Have you ever wanted to do something unique, different, captivating, and fun? Do you have a passion about something and want to step it up?
Jeremy Collins was able to experience these feelings as he recorded and drew all his experiences traveling across the world in his new book Drawn: The Art of Ascent.
Despite being told his adventures would end after marriage, kids, and 32 years of age, Collins had an idea: “to go in the four cardinal directions from home — West, East, South, North — to to climb something spectacular and fill my sketchbooks…I wanted to climb routes that no one had before and truly see what I could do.”
At first it was just an idea, but Collins would not ignore it and made it become reality.
“No matter how wretched and pointless, our ideas are the most true things about us,” Collins wrote. “This idea was to go places, see things, and climb things while making art.”
His journey started in the West, scaling Middle Cathedral Rock in Yosemite National Park, California. Next, he traveled east to Xinjiang, China where it is rumored that up north in the Keketuohai Valley, there are hundreds of unclimbed peaks. Then he headed south to Venezuela, where he decided to climb up the Acopan Tepui, but the climb was halted due to one of the climbers with Collins getting injured. Collins then headed north to Canada to climb the Phoenix Wall. Collins finally returned to Venezuela, where he was determined to finally climb his last summit which he failed at previously.
Throughout the book, Collins brings the reader along with his words and drawings. He wrote the book in a very special and interesting way. He includes his own handwriting and sketches along with the text to make the book look like his personal journal. He describes, writes, and draws about his thoughts throughout every second of his climbing experience. He captivates the reader, making it feel as if you were with him every step of the way.
Lastly, this book is inspiring and heart warming. Imagine a 32-year-old man traveling the entire world. He left his wife and child, faced the dangers that all mountain climbers typically face, traveled the unknown, and followed a different path. He even traveled while bearing the burden of the news of the death of his friend Copp before his journey around the world. Copp was the first person to hear of his dream. Collins even decided to bring Copp’s ashes and distribute them to every summit climb he reached.
This book is definitely a book you should sit down, relax, and open, in order to immerse yourself into the world of Collins’ mountain high adventure.