Listen to “Into the Dark” Dirtbag Diaries Podcast Episode

The Dirtbag Diaries / February 26, 2009 / Community, Culture

Light_socket2 Dirtbag Diaries host Fitz Cahall sets the stage for today's poignant podcast:

"Climbing — this one act saves me," says Portland rock climber Bob Grunau. Throughout his life, Grunau has struggled with the lingering clouds of depression. Until he discovered climbing, the only way to weather the darker cycles was to retreat inward into his mind. That approach worked until he became a part of a family. Grunau had to be present. In those hard moments, he turned to climbing.

High, lonesome places can provide respite and joy. We can love them deeply, but ice and rock will not love us back. Ultimately, our tenuous connections with the vertical life are not nearly as delicate as our relationships with those we love.

Listen to Into the Dark
(mp3 – 10:15 – right-click to download)

For more audio expressions of the outdoor life, or to submit a Shortz story of your own, head over to www.dirtbagdiaries.com.

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The Dirtbag Diaries

The campfire tale—it’s ubiquitous in mountain culture. As long as we’ve climbed, skied, boated or traveled, we’ve been telling stories. In March of 2007, Fitz Cahall launched The Dirtbag Diaries, a grassroots podcast dedicated to the sometimes serious, often humorous stories from wild places. What began as a solitary experiment has evolved into a collaboration between writers, photographers, artists and listeners to produce the types of stories that rarely find homes in the glossy pages of magazines.