FRIENDS

     I'm working with Jody Weber, choreographer of Weber Dance to produce a joint Dance, Storytelling event surrounding images and ideas about seeking connectivity with ourselves, our communities, and our planet. Check out a video of our recent practice.

   My good friend, Dan Savage, manages the premier website for Fernie, BC, Fernie.com. I have spent the past 18 winters, in Fernie, enjoying the world class skiing. The town has welcomed me into its arms. Fernie.com provides information on ski conditions, lodging, events, and just about anything else that travelers or locals need to know about the goings on in this magical year-round resort in the East Kootenays. 

Doug Ammons is one of the legendary pioneers of extreme white water kayaking.  In addition to dozens of first descents around the world, Doug is also known for his audacious solos, and a deep understanding of the mental and spiritual side of the sport.    In an era where each new wave of adventure athletes demolishes the physical limits set by the previous wave, many of Doug’s runs are so “out there” they have never been repeated since he originally did them 15 or more years ago, such as solos of the hardest expedition runs in the world, like the Grand Canyon of the Stikine and Devil’s Canyon of the Susitna.  The same is true closer to home: last spring the classic North Fork of the Payette River in Idaho peaked extra high and the best young paddlers in the world went to try its manic class VI+ whitewater, which Ammons ran and soloed repeatedly in the 1990s.  Class VI+ with and without a paddle.   Set to make action films of their descent, all the younger kayakers portaged the hardest sections.

One said “We were at our edge, and imagining Doug ran it all 15 years ago, at higher levels, in an old school boat and solo no less, is mind boggling.” Doug stresses the importance of using the adventure sports as modes of personal change, making them close kin to the spiritual side of martial arts.  Difficult whitewater and the skills it requires become a crucible to effect personal change while living in the midst of nature’s power:

      "All outward journeys should also be inward journeys”, he writes, “Without this, there is little personal change, still less meaning, and there certainly can be no philosophy."

     Thus, Doug explores the same themes as I delve into in The Raven's Gift.  I highly recommend Doug Ammons's new book, Whitewater Philosophy which can be purchased through his website, www.dougammons.com

     Thirty-five years ago, I shared a duplex apartment with Craig and Dede Higman in LaConner, Washington, with all the craziness of those times.  Tom Robbins was a neighbor.  We made midnight raids to obtain plastic flamingos that thenl ived in the sewage infested swamp behind our place.  Together, we boated through the sloughs in winter rain.  Now Craig and Dede's son is a fellow adventurer and his wife has just written A Long Trek Home, which I highly recommend.

In June 2007, Erin McKittrick and her husband Hig embarked on a 4000-mile expedition from Seattle to the Aleutian Islands, traveling solely by human power. This is the story of their unprecedented trek along the northwestern coast of the Pacific Ocean—a year-long journey through some of the most rugged terrain in the world—and their encounters with pelting rains, ferocious winds, blizzards, bears, and bushwhacking, as well as with the tiny communities that dot this wild region. This is a story of epic wilderness adventure, but also of learning and discovery. ...They walked through areas with clear-cut logging, declining wild salmon populations, extraction of mineral resources, and effects of global climate change; seeking to learn how economic concerns might be balanced with conservation.

Check out their website at:  http://groundtruthtrekking.org/