**Neil Moore**

Ditch work, live cheap, eat ramen, and rack up as many “momentary highs” as possible

My name is Neil. I am very weird.

I grew up in the most populated state in the US encased by one of its busiest cities. Now I live in the least populated state. I have an earring in my left ear and regularly wear a belt buckle too. I feel just as comfortable at a big rap concert as I do alone in the wilderness for five days. I guide wildlife tours for photography but regularly hunt the same animals as well. I’ll go a day eating almost nothing in the mountains to gorging 3000 calories on the couch the next. I drive a Subaru Forester and, while it shows the normal scuff marks from climbing gear and bikes, it has blood stains from animals I packed out (Subaru - “the ultimate hunting rig”).

Throw on Kendrick Lamar and I’m singing along to every word. Switch to Taylor Swift or Tyler Childers and I’m doing the exact same. I will run many outdoor adventures on less than four hours of sleep but with no alarm I may sleep ten. I sit for hours each day driving around National Parks but left alone I can barely sit still 30 minutes. Friends describe me as a “puppy that can walk itself”.

I love to catch rattlesnakes. I collect antlers. I spent my Covid unemployment era jumping out of airplanes. The list goes on.

See my point? I’m f*%king weird.

Well this weirdo is about to blog and document all of 2022. Why? Every year I make a list of summer climbing goals and winter skiing goals. I put them on a whiteboard along with smaller challenges and aspirations as well.

I have the greatest job on earth guiding wildlife tours. But the time I can get off in a season isn’t enough to fulfill my outdoor dreams. I am taking off the next summer season to complete as many goals as possible. It will be the craziest, adventure-filled year of my life. It sounded rad to document it.

Honestly probably no one will read this and that’s fine. It will be a success even if it’s just something I look back on when I’m 80 years old and laugh. Here’s the problem - I suck at writing. This could really fall apart fast. But I love photography and editing video. So I’ll intersperse those media forms to cover my useless rambling.

Expect weekly entries of stories and photos plus a monthly video. That’s the idea anyways. Who knows - by February I may just free-ball it and see what happens.

Will this content be entertaining?

F*ck if I know

I’m just a random 26-year-old living in Wyoming. To offer a glimpse at what this year may hold I’ll list below some of my recent local outdoor accomplishments as well as a list of my goals for this year.

I write these not to boast or stroke my ego. I hope they offer a better explanation of me and what I am into. Think of it as a portfolio similar to an art student showcasing his or her greatest pieces.

That being said - I am proud of these moments and yeah I have an ego. Who doesn’t? It would be naive to say I don’t. But I promise I’m not listing these to show off. Hell, I don’t really expect anyone but my close friends and family to read this. Pretty sure they know me already.

Recent Accomplishments

Grand Teton (summer ascent)
- 4 hrs 6 min up; 6 hrs 45 min roundtrip
- Followed right after by running up Sleeping Indian
Moranic Triathlon : 11 hrs 46 min
Solo Grand Teton Ski
Grand Traverse : 19 hrs 30 min
Harvested black bear and skied Middle Teton in a day
Cirque Traverse in a day
And basically everything I’ve done with Tanner Wenzel
- You’ll meet this kid later. I’ve shared more momentary highs with him than anyone else. He’s my main outdoor partner. Every adventure with him is a memorable one.

2022 Goals

Honestly the biggest goals are to

1. have a stupid amount of fun

2. not get injured

3. eat as much Nutella as possible

But for concrete outdoor feats here is a list of what I hope to accomplish this year

Winter

Ski Gannet Peak

Ski Mt. Ranier

Ski 3 “classic 50s” in a day

Spring

Harvest black bear

Climb and ski Denali

Climb El Cap and Half Dome

Summer

Freedive 40 meters deep

Teton Tri Traverse (I’ll explain later)

Winds Picnic

Cirque Traverse TH to TH

. Free Solo Full Exum Route - Grand Teton

Fall

Harvest Alaska moose (pack for several others)

Harvest elk and deer (more importantly help friends harvest their own)

Finish Yosemite goals

All of this will hopefully be interspersed with smaller adventures of climbing, mountain biking, skydiving, shed hunting, and just anything that keeps the stoke high!

