Television

#BlackLivesMatter, Commentary, Diversity, Outdoors For All, Television / 07.03.2019

This morning I woke up feeling a bit depleted. With a lengthy reporting project turned in yesterday for first round editing and a presentation last night at our local climbing gym I couldn’t seem to shed the weight of heavy thoughts. When you spend your days trying to parse out the disparities of social justice and to engage an emerging population of black and brown folks on the values of environmental conservation it can get to be little overwhelming.  At 5AM with temperatures hovering just a few degrees above...

Climbing, Highlining, Television / 23.07.2013

After several days camped on the Ruth Glacier at the base of Mount McKinley professional climber and artist Renan Ozturk is at the beginning of a long project. He had the cheerful expression of a kid in a candy store as he sorted his gear still flaked with snow off an Otter turbo-pro cargo plane in the mountain gateway town of Talkeetna, Alaska. Traveling with friends alpinist/writer Freddie Wilkinson and big wall free soloist Alex Honnold, Renan recently made the initial foray into this region first made famous...

Adventure Media Review, Commentary, Mountain Film, National Parks, Television / 27.02.2012

Adventure filmmakers everywhere rejoice! I finally invested in a flat screen television. Be assured. Now when I get those DVD advance copies or streaming video online access codes I'll have a decent screening facility to comfortably watch and evaluate the latest movies inspired by adventure or environmental activism. And since the price of a good 32-inch LCD High Definition monitor has come down to levels any dirtbag with cash for crash pad can afford, fans of independently produced adventure media should do themselves a favor and make the...

Adventure Activism, Adventure Media Review, Cycling, Film preview, Outdoor Recreation, People with disabilities, Television / 21.12.2011

True heroes perform acts of courage. Those who accomplish great athletic feats within their natural abilities are certainly to be admired. But it’s the one who exceed his limitations, going way outside his comfort zone to achieve his goals with little certainty of success that deserved to be called a hero. Struggling against the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease Kelly Lane of Rapid City South Dakota took part in a bicycle ride across his state covering more than 600 miles. Appearing in the NBC Universal Sports television series by adventure...

Destinations, Environmental Protection, Interview, National Parks, PBS, Podcast, Television, Yosemite / 19.04.2011

01 Lee Stetson 1 Yosemite Valley California, president day: I’m walking with my recorder along a wooded path with a long bearded man wearing period clothing circa 1890, a tweed coat, a wool vest with a red pocket square and wide brimmed hat. Ahead of us is Yosemite Falls, a massive flowage of water running white and fast, churning with melted snow from the high country upstream. The man describes a fanciful vision of what we see. "Can you imagine? Can you imagine if in the midst of its headlong descent with all this whirling fairy springtime spray and those rushing comet tails that the fall was suddenly frozen solid and then carried bodily out into the middle of the valley that we might go around it and see it from all sides in the sunshine,” he says. “Oh was a show it would make. This colossal white pillar half a mile tall adorned with airy flowing drapery as if chiseled out of white marble.” Who better with whom to tour one of America’s greatest National Parks than the man himself John Muir. As if transported back in time I had the rare opportunity to get his impressions on Yosemite today.
Adventure Media Review, Environmental Protection, National Parks, PBS, Television, Yosemite / 18.04.2011

The idea of wilderness conservation would seem to be a foregone conclusion. But at the turn of the last century private interests of corporate greed may well have developed the wild and scenic places we enjoy today well out of existence. Prized then for their vast resources of timber, fresh water and minerals these lands are valued now more for their intrinsic beauty and awe-inspiring tranquility. Had it not been for the passionate and articulate voice of a Scottish-American from Wisconsin our system of National Parks and Conservation Areas may have never been established. John Muir will long be remembered as the founder of the Sierra Club and a great advocate for the protection of the natural world. A new PBS American Masters documentary of his life tells the story of early experiences that formed his character to become the man we know today. Directed by Catherine Tatage John Muir in the New World provides the back-story that details many of the little known influences of his upbringing that inspired him to venture west and explore what remained of the North American frontier.