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See the Movie
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Meet the
Men behind the Hikes
Billy and Ben met in North
Carolina, towards the beginning of their 2003 Appalachian Trail thru-hikes.
Brought together by a shared dislike of people, they formed an unusual and
peculiarly effective hiking partnership that endured the length of the
trail. The team took on adverse weather, injury, sloth and a lot of toilet
trouble to triumphantly summit Katahdin on September 2nd.
Since then it has been (mostly)
business as usual for the guys: Billy has been making many a picnic dream a
reality, and Ben has unsuccessfully pursued four new careers and even more
women. Now all this is going to stop. On May 15th, eager to go
through five more months of agony, Billy and Ben will set out from Campo, CA
in an attempt to thru hike the Pacific Crest Trail.
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Vital Statistics: |
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| Name: Billy |
| Trail name: Billy |
| Hometown: Smyrna, GA |
| Profession: Picnic magnate |
| Marital status: Single |
| Availability: Aspirational |
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| Hair: Blond |
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| Eyes: Blue |
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| Shorts preference: Ladies love 'em style |
| Likes: Hiker chicks, MacGyver, Chick-Fil-A |
| Dislikes: Pretty much everything else |
More about Billy:
Comes off as weird, shy, weird, shy, and... weird and shy.
He'll talk, but it needs to be something that he wants to talk about.
Billy spent two years of his life living in Atlanta, Georgia. The rest
growing up in a small town located between Marietta and Atlanta- Smyrna (no
longer small). He attended private school. He then went on to
receive several credentials from college- in business management, finance,
philosophy and computer science while attending political science, biology,
astronomy and criminal justice classes.
When Billy is not on one of his adventures, he works with his family's business.
He also volunteers as a girls soccer coach and occasionally works with an after
school program.
Billy is currently single and always looking for the perfect woman. He is
passionate about politics, hiking, research and developing adventure equipment
(in my mind, and sometimes into something), and women. His ultimate
adventure is to one day sail around the world (I think I need a rich woman for
this one). He entertains himself by designing websites (that aren't very
good) and watching MacGyver.
And never take Billy serious, He's just making a point...and not meaning to
hurt your feelings. |
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Vital Statistics: |
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| Name: Ben |
| Trail name: Ben |
| Hometown: Malvern, UK |
| Profession: Physicist for rent |
| Marital Status: Single |
| Availability: Attainable |
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| Hair: No |
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| Eyes: Sexy |
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| Shorts preference: Ladies love 'em style |
| Likes: Hiker chicks, chaffing |
| Dislikes: Hiking in rain, chaffing |
More about Ben:Ben is from the town of Malvern, Worcestershire in the UK. He developed a
serious interest in hiking in 2002 with a 500 mile
hike of the Mid-Atlantic Appalachian Trail. He returned in 2003 to thru-hike. Ben holds one and a half degrees in Physics and
has worked with no great success in the science industry since graduating.
The sole highlight of his scientific career to date being the co invention of a
preposterously impractical device to control optical amplifiers. [See Patent for Device].
He's still
searching for that elusive job that suits his unusual skill-set - any offers
considered. In the meantime, he's happy to have the
opportunity to keep hiking and keep learning - he believes anything is
interesting if you look hard enough at it.
For now, Ben has abandoned London, returning to the family home in
Worcestershire to prepare for the 2006 PCT thru hike.
He
is single and can't see that changing in a hurry. His time is spent pursuing
his academic interests, hiking his beloved Malvern
Hills and bombarding Billy with a mess of potential content for PureBound. He
is aided in his hiking aspirations by a natural
indifference towards his personal hygiene, comfort and where his food has been.
 Ben is
interviewed by Billy about the Appalachian Trail, PureBound.com, himself,
the Pacific Crest Trail, and other hiking topics. (26 minutes)
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Will Schwalbe
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Will and Ben have been
friends since attending high school together in Worcester. In both
2002 and 2003 Will joined Ben on his AT hikes for extremely
entertaining three week cameos. An American citizen, Will spent
several years living in Seattle and Savannah, and until recently
lived with Ben in London. He is currently itinerant somewhere in
South America and hopefully getting into just the right amount of
trouble to keep life interesting.
Ask him about his career aspirations and the answer varies between
teaching high school biology (long vacations) and running the UK's
first real Southern Babeque joint - depending just how much he's had
to drink. Overwhelmingly popular, he remains single despite being
one of Europe's most eligible batchelors. Will's only regret in life
is that he didn't live in the Golden Age of Piracy, a fact he
sometimes seems to forget.
It is hoped that he'll manage to get just organised enough to join
the 2006 PCT hike for a few weeks in Washington.
Learn more about Will:
In All his Glory Show,
Hitch from Hell |
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