The Dirtbag Diaries

Mount Bachelor, one of America’s largest and beloved ski resorts, was put up for sale in August of 2024 after two decades of contentious corporate ownership. Sensing a sliver of opportunity, a high school teacher, a h...Read more

Mount Bachelor, one of America’s largest and beloved ski resorts, was put up for sale in August of 2024 after two decades of contentious corporate ownership. Sensing a sliver of opportunity, a high school teacher, a h...Read more

We seek solitude. We find that place a little further out to camp, a couple of extra miles down trail. Sometimes curiosity pulls us farther off the beaten path. Maybe the late afternoon feels just a little more perfec...Read more

Some people look at ranges and imagine lines. Kílian Jornet looks at continents. Last week, Kílian completed a truly incredible adventure that was hiding in plain sight. Over the course of 31 days, the renowned mounta...Read more

The bonds we forge during mountain adventures and shared experiences, especially with family, can profoundly shape us. Explorer and author Mark Jenkins reflects on learning to rock climb in Vedauwoo from his swim Coac...Read more

The Mississippi River. The Big Muddy. The Great River. When musician JW Francis left the river’s source in northern Minnesota and started heading for the sea, he’d had about two hours in canoeing to his name and litt...Read more

Five days, 231.82 miles, 85,967 vertical feet, nearly 94 hours of moving time - this is the White Mountain Direttissima as experienced by ultra-athlete Andrew Drummond. A rugged DIY run that connects all 48 of the Whi...Read more

When big transitional moments occur in our lives, the way we navigate them and what helps shift our perspective can often come from unexpected places. After graduation and a summer of feeling melancholy, Carol Doyle c...Read more

Growing up as identical twins in England, Poppy and Thea Wardley were practically attached at the hip. Their lives finally diverged when Poppy enrolled in medical school and Thea attended university a few hours away....Read more

For  Sam Webster, public lands have been interwoven with life from the earliest age. He followed a path into public service with the Park and Forest Service, choosing stability and the ability to contribute to the gre...Read more

Every July, nearly 20,000 cyclists from around the world swarm the roads of Iowa for one week to ride across the state. It’s hot. It’s humid. And it’s not as flat as one may think. Iowa resident Caleb Smith shares his...Read more

Runner, writer, illustrator and all around human Brendan Leonard made a career of doing what he loves. Yes it’s passion and wild creativity, but it’s also the unheralded traits of persistence, thoughtful compromise an...Read more

Growth happens outside your comfort zone. Sometimes this comes by choice, like committing to guiding rafts on a new river and trading out your nimble kayak for the biggest barge in the fleet as Jessie Longe did. Somet...Read more

To escape record breaking crowds in Zion National Park, Marco Siler-Gonzales decides to take his girlfriend, Lena Ohlson, on an unmarked and seldom hiked trail. Heading back towards the car, Marco leads Lena around a...Read more

In March of 2025, Emily Ford lined up at the starting line of one of the world’s most difficult races – The Iditarod. To race this iconic event hadn’t been a lifelong dream but rather the next step on Emily’s pursuit...Read more

Finding out what we’re capable of takes trial and error and a whole lot of trust. For Meg Morris and Emmye Vernet, they each had a guide who helped them see another side of the outdoors. For Meg, h...Read more

In the fall of 2015, photographer Pete McBride and writer Kevin Fedarko embarked on a journey to rally support to protect one of our most awe-inspiring national treasures: the Grand Canyon. Their method? A 700+ mile s...Read more

In 1994, Forrest Gump took the box-office by storm and became a staple of cable TV reruns in the following decades. Its feel good message about a simple man who lived life heart first struck a chord, but hidden inside...Read more

Mild-mannered, elementary school teacher Jason Hardrath may be a superhero. After competing in college as a cross country athlete, he turned to triathlons and then Iron Mans to push the limits of his endurance. Simult...Read more

Over the last few years, students at Utah State University built a weekly ritual at their school gym to grow the climbing community on campus. When Utah’s legislature passed a contentious bill last year, that routine...Read more

Shifting paradigms is hard work, but sometimes it can be a whole heap of Type II Fun as well. In 2019, Stratton Matteson sought to find out if he could get away with only human powered mountain access for a whole year...Read more

What does it take to run an ultramarathon? Or top out a boulder that makes you stretch what you think you're capable of? Tenacity. From our seat, we see it happen all the time in our community. Today, Coleman Wood and...Read more

Just 10 years ago, the director of the Barkley Marathons declared that the race was too tough for any woman to complete it. Meanwhile, Jasmin Paris, a mild-mannered veterinarian from Scotland was smashing records in t...Read more

Erik Grams has been taking trips to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota for over 30 years. It's his favorite place in the world. But last year, a fatal accident on a fishing trip that Erik was leading changed his life.</...Read more

After his personal life takes a surprise turn, Luis Alonzo dares to reinvent himself by trying something far outside his comfort zone– climbing Mt. Rainier. With a crew of other novice climbers, Luis spends six months...Read more

