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

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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...

Growing up wanting to be a mountain athlete

  • Biking from Banks to Portland, Oregon in order to get a ride to the mountain

  • Getting permission from his dad to do things by himself since he couldn’t find friends to go with, setting him up for a life of adventure

  • His first backpacking trip fully self-sufficient with simple gear in the elements, and after 3 days knowing he wanted to do that the rest of his life

Losing a toe in an accident on Mt. Rainier

  • Being a mountain guide in his early 20’s and wanting his entire identity to be an alpinist

  • Losing his big toe to frostbite on a Rainier climb where he was guiding and one client perished

  • Sleeping in a snow cave and descending in a whiteout

  • 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

Shifting identities in his twenties

  • At 20, thinking he knew everything, then getting in a life-threatening situation

  • Being a competitive velodrome cyclist

  • Training was all-encompassing: no dating, squeezing in training during work breaks

  • Realizing it made him be a person he didn’t want to be, so he got ready for a new adventure that would give him a massive change while testing him physically and emotionally

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

  • After all the years of adventuring solo, discovering that relationships with others is most important

Fostering an adventurous mindset in himself

  • Loving being in places where you can’t make a mistake

  • 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

  • Taking on more difficult challenges with more wisdom as life goes on

  • A 3 month motorcycle trip across the USA and Canada peppered with saying yes to all experiences

  • Living for the awe found in adventure, with a period of becoming numb to it

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

  • Being vs. doing and the confusion of it all

Sharing his zest for the world with others

  • Knowing it was time for him to start sharing all his skills with others

  • Taking kids on adventures to places they’ve never imagined

  • Organisms adapt or die to new circumstances: he helps others find that uncomfortable place of adapting

  • Taking really big goals and putting them into bite-sized, progressive chunks

  • “PPPPP” in learning skills

  • Taking what he’s learned about physical challenge as he embarks on a new emotional challenge

  • Getting comfortable with fear and transferring skills

Raising an awesome family and teaching children

  • Raising children who can make their own decisions, even if they’re different than what Doug would choose

  • 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

  • Teaching science to kids is teaching them about life

How to connect with Doug:

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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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