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Kimmy: When I'm standing at the top of that line, I trust that I can turn my snowboard down this mountain. Where does fear come from? for me, What I've learned, and I'm no. I'm not a psychologist or doctor, fear lives in a past experience or in a future assumption of what might happen.

In the present moment, fear doesn't really exist.

So I am sitting there breathing into my body, all of that potential chaotic and fearful energy and transforming it into energy that serves me while I'm on my snowboard.

Paddy: oh, that's the hammer line right there.

EPISODE MUSIC

PADDY INTRO:

 My midwestern uprbringing means I pronounce my vowels through my right nostril - like baaackpaaaaack -- and I love me some team sports. I spend a LOT of time outside, but when I get home, I usually flip on the replay of the big game. And, the older I get the less I want to hear from the extraordinarily talented professional athletes [00:01:00] in those post game interviews. Because, here's my hot take: professional athletes are kinda boring.

Now, to be fair, I don't think these folks are fundamentally uninteresting—I just think they’re trained to say the least provocative thing possible at all times. And rather than hearing for the thousandth time that “We really had to pull together as a team”, just once I wish they’d let their guard down and tell us how they really felt.

Luckily, there is an athlete who does that, one who just so happens to be on today's show. Professional snowboarder Kimmy Fasani.

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Kimmy's on-snow accolades are remarkable: she was the first woman to land a double back flip, she won rider of the year in 2016, she's both technically proficient and jaw droppingly artistic in the steepest, most hairball mountains. She’s also paved the way for other professional female snowboarders by structuring deals [00:02:00] with her sponsors that ensure that she doesn’t have to choose between her career and starting a family.

You’ll never hear a cliched nothing burger about “leaving it all on the court” in an interview with Kimmy. She has a remarkable way of using snowboarding to help her navigate a life that includes challenges many people face—like having a child or losing a parent—and ones we all hope we won’t have to face—like battling Stage 3 cancer.

Ever hear a professional athlete say something that’s actually useful to you in your own life? You’re about to.

MUSIC IN THE CLEAR FOR A BEAT

Oh, one quick note: Kimmy has two verry energetci young kids. And as any parent listening knows, a quiet house is hard to come by. So along with Kimmy's insights, you're gonna hear the sounds of a lovely and busy home. Ok, on with the show.

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Paddy: We're going to start, of course, with burnt toast. What is your last humbling or hilarious moment outside?

Kimmy: It's actually not my last, but it's this moment that really solidified this humility for me in nature. When we had welcomed our first son we were going to go climb this peak

and it's notoriously a sandbag route, it's a 9 mile approach. We left at 3 30. We left the baby with our nanny at the time and we get to the base at 6 30 in the morning and we're chilling.

We're like, wow, we're here really early. Let's just eat some food. Let's take it all in. We get on the rock. We start climbing. We realize that we have sandbagged ourself and we don't get to the summit until sunset. And we told our nanny we would be back by dinner, and we still have to find rappels off the top, and we have to navigate our way back 9 miles now in the dark. And we walked in the door at 5. 30 in the morning.

Paddy: Oh, oopsie.

Kimmy: Like, [00:04:00] perfect timing! Yay, mom and dad, superheroes! Stayed up all night and made it back just in time for Koa to wake up.

Paddy: So the lesson that the mountain taught you in that is, we are shitty at time management. Oh no.

Kimmy: exactly. We did not allow enough time for this route.

Paddy: Alright, let's get into this.

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you grew up in Truckee. You've built a career and a family in Mammoth, how has your home shaped you as an athlete, and how has that mirrored how it has shaped you as a parent?

Kimmy: there's such a high energy, a Power in the mountains here. I feel like no matter where I go in the world, when I come home, I just feel like I'm so grounded and I feel like I'm connected to myself the duality of what my career has taught me and Parenting has really been every experience I've had in the mountains. There's hard days. There's challenges. Some days, nothing goes as planned, and that has helped me so much as a parent, because those days that were really hard in the backcountry, you're fighting to show up, and you're doing these things that you love because you are so [00:05:00] passionate about it.

It's the same way with your kids. if you have all these plans, and then one of your kids gets sick, and you're having to shift everything around. I'm conditioned for that because of my time in the mountains.

