Extreme Utah: outdoor adventurers tackle the state's toughest landscapes.

• Author: Haraldsen, Tom
• Position: Executive Living

Many people got their first glimpse of Utahs other-worldly terrain while watching James Franco cut off his arm in 127 Hours. But that gory scene only served to whet the appetites of adventurers who seek thrills in Utah's varied and challenging landscapes.

More and more each year, particularly in the summer and fall, Utahns take on the challenges of extreme outdoor sports. And there's no better place to pursue activities like canyoneering, rock climbing and bouldering than the Beehive State.

If you like climbing into caves, or kayaking on one of the states many tributaries, youre also in luck. What often brings vacationers to Utah, and sometimes keeps them here as they relocate, is the vast variety of outdoor activities our state provides.

"There are thousands of different opportunities for hikers, climbers, river runners or just about any other outdoorsman," says Kevin Lewis, director of sports and adventure marketing for the St. George Area Convention and Tourism Office. His office often fields calls from around the world about Utah outdoor activities.

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"Utah is really one of the Meccas for this," he says. "We have such a wide variety of locales for so many outdoor adventures. And in Southern Utah in particular, they can run year round."

Nature--Close Up

Rock climbing is quickly becoming one of the state's most popular draws. Certainly the offerings of Zion and Arches National Parks have been on the radar for climbers for decades, and Utah offers perhaps the greatest variety of rock climbing in the nation.

In the Salt Lake Valley, the granite found in Little Cottonwood Canyon is second only to that in Yosemite National Park in California in terms of density and popularity. In neighboring Big Cottonwood Canyon, there are hundreds of potential quartzite climbing areas. And Utah boasts many kinds of rocks in addition to granite and quartzite, including slate, gneiss, marble, shale, limestone, sandstone, siltstone and conglomerate. Estimates put the ages of these rocks at somewhere from 24 million to over I billion years old.

Rock climbers, and those into canyoneering, will find a plethora of playgrounds. Southern Utahs famous slot canyons offer what Lewis calls "a unique perspective on nature. You can't find anything like them anywhere else"

Many of these canyons are so narrow that you can touch both sides of the walls with outstretched arms. Getting to some of them might involve trudging through waist-deep water, or...