Five Forms of Capital

Most people think of capital as money. But financial capital is only one of five forms — and it sits at the bottom of the stack. A four-minute riff from a backcountry ski day on what wealth actually looks like when you expand your lungs to expand the frame.

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Time In The Desert

REALITY EXPANSION MACHINE

Burning Man is generally misunderstood by those who have only experienced it in two dimensions — via photos, videos, stories, and projections of one’s world view. What it has provided for me, and many of the hundreds of thousands of souls who have shared the unique experience, is an expansion of one’s notion of what is possible in the world.

Our camp mates, mostly pictured here atop the art we had installed, are watching the preparation for the actual Burning of the Man, a spectacle steeped in socio-cultural meaning, poignant for each participant at a different level. The artist and director of this project, Darrel Anstead, who you can see in the red shirt, pours himself into each art experience, gifting our community with an inspiring venue; an invitation to explore the depths of space and time.

These new perspectives provide us with a refreshed view on life. As we integrate back into modern culture, our hearts, minds, and souls are reconfigured, and we bend the universe, however imperceptibly, into a slightly more beautiful and connected version of itself.

Summer Solstice 2018

WHEN THE SUN SETS IN THE NORTH

I had just complete a challenging 2-day solo journey of introspection and letting go over the Summer Solstice 2018. I was on a small island that’s part of the Bohuslan Coast, which is the northern west coast of Sweden, staring into the North Sea.

That far north, the sun doesn’t fully set in the sky on the Summer Solstice. Instead, it moves in a circular pattern overhead, sliding above and below the horizon. Time and direction are distorted, the familiar sunset pattern disrupted, and the sun sets in the north, following a diagonal line which makes no sense to minds conditioned to the default world. This process lasts two to three hours, the sun moving ever so slowing through orange and pink clouds on turquoise skies. Stars and moon appear, even with the sun bright in the sky, and clouds ablaze. The photographic evidence makes no sense.

After what had been a difficult journey, complete with upsetting images and troubling self-reflection fueled by an unrelenting overhead sun, I rejoiced for the beauty, splendor and relief of this monumental sunset. With the distortions and disruptions punctuating this rite of passage, as the sun crossed the horizon my spiritual transit was complete, and I was free to reap the wisdom and revelation of all that I had experienced.

Celebrating A Beautiful Union

A MOMENT IN PRAYER

In this photo, my good friend Marco Lam and I sit deeply in prayer. We are together, under an enormous oak tree, at the wedding of our close mutual friend, Mathew Gerson. As our grey hair demonstrates, we are well into the middle of our lives, and Mathew is no exception.

It seems important to say that this is Mathew’s first wedding. By now, we have all graduated from the wild inebriation of celebrations past. A potent reverence for the ceremony replaces mother culture’s escapism via intoxication, and we deeply pray that Mathew and Colleen are able to navigate the joyous challenge that is marriage.

The three of us have travelled different journeys, colliding on this beautiful day within the embrace and protection of the aura of this mighty tree. The feeling of the strength of the trunk, the gravitas of the roots, and the canopy of branches and leaves envelopes the ceremony, and, if all is well, holds Mathew and Colleen in its spirit for many decades to come.

Respecting The Elders

LOVELAND TELE POSSE

This photo, circa 2016, is of me with my three most beloved ski mentors, and some of my most common and frequent ski partners. Together, at the time, we were a combined age of approximately 225 years, with likely 200 ski seasons combined, it’s a real testament to friendship, partnership, respect, and learning.

There is a deeper layer of trust that partners develop doing dangerous things at high altitudes. I consider trust in terms of altitude… people I would ski with at Steamboat, or cross country skiing at 7,000’ might not make the cut when we’re exploring avvy-prone terrain out the backcountry gate on Loveland Pass above 11,000’. These gents, however, have been my partners up to the top of 14,000’ backcountry peaks.

We are, of course, pointing at nothing in particular, playing into a silly moment… a clustermark of telefuckers, as we would sometimes call it. Because for all the seriousness of high altitude backcountry skiing, it damn well better be fun, as well.

Left to Right: Charlie Ziskin, me, Kevin Bound, Larry Hall

When It All Comes Together

DEEP IN THE POCKET

Experienced powder skiers call it the White Room, a region a spacetime where you’re not merely skiing on the snow, but you’re fully immersed in it. Even the most dedicated only get to visit once in a while. Others may only get there once or twice in a lifetime. Each time is a special moment, and even more rare to be captured so perfectly by a camera (in this case, by Larry Hall).

We were at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, chasing a storm. The runs were getting a little skied out, and it was still early enough in the season that you had to be careful not to get caught in a creek. As the willows show, the snowpack wasn’t that deep yet, and terrain traps lurked, hidden by the thick white blanket.

We can train, practice, and pursue our passions. Only rarely does that everything come together, when time slows down, and conditions conspire for the magic moment. The trick is to stay fully present — the space between transcendence and catastrophe can be a millimeter’s shift in balance. It happened this day. And I am truly grateful.