Episode 9
Ep 009. Hot topics in our Backpacking Badass Community: Adventure Planning, Training in the Offseason, & Rock Climbing
In today's episode, I am joined by my employee Kellie, who helps me with so many things at She Dreams of Alpine, including being the Community Manager of our Backpacking Badass Program Community.
In this episode, we talk about some "hot topics" within our Backpacking Badass Community to share a little behind-the-scenes of what our students are thinking about, and what we are coaching on a lot right now, and share some of that advice here on the podcast.
Key Points Discussed:
- Journaling prompts to reflect on for your 2024 adventures
- 2025 adventure planning
- Our new free 5-day challenge coming up in January 2025
- How do you know what your “limit” is when planning your hiking and backpacking goals?
- Training for hiking and backpacking in the "offseason" (like winter)
- Advice for maintaining baseline fitness during the winter time when you can't get outdoors as much
- How to get started rock climbing if you're a beginner
- And so much more!
Where to learn more about Allison:
🎁 FREE GIFT: Grab the Outdoor Backpacker Starter Kit for FREE here to get started on your journey with backpacking.
❄️ WINTER HIKING AND CAMPING WORKSHOP: Join me in this epic workshop training so you can adventure outdoors this winter feeling safe, prepared, WARM, and equipped with the proper gear you need for hiking and camping in the snow.
🥾 BACKPACKING COURSE WAITLIST: This is our signature program where we teach you how to become a safe, confident, and self-sufficient backpacker. It's an online course, coaching program, and community to support you in your journey to becoming a confident backpacker and step into your adventurous identity.
Transcript
You're listening to the Adventurous Reinvention podcast. I'm
Speaker:Alison Boyle AKA She Dreams of Alpine and this is the
Speaker:show that's dedicated to all the adventurous spirits out there who have either
Speaker:been transformed by the outdoors or interested in what it
Speaker:looks like to step into a new adventurous and courageous kind
Speaker:of identity in their life. It doesn't matter what your background is in the
Speaker:outdoors, what age you're starting at, or where you grew up. If
Speaker:you're curious about the outdoors and using adventure as a way to
Speaker:reinvent yourself, you're in the right place. I'll be
Speaker:sharing all kinds of personal adventure stories, lessons I've
Speaker:learned from the mountains, teaching what I know about the outdoors and leadership,
Speaker:and interviewing some amazing adventurous women all along the
Speaker:way. I've been coaching women on becoming safe, confident, and
Speaker:self sufficient backpackers and leaders of their own adventurous lives
Speaker:since 2018, and I know exactly what
Speaker:big fears and self doubts can pop up along the way. I have
Speaker:so much to share with you, so let's dive in.
Speaker:Alright. Welcome to episode 9 of the Adventurous
Speaker:Reinvention podcast. Today, I have a very special guest with
Speaker:me. That's my employee, Kelly. She helps me with so many things
Speaker:at She Dreams of Alpine, like marketing and social media.
Speaker:But another big role for Kelly at She Dreams of Alpine is being the
Speaker:community manager of our core program, the backpacking badass
Speaker:program and community. So today, I wanted to do
Speaker:a podcast with her where we talk about some, like, hot
Speaker:topics that are happening right now kinda in
Speaker:our community this time of the year. Like, what have our students are
Speaker:thinking about inside of the backpacking badass community? And I wanted to bring
Speaker:her in because she's in there all the time. She has a really good pulse
Speaker:and, like, feel for what the students are thinking about, talking
Speaker:about. I do too. So we'll kinda, like, be riffing back and forth.
Speaker:She's in there supporting, coaching our clients, and so she's very in tune
Speaker:with the heartbeat of the Backpacking Badass community. But,
Speaker:before we dive into our hot topics today,
Speaker:I want to have Kelly introduce herself. So, Kelly, why don't you say
Speaker:hello to everyone? Feel free to introduce yourself a bit more. Tell
Speaker:everyone about your background, all the things. Hey. Thanks for having
Speaker:me on. I'm so excited. So I am the social
Speaker:media and community manager. I joined the team, at
Speaker:She Dreams of Alpine in 2021. So I
Speaker:have a little bit of an opposite story of Allison where I was chronically
Speaker:outdoors my whole life, not necessarily being, like,
Speaker:an adventure family, but I grew up on, like, lakes and rivers,
Speaker:and I loved playing in the forest with my friends. I would, like, beg my
Speaker:parents when survivor was a big thing to just let me stay in the
Speaker:woods also. And they were like, no. That's insane.
Speaker:So I went on to get a degree in biology. That was, like, my
Speaker:pathway to be to stay outside with a focus
Speaker:in conservation. So prior to She Dreams of Alpine, I
Speaker:did a lot of field research and a lot of land management
Speaker:and a lot of, like, public lands management and working as a public servant. So
Speaker:getting people outdoors. So I've been passionate about that. Servant. So getting people outdoors. So
Speaker:I've been passionate about that for a long time. And then just a couple of
Speaker:fun facts is that I used to manage over, like, a 1000 acres of public
Speaker:land and all the programming and the trails and things that happened on it.
Speaker:I've swam with alligators and manatees when I used to
Speaker:do freshwater turtle research. And my favorite backpacking
Speaker:trail of all time so far that I've done is
Speaker:Isle Royale National Park. Yeah. And a lot of our I feel
Speaker:like a lot of our community has actually gone and done that. You actually wrote
Speaker:a blog post for, excuse me, our She
Speaker:Dreams of Alpine blog. So if anybody is interested in doing Isle
Speaker:Royale, Kelly did this trip herself. It's very logistical,
Speaker:and she put all of the details on, like, how you can plan this trip
Speaker:for yourself on the She Dreams of Alpine blog as, like, a trip guide because
Speaker:we have a lot of trip guides out there, but not as much out where
Speaker:you are living. So Right. Yeah. So I'm in the
Speaker:great lakes region. So I really love the great
Speaker:lakes. They're incredible. I think people really don't,
Speaker:like, I think they underestimate them a lot. So, actually, I was
Speaker:reflecting on adventure planning, which we're gonna get into in a minute. But,
Speaker:like, I think one of my big big
Speaker:adventure goals that I wanna claim is, like, going back to do Isle Royale
Speaker:solo. Oh, okay. With somebody last time, and we kinda did, like, a
Speaker:loop. Yeah. So, yeah, I think the logistics
Speaker:would just be easier solo and Yeah. Like, to do the
Speaker:hike exactly how I wanna do it. So I was gonna say, would you do
Speaker:it differently? Yes. Because I wanna hike, like,
Speaker:harbor to harbor, one end to the other. And so the
Speaker:time that I did it, we did a loop from Rock
Speaker:Harbor because it was a little less,
Speaker:expensive to do it that way because you have to,
Speaker:like, use ferries. There is no traffic. So you're getting, like,
Speaker:paying every time you have to use, like, some kind of boat
Speaker:transportation or seaplane transportation. So,
Speaker:yes, I think logistically for me, it'll actually be easier to plan
Speaker:solo. So I think that might be some of my
Speaker:2025 adventure planning, which happens to be one of our hot
Speaker:topics because Yeah. It's on everybody's brain right now in the community.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah. Thinking about, like, what you wanna do. I've been thinking about that too.
Speaker:Like, what I want 2025 to kinda look like. I mean, it's
Speaker:it's 'tis the time of the year. So okay. So
Speaker:hot topics. This is just an idea. If you guys like this
Speaker:style of podcast, like, Kelly and I can hop on every, like, I don't know,
Speaker:maybe once a quarter and talk about, like, what's going on in the community and
Speaker:stuff like that. Definitely let us know if you listen to this episode, and you're
Speaker:like, I liked this banter sort of deep dive into certain
Speaker:different backpacking topics, and we'll keep doing them. But this
Speaker:is a little bit of an experiment. We thought the idea behind it
Speaker:is like sharing little behind the scenes of, like, what are
Speaker:students that are very backpacking and outdoor focused,
Speaker:what they're thinking about, what we're coaching on a lot of right now.
Speaker:Because sometimes there tends to be themes, like, especially in different parts of the year,
Speaker:we'll have, like, different things that we're consistently coaching people on
Speaker:and share some of that advice, here on the podcast.
