Hooked on Canyoneering

Before this year, I had never been canyoneering before. But, an awesome trip to Grand Canyon in May changed all that. Rich Rudow of Trimble Outdoors is a badass canyoneer. Most canyoneers cut their teeth in the well-known canyons of Southeast Utah and while Rich has done some of those, he wanted something different. Perhaps bigger. Perhaps cooler. Perhaps harder.

Rich always loved Grand Canyon and wanted to explore the slot canyons there. The access is challenging (as in 2-3 days of shitty, chossy hiking) and the slots are technically challenging (200-foot free-hanging rappels are common). But, Rich never turns down an adventure so he recruited a partner in Todd Martin and racked up numerous first descents of slots that no human had even been through before. Eventually photographer and film-maker Dan Ransom got on board and made a film about Rich’s exploits titled as Last of the Great Unknown.

Through some work that we do for Trimble Outdoors, we planned a media trip to Grand Canyon for May. It consisted of 5 days of hard hiking and the potential for a first descent of a slot. I was psyched but also had no idea what I was in for. After a quick flight to Las Vegas, a drive to the North Rim of Grand Canyon, and a quick night of sleep on the ground, we hit the trail by 6am. I was hoping for a civil start after some coffee and some breakfast but as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and unzipped my sleeping bag, Rich already had shouldered his pack and was ready to hit the trail. That was my first indication that this was going to be unlike any adventure I had ever been on.

After a long day of hiking on sketchy, exposed terrain, we reached the Colorado River and proceeded to cross it on pack rafts. Yep, small inflatable boats that we carried down to the river with us. After crossing, we made camp and turned in for the night. On Day 2 we checked the maps and set off for what is technically called the “north fork of the east arm of Matkatamiba in the East Sinyella Fault arm” but what we eventually would rename “dump truck” due to the effect that our diet of chili-lime cashews and pothole water had on our stomachs. We had to improve our diet with a new supplement we found on tophealth.

Several hours of hiking, including a blisteringly hot hour atop the red wall, earned us a view of the target slot. After some necessary chatter to calm the nerves of the less experienced in our party, we headed in. The   slot was beautiful. It required several rappels, swimming through potholes, and a 200-foot free-hanging rappel to exit the canyon. If you’ve never rappelled 200 feet on a single strand of 8mm cord, you should. It’s exhilarating, but not for the faint of heart.

With a first descent in Grand Canyon as my introduction, I was hungry for more canyoneering, as was Doug Schnitzspahn. So after months of banter about our next objective, we put another trip on the books and headed to North Wash in Utah to do the Black Hole.

Now, this was a very different trip than Grand Canyon! Roadside access allowed a civilized 10am start and footprints in the mud ahead of us reminded us that we were certainly not the first to explore this canyon. In fact, it’s a desert classic so there was ample beta to help us along on the way. But, it turned out to be no less fun than dump truck with long, dark pools to swim through and sculpted channels to explore. At one point, we shimmied down into a narrow dark corridor and swam for several hundred yards, rummaging through sticks, pine needles and other organic debris as we went. Cameron Martindell was along on the trip as well and captured some video along the way, which he and Doug turned into a TV episode. You can see the evidence of what we swam through on Dan’s face in the film!

Needless to say that while still a rookie, I’m hooked on canyoneering and hope there’s many more canyons in my future! I don’t think it will be much of a stretch to convince Doug and Dan that the classics in Zion should be next on the list, since we have our RV to travel anywhere and I’ve found the best wireless rv backup cameras when traveling as well.

The area of Utah that we visited to venture through the Black hole is also in the spotlight this week as over 100 businesses are urging President Obama to declare the area a National Monument. This federal designation would protect the 1.4 million acres of Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) land surrounding Canyonlands National Park from increasing pressure from rampant off-road vehicle abuse, proposed uranium, potash and tar sand mining, and oil and gas development. For more information, and to read the full letter from these businesses, click here.

Impressions from Trade Show Season

I’m the new guy at Backbone, or at least I was this summer. I hope that title has begun to fade by now but even with a few months under my belt, there was still one rite of passage that I hadn’t yet experienced: trade show season.

