Flying Deep

The Dirtbag Diaries

Duct Tape Then Beer

Sports, Wilderness

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2015

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There comes a stage in a great athlete's career when the pursuit of the technical difficulty take a backseat. It gives way to simplicity, an aesthetic, and possibly to an iconic style that leaves an impression on a sport. Will Gadd is one of the most accomplished mountain athletes ever. Most people know him as a climbing legend, but he also holds that stature in the fringe sport of paragliding where he's won competitions and held the single flight distance record for a decade. Last year, Will and renowned pilot Gavin McClurg embarked on a truly incredible trip down the spine of the Canadian Rockies. The goal was to create a continuous line through the air. At night, they landed in the alpine, slept and repeated the process for 35 days. The trip changed Will's perspective, not just on the craft, but on how he pursues adventure.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Of course, like every other teenage kid, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.
0:06.8	When I was 16 years old, I took off and drove across the country to Wyoming.
0:11.8	Went into the Wind River Range and discovered mountains.
0:15.6	In 1973, Yvonne Chinard founded Patagonia.
0:18.8	I never wanted to be a businessman.
0:23.4	All I wanted to do was do my craft and climb mountains.
0:29.8	So then I had to figure out a way to where I was going to be a businessman, but I was going
0:36.5	to do it completely on my own terms.
0:40.0	Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, inspire and implement solutions to the
0:46.1	environmental crisis.
0:48.3	Join us at Patagonia.com.
0:53.0	Welcome to The Dirt Packed Arries, a duct tape and beer production.
0:57.8	With additional support from New Belgium Brewing, Kuat Rax and Chaco.
1:06.7	For me, paragliding is the freest sport I do.
1:10.7	It feels the freest.
1:11.9	When you're in the air, it sounds like a cliche, but it's true.
1:18.2	It's like it's freedom.
1:19.6	It's flying.
1:20.6	It's freedom.
1:21.6	Aviation is freedom.
1:22.6	It's the most wide open and...
1:26.8	The least constrained thing I do.
	...

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