As the sun sets behind mountain peaks, there's something inexplicably alluring about the rush of air and the thrill of speed flying, a sport that captivates with its blend of danger and beauty. Join Owen Newton and his guest, Eric Greger, as they share breathtaking tales from the skies, where the line between audacity and calamity is as thin as the air they glide through. They recount the journey from the serene beginnings of paragliding to the high-octane world of speed flying - a path that led to an injury that grounded Owen, challenging his resilience and teaching valuable lessons about the fragility of pursuing passion at the edge.
Flying high often comes with the risk of falling hard, and this episode isn't shy about confronting the gritty realities that come with extreme aerial sports. Owen opens up about the mental and physical hurdles of recovering from a speed flying accident, discussing the complexities of being benched when the soul yearns for the skies. We also navigate the intricate dance of gratitude and determination, the support systems that underpin his recovery, and the bittersweet gaze upon unused gear that's waiting for another chance to take flight. It's a conversation that goes beyond the adrenaline to touch the very heart of what it means to be an athlete in the throes of convalescence.
Finally, we leap into the stories that stitch our lives to the outdoors, the environmental considerations of our pursuits, and the personal connections that keep us tethered to nature's vast expanse. Our discussion flits from the camaraderie found on the mountaintops of Jackson Hole to the eclectic diets and musical beats that fuel our aerial escapades. Owen and Eric map out bucket list dreams and future expeditions, dreaming of European landscapes and daring flights over Pakistan's terrain. So strap in and prepare for an episode that soars across the emotional spectrum, from the gravity of injury to the peaks of anticipation for what lies beyond the horizon.
Owen Newton Recovery Fund:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/7kwv6-owens-recovery-fund?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer
Instagram:
@kid.newt
https://www.instagram.com/kid.newt?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
Shoutout to:
Owen Newton
Eric Greger
The Newton Family
The Greger Family
Alter Ego Ambassador: https://alteregorunning.com/
Miles & Mountains Promo Code: MMyr2
As the sun sets behind mountain peaks, there's something inexplicably alluring about the rush of air and the thrill of speed flying, a sport that captivates with its blend of danger and beauty. Join Owen Newton and his guest, Eric Greger, as they share breathtaking tales from the skies, where the line between audacity and calamity is as thin as the air they glide through. They recount the journey from the serene beginnings of paragliding to the high-octane world of speed flying - a path that led to an injury that grounded Owen, challenging his resilience and teaching valuable lessons about the fragility of pursuing passion at the edge.
Flying high often comes with the risk of falling hard, and this episode isn't shy about confronting the gritty realities that come with extreme aerial sports. Owen opens up about the mental and physical hurdles of recovering from a speed flying accident, discussing the complexities of being benched when the soul yearns for the skies. We also navigate the intricate dance of gratitude and determination, the support systems that underpin his recovery, and the bittersweet gaze upon unused gear that's waiting for another chance to take flight. It's a conversation that goes beyond the adrenaline to touch the very heart of what it means to be an athlete in the throes of convalescence.
Finally, we leap into the stories that stitch our lives to the outdoors, the environmental considerations of our pursuits, and the personal connections that keep us tethered to nature's vast expanse. Our discussion flits from the camaraderie found on the mountaintops of Jackson Hole to the eclectic diets and musical beats that fuel our aerial escapades. Owen and Eric map out bucket list dreams and future expeditions, dreaming of European landscapes and daring flights over Pakistan's terrain. So strap in and prepare for an episode that soars across the emotional spectrum, from the gravity of injury to the peaks of anticipation for what lies beyond the horizon.
Owen Newton Recovery Fund:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/7kwv6-owens-recovery-fund?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer
Instagram:
@kid.newt
https://www.instagram.com/kid.newt?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
Shoutout to:
Owen Newton
Eric Greger
The Newton Family
The Greger Family
Alter Ego Ambassador: https://alteregorunning.com/
Miles & Mountains Promo Code: MMyr2
Oh and Newton, how are you? I'm doing fantastic and you, I'm doing good? Man, I see you have a guest. It's Eric Greger.
Speaker 2:Yeah, how are we doing today?
Speaker 1:Doing all right, man Doing all right. You guys. What time is it? Six or seven there, Six o'clock, over here Six. Ok, so you already had dinner Pretty much yeah, yeah we've gotten some food in.
Speaker 3:I've gotten some food in, so yeah, OK, all right.
Speaker 1:So just making sure, because I don't want to intervene. You know your guys' time, and every time I do this, especially when other people are in other time zones, different time zones, I'm like did you get dinner? Because I definitely don't want to be rushed, don't want you guys to be rushed, I want you guys to be comfortable and everything else. And are you guys having adult beverages right now?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's really all I can do right now, so it's better to know opioids for them.
Speaker 1:That's true, true, true. Big I hope you're right. Ok, so, owen, let's Eyes are on you, but, eric, if you want, you can always pitch in and say your piece, especially what we're going to be talking about. All right, so, owen, you are a photographer.
Speaker 2:A photographer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yep, yeah, mountain enthusiast, a mountaineer, pretty much An active adventurer. Speed wing pilot, aka speed flying, speed riding in advanced paragliding.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh yeah, it's pretty fun sport.
Speaker 1:All right, so I was trying to figure out advanced paragliding. Paragliding itself is kind of advanced. Why do they have advanced paragliding?
Speaker 3:So speed wing is a method of descent. I wouldn't categorize the sports in the same area. I think there are two different parts. Right, we started on a full size and me and Eric actually went out off to eBay and we bought one and then taught ourselves and realized, oh my gosh, what are we getting into? Let's go get lessons.
