The Dirtbag Diaries

Climber and Diaries contributor Kelly Cordes is what you would call an early adopter. Kelly may live in a shack at 8,000 feet, but the guy is no cretin. He’s had an email account for four years now. He knows how to program a VCR. He’s even considered buying one of those new-fangled Blueberry phones.  What can I say? Kelly is a mover and a shaker.  The guy’s approach to new technology is as cutting edge as his alpine endeavors, but even seasoned pros have the occasional misstep. Two and a half years, Kelly signed up for a Facebook account, promptly forgot the password and found out that negotiating social media can be every bit as difficult as picking a path through gaping crevasses, rotten ice and snow-covered rock. It’s certainly just as time consuming.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Our sports, our passions provide a special opportunity to visit the natural world's wildest places.  This tradition began with climber, writer and godfather of conservation John Muir. He was a dirtbag before he was an icon.  Now, there are members of our community -- boaters, skiers and photographers -- who are following in Muir's footsteps. They don't necessarily come from traditional activist roots, but have chosen to take stand for little places and big ideas. Today, we present three stories.  A city girl sheds caution to start a farm. A kayaker becomes a journalist. An adventure photographer forgoes a career traveling the globe to run for office back at home.   I am John Muir. You are John Muir.  We all have a Yosemite.

Can you insure adventure?  Last summer, climber and writer Majka Burhardt embarked on an adventure two years in the making. In the last moments before leaving, Burhardt decided to purchase travel insurance. Her trip to Namibia was an insurance underwriter’s nightmare. It turns out that climbing is blacklisted. On top of that, while abroad Burhardt couldn’t partake in sleigh rides, play American Football or Zorb. She didn’t even know what Zorbing was, but suddenly she wanted to try it. After all the work to make her trip happen, she wanted more than insurance. Burhardt wanted assurance that her adventure would be a success.  The thing is – you can’t plan adventure.  

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

It was a tough summer in the climbing community. We lost heroes, friends, mentors, legends, sons and parents. We celebrate their lives with stories and memorials, but after the glasses are raised and the happy times recounted, those closest to the deceased are left in the vacuum their lives once inhabited.  The living confront hard questions and dark emotions. This year, 22-year-old Evan Piche’s world turned upside down. He discovered, that even in the worst moments there are seeds of growth.

         CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

I hope everyone is out on vacation. At the moment, I'm running around gathering stories and trying to keep up with my tomato plants.  This fall we will have some familiar voices and some new ones. There will be some laughter and one very serious story. There will be tales from afar and ones a little closer to home.  I'm excited.  I've also been working on a new project -- one that will compliment what I've been trying to do with the Diaries. It will go live in January, but you can grab a sneak peak here. In the meantime, here are some cuts to close the summer with.  Tracks are listed below.


Bands:

Publish the Quest -- the new project from long time collaborator Jacob Bain.

The Secret Life of Sophia -- This Brooklyn-based band created a concept album centered around the hopes and stories of alpinist.

CunninLynguists
"Don't Leave (When Winter Comes) [feat. Slug]" (mp3)
from "Strange Journey Volume One"
(QN5, Inc.)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Stream from Rhapsody


Blind Pilot
"Go On, Say It" (mp3)
from "IODA SXSW Opening Day Bash Sampler 2009"
(ioda)

Buy at Rhapsody
Stream from Rhapsody


Matt & Kim
"Yea Yeah" (mp3)
from "Self Titled"
(iheartcomix)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Stream from Rhapsody


Frightened Rabbit
"Head Rolls Off" (mp3)
from "The Midnight Organ Fight"
(Fat Cat Records)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Stream from Rhapsody


Deer Tick
"Easy" (mp3)
from "Born on Flag Day"
(Partisan Records)

Buy at Rhapsody
Stream from Rhapsody


Rae & Christian
"Play On (feat. The Jungle Brothers)" (mp3)
from "Raiding The Vaults"
(RAC)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Stream from Rhapsody


Faunts
"Feel.Love.Thinking.Of." (mp3)
from "Feel.Love.Thinking.Of."
(Friendly Fire Recordings)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Stream from Rhapsody

Some of us were lucky enough to hoist a bulging pack onto our shoulders, stumble into the mountains and return changed at a young age. Some of us heard the mountains’ calling later in life. That doesn’t mean the passion burns any less bright.  When writer Sarah Wroot took her first hike through Scottland’s craggy hills, she was overwhelmed with a surprising notion. “If I had a pack and a tent, I could keep going. I could be free to go wherever I want,â€� she thought. The idea took hold. Today, Sarah takes us all the way the Scottish Highlands and a journey that changed her life.

Enjoy the rest of the summer. We’ll be back this fall with a whole new season of stories.

