Breaking Trail. Every other week, Lisa Gerber talks to people who are working to make the world more habitable, more humane, and more loving. In the words of author and environmentalist David Orr, they are the “peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of every kind” that this world needs so desperately. Through their stories, we cover themes of hope, courage, and action. This is a show for people who want to contribute to the world rather than take from it. We are living life ...
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Mary Kerrigan: Transformation through Conversation
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“Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid.” This quote is often attributed to Goethe but it appears to be really credited to Basil King, a Canadian clergyman. As I chatted with today’s guest, Mary Kerrigan, this quote came to mind. To make a big change, you have to be bold. You have to start somewhere and when you start, “mighty forces” wil…
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Katie Harris: Turning Frustration into Opportunity
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In his book Ecological Literacy, David Orr said we need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. He said we need people who live well in their places. People of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. These are the people who are redefining success in today’s terms and thi…
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Robin Hall: A Story about Finding Purpose and Adapting
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Things rarely go as planned and that is very much the case for Robin Hall who had a big fat wrench thrown into her and her family’s life plan. The outdoor brand she was working for relocated and she had to make some decisions. This is a story about finding purpose and adapting. It’s a story about sitting at home and deciding to take matters into yo…
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Kevin Belanger: The Great American Rail-Trail
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Before joining the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy team in 2016 as a trail planner, Kevin Belanger spent many years in the active-transportation world. He received master’s degrees in both Environmental Studies and Community and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon, where he wrote his thesis on walking and biking habits in suburban multifami…
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Alexis Biddle: Housing Policy and Climate Change
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Alexis Biddle is the Great Communities Program Director for 1000 Friends of Oregon who’s mission is to work with Oregonians to enhance our quality of life by building livable urban and rural communities, protecting family farms and forests, and conserving natural areas. Alexis works on issues like housing, transportation, infrastructure, and more, …
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Today, I have a beautiful story for you about fatherhood, endurance, and sustainability. Josh Lasky is a father, husband, son, amateur endurance athlete, social impact professional, and author. He serves as Director of the Office of Sustainability at The George Washington University, leading the institution’s efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by…
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Their Story is Our Story – Liz Jevtic-Somlai
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Today’s story comes from Elizabeta Jevtic-Somlai. Originally from Serbia, now living in Phoenix, Arizona. Liz knows what it’s like to flee a country she loved and to find new roots, a new way in a strange and unwelcoming country. I have the privilege of working with her at Their Story is Our Story, where we are working to tell the stories of refuge…
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Converting Caring to Action I invited Scot to be a guest when I saw he was working to save farmland in Whitefish, Montana. In fact, he founded a nonprofit of that name. But first, some critical background about Scott. He is the cofounder of Classy, a San Diego-based social enterprise and software company that creates fundraising tools for nonprofit…
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Today I have a lovely conversation with Pam Bond whose story I just love. (Actually, stories are kind of like cheese. There are very few stories I don’t like. Just the stinky ones.) Anyway, Pam’s story is a classic full circle one. She was a very shy young adult who now empowers young women through women-only trail work weekends. Pam Bond is a GIS …
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The Power of the Third Choice with Sarah Panus
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I am happy to introduce you to Sarah Panus because I feel like in a way we are kindred spirits which is coincidental because her business is named Kindred Speak, LLC. She, like me, had a dream to go into fashion. She pursued that dream farther than I ever did. Life took her in another direction (like it did for me) and after a series of jobs, she l…
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This is a story about not letting our circumstances define who we are. If today’s guest can do that, we can do it. She is not paying it forward. She came from a place of extreme poverty to start this global nonprofit Days for Girls International. Celeste Mergens is the founder and CEO of Days for Girls. She has led the organization since its beginn…
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Leigh Bercaw: Living Life as if it Were Short
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What happens when you think you have eight years left to live and then you find out it’s actually probably going to be ok? I learned so much from Leigh Bercaw of Blue Fingers Farm for the season finale of Breaking Trail podcast. First of all, Leigh was super career-focused when a health prognosis meant she more than likely had only 8 years at the m…
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Ryan Egan: Keeping Up with the Youngsters with Joint Mobility