Speaker 3:So we went to Utah, paraguay and Salt Lake took a couple lessons came back to Jackson and we're like feeling hot headed, ready to go. We're like, oh yeah, let's go, Go big or go home. Yeah, spent all of last fall learning how to big wing and then carried it all the way into the winter and then we were like, oh my gosh, well, going up is fun, Staying up is fun, but, dude, those people doing barrel rolls and going like 60 down the mountain, that's what we want to be doing. Yeah, yeah, we picked up the speed. Wings started on a 16 meter, broke, started on an 18 meter and then we just downsized throughout our progression. It's like maybe a little fast on our end. I mean, that's also probably why I'm injured, because I'm my downsized progression. But when you get on those wings and you start going fast, all you want to do is just get more and more pitted into the lines and sometimes your ambition can go above your skill level.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Do you think that? What do you mean by the question of advanced paragliding? What's that? What do you mean by the question of advanced paragliding?
Speaker 1:Well, paragliding is paragliding, but why is it called advanced paragliding? Because that's another word for the sport.
Speaker 2:For speed flying? Yes, yeah, ok, I see what you're saying. Yeah, definitely, you're just going faster and you have to make those decisions in just a hair, Split seconds, and it's split second decision after split second decision, and you have to really be in tune with what's going on.
Speaker 1:First time I saw that the speed flying was when I went to Mount Hood and I summited and there's a group of guys three guys just did their thing off the summit and he didn't even have. I don't even know how he went from no air to air to barrel roll, like that and I'm like, oh my God, I can see so many things happening right now. But, man, once he cleared the cliffs and everything, man, it was like the most beautiful sight ever. I just couldn't imagine, man. It was just like you hold your breath and you pray for the best. But me, man, I'm a stickler. I try to do everything that I'm comfortable with and if I don't have control of it, I tend to not go and do that sport like skiing and everything else. So, like, if I do a mountain I hump up, I'll definitely hump down, I don't care, I'm that guy.
Speaker 2:But unfortunately, our friend Owen here does his knees do hurt, but most of the time when we go down now our knees don't hurt. That's one of the best things about it Everyone else is hiking down and their knees hurt and we're helping them down. You only go up. It's great training, but great for the knees as well. So when you're 80, hopefully I'm like this guy a wall of great people.
Speaker 1:We're going to get there. But it's just God, I, just I like to be in control. That's why I try to stay away from water too. You get what I'm saying? And like, when I saw them off of Mount Hood, I was thinking about it. I was like man, that is one of the best ways to get down. But there's so many what ifs and there's so many what ifs. Like, people are like hey, don't you glissade? No, because you ever seen glissading gone bad.
Speaker 2:I mean, you know just there's always.
Speaker 1:There's always that gone bad, and I kept that in mind. But I was just like, wow, these guys are having fun, it's beautiful, but it's not me. I thought about it. But then it's more expensive, it's costly, you know. And so I thought about it. I was like it's not for me, man, I'm not going to do it. But then ran into you and then I watched a bunch of videos. God, it's crazy. And it's like. I love mountains. I just want to keep coming up and down them. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So those pilots up there were probably like on the same mindset. Right, they're like oh, we're going up, the conditions are good. When you fly, everything is in as much control as you make it. It's the same as giving in a car, right, everyone feels a little driving every day, but they don't go out and they don't look at conditions, they don't do huge forecasting, such as those pilots we're doing on top of hood. So they went up there knowing, oh, if it's bad we're going to walk down, and if it's good, it's going to be a really smooth, fun flight and I'm going to keep it in my risk margin. That's the biggest thing of the sport is you can keep it as safe as you want it. You can just fly straight. You don't have to do any rolls, you don't have to do any proxy flying, you can just go down at your own leisure, your own pace, your own safety risk margin.
Speaker 3:And that's like a part of the sport that I don't think a lot of people see, because all they see is like crashes right, or the good pilots getting super close to the ground and they're like oh my gosh, this is insane. Oh my gosh, those polygons, those are maniacs. But in reality it's relatively as safe as you want to make it in the sport.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, yeah, I honestly agree with that. Yeah, really, it really can be safe if you're willing to hike down, which a lot of times you don't want to, and that's when definitely injuries happen. But if you hike down it's not perfect you will probably have a very long, safe career.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's a thing in the sport there's bold pilots and there's old pilots, right yeah, but there's no such thing as old, bold pilots. Right, I got you. That's something that you've tried to live on through our whole flying career, especially like at the start. Right, we didn't really have a lot of tours, we didn't really have that much support, because we're like two local kids just flying a wing off eBay trying to figure it out, and everyone was like oh my gosh you guys they're on the list is what they say is like the list of people who are going to get hurt.
Speaker 2:So yeah.
Speaker 3:And then we meant to mentor him. He was like there is no such thing as old, bold pilots, so you guys better make a decision if you want to be bold or if you want to be old. And Scotty Harris, through Jacksonville paragliding. He really did a lot for Eric and I in the beginning of our flying career. He was supporting us, mentoring us, giving us coaching. And then we took on the speed wing and he was like, oh my gosh, I don't really want to be associated with you guys Like you guys. Oh my gosh, you are. Yeah, they call it the black arts of paragliding, just because they're so polar opposite.
Speaker 1:Yeah, OK.
Speaker 3:Relatively safe, and one's pretty risky if you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So so both you guys, you two and the people on the three on Mount Hood are bold.