Loss. Grief. Healing. It’s part of being human. The emotions that almost tear us apart have the power to bring us together. Today, we bring you two powerful stories from Alison Kaplan and Monica Nigon....Read more

It started so harmlessly. Four years ago, professional skier Brody Leven embarked on a simple challenge – exercise outdoors everyday. In a complicated moment in time and life, it was a way to exert some control over h...Read more

Matt Martin and his fiancé, Hannah, were just starting out on their shared life, when a breast cancer diagnosis rewrote the script they’d imagined for life. Matt stepped into a new role – caregiver. Life became a blur...Read more

Raised in the hollers of West Virginia, coal ran deep in Corey Lilly’s family, but it was the local ski hill with 600 feet of vertical that sparked his imagination and started an improbable run into professional skiin...Read more

Welcome to Good Good Bad, our series kickstarted by our Diaries+ Members. Every adventure has its good parts, even better bits and its difficult moments. These memories create rich experiences, friendships and learnin...Read more

To celebrate a new year and new ideas, we bring you a conversation with Alastair Humphreys, adventurer, writer, and connoisseur of the microadventure. His new book, Local, flips the idea of what it means to explore on...Read more

As the year comes to a close, two beautiful stories about stepping back, reflecting and moving forward from Phil Herbert and N.S. David. “I had one roll of film for the whole trip, which gave me eight frames. Nine if...Read more

In late October, Fitz headed to Duluth, MN for a live Dirtbag Diaries in front of a packed house. Joined by professional skier and Lakota activist Connor Ryan, indie rock legend and avid runner Alan Sparhawk and adapt...Read more

In 2020, partners Niki Choo and Jared Gentz started dreaming of an epic canoeing adventure. Two years later, they started paddling on the Pacific Ocean, embarking on a thousand-mile journey towards the Arctic that wou...Read more

“I didn’t expect to get to the top, let alone send. I merely wanted to push the limits of what I believed was capable for myself,” writes Shara Zaia. With climbing, Shara found a space to push herself as she strove to...Read more

In our annual Tales of Terror, we bring you three terrifying tales. Disembodied voices. Eyes in the alder. An enchanted clearing in the forest. Grab a friend (and maybe their hand) as these tales will have you peering...Read more

Tucked away in a corner of Chilean Patagonia, Valle Cochamó wasn’t going to stay hidden forever. The soaring unclimbed granite walls instilled dreams of first ascents in climbers. Industrialists eyed its free flowing...Read more

While most people curled up on the couch with a mug of hot cocoa, Emily Ford set out in the frigid winter to thru-hike Wisconsin’s 1200 mile Ice Age Trail. Over the course of their two and a half month winter vacation...Read more

Wyn Wiley, often better known as Pattie Gonia, went out on a backpacking trip with an inkling of an idea and emerged walking a path. Today, Pattie Gonia’s feed is filled with joy– making music with famed cellist Yo-Yo...Read more

Graham Zimmerman knows how to make decisions under pressure. As a professional mountain athlete, his life depends on it. Nearly a decade ago, Protect Our Winters saw this and brought him and his skillset into the poli...Read more

Some of the most powerful learning can happen outside the classroom. In the summer of 1975, public school teacher Mr. Hodges took 22 of his students on an unforgettable bike trip that would impact the rest of their li...Read more

Luke, Job, and Jonah have been best friends since childhood, and with the end of high school looming, they set out on their biggest adventure yet. During a month-long quest to canoe from Job’s backyard in Franklin, Te...Read more

Jim Donini has been a climber for over 50 years– since well before Tad McCrea was born. As the two developed an unlikely intergenerational friendship during an epic trip in the mountains of Patagonia, both climbers re...Read more

Love is a journey full of twists and turns. RC Shaw and Scott Johnson each found this out on their romps in the wild. Both barely made it, and their stories warn weary listeners of the dangers that lurk when falling t...Read more

In the last few years, Alexandera Houchin has become a force in the world of ultra endurance mountain bike racing. As a Native kid growing up in Wisconsin, she never could have predicted the ways that racing her singl...Read more

When their lives felt out of their control, both Cindy Hong and Dierdre Wolownick turned to running for solace. Each of their stories is a reminder of the value of putting one foot in front of the other, no matter the...Read more

Two people step outside their comfort zones to take action on the things that matter to them in the hopes of making their communities, and the world, a better place. For Caroline Gleich, that means running for a Senat...Read more

We're sharing an episode from our friends at Outside/In. Their team of reporters combine solid reporting and long-form narrative storytelling that sits at the crossroads of the outdoors, science and the environment an...Read more

Beth Rodden first started climbing in 1995, and it wasn’t long before she radically changed the sport. Within three years, she’d become the first woman to climb 5.14; within five, she’d established a still unrepeated...Read more

We made a book! For the last year, Fitz and Becca have been working on adapting 30 episodes into essays and pairing them with incredible imagery. And we are really excited to be able to (nearly) share it with you....Read more

