From Snowkiting to Polar Bears: Jennie Milton's Unforgettable Journey

You guessed it With my guest today , jenny Milton , we are going to fly kites . You guessed it With my guest today , jenny Milton we are going to fly kites . Not the normal way of flying kites , rather over the water in kite surfing and through the snow in snow kiting . Get ready to fly kites and be chased by a polar bear with Jenny Milton .

Welcome to Journey with Jake . This is a podcast about adventure and how , through our adventures , we can overcome the challenges of life that come our way . While I expect you will learn some things about different adventures , this show will entertain you .

Each episode will feature a different guest or guests , as they share experiences and stories from the different adventures they have been on . Not only will you be entertained , but you will also hear the failures and trials each guest faces and what they have done or are doing to overcome the hardships that come their way .

My goal is to take each of us on a journey through the experiences of my guests , with the hope that you'll be entertained and inspired to overcome your day-to-day challenges . After all , it's not all about the destination , as it is about the show . My name is Jake Bushman and I am the host of Journey with Jake . We are on episode 121 today .

This is the show that helps you overcome challenges through adventure and what fantastic adventures we have today with Jenny Milton and lessons on overcoming challenges as well . I was so enriched from my conversation with Jenny .

Before we jump into my conversation with Jenny , please subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts , and if you could find the time to leave me a rating and review , I would very much appreciate that . Also , I am active on Instagram at journeywithjakepodcast .

This is a great way to see some snippets from the show , get a preview of what is coming up , and a great way to get to know me a little more personally . So check me out on Instagram at journeywithjakepodcast . Finally , I am now posting the video of the episodes on YouTube if you prefer to watch rather than just listening .

Youtube is still a new medium for me , so I appreciate your patience while I work out glitches on YouTube . My channel is journey with Jake podcast on YouTube . Okay , I'm excited for everyone to hear my conversation with Jenny Milton .

Jenny is dealing with some health issues that leave the future up in the air a bit , but you would never know that from her personality and constant positivity . If you enjoy this episode , you will also enjoy episode 30 with Sean Delaney , who talks about going on adventures , all while dealing with kidney failure .

Okay , let's get to my conversation with the adrenogen , jenny Milton , all right ? Well , I'm excited . Today I have Jenny Milton on the show . Jenny , welcome to Journey with Jake .

So we're going to kind of jump into that and what you do with that , but also just to hear your story and who you are . So I'm excited to have you here . Like I always do on the show , I want to know a little bit about who you are . So , if you don , we can tell you have a little bit different accent . It's an accent I love .

My good friend , rick Bamford , has the same accent . So tell us about where you're from and all that good stuff .

I'm very lucky and grateful to have grown up down under in an incredible country , and the best part was that my parents owned a sports store when I was born , so I had the best , the funnest upbringing that I could ever imagine going after school to my parents' store and they would have the latest and the greatest sports equipment .

So from a very young age I've been doing sports like skateboarding and rollerblading and ice skating , but my dad's favorite sport was skiing , and so every winter , in our school holidays and on the weekends , we could drive a couple of hours from Canberra Australia it's actually the capital city . A couple of hours down the road we've got the snowy mountains .

Believe it or not , yes , we have snow in Australia . Well , we still do for now , but with the climate changing , I don't know how long that'll last . When I was growing up , I remember having deep powder , snow and skiing was definitely something we loved to do as a family my brother and I and my mum and dad and they sold skis in their sports store .

And my dad's other favourite sport , which also became my own was sailing in the summertime so we could drive from Canberra out to Sydney , to Sydney Harbor and Pittwater , and my dad would have boats that started very small when we were little and as his kids got bigger the boats got bigger too until we ended up on boats that could actually sail up and down the

east coast of Australia . So I'm so grateful to you know , my parents giving me this extreme adventures and sports upbringing that really taught me to love the summer sports , wind sports like sailing and windsurfing , and in the wintertime enjoying the snow sports of skiing and especially freestyle skiing , was what I got into . My brother got into ski racing .

He liked to go fast . I love to do , you know , chicks and jumps and more like ballet skiing , which was like figure skating on snow back then .