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The mountains are always teaching us something. And in parenting, my kids are my biggest teacher.

Paddy: Well, and You had outdoorsy parents yourself, and you credit your parents for making you into the outdoors person that you are today. What are you borrowing from your folks as you introduce your kiddos to the outdoors and try to foster this love of adventure in them?

Kimmy: Independence and self knowing. I'm delicate with telling them to be careful all the time. I would rather them be mindful about their feet and where they're stepping, and I want them to be able to lead the hikes that we go on and tell me which way they think we should go.

My mom was the same where we would get off the chairlift at a resort and she'd be like, you take us, where do you want to go? And it was this forward independence where it was like, I don't know, I feel scared making that decision.

But that's [00:06:00] life, right? so if they can start developing this skill and autonomy of their body and how it can navigate. Nature, whether it's learning how to boulder and climbing up rocks and trusting their feet and how that translates to navigating down a mountain and

going through the trees and finding fun runs to go on and really allowing them to tell me when they feel afraid rather than me projecting my fear on them. If we can't make our own decisions, moving through these beautiful places outside, it might be even more challenging to navigate the day to day

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Paddy: I want to zap us in a time machine back to your childhood. A very specific day, Christmas 1993. Put me in the moment viscerally

Kimmy: Yeah, I remember Christmas morning, 1993, so clearly, because my mom had been pretty adamant that snowboarding may just be a fad, it wasn't something she really wanted to invest in, I had so many friends that would go snowboarding after our ski races and stuff, and I [00:07:00] just had this desire to try it, so I remember waking up that morning and coming into the living room and I actually couldn't see the snowboard because it was wrapped with like a sheet or something behind the tree, so it was kind of camouflaged

Paddy: Yeah

Kimmy: and I remember her pulling it out from behind the tree.

This sense of excitement and fear at the same time.

Paddy: Oh Really fear why?

Kimmy: I get to try something new. can I do this? Like, my mom is now giving me the encouragement to try it, and now I get to do it, and having no idea because it was still so new. I was hearing about it. I knew that it was a sport that was evolving very fast or resorts were allowing it, but it was just like this pure excitement. And there's a photo of me standing in like a Christmas sweatshirt and I'm strapped into my new Craig Kelly. I think it was a one 53 so way bigger than I needed for a board and it had [00:08:00] three strap band bindings.

I was using Sorrell's as snow boots because. That's just what you did and you'd like duct taped them to make them stiffer.

Paddy: Yeah

Kimmy: my mom had got this set up for me at a ski swap. So it was affordable and it had been gently used I don't know if it was like I knew that this was something that I wanted to do but it just felt so invigorating

Paddy: Now looking back, it's like, it's so much more than a snowboard, right? , that is the entry point to the rest of your life really what did that snowboard do for you?

Kimmy: That snowboard opened up my world and my connection to myself, to healing, to mountains, and it brought a sense of confidence and well being to my spirit, where I just started realizing how quickly I could progress and apply myself to hard things.

Paddy: Our mountain pursuits can, be a lot of different things for us. And they can mean a [00:09:00] lot of different things for us during different, , seasons of our life. You've said that in your teens you use snowboarding as a means of escape, especially from grief. I'm wondering if you Can tell me about a specific day or experience snowboarding that exemplifies its use as a tool to escape grief.

Kimmy: When my dad died from cancer when I was 14, I ended up going to Nationals. It was my first experience competing against a bunch of women from all over the country. And I ended up winning my age group to show up at this contest where you're meeting all of these other like minded individuals and to end up on the podium there, I felt like I had a way to distract myself away from the pain that I was feeling from the loss. That was actually creating a passion.

That one day, I felt like there is more to this. And just because I have hardship at [00:10:00] home, doesn't mean the rest of my day or life has to be succumbed by that feeling of grief.

Paddy: Mm hmm.

Kimmy: I have a way to express myself that makes my body, my full body sensation, feel good.

I could have gone down a kind of darker path and succumbed to, the mental overload of early loss in my own life

or the other path was I could do something that was really fun and I could hang out with my friends and I could be on the mountain and it was pulling me into this separate identity

where when I was home I was sad when I was out on the mountain I was happy

Paddy: Does snowboarding help you gain control in an otherwise chaotic situation, one where control seems like it's just like, evaporated, like steam from a teapot?

