Hot Drinks Podcast Page (2024)

05/04/2022

On the latest Hot Drinks Podcast, I speak with long-time NOLS and Outward Bound Instructor and Administrator Branden Madden.

A big theme of this conversation is the mental health of both students and instructors. Branden shares a story about a student on a winter NOLS course who had a mental health crisis. He also shares his own mental health challenges instructing and his research into Stress Illnesses.

Listen Here: https://apple.co/2TUnnRf

07/03/2022

On the latest Hot Drinks Podcast, I speak with NOLS Instructor and Professional Mountain Guide Paul Koubek! Paul shares stories from his time leading at NOLS in Patagonia and the Waddington mountain range in British Columbia in this episode. He also shares lessons he has learned guide on Denali and other high-altitude peaks.

Listen here: https://bitly.is/3Msv9IN

Donations to the show can be made here: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=P5YP48TJVZC5U

14/12/2021

On the latest Hot Drinks podcast, I speak with long-time NOLS Instructor and current Rockey Mountain, Program Supervisor Jared Spaulding.

Check out his hilarious and terrifying stories on his episode titled "Too Much Cheese and Falling Trees".

Listen on Apple here: https://apple.co/3sai7rA

22/10/2021

Clemencia Caporale belongs to East Coast but currently lives in her Kimbo Camper and instructs for NOLS Wilderness Medicine and Prescott College. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire's Outdoor Education Program, attended the Audubon Expedition Institute's travelling master's program, and earned a Master in Environmental Education from Leslie University.

Clemencia completed a NOLS semester in Baja, Mexico, where she learned backpacking, kayaking, and sailing skills. She has worked in many universities in outdoor education programs over the past 20 years. Long-distance hiking is one of her passion and has hiked more than 10,000 miles. She can ruin her shoes in three weeks!

In this episode:

21:55 I Called 911
38:10 He Needs CPR
42:53 The Family Would Like to Contact Me

16/10/2021

This week’s guest is Phil Henderson. A native of California, Philip has worked in the outdoor industry for almost three decades, mostly with NOLS. His passion for outdoor recreation, education and climbing has provided him with opportunities to travel and climb around the world. He has been on several major expeditions including Everest, Denali, Kilimanjaro and Mt Kenya.

As an educator, he has assisted in training guides, rangers and porters on several expeditions. In 2012 Philip was a member and team leader of the North Face/National Geographic Everest Education Expedition, became one of few African Americans to summit Denali in 2013 and led an all African American ascent of Mt Kilimanjaro in 2018. He is the recipient of the Outdoor Afro 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Donate and follow Phils journey to Mt. Everest here: https://www.fullcircleeverest.com/
In this episode:

7:10 NOLS or Outward Bound
25:00 A Lot of White Mentors
32:20 He Expelled Me From the Course
37:00 First Black Instructor in Kenya
45:05 Bear Pulled Him Out Of His Sleeping Bag

08/10/2021

This week on the show, I speak with Chris Agnew. Chris has dedicated his career in education to combining immersive learning with more traditional learning models. He grew up on Bainbridge Island near Seattle and spent 25 years in various outdoor educational institutions, 15 of which were with NOLS. Chris began his career at NOLS, leading expeditions backpacking and mountaineering, teaching wilderness medicine, eventually becoming the NOLS Pacific Northwest Branch Director. Chris left NOLS in 2015 to lead Teton Science Schools, which provides on-site learning for all ages, including more comprehensive learning for PreK-12 students. Chris currently lives at ID Victor with his wife Laura (former NOLS coach) and their 11 and 8-year-old sons.

In this episode:

15:53 Way Too Much Cheese
33:45 I Have Lost His Airway
35:25 Two People Jump Out of the Plane
46:40 The Ledge Crumbles
50:35 OMG What Happened

03/10/2021

Since the early 90s, Shari Leach has been involved in outdoor and adventure education. Since then, she has worked in OB, NOLS, United World College, Prescott College, and NOLS Wilderness Medicine. Shari currently teaches first aid, rock climbing, and mountaineering and is a Prescott master’s program lecturer. She is fluent in English and Spanish, having lived in Honduras while serving in the Peace Corps.

Shari holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental protection, a master’s degree in humanities, and an interdisciplinary doctorate in culture and identity. Most recently, Shari has started her own podcast called What’s Up with Karen. In addition, Shari Leach oversaw NOLS online summer camp partnership in 2020 and 2021 for the Fresh Air Fund.

