Jul

Three Eighths to Eternity

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/99574815″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=true&show_comments=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”300″ height=”300″ iframe=”true” /]“The planks of my boat are three eighths of an inch thick. Three eighths–this is the distance between myself and the depths,” writes surfer and adventurer Christian Beamish. Two years ago, Beamish crafted an 18-foot-long sailboat in his San Clemente garage. His obsession with sailboat-assisted surfing began with small week-long voyages and evolved into preposterous idea–sail the entire length of Baja looking for waves. It would be a solo mission. The proposed trip left his friends questioning his mental state and his mother in tears. It would require big, open-water crossings in rough seas, and in the end it would leave Beamish changed. How far would you go to find the physical and mental limits of human endurance? How raw does your soul have to get before you find peace?

Music: Easy by Deer Tick • Beach by West Indian Girl • Battle of 77 by Sunparlour Players • Apache Beat by Sinkane • Processed Spirits by Lymbyc Systym • Lotan Baba by Lymbyc Systym

Music provided by IODA Promonet.

Jun

The Shorts — Summer Invocation

Summer Invocation

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/99574519″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=true&show_comments=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”300″ height=”300″ iframe=”true” /]Up in the Northwest, we say that summer doesn’t actually start until July 4th. Right now, we’re experiencing our annual June gloom. So I thought it was time to invoke blue skies and warmer temps. A season’s worth of summits, single track and lounging on the riverbank is just around the corner. It’s time for me to do my part in the changing of the seasons.

Music: Carved by Glaciers by Lymbyc Systym • For Whom the Bell Tolls by Seekret Socyetee

Music provided by IODA Promonet.

Jun

The Dreamers

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/99574221″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=true&show_comments=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”300″ height=”300″ iframe=”true” /]“I had convinced myself at that point that my goal was so important it was worth dying for,” says alpine master Steve House about his 15-year-old dream of climbing the Rupal Face. Big Dreams require big commitment. We may not all dream on the same scale and commitment levels, but we all share dreams. They pull us through our lives on solid ground. Today writer and climber Sarah Garlick presents: The Dreamers—reflections from four generations of the world’s best climbers: Steve House, Henry Barber, Steve Schneider, and Colin Haley. In the process Sarah found out a little bit about herself. Do you have a life long dream? What if you completed it? What if you never realized it?

Music: Today’s music came from our friends, The Secret Life of Sofia (now Milagres). This Brooklyn-based band aren’t your typical indie rockers–they’ve got an affinity for the wide open space and big mountains. Their latest album Seven Summits is featured here today.

“It is in some ways a concept album – part historical fiction, part personal experience. Its writing was largely influenced by an obsession with the mountains and my relationship with them,” lead singer Kyle Wilson told me. You can purchase the album through their myspace page linked above.

On a personal note, I really dig this album. It’s very difficult to write songs that speak to the power of high places without falling into ridiculous cliche. I’ve listened to this album dozens of times and at each listen I find some new historical reference or emotion I recognize from my own connection to the mountains. It is in some ways as much a novel as it is a record and Wilson avoids the cliche by sticking to inventive images that we all know and recognize but would never think to include in a song. Seriously, check it out.

May

Sixty Meters to Anywhere

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/99573924″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=true&show_comments=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”300″ height=”300″ iframe=”true” /]“Is there a statute of limitations on finding something you’re passionate about? Is there a certain age when learning something new becomes too much to take on, or we become to afraid to fail or afraid to let others see us fail?” writes Brendan Leonard. A few Christmases back, Brendan received a rather strange gift from his brother – an old rope. Brendan wasn’t a climber. He had no intention of becoming of climber. Sometimes though gifts can change our lives. It turns out that 60-meters of climbing rope has taken him farther than he could have ever dreamed.

Music: Perfect Fit by Clues • Remember Severed Head by Clues • Trouble Come, Trouble Go by Kokolo • Heikki’s Suburbia Bus Tour by Rodriguez • Hesitation Blues by Willie Nelson, Asleep at the Wheel

Music provided by IODA Promonet.

May

The Shorts — Great White Book

Great White Book

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/99573749″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=true&show_comments=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”300″ height=”300″ iframe=”true” /]“Life isn’t a bolted sport route,” says writer Scotty Kennedy. “The gear is sketchy and the route is difficult to read.” In 2001, Scott and his wife Sophie were living in the States. Scott was interning at a magazine. Sophie was dirtbagging it in Camp Four. On weekends, they would meet up to climb in Yosemite’s high country, Tuolumne. Sometimes small choices reverberate through our lives. Something as simple as the day’s route can carve the bedrock of our personalities. On the Great White Book, Scott was offered a chance to look inside. What he saw was too difficult to share even with those closest to him.

Music: Don’t Leave When Winter Comes (Featuring Slug) by CunninLynguists • March of the Balloon Animals by Dengue Fever • Warning by Great Northern

Music provided by IODA Promonet.