“The planks of my boat are three eighths of an inch thick. Three eighths – this is the distance between myself and the depths,â€� writes surfer and adventurer Christian Beamish. Two years ago, Beamish crafted an 18-foot-long sailboat in his San Clemente garage.  His obsession with sailboat-assisted surfing began with small week-long voyages and evolved into preposterous idea – sail the entire length of Baja looking for waves. It would be a solo mission. The proposed trip left his friends questioning his mental state and his mother in tears. It would require big, open-water crossings in rough seas, and in the end it would leave Beamish changed. How far would you go to find the physical and mental limits of human endurance? How raw does your soul have to get before you find peace?

Up in the Northwest, we say that summer doesn’t actually start until July 4th. Right now, we’re experiencing our annual June gloom. So I thought it was time to invoke blue skies and warmer temps.  A season’s worth of summits, single track and lounging on the riverbank is just around the corner. It’s time for me to do my part in the changing of the seasons.

Happy summer.

“I had convinced myself at that point that my goal was so important it was worth dying for,â€� says alpine master Steve House about his 15-year-old dream of climbing the Rupal Face. Big Dreams require big commitment. We may not all dream on the same scale and commitment levels, but we all share dreams. They pull us through our lives on solid ground.  Today writer and climber Sarah Garlick presents: The Dreamers — reflections from four generations of the world’s best climbers: Steve House, Henry Barber, Steve Schneider, and Colin Haley. In the process Sarah found out a little bit about herself. Do you have a life long dream? What if you completed it? What if you never realized it?


                                     CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

“Is there a statute of limitations on finding something you’re passionate about? Is there a certain age when learning something new becomes too much to take on, or we become to afraid to fail or afraid to let others see us fail?� writes Brendan Leonard. A few Christmases back, Brendan received a rather strange gift from his brother - an old rope. Brendan wasn’t a climber. He had no intention of becoming of climber. Sometimes though gifts can change our lives. It turns out that 60-meters of climbing rope has taken him farther than he could have ever dreamed.

“Life isn’t a bolted sport route,â€� says writer Scotty Kennedy. “The gear is sketchy and the route is difficult to read.â€�  In 2001, Scott and his wife Sophie were living in the States. Scott was interning at a magazine. Sophie was dirtbagging it in Camp Four. On weekends, they would meet up to climb in Yosemite’s high country, Tuolumne.   Sometimes small choices reverberate through our lives. Something as simple as the day’s route can carve the bedrock of our personalities.  On the Great White Book, Scott was offered a chance to look inside. What he saw was too difficult to share even with those closest to him.

In September 2008, Chad Kellogg and climbing partner Dylan Johnson stood atop 6250-meter Siguniang in Western China after completing the 10,000-foot-long SW Ridge. It was a mind-bending ascent through a massive big wall, a razor edge ridge and high altitude ice climbing. The two friends endured days without water and several sleepless nights. Dylan lost 30 pounds over the course of their ascent. If that sounds epic, it pales in comparison to what Kellogg went through to even return to the mountain that had filled his thoughts for years. During a prior trip, Chad was called home after his wife Lara died in Alaska’s Ruth Gorge. Four months later, he was diagnosed with cancer. Summits fade, routes disappear into alpinists’ memory, but occasionally mountains extend back into life on level ground. Sometimes we don’t just want to climb a mountain. We need to.

 Today, The Dirtbag Diaries launches a new companion site – The Outdoor Parent. Our goal: provide stoke. Stoke to get you out of bed before dawn for a long run through the woods or a solid surf session at a favorite break. Stoke to rally the kids out for a weekend of camping beneath dark, starry skies or just around the corner to the edges of your local park. We celebrate skinned knees, hand-me-down jeans and big smiles. We believe in unchecked imagination and learning by doing. Already, we’ve got some posts up and running. Please have a look around. Leave a comment and let us know what you think. The Outdoor Parent is looking for contributors so if you’re interested or know someone who might be, please drop us a line.

Here is what you can expect from us.

    * Perspective from climbers, skiers, surfers and modern explorers who have embarked on the ultimate adventure — parenthood.
    * Interviews with athletes who prove that chasing the dream and instilling a love of the natural world in kids are one and the same.
    * Creative tips for turning the natural world into an outdoor classroom.
    * Thoughtful discussion on topics that concern you — balancing personal goals with raising a family, risk, the environment.

