A love of mountains, cold, ice, snow, suffer-fests, and problem solving... it was the first twenty years of outdoor adventuring that annealed me for the recent focus on cold, remote, exploratory firsts.
Mine is a story of natural progression. It began with backpacking day trips, which became overnight trips and evolved to multi-day grueling adventures.
Then came the love of winter... digging quinzees, reading area forestry reports to find good forest for laying down fresh ski lines, and finally a desire to bag all peaks in sight.
Eventually we had to up the technicality to reach some real summits or explore the depths of some adult canyons... mountaineering and canyoneering were now a full blown passion.
Staying in shape was through adventure racing... nothing beats a long suffer-fest, filled with little flags to find, that are buried deep in some of the most rugged terrain on earth. All done with map & compass navigation, problem solving and teamwork. I truly believe that sport shaped who I am today.
Now, living in a mountain playground, I am surrounded by terrain that continues to take my breath away and allows for more vertical skills development.
It's a life-long journey and here's a snapshot of those years...
Nepal - Chasing Firsts in Thin Air | 2015 & 2016
Read here about some cool water sampling we did for microplastics research.
Utah - Slotty Slots of the Desert
Canadian Rockies - So lucky to have this playground as our backyard!
Peru - The Cordillera Blanca | 2011
Bolivia - Condiriri Group | 2009
Adventure Racing - Grit, Dirt, Pain... Bring it On!