The Dirtbag Diaries
Episodes
The Shorts--Painkillers and Perspective
11 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
"All of my friends kayaked. All of the trips we went on were kayaking trips. When not kayaking, we talked about kayaking," writes Sarah Paul. In the f...
Live from 5Point Vol. 8
28 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In our fifth annual "Live from 5Point" Film Festival, we interviewed Frank Sanders and Tommy Caldwell. Frank spent his youth climbing on the East Co...
The Shorts--Sleeping Bag Metamorphosis
14 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
"After a summer of bussing tables and lifeguarding, I had saved up enough and I was finally going to get it. My ticket to anywhere I wanted to be," wr...
The Modern Dirtbag
01 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In the golden days, dirtbags lived to climb. They didn't work, have permanent addresses or sponsors. They ate leftovers off of tourists' plates and sl...
The Shorts--Two Wheels to Anywhere
10 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
"We opened my aunt's basement door and walked into the dusty room. Among cardboard boxes and carpentry tools stood a bright red bicycle. The frame had...
The Shorts--Blind Date with the Desert
27 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
"My first few days in Moab's red rock desert were like a blind date where everything went wrong," writes Hilary Oliver. "For one, it was August. My me...
The Threshold Moment
13 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
When Kevin Fedarko stepped through the door of the O.A.R.S. boathouse in Flagstaff, AZ, he didn't realize he had crossed a figurative threshold as wel...
The Shorts--The Swallow and the Anchor
27 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
"My future captain interviewed me with three questions," remembers Joe Aultman-Moore. "Had I ever sailed before? No. Did I get seasick? I don't know. ...
El Avalanchisto
13 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
When Matt McKee first heard about the position forecasting avalanches for Minera Pimenton, a gold mine in the Chilean Andes, it sounded like the snow ...
The Shorts--365 Days
29 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
"In the day to day tangle of life, it's easy to let go of the things that provide focus, and calm and perspective," writes Fitz Cahall. "I find that s...
Adventure 1000
15 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
It's January. Time for our annual "Year of Big Ideas." This year, we talked to Alastair Humphreys, a 2012 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. ...
Flying Deep
06 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
There comes a stage in a great athlete's career when the pursuit of the technical difficulty take a backseat. It gives way to simplicity, an aesthetic...
The Journey Within
12 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
"I'm thirty-year-old, and a complete and utter failure," writes Chris Kalman. "My mom is a PhD astrophysicist, my dad, a PhD mathematician, and my sis...
More Than Just a Camping Trip
26 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
"Death-by-lightning-strike statistics kept swirling through my head, causing me to push my 13-year-old daughter to the very limits of her physical abi...
What You're Handed
14 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Regardless of how you choose to play outside, if someone gets hurt in the mountains, the first step on the checklist remains the same: "scene safety"-...
Tales of Terror Vol. 5
31 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Ghost stories. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, ghost stories have a way of seeping into your mind. And, if they're really good, suddenly, that s...
The Shorts--Hooch
10 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
"It's never encouraging to be awoken in a tent by headlights. I wanted to play possum--roll over, and pretend to sleep until they left," writes David ...
The Shorts--5 Steps to Bailing
26 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
"The reality of climbing is, if you climb long enough, you're bound to bail," writes Dean Fleming. "I've left rappel biners on sport bolted 5.8s. I've...
The Shorts--Go For It!
11 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
"Encouragement. Peer Pressure. Bullying. Call it what you like," writes Tom Ireson, "but the climbing community is full of it." We rely on our friends...
Mothers Have it Hardest
25 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
"I remember really quickly going from, 'Wow, I'm home, this feels great', to 'Holy s***, what did I do to my mom'?" says alpinist Kyle Dempster. "And ...
The Shorts--The Drowning Machine
11 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
"I was disoriented beneath the cold water. I kicked toward the surface, but the force of the water held me down. I twisted and hung underwater for a m...
Widge
26 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
"It's like you're scared to move forward-- you just need something to give you a little nudge," says Jonah Manning. "You can call it support, but, rea...
The Shorts--My Bluebird of Happiness
12 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
"Standing up in my pedals, I dug so deep to make it to the top of the hill I wasn't positive that my butt could bear sitting back down on my bike seat...
Live from 5Point Vol. 7
28 May 2014
Contributed by Lukas
A month ago, we headed south for our annual pilgrimage to the 5 Point Film Festival and our live Dirtbag Diaries. Today, we share stories from two wom...
The World By Bike
01 May 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Committed. It’s a word we use to describe people we know, our friends, even ourselves. Committed to a sport. A ski line. A lifestyle. It can be easy...
The Treewok
18 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The average American spends a third of their income on housing. Almost as much as the next two greatest expenses--food and transportation--combined. S...