Music from the show
The American Analog Set
"Make It Take It" (mp3)
from "Hard to Find: Singles and Unreleased 2000-2005"
(Hometown Fantasy)

More On This Album

“As beginners, the foreign language of awkward body movements communicates a commonality and leaves an ego naked. In this fragile moment, we are able to lay a foundation, a connection,â€� writes Becca. It’s hard to forget the first time you wedged fingers into a granite crack or careened wildly out of control down a ski slope. I bet you remember who was alongside of you.  In the outdoor world, as we age, we can become picky. We are able to discern choss from splitter granite or hard packed moguls from Utah’s finest snow.  Opportunities to return to that beginner’s wonder can be rare. Sometimes it is as simple as trading two planks for one. 

                                     CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Today’s episode has it all. Steep descents. A battle to save South America’s pristine rivers. Backyard adventure. Eye candy. Photographers and activists Brian Mohr and Emily Johnson present stories and photos from wild ski terrain and their struggle to become a piece of the conservation puzzle rather than a cog in the problem. If adventure is the reflection of the human spirit, do we need to travel half a world away to find it in distant ranges, wild rivers and unpaved roads? And if the very act of traveling harms the places you hold dear, is going justifiable? The answers to those head jarring questions don’t always come easy.  



For audio only, click here.

Two years ago, I was staring fruitlessly at a computer screen. In between half-hearted stabs at the keyboard, I thought about going back to grad school even though I had sworn that when I finished my undergrad at UW, I wouldn’t be back.  I wanted to simultaneously feel alive and afraid atop a 1,500-foot ribbon of Tahoe snow. I wished I was shaking my way through fragile hook placements on El Cap’s flanks. I wanted to be a malnourished and under-washed 22-year-old again, whose only appointment was watching the sunlight move across Western Australia. The grass was greener. The skies above were gray. I was looking back and stumbling forward, while the present slipped by.

I was sick of daydreaming.  I dropped the commissioned piece I was working on that day and started writing, guided by the same intuition that leads seasoned alpinists through hazardous terrain or pulls long-distance runners through the dark streets of cities. I wanted to explore, to grow, to learn. If the computer was going to be the vehicle – so be it.

The keyboard clicked like chattering teeth. I pulled out a mic left over from my days of playing in bands. Audio cords coiled around desk legs like creeping vines. I duct taped the mic to the battered stand (I used to rock pretty hard) and without having any idea of where it might lead, I hit the big red record button, stood up, cleared my throat and decided it was time to find my voice.   

Two years later, I’m still a struggling outdoor writer. What’s the difference then?  I’m a happy, struggling outdoor writer. The Diaries have swelled to encompass a variety of voices and viewpoints. They have become larger than one man broadcasting from a coat closet. Thank you for taking this journey with me.  Today, we present The Monoboard Revisited. Here’s to another two years of dreaming, tinkering and coming up with ways to get into trouble. 


                                       Click Here To Listen

PS It also happens to be my brother, Walker's, birthday. Happy Birthday dude.

"Climbing -- this one act saves me," says Portland rock climber Bob Grunau. Throughout his life, Grunau has struggled with the lingering clouds of depression. Until he discovered climbing, the only way to weather the darker cycles was to retreat inward into his mind. That approach worked until he became a part of a family. Grunau had to be present. In those hard moments, he turned to climbing.

High, lonesome places can provide respite and joy. We can love them deeply, but ice and rock will not love us back. Ultimately, our tenuous connections with the vertical life are not nearly as delicate as our relationships with those we love.

 
                                      CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Rangi Smart was riding a small spur of his favorite single-track trail when he stumbled upon a perfectly designed mountain bike jump. A platform of two by fours and plywood launched a rider outward and 20-feet down the steep hillside. It was the kind of thing Rangi had only seen pro riders stomp on mountain bike videos. 


The 33-year-old math teacher thought to himself, “What kind of nut-job rides off something like that?�

Then Rangi imagined that he was that nut-job.  

We can bide our time, wait patiently for our chance to shine, but more often than not, the moment chooses us. It’s our job to answer. Here’s to another year of big ideas, another year of slaying giants, bearing down, not giving up, chasing daylight, paddling in and fostering change.  We bring you the hopes, dreams and goals of professional athletes, regular joes, parents, soldiers and students.  Here’s to the dirtbags. Here’s to Mr. Smart.


                                      CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Taco Bell. Pizza Hut. Climber and writer, Kelly Cordes had one hell of resume by the time he applied for a position baking bread. The work was simple, came with food and the early starts would teach Cordes to like the dreaded 3 a.m. starts demanded of cutting edge alpinism. It was an ideal job for a dirtbag who lived and breathed climbing, and once resided in a 77-square-foot shack. Then Cordes ran into Bosszilla.








                                        CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

"Give the people what they want," my little brother told me. For the last couple weeks there have been calls for another edition of the Year of Big Ideas. Little brother had a point. They grow up so fast.

