Hub and spoke. Audio Collective.

Hi, I'm Willow Belden and you're listening to Out There, the podcast that explores big questions through intimate stories outdoors.

This season, we're exploring the theme, Secrets of the Earth. Each episode, we're harnessing the

power of nature to uncover new truths and help us understand our own humanity.

But before we get to that, I want to introduce you to someone.

My name is Dennis Boulichenko.

Everything started in 2015 when I moved to Italy,

and I moved from a relatively flat area.

Well, so the mountains were like really, really exciting thing for me.

And I started to go hiking really, really often.

And also I have a daughter.

She was small back then, but she also was kind of really curious asking me all the time what's name of that mountain.

I think a lot of us have been in this situation. You're out in the mountains, you see a peak off in the distance, it looks tantalizing. But you can't figure out what it is.

So what do you do? Well, if you're Dennis, you create a new app. The app he made is called PeakVisor.

And they are the presenting sponsor for this season of Out There. PeakVisor is on a mission to help you make the

most of your time in the mountains. Check it out in the app store. You just might love it.

Jacob Erickson is a wilderness guide in western North Carolina. He takes people out in nature to do

healing work, dealing with grief and that sort of thing. It's a process he's been going through

himself for years. Jacob's been facing up to his own mortality since he was around 16.

But the life-threatening situation he's reckoning with

isn't what you might think. He hasn't been diagnosed with cancer. He's not suffering from organ

failure. He's not actually sick with anything. I'm going to let Heather Kitching pick up the story from here.

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