Struggling with recurring memories and painful losses from his two deployments in Iraq, Stacy Bare sought to find meaning in life after war. One day, he decided to take a chance. He ventured into the outdoors searching for adventure; what he found would save his life.

The outdoors became a space in which Bare was able to gain the health benefits he needed to heal. Eventually, he went back to Iraq, to the places he had been during the war, and began to process his war experiences in a unique, more constructive way: through adrenaline-pumping adventures in the wild. “We all have to ultimately take care of our own healing processes,” Bare, the director of Sierra Club Outdoors, says in the just-released documentary Adventure Not War. “That’s why I wanted to make sure I went back and rewrote a different ending for myself in Iraq.” 

Adventure Not War takes us on the unexpected journey of three U.S. veterans as they pack up their skis and winter coats and travel back into the mountains of Iraq to confront their fears. Bare, Robin Brown, and Matthew Griffin uncover the beauty of a country they had only known as soldiers fighting in a violent war. Beautiful, sweeping aerial shots show the three friends hiking to the summit of the snow-covered Mount Halgurd, the highest climbable peak of all the epic Iraqi mountains. Skis on their backs, the three push forward through their fears and onward up the steep and icy climb, putting to rest the “baggage” they had been carrying with them for the last decade. 

Director Max Lowe skillfully captures the natural beauty of this journey, but also delivers an honest portrayal of the horrors that stay with a soldier after returning from war. We are not spared the gory details, nor should we be. Throughout the film, the veterans recounts in detail their lowest points in Iraq, the violence and losses they had to endure. “I can’t unsee my war,” Bare says at one point. The film includes some of these hard truths, like stories of friends lost in battle and images of young Iraqi children outside the refugee camp where they live. But instead of dwelling, the film artfully parallels Bare’s process and pushes on to the next adventure, to the next stage of healing. 

Adventure Not War achieves its ultimate purpose: to promote peace and understanding through adventure. 

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The Adventure Not War project works closely with nonprofit organizations in each of the countries that they visit. In the film, Bare, Brown, and Griffin work alongside TentEd in Kurdistan, providing educational resources to children in refugee camps. 

Adventure Not War from Nimia on Vimeo.