In the next week I'll be collecting goals and dreams from friends, weekend warrior and professionals alike.  This year though, I wanted to include the Dirtbag Nation. If you got something to say, drop us a line via email.  I'm not big on resolutions -- to me the word sounds like a limp-wristed Congressional process or a marketing point for an Hi-Def TV.  I want honest to goodness goals.  

In the meantime, here is a little New Years treat....Volume Three of the Dirtbag's Playlist.

In Order

Delta Spirit
"Trashcan" (mp3)
from "Ode to Sunshine"
(Rounder Records)

More On This Album



School of Seven Bells
"Half Asleep" (mp3)
from "Alpinisms"
(Ghostly International)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Stream from Rhapsody


Windmill
"Tokyo Moon" (mp3)
from "Puddle City Racing Lights"
(Friendly Fire Recordings)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Stream from Rhapsody


Feral Children
"Billionaires vs. Millionaires" (mp3)
from "Second to the Last Frontier"
(Sarathan Records)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Stream from Rhapsody


Frightened Rabbit
"Old Old Fashioned" (mp3)
from "Liver! Lung! FR!"
(Fat Cat Records)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Stream from Rhapsody


Elliott Brood
"Oh, Alberta" (mp3)
from "Tin Type"
(Weewerk)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Stream from Rhapsody
Alias
"Well Water Black (feat. Yoni Wolf of WHY?)" (mp3)
from "Resurgam"
(anticon)

Buy at Rhapsody
Stream from Rhapsody
More On This Album



Marching Band
"Gorgeous Behavior" (mp3)
from "Spark Large"
(U & L Records, Inc.)

Buy at iTunes Music Store

If stories are the currency of travel, then writer Ryan Nickum is a very wealthy man. By the time he turned 30, Nickum's passport was chock full of the brightly colored patchwork of entry and exit stamps from dozens of distant countries. He was consumed by a desire to travel and haunted by the inability to sit still. The gaps in his resume developed  into oceans between jobs. Cynicism grew. The overwhelming urge to quit the job and pack a bag sprang up every six months like a song that would not leave his ears. With his career stalling and idealism flat lining, Nickum looked into his past to search for the seed of the travel affliction.  There was only one person to blame -- his father.

What makes the traveler's feet restless? Is it nature or nurture? Writer Ryan Nickum presents Bedtime Stories for Wanderers.

Warning: This episode contains radio nudity and Christmas carols.

Christmas trees are a massive business. Americans spent $2.5 billion on Christmas trees in 2007.  For the last five years, I have been stingier than Scrooge when it comes to a Yule Tree. In 2008, I’m a changed man. Armed with a handsaw and empowered by a National Forest permit, I wandered out into the Cascades to search for the perfect Christmas tree. Sometimes in the darkest days of winter, a little light isn’t a bad thing.

“’You should get a bike. It will change your life,’ my friend Nick said. I heard this over and over again like a nagging brake pad rubbing on the one wobbly spot on a dented wheel,� writes Colorado-based writer Brendan Leonard.

Leonard wasn’t a believer until his friend showed up his doorstep with a gift – a 1989 red Trek bicycle. As he began riding, Leonard found his life falling into the smooth order of a finely tuned bike. To find a center, some people practice Yoga. Others meditate.  All Leonard needs is a dark road and no particular destination. As he says, “There is rhythm and with the rhythm comes a clear line of thought.â€�

What scares dirtbags? Global warming? Nine to five? Johnny Law? The unequivocal answer – bears.  After sifting through the entries for the “Night of the Living Dirtbagâ€�, it became clear – bears scare the daylights out of you all.

To celebrate Halloween, we bring you two tales of terror. Contest winner Chris Peters explains why it pays to listen to the safety talk and a very special guest remembers a family vacation to the Alaskan wilderness gone wrong.   Fear is a funny thing. Whether the threat is real or imagined, the emotion of fear – heart-pumping terror – is just as powerful.


                                CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

The Bohrer clan isn’t your average Idaho Falls family.  “Our neighbors have trampolines to break neighborhood children’s ankles and wrists.  We’ve installed a slack line for that purpose,â€� writes father of five, Steve Bohrer. Juggling goals in the mountain with parenting is no simple task. Sometimes balancing competing passions requires combining them into a lifestyle. After all, whether you’re old or young, everyone likes to play hooky if there is snow on the hill.

A 1,200-foot rock wall in a wilderness area – that’s standard summer fare.  In a day and back before dinner? Sounds easy. Without a car? That’s when my climbing partners stopped returning my phone calls.

Even with growing environmental pressures and climbing gas prices, we’ll drive hundreds of miles to exist in landscapes devoid of gridlock and angry horns. The irony can be hard to ignore. Recreating without a car might seem impossible, but this summer I set out to test the preconceived notion. What happens when you find yourself trapped in the Urban Jungle? You blaze your way out.