Kimmy: That was a perfect analogy, like right before you're ready to blow, like you have to have a way out of that. snowboarding is a way to give my body an outlet to find

peace [00:11:00] with whatever is occurring. And I think for so long I referred to snowboarding as an escape because I felt like. It was a way for me to step away from myself of being in high school and learning how to be a teenager.

And it gave me this autonomy of what my body was capable of. Of how hard I could fall and get back up, I am strong. I'm capable.

It just became so freeing to me. I was not tethered to my trauma. I wasn't tethered to my loss. I wasn't tethered to my insecurities because on my snowboard I felt like a superhero.

When I was on that mountain, it was like, I put on this cape and I was able to show up in a way to control what my body was doing and push myself hard when life kind of felt chaotic.

And yet at 14, I would have never been able to put words to that. It just felt like a way out.

Paddy: Can you describe a significant or memorable line you rode anywhere in your career that you [00:12:00] had that feeling

Kimmy: When I was filming for Absinthe. It was this really big moment for me to be able to be on this all men crew in Alaska, and I was so green. I was learning so much so quickly in that big terrain that every time I had to get out and strap into my board, I had to go back into my body and go, What have I learned in this sport?

What have I learned in life? And how do I know I can do this? I don't even know how this terrain is going to feel. But I do know that I know how to snowboard. I know that I can trust myself and my decision making and I'm going to do the best I can and be as present as I can in this exact moment.

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It's 2016, this is my first time in Haines. And I'm standing on top of a line that's called Wedding Dress, It's my first time standing on something this steep and this fluted.

and this terrain had not been rideable for about five years, just the way snow had lined up.

I was with two of the most outstanding backcountry riders, Nicholas Mueller and [00:13:00] Manuel Diaz.

And those two are so incredibly knowledgeable in these specific mountains. They've spent a lot of time in Haines. And they had been eyeing up this line for years. The snow was perfect. We had perfect stability.

And so I knew that all I had to do was turn my snowboard down this mountain. And yet even that felt like a huge task because my heart was pounding out of my chest. I was going to drop last. The other guys had more technical lines. And so to stand up at the top of that mountain, I felt like my head was touching heaven.

You're looking out over all of these towering peaks. You have this ominous cloud cover kind of moving in all directions, but you're in this sun pocket. And I just felt like everything that I had applied myself to in snowboarding. Had now come to this precipice at this exact moment where I had to go into my inner spirit and say, you can do this and I had to literally [00:14:00] just try to shut my mind off and just trust myself

and as I dropped in, the snow was. A little bit textured, there was a little bit of a crust on one side, and it was perfect on the other. And as I see this slough moving, it's moving way faster than I expect it to, and I'm having to ollie over. Kind of these panels and these runnels of where my slough is moving.

And because I'm goofy, I'm like on my heels and the snow is just like running under me like a river. you have to have this, the highest state of presence while you're making every turn, I was in a relationship with the mountain and I would take a breath, the mountain would take a breath. And It was this ultimate flow state

and I remember getting to the very last panel and then straightlining it out of that beautiful line and just being so proud of myself. And that, for me, was this moment of complete validation And trusting myself, and believing in myself, when you have a completely blank canvas ultimately, you're painting your own picture

Paddy: that Is remarkable to me [00:15:00] because the management of the fear and the chaos that it fills your body with both physically and emotionally you can't jettison those emotions, right?

They have to come with you. And you also have to perform at the highest. level So how do you make sure that the emotions that you're feeling don't completely take control and derail everything

Kimmy: It's knowing when to actually be afraid and when I'm just nervous. When I'm standing at the top of that line, I know that my slough is going to be moving. I trust that I can turn my snowboard down this mountain. Where does fear come from? And for me, what I've learned, and I'm no. I'm not a psychologist or doctor, fear lives in a past experience or in a future assumption of what might happen.

In the present moment, fear doesn't really exist. And if I can tune in to be completely present and harness my energy and say I've done everything in my control to be prepared [00:16:00] for this moment, then fear can't really have a space there.

