Author: James Edward Mills

Adventure Media Review, Bikes, Cycling, Film Review, Outdoor Recreation, Travel / 04.06.2012

A new cycling film currently on tour is an excellent example of how NOT to make an adventure movie. Reveal the Path is the latest in a long string of travel pics that despite its title and several statements to the contrary assumes the destination is more important than journey. With a presumably large budget for an international bicycle excursion bankrolled by Salsa Cycles this potentially awesome film should have offered viewers more than a 1-hour 11-minute vacation reel. Pedaling through some of the most exotic bike-packing destinations in...

5Point to MountainFilm Tour, Adventure Media Review, Film Festival, Mountain Film / 31.05.2012

It’s likely each of us will come away from Telluride wondering exactly what it is that we learned at MountainFilm. Despite another late night watching adventure movies at the outdoor theater on the edge of town I woke up Tuesday morning at the ungodly hour of 6AM. As I rose to begin the three-day drive back home to Wisconsin I found myself pondering that illusive question feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything that I had taken in over these past five days. As a reporter I’m tasked with recounting...

5Point to MountainFilm Tour, Adventure Media Review, BASE Jumping, Film Festival, Moab / 26.05.2012

How can you be uninspired when you have friends who can fly? An entire world of possibilities unfolds before you when they encourage you to take flight as well. And though most would consider BASE Jumping more like a controlled fall, the moment you take that leap into space a thousand feet above the ground you cast aside the fear and limitations that deny the true nature of your essential self. Through adventure we experience sensations of ecstatic joy that lead us to believe that we can make...

5Point to MountainFilm Tour, Adventure Media Review, Highlining, Slacklining / 23.05.2012

Backdropped against the annular eclipse of 2012 a Moab, Utah team slung a three-way highline across Mineral Bottom Canyon. Lead by Super Bowl slackline sensation Andy Lewis, aka Sketchy Andy, the group put up and walked an intersecting spaceline that spanned 92 feet across a chasm more than 200 feet high! “It was a great highline,” Andy said. “We pre-rigged it, set it up in an hour, everyone walked it. But I was 100 percent disappointed in the eclipse.” Nicely framed within the path of the setting sun the highline...

5Point to MountainFilm Tour, Climbing, Diversity / 21.05.2012

[caption id="attachment_7352" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Narinda (left) and Diana"][/caption] Over the past several weeks I've had the opportunity to meet many wonderful people. On the road across the west on the 5Point to Mountainfilm tour my travels have taken me to a few of the premiere climbing spots in the nation. Along the way I've shared a bit about my personal life in adventure. Through the course of that exploration in particular I've connected with several people who each continually struggle with their identity in the wild world as a...

5Point to MountainFilm Tour, Adventure Media Review, Climbing, Diversity, Environmental Justice, Expedition Denali, Interview, National Parks, NPR, Public Radio / 18.05.2012

Just a few minutes ago I came in off the trail from the rim of the Grand Canyon. Settling into a wireless hot spot and a cold Corona at the Yavapai Lodge I fired up the laptop to find a message on Facebook from my old friend Menno van Wyk. He was my boss at Montrail since before it was called One Sport. So we go way back. It was of course great to hear from him, but his post to my time line filled me with dread. "James...