Life, Death, and the Mountains

[thatOneMonoskier]

Greetings fellow mountain folk,

Last summer I finished all of the Sawatch 13ers. While this is not a particularly grand objective, it was the grandest objective I could achieve because of external circumstances. I just released a 50 minute film telling last summer’s story, which includes completion of the Sawatch as well as what other lessons the mountains have taught me in the past year. The description for the film, Now: How a Knee Injury Changed my Life, is given below:

“In July 2022, I lost all sense of control in my life. After years of building my identity as a mountain athlete, I had a list of grand objectives and traverses I was monomaniacally pursuing – a list that would cement my identity and somehow justify all of the time I’d spent in the mountains. However, after tweaking my knee stepping down a ladder, a different reality emerged than the one I had in my head – I couldn’t go into the mountains without risking permanent disability. Accepting this new reality – one that directly conflicted with everything around which I had built my existence – became the greatest challenge of my entire life. It stripped me down to nothing, instantly removing all of my drive, goals, and purpose. It made me appreciate that I have no control over the events of my life.

I did go back into the mountains, but with a different perspective – one with much more focus and a much greater appreciation and awe than in the past. This film dives into the entire journey from the bottom of my life to the top, explaining the key lessons I learned while showing my mountain meanderings. I genuinely hope you enjoy!”

Link: https://youtu.be/CdMnR9zr6Ik

While I would be stoked if you watched the whole film, I respect that 50 minutes is a lot of time. Because of that, here are links to a few sections that are absolutely worth watching if you love the mountains:

Chapter 4 – Ridge Riding and Fish Farming: A 3 minute look into how I spent my days in the mountains this year https://youtu.be/CdMnR9zr6Ik?t=1309
Chapter 8 – Observer: A 6 minute montage showing the beauty of Colorado https://youtu.be/CdMnR9zr6Ik?t=2242
Chapter 9 – The Final Peak: A 3 minute mountain montage showing several Sawatch summits https://youtu.be/CdMnR9zr6Ik?t=2637

Feedback is always appreciated!
Justin

[d_baker]

Interesting, I will check it out.
Typo above...July 2023 hasn't arrived yet, has it?!

[k_fergie]

Interesting, I will check it out.
Typo above...July 2023 hasn't arrived yet, has it?!

IDK, hitting warp speed on that monoski may blast him back into the future!


Nice Justin, I'll take a look, even though this now means I may have to hit Sawatch peaks on my own!

[thatOneMonoskier]

Interesting, I will check it out.
Typo above...July 2023 hasn't arrived yet, has it?!

Thank you for catching that! I very much hope that this doesn't happen again in 2023 haha.

Nice Justin, I'll take a look, even though this now means I may have to hit Sawatch peaks on my own!

I'm always down to repeat some Sawatch summits! Especially if we're out there gliding down them with our hard boots

[two lunches]

i am so excited to watch this! thank you for sharing Justin

[HikerGuy]

Hey Justin, we met on top of Prize Benchmark. Excited to check out the video as well. Best, Troy

[thatOneMonoskier]

Hey Justin, we met on top of Prize Benchmark. Excited to check out the video as well. Best, Troy

Hey Troy! I remember meeting you up there that beaut of a day! Crazy enough, I continued towards Anderson and met another person the same day! It was a wild experience haha. I hope you enjoy the Sawatch montage!

i am so excited to watch this! thank you for sharing Justin

Enjoy!