Live Dirtbag Diaries Podcast
Loud and Heartfelt Stories from Quiet Places, presented by the Great Lakes Outdoor Summit and brought to you by the Minnesota Land Trust.
Thursday, October 25 from 5-8 p.m.
Join us at the historic West Theatre (319 N Central Ave. Duluth) for an evening social and live podcast featuring stories from three incredible lives lived in the backdrop of the natural world. Fitz Cahall, creator of the original outdoor podcast The Dirtbag Diaries, will moderate and record outdoor stories from national icons.
Cost
$20 in advance, $25 at the door. **This event is open to the public. All attendees must purchase tickets, including registered Great Lakes Outdoor Summit attendees.
About the Event
Quiet places produce the biggest emotions. Writer and host of the Dirtbag Diaries Fitz Cahall sits down with three legends. Lakota skier and activist Connor Ryan has set out to help indigenous youth find joy, healing and stoke in the mountains. After surviving a catastrophic climbing fall, adventurer and advocate Quinn Brett is on a mission to expand the map for people with disabilities. Once part of the legendary indie band Low, Alan Sparhawk finds solace and connection in the Northwoods.
Schedule
5-6 p.m. Happy Hour Social
6-7 p.m. The Dirtbag Diaries live recording sponsored by Minnesota Land Trust
7-8 p.m. Networking
Meet the Storytellers…
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Moderator, Creator of The Dirtbag Diaries PodcastIn 2007, Fitz was a struggling outdoor writer about to give up on his dream. He spent the previous seven years of his life living out of cars, chasing stories and immersed in a community of climbers, skiers, wanderers and dreamers.
The stories he cared the most about never sold and work was getting more sporadic. It was part forward thinking and part last ditch effort, but he decided to start an online radio show dedicated to adventure and the people who call it a lifestyle.
Within three weeks, he'd reached more people than he had in all his print writing combined. He realized technology had given him a second chance as a storyteller.
Eight years later, The Dirtbag Diaries has a loyal following that continues to grow. Fitz' passion has grown to encompass filmmaking, community storytelling and social media.
The West’s mountains, deserts and forests are his office. And his goal is to nurture, strengthen and empower connections with the natural world. Simply put, he wants people to shut their laptops and turn off their iPhones and go live the life they daydream about.
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Adventurer and multi-record breaking athlete.Quinn Brett was a professional climber, having established first ascents on unknown peaks and speed records all over the globe. She worked technical search and rescue in Rocky Mountain National Park and as a Wilderness Medicine Instructor with Remote Medical International. In 2017, Quinn suffered a permanently disabling spinal cord injury, now paralyzed from the waist down. Even so, movement remains a big part of her life. She has become the first person to hand-cycle the Tour Divide (a +3000 mile bike ride from Jasper, Canada to Antelope Wells, New Mexico) and a few other notable accomplishments as an adaptive athlete. Her personal and work experiences prior to injury in Wilderness, on trails and with visitor use management and search and rescue, have shaped her perspective on recreational opportunities now with a disability. Quinn returned to the National Park Service to head up a newly designed position, Wilderness Accessibility, where she gained momentum educating and advocating on Accessibility and Wilderness laws. She left the NPS last year and now is the Development Director and legislative task force member for a growing spinal cord injury research non-profit, Unite 2 Fight Paralysis. She also started an adaptive recreation business, Dovetail Trail Consulting with Joe Stone.
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Indigenous activist, skier, and filmmaker.A proud Hunkpapa Lakota and passionate skier, Connor Ryan was born and raised on the Arapaho, Cheyenne and Ute homelands at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.
He considers these places among his biggest inspirations and closest relatives. Connor seeks to decolonize, reconnect and learn to better honor all his relations through adventure and activism.
Skiing is his dance and prayer, a ceremony of its own. Lakota traditional ecological knowledge helps Connor understand the true value of the sacred land and water we ski on in deeper and more tangible ways.
He has devoted his life and platform to rediscovering how traditional Indigenous culture and ecological knowledge can shape our relationship to the lands we relate to through skiing, life, and adventure.
Connor has shared his stories and experiences in person and through media (films, words and photos) with universities and businesses in order to seek collective paths to a better future for all our relations.
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World renowned musician for the band Low and Duluth local.
About The Dirtbag Diaries
Founded in 2007, The Dirtbag Diaries is something like a cult classic in the outdoor world. First circulated on burned discs and iPods in college dorm rooms, the show aims for the heart by coupling stories of wild adventure with powerful human experiences. “Adrenaline and energy drinks don’t make a community,” says host Fitz Cahall. “It’s stories that allow us to see ourselves in one another.” He is author of the newly released States of Adventure.