk of getting a little cash for our efforts and it turns out that it could be pretty good cash. The best thing is that we have put in so much time in the gym this last month that come spring we will be ready for a good season. The 18th-20th we will be setting with Craigins in Bosie. Other then that the snow has been falling the skiing has been fantastic as well when it melts the rivers will pumping so get ready Mary and Tim for I am going to stick you in some water that will make you @#$% your pants. I am going to start to build fixed gear bikes and depending on how the first few go I may even do custom built fixies for people. If you have never seen one they are really basic bikes with a flipable cog that you can set as a free or fixed gear, one or no brakes. I am hoping to give them a bit more character then this one it is the basic idea. Mary you know how we talked about bicycle Carrier well these are the bikes that many of them use. Who knows it may lead to a Carrier business one day. I would sell them for between $400-700

Steep and Deep with vertical lines as well

2008-01-01T09:57:00.000-08:00

These photos are of a cave that I was introduced to a short time ago and though these pictures don't do its size justice it gives you and idea of what is there. I intend to bolt several lines there this spring. I have a few people interested in helping out. once there are some established lines everyone is welcome to come and test yourselves.

A little help?

2007-12-20T19:10:00.000-08:00

So here are some of the things I have to do for one of the disciplines to become AMGA certified. Much of it I have completed some remains to be done like the 20 days on multi-pitched climbs. I am hoping to be able to tick these off this spring as much as possible so if anyone wants to do some big wall I am going to be pushing for it and need some help. I am going to be pro-forming a BD rack over the next few months if anyone needs anything from black diamond I will see what I can do.

Prerequisites for Rock Guide Certification Exam:

* You are a current Individual Member of the AMGA.
* You have successfully completed the Rock Guide Course, which requires that you have passed the Aspirant Exam. Please provide documentation of course completion on program application.
* Provide documentation of completed recommendations from Rock Guide Course evaluation.
* Provide an updated rock climbing resume showing each of the following:
* Since completing the Rock Guide Course and Aspirant Exam you mock guided/guided 20 days on multi-pitch traditional routes. 3 of which need to be on grade IV. 7 of which need to be on grade III
* You can safely and comfortably lead crack and face climbs rated 5.10c/A2 or harder at the time of the exam.
* You have current Wilderness First Responder certification or better.

An AMGA Certified Rock Guide should be able to:

* On sight guide 2 clients at a 5.10b/c level up to and through grade V.
* Climb traditional and sport protected climbs at a 5.10 level fluidly and comfortably.
* Demonstrate a proficient short roping and transitions techniques in technically demanding terrain.
* Demonstrate a working knowledge of industry standards in equipment
* Create and implement improvised rescue in vertical terrain.
* Use the right technique at the right time.
* Demonstrate proficient terrain assessment, potential hazard, risk management, and client care.
* Show a working knowledge of Leave No Trace Principles.

Its been a while.

2007-12-17T19:11:00.001-08:00

So I haven't posted in a while thought I have had a lot going on. Every time I get on to blogger I think I should post but nothing really seams worth writing about these days just the same old. Work, Climbing, and enjoying life. I have a new kayak so I am excited for spring and the water that will flow. I will be going to either Patagonia, Chile or to guide in New Zealand next winter. Tolman and I are starting work into the 5.13 range and getting stronger all of the time. If things continue on this path then we will hopefully be able to give .14's a good run come spring.
Above is a logo for the American Mountain Guide Association. This is my big news. I have been fighting with the idea of going back to school and the more I think about it the more that it isn't right at this moment. So instead I am going to get my AMGA certification. I will be recognized internationally as a climbing instructor/Ski guide/mountaineering guide. My knowledge and expertise will be expansive. It will cost like school and take a few years to complete. Yet it pays well and I can work anywhere doing what we all know I love very much, CLIMBING.
I will have to take and pass courses in all three disciplines.

The final installment

2007-11-19T10:12:00.000-08:00

So Andrew went to San Jose for 4 days leaving me at the place which was technically up in the mountains about 7 miles from Dominical. Most of my time was spent reading and hiking around taking pictures. This is where I spotted the Banana spider which amazingly enough for its size you can walk right up to and pick up because they don't bite. My good friend down there Kaisha pronounced Kay-sha would sometimes come and get me for dinner or to go surfing. She is an amazing cook by the way. We would hangout with her roommate Stewart. Now this was a very interesting dynamic. Kaisha is from Vancouver and is also a very very devout Mormon. Where as Stewart is also from Vancouver and is anything but with his drinking and what not. It is really fun to see the way they harass each other. So anyways Andrew returned to Dominical and it was life as usual we hung out for a few days not doing to much. The day before I was supposed to leave we went for one last surf sessions. I paddled out beyond the brake and just enjoyed being there in silence bobbing in the rollers. You just sit and zen then it is time the wave wells up at just the right time and brakes just to your right or left and starts to curl toward you A few strokes and the board starts to slide down the face with the curl moving closer. Pop up and carve laterally along the face carving back and forth till it just about brakes right on top of you. Carve back up the face and dive over as it crests and you are right where you need to be to catch the next wave. The coolest part of this last day of surfing and the icing on the cake for the entire trip was the fact that the waves that I was surfing in and enjoying life where the same waves that dolphins where doing the exact same thing. So after one last meal with Kaisha and Andrew (Stewart got stuck in San Jose for a few days) at San Clemente where the cute little Tica Daniela worked I got dropped off at tortilla flats that same place I went to when my adventure first began. My ride was supposed to pick me up at 2:30 yet the land slides near San Isidro delayed him. I got out of there at about 4pm. We had to take the long way around because more landslides happened. So we headed north to a town called Quepos over the worst dirt road that you can imagine. Once we got to Quepos traffic started to back up. Turns out that a semi had busted trough the metal plating on the one way bridge out of town. Now again Costa Ricans are the coolest people till they get behind the wheel of a car. They just started to cram their cars so close to the bridge on both sides of the streets that there is no way the authorities can get to the bridge to fix it. So 3 hours later they get the bridge cleared, 2 hours later traffic actually starts to move because it was such a cluster of cars it took that long to get everyone all straitened out. So my 4 hour drive to San Jose turned into a 10 hour drive. I finally got there and was glad that I made a reservation in a hotel because I was in my room so very quickly. I laid down and turn on the TV out of curiosity. I ended up falling asleep to the "A Team" broadcast in Spanish. The next day I headed to the airport to find out that I had been bumped to first class to Houston. Three course meals and leg room it was amazing.Once in Houston I boarded my flight back to SLC. Now I literally went from the very front lap of luxury to thee very back where my seat wont even recline.

