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 Athlete to Athlete Interview
 Mark Synnott with Kasha Rigby The North Face athlete Mark Synnott uses his unique perspective to get to know the rest of our athlete team - who they are, what inspires them, and what lies ahead. Kasha Rigby leads a life that many of us can't help but envy. She has no permanent address or real job, because essentially, she is always traipsing around from one adventure to another. She spent nearly half of last year travelling in Asia and when I recently caught her on her cell at a friend's house in Crested Butte, Colorado, she was literally packing up for yet another mission. This time to do the first descent of a 22,000-foot peak in Argentina. Clearly, Kasha is a woman who lives to ski and ski hard. Mark: Last time I saw you was at the end of August, when we got home from the Tibetan Borderlands Expedition (see archive). Where have you been hiding? Kasha: I pretty much went on the wedding tour. My two best friends, Hilaree Nelson and Melissa Mcmanus both got married in September. It's crazy because all my girlfriends are getting hitched and I'm worried that I won't have anyone to hit the mountains with. They say this isn't going to happen, but I'm not totally convinced. I'm just gonna have to get married myself. Mark: What have you been doing recently? Kasha: What I've really been doing is trying to get strong. I was on expedition for a total of five months in Asia this summer, between Mongolia and China, and it's not a very healthy lifestyle. You end up eating all kinds of animal guts, pigs' ears, organs, etc. We ate some pretty nasty stuff over there. Everyone thinks going on these expeditions is so healthy, but in a lot of ways it's not. There's always a lot of down time and the food is mostly meat. So, for the last month or so I've been doing yoga twice a day and running about eight miles, five days a week. Mark: Sounds like you have been traveling a lot recently, where do you live when you're back from your adventures? Kasha: I live with housemates. I call them housemates but it's not really my house. I'm just sort of staying there. I am not keeping a home right now because I'm constantly out on expeditions. I'm looking for my resting-place. It would be great to have a base. What I do is while my friends get married and go on these glamorous honeymoons, I live in their houses. I'm not joking -- I've done it for the past two summers. I am a honeymoon house sitter. Mark: Tell me a little bit about the Mongolian expedition. It sounds like a wild adventure. Kasha: Four years ago I was on another The North Face expedition in Siberia. From the summit of Mt. Belukha we could see this range of mountains that make up the Chinese, Mongolian, and Russia border -- the four holy summits. I kept this vision stored and finally went this spring to Mongolia to climb them. I am lucky to have this incredible group of women friends for teammates -- Hilaree, Melissa, and Margaret Wheeler. We spent the month of May in the Tavan Bogd Range, making first descents on all these peaks. Mongolia was unlike anywhere I have been -- sort of like being in a Mad-Max movie with really good climbing and skiing. Mark: I heard a rumor that you are actually getting ready to jet off somewhere. Could it possibly be true that you're off on another adventure? Kasha: 'm leaving this Friday for Argentina. Hilaree and I are going to try and ski a mountain located right next to Aconcagua called Mercedario. It's only 200 meters lower than Aconcagua, but since it is not as big, no one ever bothers to climb it, let alone ski it. It's got a ramp that's 2200 meters long and about 40 degrees -- that's what we're going to do. I have never seen it, but it's supposed to be beautiful. We're also travelling with a writer and photographer from Skiing Magazine. Mark: Do you think you'll ever settle down? Kasha: I do want to balance it out better than I am now. With my current lifestyle it is really hard to have a job or a relationship. I'm conflicted, though, because at the same time I feel like I want to start experiencing the places I visit on a deeper level. I want to start staying places longer and finding ways to contribute instead of always just taking and then leaving. Another girl and myself are actually planning a yearlong expedition. We're going to follow a path. Go climb and ski a peak, then work in a school for two months. Then follow the weather to another place in Asia, climb another peak, then volunteer at a medical clinic or a woman's coop. Our dream is a year long cultural, altruistic journey. We're hoping to start next fall, a year from now. I'm just getting sick of feeling like I'm always taking and not giving anything back. So, to answer your question in a roundabout way, I want to do this trip and then after that I can settle down and procreate. |
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