The Year of Big Ideas 2019
“For better or for worse, ideas are infectious. They become our goals, and the struggle to realize them becomes memory, the story of our lives,” says Fitz Cahall.
When Brian O’Dell decided it was time to stop driving his Honda Civic, he didn’t list in on Craigslist. Instead, he posted in to outdoor forums in the PNW. The cost? Free, but there was one catch. This year, we hear how Brian’s idea for engaging with his community changed another person’s life, and what goals contributors, staff, and community at the Dirtbag Diaries have for 2019. Our ideas are what make us keep growing as individuals–and as a community.
Happy New Year!
Music: If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • The Approach by Chumples (Bradley Carter) • Little Lily Swing by Tri-Tachyon • Underdog by Bradley Carter • Desert Castles by Bradley Carter • High Country Waltz by Bradley Carter • Primary Colors by Ken Christianson
Tracks provided by Free Music Archive and with permission from the artists.
Mountain Hollow Dreams
“I’d built it up in my head a lot–being a professional climber. This felt like the consummation of those dreams. I found the valley, I envisioned the trip, I got the funding, made it happen, stood at the base, picked the line, climbed it, sent, we were at the top and it wasn’t feeling the way I wanted it to feel,” says Chris Kalman.
Chris, Austin Siadak and Miranda Oakley got to go on what should have been a climber’s dream trip–fully funded first ascents of granite big walls in the Coast Range of British Columbia, helicopter transport in and out, minimal struggles and good team dynamics. But, by the end, Chris realized that this dream trip left him feeling a little hollow and he needed to redefine how he pursues meaningful adventures.
Want to hear more from Chris? Listen to his Shorts, “Vanlife” and “The Journey Within,” check out his website, ChrisKalman.com or order a copy of his book “As Above, So Below: A Climbing Story”
Music: If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • Cold War Echo by Kai Engel • I Dare You by Little Glass Men • Sunset by Kai Engel • Rewire Your Cables by Little Glass Men • Freaks by Bradley Carter • The Temperature of the Air on the Bow of the Kaleetan by Chris Zabriskie • Hollow by Hopeless Jack • Lost Forever by Little Glass Men • Novacaine by Fog Lake • Hope! by The F*cked Up Beat • Manly Nunn Steps Out by Doctor Turtle • Lau by Richard Smith
Tracks provided by Free Music Archive and with permission from the artists.
The Shorts–Saving Santa
“To work in tourism is to witness the human comedy,” says Joe Aultman-Moore. “Every guide has stories that start with, ‘You’ll never believe this…’. Nowhere, it seems, do people go further from the familiar than on cruises to Alaska.”
Working as a seasonal guide at a remote camp in rural Alaska with ten other men, Joe also discovered that nowhere would it be harder to find a girlfriend. He figured it would take nothing less than Santa and his team of flying reindeer to meet a girl. Can Christmas wishes still come true?
Give a listen to Joe’s first Short, The Swallow and the Anchor.
Music: Graze by Evan Schaeffer • Break by Little Glass Men • Frontier by Canyon Kids • Anxiety by Kai Engel • Little Black Balloon by Fog Lake
Tracks provided by Free Music Archive and with permission from the artists.
Endangered Spaces — Cook Inlet
Cook Inlet
Drew Hamilton makes a living by taking tourists out into the remote Alaskan wilderness to hang out with brown bears. No fences, no guns–just Drew, and the eight hundred pound, six and a half foot tall, Ursus arctos horribilis of southern Alaska. Most people call them grizzlies. These days, he does it, in large part, as a unique way to protect this magnificent landscape from the proposed Pebble Mine.
For the fifth installment of our Endangered Spaces series, our producer Jen Altschul takes us to the mainland of southern Alaska to to better understand the threats to this landscape and community, to better understand the economic drivers that keep the threat of the Pebble Mine alive and to meet the extraordinary people doing everything in their power to protect this special place.
To stay up to date on the latest from Pebble mine, visit SaveBristolBay.org and PebbleWatch.com
To stay up to date on Pebble particularly as it relates to McNeil River and the bears, visit: HelpMcNeilRiver.org
To see more of Drew’s photos, visit: DrewHH.com
Want to go see bears with Drew?! Check out: GoSeeBears.com
Check out a map of Cook Inlet here.
Music: paranoia XII by The F*cked Up Beat • If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • Brand New World by Kai Engel • Carried Away by Jason Tyler Burton • She-Wolf In My Heart by Sergey Cheremisinov • Spray Paint it Gold by Little Glass Men • Equatorial Lies by Hayvanlar Alemi • A Perceptible Shift by Andy G. Cohen • Moontime by The IMG • Global Warming by Kai Engel • Rattlesnake by Fog Lake
Tracks provided by Free Music Archive and with permission from the artists
Hit Pause
“For better or for worse, ideas are infectious. They become our goals, and the struggle to realize them becomes memory, the story of our lives,” says Fitz Cahall.
What if you could hit pause on life? This last year, Fitz turned 40. Instead of buying a sports car, Fitz took a sabbatical. Today, he presents a story about mountain biking the Oregon Timber Trail, a 670-mile-long, mostly single track trail across the state’s deserts and forests. What’s the difference between a groove and a rut? Sometimes it’s hard to tell, but being perched in the saddle might provide a new perspective.
Music: Snippet #3 by Jacob Bain • If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain and Nis Kotto • Sage Circa by Amy Stolzenbach • Manifested by Ketsa • Denouement by Kai Engel • Afterglow by Cleod9 • Sub Aqueonic by Little Glass Men • Sonic Roads by Cleod9 • Primary Colors by Ken Christianson • Moonlight’s Daughter by Jason Tyler Burton • Home by Publish The Quest
Tracks provided by Free Music Archive and with permission from the artists.
