The Fire from Within

Photo from Sam Cossman

What does a man who rappels into volcanoes have in common with a woman who hikes faster than anyone else on earth? Well, they're both explorers of their own kind and I recently interviewed them both. 

Sam Cossman is a filmmaker and adventurer who quit is tech industry job to spend his time documenting corners of the globe that nobody has been to before. He repels into volcanic craters and captures 3D imagery using drone cameras. Check out words and photos from Sam in this recent interview on RedBulletin.com. 

Then there is Anish. Or Heather Anderson, as she's known when she's in the real world and not living out of a backpack on a remote trail in the woods. I first wrote about Anish in a feature for Backpacker magazine when she came out of nowhere to peat the speed record on the Pacific Crest Trail. She was at it again this summer, trumping the record on the Appalachian Trail by a whopping four days. I spoke to Anish recently for an interview for REI.com. 

I learn something from everyone I interview but these two especially made an impact. Even when we think every corner of the world has been touched or conquered, folks like this show up to prove us wrong. There's still so much to see. So many corners of the globe we have yet to go. 

Ode to Treehouses

Imagine waking up everyday and looking directly into a misty forest. Your bed supported by the strong branches of an oak tree. Your world suspended high above the earth. Ah, to live in a treehouse. There's something magical and childlike about the idea. But who wants to actually live in a treehouse? Now you can just stay in one for a few nights. I did a roundup for Outside on the best treehouses around the world that you can actually stay in, like this one above, from the Tree Hotel in Sweden. Next up? I'm writing about hotels where you can sleep in an Airstream trailer. What other alternative lodging should I cover? 

A Company After My Own Heart

It's no secret that I love Flylow—I wear their clothes on a daily basis and I'm married to the company's founder—but I recently put my love for Flylow out there for all to read in a blog post on Flylow's website, to celebrate their 10 years in business and give a little insight into how independent and grassroots the company still is. It's wild to think this little company that started by making one pair of ski pants and one jacket is now a decade old and just thriving. I'm proud of Dan and Greg and how far they've come. Check out my thoughts on Flylow and stock up on some gear for this winter! It'll sell out fast. 

Give Them a High Five

My friend Mike over at Verb Cabin just launched the trailer for a new film coming out this fall called "Places to Go," about adventure photographer Jim Harris and his remarkable recovery from a spinal cord injury. Jim worked with the High Fives Foundation, a Tahoe-area non-profit that helps mountain sports athletes suffering from life-altering injuries. I'm a big fan of the work that High Fives does and I've seen far too many people I know and respect go through really traumatic injuries and rely on the support and network that High Fives offers. 

I also recently wrote a story about High Fives, which came out in a magazine called Out Living It. You can read about some of the people who High Fives has helped, as well as their evolving mission to help prevent these devastating injuries from happening in the first place, over on my Writing page. 

Summer in Photos

I've been busy with writing projects lately (hence the lack of blog posts), but I have been trying to take photos along the way as well. Here are a few shots from my summer. 

This was from a road trip down the coast of Big Sur, which I'm writing about in part for a story for REI.com. We camped, surfed, biked, hiked, roasted marshmallows. Good times!

Taken in a friend's backyard during a video shoot for Flylow's new spring line, debuting spring 2016.

I interviewed these two goofy characters—Wolfie and Elias, owners of South Lake Tahoe's new Mellow Mountain Hostel—for a story for Skiing magazine on the rise of (clean, decent!) hostels in ski country, coming out this fall.

And here's one from Gooseberry Mesa, in southern Utah, where I spent a week biking and camping with friends. 

How to Live in a Mountain Town

Enjoy this little video put together by my friend Mike with tips on how to live in a mountain town. Keep a close look for my cameo in the film!

Missionaries of the Mountains

Jonah Howell and me filming in Alaska in 2010.

I saw my first Powderwhore film in 2006—it was their second movie and a fellow telemark skiing friend of mine in New Mexico, where I was living at the time, introduced me to the small Utah-based movie company. I became a fan after that, watching their movies each fall and admiring the Powderwhore crew's devoted hunt for powder. A few years later, when I finally met Noah Howell, who runs and owns Powderwhore with his younger brother, Jonah, I asked him flat out: "Why don't you have any girls in your movies?" When he invited me to come out and try to ski with them, I nervously agreed. I figured I had nothing to lose.

Instead, I gained so much. I gained lifelong friends in Noah and Jonah and other members of their crew. I got to ski the best line of my life in Alaska. I got to ski backcountry lines and eat noodles in Japan with them. And I spent countless early mornings touring with them in the Wasatch. I appeared in three of their films, including their latest one, "Some Thing Else," which came out this fall and was their 10th film. This summer, I finally got the chance to write a profile on Noah and Jonah for Backcountry magazine. They joked during our interview that this might be their last film; they might be calling it quits after 10 years of moviemaking, they said. I didn't believe them. 

But shortly after the story came out, they announced (via a tattoo post on Instagram) that this was truly it. They were done making backcountry ski films. I'm proud of them for moving on to the next great adventure. But like I wrote in my story, I'll also bow my head in solidarity to honor the end of a great run. Thanks, Noah and Jonah, for inspiring an entire generation of skiers, including myself, to break their own trails. 

Stories Worth Reading

Illustration from the New Yorker

Here are a few of my favorite reads from this month:

"The Spike in our Veins": A story by Gordy Megroz in the early winter issue of Mountain Magazine that documents the rise of hard drugs, namely heroin, in mountain towns. The piece isn't online that I can find, so go pick up an issue of the magazine.

