Our sports have long heralded rating systems that let us know just how we're doing. We may bicker over their ratings, but we return to them again and again. They help us set goals, and push ourselves harder. Today, Brendan Leonard dives in with some simple ideas on who and what are hard core. How do you measure up?

Christine McMahon read Ranger Rick, stole her brother's Boy Scouts Manual to learn survival tricks and was driving by age 9. She grew up relatively carefree surrounded by friends and family who made sure she feared nothing. Until the day circled in red on her calendar arrived. The day when she would try to walk again. It was time for Christine to take the first steps to leaving the crutches and wheelchairs behind and embrace the possible on her own.

We present our 2011 Year of Big Ideas show. Professional athletes, passionate weekend warriors and Dirtbag Diaries contributors come together to present what they are working on in the coming year. Get inspired and then buckle down.

Mark Rutherford and John Merritt grew up sharing the same sand box. Twenty years ago, Mark began a successful adventure fly fishing guide service in the Bristol Bay region. An avid fisherman, John got in touch with Mark and scheduled a trip. That first trip marked the beginning of a decade of trips, each more adventurous than the last. Today, we are headed up stream to the confluence of several lives.

After hitchhiking in Canada and Arizona, Graham Waugh thought he'd easily catch a ride from Needles to Joshua Tree. He didn't account for the nearly deserted 100 odd miles on California's highway 95. He scrawled "Canadian" on his last piece of cardboard, and only then did he discovered something wonderful.

This last fall, Becca and I embarked on a trip of a lifetime. To those who asked, I offered a slew of reasons. Those closest to me knew better. I was trying to save myself. At its core, The Diaries has always been about the joy of wild places and our community's profound optimism, but at times contributors have stepped forward to provide stories about personal struggle, sorrow and depression Today, I present my own story.

Surfer. Waves. Design. Surfboard. In 25 years of surfing, Will Ranken never thought much about how those four elements interrelated to one another. When he needed a new board, he would buy one off the racks, hand over the cash, and soon he was paddling into the line up again. That was the status quo, until he read an article about making and shaping wooden surfboards.

Today, we present Tales of Terror, two stories from the most terrifying moments of our contributor's lives. Our first story was recorded in the field somewhere in Afghanistan. The second comes from my old stomping ground -- Tahoe. Despite the differences, both stories are the result of passion, imagination and creativity.

When writer and biker Dean Campbell packs he "always forgets one thing and always brings too much to read." Can your packing style influence how you experience a new place? After traveling by bike for four months through Africa, Dean understands that what we bring dictates what we take home from our distant travels.

This summer I decided to not only try road biking, I decided to embrace it in all its spandex glory. My climbing could suffer. The mountain bike could collect cobwebs in the garage. Along the way, I discovered the joy of riding through my city.

Growing up, inheritance and parenthood – these themes have quietly woven their way into the Diaries’ Fabric. Today, Bob Nydam presents a story about the sometimes painful process of watching a child grow up.

Maybe the cowboy is gone, but the tradition of going West to reinvent oneself has remained a part of our culture. Today, Brendan Leonard presents a story about mountain people and the dreams parents instill in their children.

When it came time to settle down after returning from a Peace Corps stint, the economy tanked and Ryan Nickum pieced together whatever work he could -- data entry, process server and ditch digging. He began to question whether his youthful wanderlust now impeded a more adult life.

In August 2008, 11 climbers lost their lives on K2. The ensuing media frenzy was just that -- a frenzy. What really happened up there? Freddie Wilkinson, started asking questions and in the process he found himself chasing an incredible story. You don't need a journalism degree or a press pass to be a reporter.

James Lucas had dreams of rock stardom. He wanted to cast a shadow longer than El Cap. He wanted to live forever in camp fire conversation. He wanted to be Yosemite's Next Top Idol. He turned to the legends for advice and they welcomed him with open arms. Turns out nobody can resist sandbagging a young hungry climber.

At a quick consideration boxing and alpinism have little in common. Ponder if for a second and you might see the similarities. After years in the ring and even longer in the vertical life, Kelly Cordes certainly does. Today Kelly presents a story about the biggest fight of his life and embracing the mythic choss pile that has haunted him since his early days of climbing.

We've all got them. War wounds. Battle scars. We get them from crashing bikes in the woods, surgeon's scalpels and cheese grating falls on granite. The real incredible thing is that we chose to see what we want in our wounds and in others. We look past them to the emotion and memory behind them. They become the physical diary of our lives.

Last year, Aimee Brown got the opportunity of a lifetime a job writing for National Geographic. Excited, she packed her Subaru and moved east. After a few weeks of living in D.C. a nagging feeling set in. Were days looking out an office window, lonely treadmill runs and sun salutations without the sun success? It took six thousand miles of driving for her to answer that question.

Harini Ayer came to the States from Southern India almost a decade ago and fell in love with this country, her research and climbing. If Harini switched jobs, or took a break from her research, she lost her ability to stay here. Climbing took a back seat, until eventually Harini made a stand for herself, her style of life and took an incredible risk.

Ryan Nickum was a 20-year-old college athlete with a passion for brutal tackles and body checks. Spring break of his sophomore year, Nickum and his best friend Woodchuck were too broke for Cancun's party scene and opted instead to join a band of radical environmentalist organizing a tree sit in Southern Oregon. There are many ways to stumble into activism.

When writer Alissa Bohling and her longtime boyfriend Paul set out on the Pacific Crest Trail, they thought a trip of that significance would leave a mark on their relationship. They didn't foresee that it would leave Paul hobbling and struggling to get healthy years after they reached the Canadian border. In today's Short, Alissa puts pen to paper and imagines a pain-free life for Paul.

Today, we bring you another Year of Big Ideas -- a time to turn daydreams into concrete goals. Professional athletes, weekend warriors, and full time dreamers present their goals for 2010.

When Scott Harvey’s poem “40 Miles of Inspiration” showed up in my Inbox, it was a like a breath of fresh air. It’s hard not to smile at this refreshing cure for the mid-week blues. Farm dogs. Wayward bats. Coyotes. All in a day’s commute.

There is type one fun and type two fun, but today, we are going to explore type three fun. This is the epic. The suffer fest. What does type three fun entail? Why do some people seem particularly drawn to these types of adventures and what could possibly motivate us to embrace type three fun? Today, we bring you answers.

Two and a half years ago, climber and Diaries contributor, Kelly Cordes, signed up for a Facebook account, promptly forgot the password and found out that negotiating social media can be every bit as difficult as picking a path through gaping crevasses, rotten ice and snow-covered rock. It’s certainly just as time consuming.