Truly awed by the beauty and scale of wilderness, I feel very tiny when I am outside. This helps to keep me alert and alive deep in the backcountry. My passion for the wilds has carried me through many advenutres including a 700 mile ultra-lightweight backpacking trek in California in 2005, canyoneering expeditions on the Colorado Plateau and in California’s San Gabriel and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, splitboarding expeditions thoughout the Sierra Nevada and Oregon’s Wallowa Mountains, and paragliding at mountain and coastal sites in California and Mexico. I'm thrilled to be lucky enough to experience so much adventure in the wilderness.

Adventure Training Experience:

  • American Canyoneering Association Technical, Advanced and Rescue courses
  • AIARE Avalanche Level 1 training
  • Wilderness First Aid and CPR
  • United States Hanggliding and Paragliding Association P2 rating
  • Naui Open Water and Padi Advanced Diver certifications

I also am deeply involved in new media and design, having earned a BFA in Art Media Studies and an MA in Industrial Arts, specializing in composite design for backcountry snowboaring. I am trained in filmmaking as well as graphic and web design. I am currently an instructor in the Motion Graphics Department at Ex'pression College for Visual Arts in Emeryville, California as well as in the IT Academy at El Cerrito High School. I also work as a designer for freelance multimedia projects.

- Melody Shah (formerly dos Santos)

Welcome to Range of Light, our interweb home for images and stories of our backcountry adventures. Over the years, we have developed our shared passion for an eclectic salad of outdoor pursuits including backcountry snowboarding, canyoneering, rock climbing and backpacking. The latest addition to our sporting ventures is paragliding. We became pilots in 2008 and have embraced flight as an amazing opportunity. We hope you enjoy our collection of photos, videos and stories.