Speaker 3:So right.
Speaker 2:I would, I would believe that I think, I think you can, I think you can keep it safe on a speed wing. I don't think they're necessarily too much more dangerous. There are people on big wings who do, who definitely are still in that advanced, advanced realm. They're still on a big wing doing a different kind of a different thing.
Speaker 1:OK.
Speaker 1:OK, all right, all right, so Bold, but you're injured, yeah, you're. I mean like you're very injured and man, I like when seeing the videos of yours, it's a lovely sight, man. It is crazy insane but beautiful. But, man, there's some parts not the endered video, but there's some parts. It's like, oh my God, it's, you know, one of those flying suits, those guys that jump off the cliffs. I mean you guys are just Missing berms and trees by like inches and feet and it's like exhilarating to watch. I could only imagine how it is in person, you know, but you guys get crazy close, crazy close, and that exhilaration is that why you guys continue to do it.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 3:It's the most addicting sport. I've been skiing my whole life, 19 years since I was two and I can truthfully say that speed flying has been more addictive in that sense. We go through these withdrawals on the sport and I think that's another dangerous side of it is you hike six hours up 7,000 feet and all you want to do is fly down. But if the conditions are bad it plays such a mental toll on you. But when you do get a fly, it's so amazing, right, you've just spent all this time hiking up something and now you get a fly down to your car and get a beer in three minutes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's this mental game.
Speaker 3:It's incredibly addicting and it has been really hard to take time off or to accept time off, and sometimes you have to in the sport or else you push it too hard and you start getting too complacent. Complacent is the right way. You just stop, you start pushing out 100% all the time and then you have no room for air.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:But yeah, and it's important to take time off as much as you don't want to, you probably should for your sanity's sake. Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, so your left knee you tore your ACL, mcl, pcl right Right knee you have a high grade ACL, lcl. Yeah, yeah, besides the injury, right, I'm always trying to get people like thought process, feelings, you know, just emotions, because you're a go-getter, just like all the people that have listened or also people that I've had on here. You're a go-getter. How are you doing mentally right now? Sitting out Because I know you'd probably be snowing, because didn't you guys get some big snow recently?
Speaker 1:Yeah, a couple feet actually, yes, and you'd be skiing, you'd probably be jumping, you know that kind of thing, but how are you doing overall, knowing that you're going to be sitting out for quite some time?
Speaker 3:Mentally it is very challenging. I'm not used to sitting still and I'm not used to being on the sidelines. I haven't faced a major injury such as this. Yeah, I don't really know if we're still processed, how long I will actually be out, in that sense, very fortunate, I have an amazing support team, which is good, which is great. But yeah, it's been a huge mental toll. I wasn't fully financially ready because it's the end of our off season, start of our season, so all my money was going to rent. We pay $2,500 a month here in Jackson. So it's been both mentally like oh my gosh, I can't work for three to four months now because I'm going in and out of surgeries and, oh my gosh, I'm just sitting watching my friends go ski. And luckily it's not the crazy year that everyone thought it was going to be. It's been a pretty rough start to the year, so maybe that's been helping me.
Speaker 3:But this was my first year being a sponsored athlete. I was on the Zach's skis team, so I got three new pairs of skis and I was so excited to go rip those and now they're just sitting mocking me every day and I'm like, oh my gosh, it's brutal. But you know, I'm just focusing on the recovery, because all you can do is come back stronger. If not, try your best to be as good as you were before and I have youth on my side. Luckily you do. You do, yes, you'll grow and everything will hopefully get back to 100%, if not close to 100%. But yeah, I'm just focused on let's get back to 100% right now.
Speaker 1:Have you thought about moving the skis for right now?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know I'm considering letting Eric ski them, because you know it's just so sad. To have three fresh pairs of ski is not ever touch snow for a year.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, maybe at least leave one out there, just so it can keep your mind like, hey, recovery it's there, it's right there, let's just, let's just put into the side, though, but leave one, just be like OK, I'm going to get you, man, I'm going to get it.
Speaker 3:I'm going to get all three pairs.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, Before we start getting further down the road. When did they say you can be fully recovered? How long is this going to take?
Speaker 3:I've heard quotes of nine months to 12 months to 16 months, until I'm back to like 90%. I probably won't ever be 100% again, unfortunately, and I will have to have an e-brae song for probably like two to three years Any time I go out and do athletics. But yeah, you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes.
Speaker 1:This is what they like to say oh man, but I like I'm bringing this up because, man, I could only imagine like I've had some brutal injuries and some surgeries. But, dude, this takes a cake, dude, and being busy body like yourself like mine, you know, but I'm a bit older than you I could only imagine how taxing it is man mentally just sitting out during the peak of the season, or even before the peak of the season, and just hit it with your friends, you know.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I'm very, very fortunate because in the sport right, this injury is probably a very high grade injury. So what the doctors told me? There? It's a very rare injury. They don't see it a lot, but for me it's a minimal injury for crashing an 11 meter speed wing coming out of a roll, right yeah.
Speaker 1:If.
Speaker 3:I'm walking away with just knee damage and I'll be able to walk in a year. I'm still able to walk. I'm not a paralyzed athlete. I'm not in life damage. There was recently Speed Fire. He caught his wingtip and he broke five vertebrae and was put into an induced coma. So if you look at the side of things, my injury is very minimal for the sport, even though, as extreme as it may sound yeah, that's something that makes it a little easier to wrap around. Mentally is like hey, wow, I will be able to walk again. I'm not going to be paralyzed for the rest of my life Like I probably could have been if I was an inch lower, if I was like a second earlier. You know there's so many factors that play into that and we're walking away with what I like to say is minimal injury for the sport. This is amazing.