More shots from costa rica.

2007-11-16T12:13:00.001-08:00

This is a banana spider He is as big as my hand.

Finishing the tail.

2007-11-13T09:52:00.000-08:00

I didn't finish the river story I ran out of time. I will also post more pictures here next time. SO continuing where we left off. We put on the river again the next day and hit the big water on the Generales. It was beautiful whitewater that had me gettting nervous. We soa thing like butterflies that grow to be about 8 inches from wing tip to wing tip. Once we reached the end of the river we where picked up by a local named Otto who was our drive. Now think of the simpsons bus driver Otto they are nothing alike. Anyways he picked us up in a Toyota Hilux. There were 12 of us including 3 guides and gear. A few loaded into the cab therest of us in the bed on all of the river gear. and 2 on the trailler. Now to preface this little story you must understand that Costa Ricans are the coolest people. They are the epidamy of Chill! Then the get behind the wheel of a car and all Hell Brakes Loose. They become the most none scencical humans the woulrd has ever seen. This being said we where all on the truck heading down a dirt road that most would take pretty cautiously. But not Otto, Oh NO! He is flying down this road at a speed that is equivallent to a hampster on speed and just exiting a starbucks to hit a session in the hampster wheel. Otto is going so fast that the trailer is bouncing on to one wheel.
One our life altering ride back came to an end I got the oppertunity to spend a few nights at the house of a local Ticos. They have nothing and nothing to give and they give it and love to do it. It was at this point that I realized america is such a backwards place some much good here and so so much bad. They would cook on a wood burning stove the house had only a few rooms with chickens running around everywhere as well as dogs. From here I spent a few days in the mountains.
TO BE CONTINUED...

Welcome to the jungle

2007-11-04T08:03:00.000-08:00

So I got the opertunity to do a trip for the Costa Rica part of outward bound and do some unknown whitewater and camp in the jungle. We put on to a section of the General(hen-er-al) river class 3-5 It was by pure luck that the do saftey kayaking which it made more sence that I kayak then paddle raft having never been down the section. Now to understand you must first understand how much it rains down here. one day in a city called San Isidro it started to rain with in a matter of about 2 minuetes the streets had so much water in the that I could have kayaked the streets with a great deal of ease and it dose this type of rainning every night. Anyways back to the river. We where running it aat a level that is higher then the guides had ever seen it. Imagine the smile on my face at the point that I realized I am saftey kayaking in a play boat I have never boated before on a section I have never seen before at a level not seen before. There are so many amazing waves in this section I has in heaven. So we got to camp and set up tarps becasue tents don't stand up to the amount of water that falls here. We went to bed and slept well. I will tell you this camping in the jungle kind of sucks. when we woke up that next morning the water was rising at a rate that I have never imagined possible in a river. We moved our gear and within a few minutes the river had risen about 3 feet and flooded our camp. We ended up haveing a stay over day because the volume was to high. now a day under a tarp ion the jungle gets interesting with dreding of hair to playing "in the manner of the adverb" to eating alot of grilled cheese.

Here are a few shots from Costa Rica

2007-10-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

For those that have experienced the Mexi bike well this is for you.

He has three toes.

The last bit of light and the moon as we fly over Mexico.

So Zach and I met with Andrew and found a place to hang out and sleep for a week or so before we could get into our new place. We both had purchased surf boards and went for it. both of us got up on our first attempts and have spent most days surfing depending on when hightide is. It is an awsome sport that made me feel out of shape for the first few days. It is so consintrated on the back when paddling and everywhere else when you are standing and surfing. As far as rafting is conserned it has been frustrating Andrew isn't as far along with things as he should be so we spend alot of time sitting around doing nothing. We still nee a place to operate from. He needs to look into hiring permenant guides. Things of that nature. We actually got to do the Savegre finally last Wed. It is an intense little section. mostly 2's and 3's with 2 class 4's that are pretty intense. The first being Coma gringo (Gringo Eater) the second we named Bohda Sopha. this one nearly flipped us the boat stayed upright but we all went out for a swim. Zach did a flying squirrel move on to his back landing on a rock. We thought that he was fine but as it turns out he actually brok a rib. We found that out because we did that section again a day later and he could barely move. So being worthless as far as rafting is conserned he was offered a chance to drive but opted to head home. He took off this morning. This has put me in a interesting position in a foreign country with not much to do. So much to my dismay I will be coming home sooner then I had intended. some time mid November.

One of my self portraits.

Zach on Dominical Playa.

A short walk from where I live is this waterfall and swiming hole with a great ropeswing. This is me apon descent. We go to see a three towed sloth from about 5 feet away.

I just thought that this was so cool. This little girl Maria would not leave this monk alone when my self or anyone else would have gotten irritated he tolerated and meditated.s me apon descent.

Well I am alive.

2007-10-27T11:34:00.000-07:00

So I have a ton of pictures but little time to actually download them so here is the tale of costa rica. It took us two nights in two seprate airports to get down here once in LAX and once in the El Salvador airport where we were never supposed to be. from there we met a guy named john and caught another smaller flight to a town called Quepos and then rented a car an drove to Dominical. Dominical is a little tiny surf town ful of burnouts and people running from something. We had to get a room in a hostel for the first two nights till our boss got here. He did and we found out that our place had fallen through so we ended up in the condo of a friend. Ill write the rest soon my time is about up.