Speaker:So as Kelly alluded to, our first hot topic
Speaker:in the backpacking badass community is around 2025
Speaker:adventure planning. So, like, people are kinda winding
Speaker:down 2024. Looking back, thinking, like, what
Speaker:they got to do, what they didn't get to do. They're thinking, like, what do
Speaker:I wanna do in 2025? What adventures and experiences do I
Speaker:wanna have? And we think, like, it's the perfect time of the year
Speaker:to, like, wind down and do some planning. And we do a
Speaker:lot of, like, supportive events for this kind of thing too during this
Speaker:time of the year for our students. Right now, we're seeing a
Speaker:lot of our students even in our community brainstorming their goals
Speaker:and adventures in the group. So, Kelly, like, kind of knowing that,
Speaker:are you seeing a lot of our clients thinking about 2025 adventures?
Speaker:And if so, like, what are you seeing pop up? Oh,
Speaker:yes. Yes. And I love I love the way our students are
Speaker:handling it. So I have a couple examples that I wanna share,
Speaker:because I think they're really cool examples of how to kind
Speaker:of some tips, how people can think
Speaker:about their reflections, and how people
Speaker:are, like, using our community to keep this momentum up. So we
Speaker:have Angelique. She is an ambassador out on the West Coast,
Speaker:which means she's an alumni. She went through the program,
Speaker:and she was doing so amazing and was our ambassadors
Speaker:are really invested. Like, even as mentors. Yeah. As
Speaker:students, they were really active in their community.
Speaker:They showed up for other people. They were really encouraging. And so we
Speaker:invite those people to be ambassadors. And so
Speaker:in addition to the coaches, you have these peers
Speaker:that are in there all the time helping. So Angelique is
Speaker:amazing. She's incredible. We've each gotten to hike with her
Speaker:and, go on a couple adventures with her. So she is in
Speaker:a weekly check-in. She just mentioned she's considering
Speaker:some big 20 25 adventures. She's a
Speaker:she's like an ultra trail runner. She doesn't call herself an ultra trail
Speaker:runner. She calls herself a trail runner, but she's Probably into running a
Speaker:lot. Yeah. Long time. She's very committed to her
Speaker:running. So she said, she's considering
Speaker:things like trail running in the Italian dolomites
Speaker:and hiking in British Columbia,
Speaker:climbing in Red Rocks, Colorado, but she's
Speaker:also done some climbing and winter sports like snowboarding. She did some
Speaker:ice climbing, I think, like, last year or something. So
Speaker:she's she's thinking about her year in,
Speaker:like, chunks. So, like Yeah. Maybe not all of
Speaker:these big things will happen, but she's trying to plug them into her
Speaker:busy schedule because Angelique is a doctor. Her husband is a
Speaker:doctor. They have children. They have 2 children. And so
Speaker:they are a very busy family that works Yeah. Long
Speaker:hours, lots of commitments. And so she takes her kids'
Speaker:schedules, her family's schedules. And so she's planning things for
Speaker:herself, but she's also thinking about, like, where she can fit those adventures
Speaker:in with family vacations and things like that. So that's
Speaker:I really admire how Angelique approaches her
Speaker:adventure planning to prioritize time to
Speaker:regenerate herself from her very demanding career and home
Speaker:responsibilities. Yeah. And then,
Speaker:balancing that with being the
Speaker:pinnacle of adventure in her family. She is the one that gets everyone
Speaker:out. She takes her husband to Havasu Pied falls.
Speaker:She takes her kids to Trans Catalina to run
Speaker:marathons. I mean, so while also taking
Speaker:Sundays for herself to run with her friends or going on a
Speaker:solo backpacking trip or coming with us on a backpacking trip.
Speaker:So Angelique's incredible. Some other things
Speaker:that have been really cool to see is we've got another student, Casey,
Speaker:and she is on the eastern US. And she used the
Speaker:group recently to gauge interest if anyone wanted to go on
Speaker:a 2025 backpacking trip in the White Mountains
Speaker:in the Northeastern US. And so I love this I love
Speaker:this about, like, our students lately. We're starting especially as we've got the
Speaker:community's gotten bigger. We're starting to see pockets
Speaker:of people, like, all over the US and even in Canada, and they're like they're
Speaker:they're reaching out to be like, who wants to join this trip?
Speaker:And doing that more and seeing that more and more. And it
Speaker:has me always thinking, like, it's we don't have
Speaker:official chapters. These are just people meeting up on their own time.
Speaker:But it feels like we're hurdling towards it, you know, because our students
Speaker:are so active in their communities and using the community,
Speaker:our online community to connect that they're able
Speaker:to hang out. So Casey reached out, and
Speaker:I expressed interest to go, like, hang out with them on
Speaker:my off time. There's another ambassador, Heather, on the East Coast.
Speaker:She and I meet up, like, every October for a backpacking trip. She
Speaker:also expressed interest. So, I think
Speaker:Casey made, like, a little group chat or another
Speaker:Facebook group specifically for people that wanted to plan. Yeah. And then
Speaker:What time of the year is, like, White Mountains good to go
Speaker:backpacking in? I'm not as familiar with that area. It would be I mean, it's
Speaker:Like summer? Northeastern. So, definitely, like,
Speaker:summer or fall would be gorgeous. Right? Because it's
Speaker:just, like, rolling mountains and just
Speaker:diverse forest. It's beautiful. So and then on that same
Speaker:note, we have another really active group that formed
Speaker:this year on their own. We call them the SoCal baddies, but
Speaker:it's a group of Southern California women. And Angelique is one of
Speaker:them. Another ambassador is one of them too, Carrie. She's
Speaker:they're they're both so cool. Everybody at this group is so cool. I can't even,
Speaker:like, humble brag on our students because it's not humble at all. So
Speaker:the Southern California girls, they just they were really active
Speaker:students that were each individually committed to their goals, and they
Speaker:were posting so much in the Facebook community that
Speaker:we have that they started, like, noticing each other.
Speaker:And they're like, hey. I have a goal to
Speaker:bag 6 peaks. Do you wanna come on any of those hikes with me?
Speaker:And so it was this, like it was it wasn't even
Speaker:slow. It was like this fast burn, platonic friendship,
Speaker:like, romance. It was great. A lot of these people, like,
Speaker:joined around the same time too because I remember a lot of them were not
Speaker:all of them, but a lot of them were joining. They they they came
Speaker:into the program around January of 2024 last
Speaker:year. They did, like, our new year cohort,
Speaker:like, you know, live cohort that we do at the beginning of the year
Speaker:and got, like, so much momentum there and started doing, like, a lot of
Speaker:stuff together. Yeah. That is so true. Yeah. And so
Speaker:it was that's interesting when you, like, join the program in one
Speaker:of those big open launches. Right? Because you do kind of get those bonuses
Speaker:that end up bringing you in with, like, a
Speaker:group. So that's always really fun. Yeah. And so what the
Speaker:SoCal baddies did is they ended up, making their own
Speaker:Facebook group, and then they
Speaker:also just posted a survey, and they're like, influence our
Speaker:schedule next year. So they're now taking, like,
Speaker:organizing surveys for people in their area so they can
Speaker:organize different kinds of trips, whether it's day hiking,
Speaker:backpacking. I know that, Carrie organizes
Speaker:trips with her friends. That's like moms taking their
Speaker:kids out to, like, hike in campsites. So
Speaker:they're planning all these different trips, not necessarily just like one. They're
Speaker:kind of, like, looking at this in a bigger
Speaker:scale, more than just one trip. So Right. And what's
Speaker:so nice about going on trips with people in the community, which we've
Speaker:both done, is that it's it's really fun to go on
Speaker:these nonofficial trips because I it's so
Speaker:easy. It's, like, relaxing. I don't have to
Speaker:worry about and this isn't to say I love taking beginners
Speaker:out, but having people be self sufficient
Speaker:and then having somebody that I can, like, talk to and
Speaker:talk through decisions with. Like, when I go backpacking with our
Speaker:students and we're trying to make route decisions or camp
Speaker:decisions, like, we can go back and forth and make
Speaker:really, really solid decisions together.
Speaker:And so it's just like, it feels like a day off,
Speaker:you know, like, just getting to enjoy it
Speaker:Right. And really sink into it. And everybody gets to do
Speaker:that. So, and the
Speaker:and being able to talk through, like, how you're feeling through the day
Speaker:and not feeling I I remember when I was a beginner and
Speaker:nobody really explained plans to me, and I would just
Speaker:cry and cry and cry in the back. I would be, like, way in the
Speaker:back. I would hope that they would wait for me at junctions
Speaker:or hope that the mileage wasn't gonna be, like,
Speaker:20 miles in a day. You know? I had no idea
Speaker:what my limits were, what to expect, because I had no
Speaker:idea what was going on, and nobody was, like, explaining that to me as a
Speaker:new person. And so it gives you really good
Speaker:perspective, like, when you know all those things and come in with all those skill
Speaker:sets, bringing other people out or having people that are self sufficient
Speaker:and really strong group contributors. And I know, like, all
Speaker:of our students would never, like, go on a trip without, like,
Speaker:having some idea of, like, what they're expecting too. Because they're all like, what's the
Speaker:trip plan? What what's the safety plan like beforehand? Yeah.
