I recently found this clip from my first ever film trip. It was a very last minute invite from @sherpascinema and @thenorthface to ski the Corrugated Spine wall. I learned so much in those three weeks from the team-how to manage sluff, glacier crossings, picking lines, and attempting my first spine. Always nice to look back while preparing for the future seasons ahead.
What if being a professional athlete is no longer my quest?
What would happen if I used skiing to be the vehicle to celebrate kindness and poetry? To celebrate community and wonder?
I’ve decided to retire from performance based skiing and instead see if I can answer those questions as a storyteller.
To use my skis, my brain, and my pen to tell the most beautiful stories I can find. To use stories to shift the outdoor industry and communities in thoughtful ways.
The film @sophie_danison created from our trip to Japan helped me to see the beauty of my ski career. A reminder to look at things closely, and by doing so, I can see my fortune- past, present and future.
Full film on YouTube now. Longer thoughts on The Discourse
TOGS is born out of our shared love for both fashion weeks and mountain peaks. We wanted to create a space that celebrates the intersection of functionality and style in outdoor clothing. Pushing against the accepted or common mountain uniforms. For me, style is about emotions. A way to express your insides by wearing something on the outside. I couldn’t think of a better partner for this project than the style master herself, @kellynwilson you can subscribe now and get a weekly love note from us in your inbox 🤍
It’s been an honor to carry you under my heart for the last six months. Wild to feel your kicks and twists and turns. Soothing to feel Pierre’s hand rest on my belly as he gives you an early music education. Supported by a special collection of women who have imparted their wisdom and kept me laughing when my head is in the toilet.
Bringing life into the world doesn’t replace seven years of grief but in an ineffable way, life complements death.
I can’t wait to see you live-to be by your side as you feel it all. I’m so looking forward to watching Pierre become a dad, sneaking you out for special trips to get gelato or go snowboarding.
You are already deeply loved. Have already traveled around the world. Been skiing and climbing and walking in nature. The world’s a beautiful place and soon you get to see it, and we, we get to see you.
I’ve skied on @lineskis for my whole ski career-and what’s wild, is that my skis have never been the source of any complaint.
Can you imagine a product that delivers 100% of the time? A tool that brings you joy. That flips powder into your face. That brings you down couloirs and groomers, off airs and into perfect transitions.
It’s been a delight to be apart of such a goofy, creative team. Arguably they helped me to be a bit cooler than I actually am.
But really I’ve always stayed with the brand because the ski is just so dang fun to ride. So easy to make a variety of turns with. So balanced and allows for freedom to ski anyway I want. Slash, slide, carve, and land. Tools for absolute joy.
Thanks forever @lineskis . Switching roles but forever a fan.
The film Sophie made was a reminder to look at my fortune.
Fortune not measured monetarily-but measured by the humans I’ve met. The ones that have made life light. Who believed I could ski. Who made the skin tracks entertaining. And the apres rich in laughter and dance moves.
Hard to find a better example of beauty than humans lifting other humans up. I’m filled with gratitude for all the humans that made my ski career.
*even after writing this, I noticed a bunch names I forgot-but you live in my heart even if my brain short circuited
Two years ago, @sophie_danison made a short film about our time in Japan.
It lay dormant for a few reasons, but then I made a big decision and it turns out the film encapsulates my feelings about that decision perfectly.
So Fortune, a short film by Sophie, will be release along with some news from me coming to you Monday morning.
In the latest Open Mic piece, @hadhammer offers lots of food for thought, and an 8-Step checklist that each of us would do well to act on. Find it over on our site.
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📸: Mark Fisher
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Link in our profile
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#risk #risktolerance #life #living #death #grief
How could this week’s TOGS be about anything else but running given the town I live in is a currently sea of sneakers & running vests.
What I learned this week about what to wear trail running:
The boys are outdoing the girls on style, brown is the new black, art and sport should collab more often, the tightness of sports bras really does affect your breathing, and socks are as contentious as ever.
All that and more on Togs.substack.com
Special thanks to @elseydavis and @fannybor for the long chat about how to look good (even while losing toe nails)// @thenorthface_trail
This week’s Discourse started off as a letter to a friend. And turned into an ode of sorts to watching your parent dance with cancer.
“Speaking of jokes-through my own dark times, I’ve always wondered why it’s called dark humor. Shouldn’t it be called light humor? The way a joke can become a thousand rays of sunshine, levitating what is a situation full of despair and wrought into something light, something that can be breathed and laughed through even if it’s all going to shit anyways? The joke that gives levity to the situation. That cuts apart the heavy.
Because it’s not all heavy. I remember a lot of joy in those five years of my dad’s sickness. I remember a heck of a lot of beauty. Mostly in the form of nurses who, I’m convinced, are angels, or at the very least their own special species of human. AI has nothing on nurses. We should be putting billions into them instead.“
This one is free and in honor of all the families dancing on that somewhat shit but beautiful illness dance floor. hadleyhammer.com
