Latest / The Steep Stuff Podcast / Connor Koch | Mountain Artist

Transcript

Connor Koch | Mountain Artist · The Steep Stuff Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up, fam?
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Steep Stuff Podcast.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, james Lauriello, and today we're going to dive right into a really fun episode.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: None other than my friend, connor Cook, joined the podcast, the Arc'teryx athlete.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: He's a climber, he's a skier, he's a mountain runner.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Connor basically does it all Mountain movement.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: I'd like to refer to him more as a mountain artist in a lot of ways.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: While he is absolutely a formidable and studly athlete, the man is also a mountain artist, interesting character, wild boy.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: This is a really fun episode.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: We talked about a lot of stuff.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: We talked about where he came from so humble beginnings, dealing with injury, lots of different record attempts, lots of different opportunities and things he's gone after in the past years, such as, like the Colorado 14ers, skiing the grand all kinds of mountain movement and mountain adventure.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: It was definitely one of my longest and, for sure, one of my favorite podcasts.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Connor is an extremely inspiring guy and I'm just so excited to see where his career takes him.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: It's an interesting one.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: So, guys.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: I hope you enjoyed this one.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Without further ado, none other than Mr Connor Cook, time Ladies and gentlemen, we are live it kind of.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: It's kind of lackluster today.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: We're in the middle of a move and I got shit all over the place like shoes on one corner, I've got gear in the other corner all kinds of stuff, man I I'm glad that you can't see the state of my gear room right now it's embarrassing.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: I have this, uh, becca my my partner calls it the time capsule.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Okay, because I have these shoes, uh that I really love that arcteryx discontinued and I have like a backstock of them that I managed to procure in various formats.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: So I have you know all my current gear, but then I have, like the archive.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it's just, it needs a reorg dude.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: I would be lying if I didn't tell you the amount of just like shirts because, like I so before I got sponsored by la sportiva, I was like I used to run in these, uh, uh.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: What is it?
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: the black diamond shirts, you know, the ones that have like the new yarn in them yeah dude, I must have bought like five of them and like only opened one and I would wait to destroy the one and then use the other.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Dude, I have like literally like so much shit and like that I had to pull out of that closet and figure out what to get rid of and what not to in the middle, yeah.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: And then shoes, don't even get me started.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Man Like just oh my God, yeah, um, um, it's kind of nice to purge though it's.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: It's a very relaxing feeling.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: It's great to purge, but it's also, um, you know, I love seeing what's out there Right, and, like I obviously have a relationship with Arcteryx and, um, you know they're able to take care of me head to toe and that's fantastic.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: But I I really enjoy switching it up and kind of seeing what's going on right, like every now and then I'll try and run into hoka or try out the normal stuff or yeah you know, I think it just keeps you current yeah um, so I yeah, there's a lot of gear out there.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: There is so much stuff.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Man.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Well, dude, I definitely want to introduce you, uh, for those, uh, so a lot of the listeners are more I, I guess you could say like the sub ultra proper to the ultra running scene.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: You are an interesting character because you do it all basically.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: So I definitely want to and you're, you're, I don't know you represent this, like this artistic approach to it, which I really admire and love.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: So, maybe, introduce yourself, talk a little bit about your background and, uh, we'll break it down from there yeah, totally.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: Um, well, I'll continue your sins.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: I do it all.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: I don't necessarily do it all at a world-class level, you know, I, definitely I.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: I'm proficient in many forms of mountain travel and, you know, always learning and growing Part of I think what's driven me to like the multimodal approach to my career in life is, you know, sort of just an innate lack of, like, pure athletic horsepower, but also my curiosity about, you know, how to move through the mountains in the most efficient and engaging ways as the seasons change and as my own motivations change and, you know, opening up these different doorways that allow me to experience the mountains in new ways.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: So, um, you know, I'm definitely like a proponent of the right tool for the job.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Um, if you could see my ski quiver, you would, uh, you would definitely see that I subscribe to that.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: But, uh, you know, at the end of the day, like I like to keep it simple and move through the mountains, um, quickly, efficiently and, uh, in a way that I feel proud of and where did you grow up?
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: yeah, are you from the?
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: west.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I am from too far west.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I grew up in california, okay, um, kind of on the outskirts of san diego.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so out east in the desert, outside of san diego, tiny little spot, same house my mom grew up in wow um, yeah what, uh, like what, what drew you to the mountains?
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: like, did you have like one experience like for me, I?
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: I was a senior, I grew up in florida, dude for the most part and I was a senior in undergrad.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: I studied geology and we came out for this like undergrad geology camp, if you will, for six weeks in the mountain west utah and colorado, stayed in the san juans and was like, oh shit, yeah, I'm moving here, like when the as soon as I can.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Was there any like experience like that that drew you to the mountains, that were like I have to come and like this, this is what I want to be and do?
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: yeah, um, you know, for me the draw was not the mountains per se, and as uh cliche as it I guess sounds like, the mountains just became the thing, and I'm really grateful for that.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: Right, like they've divined, they've defined my entire adult life, um, since I was 21 and moved to Colorado.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Uh, however, before that I would say I was more just, uh, a lot of energy with a very little direction.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Um so, I'm similar.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I had some, had some trouble, kind of struggled with school.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: You know, barely scraped by, cal Poly deemed me fit to give a degree, but I don't put my GPA on any applications, let's put it that way, same dude.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: So, you know, I always just felt like I knew there was something more out there for me that wasn't in the standard format, and mountains have provided that, you know.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: You know, I, I got this incredible job right out of school.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: Uh, I had a professor that had co-written a book with Eric Weinmayer, eric's best known as the first blind man to climb Mount Everest.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: And Eric was my entree to climbing in the mountains and, um, designing and believing in a different way to to live your life and show up in the world.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: So, uh, I've just been trusting the process, yeah, but I, I didn't grow up, uh, groomed to be climbing or skiing royalty or anything like that.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: I had to teach myself how to ski when I was 22.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: Oh, man, dude, it was brutal man, me and you know, 35 year old kids and just face planning at a Keystone.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: And it's tough in its own right to like learn how to ski just because, like I don't know, this is no shade at like the ski community I just find it to be.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: The barrier to entry is a little bit different than like, say, like mountain running or just running in general.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Where you know running, you need a pair of shorts and some shoes.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Where you know running, you need a pair of shorts and some shoes, whereas skiing it's it's not just as expensive, but it's like trying to find the person to help you and want to like be that liaison, to like teach you if you you know it's.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: It's not that easy.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: No no, and it's uh, it's less universal.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: It's obviously very location specific, like I can go run in central Nebraska and have this amazing run and skiing is just not that uh, you know, egalitarian uh in terms of locations, but just uh, it's a cool tool in my life, right Like I ski a lot, given that I live in Bozeman.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's talk about that.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: How did?
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: you?
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: How'd you land in in Montana or in Bozeman?
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Um, man, I had this kind of well, you know.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: So I worked for Eric for four years and Eric and I are still friends and climbing partners to this day.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Um, it's just massively influential in my life, uh, and, and my climbing and my approach and, you know, kind of fast tracked my, my progress and, uh, the mountain world, which you know is one of those things I really can only understand.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Excuse me, like in hindsight, looking back at that and being like man, how lucky did I get?
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but Bozeman was just, I was basically just wandering around looking for a home.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: Um, I had left Colorado.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: Uh, I lived in Mammoth lakes for a number of years.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Um, beautiful area, beautiful, incredible access, I think the best in the U S.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: Um, right up there with, like, jackson and tell your ride, but, you know, suffers from some of those same issues.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Um, or, you know, like pros and cons everywhere Right, like I think that, uh, the resort community, the sort of transient nature of that, the difficulty to live there, um, all of that just made it really not feel like the ultimate right place for me.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: And so, uh, when I got injured, I blew my hip out in mammoth.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was lame.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: Um, I took that opportunity to just kind of do a hard reset.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: I moved to San Diego for a year to do the surgery and recovery.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: I guess I was only there for seven months or so, um, but just wanted to be out of the mountains a little bit and kind of reassess my relationship with them and with risk and, uh, you know, recover eating tacos and hanging out at the beach, not like crutching around on ice, uh.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: And then I just packed up my truck and drove to Montana and uh, that's pretty much the, the summarized version, but I just had always kind of had this draw.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: One of my best buddies lives in Bozeman.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: His name's charlie fear.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: He manages spire rock gym, uh, which is our, you know, our local, local rock gym, independently owned, and uh, just kind of fell in love, never, never, turned back.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: so how many years have you been there now?
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: I've been there full time for three years okay, sweet, yeah, sweet.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: It's a beautiful place, man.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: That's great.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: That's where everybody bases out of.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: I feel like for the rut when they come up to go run the rut.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, cause this guy's not a place like yeah, it's like, uh, an idea.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, exactly.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's probably, in fact.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, if you're in the area, dude and be dope man.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: It'd be great, I will.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: I should race the rut because I live there.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, dude, it's like like perfect mountain race.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: I know it's a 28, I'd love to do the 28k, okay, um, I think that's like the best parts of the 50k, without the additional sort of weaving around and you know, just definitely uh oh, you know the course.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Well then, because I the 50k is kind of contrived, a little contrived.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's a great course, Like Mike and Forrest and the team have done a fantastic job.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: You know, one of the things about the rut that is interesting is it's the only way to access Lone Peak in the summer.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Oh, really yeah.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: You can't go up there, you're fucked.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: Then it's just they own the front of the mountain, yeah, so you can get up the backside.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Okay, but you better like bears and bushwhacking, so yeah.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Oh man, we'll talk about grizzlies and shit like that.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Let me let me backtrack a little bit.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Dude, when you blew your hip you would you labrum tear or what'd you do?
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: yeah.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: So I was skiing, um, of course, uh, I just kind of caught some ice, I was going a little too fast in a pretty steep feature and um just letting it rip and caught a tip, uh pulled the hip back behind me.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Full labrum tear, full thickness interior, um, I think at like two o'clock there on the.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: You know if, if, if the front is 12, uh, and then fractured the condyle head.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: Um did some other.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: Oh, I tore my rec them all the way through so I had a grade three rec them.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Terror was hanging on by a couple of fibers.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: Uh, so kind of, you know, not the greatest uh injury to come back from but something you feel right at like.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Are you like not able to walk like right away from that you?
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: know it's funny.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like I actually skied out that day, yeah, but I was like man that was, that hurt a lot, but like it didn't, like everything was still attached technically, so I was just like, yeah, I strained it and skied out of there and then things just kind of went downhill.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: So, um, yeah, I had to get the surgery and do the full, full kind of rebuild yeah sew it up and, uh, you know the tissue, the thing with the hip surgery, that's funny and this is like I don't know.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: There's probably a lesson in here somewhere, but like the injury or the, the repair rather, is less injurious than the process to get to the repair right.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: So like if they were able to just magically go in there and sew up the labrum, you, you're back in action pretty quick, but they have to cut through an incredible amount of muscle and tissue and fashion, you know, really lay open, and that's the thing that takes a lot of time to recover from, is like all that trauma to get into that capsule.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Especially as, like an athlete, your muscle groups are so much bigger than like a general normie, if you will.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, there's a lot to that.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe, and like I you know, probably less like general stuff to cut through right Like pretty, pretty cut and dry, like just muscle fiber and some bone.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: But the um, and this is a this is actually a great takeaway for me from this surgery.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: I had this great surgeons Part of the reason I went to San Diego.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: Um, Dr Joseph Rebeletto, he, uh, Italian.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's the man, dude, the Italian stallion that's right he um, so he and I did our my pre-op right and I called and said you know you got to get me on the calendar.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: You got it.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: Here's the deal, like explain the whole thing.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: These guys love working on like people that are going to get after it.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Right yeah.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: Like not just going back to quote unquote like normal activity, like they want to see their work in action.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: And so, uh, he and I did my pre-op and he's, like you know, this is about a six to 12 month recovery, which is a big window, and I said, great, like no problem, I'll be there in six months, like that's easy, I'll take the low end, right.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: And he goes, no, no, it's actually the other way around, because if you want to do the things that you're actually doing now, you got to extend that right.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Like he, this guy works on MLB players and you know real athletes, um, and they're always on the higher end of that recovery spectrum because the upper limit is more.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: And so it was just a total lesson in patience for me and, um, you know, trusting the process and getting my body reoriented and I feel, uh, if not physically stronger, I feel like a smarter, more complete athlete now uh given the process.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: So what was the PT like for that, or how long was that Like?
