Read time: 2 minutes
The dance, when everything is aligned amongst intense chaos, everything makes sense; gracefulness and chaos are in sequence; faster, faster, faster; everything calms, smooths out... you’ve crossed the line of discomfort and chaos into perfection.
It’s cold - ice cold. I’ve crossed the sparse wide-open part of Utah and I’m approaching Moab. I’m in it now; the adventure has really started and my senses are coming to life.
The sky is clear blue, the sun is setting, and the highway is starting to descend into the canyon between red rock walls. The noise of the outside world disappears while I’m charging. At full speed from the best seat on earth, I take in the wild beauty. I’m in it! My senses are on fire. I’m exactly where I should be. I’m present, at perfect peacefulness at full speed surrounded by magnificence. The sun says goodnight over the horizon and I smile with the thought of flying tomorrow. I’ll be in Durango soon!
“Best thing I can do is go... experience life and live my dream”
“Every experience becomes a part of me. It fuels my creativity, it’s in what I design”
“I’m up before the sun rises... excited to fly!”
Ready to get uncomfortable
Excitement, adventure, and getting uncomfortable come hand in hand; I’m drawn to them and run towards them. I love and need the feeling they give me; I want to conjure shit I can’t live without.
An adventure in the air is what’s led me to Durango. Few places in the world have such extreme mountain peaks. It’s a playground in the sky. If I’m going to fly, I’m going to do it where the wildest and most intense flying can be done. This is what I hunger for; my restless spirit needs to be flipped upside down. I’m ready to get uncomfortable. I’m drawn to what scares me. I respect it. Confronting the intense discomfort makes me feel alive, my creativity is fueled, my love for life is at its highest. Embracing vulnerability and being reminded of my insignificance is humbling and empowering. It reminds me that I’m not really in control at all; I’m just in this life for the ride- and it can be one hell of a ride when I embrace it, give into it, dive all the way in, and fully participate.
Embracing vulnerability and being reminded of my insignificance is humbling and empowering
Dancing with the sky
Let’s fly! Let’s get uncomfortable. We lift off. Within minutes we are over an alpine lake, nose down, and we are charging on towards the mountains. The helicopter ascends in increments, like running up steep stairs, and then the nose drops and we’re charging forward. Extreme height, speed, and beauty... flying through the mountain peaks in a chopper, relinquishing all control. My illusion of control is tossed out the window; I’m unquestionably not in control. Looking left, right, down, up, forward, everywhere... wow, trying to take it all in. I’m in love. There is a familiar feeling like I’m on my bike. We’re dancing with the sky; calm and chaos are in sequence, speed is your friend, reading the horizon and giving up your actions to intuition; becoming in-sync. We’re dancing and nature has the lead. It’s f*ing magnificence.
— The Ferrari of helicopters: the Hughes 369HS, better known as the MD500c helicopter
The softness of the sky colliding with the jagged rock shapes could almost silence the intense sound of the helicopter
The Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar “Rodeo Drive” features a blue dial…
… and a ceramic / titanium case
Oh that blue!
The colors... Blue, oh that blue, it’s as if it got brighter as we climbed and it became more vibrant. It contrasted the white snow-capped mountain tops that were even brighter! The softness of the sky colliding with the jagged rock shapes could almost silence the intense sound of the helicopter. We landed on a small clearing atop a twelve-thousand-foot peak and took a moment to really soak in the magnificence surrounding us.
We’re off again. We lifted upward into the sky when Brandon asked: “You wanna fly?”... I quickly responded ‘f* yes!’ and gently took hold of the hand controls and pedals that had been sitting untouched since we first took off. My full attention was on Brandon to drop some very precise instructions while trying to reflect on everything I’d watched him do for the last few hours. But all he said was: “Do you feel that?” I smile as I realize that I felt everything... and there was a wild familiarity to handing over my thoughts to my intuition; being in sync with the controls; letting go of thought and just feeling- this is how I ride my bike! At that moment nothing could wipe the smile from my face. I was flying, I’m dancing!!!
“Sometimes you have to say goodbye to the things you know and hello to the things you don’t”
“The West, where a man can look farther and see less of anything but land and sky”
Josh Sirlin flying through the needles that tower over 14,000 ft. and back down la Plata canyon
“We are meant to explore this earth like children do, propelled by a sense of discovery,” says the creative director of Black Bear Brand
Josh Sirlin’s loyal companion: the IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar “Rodeo Drive” Ref. IW503001
All images by @sirlinenterprises
Black Bear Brand - music by: The Last Knife Fighter
Find out more about the Black Bear Brand here.
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