Dirtbag Rich Diana Grijalva: climber, guide, dirtbag royalty
Diana Grijalva is a 42-year-old outdoor educator, international guide, and almost-astrophysicist who hasn’t paid rent since 2008. (@diana.grigri)
Diana explains how she lives on seasonal wages, why she’d rather sleep in a van or hostel bunk than clock 40 hours a week, and how flexibility lets her drop everything to show up for family when it matters.
We get into her peak dirtbag years—dumpster diving, living on $7,000 a year, breaking ice off her tent in Joshua Tree—and how she’s sustained the lifestyle into her forties. Diana shares her favorite climbing hubs from Mexico to Turkey, the grind and charm of hostel life, and why she sees most jobs as “stealing people’s lives.”
She also talks about the unglamorous math behind dirtbagging: stretching cheap food and used gear, picking work that covers the basics, and saying no to anything that eats into her freedom. She lights up describing her rotation of winter haunts—Joshua Tree, Red Rocks, Moab, Potrero Chico, Greece, Spain, Sri Lanka, India, Morocco—each one a way of outsmarting the cold while deepening her love for new cultures.
Full transcript: dirtbagrich.com/diana