What does it mean to challenge the limits of both body and mind—and to redefine what success looks like along the way? Denisa Krásná, scholar, author, and adventurer from the Czech Republic, takes us on a journey into the world of women in extreme sports.
From her early days trekking with her parents to highlining hundreds of meters above the ground, Denisa has always been drawn to adventure, isolation, and pushing herself beyond comfort. She co-edited Flow: Women’s Counternarratives from Rivers, Rock, and Sky, an inspiring anthology celebrating diverse women’s voices in adventure sports—whitewater kayaking, climbing, mountaineering, and highlining—challenging stereotypes and redefining what it means to be successful in the outdoors.
In this episode, we explore:
- Denisa’s path from scholar to adventurer and author
- How fear, frustration, and failure can become tools for growth
- The mental game behind highlining and extreme sports
- Stories of resilience, creativity, and empowerment from women across the globe
- Why inclusivity, mentorship, and community are key to thriving in adventure sports
Whether you’re an outdoor enthusiast, a woman seeking inspiration, or simply curious about the stories behind extreme adventure, Denisa’s insights will leave you reflecting on your own limits—and inspired to push past them.
Tune in for a conversation about courage, flow, and the power of women redefining adventure on their own terms.
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Show notes
- Who is Denisa
- Growing up and living in the Czech Republic
- Working as a scholar at university
- Loving research and writing about her adventure
- Writing books and academic articles
- Her early years growing up
- Travelling with her parents all the time
- Going on trekking adventures around the world from places like lapland to Nepal
- Her love for being outdoors and being isolated
- Being introverted
- Wanting to talk to adults and discuss ideas
- Her passion for reading, researching and academics
- Being active every single day
- New Book: Flow: Women’s Counternarratives from Rivers, Rock, and Sky
- How the book came about with her friend Alena Rainsberry
- Getting a grant to work on outdoor counternarratives
- Being do-ers and getting things done
- Reaching out to potential authors
- The gap in the literature
- What does counternarratives mean?
- What the typical story of success currently is in outdoor sports
- Wanting to show that success is something that should be defined by the individual - it should be fluid.
- Including stories from professional athletes who define success in the more conventional way
- Representation of women in adventure stories
- The stories that resonated and made her think in a different way
- Why every story can make you think
- The unique view of Rae Raptor aka Cheryll Glotfelty
- The advantages that her age gives her from money and time
- Talking about fear and how fear manifests in so many different ways
- Rocky Mountain Books
- Denisa view on fear and how she experiences it
- Why her view on fear is very rational and being able to distinguish between the objective and subjective fear
- Highlining and slacklining
- Her journey into highlining
- Buying a slackline during covid
- Why the improvements were related to the frequency of training
- Having quick initial progress
- Being introduced to the local slacklining community and getting a mentor
- The state of flow
- Why flow is also a word game and why it has multiple meanings
- The photo on the cover of FLOW - with Brenda Gor
- What free style highlining is and how it is different from walkers
- The mental side of highlining - zoning out
- The importance of preparing before you even get on the line
- Using rituals to get mentally into the right state of mind
- The number one cause of death in highlining
- Human mistakes and how it can happen to experienced professionals
- Why it’s good to be slightly afraid
- Always respect that you are doing an extreme sport
- Why the mental game is different for everybody
- Needing to take a few steps to get into the mental zone
- Specific training needed for the sport
- Frustration with slacking and not seeing progress
- Why you should’t give up when you first start
- Why the start can be very painful
- Why you need to trust the process
- Focus on the positive things
- Don’t lean into the frustration
- Needing to work on the mental side of highlining
- Walking 200m lines and falling once at the end on the seemingly easy part
- The struggle at the end
- Fighting the doubts in her mind
- Why these sports are like a mirror into our inner selves
- Flow, Fear, Frustration, Falling - dealing with a sense of Failure
- The lessons learned from failure - Dorothea Hamilton
- Women being framed as too ambitious and that being seen as a negative
- Climbing half dome with Alena Rainsberry
- Why it was amazing and traumatic!
- How to connect with Denisa
- Final words of advice for other women who want to take on more adventure sports
- Why it’s important to find people to do the activity with, people who support you and people who motivate you.
- Reading memoirs written by other women
Social Media
Website: www.riversrocksky.com
Instagram: @vegi.deni.slacks
Book: Flow: Women’s Counternarratives from Rivers, Rock, and Sky