What kind of physical and mental grit does it take to endure extreme conditions and situations faced outdoors? Come sit on the edge-of-your-seat with us at an evening with authors Erik Bjarnason, Kate Harris, Jan Redford and Paul Suter as they reveal tales of their personal explorations on the boundaries of survival. Find out what it’s like to persevere in the face of a devastating mountaineering injury; explore the nature of limits on a bicycle expedition along the Silk Road; follow a young climber’s struggle to become whole by testing herself on mountains and life; and experience the battle of an athlete forced to reinvent himself after suffering a serious concussion.
Erik Bjarnason is a career firefighter with the North Vancouver City Fire Department, a long-time member of North Shore Rescue and an avid mountaineer. He has climbed mountains in Africa, Europe, Asia, North America and South America, completed a month-long dogsled trip in the Arctic to the magnetic North Pole and explored the entire length of the Amazon from the highest point in Bolivia to the Atlantic Ocean. Surviving Logan is his harrowing story of survival and recovery after being trapped on the second-highest peak in North America, Mount Logan in the Yukon Territory, during an extratropical cyclone.
Kate Harris has written for The Walrus, Canadian Geographic, and The Georgia Review, among other publications. A Rhodes scholar and Morehead-Cain scholar, she was named one of Canada's top modern-day explorers and has won several awards for her nonfiction writing. She lives off-grid in a log cabin in Atlin, British Columbia. Weaving adventure and deep reflection with the history of science and exploration, Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road explores the nature of limits and the wildness of a world that, like the self and like the stars, can never be fully mapped.
Jan Redford lives with her family in Squamish, B.C., where she mountain bikes, trail runs, climbs and skis. Her stories, articles and personal essays have been published in The Globe and Mail, National Post, Mountain Life, Explore and anthologies, and have won or been shortlisted in several writing contests. She is a graduate of The Writer's Studio at SFU and holds a master's in creative writing from UBC. Her recent release End of the Rope: Mountains, Marriage and Motherhood is a memoir about survival and courage.
Paul Suter is a long-time resident of Whistler, BC. An endurance athlete of international standing, his career was cut short by the crippling effects of multiple concussions. He went from competing in Ironman-distance triathlons to being unable to take his dog for a five-minute walk. His memoir, Flat Out in Pieces, published by Tidewater Press, is his first book.
Moderator
Leslie Anthony is a Whistler-based writer, editor, biologist and occasional filmmaker. A former editor at Powder, Bike and SKIER magazines, he currently oversees editorial for prestigious Mountain Life Annual and continues his residence on the masthead of numerous ski and outdoor publications. The author of two previously acclaimed titles, Snakebit and White Planet, his latest book is The Aliens Among Us: How invasive species are transforming the planet—and ourselves.