You can ski from June until October in Australia . So once I left school and I started doing the traveling thing between the States and Australia , I was able to ski all year round and utilize skiing in the US skiing back in Australia , and it's super , super fun . We ski around eucalypt and gum trees .

We have wombats and kangaroos on our ski resorts the opposite to you guys with your pine trees and bears and big , scary things .

Did you just kind of combine the two , or how did you learn about kite surfing and snow kiting ? How did that come about in your life ?

person's ski store , so I opened up a separate store to put all of those adrenaline-based sports and I called it Adrenaline Sports , and that's actually part of the reason why I got my name Adrenogen , because I was Jen from Adrenaline Sports and I was the one that was going to these trade shows and getting to see the latest and the greatest sports when they were

coming out . And I remember the first time I ever saw a picture of a kite and somebody using a kite with like a twin tip board , very much like a wakeboard on water , and I saw a picture of this and instantly I went wow , what is that ? Tell me more about that . And this is back in the late nineties , so this is when the sport originally started .

I was one of the first people to be exposed to that and , of course , I had to buy a couple to put in my store on the wall to get people talking about this new sport , and to me it was very appealing because it was like sailing .

It was like windsurfing and I'd windsurfed since I was a kid , but it looked like wakeboarding also you know , these people are doing tricks and jumps and it looked very freestyle orientated , which was amazing .

So I ordered one for the wall for my store and one for myself , and I figured out very quickly , after being dragged down the grass at Parliament House in Canberra , coming back to the store , covered in grass stains and lucky to be alive , that I needed to go and get a lesson . There were very few places where you needed to go and get a lesson .

There were very few places where you could actually go and get a professional instructor to teach you how to kiteboard . This is where it took in the early 2000s now , but I discovered that Hawaii was the place you had to go to Maui . Maui was the place where all the kiteboarders were hanging out .

There was this guy that had written a book on how to learn and he was the man and I had to go there . And so , planning this trip to go to Hawaii , I decided that I would tie it in with the sports trade show , the Ski Industries Association trade show , which was happening in Las Vegas every year .

So the plan was have a business trip , fly to Las Vegas , get to see all this latest sports equipment . Then I would go to Hawaii .

But in the planning and logistics of that I discovered that a few of my peers , a few of the other guys that owned ski stores and some of the importers of some of the big brands of ski and snowboard equipment , they were going up to Alaska to go heli skiing and I'm like , oh okay , I need to get on that trip . That sounds right up my alley .

But they told me , no , it's boys only and skiers only , and of course I was a female riding a snowboard and they really didn't want me to go with them . But when somebody dropped out and they needed to get the numbers in order to cover their costs , all of a sudden Jen jumps in . Girls are allowed .

I'd been watching all of these extreme snowboard movies and every year when they would come out they would have a section on Valdez , alaska , the ultimate place to go heli-skiing and these guys and girls would get out of the helicopter on top of these big , pointy mountains and they would leave these beautiful tracks down the mountain , and that was something that I

had always dreamed of doing . I didn't realize it was going to come true until this trip , because I was going to Hawaii after Alaska . Of course I had that kite with me and I made friends with some of the heli ski guides . You know those male skiers that didn't really want me in their group .

I didn't realize , but they'd actually gone up to the owner of the heli operation , said , oh , she's with us , but she's not with us , if you know what I mean . So I got put in a different group to them . You know skiers and snowboarders didn't get along back in the day and so of course they didn't want a snowboarder in their group .

I got put in with this incredible guide called Jerry and another guide I met , steve , and I sort of started hanging out with the locals and which was incredible , you know to meet these people that were living the dream . You know they were actually doing what I talked about . I was selling people snowboards and talking about snowboarding .

They were actually doing it . They were up there in the big mountains and I was just inspired and enthralled with how these people had a lifestyle like that .

And in my discussions with this kind of sexy heli-ski guide , steve , we discovered that he was a windsurfer also and he actually had a couple of trainer kites with him when the helicopter can't fly , so if it , trainer kites with him when the helicopter can't fly , so if it's windy and stormy , the helicopter can't fly .

Every day you don't get to have your dreams come true every day . Mother nature has nothing to do with that . We decided that we would go out and fly our kites with our snowboards on and and give it a try . He'd already had that , that idea as well . I hadn't really thought about it until now , but it seemed like a good idea at the time .

