In 1970, six women climbed Denali — the first all-women's expedition to summit any of the world's high peaks. They hauled wooden snowshoes up a mountain famous for 300-mile-an-hour winds, fought altitude sickness and each other, and pulled off one of the great survival stories in mountaineering history. Almost nobody noticed.

Cassidy Randall's debut book Thirty Below rescues that story from obscurity, weaving together journals, letters, and archives to bring these six complicated, extraordinary women fully to life. The book won the Grand Prize at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival — the Oscars of outdoor literature — and it's not hard to see why.

In this conversation, Cassidy and Stephen talk about what drew her to the story, the savage institutional sexism these women faced before they ever set foot on the mountain, the social dynamics that started unraveling at altitude, and why a story this remarkable stayed buried for over fifty years. They also get into the craft of writing narrative nonfiction, the editor-writer relationship, and what it means to write heroes who are selfish and brilliant and deeply human all at once.

Thirty Below is available now at ⁠Bookshop.org⁠. Find more of Cassidy's work at ⁠cassidyrandall.com⁠.

Jay Carson didn't go looking for a life change. He went looking for survival skills — and found both.

A writer and television creator living in Los Angeles, Jay had the unsettling realization during the early days of COVID that he was completely unprepared for anything resembling a real emergency. When the power went out one night, his phone went dead with it, and he had no idea what to do. A friend who'd raved for years about the Boulder Outdoor Survival School gave him the push he needed. In 2021, Jay enrolled in a 14-day field course in the canyon country of southern Utah — no sleeping bag, no tent, no matches, no phone — and it changed the direction of his life. He's now the executive director of BOSS.

In this conversation, Jay and Stephen talk about what the first night in the wilderness actually feels like when the instructors walk away and don't come back. They get into the BOSS philosophy of teaching through intentional discomfort — deliberately depriving students of what they need until the lesson lands hard enough to stick — and why that approach produces something that no classroom ever could. Jay talks about the concept of "compare down," which he calls the single most useful thing he took away from the course and practices daily. They discuss Colin Fletcher's "man crud," the Francis Bacon legacy of teaching Western culture to fear and subdue nature, and what it actually means — not metaphorically but practically — to feel at home outdoors.

And then there's the part where life tested all of it for real. Jay lost his house in the Los Angeles fires on January 7, 2025. He talks about what he reached for then, and what held.

The Boulder Outdoor Survival School can be found at boss-inc.com.

You will not be surprised to discover that Shawnté Salabert's Gear Abby podcast can be heard wherever you hear podcasts. For more visual Salabert updates, head to @shawntesalabert.

Get host Stephen Casimiro’s newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠desert-projects.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Subscribe to our beautiful printed quarterly, whose stories are only found in print, at ⁠⁠⁠http://www.subscribetoaj.com⁠⁠⁠

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram — ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/adventurejournal/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Facebook — ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/adventurejournal⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Pinterest — ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.pinterest.com/adventurejournl⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

You can find all things Coast Film and Music Festival at ⁠coastfilmfestival.com.

Get host Stephen Casimiro’s newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠desert-projects.com⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Subscribe to our beautiful printed quarterly, whose stories are only found in print, at ⁠⁠http://www.subscribetoaj.com⁠⁠

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram — ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/adventurejournal/⁠⁠⁠⁠

Facebook — ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/adventurejournal⁠⁠⁠⁠

Pinterest — ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.pinterest.com/adventurejournl⁠⁠⁠⁠

You can find all things Mojave Desert Land Trust at mdlt.org

Get host Stephen Casimiro’s newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠desert-projects.com⁠⁠⁠.

Subscribe to our beautiful printed quarterly, whose stories are only found in print, at ⁠http://www.subscribetoaj.com⁠

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram — ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/adventurejournal/⁠⁠⁠

Facebook — ⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/adventurejournal⁠⁠⁠

Pinterest — ⁠⁠⁠https://www.pinterest.com/adventurejournl⁠⁠⁠

You can find all things Outdoor Alliance at outdooralliance.org.

Get host Stephen Casimiro’s newsletter at ⁠⁠desert-projects.com⁠⁠.

Subscribe to our beautiful printed quarterly, whose stories are only found in print, at http://www.subscribetoaj.com

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram — ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/adventurejournal/⁠⁠

Facebook — ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/adventurejournal⁠⁠

Pinterest — ⁠⁠https://www.pinterest.com/adventurejournl⁠⁠

Melissa Arnot Reid’s book Enough: Toward a True Self on Mount Everest can be purchased anywhere you buy books. We recommended ⁠Bookshop.org⁠. 

Follow her at ⁠melissaarnot.com⁠ and ⁠@melissaarnot⁠.

Get host Stephen Casimiro’s newsletter at ⁠desert-projects.com⁠. Follow him on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Blue Sky⁠.

Subscribe to our beautiful printed quarterly, whose stories are only found in print, at http://www.subscribetoaj.com

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram — ⁠https://www.instagram.com/adventurejournal/⁠

Facebook — ⁠https://www.facebook.com/adventurejournal⁠

Pinterest — ⁠https://www.pinterest.com/adventurejournl⁠

Melissa Arnot Reid’s book Enough: Toward a True Self on Mount Everest can be purchased anywhere you buy books. We recommended Bookshop.org. 

Follow her at melissaarnot.com and @melissaarnot.

Get host Stephen Casimiro’s newsletter at desert-projects.com. Follow him on Instagram and Blue Sky.

Subscribe to our beautiful printed quarterly, whose stories are only found in print, at http://www.subscribetoaj.com

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/adventurejournal/

Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/adventurejournal

Pinterest — https://www.pinterest.com/adventurejournl

Adventure Journal is supported by readers who subscribe to our printed quarterly and from small commissions received when you purchase booka through affiliate links. AJ's reviews are not influenced by affiliates, nor do we accept sponsored content or paid placements or reviews. Opinions expressed here are solely our own.

Subscribe to our beautiful printed quarterly, whose stories are only found in print, at http://www.subscribetoaj.com

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/adventurejournal/

Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/adventurejournal

Pinterest — https://www.pinterest.com/adventurejournl

Tiktok — https://www.tiktok.com/@adventurejournal/

Adventure Journal is supported primarily by readers who subscribe to our printed quarterly and from small commissions received when you purchase through some of these links. AJ's reviews are not influenced by affiliates, nor do we accept sponsored content or paid placements or reviews. Opinions expressed here are solely our own.

The desert soil is alive! On this episode, we talk about the magic and mystery of biocrust, the incredible living community that blankets desert sands. Our guest is Dr. Kristina Young of Science Moab.

Science Moab: https://sciencemoab.org

Kristina: https://kristinayoung.weebly.com

Subscribe to our beautiful printed quarterly, whose stories are only found in print, at http://www.subscribetoaj.com

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/adventurejournal/

Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/adventurejournal

Pinterest — https://www.pinterest.com/adventurejournl

Tiktok — https://www.tiktok.com/@adventurejournal/

Adventure Journal is supported primarily by readers who subscribe to our printed quarterly and from small commissions received when you purchase through some of these links. AJ's reviews are not influenced by affiliates, nor do we accept sponsored content or paid placements or reviews. Opinions expressed here are solely our own.