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The Joy Trip Project

Adventure Activism, Adventure Media Review, Africa, Ethiopia / 18.09.2012

In 2010 I spent my 44th birthday in an Ethiopia brothel. Believe it or not, that’s what can happen as a result of what can only be described as anxiety induced amnesia. I forgot my ATM pin number. I was on a reporting assignment, doing a story on an NGO that builds schools in the poverty stricken regions of Eastern Africa call Imagine One Day. I’d just arrived in Addis Ababa and as I’m about to withdraw a couple of hundred bucks in trade for the local currency, Ethiopian...

Adventure Media Review, Film Review, Skiing / 17.09.2012

Often the best parts of a great film are scenes we never see. Left to be sorted from the scraps swept up from the cutting room floor, or rather the unused digits still on the hard drive, it's those moments of stories untold that captivate and compel the mind to ponder those moments left behind the curtain as the credits roll. Filmmaker Nick Waggoner has so much more to share. Throughout 12 episodes of his Internet series On The Road with Solitaire he offers up something far better than...

Adventure Media Review, Commentary, Environmental Journalism / 15.09.2012

“I was damned if I would write one [novel] because it was what I should do if we were to eat regularly. When I had to write it, then it would be the only thing to do and there would be no choice. Let the pressure build. In the meantime I would write a long story about whatever I knew best.” ~ Earnest Hemingway It's one of those gorgeous summer days in Madison. Just a week before the change of seasons the crisp morning air and full sunshine reminds...

Gear Review, Gear Whore Confessions / 14.09.2012

Ask any multi-tasker, hands free is always the way to go. So when the makers of the Capture Camera Clip asked me to test out their new device I immediately jumped at the chance. This sleek little gizmo makes the camera neck strap obsolete with a clever quick-release system that allows a photographer to snap his trusty SLR reporting tool on a waist belt or shoulder strap for easy and immediate access. In principle the Capture works beautifully, but after several weeks of use I discovered that its...

Adventure Media Review, Climbing, Commentary, NPR, Podcast, Public Radio, Wisconsin Life, Wisconsin Public Radio / 12.09.2012

This summer, I traveled across the North American west, hitting  some of the top rock climbing destinations in the country. Moab, Utah, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite and Joshua Tree … plus a quick hike through the Grand Canyon.   I trained at mountaineering in the Chugach Range of Alaska and made it safely to the summit of Mount Baker in the Washington Cascades.  Next year I’ve got an even more ambitious project -- to reach the top of Mount Denali, the highest point on the continent.    But there’s more to...

Adventure Activism, Adventure Media Review, Banff, Environmental Journalism, Environmental Protection, Interview, Podcast / 11.09.2012

Typically political action can take shape only when the general populous is rallied and motivated to take a stand. When it comes to building awareness for issues of environmental protection it’s especially difficult because those regions most in need of protecting are usually far away from the public eye. That’s why an organization called the International League of Conservation Photographers goes out into some of the most remote habitats in the world to document the current condition of delicate ecosystems at  risk of destruction. "I've been working in the...