Speaker 2:I told everyone he was fine because in my book, you know, when I took off after a mile of down and I saw him in the rocks, like that's the only one of those things. It's not like you don't, really like we don't carry first aid. We never carry first aid kits. It's like what are you going to do with the first aid kit? Like normally you're going to need, you know, a pretty thick body bag for something like that. And yeah, I was like I told everyone he was fine because you know two knees is about as good as it gets when you're talking about crashing at 60 miles an hour into the side of a mountain.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, and oh God, as many mountains I've climbed and humped up and down. I can only imagine man oh, okay, so you're fine. You're fine compared to what it could be. Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's like I am focused on just getting back to next season. I'm not a skier this year, I'm a speed flyer. I will be speed flying in the summer, I will be easing back into it, but my focus is, yeah, well, be appreciative for what I have, be grateful for life and feeling in the fingertips and the toes. Yeah, it was crazy, though.
Speaker 1:When you started, did you take an account that man? It can be a brutal injury. Anything could happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, greg did we take into account that one of us might die. I think it was thought about, but that's one of those things you try. You try not to think about too much. You got to. It's one of those things. You don't crash. You don't crash the speedway. That's like a number one rule you don't crash your speedway, You're not. It's like crashing a rented Lamborghini. You don't do that. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Those barrel rolls, though, man, you had me on the edge of my seat, dude, I'm just saying.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, you can do low rolls.
Speaker 1:You have a go fund me page. I do as of now, so just recently to help out with the bills and everything else. Man rent is $2,500. You might as well just own, but that's me being an owner.
Speaker 2:No one plays golf, the action all the while, just to have this ballpark.
Speaker 1:What's that?
Speaker 2:You know what it plays to cost this ballpark, jackson Wyoming. I do, I do.
Speaker 1:It's a huge resort town, I do, and I know the famous jump site there. So, yes, but you got to go fund me. It's doing pretty well that you stood out when you first started. I mean when I left I saw it was at almost 1,800. Yeah, now it's up to 2,800.
Speaker 3:And it's huge. That's also what Jackson is it's a supportive community. We all support each other in times of injury and need. So I'm very, very, very grateful for everyone who has helped me out and everyone who has shared words or just shared it, giving me support. It takes that financial relief off for like a month, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's a good thing.
Speaker 1:Great thought, great plan and, man, that's awesome that you do have a great support system there in Jackson Holway.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:How did you get into speed flying?
Speaker 2:The internet yeah.
Speaker 3:Going off of YouTube. We saw all these videos of crazy people doing it. And then, yeah, we're wondering, oh, how do we get into it? Right, and yeah, bought the wing off of eBay, taught ourselves for a couple of days, went down to Utah and then we ran into Carl Weissett, who is definitely one of the best speed flyers in the world, if not the best. He's just absolutely crazy, the most styled. He has everything going for him in the sense of safety. He opened up the school. He is an instructor, he can give ratings out, which is the first time that you can do that this year. This is the first year with ratings in the sport. And then we ran into him and he looked at us and he was like, oh man, you guys got to switch to the dark arts, like you got to get on the little wings. And, yeah, kept in our minds. Next thing, you know, we're buying dragonfly wings. Next thing you know, we're. Oh, now we want to go upside down. How can we go upside down?
Speaker 2:We're going to need a smaller wing to get upside down. Yeah, oh yeah, that could be called.
Speaker 1:So you guys say YouTube. I would have said, after seeing those guys in Mount Hood get down and have a beer faster than anybody he could ever imagine, that would have got me into saying, yes, that's why. But you guys YouTube and you guys just like all right, let's exchange for it.
Speaker 2:I can give you a little bit of a better one for that. Actually.
Speaker 2:I've always had to keep my head. I grew up in a spot where I'd look up and I'd see him every night above my neighbor. There's no one out there anymore when they first started with all the big wings. But I used to sit in Mr Shell's math class and I would look out the window and I would be very sad because I was in Mr Shell's math class and then I would see some guy land his paraglider and I was like man, one day I'm not going to be sitting in math class, I'm going to be that guy flying his paraglider, I'm going to be flying down. I'm not going to be sitting in math class, and yeah.
Speaker 2:I think that was a little bit of a check for me, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, well, I mean, I can only imagine I mean blazing past trees at 20 to 95 miles an hour. It's a fascinating sport, extreme, but it's just too unpredictable for me, you know. But, dude, it's amazing to watch you guys fly, especially the videos that you have.
Speaker 3:And we appreciate that because you are in a very low majority of non-pilots who actually agree with that. A lot of pilots are like, oh my gosh, this sport needs to be illegal. What are they doing? Why is it? Why are they up there? It's so unnatural. And the truth is we're up there. We're usually picking trash up on our way up. We're a one-way impact sport. We, yeah, get up somewhere and we take off and then we land and it's our own risk. We're not really putting other people at risk. So it's just. It's such a like 50, 50 love, hate for the sport. A lot of people hate it and a lot or a few people actually love it who don't fly and they're like oh, that's so cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's been a lot of like legal challenges of trying to fly if there's a lot of people that don't want us flying and landing anywhere in their fields or near their roads or really anywhere.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I see it as a work of art man. Yeah. I see it as that, just like the wingsuit flying and everything, mountaineering, running, that kind of thing. That's how I see it and it's beautiful. It is but too extreme for me, man, because I can't control it, and everybody knows, everybody knows I don't do things that I can't control. So all right, Can we run one rush? How did the love for the outdoors go Like? How did it start?
