The Dirtbag Diaries

After a year of hard work, Bryan Smith and I present The Season 2, five stories from a whole new set of athletes. This 22-episode web TV series following five athletes through the course of a year is available first at arcteryx.com and then as a download from iTunes. Visit theseasontv.com to subscribe and find information about the songs and download the cuts. The series begins in earnest Tuesday, September 6th.

Those are the nuts and bolts.  A release is always a crazy moment in my life. I dread them up until the moment they happen. There are so many details to be worked out that it can be difficult to sleep, remember to turn the stove off or keep track of what day of the week it is.  It is consuming. The reward is obvious.  You -- the community -- makes this all worthwhile. Your feedback, both good and bad (but always thoughtful), is deeply appreciated.  When Bryan and I started out on round 2, we had you in mind.  How do we make The Season better? The answer was clear- feed off the energy you all put into the first installment.  So we invested time and money. And committed to spending more time with each athlete and more time in the field.  We feel we've achieved our goals. I hope you are pleased with our efforts.  

Rise up. Become legend. Welcome to The Season 2.

Can the wilderness save a soul?  In the clutter of the modern world, how do we define success? 
These two questions keep coming up over and over again in Diaries.  Whether it is Aimee Brown's walking away from a dream job to be closer to people and places she loves or Christian Beamish's search for peace off the coast of Baja, these are the questions we've been chasing. These are the questions that you come to us with. 

When Becca and I set out on our Sierra adventure last year, our reasons for doing so were numerous. One thing was clear -- it wasn't a vacation. It was life. It was about reconnecting with a place we love, with our passions. It was about sharing an adventure with one another and a few friends along the way. From the start, we also knew that it was about telling stories.  In short, we wanted to write a love letter, to each other, to the Sierra, to the spirit of our community.  We wanted to create a short film that got right to the center of those questions. 

This moved beyond simple travelogue story telling. If we were were going to succeed, I had to stack the deck.  We recruited the very talented photographer and bad-ass climber Mikey Schaefer to create our vision. He's one of the few people on the planet who can climb a 2,000 foot 5.10 in tennis shoes, while pausing to film. Climbing extraordinaire Kate Rutherford did much of the rigging and heavy lifting while we were in the backcountry. Tim Loubier, our artistic video editor, shaped the footage into a coherent, sometimes serious, sometimes whimsical 12-minute film.  One of our favorite bands, We Are Augustines, provided the soundtrack.  Anya Miller Berg lent her graphic design prowess to the movie, supporting materials and beyond.  I put some of the best talent in our community in a creative space and let them have at it.

After months of work, next Tuesday, our film The Love Letter goes live at Outdoor Research and Osprey's Websites. Two weeks later, it makes its big screen premiere at the incredible 5 Point Film Festival in Carbondale, Co.  I'm going to admit -- I'm nervous as hell.

Today, we are sending out the first of two trailers that we hope capture the mood of what we were chasing.  On the trip, we brought along a pillow case backdrop and snapped portraits of one another everyday.  Could you see the impact of the Sierra in our faces? In our eyes? Would the joy translate even as strain ate away at our bodies? 

Ultimately, you will decide whether The Love Letter successfully tackles those recurring questions, makes you laugh and, hopefully, leaves you inspired, but I know this. Creatively, physically and financially, I gave everything I had to this project. Becca would say the same. Next Tuesday, if this movie speaks to you, if we succeed, shout it out. Please let others know about it through Facebook or over campfires. We have come this far together. You, our ardent listeners,  have made the Diaries happen through your stories, kind words, criticism and passion.  If we succeed,  go and take credit for it. Let's keep telling our stories. Thanks for all your help.

Fitz

P.S. And in the final movie, there is brief nudity. Maybe not family viewing on the first round.

On Thursday August 26th, my new project with Bryan Smith launches on Patagonia's website. Tracing the Edge is a 10-part series following three of world's best outdoor athletes -- alpine climbing phenom Colin Haley, ultra-runner Krissy Moehl and surfing legend Gerry Lopez.  What made them who they are today?  Look for new episodes every Thursday. You can also find new episodes on our supporting sponsors Sportiva and Vasque.  If you are interested in getting HD files for download, leave a comment and let us know. I hope you enjoy the show.

 

 

For the last year and change, when I haven't been finding stories for the Diaries I've been working on a new project -- one that I've kept pretty quiet about. Yesterday, The Season kicked off. It's a 22-episode web television series shot in HD. It begins in earnest the last week of January. The idea, or maybe the question, behind the series is this:  Could we take compelling stories from our community, combine it with tightly crafted footage and create small installments that reveal a bigger story?  I teamed up with Bryan Smith, who you may remember from the New Conservationists, and we set off with this goal in mind. We followed five athletes -- men and women a lot like you -- through the course of a single season in the Northwest. These athletes aren't setting out on their seasons goals because there is monetary reward or they expect to get famous. They chased these goals because they are deeply passionate about their pursuits.  I'm thrilled to introduce them to you.  

The Season won't replace the Diaries; we've got great season of episodes planned for you.  The Season is merely a sister to what you have helped me create here. In April, the Season will run its course. The Diaries will continue. In the meantime, I hope you like what you see and that you continue to support independent media by subscribing, telling your friends about The Season (if you like it) and spreading the words. You are and have been my greatest allies in trying to bring stories back to outdoor media. I hope you enjoy.