Speaker:So you guys are Well prepared.
Speaker:So that brings me to a good question that I saw come up in a
Speaker:q and a recently about, like, you know, when you
Speaker:are a beginner or you're going out there with other people,
Speaker:maybe you do have somebody that is mentoring you or
Speaker:you're getting into it yourself and you don't have that
Speaker:mentor. Where how do you know what your limit
Speaker:is? Where where your
Speaker:curiosity meets your hiking ability? Like, where does that come into play?
Speaker:And, obviously, this changes as you gain experience, but how do you
Speaker:know when you're properly equipped to take on
Speaker:more difficult trails, especially if
Speaker:your intention is to go solo hiking or backpacking?
Speaker:Right. I think this is a really good question.
Speaker:So, you know, when you are just starting out and especially
Speaker:if you like because a lot of our students do join us because they are
Speaker:still figuring out the community piece, or they want to go solo more often
Speaker:because it's just easier to plan. It can
Speaker:be hard to understand, well, like, how when when
Speaker:am I taking on too much? Like, when am I biting off more than I
Speaker:can chew? And as far as, like, I
Speaker:think there's so much, like, we can push ourselves to do, but, like,
Speaker:when we're going solo, you know, we're just taking in a lot of different considerations.
Speaker:One thing to think about is, like, when you're first starting, you know,
Speaker:it's just to keeping to class 1 style hikes, which are just, like,
Speaker:very straightforward trails that you're not having to use your
Speaker:hands and climb or scramble too much. Those are
Speaker:generally going to be, like, technically less hard. And you can find tons of them
Speaker:that are going to be challenging in other ways, but not necessarily challenging in
Speaker:more technical, like unsafe ways, like class 2 or class
Speaker:3 hikes. If you haven't done stuff like that before, it could
Speaker:feel like it's gonna start to get scarier. The route finding could get
Speaker:a little bit harder. Just depends on where you're going. So
Speaker:that's something to consider. And then there are
Speaker:obvious certain levels to me where it's like, you want extra technical
Speaker:training, like mountaineering, rock climbing. You want
Speaker:extra safety technical training with things like that.
Speaker:So when it comes to actually testing your limits personally
Speaker:on things that are a little less technical or like setting a big goal, a
Speaker:stretch goal, like maybe in 2025, you're like, I've done these trips before, but I
Speaker:wanna do something bigger in 2025. What I do
Speaker:is, like, I'm not afraid to set that goal for myself, but
Speaker:I'm always going in with, like, a backup plan
Speaker:in case, like, I need to pivot and change my
Speaker:mind. Like, you know, unless I know it's
Speaker:like, I can figure it out. Like, there's there comes a point when you have,
Speaker:like, a lot of experience. You're like, I'm pretty sure I can do this and,
Speaker:like but every time you you need to, like, think through
Speaker:if things got unsafe or I wasn't comfortable anymore, like, what would I do
Speaker:then? If you think through some of those things ahead of time, then
Speaker:you can do harder things that are you don't you don't know where
Speaker:your limit is. Like, you're trying to figure it out, and be
Speaker:free like, feel free to turn around. So, like, an example of this to, like,
Speaker:make that more tangible is I remember when I did my very first solo
Speaker:backpacking trip, I think it was, like, 2015.
Speaker:I can't remember exactly. It it was to do Mount Langley. I
Speaker:wanted to summit Mount Langley, which is a 14er in California, and
Speaker:I was doing it as, like, a 2 or 3 day trip. And
Speaker:I was going out there solo. It was October ish,
Speaker:so I knew that there was a little bit of snow. And I
Speaker:didn't wanna do technical stuff. Even though I did have some basic
Speaker:mountaineering experience, I just didn't wanna do technical stuff alone.
Speaker:So my plan was to go out there, scope it out, and then at any
Speaker:point where I felt like it was gonna be too much for me, like, with
Speaker:my experience at that time, then I would turn around. And that's
Speaker:actually what ended up happening is I made it
Speaker:to one lake, and the pass that I originally
Speaker:was gonna up go up was covered with snow. But then I was like, okay.
Speaker:Well, this is not a no go. I know there's another pass. So I pivoted
Speaker:my plan to go to another pass, and that pass was sunny,
Speaker:not filled with snow, so it had all melted. So I went up that pass,
Speaker:and that was New Army Pass. And then I got to the top of New
Speaker:Army Pass, and I was looking at Langley. It was covered in
Speaker:snow. I was just, like, a little bit nervous about it. So I just, like,
Speaker:gave myself permission to turn around. And that was me testing
Speaker:my limits and not being sure if, like, I felt comfortable enough
Speaker:to do Langley, but, you know, still going for it. So I think
Speaker:that's just an example of, like, when you're kind of especially when you're solo testing
Speaker:it out. And then when you're with a group, it's similar. Sometimes you have
Speaker:to make calls as a group. And if somebody in your group isn't comfortable with
Speaker:somebody, you gotta be willing to either, like, coach them through
Speaker:it or turn around with them because that can happen as
Speaker:well too. Yeah. Yeah. You definitely gotta take your ego out of
Speaker:testing your limits Yeah. You know, and not make it
Speaker:mean something about yourself. Exactly. And you can go back with
Speaker:more information like the Langley one. I was like, I'm gonna come back. And I
Speaker:went back the next year, I think, with my friend in in, like, earlier
Speaker:season, and we just we did it. And it was amazing, and it was fun.
Speaker:But I was, like, still so proud of going out there and trying it, and
Speaker:I think you will be too. So don't don't ever, like, count
Speaker:yourself out just because it's a bit harder than something you haven't done
Speaker:before. So thinking about
Speaker:this, can you give me some examples of
Speaker:questions, like thinking about adventure planning, kinda coming back to
Speaker:that theme? Like, can you give me some examples of questions that you would ask
Speaker:yourself this time of the year to sort of look back at
Speaker:your prior year in order to start, like,
Speaker:framing up and thinking about what kind of adventures you want in the new
Speaker:year. Yes. For sure. I'm actually, like, deep,
Speaker:deep in this work right now because we do this kind of reflection
Speaker:with clients in our adventure
Speaker:journal that pairs with our adventure planner.
Speaker:And I just happened to, like, be updating I started updating
Speaker:both of them this week. So this is very fresh on my
Speaker:mind. So I think as
Speaker:as, like, with your example about Langley,
Speaker:one point that we really like
Speaker:to bring across our community in these reflection is no
Speaker:matter if you achieved all your goals last year, you barely made it through
Speaker:the year, or you landed somewhere in between. There's lessons
Speaker:in it all. Right? Allison talks about this a lot of, like, the 5050
Speaker:and lessons from mountains. And in my case, I don't live in an
Speaker:area with mountains. Right? So it's just like my wilderness lessons.
Speaker:And so we've we very much encourage getting
Speaker:comfortable with the uncomfortable. So when you
Speaker:dive into these types of reflections and some of the questions that we'll get
Speaker:into, some of the answers might not be comfortable
Speaker:when they come up. Like, when you're reflecting on your year and it didn't
Speaker:go how you planned. Right. So still
Speaker:But it's still worth asking yourselves those questions. Yes. Yes.
Speaker:So it's still worth being uncomfortable. Right? Like backpacking
Speaker:is not a comfortable sport or hobby.
Speaker:Is an exercise and being comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Speaker:Yes. Yeah. And hiking in general and being in the outdoors because it has so
Speaker:many unpredictable variables. Right? They are out of our control in so many
Speaker:instances. Beautiful actually though, because I think it's like we do get to a point
Speaker:in backpacking where we're like, we get comfortable with being uncomfortable because we enjoy everything
Speaker:it is about being out there, the adventure of it and stuff.
Speaker:And I think that's just such a beautiful metaphor for life. Like Yeah. All the
Speaker:things you do in your life. And then at the end of it, you know,
Speaker:you did this challenging thing, and you're like, I did
Speaker:that. I didn't even think I could make it. Like, at some points, I was
Speaker:thinking, you know, they're gonna have to airlift me out of here, but I did
Speaker:it. You know? And Yeah. So that's really transformative
Speaker:in your life, like, off the trail too. So in the reflection,
Speaker:in our adventure journals that I just started reupdating
Speaker:for 2025. It's kind of in, like, 3
Speaker:parts for the journaling. Right? And then you get this the
Speaker:adventure planner is, like, the actual planning. So we always recommend
Speaker:to do the reflection first to guide the planning.
