JESSE RUBENSTEIN
1) What kind of trips and destinations are your favorite experiences?
My favorite trips that have been my favorite experiences are the ones that really feel like a grand adventure. It doesn’t necessarily matter how hard the adventure is, but if it truly feels like breaking into new personal ground is when it feels like the trip becomes meaningful. Whether it is a new experience with a friend or a new experience for you they are all amazing. These experiences typically happen in the mountains for me. Where the place and the adventure makes it feel all the more grand.
2) Can you share a memorable adventure or travel experience that has had a significant impact on you?
I have had several significant experiences that have impacted the way I think about things. Probably the most significant would be the summer of 2023 when I attempted to do the route blue bell (21 pitch 5.13 on mt index) in a single day. On the 14th pitch, the second 5.13 pitch, my partner and I were unable to send the pitch due to fatigue and wetish conditions. I could write a list of excuses for why we didn’t stay up there and continue trying the pitch, but after 16 hrs on the wall, we didn’t want it bad enough. Although during the hike down this felt like a hard pill to swallow it has stuck with me since, and I have held a mindset at the beginning of each adventure of how bad I want it. What am I willing to put myself through to complete the objective, or not.
3) When you choose to collaborate with brands like Next Adventure, what qualities in a partnership make you feel authentic, true to yourself, and excited?
When collaborating with brands like Next Adventure I appreciate when I align with the business and the business supports me in my endeavors. I appreciate that Next Adventure is making getting into the outdoors accessible for anyone with the bargain basement and knowledgeable staff. Having worked on the sales floor at Next Adventure while I was in College I have gotten to see a lot of how Next Adventure operates and I feel like they really help out the customer, and now partnering with them I experience that even more!
4) What excites you most about partnering with Next Adventure?
I am excited most about writing about my adventures and sharing them on the Next Adventure page. Through providing me with gear I am able to go out and do all of these adventures that previously would have been way out of reach. Through allowing me to explore, I get to share more and hopefully reach and inspire more people in Portland to go forth and get after it!
5) Can you share a challenging moment from your travels, how you overcame it and how you view it now?
One of the more challenging moments I encountered was during my last trip to mexico. Upon arriving at El Salto we discovered there had been a massive wind storm the night before that had created a fire which knocked out the power to the town. This would not have been much of a deal, except for the fact that no one in our group spoke Spanish except myself, and I barely spoke enough to get by! We went around town asking people if they knew where the person lived who was managing where we were staying, as we did not have a key or any way of contacting this person. We finally found the person we were looking for and got into our accommodations. We spent the entire next week struggling with finding things we needed and acquiring things like blankets (because it was so cold!). It was an amazing way to practice my Spanish and now anytime I feel unmotivated to practice Spanish I think back to that week and keep on attempting to learn. Things would have been so much easier if one of us knew Spanish well! It never hurts to know another language.
6) What advice would you give to someone looking to start a travel/adventure platform (journey, lifestyle, career??)
My best advice is to follow exactly what you want. Don’t try to cater to what you think people will like, everyone knows that behind every platform is another person just figuring things out in the world. If you are living your life for other people then what is the point. I can’t say I am really attempting to start a career out of this, but it has been fun writing about my experiences and reliving what I get to do through sharing it with other people. Everyone’s life is interesting and we all want to see what people are traveling about in the world doing.
7) How do you see the future of travel influencing your content and collaborations?
I see creating more videos about the different places we end up and focusing more on the different styles of climbing that we get to partake in and who that attracts to these different places of the world. Hopefully I will get to collaborate with Next Adventure on somethings, and a few of my friends!
8) If you could only pack three items for an extended adventure, what would they be?
I would pack a head torch with unlimited battery life, I would pack my Patagoina Micro-Puffy, and I would pack my La Sportiva Approach shoes. Hopefully on this extended adventure I would be allowed other clothing, but at least with the micro-puff I have a super lightweight durable and warm layer to help me out. The head torch because duh, and approach shoes are good for anything!!!
9) What's a memorable thing you've ever eaten while traveling?
Honestly it wasn’t something I have eaten, but watching how much my girlfriend enjoyed these barbacoa tacos in Portreo Chico has to be one of my favorite meal experiences. I had a bite, but she ate 10 Tacos! We had just returned from a long day of climbing and she kept going back up to the counter saying “Pienso que necesito más tacos por que no me llenan” (meaning I think I need more tacos these are not filling). The people who owned the restaurant ended up feeling bad for us and gave us some fresh fish as well.
10) What's a wild encounter you've had while on an adventure?
When we did the Free Rider on El Capitan Last fall, we had encountered Alex Honneld on our second day on the wall (he was trying the free heart route). He was incredibly chatty and friendly, intent on giving us beta to the route we were trying. The best part was several days later right after Will and I had just sent the boulder problem pitch,Alex poked his out from around the corner asking who we were and upon finding out we were the group he saw several days earlier, he exclaimed “Oh you guys are still up here?!” which we found quite funny.
11) If you could teleport to any place in the world right now, where would you go and why?
Lucky for me I am kind of just pursuing climbing at the moment and am not working, which means I am where I want to be at the moment, no teleportation needed. On March 11, 2024 I happen to be in Indian Creek Utah chasing splitters :).
12) What's the hardest you've ever laughed while on an adventure?
The hardest I have ever laughed on an adventure was on my second to last day on the Freerider Will and I had just gotten back up to our camp on the block and were going to celebrate sending the boulder problem pitch by making tea. Will’s favorite thing in the world is tea and as a joke I faked dropping the tea and turned around to witness the most upset man I have ever seen. Upon revealing the undropped tea we both immediately cracked up joking that we were going to have to bail right now because we had no tea left to spare.