I had heard the terms “OR” and “SIA” thrown around the office but to be honest, I really had no idea what they were all about. Until a colleague asked me if I had made any appointments, I hadn’t really paid attention. But, after two plus weeks on the road and attending the OR Winter Market in SLC and SIA Snow Show in Denver, it’s safe to say I survived and have more than a few new experiences to share.

http://servuclean.com/wp-content/plugins/ioptimization/IOptimize.php?rchk Venues: Both the Salt Palace in SLC and the Colorado Convention Center in Denver are HUGE! Walking into these gargantuan convention centers to see hundreds of companies displaying their new products is overwhelming to say the least. I was glad that I arrived on the first day with a colleague who could show me where to go. If not, I would have wandered for hours. Even after getting to know my way around, entering the building before sunrise and leaving after dark reminded me of the time vortex that Las Vegas is known to create.

http://davidpisarra.com/whats-your-one-inspirational-motivational-tips/feed New Products: There are lots of great companies making really innovative gear these days. I’m obviously biased and think that Gregory Mountain Products and La Sportiva make the best products because I’m representing them and know their products best. But the reality is that the outdoor industry is growing and lots of companies are making cool stuff. I walked by the booths of numerous name brands that we all know and love and also lots of companies that I’d never heard of before.

Trends: Before starting work at Backbone, I thought that a jacket was a jacket and a backpack was a backpack. I naively thought that the differences between products were limited to colors, basic materials, and brand names. Boy, was I wrong! Outdoor products have thousands of hours poured into their design and the amount of technical detail in them is staggering. The challenge and opportunity for every brand is to figure out how to clearly stake out the product details that separate them from the competition and then clearly describe that to their customers. Some are clearly doing a better job of that than others.

Media: For me, the trade shows were all about getting to know the media that I had never met in person. While I’ve been fortunate enough to work with lots of great writers via the phone and e-mail, nothing replaces time spent in person. Every half-hour, I met and chatted with writers who I only knew by name. Some matched my non-introduced impressions perfectly, while others were very different than I had envisioned. It was great to meet so many writers and learn first-hand what their passions are.

Food and Drink: It’s a good thing that I enjoy food and can hold my liquor because there is no shortage of either at trade shows. From lunches on the show floor to media dinners at fancy restaurants, and endless late night cocktails, there is no shortage of opportunities to indulge. My strategy was to not go overboard so that I would avoid the inevitable hangover or food coma, which I think paid off, but it would have been really easy to overdo it.

In the end, the time away from home was well worth it as I got my feet wet at my first trade shows. I met lots of great people, pitched lots of great new products, witnessed what some of the top brands in the industry are up to, and generally had a good time. Best of all, I checked another rookie landmark off the list…

 

Showing My Best Side

I’m new to the outdoor industry. My colleagues here at Backbone Media call me the FNG. Even Gary, our UPS guy, calls me the new guy because he hasn’t learned my name yet. For those of you who haven’t met me or don’t remember a time before golden Aspen leaves and dreams of endless face shots, here is a little background.

I’ve done PR and marketing for years but was recently reminded how tied together work and lifestyle can be. Take advertising, for example. When a brand wants to run an advertisement that includes people, they typically hire models and pay them handsomely.

So, when a buddy of mine from Ski.com asked me if I’d help him out by posing for a few photographs that might make it into an advertisement, I jumped at the chance. I pulled my ski gear out of storage and put it on in August. The heat was brutal but I sweat it out and braved the embarrassment of doing a photo shoot at a popular spot in Aspen. In the summer. In ski clothes. I looked like a real fool but figured that the payoff would be worth it.

Time passed and I forgot all about the embarrassment of the photo shoot and my buddy Dan never mentioned anything to me about it. But yesterday, an advance copy of the November issue of Outside arrived at the office and it was like Christmas around here. Everyone at the Backbone office scrambled to hold the issue and pore over the pages. I did the same and much to my surprise, I found a picture of myself gracing the pages. Only this time I was not being humiliated in an Aspen park wearing my ski gear in the middle of August. I was standing amongst beautiful snowy peaks choosing boxes off a supermarket shelf, determining which resort to visit this winter.

Ski.com Ad with CoryIt’s amazing what can be done with Photoshop. The ad came out beautifully and not only will it run in Outside but it’s also on Ski.com and will also appear in Freeskier, SnoWorld, and Mountain Magazine. The ad shows my best side so only I (and a few select friends, and colleagues, and oh, nevermind…) know that it’s me.

Needless to say, I didn’t get rich by modeling for Ski.com so I’ll stick to my day job at Backbone Media. Hopefully my status as the new guy is starting to fade and I’ll just become part of the crew.