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Ryan Egan started Movement Gym, well, if we’re being honest, as a Plan B. His original plan was to be a pro snowboarder but that didn’t go well for him in many ways. And now, after years of beating and battering his body, he helps you, me and everyone, keep your body in shape so you can keep going out and doing adventures and share connection with …
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Sheryl Wiser: Moving at the Speed of Trust
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The Director of Outreach at Tilth Alliance, and lead staff for the Eat Local First Collaborative a multi-partnership collaboration between food system organizations around the state. An established communicator and narrative storyteller, Sheryl is recognized as a builder of strategic partnerships with career experience in the non-profit, corporate,…
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Beth Norton: Life as a Backpacking Adventure
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Typically, I talk to people who have already sort of found their path. After things have landed together for them. Today’s conversation is a little different because with Beth Norton, things haven’t landed into place yet, but I found Beth’s story to be so remarkable I wanted to share it here. But really, if you think about it – we are all in the mi…
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Raheim Robinson: How Art Can Change the World
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Can you think of a time where you’ve tried something new and felt like you have no business being there, doing your thing. It’s intimidating, the environment feels unwelcome? Some of us have only experienced it here and there but this is a place many grow up in. Raheim didn’t let that stop him from doing the things he loves. And is now doing work t…
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Jeff Thompson: What's in His Summer Backpack
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What are your travel plans? Maybe not much or something pretty local? Maybe something in the backcountry, our best bet as we hopefully wind down on this COVID era. I miss going to Canada, big time. I miss international travel. I will say though that I have found one silver lining in this time. I have discovered many spots within a five-hour drive, …
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John Grollmus: How the Hospitality Mindset Has Served Him Well
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John Grollmus opened his first restaurant a long time ago. Today, he and one partner have five restaurants in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene. He is also a writer and a ski guide. Here’s what I love about his story. He had to scramble hard to get funding to start that first restaurant. At one point, they had successfully grown to six restaurants and two …
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Kikkan Randall and the Battles of a Lifetime
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I’m taking this week off, and we’re running a replay of an interview I did in 2018 with Kikkan Randall. Kikkan and Jessie Diggins won the gold medal in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang exactly three years ago. They are the first-ever cross country skiing gold medal in the women’s team sprint. Kikkan Randall won 17 U.S. national titles, she’s made…
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Brett Kruse recently joined Outdoor Research as their VP of People and Culture. This position is a perfect marriage of his outdoor pursuits and his people leadership skills. You know I’m always fascinated how we all can find meaning and purpose in life through a seemingly meandering path that, in hindsight looks like a neat and tidy story but when …
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Katie Egland Cox: Land Conservation and Thinking About Our Legacy
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Katie Cox brings her background in architecture and design to the world of land conservation and I love talking to people who find purpose through two disparate passions. As the executive director of the Kaniksu Land Trust, she brings a new approach to conservation and we talk about the impact it has on the community. It will give you thought on ho…
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Today on our 100th episode, I’m doing something a little bit different. I normally don't bring my work projects into the podcast, but the day that this podcast publishes, January 25 2021 is an exciting day. We are launching the new name and brand for Panhandle Animal Shelter here in Sandpoint Idaho and so I have Executive Director, Mandy Evans, joi…
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Jason Welker: Breaking Trail Literally and Figuratively
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Jason Welker, executive director of Pend Oreille Pedalers, was an aspiring basketball player growing up in the suburbs of Indianapolis. At the age of 16, his life was pretty much up-ended when his father took a position overseas and moved his family to Malaysia. As you can imagine, this caused some angst in a teenarge but quickly turned around to c…
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Today's guest is a return guest, my friend Brian Harder. If you're a regular listener, you know that Brian has been on the podcast many times. And today, we talk about the price of admission to the wilderness. We are not talking about permits and park fees. I should preface this by saying that we don't proclaim to be experts and most of this is sim…
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Lessons from the Outdoors in Leadership with Zoë Routh
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I’m always fascinated by the paths we take, and how a decision here or there leads to the next thing and then on to the next thing. Of course, extra bonus points for marrying two separate passions into one successful career, and a path of happiness. Zoë Routh is UK-born, Canadian-raised and Australian resident who is a highly successful leadership …
