Category: Cultural critique
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I have seen the future
..and it is Cold. Tonight was the second evening of the Banff Film fest World Tour, and like last year we only made it to one of the two programs. Whether by trend or chance, this years selections were much better than last. Last year I wrote that portraying the psychic content of adventure, i.e.…
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On taking my rifle for a walk
I’ve avoided going hunting since we moved to Montana. The first two autumns I was in grad school and had no time, and last year we had just moved. This year I had nothing by way of avoidance, but still waited until three days ago to buy a deer tag. The truth is that hunting…
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My pack fetish
I like packs. Always have. Yes they’re perhaps more deserving of care and obsession than other items of outdoor gear, but my appreciation and interest goes far beyond the strictly practical. I bought this pack last week. A Black Diamond Bbee. While I was (until last week!) lacking in a nice perfect little pack (save…
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The Year in and of Water
Yep, still autumn, despite snow building in the mountains. 2011 has for me been defined by water. Snow travel, packrafting, and fly fishing have been just about all I’ve done, other stuff like biking and climbing mountains didn’t make the selection very often. Skiing was a mixed bag, mainly in that by winter’s end I…
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The Cultural Apotheosis of Gear
“So economic growth is dead. It’s dead because the planet will not support it. But it’s also dead because it’s economically and socially irrational- it isn’t delivering improvements to…quality of life…it’s actually now degrading it because of all the social problems inequality is causing.” -Paul Gilding Robbers Roost country, November 2005. I’ve written a lot…
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The Variegated Nature of Trails
Autumn in Glacier has been this year particularly fine and delicious. Yesterday morning I woke up at 430. Not a common occurrence, especially as I’m still in a post-Classic torpor of only wanting to go fishing and beer drinking (fishing season is about over, so I need to get back in shape). The plan was…
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Gear: Review
In continuation from yesterday.. I’ve always been interested in outdoor gear. I studied gear catalogues from a very early age, years before the internet made fetishization so convenient. We’re talking about an eight year old in Ohio, who took enthusiastic but not nearly frequent enough backpacking and camping trips with his family. I continued to…
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Simplicity: Gear
It’s too bad Ryan Jordan’s blogging is so stochastic. When he does write, it’s always worth reading and is usually one of the more thought-provoking things I’ll encounter online in that particular week. The most recent post is no exception. In it he discussed favorites bits of gear (and when I say gear I mean…
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More pointless bullshit
I’m not saying that television is vulgar and dumb because the people who compose the Audience are vulgar and dumb. Television is the way it is simply because people tend to be extremely similar in their vulgar and prurient and dumb interests and wildly different in their refined and aesthetic and noble interests. -David Foster…
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Kishenehn: how to get out more
(pronounced; kish-neen) Last night Jason asked me (to paraphrase) how I manage to get out adventuring so much. I thought it a good question, and typed a long winded answer. Today I managed to work an (almost) full day and do a 20+ mile hiking and packrafting loop, and had plenty of time to think…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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