Speaker 3:man. It kind of started with just growing up and living in Jackson Hole. I mean, I've been a skier my whole life. Unfortunately, my dad passed away in a ski accident so I grew up without a dad but my mom always put me in ski programs. And then, yeah, and then you grow up with all these people who are also growing up, with cool parents who are doing stuff, and then, yeah, I would say it's the influence of what Jackson is in the sense of, hey, everyone here is here to climb, ski, go kayaking, go paddleboarding, enjoy Jackson, enjoy nature.
Speaker 3:And it wore off on me and Eric for sure, a little bit harder than it does for some people. I mean 90% of my grade, the second they graduated high school, wanted out of Jackson. They're like, no, get me out of here, this place is not for me, I want to be in a city, and yeah. And then I was like, no, I want to go into the mountains, I want to go climb mountains, I want to go see cool things and be young and live as well as I can.
Speaker 3:So it's slowly been growing more and more throughout the years and I'd say the last four years has definitely been some of the hardest that we've gone into the mountains and just wanted to see. At first it was like, oh, how far can we push our bodies, like what we do, like I just want to go get scared, I want to go do something fun, like I want to go do a mission, and then, yeah, no, it's just always like how sick can we go get out there? Like what is something super cool, what is the story? What's going to be like challenging? Yeah, that just grows the love every time you go out.
Speaker 1:How many of those people that you know that left are back now?
Speaker 2:It hasn't been that long.
Speaker 3:It's been not long enough to tell.
Speaker 2:Not long enough to tell but, not many there's not many. Yeah, okay. Go, come back, go come back I well, they can't too expensive, but they dry.
Speaker 3:Yeah it's a lot of people leave in the second they get into a stadium and they're like let's get back to Jackson. Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:Your love for the mountains. When did you start climbing? When did you start trekking up the mountains, man?
Speaker 3:Pretty much when I met Eric, like yeah, five, four years ago, was when we really started getting into it all.
Speaker 2:I was more of the climber and then and no one was a better skier and had all that knowledge, it was just like really technical high and skiing and free riding and all that. He had that same love. He was able to kind of share the climbing knowledge and him being super athletic and a lengthy, you know, six foot four giant arms gorilla like picked it up really quick and was able to, you know, learn all the technical knowledge very fast.
Speaker 1:Okay, eric, what mountain got you? What mountain is your mountain that got you hooked?
Speaker 2:Probably the Grand. Like I live in Jackson, it has to be yeah, like from day one.
Speaker 3:I was like I gotta go climb it.
Speaker 2:And yeah, it took me. When me and my buddy first started out, we had no clue what we were doing and we were too stubborn to get any instruction either, so we were just gonna do it. Yeah, A couple of tries. You know, we were trying to go sport climbing. We didn't have real climbing shoes, we only had approach shoes, so we'd be like running on a treadmill trying to climb up. And then, yeah, we tried the Grand a couple of times and finally made it, and that definitely secured the love for it. And then last year me and Ellen were able to ski it, which is definitely another total Jackson accomplishment and that definitely, definitely secure it. Took us another two tries and we finally got it in pretty stellar conditions.
Speaker 1:What about you, Ellen? Same. Thing.
Speaker 3:Same mountain. No, no, I'm gonna say to you and I it's that night that we took that Milky Way photo off the Grand. I got off a double shift at Sidewinder's, the place that.
Speaker 3:I work 10 o'clock at night, right, and I call Erica, but I'm like yo, I'm off work. The Milky Way is in full effect tonight. Let's go up to you and on. So we climbed to you and on in the night, did it in like four hours, which was awesome. Like in the night we got lost a couple of times and that to me, was like probably one of the yeah, it made me just really fall in love because we spent the whole night under the stars, like you know, not the safest, but he was like the most fun I've ever climbed up like a mountain. It was just pitch dark and we're like climbing, taking photos, just having such a good time. So that really got me into it.
Speaker 1:It's interesting that you have time for extreme sport, but you also have time to. What I like to say is stop and smell the roses, you know, and like enjoy the small things, or actually the big things. I mean I was we don't have too much pollution here, but you guys don't have hardly any light pollution. You guys can enjoy that. We have to go in the mountain ranges where there's no pollution light pollution, you know and enjoy that scenery, but man, it's awesome. So photography, when did you get into that?
Speaker 3:Oh, I got into that actually about the same time I started getting into the mountains Like it was like six to five years ago, kind of picked it up as a hobby and it's still hobby, right, every photographer nowadays camera technology is crazy. But yeah, I mean, I used to carry around a full-size camera all the time on my missions. But now recently I've moved into the motto like, oh, I just want to be light, my takes pretty much the same quality photos as my camera. But yeah, for a while there I was really just carrying around a full-size like camera on my chest taking as many photos as I could. Yeah, it was super fun. And now it's kind of just more a pastime hobby and looking to get into more an FPV drone, because that I think would be really good for the sports that we do. Yeah, and now it's like, oh, how can we work on making a film out of photography? Right, like, do you send a photography, try to put it into a filming aspect.
Speaker 1:I mean, you're so extreme in your sports. Skiing is, believe it or not, extreme, mountaineering, climbing, all that stuff. But photography that's something like you know, hello.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a grandpa's fort, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so it's like what got you in it. I mean, yes, it's a hobby. Did you take photography in high school, or?
