Stay tuned after the episode for an update on the Boundary Waters in our recent and then what.

Hey everyone, so I'm really jet lagged right now.

I just got back from two weeks in Japan, which, based upon the line of ski bags in the airport,

I am not alone in that endeavor. It has been kind of a rugged ski season here in the Western United States.

I know you've been getting it to England, but we have not over here.

But this trip was planned kind of a while ago.

Nine months ago, I got a text from my friend Brian Cole.

He's been on the show in the past.

We've bike packed together.

Brian is an instigator. If you plucked him out of Malcolm Gladwell's, the tipping point, he's been on the show in the past we've bike packed together Brian is an instigator

if you plucked him out of Malcolm Gladwell's

the tipping point he would be a prototypical connector

he is the person who has many friends

from distinct social circles from different walks of life

when you travel with him he's never afraid to start up a conversation

or ask a question it is like it is a It's rad. And Brian's text was simple. Want to go to Japan with me?

And I mean, the answer was, yeah, of course. Then he forwarded me a note from our friend Nick

Wagoner, an incredible filmmaker turned ski guide, whose passion for skiing has guided

his life from the youngest ages in wild and incredible ways, which have always inspired me.

In Nick's text, it read, like, it read like a ransom note out of a kidnapping or a

heist movie. It spelled out the conditions of going on the trip, and I loved it.

It read something like this. Meet at this name-redacted airport on the day of January 20th.

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