If you plan on calling Craig DeMartino inspirational, he would prefer you wait to see if he can even drag his butt off the ground. After loosing his leg in a climbing accident, DeMartino had to retrain his body and learn his craft all over again. He hoped one day he would compete against the able-bodied, but taking on Chris Sharma in a World Cup? That was beyond dreams.

Craig DeMartino takes us to Vail and the Teva Mountain Games. Behind the bright lights, big names and massive crowds, climbing’s everyman gets his moment in the sun.

                                      CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

August has arrived and it's time for me to get out and enjoy some of the summer weather before gray skies return to Seattle.  That means hitting the road to record some stories.  I'll be back on the air with a whole new season of stories the first week of September, but in the meantime I wanted to leave you with a little tide me over....The Dirtbag Playlist Vol. 2 -- my favorite music from the last six months' episodes. Enjoy.

Tracks

1. Music for 18 Musicians - GVSU New Music Ensemble

2. Martha Ann - David Karsten Daniels

3. Video Tapez -- AmpLive

4. In the Hole -- Ken Christianson

5. Friends Like These -- Mobius Band

6. Golden Soldiers -- Golden Shoulders

7. I'm Gone - Bradley Carter

8. L.E.S. Artistes - Santogold

9. Pack Up Remix -- Latyrx

A mythical, semi-secret, surf spot on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast – that’s as descriptive Australian Duncan McNee would get. This secret break, a quick bike ride from McNee’s day job as a high school teacher, requires the perfect synchronicity of swell, tide and windless days. On average, the variables come together once every two years. Sometimes the world shines on us. The wind dies. The tide drops. School lets out early. It’s up to us to catch the wave of a lifetime. At long last, we bring you a surfing story. Amen.

True or False? Standard pushing is for the pros. If you want to shape skiing or climbing, you have to ditch the job, move into the car and find a deep-pocketed sponsor. The tiny window afforded to weekend warriors couldn’t possibly be enough time with which to make an impact. Right?  

Today, we bring you the Crusade, the story of two stockbrokers, an engineer and a nuclear physicist who, with a little help from the Internet, helped shaped American ski mountaineering without ever leaving their backyard. There will be no helicopters. No corporate expeditions. No photo shoots. Just a decade-long odyssey from the ambitious imagination of youth across the Cascades' steepest faces all the way to the unsettled wisdom of adulthood. It turns out weekend warriors are just as capable.

The photo and video enhanced version will be out shortly. 

                               Click Here to Listen

For more background info:
Cascade Classics
Cascade Crusades
Ski Sickness

In the Year of Big Ideas, my childhood friend Brad laid it out – he was going to climb El Cap in 2008. Never mind that he had minimal climbing experience or had never even been to Yosemite. We schemed and scheduled “vacation.â€� We planned and tried to convince others to join us, but in the end, Brad and I were on our own to wrestle with one very big – arguably bad – idea. We had four days to pull it off. We would have to climb faster than we could manufacture excuses. 

A third of the way through 2008, where are you in your year of big ideas? We’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment and a little inspiration. What have you ticked off the list? What’s left?

                                 CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Life was good. The approaches were short. The routes straightforward.  The work wonderfully mindless. After a long dry-spell of writing, a job as a climbing guide at Smith Rock was like a vacation from life. I was 22 again, not a failing writer struggling to pay the rent. It was too good to last.

Through the years, I’ve tried to escape words and journalism, but the writing life always has a funny way of creeping back into my world.  This time it came in the form of a 230-pound cameraman with a fear of heights, a fast talking New York producer and a 30-year-old broadcaster trying to return to her childhood.  It turns out you have to earn your 15 seconds of fame.

What defines you? Is it your past? How you look? I doubt it. It’s the course we chart from dawn to dusk that makes us who we are.  Seventeen years ago, Sean O’Neill – artist athlete and big brother to pro climber Timmy O’Neill – lost the use of his legs after jumping from a bridge into the Mississippi River. After the accident, Timmy dreamed about helping his older brother climb El Capitan.  In 2005, the brothers decided it was time to act.

Reporter and podcaster James Mills brings us a story about two brothers, one very big cliff face and a 17-year-old dream.  Sometimes climbs don’t end with summits. They can extend on into our lives.

Great outdoor writing lacks ego. When listener Andy Guinigundo’s email appeared in the inbox on a rainy spring day, I read through it, read it again and thought “Damn, I wish I could have been there.â€?  That’s because no matter where you ski, whether it’s the Alaskan steeps or a local hill in Southeast Indiana, a powder day is a magical thing. That’s the great thing about skiing, climbing or mountain biking – you don’t have to be a professional playing beneath stadium lights to understand the crowning achievements of our sports.