Peace! I am out of here

2007-10-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

Goodbye everybody. I am on my way.

Back to the twelves

2007-10-06T14:26:00.000-07:00

So after a few days in the city which where cut short due to snow and an all night session at the lead wall in Momentum last night I am back to onsighting 12s and feeling pretty good. The power is still a little shaky but other then that I have had a fantastic week of climbing. 8 days and counting till I am southward bound. The close it comes the more excited I am and the more I realize this is a good thing for me and what I need to be doing right now.

Bungalow on the beach

2007-10-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

So for the next three months This is what my life will consist of. I fly to L.A. on the night of the 14th from L.A. it is off to San Jose, Costa Rica. I will be living with my good friend Zach Heybrum and Andrew Taylor whom we will be working for. The bungalow we will be living in is roughly 100 yards from the beach in a small surfing town. We will be taking the local business owners down the river trying to get rcommendations for future business. The river sections are all daily sections so we will have our night for surfing and exploring. On the days that there are no trips we will be taking our kayaks and exploring possible sections to raft. I will be trainning the local guides that Andrew will be hiring. In November the high water season so we will get to do some amazing sections of water such as the upper upper pacquere which has a clean 30 foot water fall that I am hoping to hit. Just after Christmas I have a few buddies on their flying in and we are going to be boating like made. From there it is back to southern Utah to a great job that is waiting for me leaving me time to travel and live life. For the next few months this blog will be a hopeful play by play of Costa rica. I have a new camera on the way to document it. this camera can take being in the water so no worries there.

2007-09-22T18:20:00.000-07:00

Most likely my future home, work, and freind(i.e. the monkey Im going to call him Hernando) for the next 3 months.

2007-09-19T08:50:00.002-07:00

So life takes interesting turns sometimes but it works out pretty well sometimes. I have been offered the opertunity to guide in costa rica as a white water guide. This i am researching at the moment and will yet to decide wether or not it is something I will do for sure. These pictures are actually of Ecuador where myself and a few good friends will be Kayaking just for fun for a few weeks this Jan. The goal this year is to hopefully chase the summer and avoid the depression that comes with it. Mary I still sent my resume into Aspiro and am waiting a reply.

For those whom may be interested.

2007-09-10T16:14:00.001-07:00

This isn't a invite to see whom will come it is and invite for if any just so happens to want to show up. In the past when I have worked at redfish once the season is over a group of the employees always heads to the city of rocks for about a week or so. This is just letting people now that there will be a good sized group there of all ability levels for anyone whom may be interested. We will be getting there either on the 2 or 3 of Oct. and staying for quit a while so come one come all.

2007-08-04T06:59:00.000-07:00

It is interesting to be in a place where there is so much beauty and splender that contains so much of the things that I love in life yet because of different variables varying from the people here to my body and one of its limitations I am having trouble keeping up beat. Even with much physical activity it is hard. Yet there is something to look forward to for I have a salmon trip next week and few things can boost my spirits like a river trip particularly a trip down the salmon. Also, now this makes me laugh and cring all at the same time but my contract on my phone ran out this last week so I was able to order another phone that will be able to get recception her at the fish so I will be able to contact peopleas well as be able to recive calls. As much as I like the solitude of not having a phone I am alone in this amazing place so it will be a good thing.

Not much happening.

2007-07-14T13:58:00.000-07:00

So I am back at Redfish and mostly it is life as usual. I work mostly saving money sort of. My time afteer work this last week has been spent doing any of a number of different activities such as: Sailing, wake boarding, climbing, kayaking, biking, hacky sack, frisbee, abit of slacklining, running, etc... I have been doing some kayak instructional courses. I was able to gather two motor boats together and try something that I had never tryed but always wanted to. If you take the two boats and run them at slow speeds about 8-10 feet apart and I would pass between then in my kayak which was actually a bit scary considering that I can touch either boat with relative ease on either side of me. Anyways where the wake of the two boats meet creates a absolutetly beautiful wave for surfing in a kayak.

Read Tim's latest post.

2007-06-25T16:57:00.001-07:00

You heard me go there now and read!

I'm Smiling!

2007-06-23T21:24:00.000-07:00

So I just got off of a 4 day Cataract canyon trip today and to look at the beging it wouldn't seem that it would have been as good as it turned out. 30 boyscouts two old men and the only redeeming factor was another guides family. Yet it turned out to be AWSOME!!!. We ran an S-rig 2 rowboats and 2 paddle boats river was proposed to spike to about 18,000 CFS. We don't run paddle boats above 10,000 CFS. It turned out to only hit 15,000. Anyways, Brie the other paddle boat capitan and I were already nervous about the level add the fact that our paddlers where 14 year old boyscouts and well I get the nervous pees Bries gets the nervous poos. Well, It turned out that they were AWSOME paddlers. Now in my head this is what was going on. "Im in a paddle boat with 2 row boats and an S-rig for saftey. Everyone knows the lines and I have boyscouts as passengers. I AM GOING HUGE!" I got to hit EVERYTHING. The cheering section in "Hell to Pay" the hole in "Been Hurt" and the one that I am most excited about, in big drop three is a hole on the right side that we try our darndest to pull away from when all of the water pushes right at it named "Frogs" it has a seem that kicks up a huge rooster tail that flips the vast majority of the boats that challenge it. My mighty crew and I took on this monster in a paddle boat that has a higher chance of flipping. We hit just to the right of this seem. From my vantage point as paddle capitan at the back of the boat I watched as this wave curled laterally over the top of my boat and we where heading into the black abyss of frogs. When this wave came down on us it did one of those time warp things where two different prespectives have different concept of time. To my boat it was a split second to Zo who was running saftey on the S-rig it was about 5 seconds that we where completely gone with no sign of wether we flipped or not. On that 5th second we surged forth victorious with all paddlers and paddles still in the boat. We took "Frogs" head on and won. It was easily one of the biggest hits of my life. Since I was 2 and took my first rafting trips and all of the kayaking I do. IT WAS HUGE!!!!!! I slept well that night.

