May

Live from 5Point Vol. 8

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/207533410?secret_token=s-EOoIk” params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=true&show_comments=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”300″ height=”300″ iframe=”true” /]In our fifth annual Live from 5Point Film Festival, we interview Frank Sanders and Tommy Caldwell.

Frank spent his youth climbing on the East coast. His path took a turn in 1972, when he hitchhiked west and saw Devil’s Tower for the first time. Now, at 63, Frank owns and guides out of Devil’s Tower Lodge. He shares the story of his journey and what it’s like having found his place.

Over the last seven years, Tommy has spent month long chunks of time focused on climbing The Dawn Wall, the hardest big wall free climb in history. On January 14, he and his partner, Kevin Jorgenson, pulled over the top of El Capitan into a swarm of cameras and microphones. He talks to Fitz about what it’s like to end a seven-year relationship with a project and how his life has changed now that people outside the climbing world recognize him.

Music: Change by My Monthly Date • Original Score by Amy Stolzenbach • Little Black Balloon by Fog Lake

Tracks provided by Amy Stolzenbach and Free Music Archive.

May

The Shorts — Sleeping Bag Metamorphosis

Sleeping Bag Metamorphosis

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/205491698″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=true&show_comments=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”300″ height=”300″ iframe=”true” /] “After a summer of bussing tables and lifeguarding, I had saved up enough and I was finally going to get it. My ticket to anywhere I wanted to be,” writes Anya Miller. “I was a little worried about the money, but I was in complete realization that anything I actually wanted to do in life – literally, anything – depended on it.” Today, Anya shares the story of her first sleeping bag, and the person she became with the help of the women’s medium, right-hand zip cocoon. When you can sleep anywhere, you can go anywhere.

Cover art by Anya Miller.

Music: Little Wooden Church by The Trumpeteers • Surfin’ Tucson by Angie and the Carwrecks • Clover by Little Glass Men • Mindless Radio by Connect and FTdub

Tracks provided by Mevio’s Music Alley and Free Music Archive.

May

The Modern Dirtbag

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In the golden days, dirtbags lived to climb. They didn’t work, have permanent addresses or sponsors. They ate leftovers off of tourists’ plates and slept in beater cars or in caves. They stayed in one place only as long as the weather allowed for climbing. Now, our modern world of fees, time limits and locked dumpsters has made it nearly impossible to live that way anymore. Dirtbagging is dying– or at least that’s what some people claim.

Join Matt Van Biene for a day in Yosemite’s Camp 4 as he talks to climbers of all different ages, nationalities and backgrounds. Is dirtbagging dead or alive? What does the modern dirtbag look like? Well, you decide.

Matt’s photographs from Patagonia were recently featured in The Alpinist. Check out the article here.

Music: Jesus Loves To Watch You Sleep by adcBicycle • All Of The Time by adcBicycle • Engine by Harmonica Lewinsky • Shame by My Monthly Date • All of Your Love by adcBicycle • Weep Walker by Denise Casey • Sadder by adcBicycle

Denise Casey has kindly agreed to let us use her music on the Diaries.

Other tracks provided by Mevio’s Music Alley and Free Music Archive.

Apr

The Shorts — Two Wheels to Anywhere

Two Wheels to Anywhere

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“We opened my aunt’s basement door and walked into the dusty room. Among cardboard boxes and carpentry tools stood a bright red bicycle. The frame had a few patches of rust. The components looked clunky and the gears grated roughly when I spun the pedals. It had no seat post or saddle. It was unrideable, but it had character,” remembers Graeme Lee Rowlands. He had a few months before he would move from Oakland, CA to start college in Squamish, BC. And he had decided that he would make the 1000-mile trip on a bicycle that he would build himself. He didn’t know anything about building a bike, nor had he ever ridden more than 40-miles in a day. But he was determined.

Music: A Place I Know by MC Cullah • Title of Photograph Filled With Dread in Los Angeles by Chuck Hoffman • Intro by Angie and the Carwrecks • Wake Me Up by Publish the Quest • Animal by The British IBM

Learn more about our friends from Publish the Quest in the “Sodade” episode.

Other tracks provided by Mevio’s Music Alley and Free Music Archive.

Mar

The Shorts — Blind Date with the Desert

Blind Date with the Desert

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Four years later, Hilary and the desert got a second chance at their botched first encounter. Over the past ten years, they have developed a relationship with one another. Now, she has to learn how to share her place with all of the other people who have had their hearts stolen by the landscape of juniper trees and red and orange sandstone.

You can find more of Hilary’s writing at thegription.com

Music: Beelzebub by Black Pistol Fire • Stay Cool In The Dark In The Summer by Battery Life • Walk by Night by Ketsa • Auroras by John Berry • Mindless Radio by Connect and FTdub • Orater General by The King in Yellow • Tightrope Walker by Jason Tyler Burton