What is a “momentary high”

Momentary highs are what I chase. It’s a concept more than a tangible object. It’s a way of describing a moment - one so filled with emotions that the thoughts and words that come out are involuntary.

Look, I grew up in San Francisco. I’ve been around plenty of drugs. But anyone addicted to the outdoors knows the best drugs imaginable are endorphins. And our bodies create it. That’s pretty badass.

I chase moments so filled with endorphins that I can’t control the flood of emotions that result. Oftentimes I cry. These moments are special because they regularly require hours or days of brutal effort yet the final moment is fleeting. It’s worth it though.

Watch from 4:56 - 7:25 and you’ll see one of my greatest momentary highs. I harvested this bear, turned on the camera, and basically blacked out. What came out of my mouth and body was involuntary and real.

These are the highest highs our bipedal, ape-like species can experience. I want it all the time and that’s what 2022 is about - create as many momentary highs as possible.

The best way to describe a momentary high is this: imagine you could rate all of life’s experiences on a scale of 1-10. 1 would be the most painful experience, 10 the most incredible.

The average person lives his or her life between a 4 and a 7. Going to the grocery store and finding the only available parking in the spot farthest from the door would be a 4-5. Discovering your favorite gluten-free, vegan, cardboard-tasting cookies are currently on their biggest sale would be a 6-7. A life lived between a 4 and a 7 is boring. I chase the 8-10 experiences.

Here’s the catch - entering the realm of 8-10 usually requires pushing into the 1-3 range. You have to earn the momentary highs. Life isn’t easy. The greatest experiences often require some suffering. Push yourself into the 1-3 range and you may be rewarded with 8-10 moments.

Here’s an example: one of the greatest momentary highs I’ve had in Jackson WY was solo skiing the Grand Teton. I was speechless standing on the summit at 13,775ft as the sun rose and alpenglow bathed every inch of my body. But to get there required seven hours of skinning and ice climbing in single digit temperatures with a sub-zero wind chill. All while under the light of my headlamp. My nose and fingers froze numb. While I was starving the thought of taking off my gloves to find my Nutella-filled tortillas scared me. Not to mention I spent two hours shivering myself asleep on the summit waiting for first light.

Sure it was fun but that’s because I am weird and enjoy that. But I’d be lying if I said it didn’t also suck.

Below is a montage of videos from some of my personal momentary highs. The first is a short highlight reel. The others are Youtube videos I’ve created to document my favorite memories.

Here’s the thing - everyone has a different scale. For example, I love public speaking. Being in front of a massive crowd is fun for me. Thus I would rate a speech in front of 100s of people a 5 on my scale. Others find it terrifying. The stomach butterflies and nerves from public speaking may cause some people to rate it a 3. If they end up slaying the speech, however, the moment they finish and everyone claps could feel so intense and joyful they rate it a 9. They put themselves in an uncomfortable zone and are rewarded with a momentary high after. That’s pretty rockstar.

I like to think I give good advice but maybe it’s terrible. If I could offer one piece of advice, however, it would be to chase the uncomfortable moments of life. It will push you and help you grow. And it may reward you with momentary highs you’ll never forget.

Ok that was a flowery way to trick you into thinking my 2022 adventures have meaning. To be honest, it’s just a year to chase what I love, share stoke with friends, be a stupid millennial that doesn’t want to work, and send it.

I love climbing, mountain biking, free diving, hunting, and skiing. I want to see how much I can do in one year. I also really love my friends. My outdoor partners are everything to me. We’ve shared the best and worst moments together. I want to spend as much time with them as possible this year. Momentary highs are dope. Momentary highs shared with friends are life-changing.

Friends are what make these moments special. I love you guys. My life is amazing because you are in it.

With that introduction I’ll let the forthcoming entries tell the story. Locate the “blog” tab on the top left and follow along.

I hope you enjoy. If you don’t - awesome. Stop reading. If you do - please share this page, comment, or give feedback. Screw it, make fun of me if you want. I always love the LOLs. People take life too seriously.

Follow on Instagram @neilrmoore, slip into my DMs if you please, or email me at neilmoore406@gmail.com (shoutout Montana area code!)

Neil Moore