Earth Tales Session
Adventure Athlete + Storyteller - Interview with Chris Brinlee Jr.
Welcome to EARTH TALES! A series of interviews and ‘Tales from the Earth’ from inspirational people whom are making a stance in the travel, sports and animal kingdom. We’ll be interviewing poignant people from travel & wildlife photographers, film and documentary makers, explorers, conservationists, biologists and adventurers.
In our 7th EARTH TALES Session - we had the opportunity to interview Chris Brinlee Jr, a problem solver and adventurer.
In 2014, Chris decided to leave his office job to find a different path in life. This journey has lead him to the furthest and most remote reaches of the globe: He’s paddled fjords in Eastern Greenland in search of un-climbed alpine rock; summited 6,000m peaks in Nepal; sailed to Antarctica with Mike Horn; ridden a motorcycle across Vietnam, and crossed New Zealand’s The Southern Alps using skis and a packraft.
Chris has pushed himself to be able to experience some of the most exciting places on Earth and we couldn’t wait to hear more about his travel adventurers.
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Photo: Chris Brinlee Jr.
BornWild: Chris, Its great to be Interviewing you for our Earth Tales Sessions! Could you walk us through your background story from when you were a child to the Chris Brinlee Jr, people know today?
Chris Brinlee Jr: I was born in California’s Central Valley, but my parents moved us to rural Arkansas when I was five; I went kicking-and-screaming. We had 25 acres of land three miles outside of a town of 300. There wasn’t a lot to do in town; the nearest cities with shopping malls were two hours in any direction, so my younger brother and I spent a lot of time playing outside on our property; letting our imaginations run wild.
Young Chris Brinlee
Every summer, we’d take our vintage ski boat out and go camp on islands on the lake. It was during those trips, and at home playing in our woods where my thirst for exploration first grew--but I never experienced proper western wilderness, after graduating from university on the east coast.
Political ambitions led me to Washington D.C. as soon as I turned 18; I declined a coveted appointment to the United States Naval Academy--opting to study political science at The George Washington University on a Naval ROTC scholarship instead.
That didn’t last long though. An intense interest in photography, design, and video production resulted in much procrastination from poly-sci courses and econ assignments; when I barely passed advanced calculus with a D (the second time around) I decided that it was time to transfer to a school for art and design.
My first week at GW, I tried out for, and made the varsity cheerleading team, which was a pretty big deal at an NCAA Division 1 school; the sport occupied a great deal of my interest and time. That became a significant consideration when I started researching potential transfers.
The Savannah College of Art & Design had incredibly impressive Bachelors of Fine Arts programs, and varsity athletics, including cheerleading, so the decision to transfer there was an easy one; I enrolled sight unseen.
My time at SCAD shaped me greatly, extracurriculars as much as the coursework itself; in 2011 I graduated with a BFA in Advertising Design and moved to Santa Monica for a paid creative internship at my dream agency, working on some dream clients including U2, Halo, Red Bull, and FX Networks.
At BLITZ, several incredible designers and creative directors took me under their respective wings; I learned a ton over the course of 10 months, before getting scooped up by RPA, a large traditional agency just down the road, in an effort to bolster their digital chops.
While at RPA, one of my best friends from SCAD (Orey, who also ended up in LA) and I wanted to travel to Japan (which would have been each of our first times out of the country) but neither of us could save up enough money to go. While sitting in my cube, a little voice inside my head said, “Go backpacking. Go to Yosemite.”
Adventurer Chris Brinlee Jr.
I knew nothing about backpacking and hadn’t even seen pictures of Yosemite before, but I listened to that voice, planned our trip; and in July 2013, we went. Thirty-five miles of hiking through the high-country, sleeping under the stars, and carrying a week’s worth of supplies on my back blew my mind--and photographing the outing proved to be an incredible challenge. I was hooked.
