Outside Podcast

It’s Saturday, which means it’s time for another Long Read podcast from the Outside Archive. Today’s story combines two things that you don’t expect to go well together but wind up really working, like peanut butter and cucumbers (try it, seriously). In this case, those two things are cool camp footwear and … international grand larceny? Writer Scott Yorko tells the unlikely story of how Bedrock Sandles—one of those great “if you know, you know” outdoor brands—was pushed to the brink of insolvency when its first shipment of a new clog was hijacked by thieves after arriving at a Los Angeles port. It’s one part underdog business profile and one part hardboiled detective tale. By the end, you’re both rooting for the scrappy team at Bedrock and feeling significantly less comfortable with how vulnerable our entire economy is to the growing threat posed by these crime rings. And, it’s a great reminder that, no matter how intricate and snarled global supply chains become, there’s always a human being at the other end of every purchase you make. Now, please enjoy “The Great Bedrock Clog Heist”, by Scott Yorko, read by a friendly robot. And remember, if your favorite way to read is with your ears, I encourage you to join Outside Plus. It gives you unlimited access to everything in the Outside Network, including more audio stories, plus mapping apps like Trailforks, Gaia GPS, and MapMyFitness. And for our podcast listeners, we have a special offer for 25% off. Head to outside dot watch slash listen to learn more.

The Outside Days festival Denver is coming up fast, and you should come! If you need further convincing, check out one of our favorite episodes from the vault, which just so happens to feature the frontman for festival headliner Death Cab For Cutie: Ben Gibbard. The singer, songwriter, and guitarist applies the same approach to ultramarathons that he does to touring: just keep moving. Ben got into distance running almost by accident, randomly entering a trail race in Northern California without realizing the trail went uphill, then dowhill…and back uphill. Somehow, he instantly fell in love with the grind of long distance endurance running. Ben has since entered close to 50 races, training hard even when he’s on the road with Death Cab For Cutie. For Ben, running is a way to connect back to the playfulness of childhood and embrace the unknowns that come with pushing your body and soul to the limit. Enjoy the episode and check out Death Cab For Cutie and more at this year’s Outside Days.

Howdy folks. PaddyO here with a special treat: We’re going to be sharing some of our favorite feature stories from Outside Magazine and Outside Online every Saturday. We call these our “Long Reads,” and they’re the kind of eye-opening, sometimes heart-pounding, always inspiring-you-to-go-outside storytelling Outside has done for decades. Think of it as a weekend couch read type thing, but one you can do with your eyes closed. These stories are made possible, first and foremost, by the intrepid reporting and deft phrase-turning of our ace writers. And, second, by wild advances in text-to-audio technology—I bet you won’t even notice that you’re listening to a robot. If your favorite way to read is with your ears, I encourage you to join Outside Plus. It gives you unlimited access to everything in the Outside Network, including more audio stories from Outside, Backpacker, Climbing, SKI, and more. Plus mapping apps like Trailforks, Gaia GPS, and MapMyFitness. And for our podcast listeners, we have a special offer for 25% off. Head to outside.watch/listen to learn more.

We love our spur of the moment adventuring. Maybe a pal calls us up for a self-inflicted, day-long backcountry sufferfest, maybe we decide on a whim to see how many miles we can push it on a bike ride, maybe we sign up for a Turkey Trot 10k with no training. But there is one woman who has taken that “maybe I’ll get off the couch and just try this hard thing” mindset to the ends of the Earth. Literally. This past January, Monet Izabeth became the first American woman to ski solo and unsupported to the South Pole; 700 miles, 57 days, whiteouts, extreme wind, and minus 40 temps. Monet is no elite athlete. She’s a self proclaimed normal-ish woman who asked, “I wonder if I can do this?” And then went to the ice sheets of Antarctica to find out.

Endurance running is objectively terrible: the immediate quad and lung burn, the myth of runner’s high, the blisters, the chafing—running is brutal. And yet, there are brief moments when running can make you feel strong, capable, and proud. Just ask Anthony Clary. After a college football career, Anthony began running following a terrifying prediabetic diagnosis. But what started as a health scare transformed into a passion. Anthony battled through some of the worst things life can throw at you and found belonging, community, and purpose though running. And then he did something even more remarkable—he figured out how to make sure an entire community of people feel the same thing every time they lace up their shoes.

