TEDx Breckenridge 🎤
What an incredible experience it was to go on stage and speak to nearly 500 people.
I was able to share a small piece of my story and touch on some of my mountain endeavors. It was fun being able to talk about Elcetive Suffering and the Winter 14ers in front of a decently large crowd.
I can’t thank the @tedxbreckenridge team and everyone who put their time and effort into creating this event. As well as giving me a chance to step into the speaking space for the first time.
I’ll make sure to share the recorded version once it’s posted online for those interested in listening. I’m looking forward to what’s next!
Cheers!
📸: @hayden.e.photography
Pretty excited to be featured in @backpackermag . This is the first of many! ☝🏼
“Our time here is limited. You want to start hiking Fourteeners? Do that backpacking route you’ve been dreaming of? It’s not complicated. Go.”
I quit a full time job to go chase a dream I’ve had for awhile. Becoming a full time athlete. Sure enough it’s been working out pretty well.
Whatever your dream is go chase it. You’ll never know the outcome unless you try. I sure don’t want to look back & think “what if…?”
To The Top!
📸: @fearnowka
Day 72: Pyramid - Finisher
Yesterday on Pyramid marked the end of my Calendar winter 14er project. Andrew & I stood up top of the final summit after a long day of battle. I became the second person to finish all of the 14ers in a Single Calendar Winter, behind Andrew.
Jon & Jack accompanied us to about 13,200 before they decided it was time to turn around. For a couple of reasons. One being the safety and risk management of the group. & Two, giving me & Andrew a better shot at reaching the summit faster together. We encountered some pretty scary snowpack conditions together which was the main reason for this decision making.
After some very careful snow mitigation through some of the short couloirs we found ourselves looking at the final piece of the mountain, the upper bowl. All of the NW west aspects were very loaded & triggering easily. The typically ledge system across the bowl was not going to go & we had to find a different way up.
After wallowing through some of the more SW-S aspects we found a sneak chute to the summit. 12 hours later we stood atop the final piece of the puzzle.
Getting down was much faster as we rapped a couple of the cruxes & made our way to the skis for a quick descent.
After 72d13h11m and some change a new @fastestknowntime is set, unofficially as I need to submit it. A record is a cool and all but honestly this project is way more about the journey, experiences & friendships I was able to forge throughout it. I can’t wait to share more stories of how this whole thing unfolded. I’m going to be spending some time putting my thoughts down on paper & sharing them throughout the following days/weeks.
I couldn’t have done this without the help and support from a lot of individuals. I’ll also be sharing stories about them soon.
Cheers!
Zion NP Adventures!
You can choose to see God and the spirit flowing in and out of everything, or nothing. I choose everything.
Because I mean, look at this?
It’s been a week full of fun here in Zion and we barely scratched the surface… somehow I still haven’t done Angels Landing or the Narrows but I did find joy and peace in places much less travelled.
-Fat Man’s Misery West Fork X2 w/ @erin_ton7
..it was so spectacular that we did it twice and the second time claiming the overall FKT on the route. This is a crown jewel slot canyon and easily one of our favorites to date.
-Guardian Angel North + East / West Northgate peaks.
… a fun solo scramble on some sandstone domes on the west side of the park.
-Allgood and Watchman’s Peaks!
… another really awesome scramble that brings you above the town of Springdale where you get some of the best views of Zion. Touching these few peaks has me itching for more here in the park
-Pine Creek Slot w/ @erin_ton7
… a stunning slot canyon with a couple big rappels that drop you into a cathedral like area with big slick walls. One of the most visually stunning slot canyons I’ve been in and let me tell ya, the water was COLD! Glad we had wetsuit jackets but that seemed to be all that was necessary with current conditions.
The interactions with new and old friends over the past week have been special, the landscapes stunning and the stoke… HIGH!
The pictures don’t do this place justice but you can get a small glimpse into the beauty here.
More adventure? Yes.
To the top!
Full Moon Spirtual Pilgrimage
7. Do you see it? Do you know? It’s a perfect number and a reflection of the Holy Spirit. It’s represents Gods work at play.