Thirteen years ago Fitz got talked into doing our first live Dirtbag Diaries at 5Point Film Festival. So, we were thrilled to to return again for the 2024 festival and talk with Dr. John Francis, Taylor Rees and Renan...Read more

“With no roads to this wave, we had hiked in a dozen or so miles along the beach from the nearest town as a huge swell raged next to us,” writes Tyler Homen. A weekend of surfing with buddies turns epic when everyone’...Read more

Creciendo en Michigan, Vanessa Chavarriaga Posada no creía que el esquí era cosa de ella, y no fue hasta que se mudo a Wyoming que descubrió la alegría que le podía traer. El año pasado, decidió esquiar el pico más al...Read more

Growing up undocumented in Michigan, Vanessa Chavarriaga Posada didn't think skiing was for her, and it wasn't until she moved to Wyoming that she found how much joy it brought her. Last year, she set her sights on sk...Read more

Natalie Brechtel joined the U.S. Antarctic Program at the South Pole for a supposed dream gig, but instead it was the start of a year marked by harassment, a toxic work environment and loss. Despite losing the ability...Read more

At different points in their lives, both Brice Ruiz and Ashley Lose found themselves at a crossroads. Brice wanted to run his first ultramarathon, but wouldn’t call himself a “runner.” Ashley and her partner had just...Read more

Chances are at some point you’ve signed up for an organized race or event. Maybe you’ve participated in a local turkey trot or maybe you’ve run Western States. You register, pay the entry fee, train, show up and try h...Read more

During their twelve winters as winter rangers in Yosemite National Park, Rob and Laura Pilewski have learned a thing or two about what it means to love a place– and a person. Support comes from...Read more

Both Julia Hoer and Josie McKee suffered traumatic experiences that forced them to reckon with their identities and priorities. But through time in the mountains, each learned that they had within them everything they...Read more

This year to celebrate the new year, Fitz sat down with professional skier Cody Townsend about his goal of skiing all of the Fifty Classic Ski Descents in North America. We might just have to call this episode the Man...Read more

The Grand Traverse is a ski race like no other: skiers begin at midnight and navigate 40 miles through the dark and they often face blizzards, frostbite, and gear failures. The race follows old postal routes through C...Read more

As a kid, Lauren DeLaunay Miller desperately wanted to see a shooting star. Years later, in the vastness of the Utah desert, she finally got her wish. Support comes from Patagonia Athleti...Read more

A crisp sunny morning with tacky stone. The spring flush of desert sun and good dirt. Long summer days that tangle with night. What’s best? Armed with facts, waxing poetic prose, and a touch of emotional heat, o...Read more

Alpinist and labradoodle devotee Graham Zimmerman has poured his heart into climate change activism after witnessing its effects in the world's great ranges. His new book, "A Fine Line" reflects on his incredible clim...Read more

When Arlene Gonzalez started running eleven years ago, she quickly discovered its ability to mend a broken heart, inspire confidence, and bring people together. Today, she finds her passion in uniting a binational com...Read more

Cuando Arlene Gonzalez empezó a correr hace once años, descubrió cómo el deporte puede reparar un corazón roto, inspirar confianza, y crear comunidad. Hoy, Arlene encuentra pasión en unir la comunidad binacional entre...Read more

In our annual Tales of Terror episode, we’ve got dark caves, unsettling landscapes, and unexplainable figures in the night. Mua ha ha. Support comes from Patagonia AG1 Kuat Racks AeroPres...Read more

Fifteen years ago, Tim Irvin went on a solo trip to the Arctic with the hope of seeing the annual caribou migration. Despite mobs of blackflies and an unpleasant encounter with poop, Tim soon found his stride and conn...Read more

A crisp sunny morning with tacky stone. The spring flush of desert sun and good dirt. Long summer days that tangle with night. What's best? Armed with facts, waxing poetic prose, and a touch of emotional heat, o...Read more

Gabaccia Moreno is our guide to one of our newest National Monuments– The Castner Range in El Paso, Texas. She talks with some of the people who worked over decades to make the designation a reality, gives us a window...Read more

A Campfire Chat about the silly things we've done and that we would never do again. (Well, almost never.) Got a story you want to share? Call the Dirtbag Hotline at 206- 705-3006 Want to hear mo...Read more

Lance Garland and Eileen Hall grappled with their identities in different ways and at different stages of their lives. In this episode, we hear how they started to how to walk tall and embrace who they are at sea and...Read more

When Aubrey Runyon first climbed in Colorado’s Eldorado Canyon State Park, it was for fun. When she returned several years later, Aubrey was needing a place to call home. Over the years, her relationship with Eldo has...Read more

You ask, we answer with anecdotes, stories and advice. Today's Q-- If you could be part of any historical expedition, which would it be and why? Want to hear more? Join the Diaries+ community....Read more

When Laura Buchan’s cycling partner bails a month before their bikepacking trip along the West Coast, she decides to go anyway. In that 1500-mile journey, she learns that she has everything she needs within her. <...Read more

