TASC PERFORMANCE
When I finished school in 2015, more than anything I knew what I didn’t want my life to look like: corporate job, business casual, live-for-the-weekend, wake up and wonder where the time went. I knew I wanted adventure and challenge, so I stepped into the unknown and moved to Colorado, a place I had never been, where I didn't know a soul. Maybe that’s cliche and romantic, and it isn't for everyone, but I couldn't ignore the call. I took some time to reflect on how the past year has played out and how tasc Performance has been a part of my journey.
When I drove to Colorado, I made a list of what I had and what I didn’t have; mostly, I lacked knowledge. I didn’t even know what I didn’t know about mountains, and I knew even less about myself. I was young and scared and didn’t have much money, but I did have an idea. The idea was to be a climber, metaphorically in life and eventually on real rock walls (the kind you see in magazines and coffee table books). I knew if I could spend long enough on the sheer, improbably blank rock faces of the world, they would one day transform into glass through an impossible and unprecedented geological phenomenon, and I could then look at the smooth, mirrored glass beneath my calloused hands and my rubber-soled feet and see myself, my real reflection, for the very first time.
I climbed all 58 of Colorado’s 14ers - mountains over 14,000 feet - and, man, what a ride. The 14ers project taught me a lot - about my new home state, about moving efficiently and quickly in the alpine, about follow-through. Mostly, the journey taught me about myself and my capabilities. Through the toil and the mileage and the thin air, I grew stronger, faster, more confident. It can be hard to feel like there’s true adventure to still be found. Our world is mapped, photographed, tagged, claimed, and documented ad infinitum. But adventure isn’t always about hanging off the side of a mountain or negotiating the earth’s harshest environments. You can find it right in your backyard. Adventure is what you make it.
I’m not under any illusions. I don’t ascribe grand, world-beating importance to the frequently meaningless pursuit of climbing. It’s been said more perfectly than I can say it: climbers are “conquerors of the useless.” And that’s fine, because when I’m climbing, I’m enough. The air beneath my feet, the rock under my hands, the exquisite and improbable dance upward - it’s all enough, and sometimes even too much. I’m grateful to feel so alive and full as I ascend, not worrying about yesterday or tomorrow, just the here and the now.
The paradox: my life is varied and fast-paced, but I want to live simply. The team at tasc allows me to have the best of both worlds by creating versatile, aesthetic and performance-oriented clothing. I’m confident in my tasc pieces in the mountains - I have to be, my life sometimes depends on it. But it goes further than that: friends and strangers often ask about the pieces, and I am more than happy to recommend the gear. Most importantly, the brand feels like a family, providing the support and gear I need to go - simply - further, faster, and higher.
Change is difficult and messy and complicated. It isn’t like flipping a light switch. You have to go for it - all heart. Living like that, it’s scary, but you don’t get a redo; you don’t get another chance. It’s now or never, and it’s easy to let the important moments pass you by when you are living with closed eyes and a closed heart. We all know that to be true, and it’s terribly cliche and of course easy to say, but it’s the truth as I see it and I never want to die having broken the only rule that counts - to do what you love.
