Videos

Send To Defend Video

I needed a little exercise this winter, video exercise. So I jumped on the opportunity to attend the Send to Defend event in SLC; not to climb but to shoot video. This was good was a good practice session. I think it was my first session using my new lens, so I as able to see what it was capable of.



Send to Defend is a fundraising event for The Salt Lake Climbers Alliance and The Access Fund.

A day of climbing at The Front Climbing Club.
All proceeds go to the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance and The Access Fund.

Climbing, Free food, Prize Giveaways, Silent Auction, and Special Presentation from climbing legend Lynn Hill.

Snow Cave

Childhood winters were spent digging snow caves. I didn't make that many snowmen, but I sure made a whole lot of caves and tunnels. The best caves I made were in the ditch across the street from our house in Rexburg, ID. My bothers and I would wait until the ditch filled in with snow, after which we would dig a hole down and then start our cave. The fact that the cave was practically underground made it even more cool to us.

My boys are now at the ages--6 and 4--where I can now teach them all the fun things that life has to offer them. In my opinion, snow caves are one of those things. Today was a milestone with my boys. I introduced them both to the snow-cave-concept for the first time. They loved the idea. Although they didn't understand the engineering of how to make it, they definitely watched, helped, and took mental notes. I wouldn't be surprised if I catch them making mini-caves by themselves now. The seed has now been planted.

The White Rim - Rim To Rim

I'd choose a trail running adventure over a trail race any day.

Back in 2005, as a student at Brigham Young University-Idaho, my wife (Jennilyn) went on a 2 month study abroad program that required that they hike, bike, canyoneer, and canoe in the remote desert areas of Southern Utah. She was able to experience mountain biking the white rim in three days. After each day's ride, she'd lace up her running shoes and clock in some extra miles on her feet. Ever since then, she has always dreamt of running the entire White Rim "Trail".

The first thing I ever heard out of Jennilyn's mouth when I met her was, "Sorry I didn't answer the phone, I was on a 14-mile run." To me, especially at that time in my life, she sounded pretty hardcore. What I didn't know then was that I was only seeing a tiny tip of a ginormous iceberg that had yet to show itself. After 6 years of dreaming about running the White Rim, Jennilyn finally put in our bid for the camping permits needed to tackle her dream and our goal of tackling this notorious desert pathway by foot. 

The White Rim is a 100 mile dirt road that aggressively loops around and below the island mesa top in Utah's Canyonlands National Park. Jennilyn was able to secure our permits and recruit three other runners, a crew cheif/driver, a lead cheerleader, and some mini-cheerleaders to join the two of us. Our initial plan was to run the entire 100 miles in three days, starting at the Shafer Trailhead and finishing on the Mineral Road/Horsetheif Trail where it intersects with the main road. However, we modified our plans a bit and decided to just run from one rim to the other, totalling 80+ miles. We started at the Safer Trailhead and finished at the top of the Mineral Bottom Switchbacks.

Day One started just after sunrise and consisted of running just over 28 miles. After arriving at the Gooseberry Campground, we realized that a nasty wind had arrived and looked like it was going to stay a while. It prevented us from setting up tents, it blew sand in our faces and sleeping bags as we slept, and one of our runners lost their pillow during the night after it was swept away from the torrential breeze.

The wind didn't let up, in fact it got a lot worse and blasted us with gusts of 60 mph the entire time we ran on Day Two. With sand and pebbles pelting us the whole way, we trudged along to the Potato Bottom Campground for a daily total of 35 miles. Luckily, the wind ceased that evening and we slept like babies.

Day three was a delight. The weather was perfect and we only had to run 16 miles to reach the top of the Mineral Bottom Switchbacks. It was a wonderful feeling topping out and knowing that we were done. It was truly an adventure and it was so cool to see Jennilyn living out such a big dream.

Rumor has it that Jennilyn is now thinking of going back and trying to run it in again...but this time within 24 hours.

This is the map that we so colorfully marked up to illustrate to our crew the initial plan. 

The White Rim Runners: David Lynn, Steve Aderholt, Leslie Keener, Jennilyn Eaton, Benjamin Eaton

Our Support Crew. You guys rocked. Thank You!!

Video: Rebel Yell

A few of us from work have been hitting up Big Cottonwood Canyon after work on Thursdays and getting a bunch of climbing in. I'm really enjoying that canyon. The climbing is accessible, fun, and bolted.



Michael Portanda takes a lap up Rebel Yell for the first time in Big Cottonwood Canyon, UT. This route is located on the Psycobabble Wall in the Storm Mountain Picnic area where a lot of great rock climbing exists.

Video: S.N.A.F.U.

During our 1.5 month of living in Almo, ID, I shot some video of my awesome wife, Jennilyn climbing a route called S.N.A.F.U. on the Crack House Wall in Castle Rocks State Park. I decided to use the footage to create a little promo video for the Idaho Mountain Festival, an event that Jennilyn and I created from scratch.



The City Slicker Series is a collection of climbing videos that showcase the amazing climbing found at City of Rocks National Reserve and Castle Rocks State Park in Idaho.

This video series is an Idaho Mountain Festival production, presented by Asana Climbing. The Idaho Mountain Festival is a 4-day climbing and trail running "party", held at Castle Rocks State Park, ID. For more info visit www.IdahoMountainFest.com.

Old Footage = New Video

Now that I have upgraded some software on my computer, its time to bust out some old climbing footage that I randomly shot on various climbing trips to sharpen my editing skills for better video projects in the future.

This video is of Sam Perkins on a route called Zealot in the cave at Kelly's Rock. Kelly's Rock is one of the sweet limestone walls in the Woodbury Road Crags area near Saint George, UT.

Videos On The Rock

Back when I was an active snowboarder, I was always shooting footage of myself to help me perfect my tricks and style. I did the same things when I played in a punk band. Watching the footage always helped me critique myself and do better the next time.

Now that I am always climbing, and I always have a camera in my hands, more footage of myself and others will be hitting the editing screen and making it onto the internet for all to enjoy and use to get psyched about the sport.

The three videos below are just some quick edits I did with some raw-non-scripted footage of myself that was shot during a couple of climbing trips.





Video: Midget Widget - Ririe, ID

It's not every day that I get to shoot and edit a video that includes some of my own climbing.

This video is of me, Jennilyn Eaton, and Sam Perkins climbing at Midget Widget near Ririe, ID. This band of very-low basalt cliffs allows us hungry trad climbers to go and practice our piece-plugging skills.