Talking to people makes Shelby Stanger sparkle. As the host of the podcast, Wild Ideas Worth Living, Shelby dives into her guests motivations for making and taking the leap to try something unexpected. She stopped by...Read more

California’s legacy of gold mining goes back generations, but as the world of mining has evolved, so too have our ideas about public lands. Today’s mining projects are still dictated by the 1872 Mining Law, leaving la...Read more

Producer Andrew Burton brings us the story of his wild hunt for a wedding ring he lost while climbing Forbidden Peak. And, we have our first Ask Me Anything, from a listener submitted question. Want t...Read more

When Jayme Vance and her husband set out on a packrafting honeymoon deep in Denali National Park, her worries about the trip were exacerbated by her father’s illness at home. As she welcomes Luke’s new role in her lif...Read more

We put out a call for your best bonk stories, and you answered. Stories from listeners who miscalculated just how many calories they needed to get through the day. Thanks to everyone who called in! Wa...Read more

Drew and Sarah embark on a once-in-a-lifetime roadtrip across the country to see the places they’ve always dreamed of seeing. In doing so, they pave a path for other people who, like them, haven’t always seen themselv...Read more

Chandra Brown, a veteran river guide, led a five day writers retreat for a group of authors along the U.S Mexico border. While canoeing the Rio Grande they navigate physical challenges, and see the effects of governme...Read more

We've all been down that odd, potentially hallucinogenic path of calorie miscalculation. A campfire conversation about the moments when we bonked. Got a bonk story? Leave us a message at 206-705-3006...Read more

After years of turning to nature for relief from his inner turmoil, Andrew Shults finally reached his breaking point and faced it head-on. This decision forced him to reckon with identity, spirituality, and relationsh...Read more

A young man hungry to learn how to recreate in the mountains, and a veteran guide leading the NOLS course in the Waddington Range of British Columbia. Their recollections of the trip, the challenges they face and the...Read more

How has being an adaptive athlete changed and evolved over the years? Fitz talks with climber Craig DeMartino, a leader not just in the adaptive sports community, but the greater outdoor community. Wa...Read more

Kate and Ani Williams have been adventuring together for more than two decades. Last year, they leveled up on a backpacking trip to Argentine Patagonia, where a challenging river crossing marked a shift in their relat...Read more

When Kari Hedin’s life is turned upside down, she found solace on her habitual lunchtime trail runs in the wooded eskers of Minnesota. Support comes from Patagonia Athletic Greens Kuat Racks...Read more

How many things can you balance being really good at in your life? Fitz and Majka Burhardt discuss ice climbing, entrepreneurship, risk, parenting twins and her new book More: Life on the Edge of Motherhood and Advent...Read more

For 12-year-old Rory Rielly and 77-year-old James Niehues, the ski map is an object of wonder and a portal to adventure. Their love for depicting mountain landscapes enriches their passion for skiing and demonstrates...Read more

In 2018, backcountry skier Kjell Redal decided he wanted to try his hand at bowhunting for elk. The only trouble is, he had no prior experience or mentors and was living in Miami, FL. Over the course of four years Kje...Read more

What if we invested more in the things that brought us joy? The outdoors. Community. Creativity. This is what gets us out of bed in the morning. For years, you’ve been asking for more – more stories and more ways to s...Read more

When Amanda Hayley set out on her first solo travel adventure in Olympic National Park, she felt ready to take on whatever challenges could come her way. But when she loses her way on an audacious day hike, she needs...Read more

After two decades of drought, the Colorado River, which supplies water for drinking, power, and agriculture to over 40 million people, was named America’s most endangered river. In 2018, river advocates and paddlers M...Read more

“At the end of the 24 hours, I looked around and pretty much everyone was still there,” says Brody Leven. “And I'm like, ‘What is wrong with these people?’” In 2022, Brody and Ben Eck were two of nearly 100 skiers who...Read more

In 2021, Dirtbag Diaries producer Cordelia Zars launched a theater company. For two years it was a side hustle where she used her strengths as an artist, storyteller and songwriter. Now, she’s taking the leap to direc...Read more

5 years apart, Levin and Tilden Zars are wiry, rugged, and maddeningly strong on mountain bikes. They have scars to prove a childhood of egging each other on, and finesse to prove they've never let each other stay dow...Read more

We're sharing the first episode of our Dope Lake series that we're running on our show Climbing Gold. In 1976, a plane carrying four million dollars in marijuana crashed into a small alpine lake in the Yosemite high c...Read more

This week, Autumn Ellingford Rhodes and Nikki LaRochelle find their footing in the mountains after challenging moments in their lives. We hear how pushing themselves in the outdoors helped Autumn and Nikki feel empowe...Read more

In the Pacific Northwest, Jenny Abegg is a renowned local mountain person. She fell in love with climbing and the lifestyle, traveling around the west and making several trips to Patagonia. Over time, her relationship...Read more