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: my PT.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: My PT is great.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: His name's Alex Serna.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: Uh, he's based in San Diego as well, and I did the like annoying PT shopping.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: Um, cause, you know, you call these places.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: They give you a list.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: You call the places.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, any one of our PTs can work on a hip thing.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, like, we work with skiers for sure, no problem, anyone, anyone's welcome here.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's just not the answer I wanted.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: Right, like I wanted.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: Hey, this is the person to work with and they know skiing or they know movement, and they know what you want and they will work with you to do that very smart.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's only one pt I'll work with.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, shout out to sean rimmer.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: But yeah, dude, I feel you on that, like you have to pick the right well I mean, if you want to recover and get back to where you were and if not like looking for improvement, right, the only way you're going to do that is finding the right, yeah, so, I had a great team and I went in to this office every day.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: So you know they usually do three, four times a week, 30 minutes.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: I'd go in, do my exercises, do my PT do more exercises.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: You know, two hours a day in this office, just kind of hitting it, and I'm very lucky in that regard to have the time to uh to do that.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: So, um, yeah, I'm, I'm back in better than ever, yeah.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: That's years in the past now.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've been skiing for uh, this is going to be my fourth season back on skis and dude, you've done a lot, man, like you know, done all the 14ers you've.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: Have you skied the grand or you just ran the grand?
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: I skied the grand.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've skied the grand in march of this last year, yeah, which I'd love to talk about oh, dude, let's, let's actually the worst conditions ever before we do that, let's talk about what you do with our terror.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, totally yeah yep, so, um, I'm an ambassador for arcteryx.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: My relationship with Arc'teryx extends back through 2019.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: They were the first company to just believe in what I was doing, and by that I mean to understand my approach as unique and maybe not, like I don't know that, different amongst a certain subset, but certainly I have an aversion to racing, I have an aversion to large crowds generally, especially in the mountains, very, um, I would say, artistically driven and sort of like emotional and physical and, um, you know, driven by curiosity about myself and the mountains and my relationship with them.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: And so, uh, I I have a contract with Arcteryx that's centered around, uh, my mountain athletics uh, which includes primarily endurance focused activities as well as high and technical climbing and mountain travel, all the way to community focus.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: So, emceeing film tour stops for the winter film tour, leading run clinics and training groups, product design and development from the internal side, and being like a, a liaison and ambassador, I guess, for the, for the brand, with regards to, um, you know, showing up in the community and helping people uh understand archeterics in the brand.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: So, a little bit of everything, uh, I think it's it's, it's amazing, it's what a great time too.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: I guess I feel like now and I don't know if this is public information, but like now, with like adam campbell kind of at the helm for like the athletes, like I think that it's a it's the best time to almost like be an athlete for them.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Plus, like with the innovation, like I know, like the Norvan and like some of the new shoe innovations that you guys have out, and like I can only assume that they're just going to continue to improve, improve, improve on those.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, there's like a lot I don't know.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: I just think exciting time to be a part of that brand.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Did you guys have the most expensive fucking jackets?
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: I was.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: I, my wife and I were walking around Manhattan like two months ago.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: It was like early October and it was like raining and I was like, oh, I forgot my sportiva jacket.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: I was like maybe I'll.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, expertly made, it is so well made you guys make the best shit.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: I I think it's the best.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: Um, yeah, I'm biased, of course, but I think that arcteryx is making uh products at a level that few other brands are.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Um, part of that is maybe, like, the core history of the, the brand, the long-term relationship with Gore-Tex, uh, the R and D, testing and development and, um, you know, facilities that we have at the Vancouver headquarters, um, in addition to the backyard, right Like the coast, mountains, and then all of the stuff that I do in the Rockies and the athlete team does in various locales around the world, right like that's all incredible testing.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, um, adam's great and that that is uh, you know, I guess I would say public information.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: Like Adam is leading up the um, athlete feedback and kind of running the helm for the, the pointy end, I guess, as it were, of performance at Arcteryx.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: I couldn't think of a better person for that.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: He's great.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: He's dude.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: And and Adam is someone who I really look up to right Like, adam is a um, I consider him like a mentor to me.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: Uh, I had the good opportunity to uh teach with him and co-instruct with him in Boulder at our uh run Academy.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: That we did last year and you know his vulnerability when sharing his story, uh, about the fall, about the avalanche, um, where he lost his, his wife, uh, you know the the whole person approach to athletics.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: I just I look up to that so much and I think we need more of it.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Um, so I I really yeah, I think adam's a fantastic fit.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: He's he's really great dude.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: The first time I met him he was telling.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: He told me this story about, like, how he got on the team and like back in the day, back when our tarix was like five people or something like that, he's like.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: He's like I forget how he said it, but something along the lines like he sent them I don't know if it was a pitch deck or like some sort of like write-up about, like, you know, joining their athlete team and about, like, what they can improve upon and like like they had a quick meeting with him and then boom, he was on the team and like that's kind of how it all started and it's just crazy to see like that's like one of the biggest outdoor brands in the world.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: It's probably the biggest outdoor brand in the world Now you can.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Solomon.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: I don't know, I guess Amherst still, Amherst still owns all of them, right, or something like that hammer owns um a number of companies, including solomon and arcteryx yeah um a couple, you know, sort of non-endemic to the outdoors like wilson basketballs and some other really yeah, yeah uh, but arcteryx is the the big driver in the portfolio at this point, yeah, um.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, arcteryx has had pretty meteoric growth and, uh, man, it's good brand to be part of.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: I'm very fortunate.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what are you doing tonight?
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: What are you doing tonight for them?
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: What am I doing tonight?
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: I'm, yeah, so I'll be at the Boulder store tonight.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: Um, that's December 5th, uh, 2024.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: And this probably won't launch before then, but it's come out in a couple of weeks.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I'll give a little little summary.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: Um, I'm presenting with Mike Thirk, who is a photographer and Arcteryx ambassador.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: We're doing a little study on movement and form in the outdoor creative space, specifically centered around a ski shoot of me skiing in Rocky Mountain National Park.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: And then there's another presentation with Greg Hill, who's the first guy to do a million vert in a year, kind of thing.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: Oh, wow.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: One thing I really appreciate about Greg Greg is amazing, because all these guys and gals that are doing the vert challenges, right, there's someone who just skied, I think, three million this year and so he's gonna hit a million meters.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: He's, he's right there.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: I think he's got, you know, 970 000 meters of vert this year, which is just sensational, like unbelievable amount of vert, a hundred percent of it, and I, I could be off, there could be some backcountry, but the vast, vast majority of it is done into ski area.
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: Wow and so, yeah, from a physical standpoint, very impressive.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: From a mental standpoint, very impressive, right, like the just drive to keep doing laps and doing it every day, doing 10k days, every single day.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: What a monster, doesn't matter where you're doing it, that's hard, right, but, like, for me, I'm I'm personally just zero percent inspired by that.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: Like the, the movement at a ski area is for me a means to an end yeah if I have to train and, you know, enhances my ability to move and be in the mountains, but I, you know, it's like running on a treadmill.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: So yeah um, incredibly physically impressive.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: I think, probably the opposite end of the spectrum of, like, what I care about in the mountains, um, but yeah, it's uh.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: I don't even know where we started with that, other than, oh, yeah, greg hill.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: So greg hill isn't it's amazing, because he was the guy who did, you know, the first guy to do a million vert and uh, in a year and he did it, I think, all in the mountains on like what a big serious lines like combatant kular and, um, you know all these monstrous uh coast range lines and glaciated terrain and all that.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: And so I think like when you look at those, it's very hard to compare 3 million in a ski area and a million in the wild mountains, right, like how do you even compare those?
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Dude, hold that, thought I have to pee so bad.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: We're back.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, sorry about that dude.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no worries Um, I guess I was wrapping up by saying you know, greg's just a really notable athlete and been with our church for a long time.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: So I'm excited to co-present with him.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: That's dope dude.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: What a cool thing.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Like I don't know, um, yeah, the opportunities, I don't know, just to be public facing and do a lot of that stuff is it's a fun aspect, like I don't know it's.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: It's I feel like it balances the job a little bit because, like, if you're all weighted on performance, or if you're weighted on a project or this, that and the other, I don't know, I think it makes a little more fun to kind of balance it out and get interact with the public when I've I've made those mistakes in the past, right with, like, centering my own self-worth or my focus completely on outcome related or performance related things and, um, you know, for some people I think that works it just it just doesn't for me.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: And the ability to take these things that I get to do in the mountains that are inherently very selfish and, uh, you know, package them up and sort of release them into the world in a fashion that maybe gets more people out into the mountains, is is a it's a cool opportunity for me, right like I think the artistic approach, that's, that's what I would suggest, like I don't know say as more of the artistic, because, like I don't know what I do, I'm more of a, I'm very performance based because I love to race, I love that competition, I love to destroy myself and see how, like I don't know, I'm just a weirdo like that.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: But like there's also that side of me that up until I'd say the last month or two, was very into more the I don't know more of the fkt scene and like more, like creating aesthetic routes and doing things like that.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: We could talk.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: Well, I'll talk more once we get to the grand teton about why I?
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: have certain views around certain things with fkt.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: I do too, um, but that said, yeah, I don't plus like dude, I don't know.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: The other thing too, that that really it's like who is anyone like this is no attack against fkt, but it's like who is anyone to say like, well, whether this route, you know, if this route inspires me, that's why I'm out there fucking doing it, because I'm excited to go do it, right, you know?
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: Or this link up, or whatever it could be, you know?
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Um, sorry, I'm going to get off my soapbox.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: What is your?
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: What is your?
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: I'm going to take a take a left turn on this one.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: What is your training?
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Look like you know like you're.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: you're obviously a fit dude.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: You do a lot of different sports, like different modalities, like are you a big gym guy?
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: Like what are you doing?
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, um, so you know, my training is uh pretty contingent upon, like the season, right, so I, as much as possible, I want to be outside, right, I will always take an outdoor workout over an indoor one when possible.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: That said, there's the value of the significant value in training in the gym and training in a specific way.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: I personally have just really benefited from a lot of gym work, a lot of focused, structured, pretty like basic gym work, right, nothing too uh insane, but some nice squats and deadlifts, um, some good core work, uh, really getting everything stabilized and evened out, right, like, I had weak hip flexors for a long time because of this injury and probably before that.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: Uh, obviously, for climbing, it pays to train in the gym, especially in the winter in bozeman, when you're not, uh not rock climbing outside so cold yeah you can go ice climb.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: Um, you know, I do typically like a builder every fall into winter and then a builder every spring into summer.
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: Um, those can get interrupted by certain objectives, um, especially in the spring when I'm kind of like hitting it hard, scheme out and nearing, but that's when I'm tailoring and ramping into my Alpine running season and then in the fall I'm doing a little bit more low and slow, heavier gym work, tapering into my ski season and being able to move uphill for a long time in tough conditions.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so yeah, I've got a coach.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: Do you, who do you work?
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: with.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, his name is Tom Stott.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: He's based here in Colorado, actually based in Nevada.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: He's kind of like a guru.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: He's um.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: He's the right coach for me yeah he's got like the.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: He'll give me, you know, a workout and maybe my workout is um.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: You know my workouts are typically by volume, so I'll do say 90 minutes and my running workout in the 90 minutes is a little bit of warmup, some interval blocks right, let's say, I'll do some threshold type work right.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: So you know, 10 minute block, five minute recovery, or 10 minute block, equal recovery, right, Whatever it is that we're working on or wherever I'm in my program, and then alongside that, either intra or post or before, however I want to structure it, I have maybe, say, a gratitude exercise and I think the parallel of that really helps me tie my joys of life into my training, versus being in the mindset of I have to train, like this sucks.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: Um, and there are of course days like that when it's cold or I'm tired, or life adds up, you know.
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: But uh, for me that approach has really helped kind of infuse some some life into my training.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: I like that dude.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Are you uh like for your I don't know if you're higher zone, like interval stuff?
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Are you big heart rate guy?
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: Do you pay attention close to that?
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: Or like what are you?
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: What are you doing for?
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: that, Um I am.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: I train largely by heart rate, even on the bike, which I use to you know, kind of dial in some specific workouts, especially in the spring and summer.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: I don't do a lot of like trainer work in the winter, I just would rather be skiing.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: But yeah, a big heart rate guy, I do wear the Coros combo.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: Same Love that, by the way, it's great, got my.
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: Coros heart rate monitor on the you know, the armband.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: Um, I also do train by feel a good bit, and by feel I mean understand what each heart rate zone feels like and have my heart rates dialed so that I can train according to.
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: Okay, I need to be between 116 170 for this block, yep, or whatever it is.