The Shorts--Denial on Denali
04 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Brody Leven applied for a climbing permit for Denali from a rented Subaru parked outside a closed cafe. In a blizzard. In Iceland. Weeks later, he wou...
The Shorts-- Dreams Coming True
13 Mar 2014
Contributed by Lukas
There are two kinds of dreams. An honest dream. “The kind of dream,” writes Luke Mehall “that keeps you up at night, and wakes you up in the mor...
The Remotest
27 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
We all know the feeling of remoteness. The stillness. The perspective. It's part of what keeps drawing us outside. But what does it feel like to be st...
The Shorts--Zen and the Art of Skiing Powder
13 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
“With steely determination, I pointed my tips downhill and tried to power through the deep snow, but I was doomed,” remembers Julia Rosen. “I st...
Starting Small
22 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Plastic bags. They clog drawers, landfills, coastlines and trailheads. Recycling them is confusing and inefficient. But what if there was a way to tur...
If You Build It
03 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Powerful ideas often demand that we leave the comfort of a safety net. We quit a nine to five. We take out a second mortgage on our house. Along the w...
The Shorts--Fighting With Our Feet
13 Dec 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Significant life tumult propelled Nick Triolo to leave his home and move to Todos Santos, Baja earlier this year. As an ultra-runner, he instinctively...
Tales of Terror Vol. 4
31 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Is there something out there? It’s a question that lurks in the back of my mind. Probably in yours too. It’s one of the very reasons why I love ...
The Shorts--By Slim Chance
11 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
"It's the unpredictable elements that throw our lives off course, for better or for worse," writes Niki Yoblonski. We leave a trailhead with some idea...
The Shorts--Cave Sweet Cave
26 Sep 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Walking into someone's apartment, house, van, tent or trailer for the first time can feel sort of like flipping open the first page of their journal. ...
Rebirth of Belief
06 Sep 2013
Contributed by Lukas
"We had the discussion around the campfire one night of trying to define 'what is wilderness'," John Stoneman remembers. "We determined that if you ge...
Home Front
31 Jul 2013
Contributed by Lukas
There's a story that you may have heard kicked around in the newspapers and nightly news for the last few months. It's as unsettling as it is tragic. ...
The Shorts--The Making Of A Patriot
17 Jul 2013
Contributed by Lukas
"Three months ago, I'm not sure I would have considered myself a patriot," writes Hilary Oliver. "Mentally, I separated my nation―government, stat...
Mikey Buys a House
03 Jul 2013
Contributed by Lukas
We've told stories about people quitting jobs, ditching mortgages and selling worldly possessions to go live life on their own terms. But what if you ...
The Shorts--Bootstrapping
14 Jun 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Our baptism in wild places is different for each of us. For some, it's ingrained so early in life that it hardly registers as a memory. For most, ...
Live from 5Point Vol. 6
31 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Our second installment from the third annual Live from 5Point in April at the 5Point Film Festival. If you missed the last episode, we talked with sno...
Live from 5Point Vol. 5
17 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
We're back for our third annual Live from 5Point event. Today we present two stories from snowboarder Kevin Pearce, about finding happiness after suff...
The Shorts--Ode to An Ice Chest
26 Apr 2013
Contributed by Lukas
As the days grow longer and warmer, the road beckons us. And while we can pile gear into the car until we can’t cram anything else in, packing some ...
The Shorts--Hey, Bear!
12 Apr 2013
Contributed by Lukas
"We traveled in an ode to that particular brand of privileged American adventure, the cross-country drive, funded in equal parts by savings from crapp...
Benighted
29 Mar 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Great stories often have these 5 words, “and then it got dark.” But how can carefully executed alpine starts and planned summits turn into watchin...
The Shorts--Castleton Fall
06 Mar 2013
Contributed by Lukas
While climbing Castleton Tower, Brendan Leonard watched a climber cruise past him, take on a piece of gear, and then fall onto a ledge right at his fe...
Be Mine
14 Feb 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Love- It's life's great surprise. You can try to pin its origins in brain chemistry and hormones. Or the right timing. But those don't explain why tou...
The Shorts- Just Make It Happen
30 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Ever managed to talk yourself into an adventure or a job only to realize you have gotten yourself in way over your head? Sometimes these scenarios lea...
The Magic of Serendipity
18 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
You might remember a story about climbers in the Magic Kingdom. It sounded like a dream job- climbing, secret lairs and cutting to the front of the ro...
The Shorts--Pedaling to Silence
03 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Greg May signed up as a rookie for the 24 Hours of Exposure at the heckling of his friends. But as he stood on the start line he felt under prepared, ...