Where to begin?

2007-06-18T06:55:00.000-07:00

So I have been here there and everywhere. I have moved up to Idaho back to Redfish. There has been a lot of fun there with biking, kayaking, climbing, and all of the fun of life. There is a kid on the docks Named Ryan that I like to prank. He reacts so well. Just a taste of the things I do, I took his water bottle and attached it to a rope which I ran through a pulley that is conected to a weight and sunk to the bottom of the lake. Each time Ryan would go to grab his bottle that was floating at the surface of the water I would give that rope a tug and his bottle would go shooting below the surface of the water. With him replying in great frustration "Why? Why would you do that?!?" Oh, He has been a joy.
I have turned a quarter century old. I have been able to see Kori a lot more which hast been so good. turns out we only work an hour and a half away from each other.
All thought I now live in Idaho again I am back in Moab for a few weeks to help with their busy weeks. I did a 4 day Cataract canyon trip last week one of the best I have trip led. I will be on one starting on wed for another 4 days. This one I get to paddle boat, YAHOOO!!! Oh man its good!!! Soon I will be back in Idaho and back to work up there. I have purchased a new backpack for a mixture of climbing, skiing, and mountaineering. It is the Sphynx by Black Diamond the maroon one. Also I picked up a new pair of aqua shoes from Teva for creeking and what not. They are pretty much the coolest. They are like Ninja shoes for the water they have the split toe.

Bitter Sweet

2007-05-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

SO my time as a river guide here in the beautiful town of moab comes to an end sort of. I am leaving today but will still be running a trip here and there for the company that I have been working for. I have hit the point that I need something different. It has been a good run and I have gotten to see alot of BIG WATER, cool experiences I will cherish till I am dead, and made some friends that I am eternally greatful to know.

AHHH!!

2007-05-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

I HATE LIVING WITH DEPRESSION!!!

My Camera is no more!!!

2007-05-20T16:59:00.000-07:00

So training has come to an end and all ot the new guides are well on their way to being very good guides. They all have the right attitudes and tools to do well. We did our last training trip in Cataract Canyon. A quick overnighter with an S rig and 3 row boats. The flow was around 17,000 CFS. Nothing to notable about it but there are some really funny pictures on the way that I will show when I recive them. We got back last Monday derigged and rerigged all at once to head out again on a four day Cat trip. It was myself and another guide named Zak running the trip. Our passangers where a bunch of older gentlemen the youngest being 62. We also had two of the guides in traning on their own boat. The first night was great we camped at Indian Creek, it rained and we spent a few hours at some indian granrys talking and enjoying the rain. The next morning it was off to the waterfall just up the canyon. At camp that night I had to wake up every couple of hours and make sure that the water which was rising at a hurried pace didn't flood our kitchen. The next day Rapid day!!! My self going first because Zak had only rowed the canyon once in his life and the other two had never. In the second rapid in a small roller the rookies spun their boat and one fell out and we hadn't ever started with the big stuff. One we got to "Hell to Pay" a rapid that John Wesly Powell lost a boat in I told the new guides to take a conservative line while I got my passangers wet in a huge wave. Well, they inadvertantly followed me throught the meat of it and greased the line. "Ben Hur" and "The Button Hole" where no problem. Then came the big drops. One is a breeze. At two we stopped and scouted and I explained the line with grave detail making sure they new if they messed up they would be in to the meat of "Big Drop Three" where they didn't want to be! I had them watch me go through just to make sure. I made it to the right just above Three with no problems then it was the new guides turn. The had a beautiful run through Two but got spun in some rollers between the two drops. They where 40 feet above a hole called "Satans Gut" so they both got on the oars with one pushing and one pulling and some how they ferried all the way across the river and hit the biggest hole on the other side in Three. Kieth was on the oars when they dropped into the hole and not when they came out. THEY DIDN'T FLIP THANK GOD!!! Zak was next and he wasn't able to get over to scout Three either so I got to run a line that I have never run before and had a HUGE hit! I haven't been so nervous on a trip in a long time. The water was not expected to get above 20,000 CFS when we ran it it was a 32,000. Thankfully a forgiving level. As well having three new guides to that section with the water being so high. bartidularlly if I messed up as well. We no longer have satallite phones to call out. We are on our own out there. The water kept rising. I got up and moved the kitchen twice because the water came up more the 2 feet. We hiked "Dark Canyon" the next day which involves swimming through pools and I had my camera around my neck and thought it was in my pelican case when I jumped in. Other then that the trip was amazing and to this day I am amazed that I get paid to take people into potentially life threatening situations for fun. I love my office. Alas it must come to an end.

Trainning

2007-05-06T10:51:00.000-07:00

So trainning has begun here in Moab. All of the new guides have shown up and are really excited. It is funn watching them figure things out, try to row the boats, and ctand there until you cangive them something to do. Monday the return guides took them all out for a thrilling run down the daily, just to get them a little bit of a warm up. Then we went over warehouse snadel. Tues and Wed it was of to do Westwater 4 times in 2 days fun for them long for the rest of us. Watching the friendships develop is a cool thing. the first 2 days they would hardly talk to eachother and now the are all the best of friends. Weds night we got back to the warehouse derigged westwater and rigged for Desolation canyon. The next day bright and early we were of on the 6 hour drive to the put in. 89 miles of sitting around made me feel very lazy, but it was good time on the oars for the trainies. It turned out to be cold and rainy for most of the trip what better way to break them in. We pulled off yesterday and head out on Cataract canyon in a day or two. I am hoping that my rib will hold up.

recent proceedings

2007-04-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

Lets see a week or so ago Kori came down to moab for some time away from idaho since she just finished a semester. Sunday we went down Westwater canyon in southern Utah. It was a bit cold yet still always a good time. With some friends of hers we biked porcupine rim the next day. The amounts of flats that happened with the group as a whole was amazing. It took us much longer to finish the ride then it really should have. Little Granite kept up like the trooper that she is even with the heat that was getting to her. We did a bit of climbing and hanging out with good friends.
Kori headed back to Idaho and I headed to Colorado for ACA certification. For three days we basically relearned how to kayak. I learned so much that I will not only be able to teach but that will improve my own ability and confidence. So I am now Certified and my teacher said that I am one of the most narturally talented paddlers he has seen that if I keep working at it I will be paddling some amazing things. That was an amazing compliment coming from a prffesional paddler. After class we went deeper into Colorado to paddle on a section called Gore canyon on the head waters of the colorado river. It is a 9 mile class 4+ 5 section

This is gore rapid A class 5 munchy boulder choked monster that we only decided to run at the last second and it turned out to be the right choice. The adrinaline pumped!

