I’m sure you.. YES you, have done this.

There comes a time when you don’t listen to other people when they tell you not to do something.* Though, the best adventures and experiences seem to occur only when taking risks and challenging yourself to do something you never thought attainable. Of course things will be scary, but that’s the risk you have to be willing to take. Whether the end outcome is positive or negative, that depends… but either way you’re learning a lot more about yourself along the journey. This is where my story begins.

I grew up following freeskiing. Attending the first ever Winter Dew Tour in Killington, VT sparked my hunger for photography and skiing. By the time college came around, even after getting into school in SLC, UT I was told that “it’s too far away”.  Well yes, this is a true fact, but I can’t imagine all of the experiences during that time I would have never been able to do had I listened to that one person. I was told I shouldn’t go to Japan last season, but to me that was my biggest accomplishment and progression of skiing images so far. Today, I am still being told to not pursue my goals of becoming a published action sports photographer/videographer.

Do you think I’ll listen to that?

Skier: David Wise Photo: Dani DeSalvio

Here’s to the mistakes to be made, lessons to be learned, and the hustle to be had.  Cheers & stay stoked – dani

*Though it is probably a good idea to listen to your friends in the backcountry.

I had my first paragliding experience last fall and it was hands down one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done. Ever since, I’ve been dreaming of geting back out there on a glider and I’ve been telling everyone I know to do it at least once in their lives. Hanging in the sky and floating on an air stream is simply an incredible feeling that can’t be described in words. But it’s more than just a feeling.

The paragliding world is made up of a tight-knit and supportive community passionate about creating positive change in the world. Whether that is enjoying a motor-less way to fly to educating students to follow their dreams, paragliding athletes and entrepreneurs are doing incredible things to leave this world a better place than they found it.

This morning, I was sent an incredible story about Nick Greece & the Cloudbase Foundation, both committed to supporting and giving back to the communities where they fly. Watch and share their story about using passion to make a positive impact on our world.

You can learn more about the Cloudbase Foundation and Keen’s “Follow Your Feet” campaign here.

Related Post: 

• PARAGLIDING AT POINT OF THE MOUNTAIN WITH UTAH PARAGLIDING

I don’t know when I am going to die.

I intend to make the most of my limited time by doing the things I love. It is my life goal to have as much damn fun as I can before I go. I want to experience everything our awesome planet has to offer: from climbing the bulletproof granite of Yosemite, to exploring the frozen tundra of Antarctica.

#82 Snowboard 20 days in a season

Four years ago on a sailing trip, my friends and I started talking about Jimmy Buffet and how great it would be to have a cheeseburger and margarita with him in paradise. We came up with other things that we wanted to do before we died and jotted them down on the back of a notepad. My bucket list was born.

Sailing trip in Florida 4 years ago

Over the years, my bucket list has grown from 1 to 261 (and growing) things that I want to do before I die. It acts as a compass to keep my life exciting. I am constantly stoked by knowing that there is always a new adventure waiting for me on the horizon, I make sure of it. Whether it is outrunning a swarm of bees, or being a ski bum for a season, I always have a new adventure to be excited about.

#222 Ice Climb

I started a blog for my list in August 2012 so I would not have to keep re-reading my atrocious handwriting. My bucket list covers a wide variety of challenges and personal goals. It consists mostly of adventurous items, but there are also a few inside jokes, like hiding bouillon cubes in my friend’s showerhead. I now document all my accomplishments with a short post so I will be able to look back and reflect on all the cool things I have done. Along the way I have also been able to connect with people around the world who share the same interests.

#209 Indian Creek

So far, my bucket list has actually had a pretty big impact on my life. Now I always say yes to new things, and to any adventure (even if my grades will suffer). If it weren’t for my bucket list I would never have started climbing, I can’t imagine how empty my life would be without it. Feel free to check out my bucket list at http://jakesbucketlist.wordpress.com/. I know I will never do everything on the list, but I am making progress and having a blast while doing it. I’m always looking for new adventures, so please let me know if you have any rad ideas.