Speaker:Before you move forward. Yes. Go slow to go fast. Yes.
Speaker:So the three parts of the reflection is
Speaker:first, we guide through or guide students through reflecting on
Speaker:the previous year. This is gonna be questions like,
Speaker:what did you love doing? What did you do a lot of?
Speaker:And what were you proud of doing? What skills maybe you
Speaker:picked up along the way? What did you not get to
Speaker:do? Did you struggle with anything? Mhmm.
Speaker:And how do you feel about all those things? That's a really
Speaker:important one. Right? Like, really asking yourself honestly
Speaker:how you feel about them and then asking what you want more
Speaker:of. Like, maybe you wanna uplevel an adventure.
Speaker:Maybe you wanna try something again and get your I call them,
Speaker:like, redemption arcs. I don't wanna call them revenge because
Speaker:that doesn't feel like the right emotion. But it does feel
Speaker:like redeeming when you get to go try something again and
Speaker:see in very, like,
Speaker:tangible way your improvements. Like, maybe you got further on the
Speaker:trail or maybe you stayed longer or maybe
Speaker:you stayed solo, or you stayed the night. You know? It could be
Speaker:so much. So I I think those questions are great too because it
Speaker:also can help you, like, look at them and be like, what was the
Speaker:reason why I didn't get to do some of these things that I had
Speaker:originally wanted to do? And do I like my reasons? Because sometimes I
Speaker:think we make a decision. We had a plan at the beginning of the year,
Speaker:and we're like, I wanna do this thing. And then later we decide, like, for
Speaker:whatever reason, it's not a priority, like and we have our
Speaker:own backs in that decision, and it feels clean. But then sometimes,
Speaker:like, we don't do something, and we're like,
Speaker:I was you know, I wish I would have. Like, I Right. It
Speaker:like, you can see the reasons behind it are, like, maybe you were
Speaker:doubting yourself. Maybe, you know, for whatever reason it
Speaker:is. I don't know. But And I Yeah. I think
Speaker:too that, I just lost my train of thought on that
Speaker:one. So yeah. Well, you can it just gives you a lot of insight. You're
Speaker:like, okay. Well, how do I wanna show up to the next year? I think
Speaker:that's what's so important to the reflection piece. And doing the
Speaker:reflection, this is the thought I have. Doing the reflection at the end
Speaker:of the year, like, sometimes when you're in it,
Speaker:you don't even know what's causing those
Speaker:things. Right? Like, sometimes it takes, like, time and distance to get
Speaker:clarity. And so giving yourself
Speaker:time to sit down and actually dedicate
Speaker:looking back on it and being in the feelings of it
Speaker:when you're not so emotionally charged. Right? Because, like, when you're in it, you're all
Speaker:in your amygdala brain, which is, like, really hard to think logically
Speaker:when you're thinking from the emotional brain. So the
Speaker:reflection at the end of the year is really powerful because
Speaker:you're not as deep into the things as you were, and you can take the
Speaker:ego out of it a little bit. Don't skip this step. Like, I think it
Speaker:really helps the next step. Yes. Yeah. It really helps with
Speaker:the clarity and and really getting clear on what you want and
Speaker:why it's important so that when you don't
Speaker:have motivation, which will happen, motivation isn't like
Speaker:you know, you don't just do stuff because you're motivated. Sometimes it's just you have
Speaker:to push through it. So then we after we do all this
Speaker:reflection, we guide students through a brainstorming session.
Speaker:And this is where we ask them to get bold. Like, it
Speaker:doesn't have to make sense. Right? Yeah. A couple episodes ago,
Speaker:you interviewed Marie Pierre, and she went from being,
Speaker:like, a pretty new backpacker on a 4 day trip
Speaker:to one day quickly deciding she was going to
Speaker:try to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, which is hiking
Speaker:from Mexico to Canada. That's a huge that
Speaker:didn't make sense to her. Right? But so your big goals don't have to
Speaker:make sense. But if you're thinking about them, capture it. Write it
Speaker:down. And ask yourself what your most
Speaker:adventurous year ever would look like for you. And
Speaker:I wanna emphasize for you because
Speaker:comparison will suck all of the fun out of everything.
Speaker:Yes. It's going to steal the joy. And this is a great example having me
Speaker:and you talk. Right? Like, UK you born and
Speaker:raised in Texas and then moved to really outdoorsy
Speaker:places, moved to mountains. I'm born and raised in
Speaker:Indiana and stayed in the Great Lakes region.
Speaker:So my big adventures don't always look like yours.
Speaker:But, like, at the beginning of the podcast, I was like, oh, I've swam with
Speaker:alligators and manatees when I used to do turtle research. So
Speaker:it's like, you can create big adventures no matter where
Speaker:you are. You just have to be clear on what kinds of adventures are
Speaker:important to you, and, like, don't worry about what big
Speaker:adventure looks like to somebody else. So
Speaker:That's a great point. Be bold in your brainstorming session.
Speaker:Just even if it doesn't make sense or you don't know how to do it,
Speaker:and there's tons of tips even in the, you know, a couple
Speaker:episodes here in the early episodes that
Speaker:will help you, like, figure out those possibilities. You just
Speaker:have to be open to figuring things out and
Speaker:And give yourself time, you know, like, you know, I mean, actually, in
Speaker:the brainstorm, I always encourage people to just, like, write whatever comes up for
Speaker:you. You don't have to do it all in 2025, but just, like, write
Speaker:anything that's, like, on your heart. And then, like, we guide you through like a
Speaker:planning process. Like Right. If you end up joining us for one of our events
Speaker:where we kind of do this process with you, which we'll do a big event
Speaker:in January, but we will guide you through like, okay, like, let's
Speaker:get clear about what 2025 will look like. But in the brainstorming
Speaker:process, I would just write anything and everything that's, like, on your heart. Right.
Speaker:Because you don't know what's possible yet because the plan may morph and
Speaker:change, and you may, like, meet somebody that's, like, you know,
Speaker:like you did. You met some or your coworkers were like, come on this
Speaker:epic backpacking trip that Yeah. You didn't even know that. Through
Speaker:the beginning of the year. Yeah. Yeah. And so and while you're
Speaker:brainstorming and you're just getting every idea that comes out no matter
Speaker:if it makes sense or not, there's probably going to be
Speaker:one that stands out that does make
Speaker:sense at least a little bit, like something where you're like, I
Speaker:think I could actually do this one. And it's going to
Speaker:be something that's really exciting. And so the last one, after you
Speaker:do this brainstorming, the last part is picking that
Speaker:big goal from your brainstorming. And, again, because
Speaker:you're not having to fix that. Isle Royale? I don't know. I'm trying
Speaker:to figure some out. Like, I've got I've that's probably my thing. Work a little
Speaker:early. You still have time to think about this, but I was just curious. Well,
Speaker:the and then the Italian dolomites are on my heart too. I think a hut
Speaker:to hut would be fun because that's Italian dolomites are beautiful. I've been there. I've
Speaker:never lived, like I haven't spent a ton of time there, but they I have
Speaker:seen them. They're very And the hut to huts just sound like Sounds wild. Like
Speaker:the refugios? That just sounds so luxurious. Isle Royale
Speaker:is also luxurious. I didn't dig a single cat hole there.
Speaker:So, anyway, when you claim that's I was following L and
Speaker:T. I just wanna be clear. They have outhouses at every campsite. So
Speaker:This is different. Yeah. Yes. So after you claim your big
Speaker:goal, you're gonna make a list of all the
Speaker:small things that need to happen. And you had a really
Speaker:good episode, episode 8 where you
Speaker:did this with your rock climbing. So I encourage people that if you didn't listen
Speaker:to episode 8 and you're interested in really guiding you.
Speaker:Journaling prompts that are, like Yeah. Different than these. Yeah. It's
Speaker:Allison's big reflections on her big rock climbing goal that she set
Speaker:for 2024. So after you claim this big goal, you
Speaker:can start making a list of, okay. What do I need to actually do to
Speaker:make this goal happen? And you may not again, you may not know all the
Speaker:answers now, but you may know your job offer. Have an
Speaker:idea. You're on you're on ramps. Right? You're on ramps to get onto
Speaker:this big goal. So it may be like making friends,
Speaker:finding a community, putting yourself out there, learning new
Speaker:skills, getting outside more,
Speaker:training, maybe working with a trainer or getting
Speaker:a gym membership. So that will
Speaker:start giving you more confidence on being like, okay. This is
Speaker:this big goal is now more manageable. Yeah. So
Speaker:those are kind of, like, the that 3 part
Speaker:reflection process that we put into our
Speaker:adventure reflection journal at the end of this
Speaker:year for So stoked to see. Kelly always,
Speaker:like, creates, like, a beautiful new design for our
Speaker:journals and our planners, and we have, like, a fun theme this year.
