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Every year the Elemental Awareness crew heads out to the Sonoran desert to spend a week at Winter Count primitive skills gathering. Winter Count is one of the largest gatherings of wilderness guides, outdoor enthusiasts and primitive living practitioners, and here the crew learns valuable skills to take back and teach at their wilderness program at Element Skate Camp. 

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Dylan’s first board.

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Barry McGee goodness in SF

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SOTY Vans squad in SF. December 2015

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NYC January 2016

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Stoked to head home with new skills and finished projects. #wintercount #elementalawareness #primitiveskills

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Home sweet home

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Top of Half Dome a couple summers back

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My first garden! Can you dig it? 

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This is Jun (AKA Peta). He is an incredibly talented human and photographer. 

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Winter Count is a primitive skills gathering that comes together annualy just outside of Phoenix, AZ. This year I was invited to join the Elemental Awareness crew to head to the Sonoran desert to disconnect from technology and reconnect with our roots. This gathering is full of outdoor enthusiasts, primitive teachers, and folks who still live and breathe the indigenous lifestyle. 

Elemental Awareness Wilderness Program was created by my close friend and roommate Todd Larson and his best friend, Mike Kershnar. They were introduced to Winter Count through Tracker school and have now been attending for over ten years. They take these skills learned at Winter Count and bring them to Element Skate Camp to teach friends and campers the necessities needed to survive in the wild. 

Elemental Awareness's vision is to connect kids to nature through skateboarding. During the week at WC the boys set up a skate demo, hand out boards and shirts, and teach kids how to skateboard. It's pretty neat to see the looks on the kids faces after being gifted their first skateboard. 

Attending Winter Count was one of the best experiences of my life. I learned a handful of new crafts and met so many beautiful people. Truly humbling and it left me hungry for more. I have so much gratitude for the Elemental Awareness crew. What an eye opening, knee slapping, good vibe, fun experience! 

35mm photos

Made By Madelyn

Eric's Essential Oils

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Winter Count projects! It's pretty incredible to see the amount of talent there is at WC. There are so many classes that are offered, heres just a few- hide tanning, basket weaving, primitive pottery, bead work, soap making, fire by friction... There are also a lot of fun events like the trade blanket and mask night. Here's a handful of projects I worked on while I was out there. My dear friend Madelyn taught sandal making for the first time at WC. It was quite the hit, people loved her sandals. Interested in a pair? Check her website-

http://www.peaknsea.com

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We packed up Todd's Westy and headed out to Ojai. Hiking, camping surfing, homies.. it really doesn't get any better. This weekend was all time!