Here’s the video I made from everyone’s photos and video from our Moab motorcycle trip this March. It’s my first project with my new Adobe CS4 software.

Enjoy beautiful scenery, steep climbs, sand, jumps, and broken bikes and bones. My fav part, naturally, is where I drop 6 or 8′ off a cliff. I’m afraid that wasn’t terribly good for my bike, though!

SST Moab Spring Training 2009 from Shaun R on Vimeo.

Driving back from Southern Utah, on I-15 around mile marker 123, I think, just after Beaver, we saw a ghost standing on the shoulder of the road.

It looked like a zombie that had crawled out of a car crash, with her head cocked unnaturally to one side. We only had a moment to see her while the headlights illuminated her figure.

I’m “sure” it was a practical joke – either someone standing there or a dummy set up and left there by local teens perhaps, but it was very effective and creepy. I thought it was a fantastic way to keep late-night drivers awake with a creepiness-induced adrenaline rush.

Anyway, I’m blogging about this because I want to know if anyone else saw it or knows something about it. If you do, please post a comment below! Continue Reading »

A few days ago I was invited to canyoneer Zion NP’s Mystery Canyon. It’s a 5- or 6-mile affair with a lot of slot canyon, 9 rappels adding up to 440′, a few pools and waterfalls, which finishes with a 120′ rappel into the Virgin River in the Narrows not far beyond where the pavement ends. Continue Reading »

Today was SO wonderfully warm. At last. Spring is here. My front yard melted yesterday for the first time since November. So after grading and editing and programming all day, it was time to hit the river trail up the canyon.

I ran about 4 miles – my short distance. Once I get going a bit more often, the short distance will be 6 miles – to Canyon Glen and back – and the long distance will be 9 – to Bridal Veil Falls. Continue Reading »

Chris Barksdale and I climbed most of the way up North Timpanogos last Saturday. Based on all the recent sunshine and the winds we saw whipping up spindrift the day before, we were hoping for more crust, but ended up sinking into some fairly deep powder (up to our waist in the worst spots) on the steepest parts of the ridge. So when we ran out of time with 1,000′ left to go, we didn’t complain about turning around.

Climbing on skis/skins would have been easier, and the snow on the way down would have been awesome skiing! Ah, well, some other day. Continue Reading »

As always, the Banff Mountain Film Festival looks like a MUST SEE!

Order tickets for February 10th & 11th, 7pm, Utah Valley University Student Center Ragan Theater at Outdoor Adventure Centeroac@uvsc.edu | 801.863.7052 | Room: SC103h | Fall Hours: Monday-Friday 8:30am-6:00pm, closed Saturday & Sunday

…make tracks.

Our little burst of spring weather was short-lived. Four or more feet of snow has fallen in the mountains over the last few days. It began as heavy (for Utah, that is) 15-20% water (smokey powder starts below 7%) above 6,000′, but I bet it’s getting lighter now as the cold front arrives.

So I promise to take my friends’ advice, stop working so much, and head up to Sundance tomorrow to make the most of winter and hope for sunny warmth to return soon.

I’ll post a report here if there’s anything worth saying about it.

REPORT: I enjoyed a WAY better day than expected with a lot of pretty good powder, good skiing, and a few good wipe outs. Here’s a little ski movie for your enjoyment: “When Life Gives You Snow…“

Continue Reading »

Nutty Putty is what cavers call a “sacrificial cave.” No animals are ritually killed or anything – it’s the cave itself that’s sacrificed by hordes of novice spelunkers (about 40,000 per year, I think I heard) who don’t know anything (or don’t care) about cave etiquette (like not touching sensitive crystals and other features, not leaving any trash, etc.).

So while the cave takes a beating, at least it draws attention away from other caves. Not only does this protect other caves from abuse, but Nutty Putty is one of the safer caves around, with only one or two spots where a serious accident seems possible.

About three years ago, search and rescue was called to Nutty Putty three times within a few weeks. The cavers didn’t have serious accidents, they just got stuck. And stuck good! One got wedged in a tiny tube near a room called “The Scout Trap.” Only the smallest scouts can even fit in. I squeezed as far down as possible last weekend and barely got my ankles in before my shoulders wouldn’t slide any farther. Continue Reading »

2009 began, for me and a few friends, standing around a fire in the snow behind Mt Timpanogos.

We had planned to hike up the road a ways from the Primrose Cirque trailhead and dig some caves, but when we arrived at the parking lot and saw how empty it was (I was expecting a bunch of scouts to be camping in the nearby ampitheater area), we looked at the piles of snow that the plows had pushed up against the sides of the lot and said, “That looks good enough.” Continue Reading »

My trip to the Andes with dad last week went, overall, very well. I got to the top of a 17,795′ mountain (barely), and dad tore some tendons on the way down.

After the whole climb and exit, I’m still tired of even thinking much about it, so go to http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/472598/cerro-el-plomo.html for photos and details. Click the top/right photo to get into the photo album, then click “Next” over to the right to walk through all the photos with explanation in order.

I’ll add dad’s photos when I get them from him.