RPA paid me well (I was barely getting by at my first job;) I got to work with some great teams; and on some bigger clients and accounts--but 85% of the time, the work wasn’t that fulfilling. Fifteen percent of the work was awesome--I got to help build out Honda’s Instagram account from inception; shot video and photography for some award winning campaigns; and got to travel a decent amount for projects, but that other 85% was spent building out bullshit web banners where a 0.02% clickthrough rate was considered a success. Those were not the metrics that I wanted my life to be defined by. So in August 2014, I quit.
BW: In a previous interview you talked about quitting your job after receiving a call from a friend who was looking for a companion on an upcoming backpack trip in Iceland. That’s a big decision! What was going through your mind and how did you build up the courage to make that decision?
CB: By that point, I had done a couple of multi-day backpacking trips; honed my skills on countless weekend excursions; was brought down to Costa Rica to shoot photos and video for a local, family-owned adventure outfitter; taken a five-day winter mountaineering course and summited Mt. Whitney; and did a weeklong West-East thru-hike of the Sierra Nevada--all within a period of 13 months.
I carried my camera and photographed all of those trips; I knew that I wanted to pursue a career as an adventure storyteller. Back then, that pathway really only existed with the likes of Cory Richards, Jimmy Chin, and Chris Burkard.
Storyteller Chris Brinlee Jr.
I knew that to have a chance at it, I’d have to prove I was worth my salt. So I quit my job at RPA and took off on an 8-month trip around the world, throwing myself at every possible adventure experience, and documenting each through photography and writing.
Initially I was inspired to explore the idea of quitting after being invited on a month-long backpacking trip around Iceland; logic led to the realization that I’d only be able to do something like that if I quit; moved out of my loft; and stretched my two weeks’ vacation pay. I never ended up meeting with the friend who proposed it, but I did spend a month in Iceland.
Upon leaving LA I went to the North Cascades to climb Mt. Baker (didn’t quite summit due to deteriorating weather and conditions;) backpacked around the famous Trolltunga fjord in Norway; backpacked, hiked, and scrambled around Iceland; hiked in the foothills of the Dolomites (though it’d be several years before I fully realized the grandeur of what was there;) climbed a 6,000m peak and did a few treks in Nepal; rock climbed for the first time in Thailand; and rode a $400 motorcycle 2,000 miles across Vietnam--before I ran out of money and returned home.
Initially, I thought that I might be gone for a couple of months, and then go back to RPA--but I rode that wave as long as I could.
Rock Climbing Travel Adventures / Chris Brinlee Jr.
BW: On your website, you talk about how each project was realized as the result of problem solving. Where do you find the inspiration to seek new problems and could you expand on that relationship between your projects and problem solving?
Adventurer Chris Brinlee Jr.
CB: The idea of doing the same thing that everybody else does totally bores me. I have no doubts that I could have climbed Everest a long time ago, but my interests lie in pursuing unique experiences that challenge me and could potentially inspire others, in ways that “buying yourself to the top” cannot.
In advertising, we called it “finding white space.” What is everyone else doing? So, do something different. I have done my best to apply that same principle to my projects: Paddling 100 miles through Eastern Greenland’s fjord system in foldable kayaks in search of unclimbed alpine rock; tackling the first documented traverse of a ridgeline in the Canadian Rockies that everybody drives past, but nobody bothered; crossing New Zealand’s Southern Alps by ice climbing, ski mountaineering, and packrafting.
There’s a lot less sponsorship money in my projects than doing something like “The Seven Summits” or “The Explorer’s Grand Slam,” but to me, it’s way more interesting and fulfilling.
The Endless Chain Ridge / Image: Chris Brinlee Jr.
BW: How much planning goes into each journey?
CB: Tackling these projects involves some pretty significant logistical hurdles, largely due to the multi-sport element. Transporting, carrying, and using all of that different gear requires a ton of training, planning, and preparation; I have the spreadsheets to prove it. It’s much easier to just do a backpacking trip or just do a paddling trip or just do a mountaineering trip. Combining those different elements makes everything exponentially more intensive; a significant part of the adventure is figuring out how all of those pieces fit together--not to mention finding partners with similar skills, experience, and motivation.
