Let’s aim for more meaningless, directionless, utterly random downtime this summer. Let’s find a bit more nothingness – even two hours a week. There’s plenty of adventure in these hills, and every reason to go after it, but don’t be afraid to ditch the bike, boots or paddleboards for the occasional hammock, beach towel or lengthy Russian novel. Because just as the best adventures are usually found by accident, so are some of the best parts of your mind. When you set no goals, the brain opens up to the natural ebb and flow of things; and that might be where the magic is, or at the very least, a little mental salvation.
This summer, don’t seize the day at all. Free it... solvo diem!

But here’s the thing—in the mountains, a big fall is almost always an opportunity to learn, to be humbled, and to better understand just who we are and where we fit into our surroundings. The same opportunity exists now for humanity at large. We’re lucky here in the Coast Mountains—with easy access to the peace and solitude of nature, and a like-minded community with a history of rising to help each other when things get bad. (And if things get really bad, no one is better suited to run to the hills.)

Summer in the Coast Mountains is about ditching the rat race and hiking,
paddling, driving, or pedaling for hours to climb into Mother Nature’s bosom,
pitch a tent, and bask in the silence, solitude, beauty, and adventure that only
she can provide.

There’s always been a draw to the wild—an inner yearning, however strong or faint, to swim near waterfalls, walk on beaches, stare at campfires, and climb up mountains just to see what’s there. And it’s our job to capture that feeling by compiling the stories and photographs that tell the adventures and experiences of our wonderful community.

So, we give you The Untamed Issue, the latest edition of Mountain Life Coast Mountains.

THE TECHNOLOGY ISSUE
The times they are a’ changin’…

And technology is fueling the revolution. Some tech makes our lives in the mountains easier, warmer, drier, lighter, faster and, most importantly, safer… but there is always a learning curve with any new tool, and sometimes a dark side. We often venture out into the wild to escape the trappings of “civilization.”  How much of it do we really want to stuff into our rucksacks?

A revolution, by definition, a great
upheaval or change—a shift from past to future
or a transition from one way of being to the next.
Revolutions create evolutions of consciousness, and
it seems like contemporary culture is long overdue
for one of those. We’re burning out the bearings on
our spinning little planet and not paying enough
care to the things that make it great—the forests,
the oceans, the animals, the very air we breathe…
Cultural revolutions can take a lifetime or more, but
the good news is they always happen. The only true
constant is change—it’s just a lot cooler if humanity
is playing an active, positive role.
So here’s to another great summer in the Coast
Mountains. Have fun, be excellent to each other, and
remember—what goes around comes around.

Be bold! Get out there and make some tracks,
chase the light, and breathe in some of that crisp
wild freedom. Because Time is chasing all of us—like
the giant crocodile in Peter Pan, waiting to devour
any dreams you leave hanging out there unlived for
too long. Tick tock, tick tock … your future is calling,
the mountains are calling, life is calling … and the
champagne is ready. RSVP not required

There’s a difference between being cold, being cool, and being chill. And we dig into all of those in the newest issue of Mountain Life: Coast Mountains.  Featuring an ultra chill Jimmy Martinello cover of Tim Emmett scaling an ice cave, this issue kicks winter off with deep pow shots, inspiring local stories, and at least one dude riding a snowmobile with a twelve gauge on his back. Find it in your favourite Sea to Sky spot and let’s get this winter going!

– Feet Banks, Editor

Free time. That’s the best thing about summer in the Coast Mountains. Thanks to some incredibly complex intergalactic solar magic, the sun rises earlier these days and dips down way later. Summer buys us time – time to get outside and play.
Time to be free; free to try new things and go new places and think new thoughts. To ride free, live fully, and get our freak on (running naked down a country lane definitely counts). Life is fast and full these days and who couldn’t use a few more hours of daylight as an excuse to step out into the wild and unplug? To reconnect with nature and ourselves and get into places that remind us of how small we actually are – free perspective.

