Ari’s Wild Idea: To cross canyons and mountains hundreds of feet in the air. To highline at challenging locations, and to apply lessons of life learned in the air to life on the ground.
Ari (pronounced Air-ee) DeLashmutt is a professional highliner, skier, paraglider and an enthusiastic adventurer, who also hosts the How To Adventure Podcast. He lives a dream life, eager to spend most of his time in the air or on the mountains. I met Ari at the OutFound Festival in Oregon, and I love that he thinks outside of the box.
Ari has some incredible perspectives on life, fear, confidence, and failure. These are lessons he’s learned from spending so much time pushing the envelope, doing what he loves, and confronting fear in the face. He shares some of his best lessons learned from highlining, rigging ropes tethered to rocks in precarious locations, why play is so important, and so much more.
Listen to this Episode if
- You want to challenge your notion of fear.
- You’ve tried slacklining.
- You love going on adventures.
- You love traveling to beautiful, natural locations.
- You want to try highlining.
Key Takeaways
- 4:50 – What is highlining.
- 7:15 – Ari has been passionate about adventuring from a young age.
- 9:30 – What it takes to highline.
- 12:15 – The lessons Ari has learned up in the air.
- 12:40 – It’s all about adjusting your expectations.
- 14:50 – Keeping your mind in a state of play.
- 16:45 – How to get better at slacklining.
- 18:30 – Dealing with fear in life and in the air.
- 20:00 – What is free soloing and why Ari does it.
- 22:15 – Ari doesn’t do much training, instead he goes to play.
- 24:00 – Ari’s diet isn’t the usual athlete’s diet.
- 25:20 – Human-powered highlining is sketchy, but Ari has set records.
- 27:55 – The pros and cons of being a professional adventurer.
- 29:05 – Ari’s definition of adventure.
- 30:15 – Ari’s favorite reads.
- 33:00 – Confidence comes from within, not from other people.
- 35:00 – The value of being loyal.
- 36:45 – The mindset of not knowing what’s next.
- 38:40 – You have to examine what you think you want.