So I am sitting there breathing into my body, all of that potential chaotic and fearful energy and transforming it into energy that serves me

while I'm on my snowboard.

Paddy: oh, that's the hammer line right there.

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The filming with Absinthe Films, your part in the film After Forever, is a huge and significant moment in your life. you win the trans world snowboarding, , rider of the year award, and you're peaking in your athletic performance. You're peaking at your fear management. Also in your personal life at this time, you're experiencing another round of incredible loss. Were you able to deploy the same things that you did on the mountain? This fear management. These artful turns in Devastatingly scary terrain. Were you able to deploy that in regard to the loss of your mother?

Kimmy: Yeah, it's a beautiful way to phrase it. And for me, It [00:17:00] was this massive pendulum, because on one side, I felt like I had ticked every box of every accomplishment I had ever dreamed of, and

It felt so Uneven at that point in my life when I was winning this award and my mom had just been diagnosed with cancer. I felt like I can't just enjoy this incredibly high moment of getting to the peak here.

Paddy: Yeah.

Kimmy: Life said, I'm actually going to show you the wide spectrum of emotion. Here you can have the highest high of your self

Paddy: Yeah.

Kimmy: in your own passion, and yet you're also going to face the lowest low. How are you going to manage that?

Here I've mitigated all these risks, I've managed fear, I've been with myself through so many different emotions, believing in myself, not believing in myself, having my mom believe in me, and I got to share that award with her, and just seeing how [00:18:00] proud she was of me, and I got to dedicate that award to her.

But when she died, it was like, part of that success died with her. And I had a massive pivot, because she is how I got there. And not to have her to continue chasing that dream, just felt unworthy, you know, I felt like, maybe that was a good moment to pivot and try something new.

Paddy: And what was that pivot?

Kimmy: That pivot was starting a family.

PADDY VO: More from Kimmy Fasani after the break.

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Paddy: so four months after your mom passed away, you're pregnant with your first child. Did your previous experiences and the emotional tools that you honed on your snowboard. Your reliance on the outdoors as this escape and as this teacher, did that prepare you for any way for motherhood?

Kimmy: a hundred percent,

with my [00:19:00] firstborn I was so eager to show myself in the industry that I could navigate parenthood it was like how do I just bring him everywhere I am I never put two and two together of how far away the mountains were.

How am I going to be so far away out of service from my child and not have that connection? And not stay connected in that present moment that I've been raving about here? You know, it's like, that present moment was gone for me, getting back onto the mountain.

Paddy: Yeah.

Kimmy: what the mountains taught me was that It's being in tune with myself, those fears that I said that I could totally override wasn't happening. being able to be honest, speaking up, using my voice, when I was feeling like I was really down, being able to admit that I was facing postpartum depression, so much of it was dropping the veil for me as a woman, as a athlete and just being able to sit with how it felt hard.

And then as a [00:20:00] couple, the time in the mountains had taught us so much about adaptability and shifting our plans.

You're like reading the terrain, you're making calculated risk decisions. You're trying to navigate the best approach without going through the full slog or through the avalanche train, you know, like you're,

Paddy: Yeah.

Kimmy: to mitigate your risks, but it's also.

Your exhaustion tolerance at that have

Paddy: Yes.

Kimmy: How comfortable you get with the uncomfortable it's like dropping into a jump or a line for the first time. This feels really scary. I don't know how fast to go. I'm not sure if I'm gonna clear the jump.

And it's, it's this testing product of, okay, well, we just have to drop in and actually learn what it feels like before we're gonna feel comfortable. I felt like I was checking these boxes of just learning and growing and becoming more resilient in my own ability to adapt

Paddy: one of the wild things I think about your experience becoming a mother is [00:21:00] that, of course it was incredibly impactful to you personally, but it was also incredibly impactful to women in sports in general, the contract that you reworked with Burton to include pregnancy and postpartum accommodations was groundbreaking and you continue to be a tireless advocate for mothers.

You've tackled. Big objectives as a snowboarder, but tackling societal structures that make motherhood so incredibly difficult for professional athletes is a whole different monster. How did your success on the snowboard prepare you for that? And how did it not?

Kimmy: Hmm.

