On April 26th, 2023 Blair and Mark sat down to discuss their recent visit to Alaska, the mountains there, their influence, and events and adventures tied to, inspired and caused by them. They discuss grave loss, life after it, the love that may arrive in its wake, and the rescues undertaken to prevent such loss. Blair shares her first night on a glacier and much to her chagrin, missing the Northern Lights (again).

Sam and I first visited on the podcast back in 2020, episode 134. We tried hard to find the truths we knew were present but couldn't quite get there. We didn't know each other well enough and they were turbulent times when we all felt some heavy emotional and cultural and moral stimulus but couldn't yet make sense of it. During the intervening years we both settled down a bit, or at least discovered ways to manage the stimulus without being overwhelmed into inaction (or too hasty action) by...

Trevor Thompson joins Michael and Mark to discuss the extraordinary snow year in the west and the wild — once in a decade — skiing objectives that such a winter make possible. Specifically, the huge accumulation of snow made it possible to ski from the top of Mount Whitney (14,505'), which is the highest peak in the Lower 48, to the road, something like 8000 feet of elevation loss. That's a big ski run, preceded by a big climb. Midway into that we disappeared down a rabbit hole to discuss...

Disorder, Pathology, and Anger as Self-Love with Anastasia SharpAnastasia Sharp is a practicing therapist in psychotherapy with an extensive background treating substance abuse, trauma, and anxiety through the use of EMDR, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Ketamine and a host of other modalities. She sits down with Burkey and Michael to talk about her practice, what interested her in disordered mental pathology and how “therapy” can mean an almost infinite spectrum of helping you to better “human.”

Kegan Dillon used to work closely with us and has been on many, many episodes of the podcast. For the past couple of years he has been seeking and growing in a different zip code but occasionally visits to see what we are doing and to share what he has learned out there, on walkabout. He sat down with Michael in April to talk about the state of the fitness industry, learning from the students you are teaching, the concept of authority gained by accreditation rather than — and not reinforced...

Luke Nelson is an endurance athlete, father, husband, P.A., ski patroller, and forever seeking deep and powerful experience. Blair and Mark spoke with him the day after the 2023 Grandeur Peak edition of Running Up For Air (RUFA). The conversation started on the topic of changing immediate athletic goals on the fly according to how you feel — and being OK with it rather than being bound to an expectation or particular outcome. He shared some stories of his stint with the U.S. National Ski...

When we first spoke with Matthew Weatherly-White on the podcast in 2018 (Episode 14), we discussed recovery, athletic longevity, endurance, desiccants, exercising for an audience, intelligent self-awareness, transubstantiation, personal reinvention, the evolution of capitalism, impact investing, the discipline to do less than you think you have to, and tried to apply behavioral economics to fitness. It was an incredible conversation. Five years later, much has changed in the world and for us...

Michael starts the conversation by declaring that social media is a record of, "all of the stuff you don't normally do." Neither Blair, Erin or Mark could disagree so we moved on to the topic of expertise, addressing differences between that derived from actual experience rather than from a credentialing body or process and the value of each, as well as how expert conclusions are often shaped by funding (we see you, Nutrition). If science results from consensus, i.e. from a number of people...

Logan and Jariko are veterans, BRCC frontmen, and present-day explorers. They were part of team that set a record for 7 parachute jumps on 7 continents in less than 7 days. In this episode, we discuss fear, risk, and continually pushing the boundary of the unknown in order to have — and then share — new experiences.

Maury Irvine was born in San Francisco in 1924. He was deeply moved by the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and immediately attempted to enlist in the Navy but due to a birth defect in one eye he was turned away. Maury was determined so went back 27 times, hoping to catch a recruiter who would let him pass, but didn’t. He was eventually hired by TWA Airlines, who had lowered the eyesight requirement because of the war, but after realizing he would be desk-bound there he joined the Merchant...

Mark and Blair sit down to talk with mountain athlete, Justine Hewitt. Blair and Justine met in the valley of the Grand Canyon a few years ago when both were running the Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim for fun and decided to finish their route together. Justine is accomplishing big feats in her local Utah mountains and beyond while remaining under-the-radar (for now). They discuss Justine’s 2022 win at RUFA (Running Up for Air), where she completed 11 laps on Grandeur Peak for a total of 63.8 miles and...

Phil returns for an attempt at a “more clear transmission.” In the last episode Phil felt like he was off, and true to his incorporation of HD he wanted to get the environment to be a better fit so that he could speak more clearly on a topic he knows at a very deep level. I think if you listen to both you can hear a difference. Chalk it up to “living your design",” or just a feature of getting more comfortable, either way, this episode explores HD from a different angle (even though we cover...

