From tales of accidents and examples of extreme courage to silly stories and beginners luck, Fitz does a great job of getting to the soul of the outdoor person. He comes closer than most to explaining why we go into the hills or onto the river and push ourselves beyond our comfort zone.

There is also an environmental theme running through the episodes but thankfully this is not allowed to overshadow the stories themselves. The narration is peppered with short sections of music from wide variety of sources and frequently with audio recorded on trips and adventures.

I defy anyone to listen to these podcasts and not be day-dreaming about their next adventure.

If you have the time, all the episodes are worth listening to but a couple stand out from the crowd. “Datos Insuficientes” is an account of the first descent of Peru’s isolated Apurimac River and the high level of commitment it required.

“Anatomy of an Accident” inspects an near-miss that Cahall had on a peak in Oregon which is told so graphically that you will feel like you too have slid down 200ft of sheer ice.

Unlike many podcasts you can download mp3s of the episodes directly from the website or subscribe by RSS or through iTunes.

Inevitably some are better than others but at about 20 minutes each, they make great listening in the car or while commuting.

The downside is that they are only available through iTunesU which means that if you don’t use iTunes you might struggle to get them. This use of propriety software is frustrating and unnecessary, if you are willing to jump through hoops, you can get around it.

Link to Podcasts on iTunesU