Speaker:We're, like, kinda leaning into the era tours sort of. I'd
Speaker:theme, like, spinning off of, you know, Taylor Swift a little
Speaker:bit, but we're calling it your adventure era.
Speaker:Yes. And, like, new girlhood, I'm gonna lean into themes.
Speaker:Katie and I on the team were working on,
Speaker:some of the planning for that event, and we were just, like,
Speaker:girling out. It was a lot of fun. So there'll be a lot of, like,
Speaker:cutesy things. And that's I like designing stuff like that because so much of the
Speaker:outdoorsy stuff, you know, it
Speaker:doesn't have I think that, like, our shoes are covered. Like, we
Speaker:there's always, like, pink and purple hiking shoes or running shoes.
Speaker:But I feel like there's not as much, like, really hyper
Speaker:feminine, girly, outdoorsy stuff.
Speaker:So, yeah, I like adding things into our special
Speaker:events that are a little more girlhood. Yeah. I mean,
Speaker:it's just leaning into all different aspects. Because, I mean, like, I wouldn't even say
Speaker:we're, like, always super girly all the time, but, like, I don't know. I
Speaker:just love color. I love bright colors. Like, I just like to I
Speaker:like it to be a little bit fun. Like, let's have some fun.
Speaker:Everything doesn't need to be olive green, you know, like, and brown.
Speaker:But you know, I love those colors, but I love yellow. Don't get me wrong.
Speaker:But, like, with a pop of, you know, like some other bright
Speaker:color that's fun. I don't know. I think, you know, the outdoor industry is
Speaker:trending that way. Like, you're seeing, like, Cotopaxi is super fun. Like, I love
Speaker:I love that. So, okay, Everyone, even not
Speaker:even non backpacking badass students, they will have an you
Speaker:will have an opportunity to get your hands on our adventure planners and our reflection
Speaker:journal that we've been kinda, like, teasing and talking about here and those prompts
Speaker:that are in that. Because, like, there's way more than just that. That's just a
Speaker:little taste. We are working right now on a very
Speaker:special event for the new year. I kinda think I already said the name earlier,
Speaker:but we're calling it your adventure era 5 day challenge.
Speaker:And it's gonna be all about setting the stage for a year that
Speaker:is full of adventures in all aspects of your life. So we really
Speaker:want you to set the stage in January thinking about, like, mind,
Speaker:body, soul, like friendships, how you wanna grow and helping you
Speaker:create like a vision for that plan and
Speaker:stepping into like and stepping into, and if you're
Speaker:already adventurous, like really getting clear on what that looks like for
Speaker:you. Again, in the new year, like, kinda going back to that
Speaker:concept of always redeciding, like, how you wanna show up and being really
Speaker:purposeful and being really intention intentional about what
Speaker:you bring into the world. So that 5 day challenge, we're still working on
Speaker:it. So we don't have, you know, a sign up page or anything yet. So
Speaker:just stay tuned. We're gonna be talking about, like, honing your
Speaker:adventure mindset, creating that 2025 adventure
Speaker:plan, creating your dream adventure community, because
Speaker:this is a huge one, I think, for people is, like, I wanna find more
Speaker:community. So I wanna talk about that. We're gonna have a day dedicated to community.
Speaker:Talking about strengthening your adventure body, what is that gonna look like for you in
Speaker:2025? And then filling in those adventure skill skill
Speaker:gaps that you might have that you wanna work on. So stay
Speaker:tuned for that event. We will probably announce on, like,
Speaker:how you can register for it. It's gonna be a free event, that at the
Speaker:end of the month, keep an eye out for it. I'll definitely mention it here
Speaker:on the podcast, but a better way to make sure you don't miss
Speaker:announcements is to make sure that you're on my email list.
Speaker:I'm trying to think of a quick URL. You can join our email list really
Speaker:easily by getting on our starter kit. So if you went to she dreams
Speaker:of alpine.com/kit, I believe.
Speaker:Adventure. Or adventure. We have lots of time on that
Speaker:stuff. Adventure. I will put it in the show notes. So I have all
Speaker:these short URLs and I forget them. Sometimes I should have like, added it to
Speaker:my notes. But, okay, we spent a lot of time on adventure
Speaker:planning. Let's move on to hot topic number 2.
Speaker:And the second hot topic that was, you
Speaker:know, big in our community this year is kind of training in the off season,
Speaker:which I love because I think a lot of us in this time of the
Speaker:year tend to wind down our adventures in the winter season.
Speaker:And I sort of have, like, 2 thought processes around training
Speaker:during this time of the year, but I wanna hear your thoughts first, Kelly. So
Speaker:what is training in the winter season usually look like for you?
Speaker:Crocheting and drumming. Well and I just say that
Speaker:because the slower season the slower season, right, when a lot of us do wind
Speaker:down, it does allow me to shift the focus to other passions
Speaker:where I'm not trying to, like, you know, pack in as much time in good
Speaker:weather as I can. So I was like, to be clear, she's not like crocheting
Speaker:and drumming and hiking at the same time. I might be. So
Speaker:in my heart. So, yeah. And I really noticed when I was
Speaker:busy with outdoor adventure goals this summer training
Speaker:for, like, our hike in the Eastern Sierras, my drumming
Speaker:suffered. Right? Or, like, I didn't crochet as much. So I I kinda
Speaker:yeah. So I kinda lean into my creative passions when I do,
Speaker:like, spend less time outdoors. Yeah. But ways that
Speaker:I do still like to keep my body moving or
Speaker:connect outdoors, I've been doing yoga every day.
Speaker:I'm, like, over 30 days strong with that with,
Speaker:you know, one of those YouTube 30 day challenges. So I like
Speaker:doing that, and doing it at home makes it very easy.
Speaker:You know, I can just get up. I do it. I notice if I don't
Speaker:do it in the morning, like, I suffer for it. You know, throughout the day,
Speaker:my body is like, please stretch. So I also am a
Speaker:roller skater, and I love roller skating at the
Speaker:rink. Mhmm. It's like it's like going clubbing for me.
Speaker:It's going jam skating at the rink. I also
Speaker:do love dancing, and we have a great
Speaker:dance studio here in town where I live. And so on
Speaker:occasion, I will check their class schedule, and I will sign up
Speaker:for a dance class. Once in a while, I get a motivation to
Speaker:go to the gym. I have, like, Planet Fitness, so it's not
Speaker:expensive for me to keep a gym membership, but I'm not very consistent with
Speaker:my gym usage. It's more of, like, training
Speaker:for our guided trips in the Sierras where
Speaker:I'm, like, going to the gym to use treadmills for elevation training or
Speaker:doing Right. Cross I do try to, like, fit some kind
Speaker:of strength training in. Yeah. Or cardio.
Speaker:And we also just got our first bouldering gym
Speaker:for rock climbing. We don't have a top rope gym or anything yet.
Speaker:So I may try that this winter, but it means I have to give up
Speaker:my, like, off season long nails, which I don't know. Long nails of
Speaker:climbing. I keep trying, and then I hate them. As soon as I start climbing,
Speaker:I'm like, no. I can't do this. I know. And they're like, you know, I
Speaker:grow them out, and so they're mine. And so I take a lot of pride
Speaker:in them, and I just like Yeah. It's I really like to leave. Nails.
Speaker:Yeah. When I'm not being a dirtbag, you know, it's nice to, like, lean into
Speaker:that. But, and I also do love winter hiking because I
Speaker:I really especially for people that maybe are a little apprehensive
Speaker:about winter hiking, I do encourage people to go hiking in every
Speaker:season, especially if you live in an area that has
Speaker:different seasons where nature changes.
Speaker:Because it actually is very fun to see your favorite
Speaker:trails and landscapes different times of the year.
Speaker:And I know that, like, when I'm out hiking, you know, like, it's it's a
Speaker:totally different vibe. We have beech trees here, and they keep their
Speaker:leaves in the winter. They get all crispy, and they're orange, and
Speaker:they're they're very ghostly, like, among the kinda gray
Speaker:and white landscape. And I just love that I can hear them
Speaker:rustle in the winter. And it's like the loudest thing in
Speaker:the forest because everything else is, like, dampened with the snow. Right? So
Speaker:there's just so much to see. Even if you've
Speaker:been to the trail over and over and over and over. One of my
Speaker:favorite joys too in the winter hiking is, like, I love being bundled
Speaker:up, but then my face showing and being cold. Like, I love that feeling of
Speaker:my, like, my face being cold, but, like, I'm still cozy and
Speaker:I'm out there hiking. Like, I don't know why. I just really like that.