In this episode:

6:50 I Don't Think You Have A Problem
15:30 I Must Have Slept Very Very Well
29:45 Right Up My Nostrilter
29:45 Right Up My Nostril
44:40 Have You Seen This Kid

09/09/2021

Today our guest is James "KG" Kagambi, Senior NOLS Instructor and the owner of KG Mountain Expeditions. He joined NOLS as a field instructor in 1987. KG has worked many curses types over the years but regularly works in NOLS mountaineering programs in Patagonia, Alaska, East Africa, and India. KG is not only a senior NOLS instructor; he is the most senior, having more weeks in the field than any other instructor in the history of the school! He has over 870 weeks in the field working for NOLS, that more than 6000 nights!!

He has also completed three of the Seven Summits and in 1992 represented Africa in the U.N Peace Climb for the world on the Eiger. In addition, KG has summited the Eiger three times, became the first black African to summit Denali in 1989 and was the ﬁrst black African to summit Aconcagua in 1994.

KG has guided on Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro since the 1990s and Today trains search and rescue teams on Mount Kenya, Kilimanjaro, and Rwenzori. KG's long-lasting commitments to the field of rock climbing and mountaineering in Kenya have prompted acknowledgment and respect in his country. While he is away from his beloved duty, he enjoys spending time with his family and children.

Listen here: https://apple.co/2X2Ua8Q

07:00 We Have To Come Up With Rules
11:25 I Think We Have A Problem
28:45 The Village Is Running After Her
28:45 Levitating Tent
31:30 Took Four People to Carry The Sleeping Bag

02/09/2021

David Pool grew up in Ottawa and currently lives in North Vancouver with his wife Katey and his two kids. He worked for Outward Bound Canada from 2001-2007 and with Class Afloat ----. When David moved to the west coast of Canada, he started working in the outdoor education Explore Program at Collingwood School before moving into student services as a counsellor, a position he currently holds.

During his time working in outdoor education he has led canoeing, sea kayaking, hiking and winter expeditions and twice crossed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. He loves providing opportunities for youth to learn, grow, and succeed. He believes that students learn in all environments and through all experiences. As an educator, his role is to challenge youth to see every opportunity as a learning experience and provide guidance and moments for reflection.

7:05 Sauna Learnings
14:30 GI Bug At Sea
21:30 Climbing The Mast In A Storm
39:10 Famous Last Words ...
43:10 They Will Find Us Up Here

27/08/2021

Hey everyone, welcome to the Hot Drinks podcast. I am your host Shawn Stratton. Each week I sit down with an outdoor educator to hear some of their best stories leading students on wilderness expeditions around the world.

David Berg began working in outdoor education in 1992 as a kayak guide in the San Juan Islands, just after graduating from college. He then spent several years in Southern California teaching open water kayaking, surf kayaking, and expeditions. David finished his NOLS Sea Kayak IC in British Columbia in 1999. His first course was in Baja the following winter. From there, David spent ten years leading Sea Kayaking and backpacking courses throughout Baja, the Pacific Northwest, Norway, and Patagonia. Still, he spent most of his time in Alaska, primarily in Prince William Sound and Southeast Alaska. David also worked for NOLS Alaska for two summers as the Sea Kayak Program Supervisor.

David was also a high school teacher and now works with a non-profit that assists high schools worldwide in developing good outside-of-the-classroom learning opportunities. In addition, he co-founded ImBlaze, a digital platform that helps schools expand their internship programmes.
David and his wife with their two children live on Bainbridge Island in Puget Sound, where they go hiking, sea kayaking, and sailing on weekends, making more adventure memories along the way.

In this episode:

05:35 "Everyone, get out of your tents and put your boots on..."
16:40 "I was the Course Leader and totally screwed up"
23:25 Tsunami scare for David
29:05 "We need to evac our whole course, their cold"
41:50 Close encounters with an Orca

18/08/2021

In this summer rewind addition, of the Hot Drinks, we share one of our most popular episodes today with veteran NOLS Instructor Chris Machester. Chris shares a few hair-raising stories from Alaska to Baja and from bears to drugs!

11/08/2021

This week we speak with NOLS living legend Jim Chisholm. Jim has worked in the field with NOLS for over 35 years and has many outstanding stories to share.