Andy has been skiing for decades. During the gray and often rainy Midwest winters he works ski patrol at Perfect North Slopes, a small resort across the Indiana border from his home in Ohio. Until a March blizzard, a powder day was something he had only heard about. I’d been wanting to create some smaller shorts between feature episodes, so Andy joined us in the Dirtbag Diaries Midwest Studios, a.k.a. his walk-in closet, and gave us his own farewell to an unforgettable winter season.

                                   CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

In spring of 1991, Tom Broxson survived a 200-foot fall – a full rope length -- off the top of Yosemite Valley’s Washington Column. To this day, Tom, his climbing partner Pat and the rescuers who saved his life aren’t exactly sure what happened. There are guesses and conjectures, but the exact moment that changed Tom’s life will always remain a mystery.

Dr. R. Adams Cowley, the physician who pioneered our modern Emergency Medicine System, once said, “There is a golden hour between life and death.â€?  His theory that a patient who survives a grave trauma has 60 minutes to reach the operating table was the guiding axiom in emergency medicine for decades.

In these precarious, defining minutes between life and death, patients fight to live, rescuers put themselves in harm’s way and decisions are made in an instant. Sometimes rescues don’t go all that smoothly. Today, with the help of Yosemite’s first responders, we bring you Tom Broxson’s story of survival, recovery and will. It turns out an hour can last a lifetime.

                                 CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

The Weather Channel’s Local on the 8’s. NOAA. Surf cams. We’ve all been there – staring at the places we would like to be through a computer or television screen.  We shut our eyes at our desks and try to imagine the feel of cutting through powder or climbing on a sun drenched cliff.

Success in the high country requires early starts and leaps of faith. The same can be said of careers, school and family. Our dreams in the flatlands take nurturing. They require our love and time, and when our personal goals grate against the pursuit of summits, glassy waves and powder days, our heads can fill with a feedback loop of tough questions about where we’ve been and where we’re headed.

Today, I’m proud to present a new voice. Becca Cahall brings us All These Things – a story about getting older and skiing faster.  We’re headed for British Columbia’s Selkirk Mountains – an incredible range of open alpine faces, perfect tree skiing and tight chutes that every backcountry skier dreams of visiting. When the life’s pressing questions mount, the only antidote is the inner calm found in cold wind, burning lungs and the hiss of skis sliding across snow. Enjoy.

Today marks the first anniversary of the Dirtbag Diaries. Along the way, hundreds of you have written in offering words of encouragement, story ideas and suggestions for improvement. Some of you have even offered to donate money, which is so very kind, but totally unnecessary.  That said I have a way for you to help us grow and improve. While the Google machine is powerful, it can’t tell us everything. So in an attempt to pigeon hole you and get your feedback, we’re going to have to do this with a series of highly scientific questions presented in an audio file.

Our crack team of marketing and statistic analysis experts -- namely my wife Becca --have informed me that we will need at least 100 responses to get a sufficient sample. I think we can do it.  So if you want to help ensure the future of this podcast, go ahead, open your email account and address a message to our email. Click on the "Listen Now" button below and get ready to write. This isn’t an NPR pledge drive. There won’t be any tote bags or Dirtbag Diaries travel mugs.  The only reward you will receive is pride in supporting something that you care about. This is what independent media is all about.

Thanks for your time and effort.

--Fitz Cahall 

In the summer of 2007, kayaker and blogger Shane Robinson found himself paddling down Peru’s isolated Apurimac River, one of the Amazon’s five major tributaries. Ahead of him lay the Abysmo – a deep, daunting gash in the earth. Thousand foot cliffs rose from the river bottom. Once inside, bailing would be next to impossible.  Shane and his partners, Andrew Oberhardt and Bryan Smith, knew two things about the stretch of river that they were paddling into. First, the Abysmo was going to be big. There would be miles and miles of massive slot canyons and fifth class white water. Second, the end of their journey would come in the form of a big, ugly, orange bridge named Puente Pasaje. Everything between was unknown water.  They had no map, no aerial photos and enough food for five days. Fifteen years of kayaking had led to this moment.

                                  Click Here to Listen

  

“You don't have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things -- to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals."
                                   -- Sir Edmund Hillary 

There is nothing more fulfilling than grabbing an idea out of the air, giving it shape and realizing it. Our dreams, hopes and goals give shape to the year’s course and ultimately our lives. Today we bring you the “Year of Big Ideas� – a show all about goals, some big, some small. We’ve interviewed friends, professional athletes, random people on chairlifts, anyone we could rope into contributing. Climb harder. Ski faster. Push deeper into the mountains than ever before. Here’s to dreaming big and going bigger in the New Year.