Speaker:Yeah. There is something about, like, being when you learn how to,
Speaker:like, layer and, like, the type of gear you're gonna be
Speaker:comfortable in, there is like a oh, this feels like
Speaker:so great. And then if you get warm, you know, you get that brisk breeze
Speaker:on your face. So what about you? What is training or, like,
Speaker:staying active when you slow down look like? Or do you slow
Speaker:down, Allison? Yeah. You know, like, I think it depends on the
Speaker:year. I think I actually I tend to
Speaker:some years I treat this more of a season arrest, kinda like what you were
Speaker:explaining. Like, I slow things down. My goals are more just about being consistent
Speaker:and, like, rather rather than being around big adventure where it's, like, in the
Speaker:spring and summer and fall, like, tend to be when I plan more of my
Speaker:big things, and so I'm training more. So, yeah, winter usually is
Speaker:slower in that regards, but
Speaker:climbing, I feel like you don't really ever have to stop setting big
Speaker:goals. Like, you can keep going. So a lot of my focus this
Speaker:year has been climbing, and that's been consistent. And, like, I
Speaker:still have big goals around that. And, like, I guess when this
Speaker:airs, I will be in Spain, I think, when
Speaker:this episode's airs. But, like, yeah, that's been a big goal. Like, I wanna
Speaker:I'm hoping to get some I'm hoping to
Speaker:get some, like, you know, tough leads out there and, like, do some
Speaker:big things. So I haven't really ramped climbing down.
Speaker:But I think when at the end of the day, when it comes down to
Speaker:it, like, for you personally, you just have to decide what kind of seat I
Speaker:think no matter what you do, it doesn't matter what you
Speaker:decide your season's gonna be like, but I just always encourage people be
Speaker:purposeful about it. You're like, I want this to be a season of a
Speaker:rest, and then don't give yourself shit if you're not, like,
Speaker:doing big things because you purposefully decided you wanted it to be a
Speaker:slower season and, like, own that decision. And then if
Speaker:why I love seeing nature change. Right? Because we Yes. We love
Speaker:talking about getting lessons from nature. Yeah. Nature And
Speaker:so being with nature and
Speaker:being attentive to nature, like, nature slows down.
Speaker:Trees go dormant. Animals go hibernate. Like, we can we
Speaker:can look into the word. Cues from the seasons. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:And they don't always have to line up with the seasons either, but you can,
Speaker:like, allow yourself to have these different seasons
Speaker:where consistency and perfection are, like, 2 different
Speaker:things. Right? Like, you can continue to be consistent with something and take
Speaker:a rest. Like, you don't have to have perfect attendance or always
Speaker:be doing all the things all the time. Right. Exactly.
Speaker:So what kind of advice would you give someone who wants to
Speaker:still, like, move their body, maybe keep a baseline fitness during this?
Speaker:Like, they wanna have a season of rest, but they wanna keep a baseline fitness.
Speaker:But what it like, also, this comes up a lot. Like, what if
Speaker:they're struggling because they can't get outdoors as much because of snow,
Speaker:because it's busy, all the things? Like, what advice would you give that person?
Speaker:Yeah. So get creative with the ways
Speaker:that you move because maybe
Speaker:and that's not motivating to you. So maybe making it playful
Speaker:or changing it up, especially if, like, monotony is not
Speaker:your thing. I know for me, I do have to, like, make it playful, or
Speaker:I do have to have, like, diversity in what I'm doing. YouTube
Speaker:is a great resource. You can find yoga videos, dance
Speaker:videos, workout videos, and those are all at home, so the
Speaker:barrier is very low. Right? Like, you YouTube
Speaker:is free. You just, like, skip through the ads,
Speaker:and you don't have to go anywhere. And you don't have to, like,
Speaker:have any special gear. Yes. So YouTube videos are great.
Speaker:I love using YouTube every day for, like,
Speaker:yoga, but you can find dance videos that can help with
Speaker:cardio. You can find workout videos if you really wanna work on strength
Speaker:training, like high intensity interval, things like that. And that's like a
Speaker:free resource, low cost,
Speaker:or no cost at all if you're not buying premium. So you can do it
Speaker:at home. No special gear. So that's a very easy way to get a little
Speaker:active at home. You might find indoor spaces to walk, like,
Speaker:if you have an indoor mall or indoor, like,
Speaker:track and field track and then stairwells at work or
Speaker:in parking garages too. We have one
Speaker:student who did a lot of her training on stairwells at work. Yep. She
Speaker:would get a little movement at work, or she'd take a little 10
Speaker:minute break to get moving, and she would go walk up and
Speaker:down to the stairwells. Totally. You might enroll
Speaker:in a group fitness class or hire a 1 on 1
Speaker:trainer. Because if you really want to
Speaker:spark some motivation, I find that investing money
Speaker:and time are 2 ways to do it. Because if you invest money, you're like,
Speaker:I don't wanna waste it. Like, I wanna show up for that. Money is kinda
Speaker:like an exchange of energy. Like, I wanna show up for
Speaker:this, and this is the way I'm showing it and then, like, show up for
Speaker:it. Right. And sometimes I think too, and especially I
Speaker:feel that I I observe this with women a lot,
Speaker:is that it's really hard for us to show up for ourselves. And
Speaker:so sometimes having someone else you might be accountable to, which
Speaker:may not be, you know, if you aren't doing this with friends, you
Speaker:know, still signing up with that 1 on 1 trainer. And I know, like,
Speaker:Planet Fitness, for example, that's included in any membership. You can
Speaker:Mhmm. Get you can take advantage of a trainer at no
Speaker:additional cost. Right? So, like, showing up to that appointment.
Speaker:And then once you start showing up more, like, you learn how to show up
Speaker:for yourself and let go of some, like, guilt
Speaker:or whatever self judgment you have on that kind of stuff.
Speaker:Yeah. Like, Michael and I actually recently got a,
Speaker:like, a gym membership in our local area because we
Speaker:were like in the winter, sometimes we make more excuses about not going
Speaker:out because we don't wanna be cold. Like, especially when we used we
Speaker:live really close to trails, like, right out the door. So sometimes it's
Speaker:less motivating to be like, go run outside when it's freezing or there's
Speaker:snow. So we did get a gym membership for the we're trying it
Speaker:out this winter season. We may keep it because it is pretty affordable, a little
Speaker:bit more expensive than Planet Fitness, but actually pretty affordable. I
Speaker:think $25 a person. And it gave us access
Speaker:to sauna, and we're just doing some, like, strength training
Speaker:stuff with it. So, yeah, like, sometimes mixing it up and
Speaker:Yeah. Get this all this helps. And I think enrolling in, like, a
Speaker:gym like you guys do and having specific goals, like if it was a rock
Speaker:climbing gym or enrolling in a group fitness class, also
Speaker:puts you out there to start building that adventure community. Like Mhmm.
Speaker:If you're going out to a group fitness class, then there are probably
Speaker:people or a gym, probably people there that have
Speaker:some kind of similar goal as you. Maybe it's fitness. Maybe
Speaker:it's getting better in adventure or adventuring more. And then it's just
Speaker:being able to, like, start those conversations
Speaker:or, you know, it's just putting yourself in spaces where you're creating more
Speaker:opportunity to to to make things
Speaker:happen that you want to see happen in your life. And sometimes we talk
Speaker:about this with our clients. It's like when you step up into doing something, it
Speaker:kind of attracts people around you to wanting to do it too. So it's like,
Speaker:if you signed up for a gym membership and your friends are seeing you go
Speaker:every week to be strong during the winter season when a lot of people are
Speaker:like kind of neglecting that, that can be motivation sometimes to your friends to be
Speaker:like, okay, I'm doing this with you. Like, what days of the week are you
Speaker:going? Like Yeah. I find that happens a lot. You
Speaker:you end up eliciting a lot of community when you start training in the
Speaker:gym for like big adventures. Yes. Yeah. A lot of my
Speaker:friends will also be like, hey. I also wanna just get healthier.