"Unprotected": This is a gruesome and riveting investigative feature in the December issue of Outside magazine by writer Rachel Sturz that looks into an ongoing sex abuse scandal in youth swimming in the United States, and other youth sports. It's a dark read, but an eye-opening one. 

"The Excrement Experiment": From a recent issue of the New Yorker, this story by Emily Eakin looks at the unpleasant but revolutionary medical practice of fecal transplants. Sounds gross, I know, but apparently this process actually works for people with serious intestinal diseases.  

On The Edge

Earlier this month, Clif Bar dropped its sponsorship of five of its most elite climbers, ones who are known for free-soloing, B.A.S.E. jumping and highlining, ones featured in the new climbing film, "Valley Uprising," shown above.

As Clif wrote in an online statement, "Over a year ago, we started having conversations internally about our concerns with B.A.S.E. jumping, highlining and free-soloing.  We concluded that these forms of the sport are pushing boundaries and taking the element of risk to a place where we as a company are no longer willing to go.  We understand that some climbers feel these forms of climbing are pushing the sport to new frontiers.  But we no longer feel good about benefitting from the amount of risk certain athletes are taking in areas of the sport where there is no margin for error; where there is no safety net."

Alex Honnold was one of those climbers who was kicked off the Clif team. He's known for climbing without ropes, called free-soloing, and he just penned a column for the New York Times about his side of this story. It's well worth a read.

It's an interesting debate and one that hits home for me as I see more and more professional athletes in action sports and outdoor sports putting their lives on the line by pushing their sports to the next level. How far will they go? And how many people will we lose along the way? At the same time, these athletes are inspiring others to step outside their comfort zone, and the risks they're taking are as calculated as it gets. These aren't cowboys out there; they're smart athletes with an incredible amount of training and preparation for what they do. It will be interesting to see if other brands follow Clif's lead. 

Pretty Faces

There's a new all-women's ski movie making the rounds in theaters around the country right now. Called "Pretty Faces," the film was the brainchild of pro skier Lynsey Dyer and it was created thanks to a lot of hard work from a lot of talented women. It wasn't an easy process, but the end result could have profound changes on how women are viewed in the ski industry. I wrote a behind-the-scenes feature of how this film was made and the story of Lynsey Dyer for Freeskier magazine, out on stands now. You can find the full story on my Writing page and check out the movie's tour schedule to see when "Pretty Faces" is showing near you.

Japan by Storm

Here's a video recap of our trip to Japan last winter! 

A Portrait of a Girl

I've been writing for Powder magazine for nearly 10 years now, but this is the first time I've had a photo published in the magazine. It's a full-page portrait (see above) of pro skier Elyse Saugstad in a feature profile of her written by Julie Brown. It's in the October issue of Powder, out on stands now. Check it out and definitely give the story a read -- it's a well-written piece and a good look at the hard work and perseverance it takes to be a female pro skier these days. 

Stories Worth Reading

Looking for some summer reading? Here are some of my favorite magazine stories I've read recently. 

"One of a Kind," The New Yorker: Writer Seth Mnookin tells the gripping tale of two parents who discover their child has a disease that nobody's ever heard of before. When doctors tell them there's no way to get more research on such a rare disorder, the couple embark on a mission to find other people suffering from the disease. It's a great piece and one that shows that in this age of information and social media, anything is possible. 

"Cameron Diaz Is the Best She's Ever Been," Esquire: Sure, this is just a celebrity profile of a flashy Hollywood figure. It's light, easy reading. But it's written by Tom Chiarella, and he's the best, in my opinion. You get inside of Cameron Diaz's head on a short hike in the southern California mountains. 

"A Fall to Earth," Sports Illustrated: This story's action takes place in a matter of seconds, yet the writer, Chris Ballard, draws it out in a dramatic style that keeps you clinging to his every word. It's the story of a skydive jump gone horribly wrong and the lasting impact on the people involved. 

In a House by the River: Five Years Later

It's been five years since I wrote the feature for Outside magazine, called "In a House by the River," about the death of my stepfather at a remote kayaking lodge in northern California some 16 years prior to that. Writing that story was a painful process and I've tried to put it all behind me in the many years that have passed since, but occasionally, my stepdad, Jerry, and the whole saga rises to the top of my mind, like a scar that just won't heal. For those who missed it, here is my story in Outside and the podcast that I created -- posted above -- from my interview with JD, the man who killed my stepdad. Sometimes, life requires taking a hard look at the past in order to make that step into the future.

Baptism by Suffering on the PCT

For months now, I've been working on my first feature story for Backpacker magazine, a profile about a woman named Anish, who, last summer, smashed the existing speed record on the Pacific Crest Trail by a whopping four days. She walked an average of 40 to 50 miles each day for 60 days straight. Anish is an inspiringly strong athlete, with a gritty sense of determination that literally wouldn't allow her to quit, but there was something deeper about her story that intrigued me. What was driving her to such a physical and mental feat? What was she trying to escape? The story, "A Ghost Among Us," is out now in the August issue of Backpacker,

Clearly, ridding your demons by an arduous hike on the PCT is a trend these days: Cheryl Strayed wrote a best-selling book, Wild, about her journey on the PCT, which has been turned into a Hollywood movie due out in December starring Reece Witherspoon (trailer above). 

Anish didn't just run away from her past on the PCT. She found her home there.