One of my favorite films is a documentary called It Might Get Loud. The film details three guitarists: Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, The Edge of U2, and Jack White of The White Stripes, as they tell the story of how they built their musical careers out of the electric guitar. At one point in the […]
Read more "Back to Basics"Today I was reading an article that I found incredibly fascinating. It’s an article about the mental toll of football (soccer) players who are found to be extraneous to plans, whether by having another better person ahead of them in the pecking order, or coming back from injury and being seen as damaged goods and […]
Read more "The Unseen and Unheard – Injury and Mental Health"I’ve thought for a long time about if I was going to ever write in my blog again. I wrote professionally for a while, became disillusioned with the scene, took the time to concentrate on my own athletic ambitions and…here we are.
Read more "The Here and Now – Climber to Skier"Colorado has a long and illustrious history with skiing. It’s the home to famed resorts known worldwide and some of the best snow on Earth (Utah likes to contend the facts but I beg to differ). Along with the powerhouse names, that bring skiers and snowboarders by the millions to the Rockies, there are still […]
Read more "Skiing an Abandoned Resort: Hidden Valley – Rocky Mountain National Park"“You probably won’t be skiing or climbing. You should not be this calm for what you’ve just done.” I sat in the hospital bed, trying to stay jovial, trying to stay calm, and internally destroyed. Those were the words of the doctor who had just seen the x-ray of my destroyed tibia and fibula. That […]
Read more "25 Days"Back in September, I was invited to the Outdoor Industry Association’s annual Rendezvous conference. The last session of the conference was to be an information session from surrogates representing Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump’s respective camps, to explain what their candidate would do for our industry, my industry where I make my living. Clinton was […]
Read more "Protect Where We Play"Why live a life that’s perceived as mad? My life is a love story. My life is a celebration of adventure, heartbreak, challenge, capability, and storytelling, the characteristic to which I hold myself dearest. My love story started in the mountains. From the granite walls of Yosemite, where I explored with my mother, a heritage […]
Read more "Question Madness"How do you define your passion? Are you a hiker, climber, skier, and mountaineer? Or do you simply wrap them under “adventurer” and “outdoor enthusiast”? What experience and what at what level of mastery are you allowed to proclaim that title? A few days before Christmas, I was in a Seattle coffee shop with my friend, Beth […]
Read more "What’s In A Name?"If there is one item in my closet that I cherish above all others, its my collection of puffy jackets. Whether I’m on a cold belay ledge, snowshoeing through the backcountry, or commuting to work on cold, short, November Seattle days, my puffys keep me toasty and dry all day long. When the North Face […]
Read more "The North Face Thermoball Remix Jacket Review"Note: This review precedes my affiliation with The North Face. I carefully unwrapped my new Montane Volt Fleece from the shrink wrap and ran my hands over the coarse material. While it wasn’t exactly soft to the touch, but it was light. In alpine environments, where I am frequently, a mid-layer fleece can be the […]
Read more "Gear Review: Montane Volt Fleece"