Tag Archives: risk

Killing Complacency- Making sure the luck jar doesn’t run dry

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And then I pounded. My second reserve didn’t have time to deploy, it was laid out right beside me in a unfolded line. I bounced a bit and thankfully the dirt was really soft. My body made a horrible thudding noise but I was certainly alive. I got up slowly and realized with some amazement that I seemed to be unhurt. I called Cody on the radio and said the same. “NO YOU AREN’T OK, that’s the adrenaline, you are definitely not ok, lay back down!” But I was in fact ok. Soreness would kick in as the adrenaline wore off, but I’d done nothing more than bruises. To both my ego and my body.

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Episode 17- Will Gadd and the Mastery of the Sky through Mastery of Self

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Will Gadd began his flying career in the early 90’s and quickly became one of the most prominent pilots in the world. A Red Bull original gangster, Will is considered one of the best mixed climbers on Earth. He’s a world class whitewater kayaker, mountain guide, speaker, author, journalist, expedition leader and is highly regarded for his views on risk management; maintaining a safety margin; his model of the “positive power of negative thinking”; his studied ability to appropriately assess weather and terrain; and his amazing knack to keep pushing the limits in a unique and pure style.

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Episode 16- Cody Mittanck and the art of Going Big

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Cody Mittanck set the unofficial Canadian foot launch record (“unofficial” for a very cool reason- listen to find out) last summer, and he’s one of a small handful (if there’s even a handful) of pilots in North America who’s doing the Infinity- as well as everything else. Cody only started flying in 2009 but he’s as hungry as it gets and his progression into the elite ranks of pilots in the world has been astonishing

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Episode 11, Gurpreet Dhindsa and flying psychology

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Gurpreet Dhindsa is India’s top ranked pilot, and has been for some time. He is the only certified instructor in the country and has 20 year passionate years in the sport. Gurpreet has been on the podium six times and has been a very integral figure in pushing paragliding in India and has truly given his life over to free flight. In this entertaining episode we discuss the political and bureaucratic difficulties he’s experienced as a pilot in India, the importance of being in the moment while flying, how he’s recovered mentally after two friend’s accidents, the value of struggle, changing strategies in order to learn and now worrying about scores, and how he’s learning to fly his own line and why he’s chosen to take less risk in competitions. This is a fascinating talk with a fascinating member of our community. Enjoy!

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Episode 9- Thomas de Dorlodot and the Endless SEARCH

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Thomas de Dorlodot is probably the most enviable pilot in the world. He’s made a living out of traveling the world and documenting his expeditions. A 5 time Red Bull X-Alps competitor and Red Bull Athlete Tom started flying when he was 15 years old. He’s flown above 7,000 meters in Pakistan, paramotored over the Marquesas in French Polynesia, glided over volcanoes in Guatemala and Tanzania, hucked acro over Victoria Falls and is currently working on sailing around the world. His accolades and accomplishments are too many to even list here, but it hasn’t all been a rosy romp through la-la land and in this episode we dive into his two accidents this year, one a major accident during his Adriatic expedition with Paul Guschlbauer and the other that ended his X-Alps campaign on day 7; we talk about how Tom approaches risk; how he plays the sponsorship game; how he prepares mentally and a lot more.

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Living it up- MtnMeisters podcast goes live

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It was a great pleasure to sit down with the MTNmeister’s Ben Schenck recently to discuss adventure, risk, mountains, rivers, sailing around the world a couple times, the Red Bull X-Alps and a lot more. The MTNmeister podcast is dedicated to “exploring the minds of those who explore” and I guess that’s what I’ve been doing most of my life. Have a listen, we had a lot of fun with this one.

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Episode 5 Nate Scales and Staying in the Game

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Nate “Papa” Scales got his first flight in 1991 on a glider that had 11 cells in Sun Valley, Idaho. The next day he moved to Utah to learn how to fly and hasn’t looked back since. I’ve never met anyone as passionate as Nate is about flying nylon and string and he’s even more psyched today to go big than ever. We cover a LOT of ground in this hysterical episode. Nate discusses the value of competitions; his only (and very wild) reserve toss; risk and safety; his recent decision to step down to an ENC glider after flying comp gliders for more than 15 years; his “dream” line; learning from failure; and we go way back in time and talk about the days of taking pictures of waypoints before there was GPS; his 2007 X-Alps campaign and much more.

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Episode 4- Cedar Wright “Nothing Great Happens Without Risk”

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The Cloudbase Mayhem is dedicated to dissecting excellence in flight. We interview the best pilots in the world and find out what makes them great. But in this episode we delve into the opposite end of the spectrum with world class climber, self-described goofball, North Face athlete, film director and producer Cedar Wright, who has recently caught the paragliding bug BADLY. His climbing partners include Alex Honnold, the late Dean Potter and Sean Leary, Tommy Caldwell, Will Gadd and a ton of the Yosemite Camp 4 Original Gangsters of the incredible “Valley Uprising” documentary like Peter Croft and Tommy Caldwell. His stoke and passion for flying is radical and his unique perspective on what makes human flight so special made for a stellar interview that was incredibly fun.

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Episode 3 – Jeff Shapiro and the Dark Arts

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Jeff Shapiro is a world class sponsored athlete and a world class human being. He’s flown and competed on hangliders since he was 17 all over the world, he sends 5.14 big wall routes in climbing, he flies wingsuits, rides sport bikes, is a gifted Falconer, and is also a Dad and family man. But don’t call him extreme and don’t call him an adrenaline junky. Jeff is grounded, thoughtful, eternally grateful to be able to pursue his passions and his approach to risk and danger is something we all need to ponder. In this amazing episode we discuss the incredible numbers of losses in the wingsuiting community the last three years, including his close friends Sean Leary, Dean Potter, and Graham Hunt; an amazing close call flying at King Mountain Idaho a few years back on his Hanglider; how he has flown for more than twenty years without an accident; his own brush with death this year; and if it’s possible to justify participating in a sport with such terrible odds, among many other things. Grab a cup of tea or coffee and prepare to be whisked away into a realm that very, very few people inhabit. It’s a special place.

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