How a Mountaineering Accident Taught Doug Beardsley to Live Life to the Fullest

After losing a toe in a mountaineering incident, Doug vowed to never let that stop him from living the adventures and seeking the awe he craved.

Doug Beardsley has a background in pediatric neuroscience and as a public school science teacher. He’s filled his life with adventure, from velodrome racing to alpine guiding and from the first known solo completion of the High Sierra Route to crossing the USA and Canada by motorbike. 

Many of his experiences were alone and in places where mistakes had real consequences. Doug’s taken the lessons from loss and success and has interweaved them into the parallel parts of his life like fatherhood, teaching, and being a good husband.

We talk about…

- Losing his big toe to frostbite on a Rainier climb where one client perished

- Having to relearn how to walk after amputation and healing his feet

- Promising his dad to never use his injury as an excuse not to do something

- Being a competitive velodrome cyclist, when training was all-encompassing

- Completing the High Sierra Route (a technical, remote route with climbing and scrambling) and being the first person to do it solo

- Doug’s wet towel theory: every drip of water wrung out of the towel is a life experience, and he welcomes them all and intentionally wrings drips out

- The thirst to experience everything in life so that when he dies, his towel will be bone dry

- Finding a zone of disequilibrium in order to grow: the knife edge of pushing yourself without danger

- Being vs. doing and the confusion of it all

- Getting an RV for his family: his 20 year old self would scoff, but now his family gets out often

- Experiencing a school shooting where two of his students died

How to connect with Doug:

• Doug’s feature length documentary about the solo Sierra High Route project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpwLFh6Vhkg&t=11s

• https://www.instagram.com/ninelittlepiggies 

👋How to connect with Jeni and Angie:

• https://www.instagram.com/angvswild

• https://www.instagram.com/jenistembridge

• https://www.itsangiemarie.com/

• https://linkedin.com/in/angie-marie/

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Shout-Outs:

• Music: The Kind of Sandwich Island by Shut-ins

• Thank you to The Ruins, the best wedding venue in Oregon, for supporting the show.

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For full show notes and more: https://fortheloveofpod.com

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