Dr. Len Necefer didn’t grow up skiing steep slopes or topping out on summits like he does today. Instead, his connection to the outdoors began with golf—a fact he shares rather sheepishly. Necefer was an avid golfer from age five until he was eighteen, when he moved to the desert southwest and realized how water-intensive that sport is.
Necefer is a member of the Navajo Nation, and is working to bring more Native voices and talents into the outdoor industry through his organization Natives Outdoors.
He believes in the importance of engaging with the environment in a thoughtful, meaningful and respectful way. As a backcountry skier and climber, he cultivates connection with the mountains he visits and the people he visits them with. He is a regular Alpinist contributor.
In this episode, Necefer reflects on why having a sense of humor is essential when trying to communicate about heavy subjects like climate change; what it was like teaching himself to ski; and why it’s important for all of us to vote.
Support for this episode of the Alpinist Podcast comes from the American Alpine Club.
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Host: Abbey Collins
Guest: Len Necefer
Producer + Engineer: Mike Horn
An Enormously Familiar Voice: Chris Kalous
The Calling: Barry Blanchard
To Abandon: Claire Carter
Strange Music: Doug McCarty
Open Heart: Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz
The Vertical Humor of Tami Knight
Fire in the South Platte
Climbing Doesn't Change You: Kathy Karlo
A Few Seconds: Whitney Clark
Sisnaajini: Stories from White Shell Mountain
Threshold Shift: Nick Bullock
The Adventure Gap: James Edward Mills
Available Light: Jimmy Chin
Art of Freedom: Bernadette McDonald and Voytek Kurtyka
Stillness and Storms: Mayan Smith-Gobat
In the Bear's Lodge: Voices from Devils Tower
The Climbers: Jim Herrington and Fred Beckey
Mountaineering and Climate Change
Death and Climbing, Part 2
Death and Climbing: David Roberts
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