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Enter The Dragon (M4), RMNP

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My climbing partner Enrico Calvanese just finished editing this video of a mixed ice and rock climb we did in Rocky Mountain National Park this March. This was my first climb coming off of having Covid – I was smoked!!! It was fun to pair up with someone dedicated to the videography as I usually neglect documentation in favor of focusing on the climbing.

Enjoy the video! It should be available with Italian subtitles as well. Enrico has other great mountaineering videos on his channel too – check it out!

It might not be the last time I make an appearance on there…

Armchair Travel: Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

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Armchair Traveler is my series about places I have no personal experience with. Usually, it’s just a piece of content someone else produced that I find fascinating and think my audience would also enjoy!

If you spend a lot of time on the Internet, you probably recognize Drew Scanlon as this guy with the weird blinks:

For about a month in 2017, this GIF was a super popular meme. Almost unavoidable on social media. Which was weird for me, since I recognized Drew from Giant Bomb, a video game site where I used to be a frequent contributor. We used to chat in the IRC.

But times change, and Drew doesn’t work there, and I don’t think about video games much anymore (read an essay about that, here).

When he’s not moonlighting as an Internet meme, Drew produces a series of travel videos, called Cloth Map. He recently visited the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine, and documented the strange experience of visiting a place most of us have only ever seen in computer games.

See the 30-minute video below:

You can support Cloth Map on Patreon.

Ski Video Sunday— Candide Thovex “Few Words”

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few words full film

With spring officially here, it’s undeniable: ski season is winding down. For the ski bum, this means less time spent on the mountain and more time dreaming about what has been done this year, and what can be done next winter.

This hour-long documentary about freeskiing pioneer Candide Thovex premiered in 2012, but it’s just recently been posted on Quiksilver’s Youtube channel in its entirety. “Few Words” is one of those films that will get you excited and dreaming about what you can do, despite the slush on your local ski mountain.

Bit of history: Candide Thovex was featured in our inaugural Ski Video Sunday post, which included his recent GoPro video “One of Those Days 2.” The Vail Film Festival, which just concluded here in town, also showed another Ski Video Sunday selection, “The Unrideables: Alaska Range.” They must be readers.

Have a great week everyone!