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: And then maybe my third workout of the week Right, and I'll have a typical week for me.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: I'll include two to three structured workouts and, um, that's a lot Wow.
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, but some of them are small, right, so like I'll do, um, you know, uh, and by structure I mean maybe the day before my big block, work is uh, an hour with some striders, just like some pickups.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: Right, so just kind of priming me for the big work and I found that that actually works well for my schedule where I go, you know, open day, block primer day, block work, maybe like a strength day, and then into my quote unquote weekend where I do the bigger stuff right with a partner zone 102 yeah, exactly yeah, and you know going 8 to 12 hours and you know that's how you get to a 25 to 30 hour week.
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah he's doing those two massive days, or, you know, spreading them out over the week.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: But um.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: That leads to massive fitness gains, man.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: It leads to a big pyramid of fitness.
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and uh, you know it's hard to assess the impact that that long-term base building has, but, man, it's just, it really goes a long way and pays off, uh, pays dividends down the line.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: So, um, you know, when I trained by feel, it's like relative pace, effort, right, so maybe I'm still in that one 60 to one 70 range, but it's more about, um, the like feel of the output, and I'm actually deliberately not looking at my heart rate so that I can kind of get that effort-based tie and not just looking at it and saying like, okay, I'm at 160 and I'm breathing hard, like just kind of having the you know proprioception associated with it yeah, yeah, dude it's.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: I love being a little bit of a mad scientist about the training, like it's so much fun.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: This year was the first year I like really dialed in the heart rate like and or the heart rate zones, if you will and started doing like a lot of like really like before then I had like worked with coaches and did all that, but like I wanted to be way more hands-on and, dude, it's made like it's like just in, like not a very long amount of time.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: Like it's worked wonders with my like fitness all together.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: Like I've seen like little tweaks and stuff like that plus man like strides go such a long way.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: People don't understand yeah yeah, strides and like yeah, I do.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: I mean like obviously a large amount of stuff in like zone one, zone two, like obviously on the weekends, but I'd say it's probably similar actually with on during the week.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: I'm touching zone three, like maybe a little more than it should be, but zone three is the most improvable zone, so it's like you can push that lactate threshold pretty far and see where you can get that.
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: So well, and it's also nice to have the like get up and go right like I actually think it's like a safety component.
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I do most of my training in zone one and zone two.
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: Most of my outings are also in zone one and zone two yeah maybe if I'm racing like I raced telluride this year and I'm hitting zone three, zone four, probably zone five and some of that, right if I really dug into my data.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: I was redlining up the we'll talk about that, we'll get into tmr yeah, but like you know, in the mountains I could be moving slow.
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: On a 10-hour day I could be moving slow for nine hours and 45 minutes, but there might be 15 minutes where I need to like punch it, and that could be conditions related, it could be safety related, it could be, um, you know, getting up and getting out of the wind, like whatever it is.
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: You want to be able to kind of tap that gear.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: Um, so, even just a little bit of that high end work, I think, helps you kind of even out your offerings.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: No, you're so right, man, and the science is looking like even more Like you.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: Look at people like David Roche is probably the best example.
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: Incredible.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, like now he's kind of transitioned to this 100-mile specialist kind of thing, but like the dude does a ton of speed, like a ton of speed, constantly a threshold, threshold, and it's like you know, I think the the old school notion is like, oh, I gotta run slow to build this big base, but it's like, no, you have to be very deliberate about when you're using that zone one, zone two, and you should be doing a lot, like I don't say a lot but you should be doing a considerable amount of work in that zone three, even some of that zone four.
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting when and I think and I mean it doesn't even matter what I think, because the examples are out there you can be a world-class long distance, ultra, ultra distance.
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: You know, 100 mile runner yeah or more, at 60 mile to 70 mile weeks.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, like you do not have to run 100 to 120 mile weeks and destroy your shoes and your tendons and your relationships, and all right, you can hop on the bike for 20 hours or whatever you know.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: There's like a lot of opportunities for cross training to where, like, people don't really understand, like you know, you don't have to do that to destroy your body, right, you know?
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, dude, let's talk TMR, cause I was excited at you know, I was training with Brad a lot before his 20 mile effort.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: Uh, at the T was the 2024 mile race, yeah, that's right getting him ready for that.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: And you know, I know you came out to the 13 just fucking.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: I think I'll probably do that next year it's a cool course.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: Well, dude, the trophies are dope.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, one of those on the mantle, dude with the big nail.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: I wish I had one.
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: I got fourth.
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: I know, I know it's all right well, brutal, let's, let's take a shot of the woodshed next year.
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, kind of fun um, yeah, I do plan.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: I think I'm pretty sure I'm going to put it on the schedule for next year.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: But, dude, what was your experience like?
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: Because that was a a local arc event that they put on and I think it like really just like shined this year with the, the backing of our tarix, as well as like the like the athletes that came out for it yeah, totally.
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: Um, well, you know, this is like I would call it, like my annual race.
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: Uh, last year was Pike's peak marathon and uh, this year was TMR.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: Uh, telluride mountain run is, uh, pretty grassroots.
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: Um, you know, I think gosh, it's gotta be over a decade old and it's been going for a bit.
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: You know it's not a brand new event.
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: They keep it, I think, intentionally small and also telluride sort of crafts that, by just the nature of being so remote, right, it's hard to get to.
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: It's high, it's, I would say, pretty intimidating terrain.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, um, very technical and probably the closest thing we have to like a euro type sky race, um, right up there with like broken arrow and that kind of thing.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: Uh, there's some spots on the course.
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: You do not want to biff it.
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: Uh, the the telluride structure is similar to the rut in that they have the you know marquee distance, uh, 40 miler.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: Um, they've got the sort of middle distance, 24 miler, and then the uh, fast, fast, you know, hot and heavy 13 miler.
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: Uh, it'd be.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: I think they could add a vk and it would be sensational, dude, yeah I've been saying this for a long time.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: They should add a vk.
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: They should, yeah I mean, they've got the terrain.
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: It's at altitude, it'd be brutal.
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: They've got the ski area.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: Uh, you know roads like the san sophia gondola type roads, um, which are included on a bit of the course.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: So, uh, the the 13 mile is like close to a vk and then just some cool single track downhill yeah um it's I think it's more than that.
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: It's like 40 something or 4 000 something feet.
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: It is more, but I think you know, based on like the ratio right of like distance to vert, like I don't know if it actually technically qualifies, but yeah, it's 13, I think the course actually ended up being 13.8 or 14 miles and 54 or 5500 feet of vert.
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: Damn, that's a good amount, dude pretty burly and I think all the vert comes in the first five miles.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so you just you're punching it and then you have a little bit of climbing, maybe another thousand feet over the remainder of the course, with like some kind of ups and downs, but you're doing some some beastie.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: I've ran it backwards.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: I ran it from the way you guys come down on, like that road or whatever bear.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah so I've ran it up.
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: There was this there's this little race in july that they put on.
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: It's like the bear creek, yeah, yeah, 10 mile or something like that.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: So it's a little bit less in distance, but it's like 40.
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: It's like 45, 4800 feet of vert that was like wow, this is a great like because you get on to, you're able to get on to like the ski area if you will, yeah, it's dope, it's a, it's a great, great race.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, the going in reverse, I just I like way much, like just a lot better just because it's more climbing, yeah well, until you ride.
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: Uh, you know the tmr organizers do this great job because a lot of times you have the marquee distance and then a bunch of like afterthought courses that are just, you know, chopped versions of the long course.
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah and each of these courses has um a component that is unique to that distance.
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: So the 13 is the only one that goes to the top of gold hill.
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: Oh wow, and at the top of gold there's this uh sort of like via ferrata looking stairs right, yeah, exactly there's stairs.
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: There's a photo.
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: Uh, I'll send you for the pod yeah, where like I'm just bombing down these stairs onto talus.
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: Like you have metal stairs talus, you've got like a little hand line around this knob and there's photographers like hanging off the side and taking photos of you running by, so it's pretty hectic.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: Oh, dude, you got me sold man.
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: I'm coming out, yeah, but what was funny is I of course wanted to do the 40 or even the 24, and I was just battling an injury all summer and I was kind of like game time decision and decided to do the 13 night before.
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: They were super cool about it, you know, accommodated that, no problem.
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: And uh, I went out and kind of like did a little fitness litmus you know fitness tester on the on the 13,.
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: But I was not really prepared for any distance per se, I just had to had to put it out there.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: I mean like 13,.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: It's a perfect distance, like that half marathon to a little bit longer.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: Because like, yeah, I don't know, I was talking to brad about this because, like he wants to, I think he might go back and do the 24, and I was like, dude, that's so fucking far, man, that's so far.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: I was like, just do the 13, like you know it's, you're gonna hurt really bad for like two, two and a half hours.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: Yep, you know, and then it's over.
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: You know you don't have to be out there for four to six hours like killing yourself.
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: And yeah, I don't know and it's nice to like red line right because the 40 is very hard and some of our athletes did that.
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: I think anthony lee did it.
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: Um, johnny did my climbing partner and you know, perennial uh dude, is it true conspirator?
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: somebody told me he like I think it might have been brad that he like, went, like, like, like literally stopped halfway through the race, like went and had a salt bath and then like went back out and finished yeah, so this is a great story.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: Uh, johnny, so johnny morsecato and I have been climbing partners and best friends for a decade now.
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: We've climbed all around the world together climbed all the colorado 14ers on the california 14ers, many, many more peaks and valleys around the world.
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: Um, johnny is just kind of a.
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: He's just a maniac like the guy, just thinks differently.
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: It's a wild boy, yeah, and he did the 40.
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: He was falling apart, he was having like a quad issue at, I think, mile 30 or something like that.
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: Because you, you come back into town and the course runs, like adjacent to this Airbnb that we had the little like athlete crash pad for our clerics.
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: And Johnny, I called him like dude, where are you?
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: Like I was trying to track his little dot.
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: You know, I've been done for like three hours, right, I just did the 13.
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: I'm hanging out, I'm already in cozy clothes drinking hot chocolate and, uh, like Johnny, where, like where are you, man?
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: I'm hanging out, I'm already in cozy clothes drinking hot chocolate and like Johnny, where, like where are you, man?
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: I'm tracking you and you're like at our house and he was having this issue with his quad locking up.
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: He was still.
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: I think he ended up getting like 25th place after all this.
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: He goes to the Airbnb, takes an Epsom salt bath, puts on dry kit and then goes and finishes the race.
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: I love it which like is probably against the rules, like they should probably disqualify him, but they, it's fucking legendary yeah dude, it's awesome and he's still finished, I think, in like seven or eight hours.
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: That's just unbelievable.
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: It might have been a little longer, but yeah, he just absolutely mad lad dude, I don't know too much, like other than like hard rock or like timmy olsen, like slept for half the race on a on a on an abandoned mattress in ure.
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like other than that you don't find too many people that have done crazy shit like that's pretty hilarious I think it's probably just a product of you know I don't know timmy, but I can speak for johnny like that's a product of doing what it takes to get the job done, coming from the mountains versus being like a racer yeah, you know, like we.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: I would rather just try my quad than like take a break Like I.
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: I just think that much of a lunatic, you know.
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: Oh my God, yeah, although I do have respect.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: It was a legendary thing Like.
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: Oh, insanely legendary.
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and he finished, got the job done so now the segue on to you and Johnny.
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: You guys run, it's the coyote collective, right.
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: That's so.
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: That's in the past.
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: Oh, it's in the past, okay, um, but happy to talk about it.
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we, um, johnny and I ran a you know, co-owned and ran a outdoor media agency for a number of years and, um, you know, had a couple other partners in that.
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: It was kind of a uh, you know, democratic board of directors that ran this thing and it's basically just four friends and, um, you know, we did outdoor commercials and storytelling and content and, uh, you know, we decided to shutter coyote, um, or at least put it on ice, for a number of reasons, but primarily, just running a business is not always compatible with being passionate about what you're doing.
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I, of course there's times where that was the case, but we just kind of reached a point with outdoor media where we needed to to take a break and step away.
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: Um, you know, I think the direction the industry is going with, like, short form content, especially Tik TOK, uh, with appealing to for lack of a better term like the lowest common denominator, I personally just don't think it's the right way forward.
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know when, I'll leave this magazine unnamed, but there is a publication that I interviewed for editor in chief position for and they're in the climbing world and their whole thing is appealing to gym climbers and you know the, the ad revenue and little how to guides, and you know basically everything that is just the opposite of the antithesis of what I focus on, which is the universal human experience in a place that's aspirational the art.