We use our smartphones in service of our outdoor time all the time. We plan trips, track our runs, hikes, and bike rides. Use compass and mapping apps to better navigate outdoor fun. We take photos and videos of our adventures, archive these precious memories in our Favorites folder. And if that’s all we used our phones for? Well, then we’d be happier and society would function better. Unfortunately, we live in the real world, which science journalist and author Catherine Price has documented rigorously and with depressing clarity in books like “How to Break Up With Your Phone.” Fortunately, she’s given equal thought to alternatives, in books like “The Amazing Generation” and “The Power of Fun.” That second one taught her a lot about the role time outside has to play in helping all of us redefine our relationship with technology and ourselves.

In the runup to the third annual Outside Days festival in Denver, Colorado, at the end of May, we’re revisiting a panel that podcast host PaddyO moderated—or rather tried to moderate—while stand up comic Eeland Stribling, Instagram and TikTok phenomenon Matt Lyons, and the new host of the Warren Miller ski and snowboard film Katie Burrell, riffed on the endless ways we can poke fun at our outdoorsy selves. After all, if you can’t laugh at yourself while sleeping in the dirt, running unreasonable distances, or applying chamois cream for the 57th time during an especially grueling bike ride that is, ahem, “fun” then you probably need a snack. Take a listen and be sure to check out the full lineup of bands, panels, speakers, and events, and snag your tickets of course, for this year’s Outside Days festival at https://outsidedays.outsideonline.com. See ya in Denver at the end of May!

Hot Take: We should camp for camping’s sake! If you’re anything like me, your camping is often (always?) in service of some greater objective, whether it’s a backpacking trip or mountain you’re climbing or a weekend of mountain biking. But are those objectives actually greater than simply hanging out under the clouds and stars for a few days? Campthropologist’s Rolland Tizuela doesn’t think so. The San Diego-based creator focuses on making camping accessible and approachable for beginners, inspired in part by research he conducted on the culture of hiking and camping while getting a degree in sociocultural anthropology. In Rolland’s view, everything we do at camp—from cooking to tent siting to going to the bathroom—is a fascinating form of community building. It’s a conversation that has me excited to bring little more than a tent and a mellow attitude to my next overnight outdoors.

Every great character has a captivating origin story—the thing that explains not just the how but also the why of who they are. Santa Fe’s Katie Arnold is a great character: a writer, ultra runner, and Zen practitioner who rattles off insights about running, adventure, and the outdoors the way most of us rattle off to do lists. And her origin story is a classic: gal graduates college into a big city job, but a yearning for not just someTHING else but also someWHERE else rewrites her whole script. For Katie, the thing was a yearning for wide open space and where was Santa Fe, a place with the trail access, high alpine beauty, and an adventurous, irreverent community she didn’t realize she needed until she found it. What happened next was nothing short of life changing, and holds lessons for anyone with an itch they can’t quite scratch and yearning for wild places.

Today we are celebrating one year of PaddyO as host of the new interview format of your beloved Outside Podcast. We’ve got some big plans for this next year, and to commemorate the occasion we are revisiting one of our (and your) favorite chats. Enjoy this conversation with standup comedian and snowboarder Scott Losse. And thank you for tuning in! … An interesting thing happened when Scott Losse started poking fun at snowboarders and mountain bikers in his Instagram posts: He went from being sort of known around Seattle as a stand up comedian to blowing up across social media as the guy saying all the things a lot of us think when we’re at the mountain, on the trails, or in the bike park. Losse’s observational humor about the outdoors has transformed his trajectory as a comic; more importantly, it helps ensure our often painfully self-serious social feeds, filled with inspiring-but-totally-unrelatable accomplishments, get a little more silly.

