This past summer, through Tora I had the opportunity to meet and be apart of the Japanese community in Canmore which I am forever grateful for. The friendships I've made the times in the mountains I've shared with people, stories, the cross section of cultures crashing. One of the trips that I had the opportunity to go on was to do a 2 day trip into the Ghost Wilderness to do come camping and climbing! Earlier that day we climbed on The Bonanza Bay and we got absolutely soaked by an afternoon rainstorm
We sprinted down to our cars, but by the time we reached it the shower had passed. Soaked to our bones we started a fire to dry ourselves and our gear off we sat around the campfire talking, I was mostly listening learning about Japanese culture. The Japan that I learnt and grew up with was decades olds, my parents had immigrated in the 80s. For me I'd always felt like the outdoors and me being Japanese were 2 different parts of my identity, but it was all clashing together. Right in front of me. Talking, asking, learning not only about Japanese culture in general but the outdoor culture in Japan, the climbing, mountaineering, skiing. I just want to experience it for myself.
The photo at the top of this post is one of my favourites of the summer, we were all sitting around the campfire drying ourselves off. The pair of shoes thats sitting right in front of them TC pros, a staple in the climbing community sparked debate of what shoes work the best. Which eventually lead to how different foot shapes works better for certain brands and they all lined their foot beside each other to compare. Just climber things.