Today’s guest, adventurer and photographer Oscar Manguy of Finland, epitomizes the philosophy of ‘fast and light’, he’s as comfortable sleeping in a hammock under a tarp as he is in a King sized bed…in fact probably more so.He’s been running expeditions into the wilderness, from the Arctic to Baja, since he was 16 years old….and lives with his wife in in eastern Finland, In a Cabin on a lake, off the grid, no electricity or running water, compost toilets, their drinking water comes from springs or from the lake….As a professional wildlife and wilderness photographer and cameraman, his Cadillac is his kayak…. A casual gander at Oscar’s Instagram will reveal photos of terrifyingly massive bears fighting, a transcendent moonrise over serene waters….towering glaciers, adorable penguin chicks, smiling faces, lots of smiling faces, & kayaks and mesmerizing images of figures standing before the Aurora BorealisI  wondered, how a professional photographer can capture such perfection when working out of a skinny kayak….well, he’s fast and light….HERE’S MY CONVERSATION WITH OSCAR MANGUY OF FINLAND FROM HIS CABIN ON A LAKE….AND, YOU MIGHT wonder how he gets a telephone or wifi signal out there? The entire country of Finland has 4G….it’s everywhere, even out in the wilderness….Oscar, despite all the comforts of being able to do an Instagram post from a remote island in the middle of nowhere,  KNOWS how to get things done under THE MOST austere conditions….You’ll want to take note about how he lightens the load, especially his toothpaste trick for long journeys….

Nothing really exemplifies life on the road and all the images that come along with it like a touring musician. It’s not all Leer jets and posh hotels, sold out auditoriums. Plain facts is that the music you hear pouring out of small bars and music houses, cafes come from people like you and me, passionate, driven, inspired….committed. They drive 8 hours from gig to gig, sleep in modest hotels - if they’re lucky. They set up their own drum kits and amplifiers, collect their cash after the gigs, get up the next morning and do it all over again. Here's a bonafide troubadour. Seth Walker, touring since the mid 90’s, Seth is an American blues, guitarist singer songwriter….author, poet, painter…..has followed the song of his soul. He has 10 albums, wrote his own book during covid called YOUR VAN IS ON FIRE...poetry, art, anecdotes from life - he grew up on a commune - and on the road, like playing with Alain Toussaint, Willie Nelson...he’s chased the vibe his whole life, lived in New Orleans, Austin, Nashville...he wanted to eat, sleep, drink and breathe every single note he could possibly hear until it flowed through him, like osmosis.You know that kind of musician when you hear one.I caught up with Seth from his hotel room in Chicago. By now he’s probably half way to Minnesota where his next gig is.Seth is more than the sum of his parts. His music is soulful, bright…., sometimes dense, ’’that’s his word...like his song Inside, written during a trip to Cuba right after Fidel Castro died.----LINKSFor more on Seth and to find his book and music, visit:https://sethwalker.com/Seth Walker music featured in this episode:TroubleSpirits MovingInsideHard RoadWe Got ThisVisit Topdrawer at:https://topdrawershop.com/

I met today’s guest, John Branch,  in 2017. He emailed me asking to interview me about something I witnessed on Mount Everest the previous year. John Branch wanted to hear my story about having crossed paths with three men who lost their lives close to the summit of the mountain. I encountered each one of them in their last moments of life. One can imagine how helpless I felt in knowing there was nothing I could do to save them. The upper reaches of Everest is an area known as The Death Zone - where no human can survive for more than a day or two. The Death Zone can suck the life and energy out of even the world’s strongest and most capable athletes. The frozen bodies at Camp 4, at 26,000 feet or 8,000 meters, is proof of that. John is a sports writer for the New York Times. Not just any kind of sports writer. He writes about off the beaten track sports, like mountaineering, climbing, skiing….and offbeat sports like wingsuit flying, bowling, even Rubik’s Cube competitions.John says he’s more interested in the human side of the story than the scoreboard. And, it turns out I knew about John and his work before ever actually spoke on the telephone. Having survived a near deadly avalanche in my home state of New Hampshire, I was riveted by his story called ‘Snow Fall”, about skiers killed in an avalanche in Washington State. The story won John a Pulitzer Prize.He’s a master at his craft, the best-selling author of Boy On Ice and The Last Cowboys. And he just released a book featuring 20 of his favorite stories from over 2,000 he’s written for the NY Times, called Sidecountry: Tales of Death and Life From the Back Roads of Sports. The article he interviewed me for, called Deliverance from 27,000 Feet, is in his new book. It brings up so much emotion for me personally that I can’t say I’ll ever read it again. I caught up with John in August of 2021 from his home near San Francisco. He’d just returned from Tokyo, where he was reporting on the Tokyo Olympics. As I said John is no ordinary sports writer. His take on the Olympics and what he experienced there is, well, what makes John Branch so….John Branch. Here’s my conversation with John:

