| How Julian Carr does what he does. | | | | | Blending the lines between impossible and possible, Julian Carr doesn't do things lightly. You would never guess based on the calm demeanor and relaxed attitude of Julian that he goes bigger and charges harder than anyone out there. He is well known for hitting 100 foot plus cliffs and globe-trotting in search of his next adventure. Julian has been skiing with Spyder for over a decade and has created quite a name for himself within the ski community. Julian's calculated and meditative approach to skiing has helped him get to where he is now. As much as we love to talk skiing with Julian, we caught up with him to talk about a new area of his life, running. However, we also talked about well…skiing. | | | How has your summer and fall been? | | | The past six months have been incredible. Four years ago, I founded the Cirque Series mountain running races. Now we have six races in four states. We sold out the races and we have an amazing community that comes around for the whole tour. I try to bring the same vibes to the races as I would a fun day of skiing. We go out and have fun in the mountains and then come down, hangout and après with everyone. It has been super fun for me being a Race Director for this series, it has certainly put me at capacity for the summer. We design the courses similar to how you would boot pack or skin up the mountain. They are designed up the ridges of the mountain. Ours are a bit different and unique from other series in this way, as they are made for runners to go straight up the mountain and up ridges and get runners to the high alpine quicker. Summers are super fun and I'm in the mountains almost every day. It is incredible to be able to create something like this that challenges people to get into the high alpine in the summer months. | | | Was your winter passion for the mountains the catalyst for starting the Cirque Series in your mind? | | | It all started during the summer about six years ago. Usually, I would be mountain biking or wake surfing. I was honestly mostly mountain biking and then I got this really cool dog. Her name is Lexi and she is this unique breed called an Argentinian Dogo. She was bred to group hunt boars and pumas. When she was a puppy, I took her on quite a few mountain bike rides and she loved it. But then I thought, if I keep doing this to this dog taking her on these big mountain bike rides she could have issues as she gets older. At the time I lived right next to Mt. Olympus, which is pretty straight up and I started taking her hiking around there. I had never really considered myself a runner before Lexi. I started hiking MT. Olympus often and had tried to invite my friends but they were not runners either. I had to explain that this is different, it tests your agility, you get a beautiful view and all of these things and it was so much fun and I was like this is really cool... | | | | | There are apparent overlaps with fitness and the physical aspects of mountain running and skiing, are there overlaps with your mental state when it comes to running and skiing? | | | It is really all about being in the wilderness and paying attention to what the mountains are saying. I know it sounds cheesy, but I feel like you can gain so much fluency and comfort in the high alpine simply by spending a lot of time in. When winter comes around you aren't thrust back into those intense high alpine environments, you have been there all year. | | | Where are some of your most favorite places to run? | | | I did a trip to the alps a month or so ago and it was the first time going for running and not skiing. The alps are high on the list. Colorado is also always a fun place to run. The best part with mountain running is you can easily bag a peak in the morning and that is kind of my style. Any high alpine peak to me is what I enjoy. Just like skiing, you need interesting dynamic features. | | | Did you get in any skiing this summer? | | | No, my summers are pretty focused on running now and the Cirque Series. But it is hard to let go because for 8 years in a row I went down to South America. Even two years ago I fit in a Portello trip in between the races, though it was tricky to pull that off logistically. I don't seek it out like I used to. It is interesting because now come October/November, I'm super ready to go ski, which is exciting. It literally feels like I haven't skied in years even though it has only been four or five months and I'm chomping at the bit. | | | Going into Skiing more, what are some of your goals for the upcoming season? What does the goal creation process look like for you?? | | | Again it is a little cheesy, but it truly is to be happy and healthy. My goals are to seek out the opportunities to ski the most powder and to produce trips quickly once we figure out where the snow is falling. Then to make the trips happen. | | | When you are getting into the season or looking to set yourself up for the types of cliffs you want to hit for the first few times of the year, how do you prepare mentally? | | | Honestly having spent so much time in that high alpine throughout the summer keeps me connected with the mountain when winter hits. That patient process of finding that confidence is hugely important. Usually early season is all about excitement. For me, I'm not even going to touch a huge cliff unless the conditions are beyond obvious that it is good to go. It is important to allow yourself the patience to go study the landing and allow that bit of fear to be converted into confidence. Whether it is early in the season or not, I really take pride in being a professional and I have my mental process that I can apply at any point in the season. I have my equations on what I deem to be the appropriate number of safe parameters. When I find that, no matter if it is the beginning of the year, middle of the year or the end of the year, it all kind of feels at home. | | | Does your cliff studying process happen in the summer much? | | | You know back about 8 or 9 years ago when I first started getting into big cliffs, I did go study one cliff in particular that is in Wolverine Cirque. Depending on the snow year, it could be anywhere between a 130- and 170-foot cliff. I really wanted to wrap my head around how you could do it. At the time, Jamie Pierre was the guy who was routinely hitting cliffs over 100 feet and he had cracked the code. I knew it was not impossible and it should be something I could accomplish. It was part of my process to go look at cliffs in the summer that I wanted to hit for the coming season. That particular time I spent hours just sitting there cross legged looking at the cliff. It is pretty amazing to be able to fall over a hundred feet and land without getting hurt. It really shouldn't be possible. Snow is truly magical and we as skiers are lucky to be able to coexist with nature in such a way. | | | If you had any other career besides a pro skier, what would it be? | | | I think it would be amazing to be a musician of some sort. It is so incredible being in nature and being connected with nature as a skier. I think it would be cool to have a connection with an audience based on the music you are performing and feeling that energy. | | | | | | | | | Please Unsubscribe if you do not want us to contact you any more with information about our goods and services. Please note that we may still have to contact you with service-related updates (for example, product safety alerts or recalls)
VIEW OUR PRIVACY POLICY
CUSTOMER SERVICE: 844-977-9337
©2019 Spyder Active Sports. All rights reserved.
4725 Walnut St, Boulder, CO, 80301
| | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment