Category Archives: Adventures

Jun11

Freedom in a Wheelchair with Josh Dueck

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Kim Kircher

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Imagine crashing off a ski jump and waking up paralyzed. Paralympian Josh Dueck lived through that nightmare and emerged a better man. Through hope borrowed from the words of his doctor, Josh knew that even though he’d be confined to a wheelchair for life, he didn’t have to give up skiing.

Josh Dueck

Instead he took to sit-skiing, and quickly become a dominant force in adaptive skiing. He recently returned to jumping, and landed the first ever backflip on a sit-ski. But Josh’s positivity and message of hope are even more inspiring than his amazing feats.

At first, simply getting out of bed was a struggle that required several breaks. Then, little by little, Josh dreamed of “rocking a sit ski” as his doctor promised that he would. Josh kindled that flame of hope until he would join the Canadian Ski Team in Vancouver and win a silver medal in the men’s slalom sit-ski event.

Like Josh before his accident, I too have feared the ultimate loss. What if I lost the use of my legs? What if I couldn’t ski anymore? Through a dark hole of fear and loss, Josh Dueck has emerged as an inspiration. He was recently named National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year in skiing, and will join the Canadian Ski Team in Sochi. Through all of this, Josh has stayed open to his struggle, been honest about his emotions and emerged as a beacon of light for others to follow. I’m not sure that if I suffered the same accident I could return with such hope. That’s the beauty of putting ourselves out there–because it is often on the edge that we can glimpse our truest selves. And Josh Dueck’s true self has proven to be more golden than any medal.

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Join us this week on The Edge Radio as Josh talks about how he came back from his injury to inspire the world. The show airs at 8 a.m. pacific Wednesday morning.

Getting GNAR With Robb Gaffney (kimkircher.com)
Ingrid Backstrom: Girl on Fire (kimkircher.com)
Adventurers of the Year in Their Own Words (Vote for the People’s Choice!) (adventureblog.nationalgeographic.com)

Jun4

The Fear Project With Author Jaimal Yogis

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Kim Kircher

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Jaimal Yogis, author of THE FEAR PROJECT: What Our Most Primal Emotion Taught Me About Survival, Success, Surfing… and Love knows a thing or two about facing fear. He’s stared his fear straight in the face and surfed Mavericks. He also used himself as a guinea pig in his book to explore the human reaction to this most primordial of emotions. An epic adventure full of incredible characters, death-defying athletic achievement, and bleeding edge science, THE FEAR PROJECT began with one question: how can we overcome our fears to reach our full potential?

Jaimal Yogis staring down his fear

Yogis checks in with neuroscientists to find how our memories become our biggest fears and how to tell the difference between good fear and bad fear. He also mines the depths of his own fears–of sharks and lost love and getting caught in the maytag churn underneath a big wave. Most of all, Yogis hopes to turn fear into performance, unlocking his own potential and then handing the key to his reader.

When I read his book several months ago, I knew I wanted to sit down with Jaimal and swap stories. This is a guy who spoke my language. For me, fear is a dance partner and an enemy. It’s a nemesis that I keep trying to debunk; and one that I can’t help coming back to. Like watching a scary movie, I’m horrified by fearful things but I can’t look away. Someone recently asked me what activity would scare me the most. I immediately answered, “stand up comedy.” It was never on my radar, not something I ever wanted to do. But as soon as I said those words, they became a raised finger slithering in a come hither hook that I can’t ignore. Now I’m worried that unless I add, “stand up comedy” to my bucket list I’m going to feel like a sissy. Feeling afraid is strangely alluring to me.

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I’m looking forward to my chance to interview Jaimal Yogis tomorrow on The Edge Radio. One question I plan to ask is how does one get the upper hand with fear? Do you ever just let fear take over the yard, like blackberry bushes that crawl over every shrub and fold back on themselves until they’re too thick to cut down? Or must we, every time, face those fears as a way of of pushing back the encroachment? Have questions of your own for Jaimal? Leave me a comment here and I’ll be sure to ask.

May28

Andy Farrington: Born to Fly

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Kim Kircher

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Redbull Airforce team member Andy Farrington

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Andy Farrington can fly. A member of the elite Red Bull Air Force, a team of the most accomplished BASE jumpers, wingsuit pilots, and paraglider pilots in the world, Andy is a bit of an expert. He can maneuver around buildings and along cliff faces with his wingsuit, and has jumped out of an airplane more than 19,000 times.

There are birds that haven’t flown as much as Andy. As a BASE jumper and skydiver, Andy is on the cutting edge of wingsuit flying. Andy has over 1,000 BASE jumps, two action films and numerous canopy piloting championships under his belt. But for Andy, this is just normal life.

If the first time you ever met Andy was at 12,000 feet after just having jumped from an airplane, strapped to your skydiving instructor’s belly, like I did, you might get a very different first impression. I hadn’t really noticed Andy on the plane ride. I was too nervous contemplating what I was about to do. When the cockpit door slid open, Andy jumped out. My stomach flip-flopped as a few other experts jumped out of the plane and disappeared with a freaky swooshing sound as if being sucked into outer space.

Andy Farrington skimming

I first noticed Andy during freefall, when he swooped close by in his wingsuit and hovered for a moment. My brain registered his presence, even while my cheeks were inflating with wind as if I’d stuck my head out the window while riding shotgun at the Grand Prix. I looked at this winged man and thought, that guy is awesome; then he made an invisible adjustment of his limbs and darted away like a human hummingbird. Then I thought, that guy is insane.

One of 19,000 jumps for Andy Farrington

When you’re about to BASE jump off a 2,000-foot cliff, you simply can’t hesitate. You cannot jump halfway. Andy Farrington lives his life without hesitation. There is simply no room for doubt. He claims he’s never walked up to a cliff and decided not to jump. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t without his own risk/reward calculus. When he’s up against something especially risky, he asks his mother for her advice. What mom says, goes.

Before he was born, his mother Jessie jumped 100 times while he was in utero. You could say he was born to jump out of airplanes. At age 10, he packed chutes at Skydive Kapowsin, his family’s skydive center, for $3 a pack. He now owns the drop zone with his sister, the third generation to carry on the family tradition. Andy and his wife Kasha recently had a baby, so perhaps the next generation is already queuing up to take over.

Some might think Andy is trying to escape the real world with all this time in the air. But for Andy, this is the real world. After meeting Andy in flight, I sat down and talked to him over a beer. It took a moment to connect the two images: one of a human bird capable of superhuman feats, the other a quiet, almost shy, man of great humility.

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In the film Transformers 3, Andy flies between Chicago’s downtown buildings at 150 mph, and BASE jumped off the Sears Tower. Andy’s current movie Iron Man 3, in which he does stunt work with mom Jessie, is in theaters now.

Join me this week on The Edge Radio when I talk to Andy Farrington about BASE jumping, the Redbull team and stunt filming. You won’t want to miss this one.

May21

Finding Awesome

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Kim Kircher

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Amy Christensen

Amy Christensen wants you to find your awesome. We all have one–a place where we can tap into our best selves, the goals most inline with that self we sometimes neglect. Life is pretty full of noise these days. If you’re anything like me, you might be wondering how to peel back some of that superfluous white noise and tap into that awesome place we found that one time way down in the depths of the Grand Canyon (or while on that long sailboat crossing, or on that multi-day backpacking trip, or that ski hut trip in BC you took a few years back, or even that yoga retreat you took last year). Hopefully you’ve tapped into your awesome already and know that it’s there. If you haven’t, that’s okay too. Because it’s waiting patiently for you to find it. (Hint: you’re not going to find it on Facebook or Tumblr or even Twitter. This is your true awesome, not the airbrushed one we sometimes like to portray).

Amy is a personal coach, and she encourages you to find your inner awesome by helping you push your boundaries. Her website, Expand Outdoors, offers a plethora of advice and encouragement to quiet the noise and find your best self. She recently offered a contest for the reader that came up with the best name for her inner gremlin. That’s the little monster inside telling you that you can’t, that you’re not good enough, that no one is going to read your book or cares about your radio show. I named mine L’il Kim, because a) I’ve always wanted to use that moniker and b) because my little gremlin thinks she’s funny.

Amy also names our excuses–she calls them

Expand Outdoors

Monday Morning Excuses–and offers advice on getting over the hump. Whenever you need a little jolt, these little snippets are like hearing the sound of the ice cream truck on a hot summer day. You didn’t even know you were craving a Captain Kool or Fudge Bomb Pop until you heard the faint sound of circus music echoing through your neighborhood. Then it’s like–Bam!–there’s the ice cream man and suddenly you’re licking the chocolate stream running down your arm and it’s nothing but pure awesome.

That’s what Amy helps you find again.

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I’m talking with Amy this week on The Edge. Please stop by for a listen. The show goes live on Wednesday at 8 am Pacific, but you can click on the link anytime after it airs to listen to it anytime. Like right now. Just click the link now and catch up on old shows you might have missed. The show is still in pilot now, and soon will be up for renewal. The more listeners the better, so you get my drift. Just click the link.

May6

Getting GNAR With Robb Gaffney

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Kim Kircher

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Robb Gaffney dropping in

Imagine telling a professional athlete, “I can’t believe you’re a pro. I’m so much better than you.” That’s exactly what the game of G.N.A.R., played at ski areas around the West, encourages participants to do. Meant to showcase the good-natured part of the sport of skiing, G.N.A.R points can be scored anytime, anywhere.

In 2003, Robb Gaffney wrote the book “Squallywood“, a guidebook to the most exposed lines at Squaw Valley. Legendary skier Shane McConkey added the chapter “G.N.A.R”, which stands for Gaffney’s Numeric Assessment of Radness, poking fun at those on the slopes taking themselves a bit too seriously.

Skiing certain lines at Squaw, where the game originated, score a certain number of points. But there are ways to improve the score. You get extra credit for skiing a difficult line while also talking to your mom on your cell phone. If you really want to up the fear factor a notch, try skiing the line BN, short for Butt Naked. That provides an extra 5,000 points for men and 10,000 points for women. (I suppose that extra 5,000 points is a either a consideration of how we women actually have more to show or perhaps a way of encouraging us to show it off more often.)

In fact, rumor has it that a certain female ski patroller scored 10,000 G.N.A.R. points for an after-hours naked ski run at Crystal Mountain recently. She even tried to call her mom on her cell phone at the same time, but her mom didn’t answer. Certainly leaving a message for your mom while skiing Discovery Chair butt naked deserves a few extra credit points. But I digress.

Robb Gaffney topping out

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Robb Gaffney takes a look

Robb Gaffney is no stranger to extreme skiing. He lives with his wife Andrea and two children in Tahoe City and works as a psychiatrist in Squaw Valley. Starting in 1990, and continuing through medical school and residency, Robb helped his brother Scott produce numerous ski films including the most recent and probably the most popular, “G.N.A.R. The Movie“. He skied in most of his brother’s movies and has had several segments in Matchstick Productions films.

Currently Robb’s interest lies in backcountry skiing all over the Sierra Nevada and sharing some of these excursions with his kids. He has also founded a project called Sportgevity, with the goal of increasing the lifespans and physical health of athletes in action and mainstream sports.

This week on The Edge Radio, Gaffney will talk to us about playing the game of G.N.A.R, the late McConkey and how to get close enough to the edge without going over it. So often big skiing has been filled with big egos and bigger checkbooks. But Robb Gaffney reminds us of our roots. Sometimes the biggest risk is to throw away the rules and just have fun. Robb Gaffney is the man that knows how to do that.

Apr26

Getting over the Fear Factor

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Kim Kircher

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Action sports offer more than just an adrenaline rush–they help us face our fears. While life gets safer every day, our search for adventure and challenge remains strong. We seek thrills, push our limits and search for transcendence through outdoor sports.

Today’s guest poster, Olivia Golding, an aspiring writer from the UK, shares with us her experience with fear and pushing her limits through climbing. She is a 22 year-old barmaid living in Manchester. (Sounds like the making of a future ski bum, if you ask me!) She first started rock climbing two years ago during “Freshers Week” at University (according to Olivia, that’s “basically the week where it’s ‘no holds barred’ and everyone goes a bit mental”). Her philosophy is simple: try everything once. She hopes that if just one person takes up rock climbing because she shared her experience, then her work is done. Take it away Olivia!

Indoor rock climbing is the conventional starting point for novices (unless you’re particularly daring!) (photo courtesy of Flickr)

If you’re not even a little bit concerned when staring up at the rock face and contemplating leading off on your first climb then you’ve either got nerves of steel, or there’s probably something wrong with you. That sense of butterflies in the stomach, the feeling that this isn’t really the safest pastime that you could have chosen, that perhaps it would be better to walk the long way round after all rather than go straight up – these are all natural reactions. And as long as that fear doesn’t paralyse you, then you’ll be OK.