In the mid-90s, the cultural collision of music and sports was everywhere in pop culture. You saw it through the brand new X Games and MTV Sports, in movies like “Point Break” and “Airborne,” and you heard it through what we used to call “alternative rock.” The band Third Eye Blind was a staple of this era, so you’d think that frontman Stephan Jenkins might have followed a similar trajectory to his rock god peers of the era. But you’d be wrong. Stephan, a surfer since childhood, grew up in the Bay Area and his break of choice is San Francisco’s notoriously big, dangerous, and sharky Ocean Beach. And he’s not just out in the water looking for stoke; he's a tireless ocean advocate. For as long as he’s surfed, Stephan has fought for kelp restoration and plastic reduction along the California coastline. He also regularly volunteers with the Jimmy Miller Memorial Foundation, which helps veterans treat PTSD through surfing. This connection endlessly—even subconsciously—influences the music Stephan makes. Turns out, when you spend your life in the water and making music, the two things combine in ways that it takes a lifetime to understand.

You’re on a hike and the faff of daily life won’t stop clanging around your head. Then, all of a sudden, the to-do list instantly evaporates when you notice dappled light dancing on the trail. Calm sweeps over you and you’re filled with a great sense of connection and gratitude. This is the phenomenon of awe and it’s not just an ooey-gooey feeling; it’s a new area of scientific study. Just ask social psychologist Dr. Paul Piff. Through ingenious experiments conducted on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe, Piff and his research team have identified that corner of California as potentially the epicenter of awe. After hiking along its shores and gazing upon its iconic waters, Piff’s Tahoe participants have responded with increased feelings of selflessness, empathy, and happiness. And the good doctor believes that if we can harness the effects of awe we can tackle the greatest societal issues of our time: the loneliness epidemic, digital addiction, and even the intractable polarization of society. This is all investigated in great detail in Outside TV’s new show “ Beyond Awestruck: The Scientific Search For Connection”, out now. And in this chat Dr. Piff outlines how our time outside is far more meaningful than cool views and handfuls of GORP.

You’re on a hike and the faff of daily life won’t stop clanging around your head. Then, all of a sudden, the to-do list instantly evaporates when you notice dappled light dancing on the trail. Calm sweeps over you and you’re filled with a great sense of connection and gratitude. This is the phenomenon of awe and it’s not just an ooey-gooey feeling; it’s a new area of scientific study. Just ask social psychologist Dr. Paul Piff. Through ingenious experiments conducted on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe, Piff and his research team have identified that corner of California as potentially the epicenter of awe. After hiking along its shores and gazing upon its iconic waters, Piff’s Tahoe participants have responded with increased feelings of selflessness, empathy, and happiness. And the good doctor believes that if we can harness the effects of awe we can tackle the greatest societal issues of our time: the loneliness epidemic, digital addiction, and even the intractable polarization of society. This is all investigated in great detail in Outside TV’s new show “ Beyond Awestruck: The Scientific Search For Connection”, out now. And in this chat Dr. Piff outlines how our time outside is far more meaningful than cool views and handfuls of GORP.

Outdoor folks love to push themselves to go farther, faster, higher, etc., and there’s a good reason for it: When you climb a big mountain or finish that half marathon or ski that steep run, it can translate into a confidence that makes hard things in the rest of our lives seem less daunting. But most of us are just as—or maybe more—familiar with the feeling of talking ourselves out of big goals, because they seem too complicated or scary to pull off. When that happens, we’d all do well to listen to skier and artist Chris Benchetler. Chris’s latest film, “Mountains of the Moon”, literally stretched the boundaries of what’s possible in adventure filmmaking. The movie was shot almost entirely at night, often in sub-zero, rugged backcountry terrain where massive lighting installations were built to paint the darkness and capture the athletes in their one-of-a-kind glowing skeleton suits (did we mention all the music is from the Grateful Dead?). It’s astonishing that the film even got made, but Chris has built a career and a life based on a simple principal: don’t avoid doing the hard thing just because it’s hard.

“Chill”, “mellow”, and “relaxed” are probably not words you think of when you hear about the latest climbing feat from Alex Honnold. ”Terrified” and “mesmerized” likely better describe what it felt like watching live as the ropeless wonder scaled the 1,667-foot Taipei 101 skyscraper. So you might be surprised to learn that Alex recently did something else for the TV camera that was, in fact, pretty chill, mellow, and relaxed. A new show on Outside TV called “Get a Little Out There”, showcases a side of him rarely seen—the one where he’s a husband and a father who just likes to get outdoors and explore everything his adopted home state of Nevada has to offer. It’s fascinating because, while watching Alex enjoy decidedly non-life-threatening adventures like stargazing and mountain biking and hanging out with a donkey in a bar—you know, normal Nevada stuff—he comes across as down to Earth and full of insights and ideas that will resonate with anyone looking for more everyday adventure in their own lives.