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well and like you know I I think that a lot of what I do in the mountains you know my Alaska expedition and the 14ers and all these things most of it is very aspirational and maybe a lot of people see that and either aren't interested in doing it uh, don't have the lifestyle structure created to be able to do it or it's just out of reach for for them.
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: Uh, at least for now, from a skillset perspective or risk perspective or whatever.
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: It is right, like everyone's in a different place on their journey and some people just don't even want those things, but to the contrary, it's inspiring, exactly, and so.
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: I think there's aspirational but hopefully inspirational right and I just think the low effort content is neither um and so it's just not not really a direction that, um, I was feeling and you know that, uh, that stoked on.
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, we took a step back from coyote and, uh, it's been really nice.
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: I mean, I've been full-time with arcteryx for, uh, two years now, so I'd love to hear it yeah, man, sorry about that.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: I I should have probably asked brad probing that question before, but no, you just got.
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: I had seen a lot of like really cool stuff that you guys did, like you guys did a just a sick shoot with.
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: I think it was like koros with hannah, all good back in the day and it's local and yeah, yeah, and anton, anton kropichka, you guys had done something for him and like I don't know, just some like really amazing work, so yeah I was really inspired by it.
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you.
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: Uh, I guess you know and I'll take this opportunity just for a shout out, and I know the listeners of steve stuff will know this name, anton kropichka.
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: Tony is like my hero in the outdoor space right and, like I, you know I'll send this to him and so he'll see it and probably be like embarrassed, he doesn't.
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: Uh, he's not big on like the attention or the pandering, but there's no one that's guided my mountain career, even like without knowing it, more so than than tony, and I'm lucky to call him a you know acquaintance, sort of loose friend at this point.
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: But um, man, that guy's been I've never met him.
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: Actually he's.
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: He's a teammate of mine for a lot of people.
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: I've never he and I never crossed paths.
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: He is like there there's some talk, like I really want to have him on the pod.
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: It's gonna hopefully be something that happens closer to middle, probably middle or summer of next year yeah plan but like, yeah, he's someone if you want to talk about like top five bucket list people yeah besides, like joseph gray, matt carpenter and some other legends like and the thing I love so much about anton dude is like he doesn't pander to anybody, he doesn't give a fuck, like he really just does his own thing.
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: I love that and he's not afraid to reinvent himself right right like the, I think it'd be easy and, like eric, weinmayer and anton and a lot of the people I look up to in the space, have this same philosophy of if you're remaining the same, you're not growing right.
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: Like eric could have done everest and ridden that gravy train for maybe a decade and then cool no one cares anymore, right yeah?
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: but he climbed the seven summits, he kayaked the green canyon, he started a non-profit books, movies, whatever it tony is, you know he could have been a runner, right, he could have been 41 now he's in his 40s, yeah, I think he's just 40 that's so weird to think that he's like 40, 41, yeah, but you know, he won leadville, yeah.
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: And then he wanted again and like he was one of the early prominent, like archetype ultra runners, right, the long hair, no shirt, oh yeah, invisible shorts, doing the barefoot thing for a bit and you know, rather than riding that until his body either gave out on him, which it started to in certain ways, or, you know, just riding that until he was no longer competitive at that level, he just continues to reinvent himself.
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: He's huge on the bike, he skis, he climbs at a high level oh yeah and he's combining all of that.
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: He he's biking to climb and run.
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: He's doing these human powered FKTs.
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: He's bike touring around the US and climbing peaks that rarely get summits.
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: So just man reinvention is cool right.
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: Like and the.
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: Thing about it too is like dude he's, he's not doing like anything, particularly like fancy, like he's just like having fun in his backyard.
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and people really resonate with it like that's, that's.
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: They follow that.
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: It's interesting because I always love movers and shakers, people that like, for instance, like people are borrowing ideas from anton.
• 49:25
  Speaker 2: Anton doesn't borrow ideas from anybody, no and I love people like that, you know I think he and I don't want to speak for him, but I think if he does borrow ideas from people, it's not necessarily in the outdoor space so much it's inspiration from music, writing, philosophy, other areas of his life that are what make him a whole and interesting person.
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: Just like you and I are more than runners, climbers, skiers, whatever right.
• 49:54
  Speaker 2: Everyone has these other categories of their lives.
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: I think Tony's just really great at blending and infusing them, and you know having that as the sharp end of the the pursuit.
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: So there's a twist on it.
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, dude, what an interesting human.
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: Because that's the thing like you meet people I've met a lot of people in the space, as you have too and you meet some people and you're like bummer, you know and it's like, but like that.
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: But like dude, like when you hang out with like the joe gray's of the world or like the anton's of the world, you're like, oh, these, this is the reason these people are at the very tip of the spear because, yeah, they don't give a fuck, like they're doing their thing and they just, you know that's their craft and they like to hone it and it's just interesting and those are two very different people in a lot of ways, like that army wise.
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: Like joe is, you know, the greatest to ever do it from a sub-ultra mountain running perspective, and anton's just, he does it all in a lot of ways.
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: He's your ultra runner, he does sub-ultra stuff, but he's also a climber like I don't know, he just mixes a lot of things into it multimodal mountain traveler right, right and he's like his own category of everything.
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: You know, I don't know.
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: I just find that very interesting to me, especially like as the sport continues to consolidate, you meet a lot of people that like, want to just be like.
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: I think the thing that drives me the most crazy is you see a lot of pandering like people that want to be like other people and it's like no, that's not how you get there.
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: You have to be yourself like truly and thoroughly, and I just like that's something that, like I, it bothers me to my core.
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: I'm sure you come across a lot of people like that, you know yeah, and I just I don't know like it makes me feel badly for folks when that's their goal, because I think yeah, I mean you said right, like if you can be the best version of yourself.
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: That's clear to the you know, the audience, as it were.
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: Um, so you know I?
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: I like to just try and really be honest with myself about what I am, but also what I'm not Right and, and I think that, uh, that's a journey.
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: Let's talk pursuits.
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: I want to want to get to uh, I do want to talk about skiing the grand.
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because that's a hot topic, dude, where there's a lot we could do a whole another, the grand is two hours on that yeah, what was that experience like?
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: Like what I?
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: The first time I laid eyes on the grand was this year and I was like whoa, that is a peak, like that's the the most aesthetic peak, I would argue, in the lower 48, outside of europe, other than you know what you see in alaska.
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: But yeah, and it's probably, I mean it's probably the most famous mountain in in the united states.
• 52:20
  Speaker 2: Um, maybe the maroon bells are kind of right up there and mount whitney maybe, or something rainier I guess is is probably up there.
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: But I would say the grand Teton is like the notable peak in the lower 48.
• 52:34
  Speaker 2: It's got a lot of history.
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: Um, you know, the ski mountaineering history of the grand Teton is a novel and uh, uh, you know timeline in and of itself.
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: Um, and then the greater Tetons, of course, are some offer some of the best ski mountaineering, climbing, scrambling, ice climbing and running opportunities.
• 52:52
  Speaker 2: Uh, in the us.
• 52:54
  Speaker 2: And you know, all of that is in a incredible, intact, wild, rugged ecosystem that is further protected by the national park boundaries.
• 53:06
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, it gets a little crazy.
• 53:09
  Speaker 2: The roads can be insane fourth of july and the tetons is like bananas not the time to be in jackson, but the ecosystem itself is is relatively intact, and so you kind of have just like all the boxes checked.
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: And the grand is what a mountain right like.
• 53:24
  Speaker 2: There's no non-technical route to the summit in any season, and in the winter that just ramps up.
• 53:30
  Speaker 2: Um.
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: So climbing the grand, um, and I do mean climbing involves, even in the best of dry summer conditions, the use of hands and feet and, for most people, the use of ropes and harnesses and protection devices, um for for technical climbing.
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: So, uh, just really like the whole package of of mountaineering and mountain travel.
• 53:54
  Speaker 2: And you know I what I love about the grand and about the Tetons generally and a lot of the ranges that I spend time in in Southwest Montana, are, you know, the requirement, not necessarily even just the suggestion, but the requirement of the whole package, to move safely and efficiently.
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: Um, so it it's funny, cause I think the grand Teton and skiing the grand Teton and the skills required to get up it, to ski it, for some people are like the pinnacle, and I think for others, and maybe for those very same people just down the line, would be like the start of a new chapter, right?
• 54:33
  Speaker 2: So I see the grand in my life as like a you know, demarcation between all that I've done in skiing up to this point and what I hope to do.
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: And of course there's, you know, I've skied steeper stuff, I've climbed harder stuff, I've, you know, done various things in the mountains, but it it really takes that whole package for the grand specifically in one aesthetic big day.
• 54:58
  Speaker 2: Um.
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: So, man, just what a cool peak.
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: I'm very grateful I've, I've stood on it and uh, and every season basically at this point, and, um, you know, it was the first big peak I did after my hip surgery, about a year out out.
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, super cool I've never been on top.
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: It's on my list.
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: Maybe next year it depends on what the racing season looks like if I get out there.
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: But dude, what an aesthetic line well, you could do the.
• 55:22
  Speaker 2: Uh, you could do the targi, yeah the cirque series race cirque series.
• 55:25
  Speaker 2: I was out there over and do it.
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: I was out there last year to hang out with and I raced it.
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: I had a great race, was fucking awesome.
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: But like, also hung out with mike sinceri, or michelino sinceri, who's arguably the I mean, I'm gonna say publicly definitely the grantee, like he's the fkt holder on the grantee, tom for sure he's the king of the grand.
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: That's right, depending on what I don't really care what other people say or think about it, but he's, he's the man.
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: But like, dude, just the amount that goes into that peak is so like that you have to like learn so much.
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't have the skills.
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: Like, yeah, I'm a good runner, I'm a good climber, but like, yeah, I don't have the skill set for that yet I have to like work on that, to like get up there, you know I don't want to say yeah, but like, well, I think you, I think you'd figure it out yeah and, like you, go with someone who knows the route and uh, you you'd have a fine time, yeah you know, just the thing with the grand and, like I've talked a lot about this within and and to people outside of this space, like the casualization of a lot of these things is dangerous potentially no right like you see it in the flat irons.
• 56:30
  Speaker 2: But the Grand is another great example where, like, yeah, it's probably within a lot of people's grasp to run up there and scramble it and do it without the ropes and get back down and you know, I think, reasonably do that in a day and for some people obviously a lot less right Like five, four, three hours or whatever.
• 56:53
  Speaker 2: But that doesn't mean it's the right thing for people to do Right, Because when something goes wrong like there's no way off that mountain without a rope if it's iced up- oh yeah, If you fall, you're dead you fall, you're dead and you know.
• 57:05
  Speaker 2: There's traffic, there's guided groups to contend with and there's a lot more than just like the steps to take to climb the grand teton like it's a whole ecosystem, so it's interesting I learned that like very I'm a very public defender of michael innocent series.
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: he's a buddy of mine and just learning, I don't know just like the ins and outs of like all the like public shit around going for a record like that and like what that encompasses.
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: It's kind of crazy, dude.
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: Like it's not just like you know, or even just climbing it, like all the facets you have to contend with Almost seems like it's not even worth it in some capacity, you know.
• 57:44
  Speaker 2: Well, take maybe Gannett's not the best example because it's so much longer, but let's go with.
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: Just for purposes of this discussion, we'll use cloud peak.
• 57:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, um, cloud peak is also in wyoming.
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: It's 13 000 and change it's pretty high.
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: It's the high point of the bighorns.
• 58:02
  Speaker 2: It's not so far from the grand teton.
• 58:05
  Speaker 2: Right like, you've got the tetons, you got the winds, you got the b horns.
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: Um, the cloud peak fkt has not reached the level that the grand teton fkt has.
• 58:16
  Speaker 2: Right like killing jordan hasn't come and tried to right to smash it um.
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: It's at a high level.
• 58:21
  Speaker 2: The guy who has his name's aaron robson, lives in wyoming super fit.
• 58:25
  Speaker 2: I think he was like a canadian.
• 58:26
  Speaker 2: I know that national team like schemo guy.
• 58:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so he's got the, he's got the engine.
• 58:30
  Speaker 2: I could go up there and do cloud peak and I did it last year, um, in an fkt attempt that ultimately failed.
• 58:38
  Speaker 2: I just like blew up at mile 20 something, um, and I could go wherever I want.
• 58:45
  Speaker 2: Right, you can straight line across this talus.
• 58:47
  Speaker 2: I could run next to the trail, I could cut any switchback and there would never be a peep in the world.