That's a great Way to look at this. Let's just look at the double backflip, it was something in the park that I wanted to do that felt really scary and Yet I had to kind of say I was gonna do it so that mammoth would work with me to build a jump And make it possible I'm gonna put all the resources in place, and I'm gonna [00:22:00] give myself the best chance at actually accomplishing this goal. And dropping into that first one, I fell, it hurt, it sucked, but by the fourth try, I landed it.

So when I called Donna at Burton and said, I'm pregnant, and the contract currently did not protect me for any type of pregnancy. or maternity and expressing my desire to do this new thing that women hadn't really been doing in our sport balancing motherhood and career at the same time

it's like I had to harness those same tools that I did for the double backflip. I had to stand there and speak up for what I wanted to do. I had to have the confidence saying, I'm not quite sure how this is going to go. I believe in myself and I believe that this should not be a limitation. I'm going to try as hard as I can to make this journey into parenthood worth it for whoever supports me as a brand.

And I want to be as open as possible so that others are aware that this is something we can do or we can try to do. And there was so much [00:23:00] unknown. I didn't know how I was going to juggle my career and be a mom because I hadn't really seen it done in a way that made it feel possible in snow. It just felt still really complicated, though there had been many women that had come before me and have been moms and work in the industry and have still stayed on their snowboard, it was just the two hand in hand, like, my contract did not match my desire. And Having a woman at the company that was a CEO believe in me and say, yes, let's try to change this and let's make it better.

Was the biggest boost in self confidence I could have had just the same way as mammoth believing me to do that trick. They gave me the resources and they made it possible for me to make the choice of moving into that space and trying something hard.

Now looking back five years and I see so many more women and there's such a bigger voice coming forward about these inequalities and how things are shifting and there's change and there's contracts and there's inclusion.

It feels like a remarkable accomplishment something I'm so proud [00:24:00] of. That's not just linked to my career. It's not me on my snowboard. It's how I've advocated for women to be able to have longevity in the sport.

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Paddy: When your second child was only nine months old, you were diagnosed with a very rare and very aggressive, breast cancer. Did snowboarding prepare you at all for the weight? Of that diagnosis and the heft of the treatment

Kimmy: hands down. There was no greater tool in my toolbox from all of my experiences of being in the mountains.

I thought it was a death sentence, when I was diagnosed, it was like, Okay, I can be afraid of this because I have every right and every validation to be afraid of this.

It killed both my parents. Or, I can say, I'm going to do the best I can. And I'm going to make choices, just like dropping into those lines or those jumps, that make me feel like I have a little bit of control. Like the day that I shaved my head before I started treatment.

Paddy: Mm.

Kimmy: knew I was going to lose my hair.

I said, [00:25:00] how do I want to navigate my time during this treatment? Do I want to be afraid of my hair falling out? Or do I want to shave my head and be liberated that I was in control of that choice?

And I wanted my kids to see me make that choice, not crying, joyfully,

And make a choice that made me feel stronger when life felt really unpredictable, kind of started this slow step forward of, okay, what else can I do?

And that came with staying flat chested. Mind you, I am in a very unique position where I have a partner for a long period of time. I've had two kids. I've breastfed. I was getting near to my 40s. I wasn't as Insecure about my body, but it was that same feeling. Okay, my doctor had put pretty wide restrictions on me. That it probably wouldn't be the best decision to get reconstruction. So instead of even getting worried about not having boobs, I just said, I don't want any more surgeries. Like, I will be okay being flat. [00:26:00] And there were still so many insecurities in my body. Because I was like, how are people gonna look at me?

How am I gonna feel like a woman? How am I gonna feel In an intimate situation with my husband, like, how is it gonna feel to not have that part of my body? And at the same time, what is the time worth for all of those surgeries? And all of that anguish of going through that process of retrying to develop my body in a way that will never be the same anyway.

And I feel like snowboarding is what led me to those choices. On my snowboard, I can choose where to go, how to go, and What I'm going to do

Paddy: For someone who has such a talented athlete, were you angry and resentful at your body? This tool that had been so reliable and so high performing for so long, did it feel like it was like double crossing you

Kimmy: you know, not at all. I was so, I was so grateful that I was so strong

Paddy: Mhm.