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Jessica Johnson: Gender Inclusivity in Outdoor Sports
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What does it mean to be a man or a woman? I bet many of you have never considered that thought. I know I haven't, I'm a female that's the end of the conversation but what if all of that came into question. What if you simply don't identify as a male or a female and what does that feel like? The stories we have been told our whole lives shape our wo…
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Courtney Condy was a recent college grad who felt disillusioned with the corporate grind while living and working in San Francisco. A last-minute trip to Nepal in 2015 changed her life forever when her trekking group got caught in the middle of an 8.1 magnitude earthquake two days away from Everest Basecamp. Upon returning to the US she quit her jo…
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Rich Hohne: Defeating the Nagging Status Quo
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There is a ski area in Japan called Asahidake that is essentially a summer tram they open for winter to allow for tram-served backcountry skiing. It’s not patrolled or groomed (although there are two groomed roads that serve as sort of a thoroughfare to the bottom. We couldn’t wait to check it out. pass this up. On our first tram ride to the top an…
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93: Anastasia Allison on Near Death Experiences and Living on our Own Terms
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Anastasia Allison was an unusual kid. She was into things you and I probably were not such as volunteering at a national park as an interpretive guide wearing period costumes performing hymns and folk songs with her violin. Sounds like a super cool kid to me in many ways but sadly, Allison suffered a great deal of bullying as a child. It might be f…
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92: Mary Fiedler: Optimal Health EVEN Through Menopause
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Many conventional doctors will tell women going through menopause that hormonal decline that contributes to aging is part of life. Deal with it. Well, we don’t have to totally. There is help out there. I had a health issue this past march and I realized I knew a lot less about my body than I realized. Mary Fiedler loves what she does especially bec…
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91: Amy Charity Reflects Back on that Pivotal Moment
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The trajectory widens as you move away from that moment that changed everything. At the age of 34, Amy left the financial industry to pursue her passion and a career in professional bike racing. As an athlete, an Ironman, endurance trail running and finally cycling, consumed her time outside of the corporate workplace. Amy raced for the U.S. Nation…
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Today is part 2 of a long and interesting conversation I had with Wes King, founder and CEO of Tahoe Trail Bar, a plant-based, non-GMO, gluten-free line of awesome tasting energy bars. You might want to check out episode 89 if you haven’t already and then come back for the continuation but here’s a quick recap: Last week, Wes walked us through a ti…
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89: Wes King on Finding that Inflection Point
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Wes King is the CEO and founder of the Tahoe Trail Bar, a plant-based, non-GMO, gluten free line of awesome tasting energy bars. He had so much to share, I decide to make this into a two-part episode so I didn’t have to edit anything out. Today, we’re going to talk about finding purpose, working your ass off and taking a cottage business to the nex…
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88: Bill Gamber and Big Agnes: Actions Speak Louder Than Marketing
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If you're happier and more comfortable when you're outside, you'll get out and play more. That's why Big Agnes, aka, The Mother of Comfort, a Steamboat Springs-based company exists - to make you more comfortable. And Bill Gamber, one of the founders, joins us today. In 2000, Bill Gamber and his business partner borrowed the name of a local peak in …
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87: Kate Gates Gets Real About Living the Dream
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Today, we journey back to Georgia. We spoke with Terri Watts of Athens in episode 83. Kate Gates joins us from Ellijay, Georgia. She and her husband and their parents own and operate Mulberry Gap, a mountain bike getaway in the mountains of Northern Georgia with access to the Pinhoti Trail system. Kate & Andrew met in high school in 2004, and their…
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86: Brittany Charboneau: The Path from Average to Elite
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Brittany Charboneau is a Denver-native and also known as The Funny Runner because she is pursuing a career in running and comedy. Sponsored by fellow Colorado-native company OtterBox, and thanks to her coach Jenni Nettik with Mercuria Running and her entire "Dream Team" of trainers, she qualified for the Olympic Trials' A' Standard at the 2018 Los …
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85: Matt Sterbenz Blanking the Hard Drive to Innovate
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A highly respected figure in the freeskiing industry, Matt Sterbenz has spent his career developing some of the most exciting and progressive skis in history. Matt’s life in the ski industry began when he and his peers of pro skiers began to feel underserved by large, European ski sponsors that focused solely on creating skis for racers. At the tim…
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84: Jacquie Whitt Putting Life in Perspective
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Jacquie Whitt joins us today. She had no intention she’d one day partner with a team of native Peruvians and become the owner of an international adventure travel business. Her partners share equity in Adios Adventure Travel. They collaborate on everything, including how to organize itineraries, where to set up service projects and how to support t…
