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Chasing the Light

Whether you're 鈥媝owering through a predawn workout or looking for the perfect 鈥媠unset shot, the only way to follow your mission is to rise up every single day

Any serious outdoor athlete will tell you the same thing鈥攖he variables are always infinite.听鈥婽he one thing you can count on is that the plan will change. The monster storm will flame out, or the wind will whip up at the wrong time. But just as often, the scales tip in your favor.听The swell comes in bigger than predicted, or the evening light will be majestic. You just never know.听Which is why you need to be like the five guys below: focused on your passion, always prepared, up early, and out late, so when the time is right, you're ready to answer the call.


Nicolas M眉ller鈥, professional snowboarder

鈥嬧淚t sounds weird to say that you can have a spiritual moment in a helicopter, but when we鈥檙e flying to the mountain and the sun is rising and it鈥檚 really cold but here comes the sun鈥檚 rays of warmth, it feels like one of life鈥檚 most beautiful moments.鈥

The Alaskan winter can be frugal with its windows of good weather. A low ceiling of clouds and a lodge full of pro snowboarders waiting to shoot a film is a brutal combination that M眉ller is all too familiar with. When the clouds do finally break, the work lasts as long as skies stay blue, and there鈥檚 little time for sleep. M眉ller, who gave up the competition circuit in 2008 for the creativity and personal expression of making films, finds motivation in the opportunity to inspire people through his snowboarding. His forthcoming film, , has been in the works for three years. It鈥檚 M眉ller鈥檚 biggest project to date, and for him, some of the most challenging work has been in the studio. In the city, he sleeps for nine hours and wakes up tired. But on the mountain, he can charge for days on end. 鈥淎fter long day on the mountain, I feel tired and really grounded. You hang up your gear to dry, scrape together something for dinner, and sleep really, really well. Then you get up before the sun and do it again. That鈥檚 the best kind of healthy.鈥


鈥婮on Rose, surfer and philanthropist

鈥嬧淲henever I arrive in a new place, on a coast in a new country, I always make sure to catch the sunset the first night there. It helps me calibrate myself with the place, and it鈥檚 something I鈥檝e been doing since I was a kid.鈥

Jon Rose doesn鈥檛 have a workweek. He doesn鈥檛 have traditional office hours or off days. Since 2009鈥攚hen the former pro surfer set up the aid organization to bring clean water to those who need it鈥攈e鈥檚 been charging hard. And with Waves for Water programs running in 17 countries, as he says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 always prime time somewhere.鈥澨齇ver the past four years alone, W4W has responded to almost every major global disaster, earthquake, or tsunami, from preventing cholera in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti to creating clean water infrastructure following last year鈥檚 major earthquake in Ecuador. When he鈥檚 on, he works from dawn to dusk for weeks or months at a time. And when he鈥檚 off, he鈥檒l unplug entirely, travel to a quiet break somewhere off the map, and do nothing but surf all day for two weeks. Two or three trips like that a year are usually enough to keep him going. Wherever he is, he usually rents a motorcycle. 鈥淚 either get out early when no one is on the roads,鈥 he says, 鈥渙r, like in Ecuador where we were just working, I ended each day with a ride at dusk in the beautiful sunset light.鈥


Erik Boomer, kayaker and Arctic adventurer

鈥淚 need every minute of the day. On long expeditions, the minutes add up to hours of travel, which over the course of months add up to days of travel.鈥

On serious adventures in remote places, the kind where bad weather, curious alpha predators, or running out of food are always on your mind, it helps to get up early and get a jumpstart on the day. There鈥檚 a constant push to make headway, to log the miles, to be as efficient as possible. For Erik Boomer and his girlfriend Sarah McNair-Landry, who last year 鈥攖he fifth biggest island in the world鈥攂y dogsled, there鈥檚 another reason to get up before first light: You鈥檝e got to feed the team. On serious dogsled expeditions, the dogs need time to digest the high-calorie seal meat before they lean into their harnesses, and that means doling out breakfast in the predawn Arctic. For Boomer, who thrives on long-form adventures, that motivation comes easy.听鈥淭he formula for dealing with tough days is hours of hard work,鈥 he says. 鈥淵ou have to turn that feeling of struggle into something that makes you get up even earlier.鈥


Mike Wolfe, ultrarunner, coach, and persistence hunter

鈥淕etting up early, getting out the door, sometimes sucks. Sometimes you feel like crap and you don't want to go, but every time we do, it's worth it.鈥

Mike Wolfe鈥檚 alarm has always been going off early. The Bozeman, Montana, native grew up hunting, but that was just the start. He鈥檚 climbed El Cap in a day, raced collegiate Nordic skiing, and once spent three months paddling to the Arctic Ocean. But the predawn beeping usually means one thing: time to run. As a professional mountain ultrarunner, Wolfe has competed in more than听100 ultra-distance mountain races around the world over the past decade. Which is even more impressive when you consider he鈥檚 also a father, practicing attorney, coach (he just opened his own gym, , in his hometown), and the founder of one of the most technical mountain-running races in the world, called . 鈥淚 have enough perspective now to know that I can take life in stride,鈥 says Wolfe, 鈥渓ike focusing my energy on the gym, while still finding time to spend time with my family and do what I love.鈥 His latest project? Combining his love of running with his passion for hunting. Wolfe is part of an extremely small group of distance runners who attempt to chase down pronghorn antelope, the fastest animal on the continent, on foot. It鈥檚 called persistence hunting, and while Wolfe has yet to succeed, he鈥檚 not about to stop trying. Which means lots of long walks, at sundown, miles from the parked car, alone and exhausted.


Cedar Wright, professional climber and filmmaker

鈥淪ome of my hardest climbs have gone on for more than 24 hours. To see the sun rise and set and then rise again听and to know that you鈥檝e been pushing your body that whole time, there鈥檚 something addictive about that.鈥

As a professional climber and filmmaker, Cedar Wright needs to be on the mountain early. In his latest film, , Wright and his buddy and fellow pro climber Matt Segal paraglided from the summit of Mexico鈥檚 Pico de Orizaba (18,491鈥), the third-highest peak on the continent. The only safe time to launch a wing off the mountain is the brief, windless window at dawn, before the sun鈥檚 thermals move the air but with enough light to safely fly. Wright and the crew left the trailhead at听8 the night before to be ready to go for what Wright calls dawn鈥檚 glory hour. The other advantage to getting up early is to catch the soft, low-angle light that makes the landscapes come alive. No film shoot or summit attempt comes with a guarantee of fulfilling the objective, but, as Wright likes to point out, if you stay at home, you can be sure that nothing will happen. 鈥淵ou make your own luck. It all comes with a price. You gotta get your ass out of bed early听and go make it happen.鈥


is proud to introduce , the world's first adventure-proof action sports smartwatch made to withstand all the elements. Powered by Android Wear鈩, the Mission works hand in hand with Surfline and Snocountry to deliver real time surf and snow reports straight to your wrist, so you鈥檙e ready to answer the call at a moment鈥檚 notice. So whatever mountain you choose to climb, land, sea or sky, choose to rise up and follow your mission.