Fitz talks with the directors of BURIED, Jared Drake and Steven Siig. In 1982 a massive avalanche descended on Alpine Meadows in Lake Tahoe, CA that triggered a five day search for eight missing people. BURIED chronic...Read more

Tressa had always used movement to cope with life’s complexities. When she found a partner that could keep up with her, she knew he was a keeper. Until one fateful day when she knew she’d need to rely on mountain ther...Read more

In our annual Tales of Terror episode, we've got creepy sounds in the woods, mysterious, disembodied hands in the night, and hooded figures bearing axes in the desert. Mua ha ha....Read more

A campfire conversation with the Dirtbag Diaries staff about their favorite pieces of gear - from surfboards to secret potions - and whether a brand new pair of socks is better than a beloved, threadbare set....Read more

“I didn’t need the phrase ‘send it’ explained to me the first time I heard it. I knew what it meant.” In their early 20’s, Forrest Wood sent everything they did. Skateboarding tricks. Dishes. Group projects. But after...Read more

In 2016, Danika Gilbert, started teaching leadership and climbing skills to girls in Afghanistan. Beyond the technical skills, Danika hoped the experiences would translate to strength and confidence in their complicat...Read more

25-year-old raft guides Tony Martin and Martin Lenz meet their clients for the week: 24 retired corporate oil and gas execs, who want their fancy river trip to go– Just. As. Planned. Ever had that adventure where noth...Read more

For Sierra Meggitt, trail running was a way to heal from the trauma of sexual assault. On her biggest run yet, she embraces both pain and beauty....Read more

Colorado is a mountain biking mecca. Yet some mountain-town locals have never experienced the wonders of singletrack trails. Today, we travel to Dillon, Colorado where one cycling nonprofit helps a gregarious group of...Read more

“I definitely did not want to become a businessman,” remembers Rod Johnson, founder of Midwest Mountaineering. In the 1960’s, no Minneapolis outdoor shop sold climbing gear. So, Rod set up an impromptu gear shop in hi...Read more

The Colorado River is supposed to be chocolatey brown, not a vibrant blue-green like it is just below the Glen Canyon Dam. Chris Kalman had written off spending any time in those unnatural, human-affected waters– unti...Read more

Quinn Brett has been an endurance athlete for most of her adult life. From first ascents in Patagonia and Greenland to running across Zion and the Grand Canyon, her life revolved around putting one foot in front of th...Read more

Inspired by a pitch from a listener, we rounded up the Dirtbag Diaries team to chat about the most ridiculous places we’ve ever slept. Want to share an amusing story about where you’ve slept? Tag us...Read more

With dirt under her fingernails and sun on her cheeks, Emily Benington’s thru-hike of the PCT eased the mental health struggles she’d had in London. But when she returned to the city, her anxiety and depression came b...Read more

Drive it until it dies. That’s the motto Fitz lived by as he crisscrossed the West in his truck, Crash. Family members would doubtfully ask, “Are you sure you want to drive there?” Friends asked about Crash’s well bei...Read more

Steven Walker has spent a lifetime canoeing and kayaking wild rivers throughout Canada. His idea of adventure consisted of a healthy dose of fear and first descents. In 2020, he had the opportunity to guide on Manitob...Read more

Patrick Davison grew up on a bike, exploring his neighborhood with family and friends. But as he grew older, he began to forget the simple joy of seeing the world on two wheels. Years later, he rediscovers a lost love...Read more

Nineteen year old Kiko Lopez had never set foot on a boat when he accepted an invitation to sail from Maine to the Bahamas with three friends. Choosing to leave the world of virtual classrooms behind, Kiko spent the n...Read more

When Gary Lacy heard his boss’s daughter was joining their company ski trip, he tried to bail. “She’s probably 13, and from Boulder so she'll be a wacko,” Gary remembers thinking. Leslie turned out to be a 20-year-old...Read more

When first-grade teacher Madeigh Winsor-McCarron’s life changed in 2020, she had a hard time coaxing herself to get out the door. Zoom classes, fear about the future, and isolation threatened her mental health. But fo...Read more

Kyle McCrohan loves outdoor sports, and for years he chased the goals that many of us share – bigger, stronger, faster. But when he set out to make an ambitious winter ascent of an ice route on Sloan Peak, things didn...Read more

After Jon-Erick Anés moved from Puerto Rico to Florida, he struggled to find direction in his life. He kept repeating unhealthy patterns and feeling stuck in his relationships. When his older brother asked him to clim...Read more

While most people curled up on the couch with a mug of hot cocoa, Emily Ford set out in the frigid winter to thru-hike Wisconsin’s 1200 mile Ice Age Trail. Over the course of their two and a half month winter vacation...Read more

Create and make new again. After his Great Uncle Jack passed away, Noah Manke took a pair of his Uncle’s old jeans, complete with holes, oil stains and paint, and turned them into something new. It was a way to create...Read more

Better than new. Pass along cherished gear, surprise a loved one with the gift of repair and keep a good story going. Shanon Castle received a rad bike as a gift from her parents when she was 13, but it wasn’t life ch...Read more

