69: Why We’ve Decided That Balance is Bullshit and Imbalance is Beautiful

From his high school dive team to the infamous cliffs of Colorado's Casa Bonita, and eventually to making a living as a professional cliff diver, content creator, and waterfall guide, Travis Sims is obsessed with pushing his personal and professional limits while building a community around cleaning up the places we play. Learn how Travis created a career out of jumping off massive cliffs and why he started the annual "Cliff Cruise" waterfall clean up tour.Show notes: https://exploreinspired.com/travissimsHosts: Jonathan Ronzio, Emily HollandEditor: Chris PlantePresented by: Explore Inspired

It's an Emily and Jonathan episode ya'll! And after 68 of these stoke-filled inspiration sessions where we initially set out to tackle the concept of balancing work, life, and adventure while having fun and making a difference, we've just come to the conclusion that real balance is total BS. Tune in to hear what we mean!Plus! Don't miss the top Explore Inspired backcountry camping tip, and The Travel Stack travel resource directory.Show notes: https://exploreinspired.com/imbalanceHosts: Jonathan Ronzio, Emily HollandEditor: Chris PlantePresented by: Explore Inspired

Andrew Muse is a professional multi-sport athlete, content creator, and social media influencer who consistently generates compelling and high production value content with his adventure dog Kicker by his side. In this episode we explore the circumstances of his youth, how an unstable family dynamic influenced his yearning for the wild west, the reason many of the most dramatic or impactful moments of his life happened when he left no other option on the table, and how the true meaning of adventure and stoke can be found in the companionship of a dog.Show notes: https://exploreinspired.com/andrewmuseHosts: Jonathan Ronzio, Emily HollandEditor: Chris PlantePresented by: Explore Inspired

Graham is an award-winning professional climber and well-recognized film maker in the outdoor industry. He works as a producer and the director of development with Bedrock Film Works through which he his able to utilize his extensive logistics, rigging, marketing and media expertise while maintaining his role as an athlete in the outdoor industry.Show notes: https://exploreinspired.com/grahamzimmermanHosts: Jonathan Ronzio, Emily HollandEditor: Chris PlantePresented by: Explore Inspired

Matty Hong is a professional rock climber and filmmaker. He grew up in Boulder, Colorado into a family of climbers and has been surrounded by the sport nearly his entire life.His passion for climbing stems from his parents—both pioneers in the sport and active first ascensionists since the early 90s. Raised in the dirt of Rifle Canyon, Matty quickly gained an appreciation for the outdoors and living on the road.Show notes: https://exploreinspired.com/mattyhongHosts: Jonathan Ronzio, Emily HollandEditor: Chris PlantePresented by: Explore Inspired

Karen Ramos is the founder of non-profit Get Out Stay Out (aka Vamos Afuera), an organization that connects indigenous-migrant children with the outdoors through hiking, camping, and backpacking adventures. But in words......is nothing more than your average and not-so-average Latinx- indigenous 20-something year old brown girl who stumbled, rolled, and straight up took a dive into rock bottom only to find and come to terms that maybe (cheese alert) all that was for a reason."Intrigued? Us too! That's why we were so stoked to have Karen on the show!Show notes: https://exploreinspired.com/karenramosHosts: Jonathan Ronzio, Emily HollandEditor: Chris PlantePresented by: Explore Inspired

Alex is a sports nutritionist and mountain athlete passionate about helping people exceed their mountain dreams through the use of practical and wholesome nutrition, while pushing her limits during early morning dawn patrols and long days in the mountain. Alex was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, but after graduating college followed her lifelong dream of heading WEST. She accepted a job in Bellingham, Washington as the corporate dietitian for a local supermarket chain, and there she fell in love with the North Cascades and all they had to offer - skiing, climbing, trail running, and fastpacking.A year later, she and her husband Matt moved to Portland, Oregon, where Alex currently works for Evolution Healthcare and Fitness as their dietitian, specializing in sports nutrition. She offers nutrition consultation to local endurance athletes to help them improve their performance and reach their goals.When Alex isn't in the office, she spends her time playing in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest with her husband. You can find her training for an ultramarathon, climbing ice on volcano headwalls, skiing down couloirs, or rock climbing on some of the North Cascade's finest granite.Her and Matt are passionate "Weekend Warriors," who feel strongly about balancing work with play, and utilizing their limited free time (before work, after work, Saturday, and Sunday) to chase their mountain dreams.Show notes: https://exploresinspired.com/alexborsukHosts: Jonathan Ronzio, Emily HollandEditor: Chris PlantePresented by: Explore Inspired

Jeanine Pesce is the go-to woman for tracking global active trends in action sports and outdoors. She is the founder and CEO of Range—an independent agency + magazine inspired by the culture of the modern outdoor movement—a former on-air style correspondent for Outside TV, a speaker, and trend consultant. In this episode, Jeanine candidly shares her entrepreneurial journey, from quitting her job at Stylesight to go all-in on Range. She also speaks to the process, places, and experiences she looks to draw inspiration, as well as how she thinks about ego, goals, scale, money, results, balance, passion, and happiness.Show notes: https://exploreinspired.com/jeanine-pesceHosts: Jonathan Ronzio, Emily HollandEditor: Chris PlantePresented by: Explore Inspired

In part 2 of the conversation with Uphill Athlete authors and founders, Steve House and Scott Johnston, Emily and Jonathan get candid advice and chat about their respective upcoming mountain goals—a 50k race and a rapid ascent of Pico de Orizaba! Get their take on how to prepare for such big objectives, what to expect from and how to handle the altitude, AND lastly of course, hear what Steve and Scott have to say about STOKE. Hint: "You Can't Coach Desire!"Plus, after the conversation wraps with Steve and Scott, your hosts recap the realities of what happened when they got after it and got both the race and the climb DONE! Show notes: https://exploreinspired.com/uphillathlete-pt2Hosts: Jonathan Ronzio, Emily HollandEditor: Chris PlantePresented by: Explore Inspired

Steve House is a world-renowned climber and mountain guide. Scott Johnston is an adventure and endurance athlete coach, a ski racer, and aerospace engineer. Together, they are the authors of Training for the New Alpinism, and Training for the Uphill Athlete.In the first ever two-part episode of The Stokecast, Emily and Jonathan chat with Scott and Steve about all things mountain running, ski mountaineering, their process for writing two of the most educational and impactful books for aspiring and expert mountain athletes alike, as well as each of their background to learn how their careers led them to each other, their latest book, and their coaching program, Uphill Athlete.Show notes: http://exploreinspired.com/uphillathleteHosts: Jonathan Ronzio, Emily HollandEditor: Chris PlantePresented by: Explore Inspired