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 58:53
  Speaker 2: And so to me the reaction to since series grand Teton, FKT attempt, and we'll call it an attempt for now.
• 59:02
  Speaker 2: I mean he got the FKT then he didn't.
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: You know whatever, I don't want to get into that whole can of worms.
• 59:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the reaction to that and the ensuing fallout to me just underscores how much we've lost the thread in the world of mountain speed.
• 59:22
  Speaker 2: Right, like to me, that is just focusing on all the wrong things and losing sight of the bigger.
• 59:31
  Speaker 2: You know forest.
• 59:32
  Speaker 2: If you will, yeah, um, I, I can't really like relate to that vitriol on either side of like right, right, he got it, he didn't get it.
• 59:41
  Speaker 2: Like, at the end of the day, he went up and down the grand teton faster than anyone has ever done it in a documented fashion.
• 59:48
  Speaker 2: Who knows, like that's why they call it the fastest known time.
• 59:52
  Speaker 2: Uh, he's probably done it faster than anyone ever.
• 59:55
  Speaker 2: Right, and I think, yeah, there's some sponsorship stuff that comes with that, there's some pressure, there's accolades et cetera.
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, I try and recenter my mountain travel on to did I do and show up in a way that I'm proud of yeah and some days I do right.
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 2: But man, that whole, the fact that there's forum threads talking about it and people attacking him personally and people at doxing park rangers that are ticketing him like it's just maniacal.
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: So I think we've just gone beyond the pale, yeah and like there's more information, obviously, that we, like I, can't talk about on the podcast.
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: But like dude, it's just like I don't know, like I feel the same way.
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: It's like where did we lose the thread that we're at this point, where, like this is first of all, this is a human being just like me or you that has committed so much time and effort and focus and maniacally into cracking this record.
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: Right, he goes and does it and, regardless of how people feel about it, he did it.
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: And it's like like I don't know, like dude, there there are like actual criminal criminals out there like actual people that do shit wrong.
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this guy.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: What?
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: What are we doing?
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 2: here they're making an example out of him.
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, like yeah.
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 2: I get both sides Right Because, like it is the grand Teton yeah, he knew better Indisputably Right.
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 2: Like he wrote it in his Strava and said I was.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 2: His language choice was not the best I decided to cut this switch back and like, yeah, I appreciate the disclosure, but like he, knew better.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and does that mean that he deserves the fallout in the charges and all that?
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 2: I don't think so.
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think a reasonable person would think that that is the appropriate response.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 2: But it is the Grand Teton, right.
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 2: It's probably one of the most famous mountains in the world, and it it let alone the U?
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: S, and so when you're a sponsored athlete, you have to weigh that into your decision-making and man, I'm sure we could talk for a bit about, like, how the North face feels about that and the the internal fallout.
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 2: And yeah, you know, to me that's all just a shame, because what a joy to be able to move that fast in the mountains, right like I can relate to what I feel is probably his feeling of like it was the perfect day, oh yeah, everything came together, it all clicked right like I've had those days you've been on that mountain and the technical like they're like there's things that mike will do, that I'll like listen.
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: There's love.
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: Like we all know, there's levels to this game right and like I'm good, but like, um, I will never be at that level Right To be able to move.
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, maybe maybe with years and years of hard work, maybe.
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: But like the level he's at now and the level that some people are at like to be able to do that, don't know.
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: I just think it's such rarefied air.
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: It just sucks that like it does.
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: it just sucks that like you know, someone that accomplishes something like that will never get the recognition they probably deserve right, it's like but I mean dude, the artist in me also is like mountain running is dangerous, again like you know like there's a little bit of that it's almost, and not that I'm equating one to one, but like I don't know if you remember like when dean potter like climbed delicate arch and like caused a huge stink and got like like patagonia went after him.
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 2: Cliff bar dropped in.
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, like which is hilarious dude, and like not that not, but like you're like.
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: The other thing too is like dean's.
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: I can't obviously speak for dean rest in peace, but like I would imagine, his um, his thought process, versus like what sinceria's process was two very different things, you know not that I'll speak for sinceri.
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 2: It's just like you know, when you can only reflect on your own motivations right, you know sometimes even those change right and so, like I do think part of what I'm trying to get out here is, like I've done, the grand teton in five hours right and respectable time.
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, respectable time yeah.
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 2: Respectable time, right.
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 2: Like there are people who think that's slow.
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 2: There are people who think that's unbelievable, right.
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 2: Like there are people who do the Grand over three days and are just like can't even fathom, right, and in the same way that I'm like man three hours on, the Grand is oh shit.
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: Crazy.
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 2: You know, I think the gap between five hours and three hours is probably similar to the gap between a day and five hours right, like it just it's all this, like you know, sort of logarithmic thing.
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah so but I think like when you zoom out, those fractional relative differences shouldn't matter, because you're performing at your own upper end and what a, what a privilege and opportunity right to stand on a mountain like that.
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 2: You zoom out a little bit and like it just people don't care it could be five hours, it could be eight, it could be seven days, right like when I was on, um, my buddy, charlie and I did this link up in the vertus this year and on the exit we kind of we pulled the plug after five 12ers, five 12 000 foot peaks all off trail, just kind of getting our butts kicked.
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 2: We pulled the plug and we had we had elected to not bring a stove.
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 2: We were going to do one of our rare overnights and like sleep for a couple hours, eat some like cold, dehydrated food and then do the thing the next day.
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 2: And we're like you know what, man, let's just let's roll towards the, the trailhead.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 2: We'll still sleep out tonight, but let's go find people with a stove, like and they can heat this water for us and we can then have a hot meal, which would be like a massive morale boost.
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 2: And, um, we met these just the nicest guys a group from minnesota and their you know, their like group leader was this guy who was just so fired up we were playing it cool and he's like yeah, you know, like I, I came out and I did gannett peak a number of years ago, like you know, took me eight days, like it was.
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was like do you what he?
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 2: did it in like knee-deep snow, uh, just slogging every day, and summited gannett peak over an eight-day period and he's like yeah, like I mean what's the fastest someone could do, gannett, maybe like four days, like five days, and charlie and I were kind of like looking at each other Like do we tell him Does?
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: Anton, still have that.
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: No, who has the record on that?
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: I think Aaron Robson has it again.
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: Is it Robson?
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but, like Charlie and I are on a very short list of people that have done Gannett car to car, and I don't know how many people are on that list.
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 2: It's probably 20 or less is my guess.
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 2: How many miles is it?
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 2: Uh, it's anywhere from 36 to 40 something out there, dude.
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: It's out there and it's all off.
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 2: I mean there's a good trail in massive off-trail push, technical glacier travel, so on and so forth, and then reverse and you're just going up this remote drainage where there's more bears than people kind of thing.
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no.
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's no trail.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 2: You could do it on trail from a couple different access points, but that pushes it closer to, I think, like 52 miles.
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 2: Oh my god, yeah, like in a lot more up and down versus up down, um, you're going over some passes and basins and drainages kind of thing, so anyway, like that guy was floored, right.
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 2: He's like what do you mean?
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 2: You've done it in a day like?
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 2: We ended up like saying you know, it can be done in a day.
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 2: You know like I think eight days is probably harder than doing it in a day 100% dude, I'm gonna bring all that shit with you, yeah but at the end of the day, we both stood on the summit of Gannett Peak, or all three of us, I guess, stood on the summit of Gannett Peak at one point and had this experience.
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 2: That's unique and special to us, and so that's my takeaway you know, especially like I'm not.
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 2: I'm not at the point to ascend.
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 2: I'm faster than most, and there are a good amount of people faster than I am.
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 2: So, um, it's just all about appreciating your own experience.
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that.
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: Are you, are you competitive?
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 2: though?
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 2: Are you a competitive person?
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I am All right.
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, the competition thing is shaped my focus, but in changing ways.
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 2: Right, like, of course, like I wanted to podium at telluride mountain run and just kind of like next year but didn't have the last year.
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 2: You know, I got past, I was in third pretty much the whole.
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 2: I was in third to the midway point and then started having some issues on that last downhill and just kind of limped at home.
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 2: But uh, you know, it's just how it goes.
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 2: Like I poured it all out there and kept a good pace.
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 2: Um, I'm very competitive, but I've really tried to shift that into competition against myself, um, and also against, like, external factors and challenges that aren't other people.
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 2: Right, like the comparison game is just a total killer, um, especially when you're someone like me who's not, you know, I'm not joe gray, right?
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 2: So I I don't have this just like world-class speed, right and like I
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 2: can't even imagine being that fast and not to say that of course he works for it and trains and crushes and like all that Right, but he just has that gear.
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Um, and I think that my focus has shifted largely towards um channeling that, that energy, into having the most immersive experience in the mountains and less into external competitive factors.
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Cause I do like at tell your eye to when I got past.
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 2: I'm like I like unbelievable dude.
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 2: Immersive experience in the mountains and less into external competitive factors.
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because I do like at tell your eye when I got past.
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 2: I'm like I hate it like unbelievable dude.
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 2: I gotta chase this guy down.
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 2: I got passed by the first place girl as well, kind of right at that same time and was like I gotta chase her down like she's.
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 2: She was my, then became my next target, you know, and um, I think that's good for you to like have that, get humbled a bit and get passed by people.
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 2: Um, has been a long time since I've been passing the mountains right, like the other thing too the thing about racing is like racing is a skill in its own right, man.
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: You know, like I don't think people realize this, but like there's such a thing as like race rust.
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: Like if you don't do it all the time like you, I don't know, the more you do it, the more you develop that killer mentality, or the more you develop just like I don't know.
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 1: Like, for instance, like the cirque series races right, like at first I was going out with the kenyans not a good idea, really not a recipe for really bad idea and then I'm like, oh no, I'm gonna stand a few people back and like go out hard, but like go out within myself and so that way you know, once 10 or 15 people blow up in the first half mile to a mile, you're just gonna pass them because I didn't blow up, I didn't hit threshold.
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah you know, and if and if they can maintain, like I when I did pike's peak marathon last year yeah, I ran out with joe demore, oh god.
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 2: And the second place guy, forget his name.
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 2: I think he was from mexico.
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, jupiter I think yeah, yeah that sounds right.
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 2: He was really fast and my whole thing on that was like if they can hold that pace, good for them.
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if they blow up, I maybe will catch them.
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 2: They might blow up and I don't catch them right, but like I cannot hold that and I try just to like taste it.
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 2: I ran out with joe and and I guess jupiter and you know they're putting in like a 5, 30 mile right out of the gate and I'm like man, that's, it's pretty fast.
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 2: That's pretty close to my pr like that's, like you know, and we're going uphill at altitude and I have 8 000 feet of climbing ahead of me like it's just not.
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 2: I don't have that fitness right and so right, and so you know it's a cool, humbling experience, but there's something about, like I don't know, throwing down, though I don't know, I think that's the part like, whether or not I lose this, I'm still gonna give you all you got.
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: Like I'm still gonna go give it everything.
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's fun well, and I I mean I appreciate trying to channel that into mountains too right like when I climbed the grand teton and skied it and I do want to qualify like skied it we skied in some of the worst conditions ever yeah, so tell me about I did.
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 2: Well, I'd gone down, um, it's been on my list and I just like haven't made it happen in the spring, um, you know, climbing the grand teton in the winter, and I guess we technically did it in winter because we didn't march.
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 2: So you know, maybe it was like pretty close to the, the spring equinox kind of thing, but yeah, winter grand teton ski, um, it requires the whole package of like some finding down low, some non crevassed but, uh, exposed glacier travel to get up onto, um, you know, onto the teepee glacier and up towards the, the start of the route.
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 2: You then climb a series of technical couloirs that all sort of link into each other, um, and and so I would really say like the grand Teton via Ford Stettner, which is the route that is, the 50 classic ski route, is much more of a climbing line with skis on your back than it is a pure ski line, like you're skiing above fatal cliffs the whole time.
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 2: But you also have to do a little down climbing.
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 2: Do some rappelling.
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 2: I think we had five rappels or four rappels, oh my God, yeah.
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 2: Climbing, do some rappelling.
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 2: I think we had five rappels or four rappels, oh my god, yeah.
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 2: So like, and maybe on some years you ski that, or if you're better than we are.
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 2: I don't think anyone skied it in these conditions, um, but you know, when it fills in and it's like powdery, maybe you can get away with three rappels or no rappels and just doing a little down climbing and some some tight skiing, but there's a lot of climbing.
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 2: The climb to ski ratio is way off.
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, you go up there and you you uh kind of climb till you want to rope up and pitch this thing out.
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 2: A lot of cool technical ice.
