Peak-bagging in Red Rocks: every day starts with a sunrise and ends with a cold beer around the fire. What more could you ask for? Oh, maybe a @phish concert ā
Felt a lot of nostalgia, gratitude, and joy riding Tiger Mountain with my parents today.
They are in the process of working towards moving away from the homeland here in Western Washington, to be closer to me in Colorado.
Lately, these trips home have hit different. Even after ~11 years in Colorado, Iām still a product of the PNW deep down. The lush rainforest, brooding rock music, and sharp volcanic peaks- theyāve all shaped me the same way the glaciers have carved the steep mountain valleys of my homeland.
Days like today leave me feeling grateful for the way that I was taught to live here- in communion with nature, embracing movement and adventure.
Thankful to continue to find inspiration in my roots š²
April 2026 was incredibly difficult for me. Iāve always been good at adapting & making the most of hard situations, but the stress of the past couple months has overwhelmed me. We all have limits. Iām learning to listen, slow down, and tend to myself- to learn to live while Iām busy surviving.
So thankful for the kind people in my life, I couldnāt keep love in my heart without you. Hereās to a Spring full of new growth, new life and new beginnings ā¤ļø
March 2026 āØāļø
This last month I was blessed with lots of time connecting with grade-A humans. Much needed, as itās been a hell of a monthā¦
Practicing finding peace in acceptance, leaning into community and finding joy and gratitude in the small things.
Sometimes life is hard, but you donāt have to go it alone ā¤ļø
Amazing few days spent with @tylergachen in the beautiful valley and canyons of Salt Lake City. My mom grew up in SLC, so I guess itās literally the motherland.
Tyler and I grew up together under the shadow of Mt. Rainier and back then, he was the only person that I knew who was really into mountain climbing. Planning expeditions in the PNW together was a formative and meaningful part of my adolescence and young adulthood. Over the years, weāve each honed our individual crafts, from whitewater to alpine trad. Now, engaging in alpinism together feels even more natural and smooth than before.
Tyler has been there for me for the full spectrum of highs and lows, truly a brother from another mother. Iām very thankful for @nicole.gachen and the bois for letting us spend some high quality time together in the Wasatch. Doesnāt get much more grounding and healing than exploring the mountains with you best friend ā¤ļø
Pictured:
Skiing at Snowbird
Mtb at Bobsled Trail & Corner Canyon Creek Trail
Climbing and skiing Mt. Superior
Climbing on Gate Buttress (Schoolroom) in Little Cottonwood Canyon
Scrambling around and living large at Storm Mountain in Big Cottonwood Canyon
Shoutout to @therealstevesammons@playingintheferns@nibrewer720 and @kedickmann for the beta!
Today, my older sister Hannah would be turning 37. Itās been 12 years since her passing. Sometimes it feels like another lifetime ago that we were last together, before so much brokenness was thrust upon our family.
Loss changes us. Learning to grieveāand giving yourself and others permission to grieveāis holy. Iām still learning. Iām still grieving. Even writing and sharing this is an important part of my journey.
Hannah was full of life & intensity. She cared deeply for others and lived in a world of technicolor energy & emotion. Music & reading were two of her great loves. We were very different in many ways, and her struggles with addiction created a deep rift in our relationshipābut with time, Iāve come to better appreciate how we were similar. As the years pass, Iām slowly able to sift away the disease and see her more clearlyāto love her for who she truly was.
This past year has been full of change, loss, and sorrow. The end of Sue and Iās partnership left me feeling tender and raw. I wasnāt prepared for how much grief it would bring upātears in random parking lots, longing for an older sister to call, someone who would really understand and tell me it would all be okay. Long after her passing, my grief felt most intense during my 33rd year. It be like that sometimes.
Loss can shake our foundations, but itās not what happens, but how we respond that matters. I believe in the fruitful darkness. Grief can help us see the beauty of life more clearly. If we gently walk through that dark corridor, thereās a mature & sober gratitude on the other side.
Life is strikingly beautiful and fleeting. Tell your people you love them. Give compliments to strangers. Watch the sunrise. Go do the thing that enchants but terrifies you. Live the life you want todayābecause someday, tomorrow will be too late ā¤ļø
Exploring Mexico City and a number of pueblos mĆ”gicos northeast of Mexicoās largest city (Aculco, Jilotepec & PeƱa de Bernal). Amazing trip, epic crags, wonderful people. Huge thanks to @southernxposureguides@hansflorine and @widexican for the beta and excellent hospitality.
š February 2026 āļø
Has joy any survival value in the operations of evolution? I suspect that it does; I suspect that the morose and fearful are doomed to quick extinction. Where there is no joy there can be no courage; and without courage all other virtues are useless. Therefore the frogs, the toads, keep on singing even though we know, if they donāt, that the sound of their uproar must surely be luring all the snakes and ringtail cats and kit foxes and coyotes and great horned owls toward the scene of their happiness.
-Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey, 1968
