Money Does Grown on Trees

Photo by Erin Thiem/Outside Inn

It’s that time of year, when fall colors are vibrant and pine cones drop from the trees. In Tahoe, the pine cones are beautiful and abundant. So it’s no surprise that someone around here figured out how to make a business out of selling the discarded pine cones that cover the ground this time of year. Meet Yan Campbell, who started the websites, pinecone.us, and makes $20,000 in gross sales each year selling Tahoe’s pine cones all over the world. I recently interviewed him for a short Q&A for Mountain Gazette. 

Worth Reading This Week

A friend of mine is now a contributing editor at a new-ish online publishing company called Matter, which covers in-depth stories on science and technology. It’s one of a growing number of journalism sites that seeks to publish long-form, narrative pieces about subjects affecting our lives and our world today (see also: LongReads.org and Byliner.com).

At Matter, which was funded initially by a crowd-sourcing campaign on Kickstarter, a subscription costs 99 cents a month, which is paltry in comparison to what it costs to produce this type of quality reporting. They’ve got one free article — a teaser for what you can get if you fork over a buck a month — on the subject of voluntary amputations and people who suffer from a disorder that makes them want to literally cut off their own limbs. It’s a disturbing and eye-opening piece of journalism by a writer named Anil Ananthaswamy. Check it out here. 

Adventure Photography Workshop

From Adventure Photography Workshop

I just finished a weeklong Adventure Photography Workshop in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was an incredible learning experience for me — full of humbling moments and revelations behind the camera. My goal is not necessarily to become a professional photographer, but to be a writer who’s trusted to take a few decent, publish-able shots while out on assignment. I think with some hard work and a lot of practice, some day I can get there. Here are images from the week, including a few portraits of me taken by my fellow photography students.

“We may be pretty old by the time [climate change] really impacts us. But I’ve got two kids and I’d like them to grow up and have powder days too.”

— Brian Lazar, executive director of the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education, in a story I wrote for Ski magazine on our warming winters and the implications of climate change on skiers.

Last April, I spent a day down at Kirkwood watching skiers Bobby Brown, Gus Kenworthy, PK Hunder and Russ Henshaw ride the biggest slopestyle course any of us had ever seen. It covered the entire length of the mountain and had six giant features. They called it, appropriately, MegaSlope. We’ve all had to keep the project mum since April, but today, the news is out about the private Red Bull course. Check out my story from Kirkwood, which went up today the homepage of ESPN.com.

Silver Lining

 

This was the Airstream that really kicked off my obsession with the sleek, silver trailers. I’ve still never slept in an Airstream but someday, I have a hunch I may own one. For now, though, I’ll just keep looking at them like eye candy on the highway. 

Here’s an essay I wrote recently for Elevation Outdoors magazine about Airstreams and how to enjoy one if even if you can’t afford one.

Adventure Photography Workshop

In the journalism world, there are words people and there are photo people. I’ve always been a words person, someone whose best form of storytelling was through letters, phrases, characters, quotes. But I’ve always enjoyed photography and a few years ago, I bought myself a nice camera, which I still barely know how to use. 

Which is why I decided to sign up for this Adventure Photography Workshop in Jackson, Wyoming, in September. We’ll spend a week photographing climbing, kayaking, mountain biking, trail running, camping and more and learning from top professional photographers and editors. It’s not too late to sign up if you want to join me!

Road Less Traveled

You know those top 10 lists you see on magazines covers? The 10 best adventure hotspots! 10 places you must ski before you die! 10 most scenic campsites in the country! Yeah, those lists. I’ve penned my fair share of those lists over the years and I always feel a little guilty about it. The locals who love those places have to deal with the random magazine readers who actually show up in their private stashes. And putting something on the map and telling people where to go eliminates that feeling of exploration, like you’re actually discovering something on your own. 

I wrote an essay about this very subject for the summer issue of Mountain Magazine, on stands now. And in case you still need a little direction on where to start your next adventure, I’ve also written up a few of my favorite off-the-beaten path spots. But the moral here? Don’t take my advice. Go out on your own, chart your own path.

Oh, and that photo above? I took that of my friend Drew on a mud-clogged road en route to a volcano in Iceland (we were trying to go skiing). It was pouring rain and the van eventually couldn’t continue on down the road, so we stopped, had a picnic in the rain and then turned around. An epic time, on a road you’d never find in a magazine…

“As far as the story, we don’t want to do a traditional adventure film in terms of ‘We planned, we came, we conquered, we left.’ We want it to be more of a human story, but we’re not sure what that’s going to look like.”

— Amber Valenti, team member of the Nobody’s River Project (read more about their journey in my story on WomensMovement.com.)

“The mountains are demanding the best out of us. In that way we really get to know who we are in a very short amount of time.”

— Andreas Fransson, an interview with Rian Rhoe for ESPN.com

The Kirkwood Messenger

I just returned from a couple of days at Kirkwood ski area, near South Lake Tahoe. I was there covering the Freeride World Tour for ESPN.com (that’s me, above, speaking with women’s winner Jackie Paaso). I first wrote about the Freeride World Tour as a feature for Skiing Magazine, around 2008 when the European tour first launched. Since then, the tour has evolved and merged with the Freeskiing World Tour. It’s still an incredible display of raw talent in the mountains. If you have time, please check out my story about Peter Hawks, the father of Ryan Hawks, who was killed at the FWT at Kirkwood in 2011. Peter is doing incredible things with the foundation he set up in his son’s honor, the Flyin’ Ryan Foundation. 

Women's Movement

So many magazines and websites geared toward women are filled with fluff: beauty and sex tips, how to tone your abs in the gym, and the perfect $200 sequin tank top. There really aren’t many (or any?) publications for women who like to spend time outside, travel, and care about the world at large and want real, honest stories aimed at intelligent women. Introducing WomensMovement.com, a new site started by my friend Erinn Morgan that finally offers women smart stories related to travel, adventure, health, fitness, gear and more. 

My first story for the site is an interview with my friend Elyse Saugstad (pictured above, photo by the talented Heather Erson). Elyse was the only survivor of the Tunnel Creek avalanche that killed three of our friends last February. It’s been nearly a year since that day and not a day has passed that I don’t think about what happened and the three men we lost. I still have so much sadness, regret, and grief. But there is one good thing that came from that day: We got to keep Elyse, and for that, I’m extremely thankful. 

Sometimes it takes a storm to see the light. I took this photo of my friend Sam in a snowcat on a cold, windy day on Jones Pass, Colorado.

Snowfall: The New York Times

Today, the New York Times published a story called “Snowfall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek,” which gives a 16,000 word, gripping account of the avalanche on the backside of Stevens Pass last winter that claimed the lives of three incredible men. It is one of the longest stories the New York Times has ever run and the interactive media components of the project are sure to set the stage for what’s possible in the future of digital media.

I was there that horrific day and wrote about it for Outside Magazine in October in a story called “Tunnel Vision.” When New York Times writer John Branch first contacted me about his piece, I was skeptical. How was he going to paint the picture of what happened that day? What kind of judgment would he pass on our decision making? And, when 34 people were killed in avalanches last winter, why has there been so much media attention on this one in particular? (See Gawker for more on that.) In the end, John Branch did a truly exceptional job — he offered the most detailed, well-reported account of that day I’ve ever heard, he explained the lure of backcountry skiing to a mainstream audience, and most importantly, he honored Chris, Jim, and Johnny. 

My love goes out to their families and everyone involved that day. I’m sorry we have to re-live it again, but if stories like “Snowfall” help even one person avoid the same situation we found ourselves in, then I am thankful.