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 2: Um, you know, the benefit to it being a bad ski condition was that it was in great climbing condition.
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 2: So a lot of good ice, um, you know, vertical and off vertical vertical ice nothing overhanging or anything like that.
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 2: Maybe a little bit of funky mix, climbing in the corner kind of thing, like, you know, getting a crampon on rock and kind of pushing through, but for the most part just straight up water ice.
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 2: Three, alpine ice three.
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 2: I I think they might call it grade four, but in the condition it was in for us it was pretty chill, like just flowy ice.
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 2: Um, and then you know, you, all of a sudden, you just emerge on the upper east face of the grand teton, which is a rarefied place to be, oh my god.
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 2: Um, so, yeah, you're booting that final bit and sam and I my partner, sam sarrell he's a photographer, videographer um, he was shooting it for Arc'teryx and Moment Um, moment skis takes care of me.
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 2: I've been skiing for them for five years now as well, four years pretty much, since I actually got my first pair of Moment skis in the mail and blew my hip out before I mounted them.
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 2: Oh, man, and they are the man.
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 2: They're awesome.
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 2: They stuck with me for the first year of my sponsorship with moment.
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 2: I didn't make a turn and they they were like you know, I mean, it happens see you next year.
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah so I mean, they've just been great and they're made in the us and so on and so forth.
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 2: Uh, sam and I'd gone down and uh, you know, did the the lightning strike from bozeman?
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 2: Drive down, sleep in the parking lot, uh, and and go up and we shared the summit together, totally alone, no one else up there, which is really cool.
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 2: You know, a line like that is difficult but gets a lot of traffic and then, uh, you know, skied the worst turns ever.
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 2: I think I just made like the requisite amount of turns to say I skied it and then did some down climbing, did some down stepping, did some funky you know dry ski tactics and repelled out of there.
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 2: But you know.
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 2: So it certainly wasn't my proudest ski, but it was one of my prouder days because of the partnership, because of the way that we climbed.
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 2: You know the experience and what the Grand Teton means to me as a seminal mountain in um, you know the experience and what the grand Teton means to me as a seminal mountain in my life.
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 2: Um, you know climbing it across these seasons and climbing on my 25th birthday and a really cool story.
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 2: Um, but yeah, just such a cool day and, uh, man, wow On to more.
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah On to many more.
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, do you ever bump into any grizzly bears up there in montana?
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 2: well, not, not in the literal sense, thankfully, um, you know, you see them out there, they're out there and yeah, uh, like the worst case scenario is surprising them yeah, oh yeah, it's terrifying.
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 2: They don't want anything to do with you for the most part.
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 2: Like if you get a aggressive problem bear, it's probably akin to getting attacked by like a great white shark or wonderful, being struck by lightning right like the probability is low, it's just low prob and yeah, we spend a lot of time out there and that kind of thing, but, um, my, my relationship with an appreciation towards grizzly bears is is shifting, like when I first moved to montana.
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: I was just terrified yeah, it's all I am.
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 1: We're, we're in Colorado, we don't have it.
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 2: No, yeah, and it's nice to go out there and be the the apex predator you know like I can go do a 14 or with like forget bear spray, Like I'll just leave my shirt.
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: Like yeah, exactly.
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah of a cushion.
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 2: So usually we have a bear spray and, um, you know I have not subscribed to the trail run with a gun yeah, right newsletter.
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 2: But there are people who do?
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: oh, there are.
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: I've had people message me.
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm more likely to shoot myself in the foot on accident dude, I'd be terrified or whatever.
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 2: Like I'm not seal team six.
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 2: So you know, and like it just doesn't align with my, yeah, uh, like I'm leaving everything behind, but I'm gonna take a two pound gun, right like it just.
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 2: What are you?
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: strapping to your.
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: What are you rambo like?
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: What do you, yeah, like?
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 2: and then you just got the chest rub and it's just yeah, it's not me.
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 2: So in bear spray is more effective.
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 2: Um, from a you know proven case study standpoint so that's true, it's true.
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 2: But yeah, bears are, bears are part of the deal.
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 2: It's cool to uh, you know, I think, from like a, a macro, it's cool to move through and exist in an ecosystem that is intact in that way and it has not all, of course, but like a lot of the original players and big animals, and just to be part of that versus um, you know, like the bears have come back and they people are really pushing not all people, but there are a lot of people who are pushing to delist from the federal endangered species list, to delist the grizzly bear and to open a hunting season on grizzly bears.
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 2: Um, and that's all under the uh, you know, guys, of management and um, you know, controlling the population and I'm not a biologist, right, so the interplay of all the species.
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 2: And you know, I do know that when deer and elk populations are way too high, that affects the ecosystem as negatively as or more than when they're too low.
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: Right, um, like here we have the biggest, biggest elk herd in the, I think in in the country, I'm pretty sure, in colorado.
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean it's like the cornerstone predator thing is really interesting, like when they removed wolves from yellowstone or when we exterminated them effectively.
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 2: I don't remember the exact series of events, but basically everything suffered and there were not enough.
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 2: There were too many deer and elk and they were grazing down the banks of the rivers and then the beavers were struggling and there are not enough places for the small birds to hide because all the grass is grazed down and all the small rodents and birds and those populations are shit, like everything has this like butterfly effect and I probably totally butchered that whole sequence, but you're good, yeah it's, the idea being that those things all act in accordance and balance with each other when managed appropriately.
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 2: I have no desire to go hunt or shoot or encounter grizzly bear in a meaningful fashion, right, but I do think being part of an ecosystem that is um intact is a special opportunity.
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I've enjoyed that part of it.
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: Well, the reason I mentioned it is because and this is just I wanted to draw a dichotomy between the two like living in colorado, especially in the front range, you don't like.
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 1: You see large megafauna but like not like.
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: You'll see a moose every now and then you'll see some elk a lot of mules here right, right, right.
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: But like dude, I was astounded by like the amount of just animal life just in a weekend that I saw like grantee dot national park, or just like in the greater yellowstone, like ecosystem.
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 2: I was like whoa yeah, the gye has got some animals man so yeah, the greater yellowstone ecosystem.
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 2: Um, you know, your odds of running into a like having a bad bear encounter, are really quite low, but I mean they're higher up there than they are in most places, yeah um, I think, yeah, like the amount of wildlife, like the proliferation is incredible and people what I really appreciate about a montana is people experience that in a number of different fashions.
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 2: Right, like hunting is much more of a lifestyle there and, you know, an involvement with the ecosystem versus being like a like a trophy thing.
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, um, but yeah, man, there's a lot of, there's a lot of animals up there and I think in colorado maybe you worry about like cats yeah, that's the kind of thing, especially here.
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, dude, they're everywhere.
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: Man, I see kitty tracks all the time.
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they don't really, I don't know.
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: I think like I know a few people that have bumped into them.
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 1: I think I've seen one from a car.
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: They're elusive.
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: They're here, especially Monumenty.
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: They're everywhere.
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: We're getting low on time.
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: We're like 20 minutes out from you needing to be at the car.
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 2: I have a flexible arrival there.
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 1: That's just kind of the target.
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 2: If we want to jam into some greatest hits.
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 2: I'd love to chat more about climbing and skiing.
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, tell me, tell me, tell me, I got, um, got some time.
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 2: So yeah, man, lead the way all right, so all right.
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: So one of the things I did want to bring up to you like greatest hits wise of your resume that stuck out to me was you helped lead what was the first wheelchair assistant.
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, like climb up a 14er yeah, talk about that, yeah, yeah.
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 2: So, um, and and I would love to be proven wrong, like I would love if there were someone out there who's done this but this is what I believe was the first wheelchair summit of a colorado 14er.
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna exclude pikes and evans, this is true.
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 1: That would make sense yeah, yeah wheels and roads get a long grade and wheels up a bar, or on crags on pikes?
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 2: I don't think so no, and, like you know, depends on how you uh qualify, but like there are probably people who've driven the top and popped up to the summit and and so I'm talking about like trailhead to summit and back in a wheelchair, um, which is, of course, like an impressive concept, right.
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 2: But this all started in such a funny way and I I think, james, like in a way, we're actually talking about the origin of, you know, chapter two of my own story and I'll get to this because this whole I'm really glad you brought this up, because this story with narissa, my friend, narissa cannon, who is in a wheelchair and has now been on the summit of Mount Bierstadt, is bizarrely the origin story of my relationship with Archeterics and I've always had this strange conflicted feeling about that and I'll tell you why.
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 2: So the you know I worked with Eric Weinmeier's nonprofit no barriers um in a like guide capacity um in my years with Eric, right, so I would lead these adaptive clinics and we'd go do hikes with folks uh in wheelchairs and blind people and amputees and um people with developmental um struggles and uh veterans who were suffering from PTSD or severe burns or, you know, you get the.
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 2: The list can go on and you know, these experiences were and remain the most impactful of my outdoor experiences, right Because I'm taking something that is not easy for me, but the access is there and the privilege is there and helping provide that to people who maybe you're on their first time on snow Right, and part of what I love about that is I remember my own first time on snow right.
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 2: Like I remember looking out my window in my office in Colorado at 22 years old and just like jumping for joy, like holding my hands in the air and watching the snowflakes and saying, like man, I'm doing it, I live in the mountains and this is snow.
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 2: Like you know, like I'm a five-year-old kid and one of the participants from one of these hikes, from a no barriers summit event, was a woman named Narissa Cannon and she and I had kind of hit it off during the hike and I think we did some rock climbing or something together and she called me you know, I think it was a year or two later and said hey, I've got this idea, I'd love to do a 14er and do you think it's possible?
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 2: Like, and if it is possible, which 14er do you recommend?
• 1:24:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know she called me one because of the adaptive component but also because I had done I think I just completed that summer all the 14ers and so I had a good understanding of what's what out there and you know there's obviously some that are more involved than others.
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're not taking a wheelchair on the knife edge of Capitol.
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 2: Not yet, maybe I mean man there's some.
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, why not go?
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 2: Um, I said yeah, like, yeah, I think it's totally possible, right, like, my philosophy really is like say yes and then figure it out, and I think that opened the door to this like iterative relationship that narissa and I then had with regards to how do we build the team, what equipment do we need?
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 2: Right, she has this special wheelchair that has, um, these hand levers on it.
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 2: Okay, so, you know, rather than grabbing the wheels and spinning, she's got these levers that apply, you know, magnified force multipliers onto her wheels and get a little more torque, a little more action, a little easier on the shoulders because you're pushing rather than like doing the rotation.
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 2: Um, and then you know, I I emailed, like our, basically our whole network of people who have participated in the past in no bears programs, all my like climbing partner friends, and you know, all these like dirtbag buddies of mine that are just stoked to do something hard.
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 2: Somehow the word got out to the local Arc'teryx store team at Cherry Creek and they showed up.
• 1:26:31
  Speaker 2: I think four or five of them showed up.
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 2: 30 plus strangers to Nerissa showed up this day at beer stat at 6am and spent the next eight hours helping Nerissa to the summit of this 14er.
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 2: And I do mean helping, because Nerissa was, when possible, driving her own inertia, and then we had straps and harnesses and people kind of on all sides to make sure she didn't tip over and hit her head.
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 2: She's kitted out in the Arcteryx gear.
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 2: She had the Arcteryx sticker on her helmet, like the whole deal.
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 2: We're swapping out people on like a pretty regular basis.
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 2: We get to a bridge lift, we get to a river crossing lift, you know we get to a particularly difficult rocky spot.
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 2: She's got one wheel on the ground, the other wheels getting pulled, you know, just like full-on, like you know, I imagine like uh, lewis and clark like portaging kind of thing, you know you're just like got people just oh, everybody, pull narissa's digging.
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 2: You know, for her it's really exhausting to exist in that, because she's stabilizing her core yeah as the chair goes left and right and you know, trying to stay upright, and the last hundred meters were particularly rocky and yeah, with the scramble.
• 1:27:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's not much trail there.
• 1:27:47
  Speaker 2: There's no trail other than maybe like a little socialized way through the rocks.
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 2: And uh, our friend braden war, who was there, um total tank, I think he did all the 14ers.
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 2: By the time he was like 12 oh god, yes, monster his dad's something else.
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 2: And um, braden put narissa on his back and walked 100 meters to the summit dude, I love that, it was just yeah and I, you know, I shared this moment with narissa just below the summit, you know where, and I think there's actually there's a photo of this moment and like I'd love to send it to you you can kind of feel the show notes and yeah, you know, narissa and I just kind of had this silent conversation and just I knew that her life was about to change and I didn't know that mine was right.