In this episode:

8:15 Caiman, Anaconda, Electric Eel, Cat Fish ...
9:30 Jaguiar hunting ground
19:45 I thought about my options
23:19 I WILL NOT DIE
34:50 I also know the Jaguar

28/07/2021

Born in Guelph, Ontario, our guest today, Jesse Pierce, grew up cross country skiing and hiking with her family. She remembers camping in Tobermory near Georgian Bay, Ontario as a teenager and having the tingling feeling that this is what she needed to be doing in the future. So after high school, she went on to earn a degree in Outdoor Recreation at Lakehead University.

After university, she worked at Outward Bound Canada year-round for six years from 1998 to 2003 – leading white-water canoeing, backpacking, dogsledding and back-country ski courses in Northern Ontario, BC and Yukon.

In 2003, Jesse returned to school to become a Naturopathic Doctor. She currently works in Ottawa, Ontario. The only trip leading she does now is with her family - cross country skiing, mountain biking and canoeing

In this episode:
· [3:22] Jesse Pierce talks about how keen she was to be an instructor and her attraction towards an outward-bound course. Where she was a dog sledding coordinator as well as course director. In 2002, a dog sled team ran away, dragging a dead tree, but eventually, the tree got stuck into other trees 15 kilometres away from Home Place.
·
· [30:55] At the end of the portage, when they were about to go to Bird River, one of the students started wailing out that he hurt his spine. There was emergency treatment needed, and when the air ambulance came, and a rookie jumped off the helicopter into the river without any safety and turned out, in the end, the guy who jumped off needed more help than the student.

17:18 The Dogs Take Off Without Drive
20:40 Two Dogs Missing
28:18 Winter Camping Student Shock
42:30 The Rescue Medic Needs To Be Rescued
53:50 Helicopter Pilot's Helmet Prank

23/07/2021

Our guest today Ian Pineau has spent the past 45 years learning about and working in the Outdoor Education field. From a small PEI farm; close to the coast, his first outdoor education experience would be in a fishing boat with his grandfather. Ian’s first paid job in the field came at 18 when he was a facilitator with at-risk youth.

As a student at the University of New Brunswick, he took extracurricular outdoor skills courses, including Hiking; Canoeing; and Winter Camping. These courses set Ian up to help teach the Canoe Camp skills as a senior at university.

A chance encounter with a NOLS van hauling sea kayaks at a highway gas station in Yukon eventually led to a 15-year working relationship with NOLS. Ian now teaches in and coordinates the Outdoor Adventure Naturalist program at Algonquin College’s Pembroke Campus in the Ottawa Valley.

8:45 Where's Terry?
17:35 Put You GD PFD On!
22:34 CBC Radio in Mexico
41:05 Can I Keep My Helmet?
43:40 Sprinting Bear

14/07/2021

Today I speak with NOLS Instructor Mark Hamlin, who is from small-town Indiana and has been living in Lander, WY, full time for the past decade. He completed a NOLS student course in 1987, mountaineering in the North Cascades of Washington state and led his first backcountry trip at the age of 18 in 1988.

Mark took his NOLS Mountain Instructor Course in 1990 and led his first course in the Absorkas mountain range of Wyoming in 1991. Over the years, he has worked predominantly whitewater canoeing, backpacking, and sea kayaking course compiling over 250 weeks in the field.

Mark's most recent NOLS course was a San Juan river canoeing Alumni trip in May 2021. Currently, he is a stay-at-home Dad and part-time tortillero/owner at Tortillas del Chico Blanco, Lander's first and only home-based tortilleria.

In this Episode:

10:13 Finding a Hiding Student
27:40 He's Going To Hit Him With A Rock
29:11 Could You Get Some More Documentation
31:50 Where Is That Bauld Headed $%^**&
45:35 Why Do We Have To Continue?

06/07/2021

Our guest today, Marianne Dawson Alexander, started working in outdoor education in 1995 at a YMCA summer camp in Ontario, leading two-week canoe trips in Temagami. From 2000-2005 she worked for Outward Bound Canada in Ontario and on the west coast of Canada, mostly leading hiking and canoeing course with youth at risk.

She came to NOLS in 2004, taking a River Instructors Course. Before the course, she had canoed and kayaked a lot but had never rafted. She quickly fell in love with rafting and enjoyed transferring those skills back to fine-tuning her white water canoe skills. She loved teaching students, especially young women and men, that you did not have to be huge to get a 2 thousand pound boat to go where you want it to go.