The Sufferthon
18 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Alastair Humphreys has biked around the world, crossed glacial highlands and desert lands. But in 2011, he stayed in Britain, focusing on trips close ...
The Shorts-Don Manuel's Nails
30 Nov 2012
Contributed by Lukas
In 2010, Seth Adams worked in Ecuador with Round River Conservation Studies. He was there as part of an effort to show the locals the importance of co...
Making It
15 Nov 2012
Contributed by Lukas
We've all day dreamed about it - becoming a pro. What would it be like? Well, besides getting to do the thing you love everyday, you'd probably get fr...
Tales of Terror Vol. 3
30 Oct 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Ever walked through the woods late at night and felt like you were being followed? Had a strange feeling about someone you just met? Encountered the s...
The Shorts--Dream, Interrupted
09 Oct 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Steve's typical weekend would make any dirtbag jealous. Concerts by the river, sunrise climbs, hiking a new trailhead just because. He's living his ow...
The Shorts-Meditation in Motion
21 Sep 2012
Contributed by Lukas
"A friend of mine said that it was worth getting a budget flight to Morocco just to eat an orange. After that you could turn around and fly home con...
Crash and Burn
07 Sep 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Drive it until it dies. That's the motto I lived by as my truck, Crash, crisscrossed the West. Family members would doubtfully ask, "Are you sure you ...
The Shorts--One Last Hike
15 Aug 2012
Contributed by Lukas
"My father would collected me in the summer and we would range farther in our explorations of the West. We would find small towns on the edge of wil...
The Shorts--Parking Lot Players
13 Jul 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Next time you're out at a popular trailhead, take 30 minutes, crack a beer and take a look around the parking lot. You'll start to see that there are ...
Stepping Stones
22 Jun 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Jessie Stone has a resume that would make any dirtbag proud -- raft guide, pro whitewater kayaker and member of the US freestyle kayak team. At the en...
The Shorts--5 Types of B.O.
06 Jun 2012
Contributed by Lukas
"If there are three types of fun, there should be five types of B.O." It happens to all of us. You're out camping for a few days, maybe more. Free fro...
Live From 5 Point Vol. 4
22 May 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the second half of our 2012 Live From 5 Point show. This week we continue the show from Steve's Guitars in downtown Carbondale, CO. Photogr...
Live From 5Point Vol. 3
07 May 2012
Contributed by Lukas
5Point Film Festival invited us back for another live Dirtbag Diaries. And of course, we said, "Yes!" We invited four people up on stage to to talk ab...
The Shorts-Pedal Your Turns
13 Apr 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Last spring, Fred Sproat and his friend Sam pedaled 630 miles from Eugene, OR to the heart of the Sierra. Their mission was to ski couloirs by truly e...
The Shorts-Post-Emphatic Wilderness Disorder
23 Mar 2012
Contributed by Lukas
"When you’re in a crowded movie theater or stadium, do you nervously fidget and plot an escape route?" asks Dean Fleming. If so, you may be sufferin...
Origins
06 Mar 2012
Contributed by Lukas
The Dirtbag Diaries turns five. This also happens to be our 100th episode. To celebrate the occasion, we reached out to our collaborators, our con...
The Shorts--The Mobil
10 Feb 2012
Contributed by Lukas
On road trips, Brendan Leonard always stops to check out the t-shirt rack, bumper stickers or display of trinkets unique to the area. And every stop i...
Frozen Lemonade
19 Jan 2012
Contributed by Lukas
John Dittli says the skating has been epic in the high Sierra. While others have bemoaned the lack of snow, John has seized the extended window to ice...
The Shorts--By Any Means Necessary
12 Dec 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Growing up in Ireland, writer Lisa McGonigle wasn't immersed in snow and mountains. But a trip to the Pyrenees when she was 19 to try snowboarding rea...
Transitions--Efficiency Manifesto
23 Nov 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Transitions may not be sexy, but they make or break us. Almost five years after I wrote the Monoboard and started The Diaries, I find myself in a meta...
Lifestyle Tips for the Committed
11 Nov 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Dean Fleming writes, " Like most rock climbers, I’m a control freak and I’m cheap. So I’ll share one lifestyle tip for the committed to put ex...
Tales of Terror Vol. 2
28 Oct 2011
Contributed by Lukas
It can be difficult to separate an initial seed of fear from the growing tangle of possibility that can quickly emerge in your head, but sometimes tha...
The Shorts--Wheels
12 Oct 2011
Contributed by Lukas
The weekend ritual of loading up a car with gear, picking a destination, and watching out the window as the landscapes passes by is familiar to most o...
The Way of the Underdog
29 Sep 2011
Contributed by Lukas
The Underdog is the most potent myth in America. Is this special type of hero just a myth or is the underdog real? Jayson Sime was a small town Iowa k...