This is Tunnel a 4+ with a 10 foot drop at the bottom that my brother ended up swimming in as his boat stayed in and churned for a while.

From there it was back to work riggin and heading out on Cataract canyon for 5 days. Aspen High school does a trip every year and it is a bunch of rich snobby kids that come and play. This year they were required to do most of the cooking and cleaning which made my trip really relaxed. We made it through just fine. I was feeling a bit confident in the canyon though and it let me know who was in charged. I got a little off my line in big drop 3 and now have a bruised rib after pin balling and coming close to flipping.

TELLURIDE!!!!!!

2007-04-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

Here is the line up for the festival. I am only going for maybe 2 days, most likely the 21 and 22. I am talking to friends to figure out what is happening as far as camping and what not. Once again everyone should consider coming it is a good time for sure. Check it out at www.bluegrass.com/telluride

Thursday, June 21
Counting Crows | Emmylou Harris w/ John Starling & Carolina Star | Telluride House Band featuring Béla Fleck, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Edgar Meyer, Darol Anger, Bryan Sutton | Jackie Greene | The Avett Brothers | Crooked Still | Chris Thile

Friday, June 22
Los Lobos | Fleck & the Flecktones | Guster | Chris Thile & The How to Grow a Band featuring Bryan Sutton | The Jerry Douglas Band | Mike Marshall & Hamilton de Holanda | Infamous Stringdusters | Greensky Bluegrass

Saturday, June 23
New Orleans Social Club | Sam Bush Band | A very special performance by Tony Rice w/ Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas | Yonder Mountain String Band | The John Cowan Band | Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile

Sunday, June 24
Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas | Chick Corea & Béla Fleck | The Dougie MacLean Band | Peter Rowan & Tony Rice Quartet | Andy Statman Trio | Sparrow Quartet | And more...

BRRRRRRR!!!!!!

2007-03-29T20:16:00.000-07:00

So my first trip of the season is in the books. It was one of the better ones I have had. A group of college students booked a trip down Desolation canyon. Now we don't typically start to run trips until mid May. Yet they were set on doing so. So my self and Karen another of the guides that has been around for a while where the one comissioned to run the trip. We set out monday and after a six hour drive to the put in, we rigged out our boats and started off down stream. We had found out that the beautiful weather we were having was going to take a turn for the worse. We made it 28 miles that first day and set up camp. Had a delicious dinner sat by the fire and went to bed. We awoke to refreshing freshly dusted snow capped buttes. Karen and I whom together have logged alot of miles on the river both agreed that it was the coldest river trip we had ever been on. It was so cold that we had people wrapped in tarps and where perpossly avoiding what we could to keep everyone dry. It was a bit weird rowing away from the big waves I have never done that before. We got every kind of weather from rain and hail to sun and snow. These temps compiled with 4 days of rowing 20+ miles a day along with cooking meals, loading and unloading boats, and entertaining passengers we are about to drop from exhaustion. The great thing is we made some really cool new friends. Each and everyone of these college kids had an amazing attitude considering the situation. We joked, laughed, talked, goofed off, made fun of each other and had an amazing time. So thank you to the students of Witworth college for the memories and making the trip as easy as possible.

Jo to answer your question Telluride is in southwest Colorado a few hours east of Moab.

Angela I will be trainning you and from what I am hearing it is going to be an amazing summer down here so get excited.

Tolman For sure I will keep in touch on the telluride adventure.

Mare I am Always up for a good session of playing so let me know if you are down this way an I will let you know If I am up in your neck-o-the woods.

Hammy they should be getting back to you about employment very soon if you are still interested. As I told Angela it is going to be a good one down here. I am having a hard time with leaving to head north.

Hope evey one is doing well. School is almost out and spring and summer are on the way so I say we go and play. You should all come to Telluride we could carpool and caravan. It will be amazing.

It is that time again.

2007-03-24T10:32:00.000-07:00

Well, For those of you whom have known me for a long time you aren't surprised. For those of you whom I have only known a short while. Welcome to a major part of my existence. I tend to come and go pretty freely and it is that time again though it is a bit earlier in the year then normal. I am taking off for the summer already. My first trip leaves on Monday and I will be on the river for 5 glorious cold days. I am normally very bad at keeping in touch with people but in this past year I have met many new friends whom I am proud to know and am very greatfull for their friendships as well as old friends. My goal is to keep in touch as much as I can I will post on my blogg between trips and when I can. If anyone is looking for somewhere to go for an adventure I will be in Moab for the first few months then in Idaho. On the 21st of June My self and many friends are heading to Telluride in Colorado for the Telluride Bluegrass festival. Check out the lineup and join me. We will have an old Hostess delivery truck with a full kitchen and for hanging out between travels. Lots of good company and beautiful country for just about anything you could want to do. So until the next time live well. Carpe Deim!!! To those whom I will be working with get ready for two weeks of me telling you what to do and when to do it. Training is going to be sweet. Pack cold weather gear because it can still be really cold on th river in May. And bring you A game when it comes to having fun because it is two weeks of nothing but playing.