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 2: But I knew that Narissa's life was about to change in ways that go beyond, like the summit of beer stat right, like this belief in herself and the idea that she is worthy and capable and strong and, um, valuable in ways that other people take for granted.
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 2: And we all stood in the summit and snapped the picture and did the long trip down.
• 1:28:59
  Speaker 2: Wasn't easy either, maybe harder in some ways sure dude.
• 1:29:02
  Speaker 2: Uh, and that story went insanely viral and BBC International picked it up.
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 2: No shit, man.
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah.
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 2: So I did this interview with BBC in my hotel room a couple weeks later in New York City for an event and it went viral.
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 2: And then I got a call from Arc'teryx.
• 1:29:20
  Speaker 2: The rest is history, the rest is history, the rest is history.
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 2: So you know, like I've never really figured out how to wrap my mind around this idea that narissa, who is still a good friend of mine to this day and lives in utah in a tiny home with her husband in her wheelchair and two goats and a service dog.
• 1:29:45
  Speaker 1: She's got a goat.
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: She's got some goats.
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 2: I find it difficult to wrap my head around this idea that Nerissa stepped up and had the courage to even think this was possible, right, and believed and trusted in this team and showed up physically and you know it's very's very vulnerable right like allowing these other people to help you in this way, especially strangers, and, resulting from that, I have been sponsored by for five years yeah right.
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 2: So, like, how do I, how do I balance those things?
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 2: And I think the answer and the relationship with that will shift more over time.
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 2: What I do know is that amazing things happen when you lean in and open up your heart, and that's what Narissa did that day, that's what the team did that day, that's what I try and do every day, and it's provided the groundwork for, uh, a very rich 31 years on on earth for me.
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 2: So, um, I'm just so grateful to Nerissa for having the courage to propose that.
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's beautiful man.
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Wow, and it's amazing, like how it just goes lockstep with your kind of your origin story and how that's wild dude.
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what do you?
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: What do you?
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: Got planned for the future, man man um you're gonna race more?
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 1: Ah, I'm messing with you, I'll probably rate I like I want to do the rut, I might do tmr next year good um, you know, I said this last year and it didn't work out because we had like the worst ski season ever.
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 2: But I really want to focus my winter on skiing in Montana.
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 2: Um, we've got so many ranges that are not only like really untouched around the skied but just like pretty much just completely undocumented, right, like maybe people have gone in and not talked about it, or people have skied stuff and you kind of hear whispers about it, but, uh, the the lack of information and infrastructure for Montana skiing is, um, a draw for some and a repellent for others.
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 2: Um, so, for me, I you know I'm intrigued by the mystery of a lot of our ranges and peaks and lines that maybe exist and I just never even laid eyes on, maybe exist and I just never even laid eyes on.
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, um, so I really want to ski in montana a lot more this winter.
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 2: Um, I'm planning to go back to alaska in spring for another expedition, a little bit more movement centric.
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 2: My last expedition to alaska was, uh, very static and cold and we had a base camp and climbing and skiing really cold lines, uh were you alaska range?
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: yeah, I was in central alaska range in april.
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was cold, man, um.
• 1:32:30
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I'd like to go do a sort of movement-based expedition to alaska, maybe a big traverse, um, there's some cool.
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of first descents to be had in alaska, um, and then for summer, uh, you know, I've the Grand Traverse on my list for a long time.
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 2: That is the you know, sort of Teton High Traverse.
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 2: Essentially, I want to do the FKT on Mount Cowan, which is a highly technical and remote peak in Montana, kind of a similar setup as the Grand 18 miles seven and a half k, and change glacier or snowfield travel, damn um highly technical via the northeast ridge, um you know borderline, for I think a lot of folks rope wise um.
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 2: So yeah, you want to do that in a clean, don't cut a switchback or clean push.
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: We'll throw you in jail.
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 1: Now we don't have switchbacks.
• 1:33:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's not a national park, um, you know.
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 2: And then I think, expanding all the other areas of my life and continuing to just grow in in other fashions right Like I want to have more impact at a community level.
• 1:33:41
  Speaker 2: I'm working with some cool local stores in in Bozeman.
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 2: Um, uphill pursuits is our local uh you know mountaineering store and doing some events and stuff with them.
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 2: I'm doing some clinics for backcountry skiing with our Terrix, uh, doing the Arc'teryx Academy in mammoth.
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and uh spending time with with my dog and my loved ones and my friends, and you had a cool dog.
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 1: I got a cool dog, I found my dog in New Mexico.
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: No shit Just walk down the gas station.
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he'd been hit by a car and was just limping around and I was trying to find the owner and he, you know, didn't have.
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 2: He had like a belt around his neck and, oh my God, I just uh threw him in the truck and was like I'll just, I guess, take him to a shelter, and you know, that's just never happened.
• 1:34:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's cold out for three years, he's he's the best.
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 2: So, um, yeah, I really want to focus on my steep skiing this winter and, um, trying to be an expert in in the arena of, uh, traveling where we're not supposed to travel.
• 1:34:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah I love that, all right, supposed to travel.
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that, all right.
• 1:34:47
  Speaker 1: We're at an hour 30.
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna get.
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna get some.
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 1: Uh, you're an interesting character, so I'm really curious to see how you think okay, all right, what's your take?
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 1: What's your take on bigfoot dude?
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 2: bigfoot.
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 2: Um, man, well, I've done some bigfoot stuff.
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 2: We, we did a campaign via Coyote where, uh, we had a Bigfoot suit and we flew on on a plane, took it to the golden gate bridge, drove down the California coast, like there's all these images of Bigfoot and it was drinking like an NA beer.
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 2: Um, so I believe in Bigfoot, but, uh, the you know, it's hard for me to believe that there would be something out there that we just haven't seen right and like, yeah, in the ocean maybe, but look, for the most part the terrestrial components of earth have been gridded right.
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 2: Uh, pretty well, I think that bigfoot gets into a more like philosophical thing of like us wanting to believe there's something more out there in the woods, that boogeyman in the woods.
• 1:35:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's just like it plays into our lore and you know our status as not an apex predator.
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 2: Right, there are things that historically will get us and now there's less of those things.
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 2: Um, but historically, like we've had to watch out and like you got to keep the fire going and, you know, have people on guard.
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 2: So I doubt there is a Bigfoot in the species sense of the term.
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 2: One thing I did hear this is I thought this, this kind of, was interesting to me for whatever reason.
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 2: You know, montana's a big hunting state and people like to go hunt turkey and I didn't know this, this, of course, but like turkey are apparently very, very hard to kill.
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and the old timers say if turkey could smell, they'd be the real bigfoot, because they have incredible eyesight and incredible hearing, but they apparently can't smell well at all.
• 1:36:40
  Speaker 2: Interesting, and it's the only thing that you can kind of like trick them on.
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 2: You know, like if they could smell you, that you just never see them.
• 1:36:47
  Speaker 2: Um, so you know most animals are more in touch with their senses than we are.
• 1:36:53
  Speaker 1: Oh for sure, dude I think there's things that we haven't even like cracked or figured out, like with our own, you know, in our own bodies.
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 1: Um, I think that I don't dude.
• 1:37:02
  Speaker 1: I think for me, like that's where that grizzly fascination, or like wolf, or like wolverine fascination comes from.
• 1:37:08
  Speaker 1: It's just because, I don't know, it makes the woods a little more spookier, if you know, there's a grizzly poking around the corner or some shit like that.
• 1:37:14
  Speaker 2: You know it's interesting, I don't know, it's like the, it's like the specter of what could be yeah right and like with wolves and I guess wolverines like it's less threatening.
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like I'm not worried about getting attacked by a wolf or a wolverine.
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but you know, I've spent more time in the woods than most people, yeah, and I've never seen a wolf.
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 2: I've never seen a wolverine, yeah and so they're there, and they're there, yeah right and so, yeah, like you exist with these things on different planes and, uh, sometimes you just have to believe in the idea before the thing becomes real, which you know is probably a good metaphor for my mountain athletics career, that's right yeah, I'm the bigfoot man.
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 2: You, you want to be the baddest man in the world.
• 1:37:54
  Speaker 1: That's right, dude.
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 1: What's your take?
• 1:37:57
  Speaker 1: What's your take on the aliens then?
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 2: yeah, uh, man, well, that's certainly much more plausible that there's something out there that we haven't seen.
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 2: Right Like, forget the ocean.
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 2: Space is huge, you know you can get into like the religion component of this, oh shit dude, you know say like, yeah, we were created in quote, unquote his image and that kind of thing, and say that we're the, the chosen species, I guess, as it were.
• 1:38:28
  Speaker 2: Well, when you think about that, it's like whoa, yeah.
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 2: So I think you could just take this a million ways, because maybe there are other similar planets that also have a, you know benevolent god in the um, you know dogmatic sense of the, the concept and what's to say that he wouldn't create in the same way, the.
• 1:38:49
  Speaker 2: You know Adam and Eve and Garden of Eden and you know all the good and evil that came after that and you know the fall of man and so on and so forth, and maybe that's happening, maybe if you just look at it from a purely you know, quote unquote scientific side of things and I won't tell you where I land, um other than to say I'm a very spiritual person, which I feel is different than religious.
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, oh dude but if you yeah if you look at the scientific take, I would also find it hard to believe that the same set of factors that led to evolutionary development and you know, the genesis of life, all the way to opposable thumbs and, uh, what we do with them which is primarily scrolling on our phones, it's true.
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 2: I know we're making the best use of our evolution, but it would be hard for me to believe that that same set of things couldn't occur elsewhere, given my granted very base level understanding of how big space is so um, you know, you can call them aliens, call them other beings could be us from the future.
• 1:40:03
  Speaker 1: It could be us from the future.
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: It could be us from the future.
• 1:40:05
  Speaker 2: Oh shit, we could be in someone's little snow globe on their desk.
• 1:40:08
  Speaker 2: Oh dude, we could be ants in some other planet, could be in a simulation.
• 1:40:14
  Speaker 2: It could be in a simulation.
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 2: Seemingly we're in a simulation.
• 1:40:17
  Speaker 2: It's more and more actually what I believe.
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 1: Dude, some of this stuff can't be real, but um we need about a pound of weed to continue this conversation.
• 1:40:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we can we can go way crazy here, but, like at the end of the day, for me too it's like you can spend time thinking about these things that you'll never solve, or you can accept the gift and the mysteries that come with it.
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 2: And in my life I've always found a lot of value in return on knowing the things that I know.
• 1:40:51
  Speaker 2: Knowing that there's a lot of things I don't know and an increasing number of things I don't know especially as I get more experienced in the mountains I realize how, how much of a beginner I really am, and then, at the same time, not searching too hard to ascribe answers or meaning or you know minutia or facts to the questions that I don't know how to answer, and that has always provided for me a level of mystery that enriches my life.
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 2: Rather than not being able to sleep Cause I don't know, Right, I go, man, I like there's so much left to learn and I hope I get some more time to do it because, what a joy my, my life has been.
• 1:41:42
  Speaker 1: Do you do have a really cool life, man, like especially like being with arc and like doing like you do that full time?
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: Right, I do, yeah, oh my god, so you could wake up whatever time you want.
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 1: You don't really have to worry too much about like having like dude, like we're literally having this conversation and this computer right here is my work computer that I keep wiggling to make it seem like I'm alive, right like the mouse tracker, yeah.
• 1:42:03
  Speaker 1: I swear to God, dude, like, and it's like, oh, dude, I crave that life to one day separate from the corporate world and like kind of you know, not have to play that game.
• 1:42:13
  Speaker 1: It's, it's a special the reason I was thinking deeply on this last night.
• 1:42:16
  Speaker 1: Actually it's an interesting conversation, but like not to take up all of your afternoon, but no, it's great.
• 1:42:21
  Speaker 1: You know, you realize, like, dude, I started, I've turned 34 in a few months and I'm like man, like time just goes, the older you get, the faster time goes by.
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's like man, like how many times I'm like do I, how many days do I waste, spending like entirely way too much time in this room, right, looking out and seeing that mountain out there, and like I could be running on that right, you know.
• 1:42:43
  Speaker 1: Or spending time in a meaningful way, not wasting it, you know, creating shareholder value for some asshole, right.
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 1: You know, like better for worse, yeah, so I don't know, it's just an interesting way to you know you choose to live your life and you know it's a very soul enriching way you do there's trade-offs, right, of course.
• 1:43:02
  Speaker 2: Right like everything, and you know I'm hopefully growing through some of those.