Consider gifts that keep giving. Marta Bills fell in love with backpacking on a sixth grade class trip to the Sierra Nevada. And her love of getting away for days at a time with a heavy pack in the mountains stayed wi...Read more

Teach them what you know, or take them somewhere special. On a three week trip to Japan, Chris Lock wanted his sons, ages 10 and 12, to connect with their Japanese heritage while creating lifelong memories. He found a...Read more

Susan Greenwood’s family adventures were anything but typical. Led by her father’s wild spirit, their escapades took them up snowy mountains, meandering bike rides, and alpine lakes-- all without a map or a plan. When...Read more

When Cam Fields returned from a deployment in Afghanistan, violent dreams filled his nights. Diagnosed with PTSD, Cam tried therapy, but still felt himself spiralling. Then, he got a phone call that would change his c...Read more

Today, we bring you two shorts about the power of currents. As Keith Wagner struggled with PTSD after a career in the Air Force, the thought of wearing a PFD never crossed his mind. But one fateful day on the Brazos R...Read more

In our annual Tales of Terror, we bring you three terrifying tales. Shadows in the doorway. Disembodied footprints. Dark figures approaching through the woods. Snuggle up with a friend or your favorite stuffed animal-...Read more

The most memorable gifts often aren’t purchased online. Sometimes, it’s as simple as the time we give to one another. A favorite recipe. An old bike that needs a new set of legs to pedal it. The gifts can be grand or...Read more

Every July, nearly 20,000 cyclists from around the world swarm the roads of Iowa for one week to ride across the state. It’s hot. It’s humid. And it’s not as flat as one may think. Iowa resident Caleb Smith shares his...Read more

Today, we bring you two Shorts about love on the trail. Lauren DeLaunay Miller reflects on the bond she forged with her Chevy Astro van. Chuck Radis wades into a hiking trip with his wife of 40 years. For both Lauren...Read more

The first time Ken Jarvela picked up a sketchpad in the backcountry in the 1980’s, he decided he wanted to become a landscape painter. In his early 20’s, he packed three months of food, a tarp, and a set of watercolor...Read more

After Patrick McGunagle graduated from college, he told himself he’d get a “real job” after a summer on a fire crew in Montana. But the adventure, camaraderie, and purpose that came with fighting fire made it hard to...Read more

After Euan Fraser lost his dad in a mysterious accident, he spent decades of his life wondering what had happened. When he finally learned the truth, Euan began searching for new ways to get to know his father through...Read more

We just hit our 300th episode! Whether you’ve been a listener from the mic-in-a-closet days, or you just joined us, it’s you-- our community-- that keeps us going. In honor of our listeners, we have a story about four...Read more

Oak Flat, Arizona: a site sacred to the San Carlos Apache, a beloved climbing area, a rare riparian zone in the desert. The catch? It’s slated to become the largest copper mine in the history of North America. Days be...Read more

Cycling intervals, homework assignments, planner items: Emily Schaldach raced through her life checking off her list. When Emily’s grandmother invited her to a silent meditation retreat in the woods of Colorado, she r...Read more

Michelle Baker and her husband John both fell in love with mountains before they fell in love with each other. As they started a family of their own, they hoped to pass down their passion for outdoor adventure and a r...Read more

Two mountains, one in California and one in Nevada, named after the president of the Confederate States decades ago. How can a name be changed? Producer Fil Corbitt takes us through the wonky and lengthy process invol...Read more

“The dread was there, strong and palpable. I just hoped my will was stronger,” writes Luke Hinz. After losing both his father and his brother in the month of May, Luke always had a feeling that something bad would bef...Read more

“I felt as though the Monarch Butterfly contained some special sort of wisdom that I could connect with,” says Benjamin Jordan. Inspired by the Monarch, he set out to do what no one had ever done before: recreate the...Read more

“I did the skiing thing, I did the Navajo thing, and those worlds didn’t cross,” says Len Necefer. After learning how to ski-mountaineer in the winter of 2017, Len set out on an ambitious goal: to connect the Navajo c...Read more

Today, Carly Rushford and Paddy O’Connell find their edge on the snowy mountain slopes. In our first double-short episode, we hear how downhill skiing has helped Carly and Paddy shape their place and purpose in the wo...Read more

What connects the past, present and future of rock climbing? In season one of Climbing Gold, the sport’s biggest star Alex Honnold and co-host Fitz Cahall take you on a tour through climbing, from the early day...Read more

“From here, it’s going to be easy.” Ryan Wichelns and Gabe Messercola repeated this phrase throughout their 21 day expedition in Denali National Park in 2015. From crossing scree-covered glaciers, to traversing ridgel...Read more

“I think being on foot just allows you to walk past a person's front door. I think that's really important," says Rickey Gates. Rickey learned a lot about his country when ran across the United States. But when...Read more