Fossil Creek, AZ

2007-02-20T19:27:00.000-08:00

After hard long days worth of work and nine and a half hours of driving it was time to sleep. The groud of travelers were of into there own heads with dreams of what the next day would bring each excited in their own way for what would be. Early sun rays brings everyone to life with amazment at the warmth each was feeling from the sun. After a quick bite it was back into the car for the drive to the take out. After arriving and doing a bit of reconasence the group load gear into boats and began the mile and a half trek to the put in each carrying his or her own boat making the distance seam much greater. The first half of the group being so excited that containment was impossible. Through the thorn riddled bushes and boulder choked river bed they pushed joking the entire way. Then it came upon them the first real drop. The put in was only a few yards farther. A short wait for the rest of the group was to much to take they suited up for the first drop with the decision made that they would just run the drop over and over until the rest of the crew caught up. After a few quick rapids in the 65 degree water they where at the top of the water fall that they were to drop. The rest of the group showed up just in time for the first of the group to go over the falls. The three paddlers ready and excited looked at the probe with excitment knowing he would go without hesitation and watched him disappear into the roar of the water below. The others following shortly after each without incident. The next few hours were spent taking turns letting gravity have its way with them. After running the rest of the section the group regailed about the days magic as they relaxed in the 85 degree weather. It was now time to part ways and begin the drive home. Half the group crashing at a friends house in Flagstaff the other halfs were abouts unkown.

Props to Johnny the old man.

2007-01-30T16:48:00.000-08:00

So for the past few weeks and elderly gentlemen has been stopping by the job site and collecting some of are small wood scraps for fire wood. Yesturday some of my co-workers talked to him to hind out about him. He is a slightly hunched fellow named Johnny with the weakest and yet the coolest gotee that I have ever seen. Now yesturday I was wearing some of my manprees because it has been warmer also in defience of anymore extreme cold temps. Anyways, so my legs were exposed and I was wearing tubeless socks because the closer I am to wearing nothing on my feet the happeir I am. I was making my way accross the yard and had my first encounter with Johnny and he said to me " Son, where are your socks?" jokingly I replied forgot them at home and proceeded on my way. Well, today Johnny came back for more wood. I was on the roof on the back side of the house when he showed up. He asked a co-workerof mine if the boy with no socks was here. Carson replied "if its who I think it is then he is on the roof." To this Johnny replied "Give him these, just looking at him yestuday made me cold." Johnny the gentle elderly soul brought me socks. So I am sending out props to Johnny.

Warmth of the sun!!!!

2007-01-25T15:42:00.000-08:00

For the last 2 days it has been so warm at work. Well, atleast the part of work that I have been. Sheeting a roof. While all others are freezing in the shade and on the ground I have been shirtless for the last 2 days in 30 degree weather. The warm glow on my now pale skin is the best part of my day!

A bit of itinerary.

2007-01-21T20:50:00.000-08:00

A few up coming events that will involve some people hopefully many of you.

Fri 26-27th
I will be setting all night thursday and all day saturdaty in preperation for the Super Bad comp at The Front. (it is in honor of the late reverend James Brown) Friday night those that are competeing are more then welcome to stay at my house. Good times to be had by all. Comp saturday.

Thursday night or friday morning the 1st or 2nd depending on whom is in for this little adventure I am going to head to Stanley and snowshoe probably do a little backcountry skiing. Then it is off to the hot springs and most likely sleep out of my car. Sat morning casually head into Sun Valley for the comp. If anyone from rexburg/ idaho falls wants they can meet me in burly or somewhere near there and I will happily drive.

I am going to be calling on permits to run Westwater canyon on the 21st of April this dosen't garuntee that I am goin on it on that day. I wont find that out until Feb 21st. The permit will be for 25 people if that many are interested. If you have never run Westwater then ask Kori or Sven they have both been on it. Also feel free to spread the word to those that may not blog. Westwater is a 17 mile class 3-4 section. One I have done around 30 times and only lost a few people. If i remember corectlly Sven fell in. We would be making a overnight trip out of it. If you are a kayaker it is a recommended run. I know that Jed kayaks but dosen't blog so someone let him know. Depending on my work schedule I am also looking to go in may. These are typically very good months for the water levels.

If any one has any questions my #is (435)770-2353

A shot from last October.

2007-01-19T15:43:00.000-08:00

She is pretty cool!

A gifted artist that inspires a bit of my own work

2007-01-11T21:23:00.000-08:00

I am currently working on a number of T-shirt designs in hopes to win a bit of extra cash and I have been doing some research through some graffiti artists. Banksy is one such graffiti artist who has been a favorite of mine for a number of years. He wont reveal who he really is. He does alot of political and social commentary with his art. Chek out his web site www.banksy.co.uk/ This guy is the poo!

An adventure involving a life size one of these.

2007-01-09T21:11:00.000-08:00

Stay tuned more on this story coming up after a short break.

A bit of inspiration.

2007-01-08T15:57:00.000-08:00

"If you've never stared off in the distance, then your life is a shame."
Counting Crows- Mrs. Potters Lullaby

New years day 2007!!!

2007-01-01T19:14:00.000-08:00

What an amazing day it was. Early this morning two of my coworkers and I went snow shoeing in the Wastach Wilderness a few minutes from where I grew up. We headed up a canyon called Big Willow which I had been in before but never really explored that far up. Anyways, the snow was falling and it was totally socked in, the canyon was very steep. Levi had been through surgery just a short while ago, John was sick with what, we aren't sure, and I hadn't gotten to bed till 4am. After getting to where the snow was deep enough to shoe up we headed into the bush. After about two hours of bush wacking and wondering why it was that we were not in crampons with ice axes. There was a trail that was so over grown that it was impossible to follow. We finally go just below the Serc of Lone Peak and the grade of the terrain became much more bareable and the bushes thinned out. The best part was the absolutely amazing veiw once we broke throught the cloud cover. The clouds would roll in at unbelieveable speeds and be gone just as fast. We never reached the actual serc due to the amount of day light that we didn't have but we gave it our darndest. The top section of the descent was pure joy! Running thought 3 foot deep powder, jumping, falling, and flopping where nobody had set foot at all this year. Far from the hum of the socked in inversion ridden place below that most would refer to as civilization. We were discussing how sorry we felt for everyone that was not there. The lower half of the descent was sliding, bushwacking, and trying to will your legs to go farther. "This is where I find my freedom." A quote from my favorite song. Freedom by The Push Stars
Enjoy the photos.

