Canyoneering ropes don’t get old; they just get shorter. A few years ago I got a call from BlueWater asking me if I would like to have a 1,000-foot 8mm Canyon Pro rope. FREE. The rope had been custom ordered and custom cut for a customer. With his first rappel the customer experienced some sheath…
I produced this video in 2017. In the video I mention that my favorite version is the flat double overhand. I quote some testing done by Grant Prattley in New Zealand. I did not mention in the video, but I knew at the time that the guys at Rigging for Rescue in Ouray Colorado had…
There are 7 essential levels of training for everyone interested in becoming a truly competent canyoneer. Or is it 9 levels of training? Or maybe it’s only 6? Someone once quoted a rival instructor who said, “Taking a canyoneering course from Rich is like trying to get a drink of water from a fire hose.”…
Monday morning drive from Akureyri to Dalvik to catch the 9:00 o’clock ferry to the island of Grimsey; the only place in Iceland that extends into the Arctic Circle. Rough 3-hour ferry ride, not ideal for anyone prone to sea sickness. There were several such people on board. Did not envy the young woman in…
According to the guidebook: “If you explore only one town in the Eastfjords, Seydisfjordur should be it. Made up of multi-colored wooden houses and surrounded by snowcapped mountains and cascading waterfalls.” On this day the surroundings were obscured by dense fog and the town was swarming with tourists. A nice side-trip nonetheless.
The soundtrack to my personal experiences in canyons is almost always Native American flute music. Surrounded by silence I hear the music in my head. I am at peace. Recently that silence was broken by the yelling and screaming of someone’s children. I back-tracked until I met six kids; guessing their ages ranged from six…
Arrived in Monterrey, Mexico on the 7th of March. Here training 19 aspiring canyon guides. Four days on, three days off, four days on. From here on to Guadalajara for another seven days of training another group of guides. Home on the 27th. I have been coming to Mexico since 2003 – Monterrey, Guadalajara and…
I started the first canyoneering forum on the internet back in May of 2000. The original platform was called eGroups, which was later acquired by Yahoo! Those who have been around long enough likely remember it best as the Canyons Group on Yahoo! To get it up and running I did an internet search for…
“OMG! Can you believe that guy? He almost ran right into me!” Actually, I couldn’t believe the woman who said that. I was stuck behind her group of around ten people, who were descending this section of trail three abreast. It would have been a simple matter for her to step aside and let the…
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