Speaker 3:No, I've never taken a photography class in my life, kind of just picked it up, figured it out. But I was sick of seeing wildlife photos. You don't really see enough of the adventure photos. And oh my gosh, look at this person up in the mountains, like why would I want to see a photo of a goose when I can? Or why would I want to take a photo of a goose when I can take?
Speaker 3:a photo of my friend like climbing up the grand teetown, yeah, or somewhere back in like the Wind River range in the winter, where no one else is there but us. You know, it's just yeah, I want to take photos of things that are unique and you don't really get to see that often. And yeah, oh, yeah.
Speaker 3:When did you know photography was for you, though Taking pictures oh kind of, yeah, I don't know really, I can't really even say if it's for me nowadays. Yeah, yeah, it's just something that I got into. I wanted to share my experiences and then, yeah, it just kind of progressed when I was like, oh wow, this photo, it looks cool, and then publish it, edit it, work on it, and then I was like, oh wow, this is actually. It kind of looks nice, like maybe I should bring it out, and then, yeah, carry it around for a while.
Speaker 1:And you got quite the lifestyle man.
Speaker 3:Very, very fortunate to live a life that I live. You know it's what we say all the time is hey, we've already lived a life. You know it's like you just be appreciated for each more. You know, like each day that you get to be there further, because it's like I've already done so much that I can just like go back on and be like I am so thankful and so happy that I did that. Wow, it's so awesome.
Speaker 1:I mean being 21 and then photography. For me, I'm kind of stopping and smelling the roses finally and I'll be 42 in a few days, you know what I mean and it's just amazing to hear other people's story. That's why I'm asking the photography questions, because, dude, I'm fascinated by that and I'm finally stopping to smell the roses. So that's why I was asking man. So it's pretty cool to hear a person your age just into photography, you know, and being able to do this extreme sport and then doing the old man sport photography.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah. So is it you know, but yeah, it's just, it's cool. It's like everyone has their own unique view of the world, and it's just cool to share your view.
Speaker 1:Don't quit sharing man. Whether it's videography and still photography. So all right, would you? Will you continue to fly after your injury?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, 100%, without a doubt I will be. I'll honestly be flying before I'm fully walking again, Okay.
Speaker 3:Not on the speed wings that I'm probably not speed flying until I get cleared for full off. Let it says okay, it's just too much impact on your knees when you're coming into landing. You know it can torque it in a weird way. But I will be full size paragliding and focusing on that a little bit more this spring time and summer. So I'm looking forward to that as well. Taking a step back, you know, just to take like multiple steps forward. It'll be a huge thing that pays off.
Speaker 1:That's good. You're going back to basics, kind of for you. What about you, eric? How are you going to be going full tail?
Speaker 2:I recently tried to dial it back a little bit. It was definitely one of those things you know, when you, when you take off and you're like getting ready and you're like all hyped up, then you looked down and you're you know, you think your buddy might be dead. You're definitely, you, definitely it takes, you definitely have to think about that for a minute and realize definitely is a realization of what can go wrong. You can dial it back but still still try to fly. It's definitely something. The problem is, once you get into it, you can't really get out of it. So it's one of those things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you said estimate recovery nine to six.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it'll be a good one.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's a long one. The first surgery is December 21st and birthday, that's right.
Speaker 2:Oh well.
Speaker 3:I'll be getting an early knee replacement for Christmas and hopefully we'll get in a bunch of birthday presents, you know, right, right. But yeah, first surgery and eight to 12 weeks until I can put weight on that knee and then we're going to do surgery on the next knee and then from there it's just a waiting game and telling back to a hundred percent, and it really comes down to how bad do I want it? Right, like, oh my gosh, I'm going to be in pain for the rest of my life. So, yeah, focusing on recovery, going to stay very determined in PT, and it's really all I do, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:What does recovery or what do you feel you can do during recovery? Have you thought of that?
Speaker 3:I'm going to try to write a couple articles and just talk about my experience in getting into the sport, because when I was learning there was videos of how to get better. There was no videos of how to safely get into it and what an actual learning curve looks like, because it's pretty aggressive if you do want to get into it at a high level. That we got into that. Yeah, so just talking about that but also focusing on maybe writing just a couple of things about the launches, about Jackson, because the whole summer it was like me, eric and our buddy, kent Davis, who is also an incredible speed, flat pilot, kind of just pioneering everything again in Jackson, because it's a new sport.
Speaker 3:It's only been in the US for 10 years and the first five that people were only flying small things in Jackson no one was really getting up to the big mountains. So just kind of publishing and just talking and posting it in the forum, because it is a rapidly growing sport and more and more people are going to be like, oh my gosh, where can I go flying Jackson? And if they know, there's a little bit of information to keep them safe, and then I'm doing a good part for the sport. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It seems like an old man sport but it seems like it's needed. But you know that'd be cool to have you do what you do and share what to do when starting out. So, that's good man. After recovery, what's next? I know you probably thought let's hit this mountain, let's barrel roll on that mountain. Let's I know it, I know it. So what's next?
Speaker 3:Well, I actually go skiing. That's like my first task is. I want to go skiing. I'm not used to missing a season, so I would like to go try to ski something in the summer. But you know, it can also make it a paragliding speed fly trip. It doesn't just have to be skiing. So the trip was in store. So I'm like and say I'm looking at New Zealand for the summer or something down in like Argentina, just going down for a couple of weeks to a month and just going pretty hard and back into the sports at a safe progression, nothing that's going to put me at the same risk. But yeah, something, just a crazy mountain airing adventure trip somewhere, somewhere I haven't been yet, somewhere cheap.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so besides riding any alternatives until you fully recover, feel the void. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Probably going to spend some time becoming a professional crutch dancer. No, it's going to sit on the couch and regret.