There was nothing exceptional about how Ryan Utz and Micah Helser became friends.  After nodding at each other in the office hallways for weeks, they happened to discover that they shared an interest in sustainable building.  They got to talking and pretty soon found that they both shared a love for climbing and the great outdoors.  While the beginnings of their friendship sound average, the circumstances were anything but.  

Micah and Ryan were members of Charlie Company, a medevac unit serving the Baghdad area. Together, they were responsible for shepherding the wounded and the dead from the Iraq’s battlefields to the hospital in a Blackhawk helicopter. They cared for fellow soldiers, Iraqi police and the civilians who got caught in the midst of the violence. In the process of saving others, they dodged bullets and mortar rounds. In the long empty hours between shifts and missions, they needed to find a way to escape back to the things the loved the most. So in a flat, arid country plagued by violence, they set out to do the one thing that might seem impossible – to go climbing.
 
Today, we bring you the tale of two friends -- both climbers, both soldiers -- and their quest to create a lifeline back from the frontlines to the things that matter the most – friends, family and that freedom found only in open spaces. We are headed to the world’s most improbable climbing wall. This is Camp Taji. Welcome to Iraq.


                                     Click Here To Listen

Digg Us

Every aspiring photographer dreams of capturing an iconic image. It’s the same kind of motivation that draws young skiers to intimidating lines in foreboding ranges and pulls ambitious climbers to Yosemite. We imagine these moments a thousand times in advance, but when we finally arrive, we are often surprised and humbled. Epiphanies require stumbling.

In 2005, photographer, writer and avid cyclist Blake Gordon set out to take the trip of a lifetime.  With camera in hand, he joined brothers Mike and John Logsdon as part of their Spinning Southward Team. The Logsdon brothers were in the midst of pedaling 15,000 miles and raising money for the National Brain Tumor Foundation. Blake would join them to ride the final leg through Patagonia.

For Blake, it was almost like a math equation. Plug 2,500 miles worth of pedaling through a raw and lonesome landscape, add a couple of close friends and Blake was bound to get an image that flawlessly conveyed the essence of the Logsdon’s journey. Even before his flight touched down in Santiago, Chile, he could already visualized that image. He already knew what this trip would be about.

Today, we present The Reckoning – a story plucked from the pages of a young photographer’s notebook. You can ride your bike to the edge of a continent, but when the road ends it doesn’t always lead to neat resolutions.

Digg Us

There’s no such thing as a perfect job. There’s always a catch – nagging bosses, gossiping co-workers, crummy benefits. That’s why we get paid to work.

But what if there was a magical place where you could get paid to climb? At the center of this kingdom is a mountain, and all you have to do is climb it. The job pays well and during your four hours of paid break you have the run of the place because your boss is too busy moonlighting as a talking duck to discipline you. It also comes with some sweet perks. The employee lounge is actually a secret lair atop the peak, and you’re allowed to cut the line to ride the roller coaster.

What happens when a bunch of climbers are left unsupervised with the keys to the Magic Kingdom? Find out. Some jobs are perfect, even if Tinkerbell is out to get you.

                                     Click Here To Listen

How do people remember the dead? Some people stuff wrinkled snapshots into wallets. Others build ornate mausoleums. Others ensure their friends’ memories by creating goals that can never fully be realized. In 2003, my friend John Bombard lost his battle to cancer. On the day of his passing, I stumbled across an unclimbed route on Washington’s famed Prusik Peak. It was so beautiful, challenging and improbable that I would probably never complete it, yet my youthful enthusiasm and commitment were unflagging. This would be my own awkward offering to my friend.

Today on the Dirtbag Diaries, we’re traveling from the halls of a New England boarding school where two boys forged an unlikely friendship to the wind-swept wilderness deep inside the Cascade Mountains, where a trio of climbers have been hard at work solving one of the Northwest’s greatest free climbing projects. Some prayers can never be whole.

For the photo enhanced version click here.

I want you to think back to the first time you touched granite, rolled a kayak or linked ski turns. Whether you’re pushing your sport to new heights or daydream about first tracks during your rush hour commute, those first experiences are something we all have in common. It probably felt a little daring, slightly awkward, but absolutely wonderful, and while the waves may get bigger, the routes bolder, they never get rawer.  

This week the Dirtbag Diaries brings you the First Time – stories about people’s initial experiences in the outdoors. Instead of one big episode, we’ve gone ahead and split this week’s broadcast into five parts. We’ve got some very special guests. Some you may recognize. Others, we are proud to introduce. Click on the story description to listen.  A complete music list from this weeks broadcast can be found in the comments section. Part Five is a listener favorite.

