The Latest Rave

A Brief History of the FiddleStick

Developing the FiddleStick was very much a group project, though I do claim credit as the driving force behind it, being the 'equipment person'.

The Spark

The year was 2011, March 12th actually. We were doing a rest-day hike/rappel canyon partly to go look at a very large arch that Scott Patterson had noticed in Marinus Canyon, North Wash area, Utah. At the top of the canyon, we found the arch, with a spacious flat top about 30 feet down from the rim. We needed to do a short rappel to get to the top of the arch.

Repairing the Vinyl Bottom of Imlay Packs

Most of our packs use 18 oz Vinyl on the bottoms and side-bottoms, and while it is fairly tough, it does get chewed up. The good news is that it can be repaired. By you.

Ask, and we will send you some vinyl scraps, which you could glue-on like butterfly bandages with the HH-66 glue. Clean the vinyl (both sides) with rubbing alcohol before trying to glue it. You would want to fill the bottom of the pack very tightly, glue stuff on then wrap it up tight to hold them in place until the glue sets.

Death Valley Swaney Fest 2026 - Feb 13,14,15

Back to DV and Slabby for the yearly gathering of the clan! Joe Muir from Cedar City was my driver and rope sherpa for the weekend, and did a great job of both!

Thursday night we drove through a bit of rain to Las Vegas and bunked with TreC and Luuke. Peruvian food this time! Morning saw up driving north and west a bit later than planned, and we arrived at the Natural Bridge Canyon parking lot 80 minutes late to meet Willie, who had left to find other peeps about 15 minutes earlier. Sigh... we grabbed some ropes and headed out for N Bridge Cyn, that I had remembered as being a half-day / half-climb canyon.

There is a reason my automatic answer to any question that starts "do you remember" is "NOPE!"

A midnight film. I'm not into horror films in general, having come late to the genre, and mostly through Sundance. I've seen some good Canadian flicks, okay Australian contributions, and the night before a wonderful sendup of 90's Kids shows (Buddy); but this from New Zealand is GOLD!

An outlandish premise, carried through spectacularly! Continuously strange, funny and with very little actual 'horror', and with a happy ending! And some unlikely reflections on Mother-Daughter relationships and the overall strangeness of pregnancy itself.

Unlikely to be in a theatre near you, but I'm sure it will be available streaming. Highly recommended. Good date movie!

We began the day with a big winner. Tuner starring Leo Woodall and Dustin Hoffman is a wonderful independent film, hitting notes of comedy, buddy movie, crime thriller and romantic comedy, and pulls them all off quite well.

Synopsis (from Wikipedia):
A talented piano tuner's meticulous skills for tuning pianos lead him to discover an unexpected aptitude for cracking safes, turning his life upside down.

A well-scripted, well-filmed, well-edited movie. We have a WINNER!  It will be out in cinemas. See it on the big screen. Good date movie!

This is the last Sundance in Utah for the foreseeable future. (SAD) Only three movies today... well, actually, I guess only two, but I will comment on:

THE LAKE

First movie of the day is The Lake, a film about the looming disaster that is the collapse of the Salt Lake ecosystem that will likely make Salt Lake City uninhabitable.  I did NOT see the movie as the manic drive to get there in time to get into the film did not appeal, so this is based on comments from others.

This was a big deal in SLC. For good reason. Buzz buzz buzz. Governor Cox made an appearance. All described it as a well-made film except that...  well, it was faith affirming.  It made clear the danger looming over our shoulders. And that the proper response to this was more fervent prayer and trusting in Heavenly Father - as is the "Utah Way".

Knowledge—sometimes no more than a whispered hint—changes everything.

I have followed routes with well-documented beta, followed others who knew the way, descended with minimal details, and explored canyons with absolutely zero knowledge. The routes have been both hard and easy—sometimes with potholes, sometimes stemming, sometimes going X, but usually not.

Over the years, I have noticed people claiming a route is not as hard as others suggest. Many now consider a full route description to be “beta,” and anything less an “explore.” In this shift we have lost sight of what exploring a canyon truly means. Few pause to realize how a single scrap of knowledge can completely alter the perceived difficulty—and, by extension, how a canyon can feel far harder simply because no information exists.

Eric in Sedona showed me a new (to me) way of backing up a FiddleStick (aka Toggle) that I think might become (my) standard practice and certainly could be useful in specific challenging situations.

I have a canyon in my future where the FiddleStick will be positioned over the edge; I will want the anchor secured / safetied-off until I am in rappelling position below the Fiddle. With this method, I can hook into the rappel line, then downclimb and get settled in position below the Fiddle, then untie the barrel knot and complete the rappel.

Notes for Death Valley, super long canyons, big groups, long rappels, moving efficiently.  Might apply elsewhere. Suggestions. There are always multiple ways to do it, please ponder on this.

Guidelines. Suggestions. Not rules.

1. Contingency anchors – NO!  These ain’t waterfalls, at least, I hope not. If we have beginners along, we are already in big trouble.

2. Bottom belays – YES!  Especially on rappels longer than 100’. BUT, DV has a lot of loose rock, so the bottom belayer needs to be out of the target zone. Usually best to step to the side (and back) rather than just back. As the rappeller gets close to the ground, to maintain belay, you will need to step closer in. …

I’m a reader, what can I say. Here are a FEW of my favorite books, updated from time to time:

Julia by Sandra Newman

Savage Arena by Joe Tasker

Lamb by Christopher Moore

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Good Omens by Neil Gaimon

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky