Moab, turkey, and parachutes

Photos: Will Viktora

For many Thanksgiving is reminiscent of gathering with family, over eating and watching college football. For several members of Team ILL Vision a unique tradition has taken shape in recent years. Due to the great distances that separate us from our families, a new destination has quickly become the norm – Moab, Utah. With an amazing landscape decorated with red cliffs not governed by the National Park System, this place has a reputation for being a BASE jumper’s paradise.

As were preparing for our annual pilgrimage to the desert last Thanksgiving, I received a call from long-time friend, Seth Warren. For the past few years Seth has been working on a project called "Oil & Water" and his on-going mission has been to educate the world about renewable energy sources and ultimately reduce society’s reliance on petroleum. He's driven from Alaska to the tip of South America in a 1987 Japanese fire truck powered by vegetable oil sharing his message with countless school groups and politicians. The underlying theme of this leg focused on the value and importance of water in the natural environment, which foreshadowed the "Nature Propelled" theme of their next big trip, now well underway.

This second phase of the journey shifted focus from the rivers to the sky where "air" took center stage. After a week of filming with hang glider pilots near the Grand Canyon, Seth was looking for a finale to this segment before moving on to the next. At this point fellow Team ILL Vision member, Damien Dykman, Frenchman Arnaud C., and myself joined the party. What followed were 3 entertaining days of bouncing down the back roads of Moab in the fire truck and BASE jumping from many of the area’s most classic cliffs.

A second movie including this and other airborne, palm-sweating footage is in the works and is scheduled to debut in early 2010. The “Nature Propelled” film documents Seth’s journey, the people he encountered, the relationship these sports have with the overall health of the earth, and the responsibility we all share as inhabitants of a fragile natural environment.

For all you of on Facebook you can check out the trailer of their upcoming film here at Elements Tour.