Deep thought

2006-12-29T20:51:00.000-08:00

"If they ever come up with a swashbuckling School, I think one of the courses should be Laughing, Then Jumping Off Something."
By J. Handy

Mare for some reason this deep thought immediately brought you to mind.

A few shots from my cross mountain kayaking trip a nmonth or so back.

2006-12-27T17:22:00.000-08:00

The crew from left to right Alan, Tyler, Jake, Smitty, Cole, Myself, and Shannon.

Photos

2006-12-17T14:50:00.000-08:00

Triassic, UT

A few shots of my brothers bossanova band.

Snow+Gravity+Two waxed planks= Good times

2006-12-14T21:19:00.000-08:00

Today after a bit of bartering by my brother whom works at Bookoo energy drink (an evil and very vile drink) I got my skis and bindings joined together in harmony as one. Thanks tyler for getting me the free mounting! It was off to the slopes for some good old down hill velocity. I haven't skied in a few years so I am a bit akward at it for now. Yet, akward as i was I enjoyed myself immenslly. I rode my first rails and here is the amazing part I didn't fall once on the rails. Whoopyay! as Kori and Jo would say. I had a great time trying to keep up with my brother. He got a good chukle out of watching me take my one and only fall of the day in a exquisit little batch of powder. He then said to me and I quote " It is wierd to watch be akward at something for a change rather then excell at it." Well Tyler, to that I say give me two weeks and I promise I will start to drop cliffs. Well, that is if we get snow so that I am not dropping into big rocks. The one thing I learned about myself from today is that I have weak legs. They are still burning!

Letting of steam

2006-12-11T20:53:00.000-08:00

I came to a moment today while working in the sopping wet, frezzing cold snow that due to many unforseen changes in my life that have sent me bouncing around mentally building up to a point where I need to just release some hard felt emotion I am going to compete in a climbing compitition in the very near future. So Tolman, Craig, Tim A.K.A Hammy, Guy Cory seeing hoe you are th most consistent climbing partners as far as comps are concerned let me know of the next comp that isn't at The Front. I will climb in it.

P.S. I just want to reiterate how much I despise when people bail on trips!!!

New favorite quote!.

2006-11-26T13:36:00.000-08:00

“Life’s journey is not to arrive at our grave safely, in a well-preserved body, but rather to slide in sideways, totally worn out, shouting, “Man, what a ride!” Unknown

This post is dedicated to all of those fallen comrades.

2006-11-24T13:26:00.000-08:00

Yes, all of those good friends that have gotten married and now do NOTHING!!!! For instense the good crew that I used to climb with that really got me to where I am at climbing wise today. Yes, the ones that are now all married and talk a big game about how they will get back into it shortly, or that they can't go this time but next time they will. I have nothing against the beautiful young ladies that they each are betrothed to. For the most part they used to go out and have good adventures with us as well. I even understand that life gets busy especially when your young and married. My roomate kicks ass at climbing and he is gratious enough to let me under his wing.(He made me write that part)"wxyandznowIknowmyabc'snexttimewontyousingwithme.com" love Bret. Back to my ranting. I have no problems with marriage. I wouldn't mind trying it myself one day. Only I would like to still assocciate with other humans that I think of as good friends. I just get so frustrated with the lose of good friends who now only watch movies. What happened to the days of surfing on the car rack at 50mph. Running around in our underwear because we could. Messing with new climbers by putting powdered dougnuts in our chalk bags. Coming up with strange slang to see if wee could get newdies to use the slang. Tying someone off at a bolt and leaving them there while we did another route. Rediculously gratuitous amounts of flexing for no darn reason. These are the moments in time that climbing trips are really all about the climbing is secondary. These are the times we said that we would still have when we were all growed old and respectable. In their honor I now metephorically pour a forty on the curb for LJ Wihtmore, Marty Alston, and Paul Sharp. May they come back to the fold one day.

Thanks giving is officially over.

2006-11-23T20:22:00.000-08:00

Well Thanksgiving is officially over and done with. My belly is full, my body tired and soar from a hard week of working. Life has really settled down for the year. I spent an entire weekend in the salt lake valley. Had many plans to head to different places but it was one of those weekends where it just isn't going to happen. So I spent allot of time trainning in the gym. I feel like I am about back to V10s. Also I was officially put on as a paid route setter for the front, Horray for extra cash! Anyone coming to the Cruxmas climbing competition Dec 9th will get a good sampling of what i consider to be good routes wasy and hard. Worked for the first part of the week nothing to exciting wrote some papers. Got to spend a little time with good Idaho friends. Today I had Thanksgiving with the fam. Same as every year ate food sat and played games till it was time to escape the clutches of my family and all their well meaning prodding. Next year I am going to do a big trip over thanksgiving for a change. This is the time of year were I don't get to go out and adventure quit as much as I would like. So the big trip for this month that is in the works is the little beauty pictured below. I found this section on the net the other day. It is called fossil creek. It is in central Arizon, runs year round and the water is 75 degrees. So if it works out it should be a good run hopefully with no mishaps. If anyone would like to go and hangout in the warmth of Arizona. The company is always welcome. There are allready some really cool cats going and there is some very good climbing down there as well, hint hint.

Oray Ice Festival

2006-11-15T17:55:00.000-08:00

A good friend and I were talking about Southern Colorado today and that lead to ice climbing something we would both love to transition into. We were thinking that it might be cool to go and check out the Oray Ice Festival for a day or so. It is just an idea that probably wont happen because the yurt trip will be right around that time. but if anyone is interested in going down it is Jan 10-14th

The weekends proccedings.