Speaker 2:He's going to sit, his voice is going to do it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm going to be sitting and just thinking about why did I do this to myself? And then recovery is just PT, and then the second I get cleared for work it's trying to pay off some of this. Yeah, that's a young age, so, yeah, it'd be a good time.
Speaker 1:All right, man. Did they give you an estimate on how much this will all cost?
Speaker 3:Well, I maxed my deductible out for this year with just like the ambulance call after getting airlifted off the snow king. So this year I'm like pretty good, I'm pretty sure I think it's going to be $8,000 in total for this surgery, and then the next knee is going to be a bit more expensive.
Speaker 3:So thank, goodness man Thank goodness they're getting us for the mom's health care. You know, I'm still on that for a few more years. Like you get hurt for a couple more years and then after that, if I get hurt, I'm probably going to die Right.
Speaker 1:Mom, mom will kill you. Then yeah, I promise that.
Speaker 2:I'm about to kill him now, but that's okay.
Speaker 1:All right, I got to ask you man this used to be, you know I used to say hello and then you know, basically, name the beer that I'm drinking. What beer are you guys hitting right now? Because you guys seem like you're going to, you're having a good time. I want to say something good, the Longboard Island Water.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a Longboard Island Water. If I want to get my beer choice, it's the Walrus Hazy IPA by Melbourne, because I hear Walrus, walrus.
Speaker 2:Oh, no, wait, sorry, no, it's the Walrus. And if you ever get a chance to see one, the Roehouse, Roehouse, roehouse.
Speaker 3:They got caught out. It's the best beer. It's 8%. It's a Hazy IPA.
Speaker 2:It's still pretty good and yeah, those are, and they support search and rescue and the paragliders Two very important causes. So go ahead up to Roehouse Brewery if you have the chance.
Speaker 1:Yeah, out of Jackson.
Speaker 2:Hole Out of Jackson Hole, but you can find them probably everywhere these days.
Speaker 3:Roehouse Okay. But yeah you know, very fortunate that. Yeah, I don't know if you know, but we did get air. I got airlifted off of snooking Search and rescue. They just got a brand new A-star helicopter brand new 2025 edition Holy life. It's like a very sexy helicopter 2025. Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's all the lie.
Speaker 3:It's like the newest of the new and, yeah, it's the first short haul on it, so it's a little embarrassing.
Speaker 1:But it's a lot safer than trying to trek you down and yeah, when were you?
Speaker 3:You were in a bunch of scree and rocks and there's just all this slippery stuff and yeah, we had six people on my body but it was just almost a little too much risk for everyone to carry me down because they didn't know if I had a broken back. They didn't want to injure. So, yeah, they made the call. I sat on the side of the hill for it was like an hour, like an hour, not really knowing what injuries I had. First we thought it was a femur and a fib tip or tibula, but yeah, and it was pretty scary just sitting there and it was. It was also pretty funny, because I'm an athlete, that my heart rate is low. Yeah, so they're taking my vitals up there and they're like, oh my gosh, he's in shock, his heart rate is so low right now and you're like no, I'm a professional.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he's like no.
Speaker 2:I was like he's, probably he's probably good yeah.
Speaker 1:I get that too, man. So with the beer we have a staple question. Where I have a staple question and when you're out mountaineering, skiing and everything else that you do out there, do you eat peanut butter jelly sandwiches? Exactly, yeah, so when you're out, porn.
Speaker 2:No, no, I don't need anything from like six years old until like probably 12 years old, but peanut butter and jelly. So those are kind of on the no list for probably a couple of 20 or 30 years. I've hit my quota.
Speaker 1:Okay, I totally understand. So, all right, if you don't eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches out there, what's your go-to snack or your go-to? Hey, I need to fill up. What is it meant? Go-to snack?
Speaker 3:Gatorade with snow in it, because you create like a slushie. We're pretty bad about keeping ourselves fueled on trips. We're eating a lot of shop blocks and energy goose, but yeah, and trail mix checks mix just salty easy snacks but we're also a lot of the times preparing for these missions on short notice, so we can just we usually get what we can get from the gas station and move on. Okay, gotcha.
Speaker 1:Gotcha.
Speaker 3:But this is what we created, probably one of the best things of all time. It was like 70 degrees outside and we got up and there was like the snow field up there and it had a blue Gatorade. Not much of a blue Gatorade, not much of a blue Gatorade, but we just put snow in it and like had endless slushie for like a couple hours while we were waiting to fly. It was great.
Speaker 2:So the thing is you don't have to be too worried about nutrition because you don't have to hike down, you're not going to, you're not going to have to. You just you hang out at the top, you know. Or you like chow at your body for a day, you know, you lay out your way, you know do whatever. And then you're like, okay, this one's about to set, you know we should probably get some food in town. And then you're like, okay, I'm just going to fly down and go get food in town. It's going to take me two minutes. No right, I'm going to be at the car, like I saw some guys three hours ago.
Speaker 2:He's probably still hiking down.
Speaker 1:Eric is flexing. Dude, eric is flexing. Good flex, thank you. It's such a good sport.
Speaker 2:Oh, Eric.
