Blinding snow whipped into a blizzard at 10,000 feet above sea level in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah as I followed the faint boot trail up a ridge on a quest for fresh powder. Skis were cinched to my back. I was miles from the nearest resort. Despite the cold, the wind and the fact that a fall off a mountain would not end well, I could not have been happier.

The adventure high — a cocktail of focus, effort and love of the outdoors, with a dash of danger — is the goal for millions of travelers like me. At 58, I have chased it skiing, kitesurfing, mountain biking and backpacking. For me, this state of transcendence is a need. Maybe not on the level of food and water, but close.

The adventure travel market is projected to grow from more than $406 billion in 2024 to $1 trillion in 2030, according to Natalia Bayona, executive director of the U.N. World Tourism Organization. Bayona defines adventure tourism as travel involving physical effort in natural outdoor spaces, with a real or perceived risk, such as mountaineering, scuba diving and backcountry skiing.

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“This is the tourism everyone wants,” Bayona said. “Less crowds, preserve the environment, get active.”

Destination marketing and social media have helped part the curtain on the great outdoors for millions of people. But some experts say the desire to test ourselves in awe-inspiring environments has deeper roots.

“For hundreds of thousands of years we lived outside, overcoming challenges, and developed a strong connection to nature,” said Paula Reid, co-editor of the book “Adventure Psychology.” When she’s not undertaking her own escapades — skiing to the South Pole or sailing around the world — Reid studies the effects of such experiences on people’s minds, bodies and emotions.

“Adventure opens up our minds, broadens our vision and leads to positive emotions that can often last for weeks,” she said. “It’s a combination of awe and wonder at the environment; the production of dopamine in the body, which reduces perceived effort; and the fact that you’re undertaking new experiences, which activates your brain.”

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Exploring wellness

At least some science bears that out: A study published in March in the journal Behavioral Sciences found that regular engagement in outdoor adventure “can be transformational in reducing feelings of ill-being and enhancing eudaimonic well-being” — that is, feelings of meaning and self-realization. Further, the authors wrote, “Continually entering a liminal state, experiencing emotions, and overcoming challenges and risks during [adventure] are crucial to ‘successful’ long-lasting transformation.”

And the outdoor component of that activity seems to make a big difference. Research published in January in the journal Nature found that 90-minute forest walks improved people’s moods through increased delivery of dopamine to the brain, lowered their production of stress hormones and increased secretion of antibodies that might help improve infection resistance. That work adds to a large body of anecdotal evidence showing increases in self-reported well-being in people who spend time in nature.

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Another study published in 2018 in Lancet Psychiatry found that people who exercised had 43 percent fewer days of poor mental health in the previous month than individuals who did not exercise.

Contrast that with many of our lives today: shuttling among a familiar set of buildings (home, office, school, stores, gym) in routines that, Reid said, narrow our perspectives.

“There’s so much chasing of comfort … and comfort breeds laziness. That’s the biggest barrier, psychologically and physically, to recapturing the childlike joy of discovery,” she said.

The risk-taking gene

That notion led journalist Michael Easter to write “The Comfort Crisis,” a book that decries submission to convenience and encourages people to seek fulfillment through grand escapades. For him, that meant joining a month-long elk hunt in the remote Alaskan wilderness, a luxury he acknowledges is available to few people.

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“It was something I wasn’t sure I could finish, and that was what made it such a growth experience,” he said.

David Strayer, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Utah, said some people are wired to explore.

“If you look at our ancestral history, the kids who today would be diagnosed with ADHD were out exploring the environment and probably reaped rewards,” such as new sources of food, Strayer said, even as they faced elevated risks.

“Getting out there without our phones or other technology and embracing the environment on its terms gives us space to ask bigger questions, and in my experience opens people’s awareness to their surroundings in a remarkable way,” said Strayer, who studies attention and distraction.

Reckoning with danger

Things can go wrong in the wilderness, but it’s that element of uncertainty, coupled with the potential payout of untracked snow, glassy surf or a pristine coral reef, that makes us feel so alive.

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What’s considered adventure varies greatly among people. For some, paddling a canoe on a calm lake is more than enough, while others need to free-solo a 1,000-foot cliff face to get the buzz.

Which is why Reid, the editor, said it’s important to “go knowingly into the unknown,” preparing as much as possible but understanding that a key tenet of adventuring is accepting some unpredictability.

“If you’re 100 percent guaranteed that everyone’s going to be safe and that nothing’s going to go wrong, that’s not adventure,” she said. “We evolved to get dirty, to sleep outside, suffer a little bit.”

How to get adventure into your life

To work adventure into your life, start modestly, for example by doing a familiar activity in an unfamiliar setting. Reid is a fan of swimming at water holes in beautiful places. Or, as I did recently with my wife and kids, try hiking a challenging trail at night, which forced us to slow down and focus on every step.

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The goal is to stretch your comfort zone but not submit to such misery that you’d never want to leave home again. This starts with being honest with yourself about what you enjoy and the skills you’re bringing to the endeavor. Acknowledge your limits and accept that things could go wrong, possibly to the point of injury.

Like most things in life, adventuring is more fun with company; the Adventure Travel Trade Association maintains a list of guides and outfitters — companies that lead tours, help with trip planning and push participants to expand their limits in relative safety.