Moab Rallies, Nearly $80,000 Raised After Windgate Adventures Owner’s Fire

Moab’s outdoor crowd moved with unusual speed after fire destroyed Eric Odenthal’s home on April 8, taking his dog, his guiding gear and about a decade of belongings with it. By five days later, nearly 600 donors had given more than $80,000 to a GoFundMe run by Moab resident Sara Matisse Berghoff, putting the campaign close to its $90,000 goal.

That kind of response says a lot about Odenthal’s place in the valley. He owns Windgate Adventures, the climbing and canyoneering guide service he started around 2010, and he also works as a professional photographer with permits for Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. Losing the house meant losing the place where he stored the tools of both jobs, along with the personal gear that had built up over years.

Odenthal’s connection to Moab runs deep. He first came to town as a child, moved there permanently in 2006 and grew up around the river culture that still shapes a lot of the local outdoor economy. His parents were rafters who spent summers on the Green River, and his own first climbing experience came at age 8 on Kane Creek Road. For a guide business that relies on ropes, hardware, racks, cameras and transportable equipment, a house fire is not just a personal loss. It is an immediate hit to a working small business.

The fundraising page described the loss in blunt terms and said Odenthal also lost his beloved dog, his constant companion and best friend. It framed the effort not just as help with shelter, but as a way to get him back on his feet and back to work in the canyons and on the slickrock where he has spent years guiding.

That history helps explain why the response came so quickly. Odenthal is not a remote name on a business card. In June 2024, he spotted a father and two sons caught in the current near Drinks Canyon on the Colorado River and directed rescuer Gaar Lausman to help pull the family out. Odenthal and Lausman later received lifesaving awards for that effort, a reminder that the people who guide river travelers, climbers and canyoneers are often the first line of response when things go wrong.

A 2024 profile said Windgate Adventures had been operating for 14 years, which makes the fire more than a household tragedy. It hit an established guide company that has been part of Moab’s adventure scene for years, right as spring traffic starts pulling hikers, climbers and river runners back into the desert. The cause of the fire has not been publicly reported, but the community response was immediate: get Eric Odenthal sheltered, replace what can be replaced, and help one of Moab’s working guides get back on the water and trail.