 Stay Stoked!

-Jake Dickerson

It’s so true  —- the more things change, the more they stay the same. We were stoked in 1976.  We might not have used that word; we were happy, blissful, exhilarated, living the cool life, living the free life, feeling groovy, – yep, we were stoked!

It’s October, 1976.  We pulled into Park City, Utah. The colors were screaming from the hillsides, and the town was beautiful.  We stayed forever…..  (well, with a few diversions in between forever).  We were chasing pow, but more importantly, we were searching for a certain lifestyle.

It was easy to fall in love with the mountains and the friendly inviting ski town.  Winter came early and fast that year, and soon enough we were gliding through the white stuff every day.  We tended bar at night to support the lifestyle. Sleeping a couple hours after late nights serving up the booze to the rest of the ski bums in town, we would all see each other again competing for first chair every morning.  Especially on those deep powder mornings, when it was so quiet, so peaceful,  so white, and so exciting to know we would soon be in flight through baby soft feathers we call snow,  and grant us that oh-so-needed feeling of joy.

Rewind back to 1974-75; we both left behind promising careers in the big cities of New York and Los Angeles. We met over red wine, fell in love, and made a choice. Let’s find a life style where we can live out our dreams. And it was in mountains where that came through for us.  35+ awesome years of skiing down the mountains, biking up the mountains, hiking through the mountains, playing golf in view of the mountains, and sailing on the mountain lakes. At night, we’d all recount our days of adventure while playing poker (that’s entirely another story).

After a season in Park City, it was time to conquer mountains in Steamboat Springs, Aspen, Vail, Copper Mountain, Alpine Meadows, Squaw Valley, Heavenly, and Sun Valley.  So over a few years, we moved to various ski towns, visited others in between, and always found jobs, mostly bartending, to support our ski bumming lifestyle.  Man, it was fun! Did I mention we also spent a year on the beach in Cali playing lots of volleyball? When we weren’t in the mountains, we were on the ocean. But then, we always found our calling back to the mountains….

The rest of the story was made up of years of skiing deep powder – that was always the constant.  Always watching the storm tracks coming our way.  Sometimes we’d pack a bag in 5 minutes, throw the baby in a car seat, and book it to Targhee to catch a three foot dump, and giggle our way through waist deep dust for two days.  Those were the days we wore our onesies, but honestly guys, there hasn’t been anything warmer since.  And we shredded on our long, skinny skis and rear entry boots.  Here’s where I can talk about my “perm”, but let’s not go there. After all, it was the 80’s.

Long, long story short: we eventually got married, had two beautiful daughters, raised them on skis, bikes, tennis courts,  golf courses, hiking trails, and (ssshhhhhh), poker tables.    So yes, things change.  And yes – things stay the same, except we are now us + 2. And we are still getting out there, everyday, living the lifestyle we always dreamed of, outside of the cities, away from the 9-5, in the mountains where we call home.

And along with all the wonderful winters, there was always the anticipation of summer as well. We watched the evolution of mountain biking, and spent many years enjoying the amazing trail system that was built in Park City. We came to love good dirt, the way we love good snow. We love the variety of sports the summer offers, and participate in all of them. We’d find ourselves in mountain lakes sailing the Jordanelle, Rockport, Deer Creek & Lake Tahoe. We sailed with the dog on board, too. We continued having poker games.    It’s all part of the lifestyle.  Yes, we work.  We have “real” jobs since we “out-grew” our bartending days.  That’s a nice way of saying we got older.  With the passing years, we had all the joy of being with our daughters, watching them grow and develop into elegant, smart, & caring human beings. We are honored that they too have embraced the lifestyle of mountain living, and attached even more to it; surfing, paddle boarding, para-gliding & traveling the globe. Most importantly to us, is that they still like hanging out with us!