Speaker:And going to the gym with somebody and walking on treadmills and talking for an
Speaker:hour sounds a lot more fun than doing it by myself. So, yeah,
Speaker:I will, like, just go to all my friends and be like,
Speaker:hey. If anyone wants to join me on hikes or, like, especially
Speaker:going to the gym. So enlisting a friend if you can. But, again, if you
Speaker:don't have those friends, you're gonna have to, like,
Speaker:go practice being that friend. Right. Yeah. Then a lot of my
Speaker:friends will tell me, like, wow. I got on so many adventures this year because
Speaker:of you. I was just having a conversation with a close friend, and she was
Speaker:like, I did so much because of you. And in the same way, I felt
Speaker:the same about her in a different aspect of my life with, like, music
Speaker:is we both had similar goals. Maybe they weren't
Speaker:exactly the same, and then we supported each other and got to do
Speaker:some really cool things together. So
Speaker:So be the friend. Yeah. Be the go be the friend. So,
Speaker:and with like, if you're just nervous about trying and we we're talking about
Speaker:winter, but this could be true for, like, summer in, like, the
Speaker:desert. Right? Like, whatever your off season is. So I
Speaker:would encourage you to, like, try winter sports. Like, if you can learn how
Speaker:to do it safety like, safely, because that's the big thing with the off season.
Speaker:Like, not only is it uncomfortable due to temperature
Speaker:differences, but, like, it might be a little scarier because the risks
Speaker:are higher because of the temperatures. But you might surprise yourself when
Speaker:you learn about stuff. So you might try winter sports you never saw yourself
Speaker:trying, like snowshoeing, things like that. And we do have
Speaker:a winter maybe this is just reminding me, like, I'll add this in the show
Speaker:notes. We have a winter hiking and camping workshop. It's
Speaker:not expensive. If you want to, like, explore that, you
Speaker:can check it out. It's like a help you be prepared for winter
Speaker:adventures sort of thing. Yes. So this also,
Speaker:on the topic of training, we got this question from one of our clients,
Speaker:Carrie, recently that I thought would be cool to talk about.
Speaker:So, she asked if my trip is more than 10 weeks out, should
Speaker:I wait to start training, prolong based training, or
Speaker:cycle my training plan assuming that she has,
Speaker:like, 18 to 20 weeks? Yeah.
Speaker:That's, a good question. Like, just for context for people, like, in the
Speaker:backpacking badass program, if you're setting up particularly, if you're
Speaker:new to backpacking and it's your first time setting a goal or you're setting a
Speaker:big goal, we like to create, like, a 12 week, you know, 12
Speaker:weeks out from your goal training plan for your bigger goals. So this is kind
Speaker:of where Carrie's question is coming from. So you might be like,
Speaker:I know I have a big trip planning for, you know, the summer, early
Speaker:summer or spring even, and maybe we're way it's
Speaker:still, like, pretty far out. You know? You have, like, 18 or 20 weeks till
Speaker:then, so you're not quite starting your 12 week plan. What should you
Speaker:do? And for me, that's like I think it's
Speaker:totally up to you. Like, what feels fun for you?
Speaker:I think it really can depend on the trip. Like, what kind of trip is
Speaker:it? I know we have a student, like, training for Kilimanjaro right now. And so,
Speaker:like, maybe they wanna extend their training and, like, take
Speaker:it even deeper, like, further out.
Speaker:So if you have a really big goal, like, maybe
Speaker:extending that training to be a little even further out than 12
Speaker:weeks. But if you're just kind of looking
Speaker:to create a base kind of what we've been talking about this,
Speaker:just start building a chill base training. And I
Speaker:think one of actually the most important things is, like, what what you can do
Speaker:to set yourself up for success for the 12 week training plan
Speaker:is building in consistency. So if you can start working
Speaker:on showing up 3, 4 times a week to
Speaker:hike, to get on a treadmill, and that's just something you start ingraining
Speaker:as, like, a habit, like a consistent way you show up for yourself now,
Speaker:then when you get to your training plan, it's gonna be so much easier
Speaker:to, like, show up for those training
Speaker:hikes and stuff that you're doing for your specific goal. So that
Speaker:would be, like, my biggest thing is, like,
Speaker:practicing that consistency goal.
Speaker:Okay. So I think, like,
Speaker:let's we talked a little bit about some of our clients, what they're doing,
Speaker:what they're doing with training. I think, like, let's just real quickly
Speaker:talk on the last hot topic because I know that we need
Speaker:to wrap up this. We have some we both have some time constraints here,
Speaker:so we're kinda, like, gonna zoom through our last topic a little bit.
Speaker:Allison and I could talk forever. Yes. I I know. We were like, oh, we
Speaker:can do this in an hour. And I think that This is why this is
Speaker:why we had to be coaches. Right? Because we just look like we need
Speaker:certified yappers on talking about the outdoors. So our 3rd hot
Speaker:topic in the community that we had, like, listed for this conversation was
Speaker:around rock climbing, actually, which I think it
Speaker:has a lot to do with the fact that our clients, like, when they get
Speaker:into the hiking and backpacking in the outdoors and start kind of
Speaker:stepping into their adventurous identity, they start seeing that they can do
Speaker:things that they never knew that they could do
Speaker:before. Like, rock climbing tends to be one of those things that wasn't on their
Speaker:radar before, but now they're like, I wonder, like, if I would enjoy that, if
Speaker:I would be into that. Why do you think
Speaker:we're hearing a lot about climbing right now in our backpacking badass community during
Speaker:this winter season, Kelly? So first, I definitely agree
Speaker:about the identity shift because I think when our students start building that
Speaker:confidence with hiking and backpacking, that translates into all
Speaker:kinds of aspects of their life and outdoor adventure. Right? They start,
Speaker:what what else can I do? And so many of those skills that
Speaker:we teach will apply to different adventures. Yeah. So,
Speaker:that's all to say that, you know, people can join the backpacking
Speaker:badass and take it so much further than backpacking with the
Speaker:skills, confidence, and the know how that they gain. So And the
Speaker:coaches because a lot of us climb. Yes. So I think on that
Speaker:topic, like, with rock climbing, it's
Speaker:it's on the top of everyone's mind right now because you
Speaker:have your climbing goals that you've kind of been talking about checking in
Speaker:with on your Yeah. We do a momentum Monday to claim your goals
Speaker:and a follow-up Friday posts in our, in our
Speaker:group so that so it's like weekly reflection like we
Speaker:talked about earlier. Like, okay. If you didn't get them done, that's
Speaker:okay. But, like, why? But, also, we do encourage, like, rest is
Speaker:a goal. So, anyway, you've been very vocal
Speaker:about your climbing goals. And the Spain trip, which
Speaker:when this airs, you'll be out on, and so that'll be of an exciting
Speaker:recap to watch for on, like, our social media
Speaker:channels. We've got the 2025 Joshua Tree
Speaker:Retreat. That's gonna be in March. So right now, you and Kate are working
Speaker:with clients to kind of get people prepared, and you do a
Speaker:few check-in calls with them. Right. And Kate,
Speaker:also, we're celebrating her recently because on our team.
Speaker:Yeah. Yes. Kate is our blog manager. She got SPI
Speaker:certified. Yeah. So that is a rock climbing certification
Speaker:for anyone unfamiliar. And she's an awesome coach, honestly, all
Speaker:around, but especially for people that want to expand into climbing.
Speaker:And she is she was explaining to us when she was getting
Speaker:trained, and she was taking her SPI certification and
Speaker:exam. And, also, she was like she's guide she's a rock
Speaker:climbing guide as well on the side. And she is,
Speaker:like, one of few women guides in her area and maybe,
Speaker:like, well, even fewer that are actually SPI certified. So she
Speaker:would be able to be more specific, because I'm not a rock climber.
Speaker:So but we've been celebrating her a lot in the community. And so
Speaker:she often talks about in her q and a calls
Speaker:how people can get into rock climbing and advice for them.
Speaker:And she also just happened to, like, know a rock
Speaker:climbing coach and was able to recommend them, this person, to
Speaker:a student who was looking for a climbing coach. And
Speaker:Kate just happened to know a woman that was a coach in
Speaker:that student's climbing area. So that was incredible. It's
Speaker:interesting. We ended up doing, like, a lot of, kind of side coaching in
Speaker:the backpacking badass community for people who want advice
Speaker:and stuff about rock climbing. All kinds of stuff too. Right? Like, I
Speaker:do kayaking and stuff like that, and we all just have so many different
Speaker:interests as coaches and apply our skills in different ways. But I also feel
Speaker:like we get a lot of students in their fifties to seventies
Speaker:so often, and it makes me reflect on how access to outdoor
Speaker:recreation continues to increase for women and other
Speaker:underrepresented or marginalized groups that have been
Speaker:historically gatekept from these activities
Speaker:and outdoor spaces. So, for example, when I was
Speaker:studying biology, that was the time when the field was drastically
Speaker:changing and shifting to be predominantly women entering the
Speaker:field. And so I think about that so often because we do
Speaker:get students. We have one student that we've hiked with, and her
Speaker:trail name is the 3rd act because she
Speaker:is in her sixties deciding
Speaker:what this new stage of her life is gonna be after,
Speaker:like, getting to kinda focus on herself a little bit more.
