I have worked as a backcountry caretaker for the Appalachian Mountain Club and Randolph Mountain Club in New Hampshire, and Green Mountain Club in Vermont, as well as worked on Grays and Torreys with the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative. This allowed me to give back to the areas that have taught me so much, while also allowing me to live in the mountains, and ski and hike year-round. I am currently living in Leadville, CO. I have tried to balance my achievements in the outdoors with work to give back to the areas I have been so fortunate to explore and experience.

There are few things more enjoyable to me than waking up in a sleeping bag with a mountain chill in the air to see the sun just starting to rise. Sometimes the chill makes me want to stay in my warm little cocoon, but the thoughts of what the day ahead will bring soon have me packing up my gear and getting my breakfast prepared from my food bag. A start early enough to see the sky transform at daybreak from a glow in the east to a cascade of pink, violet, orange, and yellow flows into the blue of the day is ideal to take advantage of days in the wilderness. Moving through the day under my own power gives me great pride, especially as I stop at viewpoints that allow me to see how far I have come and how far I will go. The feeling of being present in the current moment that the backcountry inspires is often lacking in modern lives where so many are fixed to computer and phone screens near constantly. In that presence, I feel most alive.