HikeStrong Podcast

Katherine and Ellen set out to climb Mount Kilimanjaro together, but they came into the journey from very different fitness backgrounds. In this episode, they share how they trained from the flatlands, what surprised them on the mountain, and how preparation, friendship, guides, and mindset helped them reach the summit.

In this episode of the Hike Strong Podcast, Marcus talks with Katherine and Ellen, two friends who climbed Mount K...

Most hikers focus on the trail—almost no one understands what shapes the experience before they arrive.

What does it really take to create a great hiking experience—and who’s working behind the scenes to make it possible?

In this episode, Marcus Shapiro sits down with Shannon Stowell, CEO of the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), to explore the hidden systems that shape adventure travel around the world. From developing desti...

In this episode of the Hike Strong Podcast, Marcus Shapiro sits down with Joel — a 63-year-old retired physician who went from a heart attack, beta-blockers, and years of declining fitness… to completing the Camino de Santiago and rediscovering what he’s capable of.

Nine months before this conversation, Joel reached out with a simple question:
Can I actually do this?

After a STEMI in his 40s, years of weight gain, and the limitat...

How do you train for Mount Kilimanjaro at 60+ without living near mountains?
Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro isn’t just about summit night — it’s about the months of preparation beforehand.

In this episode, siblings Bob and Susan (both in their late 60s) share how they trained separately in completely different environments and successfully summited Kilimanjaro together.

Susan lives in the Washington, D.C. area and trained using loca...

Most hikers research hiking gear and watch gear reviews before a trip.

You’ve probably watched hiking gear videos before your last hike—but have you ever thought about who’s creating them?

In this episode, we step inside the world of user-generated content (UGC) and talk with a real outdoor creator about how it actually works in the hiking and outdoor gear industry.

Marcus sits down with Ryan Heck, a UGC creator who works with outdoor...

What do years inside the outdoor industry actually teach you about gear, preparation, and creating in nature?

In this episode of the HikeStrong Podcast, Marcus Shapiro sits down with outdoor photographer and filmmaker Dan Holz, co-founder of Fieldborn Creative, to talk about what he learned from nearly a decade working on the retail floor at REI, more than seven years leading photo and video at Osprey, and decades working ...

Thinking about a Swiss Alps hut-to-hut hike but don’t know where to start? How do you actually plan it—and what do most first-timers get wrong?

In the final episode of this series, Marcus and Alex, founder of The WanderWeGo Co., dive into the practical realities of hiking in Switzerland. Alex shares what makes the Swiss Alps different from hiking in the U.S., including cultural norms, trail design, and the Swiss trail rating system—...

After months of training, what is it actually like to hike hut-to-hut in the Swiss Alps for the first time? This is the reality of a first Swiss hut-to-hut experience.

In Part 2, Dave is joined by Alex, founder of The WanderWeGo Co. and the consultant who designed his Swiss Alps route. Together, they move from preparation to lived experience—talking honestly about what surprised Dave on the trail, what challenged him most, and where...

What does it really take to train for a Swiss Alps hut-to-hut hike at 63—especially if you’re new to multi-day hiking? For Dave, it became a path back to strength, confidence, and independence.

In Part 1 of this three-part series, I sit down with Dave, a first-time hut-to-hut hiker, to talk about the training journey that prepared him for the Alps—and how that process became much more than physical preparation. Week after week, our ...

In Part 2 of this conversation, Blake Hansen returns to Mount Rainier with lessons learned from his first attempt. This episode focuses on what changed the second time — particularly around gear, systems, and on-mountain decision making.

We talk through how Blake refined his pack, clothing, hydration setup, food strategy, and break efficiency, and how those adjustments made the climb feel more controlled and sustainable. Blake also ...

In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, I sit down with Blake to walk through the beginning of his Mount Rainier journey — why the mountain became a goal, how his first training cycle unfolded, and what happened during his initial summit attempt.

We talk through the early training data, the challenges that showed up both in preparation and on the mountain, and how travel fatigue, limited sleep, hydration mistakes, and respiratory s...

In this episode, Michele shares how one miserable backpacking experience in Yosemite — a trip that began with a rolled ankle and a 5,000-foot descent — nearly pushed her away from backpacking altogether. But instead of giving up, she decided to try again. With structured training and a clearer understanding of how to prepare for a heavy pack, she returned to the trail for a four-day trek in Death Valley and had a completely differe...

In Part 2, Hilary and Alexis take us through the final weeks of training, their milestone breakthroughs, and the moments on Mount Kilimanjaro that revealed not just their physical readiness — but their resilience, mindset, and bond as a mother-daughter team.

We talk about how they balanced real life with peak-phase training, including graduation, a full-time job, and a family bike trip that forced them to consolidate workouts and re...

When Hilary and her daughter Alexis signed up to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, they each trained on their own schedule but stayed connected through shared goals, encouragement, and a deep commitment to see the journey through together.

In this first half of their story, Hilary shares how her customized training plan—and especially the lunge progression—transformed the knee she’d struggled with since ACL surgery, leaving it stronger and m...

In Part 2 of this conversation, Marcus and Lisa pick up where they left off—digging into the peak phase of her 20-week training plan leading up to the Tour du Mont Blanc. They talk about how Lisa managed higher mileage and tougher elevation goals, how she kept her body feeling good and avoided overtraining as the workouts got tougher, and the mindset that carried her through the final stretch of preparation.

Later in the episode, Ma...

I had a pretty ambitious goal going into this conversation with my client, Lisa. The idea was to cover all 20 weeks of her Tour du Mont Blanc training plan, and my hope was that each week you’d learn something you could apply to your training — or at least walk away with a little inspiration.

And the good news is — it turned out great. I’d never done this format before, and it ended up becoming a two-part series. Part 1 focuses on L...

What does it take to climb Kilimanjaro when you don’t live near mountains? And what happens when you decide to do it all over again for the Inca Trail?

In this episode, I sit down with Alicia—a self-described “non-athlete” who trained on 23 stairs behind a building and a treadmill with a pack on her back to summit Kilimanjaro. She’s funny, self-deprecating, and brutally honest about what it really feels like to take on a trek of thi...

Most travelers walk away from a guided trip thinking, “That was amazing”—but they have no idea what it actually took to make it feel that way.

In Part 2 of my conversation with former REI Guide of the Year Chris Anderson, we go behind the curtain to uncover what guides really do:

• How REI tried to flip the script and treat guiding as a real career—and why that model didn’t survive
• The long hours, behind-the-scenes prep, and emotion...

When REI announced it was shutting down its Experiences Division, the internet exploded with outrage. For many, it felt like the company was abandoning one of the most meaningful things it offered - a way to actually get people outside, not just sell them the gear.

In this episode, I sit down with Chris Anderson, Former director of Risk Management & Guide Training at REI - a key leader behind the Experiences Division - to unpack...