For the last few years, Erin and Michael have been entertaining the idea that there is a known, predictable pattern to how each human is deeply individual but operates within a given nature. This is known as Human Design. It is a quirky, surreal experiment of sorts, easily dismissible as woo, and yet, somehow, highly effective. Phil Redd was responsible for exposing them to the concept 3 years ago and has continued to teach them the intricacies of this vastly complex system with a skill and...

Mark sits down with Blair Speed to discuss the concepts of effort, process, competition and achievement in the context of climbing and trail running among other activities. They examine Blair's running and racing (and professional work) season, and talk about preparing for and executing two back-to-back 50km trail races. They conclude that one universal concept still holds true: pay attention, be self-aware, control what you CAN control in order to spare the horsepower needed to address what...

Michael, Erin, and Blair talk with “Cinnamon” about their experience at The Tactical Games back in March of 2022. They cover topics like women in tactical sports, using magical rocks for fitness gains, the fitness industry as a honey pot for identity, and micro-dosing corndogs.

Jesse is an actor, seeker, and thinker. He has a long list of professional credits, but what is more impressive is his desire to constantly reinvent himself. In this episode, he sits down with Erin and Michael to talk about his upbringing in a small Wyoming town, the long difficult road to breaking into the industry, and his approach to his profession that keeps him learning and exploring.

Michael and Elodie discuss the topic of coaching and whether to keep doing it or not. Between them they have decades of experience training and leading and guiding others but recently, their level of job satisfaction has been put to the test by clients who go through the motions and nod along to the thesis but are unable to grow and change. Eventually, "there is no amount of money that can make dissatisfaction OK ..." And so the questions become, "Why don't people emphasize self-knowledge to...

Climbing, Sailing, and Entropy Connor McCrillis made his first ice axe during his freshman year of high school. We begin this conversation on the topic of DIY by talking about homemade boats (originally a blend of wood and fiberglass), and his first ice axes (laminating wood and carbon fiber, and stainless steel for the head) then we take a deep dive into sailing, hydrodynamics, racing boats, and DIY boat building, and coaching juniors to race sail boats. Deeper in, we reach the main point...

During the 48-minute introduction to a discussion of the Capacity manual Michael and Burkey discuss fact checking, managing intent, contractual relationships, accurate communication (that sometimes requires punctuation), the differences between text and speech and the utility of each, and the peril of literal responses to emotional beings. Eventually they address the Capacity manual and how to communicate our position on the topic ... how difficult it is to correct existing problems without...

Adam is an Event Director, Tour Producer, and Artist Manager in the live music industry. He sat down with Michael to discuss the different aspects of music, the industry, and the general population’s relationship to entertainment. They cover ground on music as therapy, the troubles of industrialized psychedelic medicine, and inherent problems associated with commodifying art.

Christian Craighead was born in northeast England and joined the military at 16, eventually passing selection for the SAS where he served with distinction and made numerous operational deployments. In 2019 his actions — taken alone — during the Al Shabaab terrorist attack at the Dusit2 Hotel in Nairobi, which undoubtedly saved numerous lives, earned him the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross. We don't talk about that on this podcast — it's not our place — but we dive into some equally engaging topics.

We recorded this podcast with Adam Giles in early-2019 and after listening again recently we decided to rerelease it. Some may have missed it then, when the podcast had a different name, but we also made an interesting prediction or perhaps more accurately, extrapolation, that has bearing on some events in the 2020-2021 time frame. Adam's description of working at Nokia, and helping to launch the 6680 with a 2mp camera, is a trip back in time, to an era when some engineers were convinced that...

Ian Seabrook returns to the podcast after a three-year hiatus. Ian is an award winning Underwater Director of Photography in the motion picture and television industry who first appeared on Episode 55. At that time he was in Utah to document the production and release of REFUGE, the first large book produced by NonProphet. This year Ian's return coincided with the printing of POISON so we strong-armed him into making a short film about that.Ian's underwater credits include “Batman v...

Becky Switzer approaches life with an openness, acceptance, and celebration of life-long learning. She is an educator and athlete who invests deeply in her community and people. She spent her younger — "soccer is life" — years playing goalkeeper and earned her way to a college scholarship at that position. These days she is recognized as one of the top climbers in her home state of Montana. During this conversation we speak about expectations, responsibility, sport performance, gender...

Ben Staley returns to the podcast for the first time in a while. Last time we saw Ben was in Death Valley February 2021, the time before that was pre-COVID, also in Death Valley, November 2019. We have all grown and changed since then. Michael and Mark chat with Ben about religion, and what a cool guy Jesus was, or maybe was, and conclude that if you just act like him you would be a pretty good person. Late we discuss "the art of making art", training one's creative muscle and habits, and how...