Speaker 3:And even going back in like T1Ot. Right, I'll go back to that mountain. It's usually like a six hour round trip mission, but this summer I got caught. That's why I'm saying that I did it Like I paid the ticket for the national park. I got caught, but it took us two and a half hours to get up, seven minutes to get down back at the car, oh yeah, so it's like it's such a good sport when you think about how much time you save. You can be a fisherman.
Speaker 2:You can experience so much more with such limited time.
Speaker 1:It's yeah, there's no other thing out and not eat peanut butter jelly sandwiches because we're hiking down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean like the biggest burger they serve at the bar. Whatever the nearest outpost is, I'm going to be eating what they have, and you guys are going to be working on what snacks you brought in the backpack that weighs a lot more than my backpack too. The stuff's gotten really wet.
Speaker 1:Oh man, I love this All right, so do you listen to music when you're going down?
Speaker 3:I did when I started. I stopped that. I used to listen to heavy EDM and dubstep and I still do on my way up because it just makes me go faster without stopping. For some reason, Like just in your ear at all times. Yours just want to go, you want that music stop like to a top of the mountain.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I stopped flying with music because I kind of like to hear I don't really know how to say it it's like when you ski with headphones in versus when you don't. You're almost more in yourself, Like it's just you're not influenced by anything. So I stopped flying with music and I can't really say if it impacted the way I fly, because I still got hurt.
Speaker 3:But for the most part I want to say it like kept me a little more like oh, it's just me, I don't need to push it because there's some beat in my head trying to make me go harder. So, yeah, I think music has such a huge influence on your mood, your mindset. So, yeah, I respect people who listen to music, but I just was making me go a little too hard in the sport.
Speaker 1:Your go to artist makes it like a movie Like you.
Speaker 2:It makes it feel like you're in a movie. You know. You got like a back track playing your guy, your guy, all your videos are going. You got all your go pros on, you know.
Speaker 1:I got you. Okay, who's your go to producer or a EDM?
Speaker 3:Yeah, what do I have one here? What about listening to? Go to go to? No, don't go.
Speaker 1:I've actually been like all right, I like the metal, so Sullivan King is my go to.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, oh yeah, we'll switch back occasionally.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:We have a variety of music. We got all the way from classical to dubstep All right, All right, man Bucket list.
Speaker 1:when everything is said and done, what's your bucket list? What do you want to do? You said, man, Argentina. You said New Zealand. What's your bucket list? Pakistan? Yeah, good luck with that.
Speaker 2:No, no, we're going, we're going to back.
Speaker 3:That's not a bucket list.
Speaker 2:That's a list that's happening. That's Pakistan.
Speaker 1:You got to grow a beard man.
Speaker 3:I will accept being a hot listed on the TSA for the rest of my life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm out there.
Speaker 3:I think Europe would be a pretty fun trip. That's definitely a bucket list for all speed flyers because it's just so much more legal there. You can write the gondolas up the trams up, launch on all the ski resorts they don't care. Yeah yeah, they don't care about the bucket list. Just going down there, just getting like 100 laps in a couple of weeks and then coming back to the US with more knowledge than it would have gone for a year, yeah, so Austria, and Germany's highest point is the Zooks Pig, so check that out.
Speaker 3:Oh right, Zooks.
Speaker 2:Pig.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Zooks Pig. Yeah, you know, just ambitious goals is what I like to set for myself, because yeah something to look forward to achieving.
Speaker 1:Your ultimate goal.
Speaker 3:Red Bull X-Tel pilot by the next 10 years. That would be incredibly awesome, but we'll see if that is feasible. Yeah, I don't know if you know what the Red Bull X-Telps is, but you race all throughout the Alps and then back and yeah, it's like 2000 miles and you can only fly or hike it. Yeah, so it's pretty crazy. It's just the it's what they call the biggest mountain in the country. You know it's most challenging, most difficult, and getting to there one day would be such an accomplishment in life. But we'll see, yeah.
Speaker 1:That's extreme. That's extreme, Eric. What's?
Speaker 2:yours Probably. Speed flying in Pakistan it's my, it's just, it's like it's such a secure place with just giant mountains that lead down to the most beautiful valleys and yeah, I think. No, I don't think really people have ever speed flown there. It would be something completely new. People have definitely gone on ski trips in recent years into the Karakoram, but no one's gone flying yet, especially with skis. So that's kind of the goal.
Speaker 1:All right, all right. Did I leave anything out? You want to add anything? We already got your GoFundMe page and I'll put that in the description.
Speaker 2:Is there anything?
Speaker 1:you'd like to add.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think just you know big thanks to you know, ketone County Search and Rescue for always, always being there for down pilots and everyone who gets hurt in the mountains doing whatever sport it may be. Those guys really are great. And yeah, they're not. I don't think so.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean just big thanks to everyone who supported me. And speed flying is not a crime. That's something I'll put out there, it's not a crime yeah. The last barrel roll was let us speed fly, yeah.
Speaker 1:And, if you guys like, for the listeners, if you guys don't know what these guys are talking about, you gotta Google. It's K-Flying. It's crazy, the barrel rolls are intense man. It just, oh, it just gets your heart pounding man, and it's just like oh my God. Oh, okay, clear, you know so. But, guys, man, I appreciate your time, I really do. I honestly hope for a speedy recovery so you can conquer more mountains, slopes and air. Until next time, take care of yourself, man.
Speaker 3:Oh, I appreciate it. Thank you, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:All right, eric, I appreciate your time. Good evening.
Speaker 3:Right on. Oh yeah, hopefully we can chat again soon. This was fun, yes, okay.