BW: How do you mentally prepare yourself for each expedition?
CB: Planning and organization are pretty key factors for me. I meticulously detail every aspect of my projects in Google Sheets; and reflect that same degree of organization in packing.
Traveling with all of that gear is always stressful, but once my team and I reach our start location, there’s a great peace of mind knowing that everything is accounted for and dialed beforehand. That process makes it easier to focus on whatever the expedition's objectives are.
BW: What was the biggest risk you’ve taken on an expedition?
CB: In 2017, while nearing the end of our traverse of Alberta’s Endless Chain Ridge, my partner and I were faced with a tough choice: overcome a large technical block of climbing to access a mellow descent, or take a direct route down right before that final section. We had been rationing food, fuel, and water for days, and by that time had almost nothing left to eat, or energy in our bodies. So we opted for the direct descent.
Shortly after dark on the 6th day, we triggered an avalanche; and both almost died when the snowpack beneath me gave way and I started sliding down the steep rocky slope. Miraculously, I was able to self-arrest with my ice axe; we bivied overnight; and made it down--running on fumes--the next day.
Image: Chris Brinlee Jr.
BW: What adventure were you the most passionate about and why?
CB: In autumn 2016, Christian Lanley and I met for the first time on our jointly-planned trip to the Alps. We climbed quite a bit around Chamonix, before tackling a wintery ascent of the Eiger’s Mittellegi Ridge in Switzerland. Within that same week, we climbed the Matterhorn too, in similarly-wintery conditions--checking off two test pieces in one trip. That was a big deal for both of us; it cemented our partnership--leading us to take on The Endless Chain Ridge six months later. We had so much stoke!
BW: Where has been the most breath-taking place you’ve traveled to?
CB: Eastern Greenland takes the cake here. We paddled 100 miles through fingery, turquoise fjords with whales breaching all around us; climbed on beautiful glaciers and splitter granite; and wild camped beneath the Northern Lights. That whole trip was pure bliss.
Greenland Travel Adventures. Image: Chris Brinlee Jr.
BW: What culture surprised you the most and why?
CB: When I went to Vietnam for the first time, everyone told me to be wary, because of that war that happened half a century ago. “They don’t care for Americans” is what Westerners warned. In my experience, that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Everywhere I rode, I was welcomed into restaurants and homes, and people made me feel like one of their own.
Vietnam adventure. Image: Chris Brinlee Jr.
BW: What other expeditions are in the works for the adventurer Chris Brinlee?
CB: With Coronavirus on its rampage around the globe, I’ve cancelled/postponed a couple of big endeavors; instead I’m looking forward to exploring my home range, California’s Sierra Nevada, in great depth.
Image: Chris Brinlee Jr.
BW: If you could choose any animal to be stuck on a desert island with, what would it be and why?
CB: A desert island??? That sounds terrible. (I hate sand, and heat, haha!) If I had to, I’d probably choose... a whale? And then I’d ride it to a more suitable place. Or a carrier pigeon that I could send word for someone to rescue me from that hellhole.
BW: What changes would you like to see people make in their everyday lives to help the environment?
Adventurer Chris Brinlee Jr.
CB: Short of permanently self-quarantining and never traveling outside of a tiny radius, there aren’t a whole lot of individual actions we can take to reduce our own impact. The most effective thing that we can do is elect leaders that align with our environmental views; and petition them to take action on issues that matter: adoption of more efficient energy production; elimination of combustion vehicles; improving public transportation and infrastructure; and holding corporations accountable for their impact/footprints.
BW: If you were to recommend your favorite book to us, what would it be and why?
CB: Read Shantaram (and its sequel, The Mountain Shadow.) It’s probably the greatest story a traveler could ever read.
Photo: Chris Brinlee Jr.