Part Five: Snowboarding can't change a life. Snow melts, but life doesn't get any easier. Deep seeded change can only come from within. Today, we're headed all the way from New York City's notorious Bushwick neighborhood to Whistler Blackcomb's ski slopes to discover how snowboarding helped transform a young woman headed for trouble. Stephanie McLawrence, a self-described bookworm from Brooklyn, brings us a story about finding a second chance in a first time.

Part Four: In the last decade, Steve House has pulled off some incredible ascents in the Canadian Rockies, Alaska and the Himalaya. Today, we're going to look back through the eyes of an 11-year-old boy. House tells us about the day his pursuit of high places began and very nearly ended.

Part Three: For listener Erin Shea, February 14th will always be linked to cold, darkness and the sound of falling ice. Now that's our kind of love affair. We bring you the story of a lonely M.I.T. undergrad who has a very special Valentine's Day.

Part Two: Pro kayaker Tanya Shuman tells us about her search for the perfect wave. It's a journey that took her around the globe before leading her back to the place where it all began -- Skookumchuck Narrows.

Part One: A 22-year-old Coast Guard ensign finds his inner child in the Alaskan mountains and barely escapes.

In 1996, photographer John Burcham and three friends completed the first foot traverse of the 650-mile long Alaska Range. Together, they forded streams, chased off curious grizzlies and crossed crevassed glaciers. After 75 days, they had become a single unit. After delays mounted, Burcham decided to leave the group at the very end of the trip in order to make it to his sister's wedding. He said goodbye and parted ways. He was alone in the continent's last great wilderness with a sobering realization -- crevasses, hungry wildlife and hypothermia can kill you, but loneliness can drive you crazy. 

Click here to watch the enhanced version with photos from John Burcham.

Check out the comment page to find out more about the music from the episode.

In May of 2007, I made a mistake that should have cost me my life when I slipped high on a Central Oregon volcano.  I fell between 250-300 feet, over a cliff, through rock bands before grabbing a rock out cropping and stopping my fall. I'm still not sure how I stopped myself. Amazingly, I walked away with a sprained thumb. This week the Dirtbag Diaries presents the Anatomy of an Accident. What do you take away from a near-death experience? Is there meaning in it? If so, what does it say about our relationships with these mountains, these rivers and these oceans.

There is a fine line between a life-lasting memory and disaster. Whatever the discipline -- alpinism, big wave surfing, foreign travel -- we calculate risk, formulate plans and sometimes we have the spunk to see them through.  This week we're headed for Laos to recount the story of two friends and one spectacularly bad idea.  Join us as we follow Jacob Bain, Colin Brynn and a bamboo raft down a river at the edge of the world. Sometimes bad ideas work out for the better...sometimes.

For the photo-enhanced version, click here.

There is no textbook on adventure journalism, but if there were one, it would contain one single, steadfast rule -- you can't photograph adventure from a safe distance. There are no sidelines in wilderness. El Capitan doesn't have a press booth. Even for the most safety-conscious, danger can come in many forms -- falling rock, toxic jellyfish, even a bad case of the Itch. This week, adventure photographer Corey Rich gives us photos and the untold stories behind them. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Which words? Find out.

To stream the enhanced version click here.

Episode 3 -- Many of us associate our vehicles with freedom, independence and youth. Even as we come to terms with the fact that automobiles may be an unnecessary evil, it's hard not to think back to that first surf or climbing trip and day dream about open windows, loud music and a best friend riding shotgun. Can a hunk of metal have a soul? What happens when the motor finally stops running? This week we bring you the sometimes-true tale of a 1974 Mitsubishi Sigma, a boy on the cusp of adulthood and a life changing journey across Australia. My Odeo Channel (odeo/8219bb1ebcf3cd36)

In this week's episode, we are headed for a remote cliff in northern Arizona where we join rock climbers Albert Newman and James Q Martin as they attempt the first free ascent of Tooth Rock. It's been a three and half year odyssey for the duo. They have suffered through life-threatening rock fall and severe dehydration with the hopes of creating one of the finest routes in the desert. Join us as we follow along on the first free ascent of More Sand than Stone V 5.11 and explore the fine line between determination and stupidity.

Gaper. Touron. Weekend warrior.  As mountain people, we can be a cold, hard lot adhering to an "Us and Them" mentality, but at the root, what makes a dirtbag a dirtbag? Is it a look? The clothes we wear or the skis we ride? Or is there something deeper to out culture? Can anyone be a dirtbag?

This week, Fitz Cahall finds a kindred spirit in his monoboarding landlord. Welcome to the Dirtbag Diaries.