The Shorts--Drifting to a Fork in the River
13 Sep 2011
Contributed by Lukas
While in school, Fred Sproat successfully balanced his time between guiding and love. Guiding takes a commitment to dealing with Mother Nature's spont...
You Are Not Alone
27 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
The first time I sat around a climber's campfire at 19, I could sense that though our lives were superficially different with jobs and responsibilitie...
The Shorts--Conquering Sherman
11 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
When David King set out to ride his bike across the US, he had read the books, bought the right gear and trained tirelessly on hills back home. But ...
The Shorts--Penance
17 Jun 2011
Contributed by Lukas
After road racing bicycles for seven years, Gary Visser settled into life in South Carolina. He discovered a new passion in the salt water marshes, ra...
Live From 5Point Vol. 2
02 Jun 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Our long held dream of creating a live performance of The Dirtbag Diaries came true this spring at the 5Point Film Festival. Today we present the stor...
Live from 5Point Vol. 1
19 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
For years, Becca and I have wanted to create a live performance of The Dirtbag Diaries. When 5Point Film Festival gurus Julie Kennedy and Beda Calhoun...
The Shorts--Dispatch from the Middle
06 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
For surfer Wade Grocott, his local break is thousands of kilometers away. The weeks he's not surfing, he's surrounded by the prairies of Saskatchewan....
Ditch Logic
20 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
In 2005, Gregg Bleakney was on the rise. He had all the trappings of a successful life, but Gregg also had a secret. Something he wasn't sharing wit...
The Shorts--The Pee Tree
22 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
How do you choose the stories to retell when you get back from a trip? Shane Robinson writes, "At first, I tried to recount every amazing detail of my...
Sodade
04 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob Bain has traveled to SE Asia, Cuba, and Africa. And though he sometimes has climbing gear, he always has a guitar. In the summer of 2010, Johnny...
The Shorts--Sitting In Silence
21 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Mike Colpo went to guide school in search of a different life. His rugged instructor, Cody, taught him the basics of guiding climbers, but also pushed...
What Is Hardcore?
08 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Our sports have long heralded rating systems that let us know just how we're doing. We may bicker over their ratings, but we return to them again and ...
The Shorts--How She Got There
24 Jan 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Christine McMahon read Ranger Rick, stole her brother's Boy Scouts Manual to learn survival tricks and was driving by age 9. She grew up relatively ca...
Buckle Down
11 Jan 2011
Contributed by Lukas
We present our 2011 Year of Big Ideas show. Professional athletes, passionate weekend warriors and Dirtbag Diaries contributors come together to pre...
What We Had
23 Dec 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Rutherford and John Merritt grew up sharing the same sand box. Twenty years ago, Mark began a successful adventure fly fishing guide service in t...
The Shorts-Cardboard Canadian
08 Dec 2010
Contributed by Lukas
After hitchhiking in Canada and Arizona, Graham Waugh thought he'd easily catch a ride from Needles to Joshua Tree. He didn't account for the nearly d...
Unseen But Felt
25 Nov 2010
Contributed by Lukas
This last fall, Becca and I embarked on a trip of a lifetime. To those who asked, I offered a slew of reasons. Those closest to me knew better. I was ...
The Shorts--The Lost Art
12 Nov 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Surfer. Waves. Design. Surfboard. In 25 years of surfing, Will Ranken never thought much about how those four elements interrelated to one another. Wh...
Tales of Terror
29 Oct 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we present Tales of Terror, two stories from the most terrifying moments of our contributor's lives. Our first story was recorded in the field ...
The Shorts -- Packing
12 Oct 2010
Contributed by Lukas
When writer and biker Dean Campbell packs he "always forgets one thing and always brings too much to read." Can your packing style influence how you e...
Embrace This
21 Sep 2010
Contributed by Lukas
This summer I decided to not only try road biking, I decided to embrace it in all its spandex glory. My climbing could suffer. The mountain bike could...
The Shorts -- Zones of Subduction
02 Sep 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Growing up, inheritance and parenthood – these themes have quietly woven their way into the Diaries’ Fabric. Today, Bob Nydam presents a story abo...
Go West
27 Jul 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Maybe the cowboy is gone, but the tradition of going West to reinvent oneself has remained a part of our culture. Today, Brendan Leonard presents a st...
The Shorts -- Dirtbag Resume
13 Jul 2010
Contributed by Lukas
When it came time to settle down after returning from a Peace Corps stint, the economy tanked and Ryan Nickum pieced together whatever work he could -...
The Accidental Journalist
23 Jun 2010
Contributed by Lukas
In August 2008, 11 climbers lost their lives on K2. The ensuing media frenzy was just that -- a frenzy. What really happened up there? Freddie Wilkins...