• 1:43:07
  Speaker 2: And you know I've struggled in significant ways to like maintain stability and I've had a lot of relationship turmoil because of my lifestyle and just the know that I'm gone a lot.
• 1:43:26
  Speaker 2: And yeah, um, you know, I think generally and maybe this is magnified in our world of like, speed and um time, and you know the vert, the steep stuff right, right, yeah, but I think that like we're very chronocentric, right, like everything is around time or the lack of it, and I just I don't know that that's the best metric, right, and I I'm trying to redefine my own relationship with what it means to like have a full day, and you can ask anyone who knows me, like the, you know, the 5am to 11pm energy is pretty constant, yeah, and so Brad said yeah, he's got, he's got a perpetuator of stoke.
• 1:44:17
  Speaker 1: I was like I was curious to see if you'd match my energy.
• 1:44:20
  Speaker 1: I think you, you're, you're impressive, I think we're.
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 2: I think we're matching it, dude, but you know, I'm realizing as I grow older and maybe this is just natural, but like, filling every minute is not and the time is short thing is great because I think it encourages people to maximize that.
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 2: But I think that we struggle to really define appropriately what it means to maximize Right.
• 1:44:58
  Speaker 2: And you know, there's just, there's a story, um, and and maybe this is a good place to put a pin in it there's a climber named Kelly Cordes and Kelly's a noted alpinist.
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 2: He lives in Estes Park.
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 2: He actually has a long relationship with Montana I think that's where he started ice climbing and alpine climbing and he's climbed significant ascents around the world Pakistan, alaska, south America, here in the US, so on.
• 1:45:27
  Speaker 2: He's like a climber's climber, but he's had a long relationship with Patagonia and climbed at a professional level.
• 1:45:35
  Speaker 2: Kelly had a couple bad accidents that resulted in at least the fusion of an ankle and maybe the fusion of an ankle, a spine and another ankle jesus and like the classic shoulder issues and so on and so forth.
• 1:45:52
  Speaker 2: So you know, he's had these tough injuries and these surgeries which I can relate to.
• 1:45:57
  Speaker 2: I can relate to, um, you know the folly of youth and like making those mistakes, that I've gotten away with some stuff for sure, right Like I wish I could say that I've had this arc of progress that has exposed me to appropriate risk and nothing more.
• 1:46:16
  Speaker 2: But the fact of the matter is, most times I'm either taking too much or not enough risk right.
• 1:46:22
  Speaker 2: Too much, resulting in an avalanche maybe, like I was involved in in April, where I broke my hand and had to really think hard about my, my motivations.
• 1:46:31
  Speaker 2: Too little, resulting in a lack of immersion in the experience that does not drive me forward.
• 1:46:38
  Speaker 2: And so, finding that line is hard.
• 1:46:41
  Speaker 2: Kelly's been injured a number of times and, um, that line is hard, kelly's been injured a number of times and, um, you know, coming back from I think it was one of these fusion surgeries he, he goes out and he's just struggling to ski tour in his backyard in Estes park, colorado, and he's up kind of towards longs peak and, you know, is moving slow and trying to appreciate this new rhythm and he's looking up at this mountain that he's climbed in every season and looking at the ice and the snow and the swirling wind and he's sitting up on this little rock perch and going, and I think he actually quoted Mary Oliver, and it's like I at one point found what I would do with my one wild and precious life, and now I'm having to think about that again.
• 1:47:22
  Speaker 2: Right, what do I would do with my one wild and precious life, and now I'm having to think about that again.
• 1:47:27
  Speaker 2: Right, what do I do with this next one?
• 1:47:29
  Speaker 2: Because it is like another chance in a lot of ways.
• 1:47:33
  Speaker 2: And he goes on to say like if I were strong, I could do this without the crutch of physical movement.
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 2: I could sit on the cushion and stare at the sunflower and have the same level of fulfillment and joy and love and sadness and loss and all of the spectrum of human emotional experiences.
• 1:47:59
  Speaker 2: Right, just by being and appreciating and not having to push myself and climb and ski and go harder, further, faster, higher, whatever.
• 1:48:12
  Speaker 2: It is right.
• 1:48:13
  Speaker 2: And I think that to some extent, all of us, as athletes and climbers and runners and people, go through this journey and just that mountains really magnify those things in ways that often result in community trauma and grief, but also result in incredible transcendent experiences that are truly based in love and living for the sake of it.
• 1:48:40
  Speaker 1: Highest highs and the lowest lows, absolutely Right.
• 1:48:43
  Speaker 2: And so I, I I loved this quote from Kelly about sitting on the cushion and staring at the sunflower and I said maybe, maybe one day I will be that lucky right To to understand that too and to be able to appreciate the small things in my life the way that I appreciate the big things, and I try every day.
• 1:49:04
  Speaker 2: The way that I appreciate the big things, and I try every day.
• 1:49:07
  Speaker 2: Last two summers ago, when I was recovering from my injury, from my hip injury, I was in Montana and I was walking with my dog.
• 1:49:25
  Speaker 2: I took to walking a lot like, in the wake of this, this injury, um, you know, I just tried to like get out a ton and, like, I've never been a walker and I'm walking with my dog.
• 1:49:33
  Speaker 2: There's a nice little trail system in Bozeman and I'm just trying to like harness that right, like I'm reminding myself that this is okay, that this too will pass, and that walking will not be the limit for me at some future juncture and that I won't wake up feeling so sore and just old beyond my years.
• 1:49:55
  Speaker 2: Right, and I'm trying to appreciate it.
• 1:49:58
  Speaker 2: I'm drinking my warm coffee, I'm walking with my dog right, this animal that truly changed my life for the better.
• 1:50:04
  Speaker 2: That instilled a sense of responsibility and structure that I just haven't had in the past.
• 1:50:09
  Speaker 2: And, um, I'm at the same time grieving the loss of this past version of myself, this person who could get up and run the grand Teton in five hours and then do it the next day and not really do much sleeping or hanging out or recovery in the meantime.
• 1:50:30
  Speaker 2: Right, do that.
• 1:50:31
  Speaker 2: Call five friends in a row, go to the bar, have a beer with just people that I love and enjoy the atmosphere and the revelry and then do it again.
• 1:50:40
  Speaker 2: Right, those days are fading for me in terms of the recovery aspect of that and it's not sustainable.
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 2: And so I'm grieving the loss of that and trying to appreciate what the next chapter of my life will look like.
• 1:50:53
  Speaker 2: And my dog is just up ahead and he's going nuts.
• 1:50:55
  Speaker 2: He's like barking and coming back grabbing at me.
• 1:50:59
  Speaker 2: He does this cute thing where he like grabs my pants and like kind of bites out him a little bit and tries to like get me to hurry up.
• 1:51:05
  Speaker 2: He hates to stop and have snacks and I'm like man, what is he doing?
• 1:51:10
  Speaker 2: Like, did he find something up there?
• 1:51:11
  Speaker 2: Is there a moose, like you know what's?
• 1:51:12
  Speaker 2: What trouble are we getting into right?
• 1:51:14
  Speaker 2: And um, he runs up ahead and I come around the corner on this little trail system and he's, he's jumping around like a fox, like a little deer, out in this, in this field, and he's just alive and thrilled and loving it and he's running and jumping through a field of sunflowers.
• 1:51:39
  Speaker 1: Oh man.
• 1:51:41
  Speaker 2: And so you know, and I'm getting like emotional right.
• 1:51:43
  Speaker 2: And so you know, and I'm getting like emotional right, like it never goes past the skin level of oh, what a cool quote from Kelly Cordes, who is a hero of mine in the climbing world.
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 2: And so I have this, this through line of, I read it, I sat on it, I thought it, I wrote it down.
• 1:52:23
  Speaker 2: This through line of, I read it, I sat on it, I thought it, I wrote it down, I wrote it in a letter to my father, which is a whole nother tale.
• 1:52:28
  Speaker 2: And then I had this, this moment right when I can choose to say what a pleasure and a privilege to be here and to connect those dots and to appreciate what's in front of me here now.
• 1:52:50
  Speaker 2: And I'm not done yet right, like it's true we're alive, baby.
• 1:52:58
  Speaker 1: We're alive, we're alive.
• 1:52:59
  Speaker 2: So I hope to one day be able to to, to stare at the sunflower and, um, I hope to run a lot and climb a lot and ski a lot and love a lot.
• 1:53:11
  Speaker 2: Before that, I don't know how long that is, but what a ride.
• 1:53:17
  Speaker 1: What a ride, dude.
• 1:53:17
  Speaker 1: Dude, let's put a pin on that.
• 1:53:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was, that was beautiful.
• 1:53:20
  Speaker 1: Well, dude, thank you.
• 1:53:22
  Speaker 1: Oh my.
• 1:53:22
  Speaker 1: God Thank you so much, dude?
• 1:53:24
  Speaker 2: Thanks for letting me monologue.
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 2: Oh, that was that was?
• 1:53:26
  Speaker 1: that was heavy dude, Dude, we'll.
• 1:53:29
  Speaker 1: We'll be seeing each other soon, so don't worry, I'd love to run with you.
• 1:53:32
  Speaker 2: Let's, let's get out and just get after it, dude, and if you're serious about the grand Teton, you know I'm not a guide.
• 1:53:40
  Speaker 1: Let's go do it.
• 1:53:41
  Speaker 2: Asterisk, but I'd love to get up there with you and let's make it happen.
• 1:53:44
  Speaker 2: It's one of my favorite mountains in the world Absolutely, man.
• 1:53:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for letting me cry on your podcast.
• 1:53:49
  Speaker 1: You might be, I don't know if you're the first.
• 1:53:50
  Speaker 1: I think I cried on Dream of Walton's podcast.
• 1:53:53
  Speaker 1: I might have cried.
• 1:53:54
  Speaker 2: I can't remember.
• 1:53:56
  Speaker 1: Well, dude, yeah, man, on to.
• 1:54:00
  Speaker 1: You guys think oh man, what an inspiring conversation.
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 1: So much fun.
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 1: We talked about it all.
• 1:54:05
  Speaker 1: We got into the grand.
• 1:54:06
  Speaker 1: I had to bring up the grand.
• 1:54:07
  Speaker 1: Why did I bring up the grant?
• 1:54:08
  Speaker 1: We talked about it all.
• 1:54:10
  Speaker 1: It was fun.
• 1:54:11
  Speaker 1: Connor's a really interesting dude, super fun guy, someone I cannot wait to bring back on the podcast.
• 1:54:19
  Speaker 1: He's my favorite kind of guest, and the reason I say that is because he's a talker, I'm a talker and we could sit there and just talk for hours.
• 1:54:23
  Speaker 1: It was fun, yeah.
• 1:54:24
  Speaker 1: So, guys, let's get going.
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 1: Hop on Instagram.
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 1: Let's get Connor some followers.
• 1:54:28
  Speaker 1: Pretty simple URL it's just con C-O-N.
• 1:54:32
  Speaker 1: K-o-c-h.
• 1:54:34
  Speaker 1: Really cook.
• 1:54:35
  Speaker 1: I thought it was Koch in the beginning.
• 1:54:37
  Speaker 1: Cook, I just can't spell shit to save my life or pronounce things, yeah.
• 1:54:42
  Speaker 1: So give Connor a follow, send him a DM, let him know what you thought about the episode.
• 1:54:46
  Speaker 1: Like I said, that's going to be con cook.
• 1:54:48
  Speaker 1: So C O N K O C H.
• 1:54:50
  Speaker 1: And, yeah, send him, send him some DMS and send him some words of encouragement and let him know what you guys thought about the episode.
• 1:54:58
  Speaker 1: Last but not least, if you guys enjoyed this one, do me a solid hop on Instagram, spotify, apple, youtube, give us a share on Instagram, that would be amazing, but if you give us a five star rating and review on Spotify, apple or YouTube, that would make my day.
• 1:55:13
  Speaker 1: Like I said, the the goal of this great podcast is to cover our amazing sport, and we can't do that without discoverability, and the way we get discovered more is by getting those ratings, reviews.
• 1:55:26
  Speaker 1: That would mean the absolute world to me.
• 1:55:28
  Speaker 1: So I really appreciate you guys.
• 1:55:30
  Speaker 1: Thank you for sharing this, thank you for listening, thank you for following along.
• 1:55:33
  Speaker 1: We have a lot of big plans in 2025.
• 1:55:35
  Speaker 1: We are just getting started.
• 1:55:37
  Speaker 1: So thanks so much, guys.
• 1:55:38
  Speaker 1: Have a fantastic weekend and I'll see you guys next week.
• 1:55:41
  Speaker 1: Thank you.