And we went out there and started flying our kites and trying to get towed around with our snowboards , which was sort of working . Don't forget , I haven't had my lesson yet , okay .

You hadn't had your lesson yet in Hawaii , but you kind of started , you know , you and sexy Steve started doing that , you know , in the mountains of Alaska and it kind of I guess it worked somewhat to in order to kind of keep moving forward with the whole , the whole snow kiting thing .

We're like oh wow . You know , imagine if we could use these kites to take us up the mountains as well . You know , at that stage I was starting to learn some backcountry backcountry , you know hiking , which was just hard work . You know , hiking up a mountain take you five hours to hike up there .

All of a sudden those helicopters seemed really cheap , right To get land on the top of that mountain . And so we started getting this idea .

And after we left and I went to Hawaii , of course , steve came with me and we continued our courting relationship in Hawaii and he was showing off on his windsurfer and I was getting slammed into the water learning how to kiteboard .

But , you know , starting to get the hang of it and that was definitely the way to get into the sport is to go and get professional lessons , because they're going to teach you all of the safety features , how to really be safe , how to make smart decisions . You know , is it a good time to go for you today If you're new to the sport ?

Is it too windy , is it too light , are the waves too big ? And so safety was definitely the key to longevity in this sport , and getting some lessons really teaches you everything

you need to know in order to be safe , as long as you listen to your instructor .

Or if you don't put enough power in the kite and you go over forwards and face plant , or if you don't put enough power in the kite , if you , if you're tentative , you just fall backwards onto your butt and so we call it the tea bagging stage , because you feel like a tea bag going up and down , up and down , up and down , up and down , and then that

moment comes where you get up and you start moving .

And that was just one of the most incredible feelings of my life , not just the feeling of motion and speed and feeling the wind in my face , but the feeling of empowerment from wind power and being proud of yourself because you've made it through that frustration stage and you've overcome the fear , because there's always fear in learning something new , and especially

with something like wind , which is so powerful .

pulled along Do you have to have some sort of I mean , it looks like you have to have a little bit of strength because , like you said , that wind looks pretty strong and when people are getting pulled along , it seems like it's you got to be pretty strong to do this .

Of course , once you've been doing it for a while , we're gonna , we're gonna build some , some guns , of course , because we're getting exercise all the time . But that isn't actually the way we fly a kite . It's not strength-based . You're wearing a harness and then you're hanging off the kite .

So you choose your kite size , dependent on how much you weigh and your standard of kiting . So , you know , you might be , say , on a 10-meter kite , okay , and maybe you weigh a little bit more than me , so I might be on an 8-meter kite , and then that little girl that I'm inspired by she's going to be on a 6-meter kite .

So we're all using different size kites that relate to our body weight and what we're trying to achieve . Those guys that you mentioned that go up in the sky , they're going to use a really big kite , so they've got so much power that they can load the lines , pull in the bar and it's going to shoot them into the sky , right ?

If you don't want to do that , don't use too big a kite .

Then you've got your free riders , and they're the ones that you know tack backwards and forwards , working on having beautiful carving transitions . And they're the ones that you know tack backwards and forwards , working on having beautiful carving transitions . And they call it mowing the lawn , going backwards and forwards .

And those guys have got big smiles on their faces . They're happy just being out there and sailing like a boat from A to B , going upwind , going downwind , and that's probably the most common type of kiteboarding out there . You've then got kite surfing , which is what I love to do and that's what I'm doing here on the Oregon coast .

We use our kites to go out in the waves and to actually catch a wave . So it's like toe-in surfing . We can use the kite to tow us out over the white water . Then we look into the distance . We see that big set wave coming that we want to catch , and then we're going to turn onto that wave and we're using the wind power to get us in position .

As soon as that wave picks up and you can feel the wave power take over , that's starting to . To give you some momentum , we can actually turn the wind power off by pushing our hands out , so the kite's not towing us as much anymore and now we're surfing .

We're catching a wave We've just towed in , we can carve bottom turns , top turns down the line and get a great surfing experience and then , just before that big wave's about to crash behind you and close out , we can pull back in on the bar and shoot out the front and it crashes behind you and we can go back out and do it again and do laps , and that's

the kite surfing style of kiting .