Big wall climbing is about as relatable as space travel to the average human. To whit: When Sasha DiGiulian and her partner Elliot Faber attempted the audacious Platinum route, they planned to spend 15 days on the massive wall. Then, 2,600 feet up, a freak winter storm pinned them inside their tiny portaledge tents for nine full days. But just because Sasha has the skill to get herself into that bonkers situation and the focus and pain tolerance to make it out—her and Elliot ultimately completed the climb in 23 (?!) days—doesn’t mean she herself is unrelatable. In fact, in a career racking up one of the most impressive big wall resumes in climbing, Sasha has developed a remarkably simple recipe for success. Fortunately for you, understanding it is a lot easier than hanging off a massive cliff for over a week.

In the 1980s and 90s, Bill Bradley was a video rental mogul. At his peak, he had stores all over Santa Rosa, California, was worth millions of dollars, and was seen as an industry innovator. That's probably why he was dismissive when a little company called Netflix appeared and proceeded to lay waste to the entire video rental industry. In a whiplash-inducing turn of events, Bill lost everything—his riches, his business, his marriage, and his sense of purpose. Prior to this life explosion, Bill was a casual runner, plodding along in a few marathons and Ironmans. And when he was at his lowest, he dove head first into the world of ultra endurance sports. Since the collapse of his VHS empire in 2005, Bill has taken on the world’s toughest challenges, like the Arrowhead Ultra, the Badwater Ultra, swimming the English channel, and attempts at the world’s tallest peaks. And yes, he has set records along the way. But what is truly remarkable and what turned Bill into Epic Bill, is that he has come short far more often than he has crossed the finish line. Epic Bill believes that his failures have taught him more than any victory ever could. Because how you try at one thing is how you try at everything.

April Vokey turned a gift for fishing into a career as a guide, a TV personality, a podcast host, and the founder of an online community and education platform under the brand name Anchored. This gift set the direction of her life as a teenager, and it helped her after a drunk driver nearly killed her in her 20s. It’s powerful stuff, but possibly less powerful than April’s other gift: the gift of gab. It’s tough to describe the infectiously exciting way that experiences and insights pour out of her, so best to just sit back and enjoy the feeling of being swept away. Needless to say, April’s our first guest who managed to spin a single yarn that included catching the fish of a lifetime, a foiled backcountry skinny dip, a takedown of fishing bro culture, and the intersection of menstruation and adventure. Buckle up folks. You’re about to get the April Vokey experience.

If you’ve ever felt like forces beyond your control have grabbed the wheel of your life’s metaphorical car and are driving like a lunatic, there are no shortage of purported experts who claim to have the solution. Meditation, journaling, throwing away your possessions, saunas, ice baths, saunas then ice baths … it’s overwhelming. So here’s a different tip: ignore all that and take a cue from Brenna Huckaby. Brenna was forced to amputate her right leg above the knee after a devastating cancer diagnosis in her teens. She learned to snowboard as part of her recovery, and two years later she was a World Champion. Brenna has stood on the Paralympic podium three times, but if you’re thinking, “What an inspiration!”, hold that thought. She’ll represent the U.S. for the third time in a row at this winter’s Paralympics in Italy and, unlike the 2022 Games in Beijing, she didn’t even have to sue the International Paralympic Committee for the right to compete. Brenna’s perspective on disabilities and elite sports is hard won, and she wants you to watch this winter’s Games—but not for the reasons you might think. She doesn’t want your pity, but she demands your respect, and if you listen carefully you’ll learn a lot about what it means to take back control of your own life.

There’s no guarantee that your kids will be into the same things you’re into, so Jeremy Jones knows he’s lucky to have two who froth as hard about snowboarding as he does. But what do you do when your kids want to literally follow in your tracks, even though those tracks go down some of the biggest and most technically challenging lines in the history of the sport? Jeremy is a consensus pick for one of the best big mountain riders ever, and just as beloved for his pioneering work as a climate activist as the founder of Protect Our Winters. But it’s possible that his greatest accomplishment is raising a daughter and a son who are flashing the lines that made him famous—and not freaking out while watching them do it.