Scree, or talus, is accumulation of broken rock fragments at the base of crags, mountain cliffs, or valley shoulders. Landforms associated with these materials are sometimes called scree slopes or talus piles. These deposits typically have a concave upwards form, while the maximum inclination of such deposits corresponds to the angle of repose of the mean debris size.

The term scree comes from the Old Norse term for landslide, skriða, while the term talus is a French word meaning a slope or embankment. The two terms are often used interchangeably, though scree commonly refers to smaller material like mixed gravel and loose dirt, talus to rocks larger than scree.Talus is usually the preferred term in scientific writing.^{[citation needed]}

Formation of scree or talus deposits results from physical and chemical weathering and erosional processes acting on a rock face. The predominant processes that degrade a rock slope depend largely on the regional climate (temperature, amount of rainfall, etc.). Examples include:

Adrian Ballinger is a fully certified IFMGA/AMGA guide (one of only 70 in the USA), certified through the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA Rock, Alpine, and Ski Certifications). Ballinger has been guiding full-time for 15 years, and has led over 100 international climbing expeditions on 5 continents. In 2004 Ballinger founded Alpenglow Expeditions, a mountaineering guide service specializing in high altitude guiding worldwide. Alpenglow Expeditions is the first American guide service to require AMGA/IFMGA certification from its lead guides, and is known for its small groups, low client:guide ratios, and top-quality logistics in all the countries they operate. Ballinger is also the lead Everest guide for Himalayan Experience—or HIMEX—considered by many as the premier 8000-meter peak guiding outfit in the world. Ballinger, along with HIMEX's founder, Russell Brice, has been featured on the Discovery Channel’s Everest: Beyond the Limit series. Ballinger has emerged as one of the premier high-altitude mountain guides in the world, leading clients up some of the world's biggest mountains. During the 2010 climbing season on Mt. Everest, Ballinger summited the mountain twice in 3 weeks, first on May 5 and then again on May 22. On his May 5 summit, Ballinger was the first non-sherpa of the season to summit, achieved while fixing ropes, replacing anchors, and removing old ropes from the mountain in partnership with 9 sherpa. Also in 2010, Ballinger led an Alpenglow Expeditions Clean Up Expedition on Ama Dablam. This team, along with summitting the mountain, removed thousands of feet of old fixed rope from the route, along with hundreds of pounds of trash from the camps. They also provided outreach to sherpa and members of other climbing teams to teach the use of human waste disposal kits while on the mountain, and donated human waste disposal bags to many of those teams. In 2011, he repeated his feat of summiting Everest twice (May 5 and May 20) in only a few weeks and added his first summit of Lhotse (May 26) to that schedule as well. Ballinger has led successful expeditions to more than 25 Himalayan summits over 6000 meters, including eight ascents of Ama Dablam—a highly technical 6800m peak next to Everest. Since 2007, he has guided clients to the summit of Everest 3 times,Manaslu 3 times, and has guided on Cho Oyu. Ballinger has also guided extensively on many of the world's iconic peaks, including Kilimanjaro (13 times by 4 different routes), Denali (by the West Rib), Alpamayo (14 times by 3 different routes), Huascaran Sur (3 times by 2 routes), Cotopaxi (more than 30 times), and many other expeditions including multiple ascents on Orizaba, Huayna Potosi, Quitaraju, Chopicalqui, Chimborazo, Cayambe, Mt. Blanc, Island Peak, Lobuche Peak, Mera Peak and many North American peaks. Ballinger's personal ascents include technical alpine-style climbs on the South Ridge of Pumo Ri, the West Face of Cayesh, and the NE Ridge of Huascaran Norte. Ballinger also ski, ice, and rock guides in his dual “hometowns” of Squaw Valley, California and Chamonix, France (with lots of time in nearby La Grave), guiding in the Mt Blanc region for Chamonix Experience. Ballinger is sponsored by Marmot, La Sportiva, Edelrid, and Kaenon Polarized. Ballinger has been featured in many magazine articles and industry papers.

Ian Tanner is a singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has performed in rock bands since the mid-1980s. He was a founding member of Christian Rock group The Awakening (1985–89), and later went on to form the band One Hundred Days with his fellow Awakening member, Andrew Horrocks. One Hundred Days performed from 1990 until 2000 when Tanner left the band and the group disbanded. He currently works as a producer, composer and studio musician and tours with various recording artists, mostly from Canada.

Ian began piano lessons at the age of six, and by ten years of age he could play proficiently by ear. He notes that he decided music was his main passion, so he quit playing hockey to focus more on his lessons and education.

In high school, Ian was involved in many facets of music, from playing String Bass in the orchestra, playing piano at concerts, playing drums in a show choir, and playing electric bass in a jazz ensemble.

He began writing his own music by the age of eight and while a teenager at Huron Park Secondary School (in Woodstock, Ontario) he formed a band called "The Guards Of Zeus", with fellow classmates Jon Bartley and Mike McGinnis. In addition to this, he also played professionally with a local area "wedding band".