Kimmy: minded and body, you know, being a professional [00:27:00] athlete. Ultimately, that is what saved my life. My doctor made this comment to me. When I was trying to express myself, like, oh my gosh, like I just never expected that this would happen to me and maybe we all feel that way when we get this diagnosis.

And she said, being healthy and active is actually what's making you the best patient. I lost 10 pounds each treatment and I'm pretty little, I'm like 5'2 I was losing a lot of weight and it was extremely challenging, but because I had a strong start with my body and everything that it had overcome and been through, I was just so grateful.

I was so proud of my body. that fought so hard through these treatments. , not once was I disappointed with myself and my body.

Paddy: That is remarkable. , it is also remarkable to me that you were having, you know, six rounds of chemo, 30 rounds of radiation. And you kept snowboarding [00:28:00] how did being in big mountain environments while between chemo appointments? Compare to the ones at the peak of your athletic powers. Did you feel like they were even greater accomplishments? Did you get out there and feel like, uh, I don't like it. Was it all those things at the same time?

Kimmy: Yeah, there was such a beautiful unfolding, a very challenging unfolding where when I got home from my first treatment, I really couldn't leave the house for like close to two weeks because I had a really inflamed gut and I couldn't make it to the bathroom. It was just it was really horrible. My symptoms were so aggressive. That I really didn't have the energy. initially, it was a lot of just sitting outside on the porch Which also felt isolating. And so I was lucky if I would get out on the mountain for one or two runs once every two weeks.

For so long, snowboarding had been this way that I would overcome hardship. That was where I found myself, my [00:29:00] truest self, was being strapped onto my board. and not being able to do it as much as I'd hoped. It was very humbling and I think it taught me a lot.

that even if we can't do what we've always done, we still can find a way to connect to ourselves outside. And those one or two laps that I would get, in between my treatments, felt like I was riding those mountains in Alaska. Because it was so fulfilling to get even just a glimpse of that joy again,

Paddy: yeah,

Kimmy: I didn't know if it was ever going to come back in.

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At the end of my last treatment. I was pretty down. I was struggling with depression. I was having to navigate this side of life and while also being a mom was incredibly challenging because you're trying not to let your kids in on all of your big emotions and trying to show them that they're okay and that they're safe while I just feel like the world was falling apart and My husband could tell that I really needed to be reconnected and him and the owner of B urton, Donna, [00:30:00] surprised me with a trip to Bald Face.

I seriously had no idea how I would show up there. Was I gonna sleep on the couch all day and I was just gonna be there and be in the presence of the idea of snowboarding? But I'm telling you, the moment that I got on that snowboard and I just turned that switch, like, cancer doesn't own me anymore.

It gave me so much energy, I never felt sick until nighttime when I was in my, the confines of my own room. I was able to snowboard all day for four days. Here, I hadn't even been able to leave the couch.

And I left there with this redefined understanding of what I was capable of.

And how powerful our mindset is with all of it. The down and dark and dirty at home was extremely challenging. As soon as I was reconnected to this thing that I love, this passion and the community that brought me so much joy and connection, I felt like I could redefine myself

Paddy: was there a specific moment or a turn or a run at Bald Face [00:31:00] that really exemplified that?

Kimmy: Every day there was incredible. But the last day we were there, it was sunny, and it was a beautiful powder day. And mind you, this is April, and we got this surprise powder frenzy, where the universe delivered this amazing dump of foot of snow. So we got, like, epic conditions in April.

And

Paddy: universe.

Kimmy: exactly. and we decided to do a party lap with like the whole crew that was there.

Paddy: Yeah.

Kimmy: filmer, it's my husband. It's the kids are in the cabin, you know? And, Yeah, when we dropped in at the top, I just remember it was like sparkly snow. The sun was just coming out,

Paddy: Oh, the like little angel glitters.

Kimmy: angel glitter. I think it was the first sun that we had really seen on the trip. The snow was perfect. And it might have been one of our last couple of runs while we were there. Every turn I made, it felt like I was dancing. I was in the flow state again for the first time since I got diagnosed with cancer.

