Seen, Read, Heard - Spring 2011

This article originally published in Spring 2011 issue of Adventure Insider Magazine.

Tracing the Edge

Hot on the heels of the very successful series 'The Season' Fitz Cahall and Bryan Smith are back. This time, working with Patagonia, they have created a nine-episode serious entitled 'Tracing the Edge'. The goal of 'Tracing the Edge' was to follow three athletes and learn about how they got where they are and where they plan to go from there. Gerry Lopez, a pioneer in the pipeline surfing scene in Maui, Hawaii; Colin Haley, who was bugging his mother to drop him off for multi-day trips in the central Cascades long before he could drive; and Krissy Moehl one of the top endurance runners in the world share their passion for what they do. As with 'The Season' the cinematography is stunning (if not a little repetitive), but the true gem in the series is the passion these athletes have for their sport. http://www.patagonia.com/us/patagonia.go?assetid=55194 According to Fitz Cahall, a new series of 'The Season' is set to be released in the Fall of 2011.

Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills

Originally published in 1960 this text (known colloquially as the 'climber's bible') still deserves a place on your bookshelf today. Mountaineering covers all aspects of climbing from gear selection to rock, mixed alpine, and expedition climbing. Recent editions also cover waterfall climbing, land stewardship, and weather. If you climb or are interested in climbing and don't already have this book this is the one to ask for for the holidays. Mountaineering grew out of a number of outlines used to teach a mountaineering course in the mid-forties all assembled called the 'Climber's Notebook'. Numerous changes in mountaineering equipment and techniques stemming from WWII outgrew the 'Climber's Notebook' and today the 8th edition of Mountaineering includes changes and updates from over 40 active climbers and educators. It's the culmination of hundreds of authors' contributions and decades in the making. Whether you're just learning or reviewing skills before a big climb this book deserves to be at the top of your list. It will no doubt become a well read and annotated book in your library. http://www.mountaineersbooks.org/

127 Hours

This reently released movie is based on Aron Ralston's  book Between a Rock and a Hard Place. For those not familiar with the book, Ralston was trapped after a chock stone fell and pinned his arm during a solo hike through Blue John Canyon in Utah. After a grueling, you guessed it, 127 hours, Aron broke his radius and ulna and amputated his own arm with a cheap multi-tool. He still wasn't out of the woods. He faced a 65 foot rappel and a trek back to his truck. After the rappel he stumbled upon a family out for a hike who summoned help. He was later rescued by helicopter. The tale is an incredible story of survival. And, although the movie was good, I vastly prefer the book. I do understand the challenge of filling an entire movie with what essentially amounts to 127 hours of being trapped in one place. Ralston's hallucinations helped fill in much of the back story, but the rest was a lot of barely coherent mumbling that did little but detract from the truly amazing and inspirational story of Ralston's fight to survive. http://www.foxsearchlight.com/127hours/