You can go pretty much as long as your body fitness can take , and the wind , of course . If the wind dies , game over .

I mean , is it just as popular as the ? You know the , as popular as the ? You know the actual , the ocean surfing type of kite stuff or what would you ?

And it's called snow kiting , and you can either use skis or a snowboard on your feet , whichever you're most comfortable with , whichever one you love to do , and then you can use a kite , and you can use the same kites that we use on water , which are called inflatable

kites . They call them lei leading edge inflatable kites . That just means that we pump them up full of air so if they crash on the water , they float and we can water relaunch them , and those kites work great on snow as well , but they tend to be a little bit heavier .

You've got to carry a pump , and so we have another style of kites called foil kites , and those are just fabric based , very much like a paraglider or a speed wing , and they have holes in the front , so when you launch them they fill up with air and to hold their shape .

And so we have the option of two different styles of kites , and then we have the option of skis or snowboard on our feet . Now . The reason why you don't see as many snow kiters out there is because everybody loves to go to the beach . Not everybody loves to go into cold weather .

So I think that the summer water kite boarders have got the numbers a lot higher , based on what people , the climate people love , versus the winter snow kiting side of the sport .

Because not only do you need to be probably an intermediate to advanced skier or snowboarder , you've also got to have some backcountry skills , because we're doing our sport outside of the resorts . So if you go to a ski resort , you're not necessarily going to see snow kiters around .

We need to be out in the back country , away from lifts , away from people and away from trees . So the locations that we are going are above tree line . They might be a frozen lake or a big open paddock in Idaho or Utah . I've done some good snow kiting in Utah .

If you go to Strawberry Reservoir near Park City on a windy day , you're going to see a lot of snow kiters . So ultimately it's a matter of going to the place where those snow kiters hang out right . We're like these wild animals and you need to know where to find us when to find you . Where to find us .

But if you go to one of the top snow kiting locations in the world and , as I mentioned , it's all about conditions so we need a big open area with no big obstacles . We also need clean wind flow , and you don't have clean wind flow everywhere , especially in the mountains . The mountains can make the wind turbulent and there can be no wind at all .

It can be very gusty . So there's only certain areas around the world that tend to have a nice clean wind flow flowing through a valley normally . Or maybe you're at high altitude with some better wind flow and if you go to those places , you're going to see a lot of snow kiters on a good day .

And so one of the places that is one of the world-class snow kiting locations is actually the place I went heli-skiing in Valdez , alaska . There's a place called Thompson Pass and we didn't know at the time when we were first learning , but you get really good wind flow through there on north and south wind .

We're at lower altitudes , so we're actually getting more like a sea breeze there , right , and we can probably snow kite about four to five days a week during the springtime . So you can heli-ski one day , snow kite the next . One of the reasons why that is an epic place to go is it has great places to learn . There's a big frozen lake .

Also , we have these mountains that go up very close to the road and the cool thing is is that the mountain has a slope and the wind the wind angle to slope angle is just lined up beautifully that we can use our kites to actually go up the mountain and back down , essentially using our kites , like our own personal ski resort .

So you're like really into this adrenaline thing because going into the winter , you know , in a place like Alaska where it's winter , you've got to . You know got to be geared up , you got to be comfortable . You got to probably have certain gloves on . You got to , you know you got to be comfortable .

What is it about you and this whole extreme temperature stuff that you love ?

Right , and the benefits of going outside your comfort zone is that we start challenging ourselves and at first that challenge can feel like fear . We're scared of the cold weather , we're scared of dropping into that big mountain or that wave and , as a kite instructor , when people come to me to learn , they have that fear .

And fear always comes with going outside that comfort zone , because it's a place we haven't been before and we don't know how we're going to feel . Once you overcome that fear and the first time's the hardest all of a sudden you feel empowered . It's like , wow , I did it . I thought I couldn't do it and now I've done it .

This is awesome , and that is such a great feeling that you're prepared to do it again and again and again . And so all of a sudden , that comfort zone starts expanding and we can talk about that with temperature , like you're asking about . I mean , I'm from Australia .