For me it was that fear of putting your life into the hands of someone else, the belayer – that was one of the hardest parts of learning the basics of rock climbing. Falling off is something that you expect to happen when you’re getting into the sport – the major concern is that the person on the other end of the rope will catch you when you do.

Having a good teacher is key to building up your confidence. You need someone who will guide you through the basics of how to put on a harness properly, how to tie in and what checks and calls to make before leaving the ground. Safety always has to be a huge part of rock climbing due to the nature of the sport and it’s those basic checks, the first things you learn, that help to give you the strength to start up a wall. Have you checked the straps on your harness have been doubled back? Is the stopper knot on the rope good enough? Is your belay partner ready for you to start? “Ready?” “Ready!” “Climbing!”

This will hopefully give you some perspective of the heights you could reach, though despite however prepared you think you are, it still won’t get rid of the butterflies in your stomach. (photo courtesy of Flickr)

Like most people, I started climbing indoors using a fixed top rope. As a beginner, having a rope that has already been passed through a carabiner at the top of the wall ensures that if you do come off, you’re unlikely to fall far. And while it might sound strange, falling off and being caught quickly can actually do a lot to boost your confidence. If you know that there is someone on the ground that’s keeping a close eye on you and is ready to act should you slip, you’ll find you’re far more inclined to take calculated risks and push yourself that bit further when a handhold appears to be just out of reach.

Once you’ve got some experience of top-roped climbs, then leading your first pitch – ie taking the rope up with you and clipping it into carabiners at intervals to protect you in the event of a fall – is the next step. If you do come off the wall then there’s usually further to fall, but as long as you have a good belaying partner you’ll be fine. In many climbing situations, a little bit of encouragement can go a long way. Having someone push you to try a move after you’ve been stationary on the wall for five minutes, unsure that you can make it, can be all it takes. There’s nothing more satisfying than being lowered down from a climb having made it to the top in that situation. It’s when that sense of fear or trepidation is replaced by a sense of achievement that you really start to get the bug for the sport. Bring in the stunning views you can find when you take your climbing outdoors and it won’t be long before you’re well and truly hooked!

Author bio

This post was contributed by Olivia Golding, an amateur but keen outdoor sports enthusiast and writer. When not subjected to indoor constraints, she loves to be outside with nature and its beauty. She strives to be as organised as she can, and can do so with the help of camping stoves and tents from GoOutdoors.co.uk, amongst other essentials.

Apr15

Meet Chuck Patterson: Legendary Waterman

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Kim Kircher

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In the Green Room

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Chuck Patterson is the quintessential Renaissance man of action sports. Give him a ski, a surfboard or, heck, a wooden park bench, and Chuck will carve, sculpt, and engrave his turns into water and snow with style and confidence. Chuck competes at the pro level in five different sports: stand up paddling, tow-in surfing, kite surfing, skiing and snowboarding.

Chuck developed special skis, with alpine boots and bindings, in order to ski waves

Chuck once held the world record highest jump

The son of a nuclear physicist father and professional ski racer mother, Chuck combines calculated risk with amazing talent. Whether tow-in surfing on big waves such as Jaws and Mavericks or skiing off a 70-foot cliff, it seems there’s nothing that this man can’t do.

Chuck’s interests go beyond single-discipline sports. He wants to innovate, taking his sports to new dimensions.

Chuck recently rode Jaws, not on a surfboard, but on specially designed skis, complete with alpine ski boots, bindings and poles. Photos of Chuck have appeared on numerous magazine covers and he continues to win contests.

Don’t miss The Edge this week as I interview Chuck Patterson and find out more about what it takes to dominate so many spots, how to manage the fear factor and what it takes to be a professional athlete. You aren’t going to want to miss this one.

Apr5

Skiiing Waves and Kayaking in the Snow

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Kim Kircher

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Still doing just one sport at a time? How 2012 of you. These days, its all about hybridizing your sports. Like to ski when it’s cold, and surf when it’s warm? Why not ski a wave like Chuck Patterson? Or perhaps you prefer your waves in rivers. Why go snow kayaking like Miles Daisher. Check out these two videos and the watch how the new edge get cut away.

Showtime Chuck Patterson skiing Jaws.