Have you ever found it difficult to talk to outdoor “friends” about certain issues? It's not a matter of distrust; the outdoor community is all about trusting total strangers with your life—even as you climb 80 feet off the ground. Yet, I can’t trust outdoor friends enough to be honest about my feelings on certain issues, such as sexual harassment, racial discrimination and inequality.
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Paris Brown has always dealt with performance anxiety—never more so than her qualifying round for American Ninja Warrior Season 9. She had an agonizingly heartbreaking fall off of the second obstacle on the course. And just like that her season was over. But her story didn’t end there. Paris got back up and continued training. She is now stronger than ever!
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Meet Melise: a climber and neuroscientist based out of Seattle, Washington.
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I wish I understood at an earlier age that your interests and passions are yours alone to choose. Don’t feel the need to fit perfectly inside a mold.
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I write because I know I'm not the only one feeling the way that I do. I write because “I’m not Black enough.” I write because I love the outdoors. I write because our voices deserve to be heard.
And each time I turned around I felt like a complete failure! Maybe it’s the universe’s way of telling me to pick another hobby. A safer hobby. A warmer hobby. In fact, each time I fail, I tend to go through the complete stages of grief. Seriously! I go through denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and the hardest one, acceptance.
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The hypnotherapy made me brave enough to start obstacles, but I needed something to get me through the obstacles. For this, I scream like I’ve being cut up in tiny pieces with a dull knife.
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I’ve purchased my flights and cleared my work schedule. This isn’t just another random vacation; today I’ve selected my next mountaineering objective. It’s no longer merely a lofty vision. There is a sense of palpability every time I glance at those chosen days on the calendar. This adventure that has captured my attention for years is coming nearer with each day. In these times of alpine anticipation, the wise will prepare and capture each valuable minute.
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Peru is a wonderful country for all outdoor enthusiasts! There is surfing, mountaineering, rock climbing, mountain biking, and much more. For those of you who are interested in visiting Peru, I’ll share our experiences to hopefully make your trip planning smoother. We split our time between Lima and Cusco, so this review will focus on the climbing in those areas.
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I can't help but dwell on the idea of where my relentless drive and fiery passion for doing something different, something unusual, despite my race, gender, small stature, and yes, even fear of heights. Although, when I look back, it's easy to realize it was primarily due to my mom and people like her who believed in me, even when I went through phases of not believing in myself.
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“You’re going to be alright,” I glanced down and whispered to a broken man struggling through an ice climbing nightmare. My eyes darted quickly between the Korean rescue worker helping to stabilize the opposite side of the stretcher, over my shoulder at the fifty feet of steep ice awaiting our descent, and back to the contorted face of the injured climber.
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I can not even tell you how many times I have heard the statement, “stereotypes are based on some sort of truth.” As much as I’d hate to say it, I somewhat agree with this statement
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However, I was still so angry that I really wanted to hit something (or everything), but I didn’t know how to punch at all. So with stitches still in my leg and still weak from chemotherapy, I went downtown and limped into the Cleveland Boxing Club.
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Trekking is what I do to get to the mountain. Add a little bit of technicality and people drop right off, each increase of technicality allows you to have a little more solitude, more wilderness, you can go further and further.
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Black people don't camp, hike, cliff jump, they don't skydive, kayak, nor do they climb!
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Every time I make a list of bouldering climbs I want to send, I get butterflies in my stomach. It's the best kind of nervous anticipation. I think about the process: dissecting the climb in isolation and working it piece by piece
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I was asked to join a group of individuals, most of whom I've never met, to spend three days over Christmas break in Red Rocks, near Las Vegas, Nevada. It just so happened that my schedule was open and had planned on staying in Portland this year, so I decided to take the leap. It's not every day I get asked to do some rock climbing in a different state with a group of climbing enthusiasts. I figured it was either going to be an amazing adventure or it would be a Christmas to remember and not in a good way—so I took a gamble.
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"falling to your death is a completely acceptable and practical fear"
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Chemo Brain. It’s a real thing. Chemo brain is when you lose your memory, permanently or temporarily. For me, I can barely remember the 6 months before starting chemo, most of the chemo months are gone, and several months after chemo are also gone.
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Part of what makes shared culture in outdoor recreation so great is the shared vocabulary. However, having to learn an entirely new lexicon can be off putting or intimidating to newcomers. Get a head start with our deep dive into adventure sports lingo.
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