u/Thordansmash

Hey all! I started my new outdoor channel one year ago today. It's mostly long-form content, with a Short every couple of weeks or so, and I thought I'd share a little insight into the journey.

I decided not to stick to a single outdoor niche. It's a passion project and hobby channel, so it covers everything from snowboarding and climbing Colorado 14ers to mountain biking and pretty much anything else outdoors.

It took me about 4–5 months to get monetized. Watch time was by far the hardest part. Since then, I've had some solid wins: one snowboarding video is closing in on 300,000 views, a couple of 14er videos are in the 20,000-view range, and a recent mountain biking video seems to be trending and doing really well.

A lot of it has been trial and error figuring out what keeps people watching and how to improve average view duration. I've spent a lot of time experimenting with different video styles, pacing, and editing. Thumbnails also took a while to figure out, especially since every topic has a different audience and visual style.

I also wanted to clarify that this isn't my first channel. I've been doing YouTube full-time for the past seven years. I run two gaming channels one with 220,000 subscribers and another with 40,000 and both focus on long-form content.

This outdoor channel was really just a fun experiment to see how I'd do outside my established niche and to test how much of YouTube success comes from analytics and optimization versus luck. Overall, I'm really happy with how it's gone so far.

Happy to answer any questions! :)

Turns Out Mountain Biking Down 14er Pikes Peak Makes for a Pretty Good Time. Anyone else try these trails out?

Just some highlights from pyramid yesterday featuring some local Goats & Moose

Took a dip into a Boulder field but still managed to suck it up and knock out my 42nd with Pyramid. PSA always wear helmets.

Why Is Crested Butte’s Bike Park So Empty? Just rode it and its insanely fun!

Just some fun footage from the El Diente and Wilson Traverse

Smokey day but managed to bang out 40 and 41 with Wilson and El Diente

Anyone else ridden Blodgett Open Space in Colorado Springs yet? The new trails are awesome

Having some fun on Knifes Edge!

Copper Mountain Might Be Colorado's Best Value Bike Park No One Goes Too

Breakdown of the Mount Sneffles 14er from yesterday. I added footage from prior climbs on Capitol, Longs, Lindsey, Shav & Tab and San Luis for a breakdown on on the different class systems. Thought it may be helpful for some folks.

Got a hitchhiker to the springs from sneffels yesterday

A little overcast today but still solid weather to knock out #39 at Sneffles

Feedback please?

Hiked Redcloud & Sunshine Peak This Week, Current 14er Conditions + Wildfire Update

For number 37 and 38 knocked out sunshine & Redcloud this morning. Little overcast so we may finally get some rain. Bonus picture of uncomp.

My 1 year Anniversary on youtube from my first upload!

Castle & Conundrum Conditions: Road, Snowfields, and Route Beta From This Week

Got to knock out my 35th and 36th 14ers, required waking up and leaving at 1am but the time with good friends made it worth it!

I rode Keystone Bike Park to see how it compares to Trestle. After riding everything from green trails to black jump lines, I think they're built for completely different riders. Which one would you choose?

Just climbed Kit Carson & Challenger Point, trail conditions, Willow Lake, and what Colorado's wildfire smoke looked like from 14,000 feet.