And we are still here.  Still skiing, still riding the dirt, still hitting tennis & golf balls, still hiking. Our girls are para-gliding and rock climbing! So, I say it again: things change, but the life style remains the same. For everyone, then… and now.

We all still listen and watch those beautiful flakes falling from the sky throughout the night, stand on line early in the morning to catch freshies on those bottomless clouds we call runs.  We ride our bikes on single track passageways that give us miles of smiles. So whatever it is that turns on your “stoke”, skiing, boarding, biking, climbing, or just breathing the air: live it, love it, and share it.

After all these years, the most important lesson we’ve learned – there are many friends on a powder day!

 *As Professor Petrovsky says: “We can’t run from who we are.  Our destiny chooses us”.

After spending the last two years of my life in auto-drive (wake-up, brush teeth, drive 45 minutes to work, bust out spreadsheets, drive home, eat dinner, earn decent pay-check twice a month, squeeze in some outdoor time, rinse & repeat) I finally woke up and noticed I was seriously on the wrong path. With much debate about how I want to continue the remaining x number of years I have on this planet, plus a minor bout of existential crisis, I decided the only solution was to screw the salary, quit my job, and take hold of my future before it’s completely out of my grasp.

So that’s exactly what I did. A few weeks ago, I told my company that I’m done with the 9 to 5 grind and that I’m spending the next 6 months chasing low pressure storm systems across the country, skiing with my friends and family, and spreading as much stoke as I humanly can. As soon as the words “I’m taking a 6 month sabbatical” ever so slowly stumbled outta my mouth, I was overwhelmed with a complete sense of fear that I was making a huge mistake. But at the same moment, an unfamiliar feeling of freedom and possibility smiled down at me, saying “OH HELL YEAH!”

There are few things scarier than quitting a good paying job with a solid career path and endless opportunity to move up the ladder. It’s really hard to let it all go just because you have this gut feeling that something, undefinable and unknown, just doesn’t feel right. It’s like when you decide to break up with someone. You don’t know why you fell out of love, you don’t even know if/why you want to end things, but what you do know is that the magic is gone, it ain’t ever comin’ back and if you don’t do something right away, you’ll never find who you were meant to be with.

And that’s what leaving my job is all about. I don’t think of it as “quitting”, but rather forcing myself to expand my life, my mind, and collect as many experiences as I can, while I can. It’s proactively taking control of a situation. I’ve always felt that life is about who you spend your time with, what you do with your days, and how those experiences define you. You are the sum of your stories, your fears, your dreams, your beliefs, your enthusiasm, and those who you surround yourself with.

Now that I’ve justified my hedonistic plunge, ‘tis time to get some personal shit done that I’ve been putting off for far too long…

Stuff I plan to do in the next 6 months:

1. To ski no less than 100 days this winter season. I’m hoping that Mother Nature just nukes her brains out from Dec. 1st through end of May, but regardless, I’ll be out on the mountain, getting after it.
2. To start writing again, as much as I can.
3. To open my mind. I want to meet as many awesome people as I can while on the mountain, during après ski, and through online trip reports.
4. To travel. A lot. I plan on exploring and getting to Jackson, Big Sky, BC, a variety of places in Colorado, Tahoe, and anywhere else that has a couch to sleep on and snow to ski on.
5. To get in better shape from 2 years of being lazy, eating like crap, and sitting at a desk all day.
6. To get back into a creative mindset, work on some photography, edit all the go-pro footage collected over the years, and spread some damn stoke!
7. To learn how to paraglide with my husband. It’s been on his to-do list for a while and those who play together, stay together. Plus, I totally need another excuse to continue gear whoring!
8. To be a better person, in general. Simple enough, right?

So that’s it. I’m just another person on the road to discovery now. I hope to meet many more wandering souls out there, who are looking for unique ways to fulfill their dreams and find their purpose. Cheers to an awesome season!