On the weekend of August 10th-12th 2018 I had some of the most inspiring days of my life. In the beginning of the summer I had been invited to be a diversity panellist at a MEC Outdoor Nation Summit. MEC Outdoor Nation describe themselves as “about making young Canadians feel welcome outside.” The summit was about helping young Canadians inspire others and build ideas they may have that help get young Canadians outside. The Vancouver Summit had 70 participants. I wasn’t sure what I would be doing, but I knew it would be a great opportunity and I was excited to do something with such an amazing company like MEC. As the date grew closer I received some key questions I would be answering in front of an audience. The questions were the theme of the weekend and they drove many discussions throughout it. The questions were What do you love about the outdoors? Who is missing from the activities you love? and How are you going to be a part of creating change? Answering the questions ahead of time I was becoming nervous but also more and more excited. I would be going to the Summit with my mother and we drove down to the Loon Lake Lodge and Retreat Centre in Maple Ridge BC. Arriving at the beautiful location at around 6pm we were earlier than most of the guests. I met a MEC staff member, Sonia who was a part of the team who deals with MEC Expedition Support, that I had received for my Mt. Logan trip. After my expedition, I had corresponded with Sonia about photos, blogs and more opportunities, such as the Summit. It was really cool to put a name to the face and see a bit of how MEC is on the inside. I also met Amil who was the event coordinator and did such an incredible job. Getting settled into our room I was presently surprised by the rad bag of stuff we got when we arrived. It included some Smartwool socks, a baseball cap, a mug, a carabiner and an informative paper about the First Nation’s land we were on. After about an hour the participants of the event arrived. Everyone made their way to the “basecamp” of the weekend. People were signing in and mingling. Once everyone was checked in and had a name tag it was dinner time. The pizza was incredible and made me excited for the rest of the meals. Sitting with three young women, my mom and I learned of some awesome programs and dreams. One of the ladies and immigrated to Canada less than three months prior, another had also recently moved to Vancouver from Banff, but she was an Aussie. These two women had met in a free program that gives women resources and helps them find employment and grow personally. The appreciation the women had talking about it showed me it was wonderful, but I cannot remember the name of it. Both having experienced moving to Vancouver, they were hoping to help make the outdoors more accessible to new women in the area. The other woman who was at the table was advocating for people with various physical abilities in the outdoors, and how they are not represented in advertising. Hearing these stories and hopes excited me so much. I also found it inspiring how these women didn’t have much experience in the backcountry or the outdoors, but were still so eager to help others experience it. One of the woman’s partners works in Squamish at a plant that takes CO2 out of the air and turns it back into petrol, that job sounds so cool! Later that night I talked to the co-founder, Julian of an organisation that is partners with MEC Outdoor Nation called Chasing Sunrise. I had seen their content on social media, wasn’t sure what they were about, but was curious. He told CS is a way to get people together doing rad things. They go on hikes, drive to Mexico to eat tacos and were planning a trip to Everest basecamp. All of those things are awesome, so I hoped to learn more about CS. The next morning was the start of the workshops. I was put in the ambassador stream, which was for individuals who want to inspire others to get outside. The first presenter was a women who went solo-treking in Nepal for 3 months. Her story was really interesting and hearing how much she grew inspired me. Here is what I took away from listening to her. To have a social purpose means you know what drives you, the fire that you have (what do you burn for?), your why story (why you do what you do). You should also address social/environmental needs and have a plan for short and long term as well as the end goal. With this you also need to know how to be sustainable and how to measure success. To start, you need to define your purpose, why do you do what you do? What do you have now that is yours alone? These points and questions she raised were very thought provoking and I think that they can be of use to anyone who hopes to have a social impact on today’s world. After this presentation, the first MEC Outdoor Nation Ambassador, Judith Kasiama, talked. She talked about how she saw a gap in the outdoor industry and did something about it. Her call to action could be applied to whatever we are passionate about. Something that Amil said during this morning really stuck with me. That the word empower should be replaced with enable. Empower means that someone has power, that they can give to others, but who are they to give it or have it? Enable means help those draw strength out of themselves, and I am so glad this was pointed out. The next talk was about how to take better photos, the presenter went over multiple types of photos and then we all went outside to try improving our photography skills. I was sad I hadn’t brought my camera with me that morning, but I did my best with my phone. Some great photos were taken by many people, and after this we joined up with the rest of the people who were in the innovator stream for the weekend. We did a workshop on diversity that was sobering, but important. It showed us all that the first way in which we categorise people is with colour, even if we do it unconsciously. Amil had done this activity with many, many groups of people, and everyone did the same thing, it really brings out a horrible reality of our world. Then we heard stories from people with various cultural backgrounds and people of the LGBTQ2+ community, some of which was really heartbreaking. After eating lunch we broke up again into the two streams and I heard from a social influencer and then we started to fill out a model of how we wanted to present our goals and ourselves. This wasn’t super applicable to me, since I wasn’t really aiming to be an ambassador, but I could fill most of it out. Next was free time and I lay down and went over my responses to the questions I would be answering in front of everyone. I was becoming pretty nervous. Over dinner I learned of some more really cool programs people we promoting and adventures they had had. Some of the local First Nations came, sang and talked to us all for a while. After this was the mini film festival. The gym we had had some workshops in was set up very cute, with sleeping bags and camping chairs in the front. There was a really cool photo booth type thing set up. It was a backdrop with someone taking Polaroid photos.
That evening three MEC short films were shown. One was focused on biking, one kayaking and one hiking. Once the films were over, the diversity panel was called up, that included me. One of the films had been about one of the other ladies on the panel. Judith Kasiama and an advocate for the physically challenged were also there. I heard the others stories before speaking and they were all super inspiring. When it came my turn to speak I was so scared, I could see my heart pounding moving my shirt. I talked about my Logan expedition and MEC’s role in it. I also talked about what I love in general about the mountains, which is mainly the simplicity of it.
Becoming more confident as I talked, I still said um and like way, way too many times. My mom videoed about five minutes of it, and I cringed as I watched it later. I answered questions and then the mike was passed back around the panellists and we all talked more and answered the remaining two big questions.
Talking to people that night was really cool, I felt people could be open and themselves, even understood, and I was so happy to be there.
I danced a lot that night, probably the most I’ve danced in a night. People were being so carefree, it was amazing to see and be a part of. And wow, lots of them could dance so well. That night I had some conversations that reminded me why I like to be around adventurous people. Hearing about how people can make their life whatever they want it to be, makes me want to dream.
We danced until midnight and then a bunch of us went swimming in the lake. It made me feel so alive. The next morning, about half of the group woke up early and went on a walk down the side of the beautiful lake. Once we arrived to our destination, Julian from CS tried to convince us all to go swimming by saying, would your 80 year old self want you to do it. It made me get in the water and I have thought about what was said since, to remind myself to live in the moment. The lake that morning was gorgeous, and I’m glad I went in. I met some more people on that walk and was again blown away by how open mountain lovers can be with each other, and how easy it can be to connect with people you have just met. After breakfast, we got a sneak peak of a new snowboarding movie called The Radicals. The film was more than just a sports movie, it address the need for social action, specifically about First Nations communities and their land. It is so incredible and inspiring to see athletes making positive changes. That morning we also heard about the projects of the finalists who would be receiving help from MEC and the finalists for the ambassador role, they were all. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to have been around those human beings who were so full of and psyched on life. Leaving, I was sad to say goodbye to such amazing people, but I was so inspired, the only trick is to keep that flame blazing all year round.