Cairo to Khartoum – The Movie

A little while ago on this blog I posted the preview of a film that I was making about my cycling adventure on the Tour d’Afrique. Since that trailer was completed some interesting developments have happened. The folks at Lonely Planet liked the idea too – and it quickly became a collaborative project. The crack team of editors and directors at Lonely Planet TV took my footage, my stills, footage and stills from Sharif (my fellow LP adventurer) and combined it with some voiceover I did for them and created a film that I think is just awesome. They really captured the spirit of the ride and did a great job overall. I’m proud to show the film for the first time here!

Enjoy and as always I welcome your comments and feedback!
Cheers
Scott



If you can't see the movie in your browser click here to go directly to the source.

Calm

Calm is word with many meanings – to be still, to be tranquil – for a sea to be without waves. Calm is the name of this film for it was the emotion that permeated the experience.

Enjoy and as always I welcome your comments and feedback.

S.



If you cannot see this video, click on this link to go straight to the source.

Earth Hour

The next big thing?

For nearly me entire life I’ve been a skier. The fact that I started sliding down snowy slopes when I was four years old has informed my life nearly every day since. It was the genesis of me getting into the outdoors, which caused me to learn to climb, to take photographs, to write, to meet my friends, even to meet my wife. I owe skiing a lot. Maybe that’s why it’s rarely far from my thoughts. Every time I see a steep hill I wonder what it’d be like with a foot of fresh on it or whether those trees would be spaced enough to rip through at max speed.

Skiing has also lead me to other outdoor sports – mountain biking and surfing come to mind. When I was learning to surf I always thought how it would help my snowboarding (what little I do) and if I was more of a snowboarder how it would help my surfing. I always wished there was a way to more freely translate my skiing skills onto the waves. I thought it was just some sort of wishful thinking and a never achievable goal until just recently.

The other day I was watching some footage of big wave surfing and was struck by how much the face of water looked like a burly mountain face. These guys were towing into these huge waves with jet skis – and then it hit me. What if you combined tow-in surfing with skiing? What if you towed into a big wave with water skis on your feet? You could ski the wave. With advantage of being pulled in you negate the concept of actually having to paddle while on your skis (although stand up paddle boarding has my mind spinning too). I think it would be totally outrageous! I’m so keen to try it.

The question is equipment. Do traditional water skis have the lateral stability to hold up to the rolling surface of the wave? Is it better to mount traditional ski bindings onto water skis and wear modified ski boots. Or perhaps snowboard boots, or maybe the binding that water ski jumpers use. Though the concept seems conceived by a 12 year old I do see actual potential for the idea. Maybe it’s silly, maybe it’s stupid and maybe it might not work at all. Maybe I’ll go over the falls with 70’s era water skis on my feet or not even be able to catch the wave. Whatever the result, I’m so stoked to get the experiment rolling – it just looks like so much fun!

Take this


Add this


And you get this!

Shane McConkey Dead at age 39

As a skier I’ve always had heroes. When I was a little kid I imagined myself as Steve Podborski, one of the original Crazy Canucks. Pod was a downhill god, I wanted to follow in his footsteps, blitzing the field on The Hahnenkamm at Kitzbühel and taking world cup gold. It was not to be, I never was much of a racer, ice hockey practice, moguls and powder got in the way. Pod lead to a guy names Scot Schmidt – they broke the free-ski mold when Scot arrived on the scene. The father of Extreme Skiing and my ski hero for most of my youth. I longed to carve lines, drop cliffs and be as cool as Scot Schmidt. Eventually Scot slowed down a bit and let the next generation have a go. In the mid 90’s a Vancouver transplant by the name of Shane McConkey arrived on the scene. From the get-go he was a better skier then anybody around. His ability on steep technical lines was beyond what anybody thought possible. Where I wanted to be faster then Podborski and as good as Schmidt – there was something different about McConkey – I knew I’d never be as good as him.

After a while Shane got into Base jumping and raised that sport to a new level too. He did it all with joy, humor (lots of humor) and a commitment to excellence. He inspired a generation of action-sport folks and will be sadly missed by those that knew him in person or just by his amazing exploits on film. Shane died today in a base jumping accident in Italy – the details are not known yet, but you can imagine what happened. You could take solace in the fact that he died doing what he loved, or you could as I do, remember that he lived his life to the full and did it all with a smile planted on his face.



Seeya Saucerboy – we’ll miss ya!
S

the best chair ever.

Sometimes I need something a little extra to put me into the Hawaii mode when I’m writing – that’s when I turn to the Hawaii-Chair! It’s a great ab workout and you can’t not get into the aloha state of mind! Check out this video to see why. I was sold as soon as I read that it could support 300 pounds – just the thought of a person weighing one sixth of a ton jitterbugging their way to fitness, nausea and a chiropractor bill bigger then a Waimea wave was enough for me to haul out the visa and order me one of them things!



Happy Friday everyone!
Scott

Film Noir & Sunset Light

3 images

Gym Jones

Photo copyright Gym Jones

Recently I’ve been reading about a new concept in training that has sparked my interest. Ever wondered how all those actors got absolutely ripped for the movie 300? Enter a familiar name for the climbers out there Mark Twight. Yes, Dr. Doom has reinvented himself as a fitness trainer. Those not familiar with Twight should make the effort to have a bit of a look around. In the 90’s Twight was at the forefront of the alpine climbing game, putting up some seriously insane routes in Alaska, The Canadian Rockies and in Europe. While there are many that put up new climbs it was the style with which Mark climbed them and the style in which he philosophized about them that set him apart. Twight’s writings read like a philosopher born as the bastard child of Ian Curtis and Patti Smith – dark, infusing musings about the philosophy of pain, suffering and staunch climbing ideals. He held himself under the highest of microscopes and didn’t care what warts the rest of the world saw. Really interesting stuff, highly recommend reading – he’s been a huge influence on me as a writer.

Back to getting strong – Twight has started a gym, come cult in Salt Lake City called, Gym Jones (great name). There are no aerobics classes, child minding facilities or peppy post-rave techno to shake your spandex clad ass to. This is a dungeon of pain, punishment and re-birth. Loud punk music prevails as medicine balls are thrown around like rugby balls, free weights are dropped from head height and progressive sets of pyramiding exercises are suffered through. The training philosophy is based on an idea of muscle confusion – they throw the strangest combinations of exercises at you and you’re body can only build strength or crumble. Odd combinations like dragging massive tractor tires, pull-ups on a bar that spins in your hands and one arm bench presses. From the outside it looks like the perfect environment to get seriously strong. It’s a take no prisoners, you’re 100% in or fuck off attitude that allows it to have a uber-fit swagger. It isn’t open to the public, you have to be invited to join and only the very strong of character will survive. You can go for a two-day seminar to see if you have what it takes, but that’ll run you $1800 USD. Have a look at their website here to have a look at what they’re all about. kinda makes one feel weak by simply not being there and doing all that right now.

Food for thought.
Scott

2 songs

Two songs - one creative, one loud.

Beck - Clap Hands. simple, cool, why didn't I think of that.



Betchadupa – Drop D. Liam Finn at about age 17 on NZ tv. Before growing a beard and getting a looping pedal he absolutely rocked the house. Listen to the host say, ‘oh my god’ when they finish. Circa 2002.