| Desert Highlights • Your Canyoneering Guides |
| Your Canyoneering Guides: | |
| • Zach
Browning
• Herb Crimp • David Schipper • Phillip Rhoades • Matt Moore |
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| Other Canyoneering Info: | |
| • One
Day Adventures
• Multi-Day Adventures • FAQ • Testimonials • Trip Reports • Trip Schedule • Desert Highlights Home |
Visit our office in Moab, Utah Located at 50 East Center Street 
We're conveniently located next to the Moab Information Center in downtown Moab, Utah 
Don't forget a T-Shirt, Tank Top or Long Sleeve! |
| Zach has had a love for the outdoors
since he was a child. He grew up in Alaska and New Mexico where he
got involved in scouting and eventually earned his Eagle Scout
award. After high school he attended UC Berkeley as a mechanical
engineering student. Between classes he spent as much time as he
could in Lake Tahoe perfecting his skiing. Seven seemingly eternal
months as an intern in a cubicle after graduation convinced Zach to
never again to work a "regular" job, so he moved to Lake
Tahoe and dubiously put his engineering degree to good use as a
hard-core ski bum. During the summers Zach worked as a Fisheries
Technician for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
A few years later a new chapter for him began while driving through southern Utah from a visit in New Mexico. He stumbled upon a canyoneering guidebook and immediately became enamored with exploring canyons. The easier hikes were enjoyable, but he soon aspired to descend into the more difficult canyons requiring ropes. This appetite for technical canyoneering now whetted, he contacted the American Canyoneering Association (ACA) and signed up for one of their courses. His engineering background made him a quick study, and over the next couple of years he became certified as a Professional Canyon Guide through the ACA. This is the highest level of certification available and has only been awarded to a dozen guides so far. He is also a certified Swiftwater Rescue Technician and Wilderness First Responder. In addition to guiding, Zach loves teaching canyoneering skills to new students and is now a highly regarded instructor for those same courses that he enjoyed so much. He joined Desert Highlights in 2006 and spends summers in Moab guiding and teaching, and winters in Lake Tahoe as a semi-professional skier. |
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Herb grew up in Virginia hiking and climbing the Appalachians. He got his first taste of southern Utah during a thirty day Wilderness Leadership course through his alma mater, Radford College. He received his bacholer's degree in Outdoor Recreation. After graduating, Herb worked as an environmental education teacher in Alabama. The lure of the West is strong, however, and in 2005 he returned to live in northern Utah and work as a counselor for a wilderness therapy program. The challenges of work had him seeking solace on his days off in the breathtaking backcountry of southern Utah. Herb is now a Moab resident, with the enviable status of living in the house closest to the world-famous Slickrock Bike Trail. He enjoys his guide days better now that his clients are not out there under court order. He's an accomplished climber and on days when he's not leading visitors into the canyons he can be found ascending some of the desert's most challenging walls and towers - not to mention riding a lap on two on Slickrock. |
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| David was born in Virginia, but spent his summers as a kid in his father's home state of Montana. An all-too-familiar story unfolded once again when the rivers and mountains around Bozeman wiled this young man from his eastern roots. Young David began living the dream early on, floating and fishing the wild rivers and hiking the craggy snow-covered peaks. At age 14, David began rock climbing and venturing into steeper, technical mountain terrain. He had found his calling. David continued splitting his time between school in the east and adventure out west. After graduating college in Michigan, his mother's home state, David began his career in the outdoor gear industry. For the past 20 years, David's creative mind has been designing gear for a wide range of athletes, from golfers to mountain climbers. Though he doesn't golf, he has traveled extensively throughout Europe and Asia, climbing notorious peaks in the Alps and the Himalayas. While peaks are his passion, he enjoys escaping the rarified air for the desert's warm climate. David has lived in Moab since 2001 and has been friends with the Desert Highlights crew ever since. He began guiding for Desert Highlights in 2007 and his hiatus from the corporate world - to climb some more of the world's highest peaks as well as pursue canyoneering - is a treat for us and you. |
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Phillip lived in Denver for eight
years after leaving his Virginia roots in 1995. His introduction to adventure were two thruhikes, one on the
Appalachian Trail in 1999 and another along the Colorado Trail in
2000. He hasn't stopped exploring since, with experiences ranging
from Alaska to Costa Rica, including his accidental discovery of the
Colorado Plateau and its slot canyons more than five years ago.
Fascination with these intimate landscapes, overcoming their
obstacles and his own fear of heights eventually led him to pursue
professional guide certification with the American Canyoneering
Association. Along with Zach, he is one of the few certified canyon guides in the U.S. and is also a member of the Executive Committee of the ACA's Professional Division. He is medically trained as a Wilderness First Responder. Phillip joined Desert Highlights in 2004. On personal time you can find Phillip satisfying his appetite with multi day rafting trips, gradually perfecting his telemark turns or submerging himself in one of the many slot canyons in Utah. Moab has become the perfect base camp for his explorations. |
Matt founded Desert Highlights in 1997
after spending nearly ten years poking around the landscape of
southern Utah. His admiration of wild places was kindled years ago while
living in Yosemite and climbing the valley's beautiful big walls.
Pride ensued, so Matt moved to Moab and sought humility while
climbing the daunting towers of the desert. A love affair with the
desert quickly developed and continues to this day. But, as is the
case with many folks living in Moab, climbing was just the
beginning...
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50 East Center St. PO Box 1342 Moab, Utah 84532 (800) 747-1342 (435) 259-4433 www.deserthighlights.com info@deserthighlights.com |