Russia, The Outpost Vol. 1 is an adventurous Surf film, photography book, adventure tale, buddy movie, and exciting bit of travel journalism all rolled into one neat little package. Watch as we follow Photographer Chris Burkard and Weiland — along with surfers Keith Malloy, Dane Gudauskas, Cyrus Sutton, Trevor Gordon and Foster Huntington — as they venture to Russia’s remote and wild Kamchatka Peninsula, looking for the kind of surfing that few, if any, have ever experienced. 
The location is an unlikely one as far as surf destinations go. Boasting an insanely long coastline, it’s the most volcanic spot on earth, and also one of the coldest. Then there’s the fact that Kamchatka was, until recently, closed to outsiders for political reasons. All of these things have allowed this pristine yet foreboding place to remain almost completely untouched by surfers and other visitors. But that seems to have been the main draw for Burkard, who poetically describes the “forbidden territory” of Kamchatka as “the land of fire and ice.” 
Indeed, the mythic quality of Russia’s Kamchatka starts to dawn on you as Burkard and his team pile into an old Russian military vehicle to navigate the impasses of volcanic rock and dense forrest blocking access to the coastline at most points — only in the city do roads ever lead directly to the coast. Reminiscent of Kerouac’s On The Road, the whole thing kind of reads like a love poem to nature, freedom and the joys of leaving civilization behind. And, even as the team begins to “go native” — learning to use a fishing bow from locals, camping in the haunts of grizzly bears, and donning mud masks for a dip in natural hot springs (it puts hair on your chest) — you do find yourself getting swept up by the adventure and romance of it all. 
An ambitious multimedia project, Russia, The Outpost Vol. 1 is a work to arouse wanderlust, giving you just the slightest sense of what it’s like to be in the no man’s land of dynamism and duality that is the Kamchatka Peninsula — a place of such scale, emptiness and grand beauty that you have to ask yourself, ‘where do I even begin?’ 
Article by EidonSurf.com Image credit: Chris Burkard
The location is an unlikely one as far as surf destinations go. Boasting an insanely long coastline, it’s the most volcanic spot on earth, and also one of the coldest. Then there’s the fact that Kamchatka was, until recently, closed to outsiders for political reasons. All of these things have allowed this pristine yet foreboding place to remain almost completely untouched by surfers and other visitors. But that seems to have been the main draw for Burkard, who poetically describes the “forbidden territory” of Kamchatka as “the land of fire and ice.” Indeed, the mythic quality of Russia’s Kamchatka starts to dawn on you as Burkard and his team pile into an old Russian military vehicle to navigate the impasses of volcanic rock and dense forrest blocking access to the coastline at most points — only in the city do roads ever lead directly to the coast. Reminiscent of Kerouac’s On The Road, the whole thing kind of reads like a love poem to nature, freedom and the joys of leaving civilization behind. And, even as the team begins to “go native” — learning to use a fishing bow from locals, camping in the haunts of grizzly bears, and donning mud masks for a dip in natural hot springs (it puts hair on your chest) — you do find yourself getting swept up by the adventure and romance of it all. An ambitious multimedia project, Russia, The Outpost Vol. 1 is a work to arouse wanderlust, giving you just the slightest sense of what it’s like to be in the no man’s land of dynamism and duality that is the Kamchatka Peninsula — a place of such scale, emptiness and grand beauty that you have to ask yourself, ‘where do I even begin?’ Article by EidonSurf.com Image credit: Chris Burkard