“Thru-hiking started to feel like a compulsion: I had to hike the same way I had to breathe,” writes Eloise Robbins. After she fell in love with another thru-hiker on the PCT, she uprooted her life to be with him in C...Read more

“There should be no friction in the system. If someone wants to come and climb, they should be able to come and climb,” says Abby Dione, owner of Coral Cliffs in Florida. When Abby had to close her doors in March 2020...Read more

When Doug Barclift decided to start a business, he headed to an untraditional spot to buy his real estate-- a junkyard. There he found the school bus, wedged between a trailer and a stack of cars, that he would transf...Read more

“No one is going to talk me out of doing this because this is a great idea,” says Becca Skinner. “I just gave the best Christmas gift and everyone is going to thank me later.” When Becca surprised her family with an o...Read more

In 2019, Will Dunlap began having existential questions about his place in the world. So he bought a plane ticket to Alaska, rented a kayak, and set out for the Taku Inlet. Through bitter rains and long days of paddli...Read more

Growing up in Guadalajara, Mexico, Fernanda Rodriguez had never heard of “climbing” until she stumbled across a group of boulderers in the forest. That day, she remembers feeling “like a flame was lit inside my heart....Read more

When Carmen Kuntz thinks “adventure,” it doesn’t always mean a mega-trip many miles from home. Instead, she challenged herself and her friends to invent an adventure just out the backdoor. With skis, skins and paddles...Read more

Bloody tracks on a dark road. Hooded figures juggling lights. Eerie handprints appearing. We hope you’re ready to get spooky with our annual Tales of Terror! We have three stories from the backcountry that will send c...Read more

“Everything that we love is affected by politics for better or worse, and we can't afford to not be engaged with it,” says Canyon Woodward. Today we hear stories from two people who’ve leaned in and worked dire...Read more

“I'm stubborn,” reflects Steve Baskis. “When my mind tells me not to do something because I'm afraid or nervous, I tend to tell myself to do it.” What happens when you lose something fundamental to how you function in...Read more

Today, we are sharing one of our favorite podcasts-- Scene on Radio. Over the course of twelve episodes, host John Biewen and collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika explore a theme both evergreen and immediately urgent: dem...Read more

“I do not remember the ‘first time’ we played hide-n-seek in the barn,” recalls producer Cordelia Zars, “it just always happened.” How do you stay positive when you’re hiding from a pandemic and wildfire smoke with no...Read more

Bailey, Colorado is a rural town in the Rocky Mountains. “Bailey is boating hell. There is no water around us at all,” says high school teacher Steve Hanford. Now, imagine 13 high school students building a triple-hul...Read more

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Sarah Lann and her twin sister, Becca, had their lives planned out together. They’d raise their kids hiking, berry-picking, and stargazing together. But after their plans went astray, they scheduled a backpacking trip...Read more

When John Temple and Dean Goodman’s dream job fell into their laps in the summer of 1971, they quickly said yes. From June through August, they lived alone- without supervision or communication- in a lineman's cabin a...Read more

After a decades long battle on Washington State’s Elwha River, a coalition of environmentalists, scientists and locals succeeded in having two dams demolished. Six years later, scientists are monitoring the river and...Read more

When life pedals ahead on the trail, how do you catch up? You can downshift and sweat harder, or accept that maybe you’ll always feel a little behind. Anya Miller has learned to embrace the struggle on the ups and sav...Read more

When Ladia Albertson-Junkans’ best friend and running teammate, Gabe Grunewald, was diagnosed with cancer, they resolved that it wouldn’t slow them down. But after Gabe’s death, grief finally caught up to Ladia. She w...Read more

Get ready for big waves and two epic ocean rescues. Before becoming a photographer, Jeff Johnson was a young lifeguard, determined to prove himself. And Kohl Christensen, a North Shore veteran whose work to save other...Read more

In her early 20’s, Rachel James would run 10,000 vertical feet every week and ski deep into the Alaskan backcountry in her free time. When her life took an unexpected turn, she drew on her experience in the outdoors t...Read more

When Scott Guinn received a letter in the mail from his friend Mike Flanigan, he didn’t expect to find a page-long, typed challenge to climb 10 tricky boulder problems within an hour at the nearby bouldering area. Gau...Read more

When Ryan Smith set out to hike all sixty-seven 4,000 foot mountains in New England, he expected to be finished in a handful of years. But life threw him a curve ball. A shooting pain in his groin led him on a differe...Read more

In an unprecedented time, a lot of us are confined to our homes, yet looking for ways to connect, to create and to be of service. As our community tries to adapt to a quickly shifting reality, it seems like a good tim...Read more

Leadville, Colorado is a mecca for endurance racing in the United States and home to some of the country's hardest trails and toughest athletes. In the summer of 2019, ultra runners Marvin Sandoval and Buttercup becam...Read more

“In the Frank Church—River of No Return Wilderness, getting “Franked” means waking up mid-summer to a foot of snow on your tent, or losing your sleeping bag to a rapid on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River,” writes A...Read more