In 2019 I had the pleasure of travelling to Australia to do two Everest presentations for the Australia New Zealand chapter of The Explorers Club…one in Melbourne, the other in Sydney. During my presentation in Sydney I noticed a lovely woman seated near the front.  Afterwords a friend whispered in my ear “do you know who that woman is?’ I obviously didn’t.  He said “that’s Valerie Taylor, she and her late husband Ron worked with Steven Spielberg in the filming of Jaws….world renowned for their underwater photography of sharks”  I was beyond intrigued, then someone introduced themself to me…  When I picked my head up to find Valerie Taylor, she’d already departed. Very recently I became aware that Valerie Taylor is the subject of a film called PLAYING WITH SHARKS, The Valerie Taylor Story, -  a National geographic documentary that you can find on Disney+. I actually got Disney+ just so I could see the film.  It’s amazing, tells the story of her life and her late husband Ron’s as pioneers of underwater photography and filmmaking and their conservation efforts to protect sharks and marine areas…. They were the first ever to film a great white shark underwater...out of a cage, no less. Valerie was the first to ever hand feed a shark….seriously. The 1971 film BLUE WATER WHITE DEATH, features the Taylors and two other divers entering the water with hundreds of white tip sharks, known as the most deadly shark...the sharks were feeding on a dead whale, and the underwater crew entered the water unsure if they’d survive the encounter.  That footage is a magnificent scene in the new film about Valerie….A couple of years later they were hired by Steven Spielberg to film underwater footage for Jaws, which would go on to become the biggest selling film of all time. One day during filming almost turned  tragic when a great white shark became entangled in the wires of an underwater cage...the diver escaped just before the cage was ripped from the boat….All the while Ron filmed this underwater, and Valerie from the boat….the footage was so dramatic and terrifying, that Spielberg literally re-wrote a scene in the movie to incorporate the footage, and instead of the character Hooper dying, like he did in the book, Hooper played by Richard Driefus survives..all because of the work of the Taylors. The Taylors were beyond dismayed at the fear of sharks that grew from the movie, as sharks were hunted and killed by millions, misunderstood and maligned. Valerie and Ron filmed for dozens of documentaries and films, and Valerie wrote her memoir, called Valerie Taylor: An Adventurous Life: The remarkable story of the trailblazing ocean conservationist, photographer and shark expert I interviewed the one and only Valerie Taylor from her home in Sydney Australia last week, and wanted to hear some of her remarkable stories and her cautionary tale about the state of our oceans today…..let me just add this caveat, the beginning of her interview is not an easy listen for conservation and environment minded individuals….90% of the world’s sharks are believed to have been killed, hundereds of millions killed for shark fin soup, still a desirable dish in China…..the ocean certainly is not what it was when Valerie and Ron Taylor, once world champion spear fishing hunters, first dived in the water back in the 1950’s. Ron passed in 2012….Valerie never stopped campaigning to save the sharks…..

Hey this is Thom Pollard. I’m the host of a new podcast called  TOOLS FOR NOMADSIt’s brought to you by TopdrawerAs a person who’s travelled the world in search of adventure, literally from the summit of Mount Everest to the mysterious moai statues of Easter Island, I’ve learned that there are some things I CAN’T be without, and I know -- well, sometimes -- what helps me stay creative when I’m on the move.In Tools For Nomads I’ll introduce you to INSANELY productive and creative people, how they work, what are the go-to things they can't do without, how do they stay passionate AND grounded so that they can do their best no matter where they are. Musicians, designers, artists, architects, writers, chefs...sommelier….photographers, filmmakers….environmentalists, adventurers….humanitarian aid workers….I’m an insanely curious person and I love it when people get excited about the things that make them tick, their motivations, aspirations, their dreams and desires, the things  THEY WANT TO BRING to the world THROUGH their work...and how they continue to create the things they create, at home or on the road.Like touring musician Seth Walker….we’re listening to his song Hard Road right now:Seth Walker: 1:39SETH: I grew up in a commune around a lot of different people. I was very influenced, you know, and I moved to a lot of different places through my life, a lot of different lived in, you know, a bunch of different music cities. So you want to be open, you know, so you can sponge influence, but you also don't want to be pulled around by your nose at the same time. You have to find where your center is and not be so worried and influenced by outside, by the outside world. It's a tough balance. MUSIC - It ain't a stroll down easy street...Thom Pollard: 2:18We'll be premiering Tools For Nomads soon. Make sure you click the SUBSCRIBE button so you'll know when our first episodes go live. You don't want to miss it. Tools For Nomads. See you soonFor more about Seth Walker, visit https://sethwalker.com/Visit Topdrawer at https://topdrawershop.com/