“I don’t know how we’re going to get out of there.” [pause] “Is that a keeper pool?” [pause] “That looks awful!” Three quotes; from three different men — this is not the conversation I want to hear before dropping into an unexplored slot deep in the Grand Canyon. Especially from this crew!


I’m standing at the lip of a 200-foot cliff, a canyoneering obstacle that’ll require a free-hanging rappel. The guys from the quotes above, some of the most experienced canyoneers in the country, are Rich Rudow and Todd Martin, the former (Rudow) is the general manager of the mapping and GPS companyTrimble Outdoors. He alone has descended 150+ canyons over the years in the Grand, more than half of which were first descents. Read More...