I didn't grow up , you know , and acclimatized to these minus temperatures , but luckily my parents had a ski shop , so they taught me about all the right layers to wear , and I know that it's worth spending $100 on a pair of gloves because your hands are going to be warm , right , and so justifying the money that it takes to buy those technical fabrics that are

designed for keeping us warm is worth every cent , because you're going to go out into that environment and you're going to be warm , just like here on the Oregon coast . I'm wearing everyone's like what are you doing ? Kite surfing on the Oregon coast ? The water's freezing . I think it's about 49 degrees right now , which all my Aussie friends are like .

You're crazy , but you put on a 5'4 wetsuit , you put on booties on your feet , you put on a hood and you're having the best time of your life . You're not even cold . So it really comes down to what you're wearing and then having the courage , getting brave , to go outside your comfort zone in temperature or fear level .

And as I started going outside in these , you know , all of a sudden it's minus 10 and then I'm enjoying my snow kiting so much . And what happens is when the wind picks up , we get wind chill , and so it might be minus 10 temperature , but then all of a sudden it's minus 30 , minus 40 , with wind chill . But I'm loving my sport so much I'm wanting to .

You know , what do I need to do to stay out in that weather so I can have my fun ? Well , I need to put two puffy down jackets on and I need to have a neoprene mask over my face . How can I adapt ? And our bodies really do adapt better than we trust them to be . Our bodies can adapt to high temperatures .

Everybody down there in Florida I know you guys are all working on your adaption to hot weather right now , and when I'm up in Alaska , I'm learning to deal with these cold temperatures , and this year in particular , jake , I've been training to actually possibly cross Greenland and we're going to be exposed camping in a tent at minus 30 .

And so I started challenging myself this winter to go out and camp in a tent to see could I survive out there . And this year I got the chance to camp for four nights in a row at minus 20 to minus 30 .

And I'm talking Fahrenheit now , not just Celsius , and I loved the challenge and , yes , it was a little uncomfortable at times but I'd done my research , put in the time to have a good sleeping bag and know to boil enough snow to make hot water to put in a bottle to put in your sleeping bag like a hot water bottle and I kind of cheated with a couple of

those electric hand warmers just through my interim period there . It was amazing to know that I can survive .

conditioner , we feel uncomfortable . But if we can train our bodies to , you know , go outside , spend some more time outside and put on an extra jumper if you get cold or take off a layer if you're getting too hot . All of a sudden we are more comfortable in a wider range of conditions .

And I went up to a place called Barrow that's about as far north as you can go , the most northern point in the US and I went up there and I found a photographer who takes pictures of the polar bears and you can pay to go out with him in his you know truck that has the tracks on the bottom and you can go out there and see polar bears .

And on my second trip to Alaska I was lucky enough to see 70 polar bears , that's seven zero 70 polar bears over two days mothers , twin cubs , and I was fascinated . I felt like the luckiest girl in the world getting this experience and again having a dream come true in Alaska . Years later I had the opportunity .

After I'd learned to kite , I became , you know , a qualified kite instructor . I got invited up to a remote village in Alaska to teach the Inuit native kids how to fly kites . What an opportunity , right ? You think that , hey , what does she do for a job ? She flies kites . You know where can that take you in the world ?

Well , it's taken me a lot of places and I've had a lot of experiences and it gave

me great joy and it still does going to schools , elementary schools , and talking about wind and weather and making kites with kids and introducing kids to kite flying . So I took up this opportunity and they said you're going to Kaktovik , where the is Kaktovik .

And so I looked it up on a map and it was in the middle of nowhere , right up on the North coast of Alaska , on a little Island off the coast , and it was famous for polar bear viewing in the summertime , and so I was super , super excited . I started manifesting seeing a polar bear .

I was like I'm going to see another polar bear and , visualizing this , my girlfriend made me a hat with a polar bear on it and I had a t-shirt with a polar bear on it and I was the super polar bear tourist . I arrive up there and I'm told sorry , jen , it's the wrong time of year .

All the polar bears are actually out on the ice this time of year , I came to the conclusion that I may not see my polar bear , but it was fascinating going into every school , household , restaurant and seeing these incredible pictures on the walls of polar bears , all of these posters saying you know what to do if you see a polar bear . You know don't run .

You know , hold your ground , wave your arms , yell polar bear , polar bear . But I was also told that the village had a polar bear defense strategy .

