A Journal of Movement
Love is great. I don’t mean to be overly cheesy here but love is just such an awesome part of out lives. We have love for people, for places, even for activities and objects, things that we hold dear. Love grows, and fades, we find it and lose it, but love has a very special way of imprinting itself on our lives so that even when it’s gone we can recall its power and importance. In this way love has a way of reminding us who we are, who we were, and who we want to be.
A few weeks ago I had the privilege of speaking with Kyle Dempster about his 2011 trip to Kygyzstan and the resulting film, The Road from Karakol. In 2011 Kyle took his bicycle and cycled around the mountains of Kyrgyzsan climbing and adventuring, eventually riding through China and into Pakistan to climb some more. Kyle is an award winning alpinist who’s at the leading edge of modern climbing. It was a treat to get to talk to him about his experiences in Kyrgistan and what he thinks about the environment’s role in the evolution of alpinism and the incredible miracle of Cycling Alpinism! Enjoy!
For the past six months my primary modes of transportation have been skis and the ski lift. While the latter isn’t human powered, I like to think of it as a form of underutilized public transportation. Between this and my occasional forays into the nearby backcountry I’ve been keeping a pretty low profile, skiing a lot but not really talking about it much here, there’s something about the familiarity of your backyard that keeps me from bringing along a camera or posting videos from each of the thousands of runs I’ve skied. Alta’s a special place where there’s an endless amount of amazing skiing to be had and it can all be accessed by starting right out your front door. My friend Chris Bangs of the Human-Powered Mountaineers is a little different though. Coming from his home of Bozeman Montana he’s got a little bit of an approach to get the the mountain of his choice, an approach that sometimes covers well over 100 miles and he covers with the use of a bicycle and skis, keeping his trips 100% human powered. Take a look at some of the short videos he’s put together about his project he’s calling the 7 summits of Bozeman. An inspiring individual and a bit of an eye opener into what’s truly possible in winter human powered mountaineering. Continue reading “Human-Powered Mountaineers go skiing.”
Winter is here. Although the millions of people just a dozen miles away might disagree as they play golf, go for a climb, or walk in the park with 60 degree temps, up here in Alta, there’s snow everywhere, icicles are forming, and I’m skiing every day. Sure feels like winter. In reality the shift is much more of a mental one in which I’d rather go for a ski tour, or find a half frozen runnel of water to climb then catch a ride to the valley to try and climb a few pitches in the sun or play a round of disc golf. I guess my point is, it’s winter in the mountains, and that’s where I live. But my intentions aren’t just to give you some sort of over generalized weather forecast but to give you all who’ve been following along a heads up on what this change of seasons, and change of locations means for the Nature of Motion, and what you might expect to find here in the coming months. Continue reading “Progression”
Who remembers their first time riding a bike? Although most of my childhood memories exist as snapshots and short films in my mind, I can pretty well recall my first experiences of two wheeled ecstasy. While my trike and training wheel days might be lost in the haze, that first time I managed to balance and pedal my way across the front lawn has stuck with me to this day. The sheer delight of those few moments being pushed between my mother and father, and eventually learning to roam around under my own body’s power are powerful memories that I’ll be hard pressed to forget.
Continue reading “Mountains, Mobility, and The Nature of Motion”