Here at Gadling, we often tell stories of adventure: of traveling to far-off lands and meeting fascinating locals and sampling unpronounceable foods and returning home with bug bites and slipper tans and tales to be told over cocktails at dinner parties.
But the stories we less often share are the stories of what we sacrifice for those adventures: the patterns we disrupt, the worries we create and the often heartbreaking agony of being apart from the people that we love.
That’s why this short film from the Wild Love Project was familiar and somewhat painful to watch. The film follows a couple, Jake Norton and Wende Valentine, as they try to reconcile Jake’s love of mountaineering with the obligations of family life. Though it’s difficult, the couple makes it work so that they can impart to their children the importance of pursuing what makes them come alive.
In a release for the film, which premiered last month at the Mountainfilm festival in Telluride, Jake discussed some of the questions at the heart of the film:
In my experience, the climbing community has some topics, which they generally don’t want to discuss… how does climbing fit in with love, life, family? How do climbers evaluate risk and continue climbing when the responsibility changes and a spouse and children are added to the mix? Is continuing to climb simply selfish, or is there another explanation, a philosophy about life and passion and living which explains the need to keep climbing?
I’m sure most travelers can relate. I sure do.