Our provincial park trails are littered with trash, our streams clogged with punctured inflatable rafts, and more bears are dying each summer because of unsecured coolers, garbage and scraps left over from a good weekend of lettin’ loose. Every summer, ignorance and apathy set another swath of BC forest ablaze. Perhaps we have it too good. Maybe humans need more rules. Does too much freedom create a world of freeloaders?
I like to think it doesn’t, and that there’s a perfect line in there that we, humanity, can ride to a better future the way a river always finds the sea or a trail follows a steep ridgeline to the summit. I believe there’s a flow somewhere in between adventure and respect and untethered happiness that we can all tap into and save the world.
Big dreams, but you gotta start somewhere. And the best place is right here, in our own backyard. Get outside, get some fresh air inside your body and think about the real value of everything around us. Then share that with someone who hasn’t thought of it that way yet.
Freedom isn’t free, act accordingly. — Feet Banks

from our Guest Editor, Taylor Godber:

Thanks, Feet and thank you, Mountain Life for bravely unearthing a camouflaged
topic – gender inequality. It almost seems like a foreign notion at first. We are
a strong community: sexism and gender inequity couldn't reside here in our
bubble of adventure heaven.
But it is here. And the systemic oppression of women that might be more visible
in other parts of the world still hasn’t yet packed its bags and left us to our
paradise. It’s interesting that for so long our culture just accepted that: yes,
women’s prize money is different. Yes, it’s a challenge to climb the ranks in
women’s action sports, and yes, men get paid more. Well, we’re calling bullshit.
It’s a gosh-darn revolution, bitches! Every generation, the line of what is deemed
acceptable shifts. And these days, the tectonic plates of how the world sees
women are starting to collide, and shake things up. Women are no longer just
asking what it really means to be a woman, we’re also tagging in for the fight.
As ‘mountain, forest and ocean lifers,’ we hold a significant power to make
more than just a ripple in the pond. This lifestyle of pushing boundaries and
connecting to nature breeds movers, shakers, and modern-day warriors with
enough fierce dedication and determination to follow through on whatever
they choose. We can set a momentous impact on those around us, especially the
generations to come.
So here it is, a homage to some of the radical women that make wonderful role
models for our boys, girls, and ourselves. This issue is also a stage to extend
the message out to the world that there should never, ever be a limit set on
anyone’s abilities based on sex, race, or anything else. The sky isn’t the limit any
more. Send it!
—Taylor Godber

Embrace your inner rebel this winter. The only law that really matters is the law of gravity (and some laws of physics, and the other one about how the only crotch you are allowed to grab is your own). How about we get back to having fun in the mountains and not worrying about how it looks, who thinks it’s good, or what the consequences will be. Man or woman, one plank or two... we’re just children grown old, out playing in the snow. Don’t let anyone else tell you when it’s time to come in.
Feet Banks

Having the next generation of Coast Mountain locals help plant trees that will mature in their lifetimes elevated team morale as we toiled through the steep, arid hillside with borrowed shovels and MacGyvered shopping bag tree-satchels. We neither looked good nor broke any speed records, but we made sure each of those trees went into the ground with a smile and before our trucks pulled away that evening, we shared an obvious moment of pride and accomplishment.
“It’s important to ask questions,” Trevor says. “Out here and in our urban areas as well. Are our municipalities planning to manage their green space? Rather than watch them be impacted, we need to think about the future right now.” 
There will always be fires, disasters and mistakes, that’s the nature of the world.
But it’s up to us to ensure there is also regrowth, solutions, and a continued desire to learn, teach, and get our hands dirty.
– Feet Banks

Because for most of us, time spent in the mountains is a shared experience. We meet our buddies for first chair or in the parking lot of the sled zone. We hike into secret spots together, apres together, and snap photos of each other whilst shredding the gnar. We corroborate each other’s bold claims and are ready to go on the next wild adventure. In the mountains, we trust our lives to the people around us and the quality of any trip often hinges on the teammates, not the landscape.

It was Bob Dylan who said, "Time passes slowly up here in the mountains." And that's true when you're out there on the ridgeline watching the sun sink away after another fine day. But after a decade of Mountain Life here in the Coast Mountains, we think it's safe to say time also flies when you're having fun. Here are some highlights from what's been a hell of a good run...

The harder you look at the web of connectivity between ourselves and everyone and everything else, the more you realize that any little water drop of our reality could fall with even the slightest shake. And then you see a mountain sunset, or a spiral seashell. It looks so perfectly constructed that it’s brings peace, because it feels like there’s some kind of master plan. I think that is the power of nature, to make us feel small again.

"Go Deeper” this winter.  That can be taken literally and mean go find deeper pow turns like Davey Barr does, skiing in the ice-caves of Blackcomb Mountain for the cover photo by Eric Berger. Or it can be more lofty—going deeper into your passion like skier/inventor/Lego genius Eric Hjorleifson does in The Open Cage. Or it can simply be about exploring, going deeper into the mountains will almost always uncover new wisdom within our selves. Coast steep skier Trevor Hunt explores the mental side of big exposure in Squamish Exposed and Taylor Godber pushes into the mountains of Alaska in search of snow and answers in Eat, Pray, Shred. All in all, it’s nice 130-page look at what’s happening in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia with a pretty simple take-home message: no matter what you get up to this winter, don’t do it half-ass. Go deeper, have fun, see you out there. —Feet Banks, Editor, Mountain Life: Coast Mountains.