When a dirtbag romance starts with a burrito shop and a fire alarm, adventure is bound to follow. Climbers Allen Schaidle and Sara Al-Awadhi who, despite differences in cultures and faiths, fall in love by exploring a...Read more

Some of the most powerful learning can happen outside the classroom. In the summer of 1975, public school teacher Mr. Hodges took 22 of his students on an unforgettable bike trip that would impact the rest of their li...Read more

When the DC metro shut down the line that Dylan Lewis used daily, he had to refigure his commute. Borrow a car? Uber? Walk 11 miles? What started as an obstacle became an opportunity, with a little ‘out of the blue’ i...Read more

Great gear shops are like a toy stores filled with skis and bikes, ropes and chalk. Walking through the door can sow the seeds for the next adventure. Friendships begin. Knowledge gets dropped. When a beloved gear sho...Read more

How many feet of snow would you shovel each year to own a rad backcountry ski lodge? Well if you’re the Schaffer family, the answer is 60. Today, we bring you the story of an incredible family business high in the mou...Read more

“It’s like you’re scared to move forward– you just need something to give you a little nudge,” says Jonah Manning. “You can call it support, but really it’s just like a little bit of a shove forward. And I’ll never fo...Read more

When Dan Kostrzewski had an accident with his daughter on the bunny hill, he gained a new perspective on a lifetime of skiing— both as a career and a personal passion....Read more

Disembodied footsteps, screams in the dark, hooded figures: our tenth annual Tales of Terror might have you questioning who -- or what -- else shares the trail with you at night. Ryan Cronin, Natalie Rooker, and Bryce...Read more

“When I think about it, I'm not happy because I got to the top of some point on the planet,” says Steve Swenson. “I'm happy because of all the things we had to do to get there.” In the summer of 2019, Steve and his cl...Read more

"The land doesn't belong to me, it doesn’t belong to any of us,” says Joshua Tree resident Rand Abbott. “We’re guests here on this earth. It's my responsibility to make sure that my daughter's children's children get...Read more

"A lot of folks like a loop trail or a point-to-point run, but I find something really magical about a good out-and-back. On the way out, I feel one way. Then I turn around and run the same steps back, but I feel diff...Read more

Say the word bike, and words like, fun, freedom, fast, come to mind. But does a tandem bike double the fun or divide the freedom? One thing seems certain, whether you’re headed to collaboration or catastrophe, you’ll...Read more

Leah Breen had always been taught to embrace failure. You can't win every mountain bike race, or make it to the top of every pitch. Learn from it, and keep going. But when she felt her partner's climbing rope careen t...Read more

When Steve Casimiro moved across the country to write for Powder magazine in the 1980’s, he wasn’t sure his work was going to matter. But after 30 years living and breathing outdoor publication, and starting his own m...Read more

Boulder, Utah. Population 250. Sitting in the heart of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, this small town of ranchers and settled-down dirtbags prides itself on staying out of the spotlight. It’s the right a...Read more

“We biked through wind, rain, and snow. If lightning struck, we kept going. We only stopped if it got too close. We outran tornadoes in Oklahoma. We waited out a storm in an old horse barn in Montana, huddled like pen...Read more

“I’ve spent my entire life going on adventures, but I wasn’t ever really the creator of these adventures,” says Kathy Holcombe. “My role is as the dream maker. And, I have a lot of pride in that role.” Exist in...Read more

Last spring, Andy and Katherine Wyatt set up basecamp on the Powell Glacier in Alaska’s Chugach Mountains.After years of individual rad mountain accomplishments in climbing and skiing, they realized they’d never taken...Read more

Carmen Kuntz has lived a dirtbag life for over a decade. She’s moved every year since graduating high school, and has explored some of the world’s most remote places in her kayak and hiking boots. But with all the mov...Read more

After more than 50 years of bipartisan support, Congress failed to re-authorize the Land Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) in the fall of 2018. LWCF grants have protected over 2.3M acres of natural areas and cultural her...Read more

In this week’s double-feature episode, Amie Begg and Jessica Kelley head out solo into the Himalayan and Alaskan wildernesses--on their bikes. Through the challenges they face--from negative 20 degree temperatures to...Read more

Mitch Breton grew up as as devout member of the Catholic Church. He ascended the religious ranks through his childhood, and assumed that one day he would become a priest. Then, he found whitewater paddling. A summer o...Read more

Jeanie Adamson, a 50-something Mom, decided to switch things up last year for spring break. When she told her son, Luke, she wanted to ski at every resort between Dallas and Lake Tahoe, he offered up Sherrod, his newl...Read more

There is no clear way to cope with death and grief. Moving forward is often heartbreaking, baffling, and uncertain. So, how do we best honor those we’ve lost? When he was 12-years-old, Navy Seal and backcountry snowbo...Read more

After a childhood of moving from one suburban neighborhood to the next, Jonathon Stalls felt starved for connection--to anything or anyone. In a quest to find community, he set out with nothing but his own two feet to...Read more