Venture Out
Venture Out
“I was working this corporate job, and, every day, I looked out the window and thought, ‘Man, those mountains are so beautiful, I wish I was out there’,” remembers Perry Cohen.
Growing up, Perry was an outdoorsy kid–hiking and cross-country skiing in rural New Hampshire. He was thrilled when, as a teenager, he got to sign up for an Outward Bound course. But the experience left him disappointed. For the first time, he didn’t click with the group.
Perry reconnected strongly with the outdoors in his late thirties, as he transitioned from female to male. Being outside helped Perry have an appreciation for a body that he had felt alienated from. Looking out that window, he realized that he wanted to help other transgender folks get outside.
“I thought there must be some queer outdoor organization leading trips that I could go work for, but I didn’t find one. So, I got despondent for about twenty-four hours, and then I thought to myself, ‘I’ve led a corporate HR department, I understand how to run a business, maybe I should just start one’. And so I did.”
Learn more at ventureoutproject.com
Music: Tension Drums by Bradley Carter • If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • Red Rocks by Bradley Carter • Gotta Keep Moving by Publish the Quest • Then What?! by Publish the Quest • Shine by Publish the Quest • Monsoon Rains by Publish the Quest
Tracks provided with permission from the artists.
The Shorts — Unlearning Adventure Sports
Unlearning Adventure Sports
“I’m learning how to listen to that subconscious voice of caution,” says Carmen Kuntz. “Where I used to feed on the feeling of adrenaline and risk, I now have to avoid risk completely. After a mild traumatic brain injury it’s simple: I’m not allowed to hit my head ever again.”
When an overexcited friend tackled Carmen at a bar and thwacked her head hard on a wooden deck pillar, Carmen had just started to break into the world of competitive, freestyle whitewater kayaking. That moment changed everything. Rather than pointing her kayak into Class V whitewater, for the past four years, Carmen has had to confront a different kind of challenge: the balance between the risk of re-injuring her head and the risk of losing who she is.
You can find more of Carmen’s writing at her website: CarmeneKuntz.com
If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • Sonic Roads by Cleod9 • Dark November by Wayne Kinos • Original Score by Cordelia Zars • This Song is About You by Ken Christianson • Islands by John Berry • Paranoia XXV by The F*cked up Beat • Afterglow by Cleod9
Tracks provided by Free Music Archive and with permission from the artists.
Escape From Beacon Rock
Escape From Beacon Rock
“For me, it was a way to stay connected—literally: tied to my free-range daughter by a length of 10-millimeter climbing rope, and connected to my own dream of being an adventurer,” says David Altschul. “And that was how I found myself, a few days later, on a ledge, high above the Columbia River, in the dark.”
For the past decade, David has told the story of the infamous “Escape From Beacon Rock”–a failed attempt to climb a basalt monolith with his daughter, our producer, Jen. At age 72, it dawned on him that, rather than continue to tell the story of the failed climb, he could connect with his daughter by actually climbing Beacon Rock, and doing it this time as a ‘real’ climber.
Music: If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • The Fallen by MC Cullah • Thicker than Water by Jason Tyler Burton • Caterpillar by Little Glass Men • Pale Horse Rider by Vienna Ditto • Save My Soul by MC Cullah • Blazing Day by MC Cullah • Tightrope Walker by Jason Tyler Burton • Carried Away by Jason Tyler Burton
Tracks provided by Free Music Archive and with permission from the artists.
The Shorts — Aloha Life
Aloha Life
“Here I was, a professional wilderness instructor with no food or water, a sopping wet tent and wetter sleeping bag, no way to banish the chills or signal that I needed help,” says Emma Walker. “For the first time in my career, I began to think I might need a rescue.”
Emma’s husband Bix has also worked for years as an outdoor guide and educator. So, when the two of them set out on an overnight backpacking trip to a beach on Hawaii’s big island, they were unconcerned–maybe a little too unconcerned.
You can find more of Emma’s writing at myalaskanodyssey.com or listen to her other two Shorts, “I Poo: A Love Story” and “Exit Strategy”
Music: Simplify by Little Glass Men • Waiting for Gyrotron by Little Glass Men • Biolumina by Little Glass Men • Double Helix by nisei23 • Wake Me Up by Publish the Quest
Tracks provided by Free Music Archive and with permission from the artists.
The Punk Rockers of Ski Mountaineering
The Punk Rockers of Ski Mountaineering
“The notion that there’s one dream that we’re all after and agreed upon ways in which you can verify that you are indeed living that dream drives me crazy,” says Forest McBrian. “Everyone’s dream is a little bit different. If there is a dream that we all lust after, then we’re all just trying to do what’s pushed by the media. So, yeah, this trip felt like an act of rebellion. Like, ‘This is what we think is cool. We’re going to do what we think is cool’.”
In May of 2017, Forest and his friend and fellow ski-guide Trevor Kostanich spent a month traversing the North Cascades from Snoqualmie Pass to the Canadian Border (well, almost) in a style that broke all the rules of an epic mountain expedition–in the best way possible.
Music: Zombie Dandies by The Zombie Dandies • If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • Procreation by Little Glass Men • Living in the Darkness by The Zombie Dandies • Mary by The Zombie Dandies • Nocturnal Blues by Fog Lake • A Happy Car is a Stolen Car by Vienna Ditto
Tracks provided by Free Music Archive.