As you will learn, she met her husband, Steve, on her NOLS Instructors Course. Shortly after the course, he recruited her to work with him at St Lawrence university’s Adirondack semester. At St Lawrence, they fell in love living and teaching in a yurt village in the Adirondacks. The next several years, they would split their time leading outdoor semesters for St. Lawrence and the other half living in the Tetons working NOLS backcountry ski and snowboard courses between heading over to India to work a few rafting and hiking courses.

Marianne is currently living in Ottawa and works as the department head of Student Services and Special Education and a guidance counsellor at Ridgemont High School.

11:04 Bear Plays with Groover
21:44 Grizzly Running At Us
29:00 You Going To Eat That?
33:43 Do You Need Some Food
37:41 Headwind - Walking Canoes Downstream

29/06/2021

Jaret Slipp was born in Edmonton, Alberta and raised in Nova Scotia and Ontario. He believes that anyone can be a leader and that as instructors, it’s our role to provide the environment and training to help people discover their full potential. He is currently living on a sailboat in the Caribbean with his wife and two adorable daughters for a couple of years, while his home base is in Whitehorse, Yukon.

Jaret has worked in outdoor Ed for about 20 years. For NOLS, he has taught canoeing, backpacking, sea kayaking, caving, climbing, and mountaineering. He was a fixture at the NOLS Yukon Branch for many years, starting there as an intern and eventually becoming the Branch Director.

In this episode:

[5:24] In the beginning, Jaret talks about his bizarre experience in Australia, where what seems to him a log turns out to be a crocodile on which he clumsily stepped on. Later the same day, while everyone was catching some sleep, a student started screaming. Jared began running, to save his students from the crocodile; the whole incident turns hilarious when it was revealed the student has just had a nightmare.

[12:07] While leading a NOLS course in Baffin Island when he was about to celebrate his birthday, a woman cruised into their camp on an ATV. She invited all the students to watch and help her dad skin a polar bear, which was a very disturbing thing but ended up being a life-changing experience.

[20:00] Moving forward, Jaret talks about a student on a Rio Grand NOLS canoeing course. In an incident, a student managed to get all his ADHD medication wet. The student’s behaviour drastically changed for the better once he was no longer able to take his medication. The student who looked lost and always in his world became a role model and a great leader for the rest of the trip.

[25:51] Jaret tells the most adventurous story of his life where he and one of his favourite canoe partners faced an enthralling problem. While they were in June Lake, they had to wait for days. Eventually, the floatplane came to rescue them, but when everything started aligning in the right way, they hit a brick wall, making it all more dramatic, which you don’t want to miss.

22/06/2021

Our guest today, ERICA LORENZEN LENGACHER grew up in the Seattle area, and has been a bit of a nomad since her high school years. Along with her husband, 8-year-old daughter, she is now happily settled in Whitefish, Montana.

She took a NOLS semester in the Rockies in 1993 (during a year off from college) and was immediately smitten with all that NOLS had to offer. Erica took a Mountain Instructors Course the following year and started working for the School in Alaska in the summer of 1994. During her NOLS years, she mainly worked backpacking, canyon, winter, and mountaineering courses, with a few oddball horse packing, sea kayaking, and NOLS Pro courses.

Since leaving NOLS, she received a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a Master’s in public health. Her post NOLS career has ranged from public health consulting, to teaching high school science, too, most recently working as a critical care ICU nurse. She’s also just finishing a stint with the CDC Foundation doing COVID infection prevention and containment in long-term care and other congregate settings.

All told, she worked in outdoor education for about 15 years, primarily with NOLS. Still, she had a few seasons with Alpine Ascents and continued taking high school students into the mountains when she worked as an educator at the Watershed School in Boulder and the Bush School in Seattle.

24:16 Our Tents Disapeared
25:51 What Is Going On
37:53 Got To Get Out Of Here
43:53 Sixteen Person Tent...
1:03:27 Crevasse Fall

16/06/2021

Our guest is a former NOLS Instructor and Chair of the NOLS Board of Trustees, but he is best known as the co-founder and first CEO of Netflix, Marc Randolph. His incredibly successful career as an entrepreneur span more than four decades. He's founded or co-founded half a dozen other successful startups, including, most recently, Looker Data Sciences, which was sold to Google in 2019 for $2.6B.