It's like, I look to Chris. He had just navigated putting this crazy surprise [00:32:00] together for me, not even knowing what I was going to be capable of doing.

And It was the combined energy of all of us navigating our way down that mountain that was painting a canvas I wish I could have had a picture of, you know, just those turns alone, I felt like. My internal body was plugged in to its, solar power charger. I just felt like there was nothing that was going to be able to take that moment from me. And it was just simply doing turns down a beautiful open face with my friends.

We're surrounded by these amazing people in our life that are there and they can be there during our darkest times.

But they can also be there during our most joyous and most celebrated moments. And that, to me, was the collision of both. I was back with these amazing people that had supported me and brought me through this hellhole. And now I'm doing something that I am so passionate about. I Never wanted to leave.

It felt like a dream. MUSIC FADES UP [00:33:00] HERE

It felt like a dream. And that sensation has stayed with me from that one run because it doesn't take much. That was one run. And I will never forget that joy of making me feel like I was climbing out of that dark space and finding myself again.

When we get to the other side, we're gonna be a different, more improved version of ourselves.

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Paddy: Adventuring in the outdoors means, to me, constantly adapting to changing conditions.

It's a refinement of movement in order to get to the goal. To have fun, to feel accomplished, to arrive at the thing, the feeling. Whatever it is that we're pursuing. To me, that sounds like motherhood. And it also sounds like dealing with the ever changing terrain of life. That snowboard from 1993, I see as this beaming symbol of the trajectory of your life. Do you see it like that?

Kimmy: When you put it like that, yeah

A [00:34:00] snowboard has taken me all over the world. It's taken me to some of the biggest mountains. It's pushed me past my own limits. It's also hurt me, um, but it, it is. It's really like this, life source for me. It's an energy life source.

And, there's nothing more powerful than finding something healthy like that, that can navigate you through so much, good and bad. hard, challenging, joyful, happy moments. , that tool has brought me through my darkest depths and my highest moments of my life. And it's also shown me that my progression on my snowboard, has given me the confidence to be a leader for change and how I want the sport.

To be held in future generations,

PAUSE PAUSE PAUSE

It's opened me up.

MUSIC IN THE CLEAR FOR A BEAT

Paddy: It's time for the final ramble. One piece of gear you can't live without.

Kimmy: My [00:35:00] snowboard.

Paddy: Uh, DUH!

Kimmy: My high fidelity 150 snowboard from Burton snowboards. Thank you so much. My life giving energy source.

Paddy: Best outdoor snack.

Kimmy: Homemade muffins. Those are like my go to.

Paddy: What is your hottest outdoor hot take?

Kimmy: Okay, I guess my hot take would be everybody waiting for that one chair to open while I'm just riding powder on all the other chairs.

Paddy: Thank you for saying it. Thank you. You don't leave powder to find powder,

Kimmy: You don't wait in the line while there's powder to be had.

Paddy: right? It doesn't matter if it's like a green run. I'm not waiting in line. I'm getting some wiggles

Kimmy: That's right. Exactly.

This is a great hot take.

OUTRO

Kimmy: PADDY VO:

Kimmy Fasani is a professional snowboarder, tireless advocate for women in sports, and just one helluva great human with a helluva great story. And you can watch her story too. Over the last seven years, Kimmy and her husband invited cameras into their lives, documenting everything [00:36:00] from early motherhood to cancer treatement and all aspects of a life devoted to the mountains. The result is one of the greatest documentaries I've ever seen. It's called Butterfly In A Blizzard, and you can watch it now on...

All streamers that you can rent or purchase. It's available on pre order and will be available on Apple, Fandango. Hulu, cable on demand, all of the outlets, I am just so excited for the world to be able to See this film

Paddy: The �����ԹϺ��� Podcast is hosted and produced by me, Paddy O'Connell. But you can call me PaddyO. Storytelling support and an uncanny resemblance to Snarf from the cartoon Thundercats provided by Micah Abrams. Music and Sound Design by Robbie Carver. And booking and research by Maren Larsen.

The �����ԹϺ��� Podcast is made possible by our �����ԹϺ��� Plus members. Learn about all the extra rad benefits and become [00:37:00] a member yourself at �����ԹϺ���Online dot com slash pod plus.