They had these guys that they called polar bear patrol , and they ride around on snowmobiles and they have two guns in the back , one with bullets and one with fireworks and , depending on the situation , if a bear's coming close to the village , they're going to scare that bear away , and so that sort of makes you feel a little bit safer .

But all of a sudden my fear level of polar bears went down and I found myself putting on skis and cruising around the outside of the villages by myself , trying to absorb as much of the culture and see as many things as I could while I was there .

But that island of Kaktovik is on the Beaufort Sea and if you start studying wind you'll know that there's actually a Beaufort wind scale . It's called the Beauford wind scale , which I'd heard of and I didn't realise why Beauford had a wind scale , but I quickly found out .

The wind followed me to Kaktovik and within two days we had about 80 miles 100-mile-an-hour winds blowing through the village and apparently this was normal this is normal weather for for there but of course that wasn't the wind speed that I could take these kids outside and fly kites . So we started doing indoor activities , and you can .

You can learn a lot about wind and weather . You can learn about setting up the kite , you can actually do some indoor kite flying , and so I was still able to to share my knowledge and my passion with these kids , but unfortunately we couldn't go outdoors .

A few days later , when that storm finally started to clear , it was still super windy , but all of a sudden the clouds started to part at about 10 pm and I was eating my dinner with a couple of other teachers who were teaching at the school and we decided we would go out and watch the sunset , which was supposed to set just after midnight , and I'd never

seen that before . I'm like , yeah , let's see the sunset . And we had a couple of dogs with us and I was already out the door and one of them said , jen , grab your kite . And I'm like , ok , I ran back in and grabbed my kite and we went around to one side of the village . It was incredible . You know , the sun took forever , forever to set .

You know , normally sunsets in below 48 it's , it's over in a second . If you don't have a camera , that sunset's gone .

But up there it just seemed to last forever and the colors were all in the sky and I got my kite out and I'm flying my kite and we weren't in a great location , we had buildings up , wind of us which was sort of creating some turbulence . So this kite , this kite was going up and down and up and down and and being quite erratic in the sky .

And the next thing I know , I hear one of the teachers yell behind me , bear , bear . And I look over and sure enough , there's a polar bear charging towards me and it wasn't coming from a long distance away . It had come over over the rise near what's called a snow fence .

They have this fence there that the snow sort of hits and so it doesn't come into the village as much and so it makes kind of a mound and the bear had been behind the mound . And now it's come over the mound and it's running straight towards me and this was the first time I really ever had my body just go into our natural fear response .

Okay , and no matter how many posters I'd read , my fear response was flight . I turned around and I started running . I saw the other people I was with . I saw their backs and they were all running as well . We had all reacted the same way because all of a sudden , there's this wild polar bear , you know , running towards us .

But what happened was not only did that thought about . You know how you've got to be the fastest runner if there's a bear chasing you . I'm a pretty fast runner , but I'm a long way behind the rest of my crew . Right , I know that I'm closest to the bear and I'm running . Next thing , I know I fall flat on my face .

I'm like , oh my God , I've just fallen over . That's very unlike me to fall over . I've got great balance , I'm a good runner . Why have I fallen over ? The next thing I realize is I'm still attached to my kite .

One of the safety features of our kites is that we've got a leash attached to us and this particular kite had a leash with Velcro around my wrist , and so I was running one way and the wind was pulling the kite the other way , and so it was like I had an anchor and I ran as fast as I could until that anchor grabbed and then boom , I'm now on the

ground , which was not a good situation because my momentum had stopped and that bear was still running at full speed . So as soon as I got up , now I I'm looking at the bear to see it coming towards me , and it's getting really close and I'm thinking to myself oh my gosh , this could be it , jen .

Yeah , you wanted to see a polar bear , and now it's getting way too close , but all I could think about doing was getting that leash off . That was the thing that stopped me getting away . I realized I had no weapon with me .

Even my kite bar , which was the only so-called weapon I might have , was away from me because I'd let go of the kite and I just had this long leash which leads to the bar . So I'm trying to get this Velcro wrist leash off .

The guy behind me had turned around and looked , seen me on the ground , and he'd stopped , realizing I was in trouble and he stopped and he started yelling and started waving his arms like we're supposed to do , and I'm sure that that would have would have helped .

