Photo: Scott MacKenzie

In my recent road trippin’ post, I left off en route to Santa Barbara. I spent a little more than six years of my life living in Santa Barbara and every time I have returned since leaving there in early summer 2007, I wrestle with the gravity of my decision to go. Nestled between the mountains and the sea, Santa Barbara is often called the “California Riviera.”

Fortunately enough, not all my ties to this place have been severed, and I am lucky enough to call on great friends who are still there whenever I am passing through. This time around they had wonderful things in store for us once we arrived.

Santa Barbara is host to an International Film Festival, and luckily for us we were passing through in the middle of it. Of even greater serendipity, however, was that our first night also happened to be the global premier of a new film by my favorite surf filmmaker, Chris Malloy. The film, 180° SOUTH: Conquerors of the Useless, retraces the 1968 journey of Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins, the respective founders of Patagonia and the North Face Clothing Company, to a remote climb in southern Patagonia. The adventure changes the lives of the two men forever, and plants the seedlings for what would later become one of the greatest conservation efforts in South America. Chris Malloy uses Chouinard and Tompkin’s experience as a springboard for a present day journey to the same destination, and to convey the power of discovery, adventure, and ultimately conservation and the impact we have on the special places of the world.

Watch a clip of the film below:

My own time in Patagonia changed my life, and watching this film brought back the importance of the lessons I learned there. I highly recommend you see this film, if you get the chance.