....and so, we’re keeping it simple this issue — Wheels & Water — because summer in the Coast Mountains is a good time to ride fast and get wet. And there’s no need to complicate primal things like the rush of gravity-fed, two-wheeled speed or the very human system reboot of diving off a dock into an alpine lake. Summer means lots of extra daylight, but don’t confuse that with extra hours in the day. This is a time to achieve more by doing less. So please, let’s try to keep life simple this summer, life is good up here in the mountains and there’s no need to re-invent the wheel.

Human beings are fundamentally motivated by a need to belong, by an instinct to find like-minded souls and become a part of something larger. There’s a reason a chairlift has more than one seat.
And that’s what this issue is all about — people who come to the mountains and discover a sense of belonging. This is an issue about who we do what we do with, and why.
This is the Tribe issue. Share it with a friend.

Knowledge and learning are infinite. So regardless of what you think you know, the mountains can always teach you something new — about yourself, the world and the value of venturing as far outside of the cave as possible.

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  Cover - Fall/Winter 2020 — It's Been a Long, Strange Trip... Edition

Fall/Winter 2020 — It's Been a Long, Strange Trip...

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  - Fall/Winter 2020 — It's Been a Long, Strange Trip...

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  Cover - Summer 2020 — The Camping Issue Edition

Summer 2020 — The Camping Issue

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  - Summer 2020 — The Camping Issue

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  Cover - Winter/Spring 2020 — the Untamed Issue Edition

Winter/Spring 2020 — the Untamed Issue

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  - Winter/Spring 2020 — the Untamed Issue

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  Cover - Fall/Winter 2019-20 — The Technology Issue Edition

Fall/Winter 2019-20 — The Technology Issue

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  - Fall/Winter 2019-20 — The Technology Issue

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  Cover - Summer 2019 — the Revolutions Issue Edition

Summer 2019 — the Revolutions Issue

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  - Summer 2019 — the Revolutions Issue

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  Cover - Winter/Spring 2019 — The Time Travel issue Edition

Winter/Spring 2019 — The Time Travel issue

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  - Winter/Spring 2019 — The Time Travel issue

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  Cover - Fall/Winter 2018_ The Chill Issue Edition

Fall/Winter 2018_ The Chill Issue

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  - Fall/Winter 2018_ The Chill Issue

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  Cover - 2018 Summer Free-For-All Edition

2018 Summer Free-For-All

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  - 2018 Summer Free-For-All

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  Cover - Winter/Spring 2018 _The LADIES FIRST Issue Edition

Winter/Spring 2018 _The LADIES FIRST Issue

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  - Winter/Spring 2018 _The LADIES FIRST Issue

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  Cover - Fall/Winter 2017-18 — Fully Completely Edition

Fall/Winter 2017-18 — Fully Completely

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  - Fall/Winter 2017-18 — Fully Completely

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  Cover - Summer 2017 Edition

Summer 2017

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  - Summer 2017

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  Cover - February 2017  — Deep 'n Delicious Edition

February 2017  — Deep 'n Delicious

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  - February 2017  — Deep 'n Delicious

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  Cover - 10 Year Anniversary Edition

10 Year Anniversary

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  - 10 Year Anniversary

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  Cover - The Importance of Nothing Edition

The Importance of Nothing

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  - The Importance of Nothing

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  Cover - The Escape Issue Edition

The Escape Issue

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  - The Escape Issue

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  Cover - Go Deeper Edition

Go Deeper

Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS  - Go Deeper

Founded in 2006 and published three times a year, Mountain Life Coast Mountains is dedicated to showcasing the natural beauty of British Columbia’s Coast Mountain range, with a focus on the Sea to Sky region between Vancouver and Pemberton. Through world-class photography and thought-provoking yet humorous editorial, our goal is to shed some light on the rich and varied history, culture, people and environmental issues of the Sea to Sky corridor.

Die-hard locals, wide-eyed tourists and mountain-culture enthusiasts from all walks of life turn the pages of Mountain Life to stay informed, get inspired and keep their passion for the mountains stoked.

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Mountain Life COAST MOUNTAINS - The Importance of Nothing

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