2006-11-12T17:43:00.000-08:00

This weekend I went east instead of north as I have for the past few weekends. So Colorado it was. The crew was Jake Skeen, "Smity" Smith Monson, Tyler Cline, and Cole Landon. A couple of new friends we had never paddled with before Shannon and Allen. As well as yours truly. Friday night we headed out to Vernal, UT near the border and crashed at Jakes Grandparents house. The next morning is when the typical road trip particularly kayaking troubles started. Our good friend Cole had forgotten his life jacket and vitol part of the river. After traking down a jacket. Which at this time of the year is very difficult for only the committed kayak at this time of the year. So we headed our loaded up on doughnuts and orange juice. Now, in then cool tempuratures doughnuts are key for keeping up core temps. After about an hour and a half drive over the Colorado state line we reached the put in. The weather report for the day was blue skies and sunny temp. 49 degrees. It was cloudy and more like 39 degrees. Geared up in all of our cold weather gear we put on. A quick flat water paddle put us into the meat of the rapids. With only two of us having seen the canyon and it was roughly 10,000 CFS bigger so it was as though it were new to us all. So the probe took the lead. The probe being me. Into the class 4 fun we went. None of us able to even feel our fingers. The general agreement was that rolling would be a bad idea. We had two roll on the very first drop. Once we ran Snake Pit the biggest of the rapids myself and shannon started to get excited and the heart started pounding and the blood pumping. The pain in the fingers as the blood rushed back in was so intense. The only way to keep you mind off the pain was to keep paddling. When the fingers finally settled down and felt better we all just started haveing fun. Weaving in and out through giant boulders taking different slots and drops. Having an amazing time. Like unto a session at a good crag. After the river we went back to Vernal with hot homemade soup waiting for us. Then a night on the town in happening Vernal. Went to a wonderful home coming for Jakes sister Cassie and got to hangout with his family. Good times!

The yurt up Fishhook Creek.

2006-11-06T20:00:00.000-08:00

This is the description of the yurt from the web site
FISHHOOK HUT
Fishhook Hut sits at 6,800 feet elevation next to a meandering creek in a beautiful meadow deep in the Sawtooth Mountains. The Sawtooth giants rise above the meadows, with spectacular views of Thompson Peak (the highest in the Sawtooth), Williams Peak, Mount Heyburn, and Horstman Peak framing the cold and blue Rocky mountain skies.

Fishhook Hut consists of two separate structures: a Mongolian–style Yurt and a pioneer style wall tent connected together by a lodge pole pine framed walkway.

All of the amenities for a comfortable stay are stocked at Fishhook: two wood stoves for heat, lanterns for light, bunks with mattresses, a three burner propane stove for cooking, all pots, pans and other cooking equipment, all tableware and utensils, a Dutch-oven (bring your own charcoal), books, board games, playing cards, magazines, two covered outhouses.

Moreover, a wood fired HOT TUB makes this hut extra special!

Approach to Fishhook Hut
Guests need to bring only a sleeping bag, personal clothes and food. Fishhook sleeps 8 in the Yurt and 6 in the wall tent.

The approach to Fishhook is a gentle four mile tour, either following a meandering creek or along a beautiful ridge-line.

Fishhook is an ideal destination for tour oriented skiers or snowshoers, with many opportunities for scenic tours through the meadows and forests of Fishhook Valley.

For advanced skiers and boarders, there is also fantastic downhill potential on the big Sawtooth peaks above the valley.

Its me again not the web site any more. Anyways I am thinking in January some time. I think unless people have certain days they are really interested in I am just going to pick 3 or 4 days and just put it on my card.

Its going to be good!!!

2006-11-03T17:06:00.000-08:00

So as I work pounding nails and cutting wood my mind tends to wander. Well, thats what my mind always does, anyways. I am constantly thinking of for the weekend and the next time I have a good chunk of time off for fun. Well, the other day I was discussing an idea of winter and snow and the adventures to be had in the snow. My brother and I were talking about Redfish where we were both employeed at one time and about how there are yurts in thum thar hills. We are looking for some people to be joining us. The date is yet to be set. The cost is 30 per night per person. The yurt is fully stocked with bunk beds, wood, pots pans utinsels, and the best of all is a WOOD BURNING HOT TUB!!!!!! We want to go for a weekend once the snow is deep enough. Cross country, snowshoe, or telemark in all you have to bring is a sleeping bag, clothing, and your food to be cooked. Spend our days doing some really great backcountry skiing or snowbaording. The food will be Fantastic for we will have 3 river guides who can cook in dutch ovens with great skill. Such things as deep dish lasagna, roasted red pepper soup, and more.

YURTTASTIC!!!!

This is were I used to work. How cool is this place?

Thats right it has a wood burning HOT TUB!!!!!!

Tis the season

2006-10-30T18:12:00.000-08:00

As many of you know we have reached the time of the year where days start getting shorter. For may of us this is a dreaded time of the the year. For me it is this way for many reasons. The one that I am reffering to is the depression that comes with more darkness. Today it hit me. My clinically diagnosed depression is making a stand yet so to am I. This is my least favorite time of the year.

Well it finally happened.

2006-10-28T22:09:00.001-07:00

My many different activities over the past little bit finally caught up to me today. Juggling school several jobs and my deep routed obsession for playing hard and traveling. At first my body was pretty tired from work and training and what not then was the trip to the City of Rocks last weekend. I ended up with a head cold and was working 10 hour days till I flew to Boise to help set routes for a climbing compition that they had. Two days there then its back to Utah for more route setting for a compition here in town. Lunch and a stop in the park to lay in the sun was a welcome retreat. Now to get an idea of the amount of climbing you do when setting routes you have x amount of settters who set x amounts of routes usually between 40 to 60 routes trying and tweaking till you get it right. Once all of the routes are set you proceed to climb them all. This helps you get an idea of what they should be rated. So three solid days of that. A late night last night and early work this morning. When I got home I comletely crashed. I mean I was out physically exhausted. I slept harder then I have in months and months. Now I am refreshed and ready to do it all over again. Who wants to play?!?