But all I remember is seeing those eyes of the polar bear meeting mine and those big feet the way they run is incredible and I remember just the action of this bear running towards me , eye to eye . The next thing that happened was I managed to get that wrist leash off and at this point the bear is about the same distance as my kite .

Now I know , know , my kite lines are about . They're about 20 meters , you know long . Okay , so we're talking I don't know 50 , 60 feet away and that's way too close for a polar bear to be . So you know I'm starting to feel the extreme fear of this could be my demise . But I got that wrist leash off and the next thing , I know , the wind took my kite .

It blew the kite away because it wasn't attached to me anymore and I watched the bear turn and chase my kite .

Although it was getting close to being eaten by a polar bear , I wouldn't give um , you know , give up that experience for the world . It was really something very unique and something that's taught me a lot of , a lot of lessons in life .

I was just relieved , you know , a huge feeling of relief that I'd gotten to safety , that I had called out and had . The building that was behind us was the only building that is manned 24 hours a day . You know it's after midnight , nobody's up .

This building was the electrical plant , and so somebody was awake and he called polar bear patrol and those guys turned up , you know , five or 10 minutes later on their snow machine , and I was very thankful that they shot fireworks at the bear to scare it out of the village , because if they'd seen it , you know , threatening my life , they would have used the

gun and I wouldn't have felt very good about the outcome of that ending of the story . So I was grateful for the experience . I was relieved that nobody had gotten hurt , including the polar bear , that the bear had gotten away safely too .

We went back to the house and did a bit of a debrief and there was anger , there was fear , there was tears , there was a lot of emotions running in the group , but but ultimately I learned a lot . I really believe that that bear was just curious of the kite . It had seen the kite from a distance up in the air .

Bears are curious and and so it wasn't looking to to eat this little Australian girl it was . It really just wanted to figure out what that kite was , and so it really made me have even more desire to learn about polar bears , keep doing my research and wanting to talk about climate change and the environment that those bears really have .

So it's increased my love and passion for wildlife , our weather , our environment , more than ever .

But I know for you personally too , you've gone through some of your own trials and here we are talking . You're super upbeat , you have all this energy about you , but I know you've had some personal things . I know you've had some some brain surgeries and things like that .

Do you mind kind of just sharing a little bit about what's gone on with that and this and how you stay so , so positive and keep keep moving forward when , when all this is happening ?

I had started doing some mindset training , seeing a therapist to help me overcome that sadness that comes along with pain , that , no matter how positive you are after you're in pain for so long , it really wears you down .

And I'm very grateful to doing a lot of that training and a lot of that mindset training I've been doing for years with my sports , like I've been talking about , of overcoming fear and getting outside our comfort zone . And so those lessons that I've learned in my sports really came into play in February when I was told that they discovered three brain aneurysms .

And at that point I didn't even know what a brain aneurysm was , but very quickly I realized that it was pressure in the arteries in your brain that had blown out the walls of the arteries . Most people discover they've got brain aneurysms . When they rupture , they explode and they have a stroke .

So the first thing that I needed to do , and that I did was just to be so grateful , to feel so much gratitude to those doctors that discovered them and so grateful to the universe for allowing us to discover them before they ruptured and before I had a stroke , because then it's a different scenario .

Once we discovered the brain aneurysms , the next thing was to find a doctor , and again I'm so grateful that about three hours away from our condo in Montana was a surgeon , dr Khan in Billings , montana , who specialized in brain aneurysms and was old enough that he had the experience of doing thousands of repairs on brain aneurysms and helping people .

But he was young enough that he was using the modern technology as well . And so you know , at first I thought they were going to have to cut in through my scalp in order to repair them , but he actually went through the groin and he feeds up the tools he needs through the femoral , the artery , up into your brain .

And during February I felt a lot of fear of going through these surgeries and the outcome . The biggest thing I had to deal with was grieving , grieving my life , grieving my sports that I loved . Would I ever get to fly my kite again ? Would I ever ski again , and there was a time when my doctor told me maybe I won't .