Marc is currently mentoring a handful of other early-stage companies, has advised hundreds of other entrepreneurs, is an active seed investor in startups all over the world. In 2019 he wrote the internationally bestselling memoir That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea, and now is the host of the new podcast called, That Will Never Work, where he dispenses advice, encouragement and tough love to struggling entrepreneurs.

When he's not surfing, mountain biking, or skiing, Mark often speaks at industry events and actively participates in programs targeting young entrepreneurs. He also sits on the board of an environmental organization 1% of the planet.

In this Episode:

05:20 Going Back To Clean It Up
16:48 Strength Of A Team
20:18 Can't Teach Leadership In A Classroom
40:38 We're Staying Put
45: 20 This Is So Cool!

08/06/2021

Originally from Southern California, John Abel has worked in outdoor education from 1984 to 2019. He has worked in many different roles such as administrative, instructional, consultative – but the bulk of and the best of his work was as a field instructor for NOLS.

John has been a NOLS instructor since 1991, mainly working hiking, climbing, and mountaineering courses. He has a Master's in Leadership and Organizational Development from the Leadership Institute of Seattle. Since 2010, he has worked primarily for NOLS Professional Training, facilitating various leadership training programs for NOLS organizational clients.

Presently, he's changing careers, moving from outdoor ed into financial planning. His goal is to provide financial planning in an empowering and client-centric way.

In this episode:

5:51 "I Can't See"
23:52 "Big Ball of Fire"
32:45 "Felt the Breath of Death"
38:02 "Feel That Air Under You"
48:23 "Put The P**p In the Hole"

01/06/2021

Blair is a simple man with a craving to be outside. He completed his NOLS Instructors Course in 1992 and his NOLS Wilderness Medicine Instructor Training Course in 2001. He has acquired over 250 weeks in the field and taught over 50 Wilderness Medicine courses. He is known for being very consistent in his work. His fieldwork includes mountaineering, rock climbing, backcountry skiing, winter camping, canyoneering, whitewater canoeing, outdoor educator, and instructor courses. He maintains a National Registry EMT certification.

For the last nine years, Andy has been the Assistant Director at the NOLS Rocky Mountain Branch in Lander, WY. His belief in the transformative student experience at NOLS drives his administrative work. Andy remains committed to doing whatever is necessary to provide NOLS students with this powerful experience. He is known to state repetitively that "being a field instructor is the best job I have ever had… by far. The places you get to go, the things you get to do, and the people you get to do them with have been some of the most rewarding experiences I have had."

In this episode:

16:47 Baboon and the Drug Kit...
23:32 "Drop Your Packs and Run"
35:02 Lion Encounter
47:52 Hippo Interrupts Bathroom Break
55:45 Hollawean Up In Flames

27/05/2021

Born in Boston, raised in New York City suburbs, our guest today, Atila Monteiro, went to the University of California Berkeley to study in 1984 and instantly fell in love with outdoor adventures. He worked for Cal Adventures and guided with ARTA river trips before taking a white water Instructors Course with NOLS in 1992. Atila mainly worked paddling (raft, white water kayak, canoe, sea kayak), hiking and Spanish language courses. He started teaching wilderness medicine in 2002 with WMI.

Atila lived in Chilean Patagonia, working as NOLS Patagonia Program Manager from 1998 to 2002, and Asst. Director from 2002-2004. From 2004-2005 he was also the NOLS Mexico Director. He started the NOLS Amazon program in 2005 and was Program Manager there until 2009. He now owns a small company named Backcountry Brasil that offers remote backcountry trips in the Brazilian Amazon and teaches full-time for NOLS Wilderness Medicine. Atila now lives in Bend, Oregon.

In this episode:

10:29 "Paddle on an Escalator" Midriff Islands, Baja Mexico
14:09 Swimming with Sea Lions!
16:18 Heading to That Point Over There!
34:57 "Don't Mess With the Ants"
57:10 "I Missed My Line"

21/05/2021

This week’s guest, Matt Deines grew up in western Nebraska and completed his Bachelor’s degree in Natural Science from the University of Wyoming. He worked at NOLS for 12 years (1999-2011), leading backpacking and mountaineering trips in Alaska, backpacking courses in Wyoming, canyon courses in Utah, and lightweight backpacking trips in the southwest and Wyoming.

