MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Fall Winter 2018

16 MLCM FALL/WINTER 2018 EDITOR'S MESSAGE FEET FIRST Shandy Campos is simultaneously chill, warm and super frickin' cool (the shotgun helps). SCOTT SERFAS I t’s true in all aspects of life, but especially in the mountains: there’s a difference between being cold, being cool, and being chill. Being cold sucks. It turns toes numb, makes kids complain, and can really drain the fun out of an otherwise awesome experience out in the ice and snow. And it can kill you. Being cold is the worst. But being cool is kind of essential in an environment where the ground beneath you can suddenly turn fluid and the best times are based on some internal algorithm of velocity, gravity and precision with multiple hard objects in play… cooler heads prevail, hot heads flail. And being chill, that’s the most important of all. The Coast Mountains in winter are a near-silent oasis of peace and tranquility. Chill just fits with the territory—smooth and steady, appreciative and observant, knowing where you are and how you got there. Just chilling. Chill is cooler than cool, and to be chill in a frozen world is to be at one with it, and with yourself. It’s to be tapped into the spirit of the mountains and riding the flow of life in the wild. To be chill is to be free. (Free to step up, click in, and haul ass back to the bottom—untracked all the way.) — Feet Banks