I was really grieving the life that I enjoyed and the life that I was still planning with my husband , and these goals of going to Greenland , these adventures that I was already training for and planning , and that was really difficult and I think it's something that everybody goes through when they're given a diagnosis of something in their health like that .

I realized that my body is going to heal better and deal with this better if I can keep a positive mindset .

I got myself you know my affirmations , my mantras that I was chanting when I was , you know , eyes closed , going into surgery I'm brave , I'd be strong , I'd be lucky , I'd be loved and I'd be so grateful , and I just chanted these over and over again and that was one of the tools that really helped me stay positive .

I also ordered myself a kite believe it or not , the world's smallest kite and it was the only kite I could find that I could actually fly from my hospital bed .

And there's a photograph on my social media of me flying a kite in ICU above my head and with the biggest smile on my face , because I really believe that something as small as flying a kite can give you some joy even in these , these darkest moments , right ?

The other thing was having a great support system , you know , having having a therapist that I that I see that I can talk about all my fears , I can be honest with her and really just say what's on my mind and she can give me some some good feedback in order to have that courage and and keep that positive , positive sort of energy going .

So this has been a really tough time for me this year and I've spent a lot of time unable to do my sports . Some of my friends are saying that I have this unique skill of pivoting my passion , just like I mentioned , of getting this kite I could fly in ICU .

I've been going back to elementary schools and teaching kids about kite and getting so much joy out of seeing them flying a kite , running around , giggling , laughing and getting joy .

I've had parents come up to me and say , jen , I picked up my kid from school every day this week and she's been in tears , but today she ran up to the car with the biggest smile on her face flying a kite . I can't thank you enough . And so , really , after my setback and , of course , having a layback away from my sports .

I've managed to to give back and starting to have my comeback into into my my sports as well . I've also written a children's book called Gail and the Red Kite of Courage , teaching some of these lessons of finding joy of flying a kite and getting the courage to go outside in the wind even if you don't like it , and dancing with that kite and the wind .

So I really feel like there's some great positives that have come out of this really negative time of my life , and I may not have gone down those paths if I hadn't have had this experience of making me see how short life can be .

So thank you for for doing that , because that that helps me as well , just to realize , you know , hey , having gratitude serving others , that's the way to , it's the way to go . So I appreciate you sharing that . Since we're getting kind of close to wrapping up on time here , what does the future hold for Jenny ?

And maybe , maybe I won't be up on the big mountains and in the big waves in the future , but I got the same amount of joy sharing my passion and love for kites and wind with these kids and that gave me great joy and I appreciate you know you're complimenting me on that because it really was something that I'm getting great joy out of .

I've actually written my second book , so there's a series of three books that I'm writing for children that are coming out . I'm raising money for a cancer charity called Red Kite believe it , or so ?

They raise money for families with cancer , and my brother had cancer when he was young and had his leg amputated , and I'm the sibling that grew up dealing with the cancer , so we were a cancer family and so that means a lot to me as well . So , really giving back .

This is my time to give back and to share my lessons , because if life is cut short for some reason , whether it's age or injury or illness . I really want to leave a legacy and not take that knowledge with me . Someone said recently , where is the most knowledge ? Is it in the library or the graveyard ? And that really sat with me .

There's so much knowledge in that graveyard and I wanted to make sure that I shared my stories and shared the lessons that I'd learned , and I'm so grateful to you , jake , today for giving me the opportunity to share some of these stories and these lessons with your audience , because your podcast will outlive both of us , and I really am grateful to you for this

opportunity .

you might have some children , nieces , nephews somebody that would really find some joy in those books too .

Be sure and follow her on social media at Adrenagen to see what she is up to . Thanks to each and every one of you for listening to the show . I am so blessed to be able to bring these fantastic stories of adventure and overcoming challenges each and every week . I would love to hear from you .

You can DM me on Instagram at journeywithjakepodcast or send me an email to jake at journeywithjakenet . Reach out , say hi , let me know what you think of the show and what has been your favorite episode . Speaking of episodes , I have another fantastic episode coming up next week with my guest Will Mara .

Will is an opportunist , a marketer and someone who thrives on getting outside his comfort zone . Will likes to go places your mother doesn't want you to go . Be sure and tune in next week for another great episode . Just remember it's not always about the destination as it is about the journey . Take care everybody .