“I had this idea for a mentoring program, and part of it grew out of just being grateful for my experience of having these really amazing mentors, who not only taught me technical stuff, but… the mindset, it’s not about how hard you climb—it’s the adventure, the culture, and the places.”

“I love it all.  Climbing and skiing probably give you the most thrill, and when you’re done, you’re in a really good mood. Sometimes when I do a half day in the morning, I come back and I can’t work.”

“So I’m in a new boat, thinking ‘I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t do this’. But I’m in it. The first big rapid: 35 foot falls. I went down the first 10 feet, it flattens out for a moment—just long enough for me to hit a boulder and flip and do the rest of it on my shoulder.”

“I feel the constant need to get big things done and see amazing things and be accomplished. Because we only get one life, as far as I know. And there is so much to do, and wasting that opportunity terrifies me. I was like, ‘I gotta do something’, and I think it just kind of happened that it was the AT.”

“I’ve shared many great times with people I don’t even know that well, but I’m so much closer to them than anyone else in my daily interaction. Like I’m trusting my life to you over and over and over again, and you’re doing the same with me. It’s wild.”

“It’s the freedom—I can just start driving and park somewhere and sleep. I could go anywhere I want to and have everything I need. And I can leave at a moment’s notice. It’s liberating to not be tied down like that.”

“Climbing is when I feel alive. I kind of go through the motions during the week, but I live for being outside and pushing myself and ideally being surrounded by cool people. It’s the adrenaline of it, and when you find those climbs that work for you and you’re able to execute.”

“I studied environmental studies. It focuses a lot on your [ecological] footprint and how much you impact the world around you… So I got solar, I focus on how much water I’m using, how much I travel—everything that goes into it. It’s kind of like a tiny home: tiny home, tiny footprint.”

“Starting out was one of the highest points. Just getting more excited every day because you’re getting to know all these people that you’re hiking with and you see them again and again… Then it hit us how freakin’ hard the whole thing was gonna be.”

“It was really, really traumatizing. It’s one thing to live out of your vehicle, but when you lose that vehicle, not only do you lose your method of transportation—you lose the house that you live in.”

“It wasn’t just the biggest thing we’d ever climbed. It was always the goal; I wanted to do it and had been thinking about it for eight years… It was a weirdly powerful moment for me. I didn’t cry or anything, but I thought about it.”

“Februarys are hard when it’s 20 degrees, and there’s icicles hanging inside my vehicle. But I feel really blessed that for work, and just for my life, I get to wake up in the places where people take their vacations.”