Speaker:So I think about that a lot in the community with how diverse our
Speaker:students are unlike for some women,
Speaker:this may be the time, the first time in their lives where they really have
Speaker:had the opportunity to get into their outdoor
Speaker:passions, or they're reigniting them from when they were,
Speaker:you know, in college and then life came and when
Speaker:That's so common for a lot of our clients. Yeah. So, yeah, I
Speaker:think about that a lot. So Okay. I think, like,
Speaker:maybe to wrap this up, really quickly because I know we kind of have a
Speaker:time limit. If somebody I think I'm just gonna jump to, like,
Speaker:if somebody was asking because this happens in our group. Like, people ask us. If
Speaker:I wanted to start rock climbing and learning how to rock
Speaker:climb, what would our advice be to get started? And
Speaker:so if anybody's kinda like listening to that and they're interested in this, I would
Speaker:really recommend that gyms are a great way to start. Like, you can start
Speaker:bouldering. Bouldering is very accessible because you don't have to have a partner
Speaker:necessarily, especially in the climbing gym. I would I
Speaker:recommend a lot of my clients who wanna get started to sign up for an
Speaker:intro to climbing class. And I think, like,
Speaker:definitely, like Kelly was talking about earlier, try to put yourself out there and
Speaker:meet people. Like, actually introduce yourself to people, even if it seems a little
Speaker:a little weird. And I a lot of my clients, because maybe they're starting this
Speaker:a little older in life, they can feel, like, intimidated intimidated to go
Speaker:to the gym and see all these, like, younger people climbing, but, like, don't
Speaker:I feel like the climbing community is really open. And
Speaker:when you get like, people can look really serious, but once you start talking to
Speaker:people, they really are interested in helping you. I don't know if you've had that
Speaker:experience, Kelly, when you've been climbing. I feel like I've had opposites. Well, I have,
Speaker:like, you know, been in environments where it's mostly young people climbing.
Speaker:But the last time I went to, like, a top rope climbing gym, I asked
Speaker:a friend to come with me, and it was, like, 2 and a
Speaker:half hours from my like, where we live. And
Speaker:it was a Monday, so it was wonderful. The gym was empty. But
Speaker:this one woman showed up, and she reminds me of a woman
Speaker:she reminded me of, I think her name is Deidra. It's Alex Honnold's
Speaker:mom. She wrote the book, The Sharp End of Life. So this woman,
Speaker:I think she was probably in her sixties. She climbed
Speaker:every single route in that gym, and she
Speaker:flew up those climbs. So I think that even putting
Speaker:yourself out there and putting yourself in these spaces, you are going to
Speaker:be surprised at the people who are also
Speaker:showing up. Exactly. Like, it's all kinds of people. And I think my
Speaker:biggest encouragement is just, like, to choose to belong
Speaker:even if it feels a little awkward at first. If you're, like, new to it
Speaker:and you don't know what you're doing, like, be willing to feel a little awkward,
Speaker:a little out of place. It's okay to be new at something, and
Speaker:just decide that you belong there. And then you're gonna that's when you'll really
Speaker:open up to, like, how rock climbing can be really fun,
Speaker:and it can help you feel stronger. It's like a fun way to, like, do
Speaker:strength training and all of those things. In that regard,
Speaker:I think, like, another great way is, like, joining an outdoor guided
Speaker:experience, kind of like we do with our Joshua Tree climbing retreats
Speaker:and other climbing retreats that we do because it's a safe place
Speaker:to explore if you like climbing in a fun environment with a great
Speaker:group of women. And then if you have friends you can enlist
Speaker:on the learning journey with you too, like Kelly was mentioning
Speaker:inviting her friend to the gym. That can be a fun way,
Speaker:but, you know, there's all kinds of ways that you can get started
Speaker:with rock climbing and seeing if it's for you and seeing if
Speaker:you enjoy it. There's definitely safety considerations that you wanna
Speaker:learn as you're rock climbing. But going to a gym, a lot of times they'll
Speaker:start to introduce you to some of those safety concepts. And then if you wanna
Speaker:take it outdoors, either joining a group of people that, like, you
Speaker:know, are have those certifications that can teach you safely, or you
Speaker:can start taking classes where you can learn some of those things.
Speaker:So, Kelly, I don't know how you are in time. I think
Speaker:you had mentioned that you needed to bounce. It's okay. I've
Speaker:got some time. So I one point that I do wanna add
Speaker:to what you were just saying about, like, showing up and
Speaker:putting yourself out there is that your desires
Speaker:for yourself can inspire others. Yeah. So
Speaker:your efforts to create more adventure in
Speaker:your life may have this ripple effect, whether it's on
Speaker:your friends, your loved ones, friends that
Speaker:you're making. It might be be something like you know, I'm in
Speaker:a in a climbing desert. Where I'm at,
Speaker:there's not outdoor places to climb unless I go 5 hours
Speaker:away or indoor places. We just got a bouldering gym, so that's nice.
Speaker:But, I know a lot of people that
Speaker:did so many DIY projects, whether I mean, it was
Speaker:just they made whatever they wanted to do work. I remember being
Speaker:in college and knowing people that made bouldering gyms in
Speaker:their garage or our little local outfitter,
Speaker:our gear outfitter, they had they just
Speaker:used a little basement space to make a tiny little
Speaker:bouldering area for the serious climbers in town.
Speaker:So whatever if you, like, stay committed and you stay
Speaker:open to whatever that looks like, you know, putting a rank
Speaker:wall in your garage or basement or having a little
Speaker:finger crimps. One of those in Bakersfield. Yeah. One of
Speaker:your finger crimps, you know, over a door that you just hang on, you
Speaker:know, a few minutes every morning. That's just you know, showing up for
Speaker:yourself is gonna have this ripple effect. And you may
Speaker:be, you know, this titan in your community that
Speaker:moves the needle forward for outdoor adventure for yourself and
Speaker:others. So I think that's so true. I think it's so true.
Speaker:And I think our students see that a lot, and I got this is what
Speaker:I really encourage with community. Like, I think, like, if you
Speaker:show up for yourself first and you, like, get out there,
Speaker:then you will start noticing. You start to attract that community that you're
Speaker:looking for and, like, being that example, because I think so many
Speaker:people are too shy to go for it. And so, like, you stepping
Speaker:into that kind of brings people out of, like, their shell and
Speaker:wanting to try it too. So And what a beautiful life, right, to
Speaker:share that with others. It's just taken me so many cool places. I could
Speaker:talk about it forever. I know. We could talk forever,
Speaker:literally. But I think this is a great place for us to wrap up
Speaker:our very first hot topics in the backpacking badass
Speaker:community, for this episode. Again, if
Speaker:you enjoyed this style of episode, you like to hear us, like, have some
Speaker:banter on some topics that are coming up in our community, what our
Speaker:thoughts are around it, maybe this will be something that
Speaker:we do more often as well. So definitely reach out, let us know, Instagram or
Speaker:email or anything like that. But thank you,
Speaker:everyone, for chiming into this episode. Thank you, Kelly, for
Speaker:joining me in this conversation. Thank you so much for
Speaker:having me. I can't wait to do this again. Yes. Definitely.
Speaker:Alright, everyone. We'll talk next week and see you
Speaker:soon. Bye. Hey. I
Speaker:wanted to thank you real quick for tuning into the show and listening all the
Speaker:way to the end. If you love this episode and you want deeper support
Speaker:in becoming a safe, confident, and self sufficient hiker and backpacker, then
Speaker:head over to shedreamsofalpine.com/waitless
Speaker:to learn more about our backpacking badass coaching program, where I teach
Speaker:you absolutely everything you need to know to be self reliant on the
Speaker:trails and stop waiting around on others for the adventure
Speaker:invite. So I'd love to help you more in your journey of stepping into
Speaker:your adventurous identity, and that program is the
Speaker:absolute best place for us to start working together. So, again,
Speaker:that's she dreams of alpine.com/waitlist, and
Speaker:you can learn all about it there. So that's it for today, folks. I
Speaker:hope you get to spend some time outside this week, and I'll be back
Speaker:very soon with a brand new episode. Bye.