Matt is currently living in Orange County, California, with his wife Jamie, also a NOLS Instructor and their adorable twin daughters. He now works for the University of California, Irvine as a physical & environmental sustainability planner.

Matt and I completed our NOLS IC together out of the NOLS Southwest Branch in Tucson AZ. back in 1999 and it was great to catch up with him.

If you appreciate the work we are doing here at the Hot D***s podcast and want to support us, you can make a donation by clicking on the donate button on our website at www.thehotdrink.com. Anything you can offer is greatly appreciated!

In this episode:

4:20 Coming to NOLS
11:47 Pranking Leads to Marriage
19:29 I Don't Know Where We Are
24:21 Inside the Ping Pong Ball
27:43 That's Not Good

14/05/2021

Roger Yim: Coffee Delivery and Forgetting Evaluations on a NOLS Yukon course.

06/05/2021

We have a very special show for you this week on the Hot Drinks podcast!

In this episode, I am joined by NOLS Instructor Jen Klewitz and 3 Aboriginal Australian’s from the Bardi community who used to work with NOLS students during their cultural section semester courses. They are Irene Davey, a Bardi Elder, and leading voice in the Kimberly region, her son Russell Wasi Davey (goes by Wasi), and Irene's Nephew Koji AhChoo

A few weeks after I started the podcast, Jen, who I had not known before, sent me this note. "For the nearly 15 years I've known Irene, she has always expressed her love of her NOLS students, told stories of the adventures she had teaching NOLS cultural sections, and in recent years has expressed an ardent desire to reconnect with her former NOLS students and former NOLS instructors from across the US and around the world. I thought this would be the perfect chance."

I loved the idea and contented with Jen to learn more about Irene, her family and the Bardi community. We discussed the best way to run the interview, and then Jen went to work trying to schedule a time that would work for the 5 of us to talk.

Jen has created an email address for anyone who wants to reach out and be put them in touch with Irene and her family.
The email is: [email protected]
I can't thank Jen enough for presenting this idea and making it happen.

If you appreciate the work, we are doing here at the Hot D***s podcast and want to support us, you can make a donation by clicking on the donate button on our website at www.thehotdrink.com

Irean has a great memory and mentions many NOLS Instructors in the show. Here are some of the Instructors mentioned or those we know who spent time NOLS Australia Culturla Sectons. Please tag anyone we missed or share it with them.

Jim Chisholm, Alan Neilson, Graham Neilson, Heather Hamilton, Atila Rego Monteiro, Cass Coleman (Cass Sea), Stef van den Hoek, Julie Anderson, Dave Summers, Brooke Cunningham, Muthoni Muriithi, Sam Bright, Loz Hunt, Michelle Watson (Shelly Bear), Kate Gillett, Marcelo Silviera, Jaclyn Nicholl, Suza Bedient, Allen O'Bannon, John Gans, Molly Doran, Chris Good

Clips:

04:09 Connecting with NOLS Molly Doran, The Early Years
23:42 It Was A Fun Thing For All Of Us
25:44 Spear Making
44:27 Everyone Gets A Bardi Name
1:07:45 Where's My Spear!
13:35 Because You Guys Killed It You Have To Eat It

28/04/2021

(Full Episode)

Ray Zahab is a Canadian explorer, runner and founder of the Impossible 2 Possible. A recent recipient of the Meritorious Service Cross of Canada, Ray is an Explorer in Residence of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He was named one of Canada's best explorers by Canadian Geography in 2015. He has run 17,000+km across the world's deserts and unsupported expeditions in some of the coldest and hottest places on the planet, including the South Pole, Siberia, the Sahara in North Africa and the Atacama Desert in Chile. His run across the Sahara Desert, which took 111 days and more than 4,300 miles, was made into a feature-length film narrated by MattDamon.

In 2008, Ray founded impossible2Possible – an organization that aims to inspire and educate youth through adventure learning, inclusion and participation in expeditions.

Today, he continues to live as an adventurer and volunteer with the "impossible 2 possible". The transition from an unhealthy lifestyle to a super runner in the Sahara Desert started a lifelong journey of discovery for Ray.

Check out photos and videos from Ray at the Hot Drinks Podcast Group

In this episode:
5:30 Adapt - Overcome - Reinvent
11:13 You Cant Randomly Touch Things
15:30 Exceedingly Beautiful and Exceedingly Dangerous
21:37 Running in Intense Extreme Heat...
49:35 Weighing the Risk

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