What gets us Stoked, VIII
Some of the videos we watched this week that we hope you will also. We especially like the piece featuring Adam Campbell called “Silence”. It was filmed close to our home on Brohm Ridge. A pretty special place to go running. Let us know if you’ve watched something this week that inspired you. Mixed Climbing: Sky Running: Living Life: Mountaineering: Trail...
The Season Of Giving
“Trying to be happy by accumulating possessions is like trying to satisfy hunger by taping sandwiches all over your body” Here’s a shocker for you. Myself and Spring at Pebbleshoo don’t give each other stuff for Christmas. We don’t give each other stuff on our birthdays or on our wedding anniversary either. This isn’t to say we don’t give to each other. We give a lot, and not just on specific arbitrary days of the year. We try to give in as many different ways as possible. When we need stuff, we get it. So if I’m driven to experience Skiing, I buy Skis… etc. But I guess what’s different is that we don’t necessarily attribute value to products. We attribute value to the memories of experiences that taught us or made us feel something. Products only become valuable to me when they have enabled me to experience something of worth. My favorite bright orange Arc’teryx Jacket is not valuable because of the price tag attached to it, but because it kept me dry when I was crouched on an exposed ledge in the mountains and because of many other similar memories. All of us have items that are more valuable to us because of our history with them. Nearing the top of the couloir Our favorite products act as catalysts for experiences. Experience has value. Life, life has value. I think somewhere along the path to becoming a Consumerist Society some of us have lost this understanding. As I watch the Malls near us becoming chock full with people shuffling around buying oodles upon oodles of stuff I have to ask “Why?” This season we want to encourage you, our reader, to try something different. To try giving differently. We want you to try giving memories before stuff, and if you are giving stuff, to give stuff with stories. So how can you do this? Memories Before Stuff: When you are thinking about a person you love and what you can give them. Giving them something memorable should be key. So, for example, if a loved one rock climbs, the easy option might be to buy a bunch of climbing equipment for them. But what if you’ve heard them talk before about how they’ve always wanted to Kayak rapids but they never got the chance. How much more memorable would be giving that person Kayaking lessons? The gift of knowledge doesn’t just last a season or two, it last a lifetime. Some other ideas: Show them one of your favorite viewpoints, a favorite hike, a book that changed your life, made you smile… etc Stuff With Stories: The...
What gets us Stoked, VII
Our 7th installment of videos that we draw inspiration from. What we love about this age of media explosion is that so many talented film makers can easily share their work with the entire world to see. We feel that all these videos linked below should get spread far and wide to those that love the Outdoors. Trail Running: Climbing: Playing in the Outdoors: Free Skiing/Snowboarding: ...
Magic number 50
Yes, I have a magic number. Now it’s not magic in that I believe it has any supernatural traits. No, it’s actually more like this number gives me the ability to remember what I am capable of when I am feeding off of my last ounce of energy, physically or mentally. Repeating this number to myself, as if invoking my brain for some special power it didn’t realize it had, is a way of getting myself through some tough challenges. So what is my magic number? Well up until August 10th it was 42 ( and if I am going to be really specific 42.2). That’s right in kilometers that is the distance of a marathon, of which I have run 2. This is no great feat, as many people have run this distance, but it does provide a keen sense of mental awareness of what your body can achieve. Just knowing the distance you can push your body to run, translates to being able to push yourself in so many other aspects of life. For myself it has become a mantra I say to myself when the going gets tough. During a long hard day in the mountains I can draw energy from this number, if I can run that distance surely I can tackle the physical and mental challenge I currently find myself facing. What happened August 10th? Well that was the day of my first 50km ultra trail race, the Arc”teryx Squamish 50. I tried to post updates regarding my training as the months passed, but as I mentioned in a previous post, this did not pan out as well as I hoped it would. Nonetheless race day came, despite my inability to catalog the months and days leading up to the race. So here are a few thoughts on how that day went. Race day was forecast to be 28 degrees (celcius) but feel like 31, so I was concerned about running in the heat. But when I woke up to a cloudy sky in Squamish I was so thankful! Driving down to catch the bus to our respective races, Leigh to his 23km starting line at Quest and me to the 50km start at Alice Lake, we could see the sun streaming through the clouds above the chief. Beautiful though it was, I hoped that the sun would duck back behind the clouds for just a few more hours. Arriving at the start line, with 1/2 an hour to spare, I seen the familiar faces of friends also running the race. It helped to calm the nerves, just a little bit, and the excitement...
Tszil Mountain & Mount Taylor: Photo Essay
“Halo, Halo! At a place called Vertigo!” It seemed apropos that being a U2 fan (comment if you got the reference), being high in the mountains and being completely awestruck by the Sun Halo above me that that variation on those lyrics would come into my head as we ascended an airy, narrow moraine to gain a col. between Tszil Mountain and Mount Taylor. Myself, Spring and Ben had plans to explore some peaks in Joffre Lakes Provincial Park and did just that. If conditions were in we planned to also visit Slalok Mountain as well. Ultimately we ascended only the peaks mentioned in the title of this post but will be back to visit Slalok Mountain under drier conditions. This Park is justifiable so. It’s simply amazing and photos and words cannot do it enough justice. However, if I had to choose, photos do a better job than words in my opinion so I’ll let them do the talking. Have you been to Joffre Lakes? Which picture below is your...