Ryan and I set out for what he likes to calls a spiritual pilgrimage under the full moon a few nights ago. A movement that I will continue to adopt throughout my life and how I choose to live it. Our intentions were to go out and be one with the divine under the beauty of all creation, to spread and give our love back to God and to choose to see God in everything.
We expressed this in a way of communion through mutual suffering of our physical bodies in a practice we enjoy ever so much as we continue to revisit that sacred place time and time again. Moving through spaces and playing like children even when things get tough and searching deep within to harness the spirit and to seek.
The journey brought us to Brahma Temple inside of the Grand Canyon and came to closure on the Summit of Humphreys, the highest point in Arizona while doing this fully human powered with running, cycling and even stillness in places of importance.
I believe our paths crossed due to divine appointment and am full of joy to be able to share a piece of this journey with a special soul. Thanks Ryan.
This was also shared with three other incredibly special souls, @erin_ton7 who came out for Brahma Temple and through that became the fastest woman to run the route, @santiguerrerog_ who hopped in as Swiss Santi supporting the team while documenting the journey and a new friend @justioustos who showed up late at night to finish out the pilgrimage. Thank you guys.
Be here now! Always. Wherever you are, be there.
PS: We weighed ourselves pre-Brahma to see how much water weight we would loose while traveling mega light in the canyon.. I lost 12lbs in 12 hours ha!
To the top!
📸: @santiguerrerog_
chris and ryan’s full moon spiritual pilgrimage
had the privilege of documenting/crewing ryan and chris on their full moon adventure. lucky enough to calm these two friends, and also huge inspirations.
a run in the sanctuary, a long bike ride and a mountain. sounds like a pretty good day. like in any good outing: some things went exactly as planned and some did not.
some of my personal highlights: the full moon, getting woken up by a summit facetime, good amount of hours in the sanctuary, a great ice cream cone handoff, a scorpion popsicle, one of the best gas station sunsets i’ve ever seen, and getting too see the boys go through it!
i’ll let each of them speak more on their individual experiences, but if i took anything from chasing these two for a full day - beauty is everywhere, you just have to look and see it.
a run in the canyon
chased chris, erin, ryan, and alicia on a “short” run in the grand canyon. started on the bright angel trail, hoped on the tonto, then descended on south kaibab to the river, and finished with going up south kaibab to the south rim.
i get why ryan calls it the sanctuary, it’s a special place with so much energy and beauty. it was chris and i’s first time in the canyon, safe to say we’ll be back.
stoked to have shared the sanctuary with some great people!
More play in the desert with many friends, old and new! Southern Utah continues to show off its beauty day and night.. it’s a play ground of beauty out here!
-Cassidy Arch Canyon
-Beaver Canyon
-Capitol Reef Four Canyon mixed gender FKT w/ @erin_ton7
-Red Breaks Canyons / Red Pyramid
Here are just a few pictures from these adventures. There’s more visuals to come at some point but for now here’s a glimpse into our world here.
There’s so much to see, do, touch, feel and experience and we are just getting started! It’s been fun romping around with more friends and sharing these experiences!
To the top! Or, down the canyon?
The desert is a special place and full of magic.
We’ve been out here for over a week now ripping slot canyons, stargazing, riding and running and of course just living.
It’s a pretty good life out here and endless adventure to be had.
It’s been over 2 years since I’ve put skis on my feet and man… there’s really nothing else like it. Skiing is the main reason I moved to the mountains and I’m happy to be back on the planks even if it’s just a couple days this season.
@friscopowderaddict is a local here in summit county and one of my good friends. We’ve skied many powder days together and even some of our best days ever right here in this zone from yesterday.
It’s always a pleasure to get out and rip some turns with Gary. If you’re not following him you should be as he’s always crushing the turns. Thanks for sharing a couple solid powder laps yesterday buddy!
Looking forward to more skiing!
Stoked to be partnering up with @nomadixco this year!
They make sick towels, fanny packs, chairs, and other rad things that are always useful on our adventures and travels. Check them out if you haven’t yet.
We are going to be putting our @nomadixco gear to good use through the year! Woo!