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83: Terri Watts Calm in the Midst of Uncertainty
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Terri Watts quit her job as an occupational therapist in Athens Georgia to race the IMBA National Enduro Series for pro women. This girl from Georgia seemingly came out of nowhere to win the 2017 USA Cycling Enduro National Championship. Now, she is semi-retired from racing and back working part time as an occupational therapist and part of the tim…
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82: Eric Larsen | Having a Bigger Conversation About Adventure
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In 2006, Eric Larsen completed a 62-day expedition to the North Pole pulling a 250-pound sled for 550 miles. Men's Journal named him one of the 25 Most Adventurous Men of the Past 25 Years. Polar adventurer, expedition guide, dog musher and educator, Eric Larsen has spent a lot of time traveling to some of the most remote and wild places left on ea…
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81: Charlotte Massey is Dismantling the Pant Patriarchy
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Charlotte Massey, Georgia Grace, and Bianca Gonzalez are redesigning pants so they work for womens’ bodies. It sounds silly that no one has addressed this issue before. Why not? Charlotte Massey joins today, and she’s going to walk us through a little fashion history, something we don’t often discuss here at the Gear Show. We’ll discover how three …
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80: Jeannine Anders - Mountain Biking Fixes Everything
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Jeannine Anders followed “The Call” to Colorado 15 years ago where she settled in the Vail Valley. Many of us have heard a similar call - one to the mountains, right? She held a career in sales while pursuing her passion for cycling. She’s competed in over 20 ultra-endurance mountain bike races including multiple 100-mile, 12- and 25-hour solo race…
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79: Brian Harder One Year Post ACL Surgery
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Today, Brian Harder, a self-proclaimed non-compliant patient will walk us through ACL recovery one year post- event. We’ll talk about the choices he made - like the graft choice and what he would do if he had it to do over again. Brian is a frequent guest, a good friend of mine. He is an orthopedic physician assistant and a ski mountaineer based in…
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78: Shannon Bahrke-Happe on Raising the Bar
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When you become the best in the entire world at something, what do you do next? How do you not let that be the high point in life, instead, keep raising the bar? I had a wonderful talk with Shannon Barke-Happe today about that, about professional racing, and life afterwards. Shannon was on the US.. Ski Team for 12 years. During that time, she broug…
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77: Shelley Wood on Staying Loyal to Your Dream
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"Blogging is like going to the word gym. I practice writing in the same I would go to a gym to get stronger muscles. Writing is a muscle and I try to stay fit for it. " Is it possible to strive to be a writer and make a living at it? Shelley knew she wanted to be a writer at a young age but how could she make a living doing it? Today is all about m…
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76: Vasu Sojitra on Finding Normality in our Differences
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It's hard enough being a kid trying to fit in. Imagine being a brown kid with one leg growing up an affluent and very white Connecticut town. Vasu Sojitra was diagnosed with septicemia at the age of nine months which resulted in the amputation of one of his legs. He spent much of his youth finding his way in the world. In fact, His TedX Bozeman Tal…
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75: Adrienne Lindholm on Writing and the Wilderness
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The long-term influence of seemingly small interactions. Adrienne Lindholm took a life-altering trip at the age of 11 - a cross-country camping trip that expanded this Western Pennsylvania girl’s awareness of what is possible in this life. Now, she lives in Alaska with her husband and two kids is an author and land conservationist. She has worked f…
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74: Erik Murdock Advocates for our Recreation Interests on Capitol Hill
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Erik Murdock is the Policy Director for the Access Fund whose mission is to protect climbing access and conserve the environment. He represents climbers’ interests and values in Washington, DC while monitoring activities on Capitol Hill to identifying possible threats (and opportunities) to climbing access and conservation. What draws someone to th…
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73: Bob Legasa on Surviving a Grizzly Bear Attack and Good Fortune
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Bob Legasa is the owner of Freeride Media. He's a TV Host-producer in the snowsports industry, a snowsport event coordinator and a custom home builder and last fall, he was mauled by a grizzly bear on a hunting trip in the Gallatin Mountains in Montana. Fortunately, he survived to tell us about it and by the way, so did the sow grizzly who was prot…
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72: Laurenne Ross on Ski Racing, Presence of Mind, Focus
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Laurenne Ross races the World Cup alpine circuit and is ranked one of the top-ten best speed skiers in the world. She’s been to four World Championships and raced in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, Korea. She has two World Cup podiums and many top-ten results. But man, racing is hard. In 2017, a…
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