Hello. Thank you for visiting this site. It remains as a way to let people know I have retired from guiding.
A Fantastic Journey
Skiing captivated me at a young age. It was all I ever wanted to do. I am extremely grateful that I had the opportunity to make that dream come true. I had a wonderful career that spanned thirty-years. I began as a part-time ski instructor and race coach at Eldora Mountain in Colorado. I truly committed to skiing as a career when I moved to Bozeman, Montana. And it became a year-round job when I worked at the resorts of Aspen and Portillo, Chile. The Andes inspired me and my commitment to exploring these mountains lead me to guiding and also opened the door to becoming a sponsored athlete. At the peak of my career my time was split fairly equally between Crested Butte, Chile and traveling internationally. I was living my dream.
I am eternally grateful to the ski areas and guide services who hired me. Looking back I clearly see how each environment was fundamental to my development. I am thankful for the companies and organizations who sponsored me while I pursued my dreams. I cannot thank my clients sufficiently—it was their energy that fueled me. Finally, the friendships I made along the way are the things I cherish above all.
Even though I feel like I had a very successful career, the reality is that I never actually reached the very highest level of my profession at any stage. I never coached for a top-level university or the national team; I narrowly missed a spot the PSIA National Demo Team and never became a ski school director; I was in ski movies and magazines, but was never an “A List” star; I never pursed the IFMGA guiding certification. To use mainstream competition as an analogy, I had a long career as a solid role player on a handful of very successful big league teams.
If I look at my career critically, I see that I didn’t have the right mindset to reach that highest level. I didn’t only want to succeed, I needed to succeed. Every tryout, every run with people watching or the cameras rolling—each one meant everything to me. My happiness was directly tied to whether I succeed or failed at each particular moment. Obviously, this ends up feeling like a rollercoaster. But my biggest regret isn’t that this limited my success, it is that other people had to deal with me as I was tossed about. I was an asshole to far too many people, far too often. I am sorry.
I also see how curiosity played a positive role in the breadth of my career. As anyone who has climbed a mountain knows: the higher you get, the more you see. I was constantly pulled into new environments by my own curiosity. I was able to travel around the world, sharing experiences with people who inspired me. This tendency continues today—I continue to follow my curiosity into environments that challenge me.
I have committed myself to living simply in Chile. And while I am traveling far less and there will be no more photos of me carving arcs on steep mountain faces, I feel like I am at the beginning of my biggest adventure yet. I am building myself a home, off the grid, in a remote valley at the base of a spectacular part of the Andes. I have challenged myself to truly minimize my carbon emissions. I don’t want to be completely isolated from human contact, but I do want to insulate myself from the turbulence I anticipate will only get worse in the years ahead. This alone is a challenge that captivates me. But there are more traditional adventures in store, too. There are still so many places in this beautiful country that I’d like to travel through—quietly and slowly. And finally, I will put more effort into writing and sharing my thoughts and experiences. This is a process I enjoy—whether the final product is well received or not. As I have for my whole life, I am pursuing the high peaks on the horizon, but now my happiness is not dependent on reaching them. I now know that I will never reach the horizon, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t keep walking. There’s a lot to learn between here and there.
It’s always great to hear from people, whether you are an old friend or acquaintance looking to reconnect or someone who has come across this by chance. If you’d like to reach me, my contact information is below…
Email: [email protected]
Chilean Phone & WhatsApp: +56 9 3237 3316
US Phone: +1 970 497 4132
A Fantastic Journey
Skiing captivated me at a young age. It was all I ever wanted to do. I am extremely grateful that I had the opportunity to make that dream come true. I had a wonderful career that spanned thirty-years. I began as a part-time ski instructor and race coach at Eldora Mountain in Colorado. I truly committed to skiing as a career when I moved to Bozeman, Montana. And it became a year-round job when I worked at the resorts of Aspen and Portillo, Chile. The Andes inspired me and my commitment to exploring these mountains lead me to guiding and also opened the door to becoming a sponsored athlete. At the peak of my career my time was split fairly equally between Crested Butte, Chile and traveling internationally. I was living my dream.
I am eternally grateful to the ski areas and guide services who hired me. Looking back I clearly see how each environment was fundamental to my development. I am thankful for the companies and organizations who sponsored me while I pursued my dreams. I cannot thank my clients sufficiently—it was their energy that fueled me. Finally, the friendships I made along the way are the things I cherish above all.
Even though I feel like I had a very successful career, the reality is that I never actually reached the very highest level of my profession at any stage. I never coached for a top-level university or the national team; I narrowly missed a spot the PSIA National Demo Team and never became a ski school director; I was in ski movies and magazines, but was never an “A List” star; I never pursed the IFMGA guiding certification. To use mainstream competition as an analogy, I had a long career as a solid role player on a handful of very successful big league teams.
If I look at my career critically, I see that I didn’t have the right mindset to reach that highest level. I didn’t only want to succeed, I needed to succeed. Every tryout, every run with people watching or the cameras rolling—each one meant everything to me. My happiness was directly tied to whether I succeed or failed at each particular moment. Obviously, this ends up feeling like a rollercoaster. But my biggest regret isn’t that this limited my success, it is that other people had to deal with me as I was tossed about. I was an asshole to far too many people, far too often. I am sorry.
I also see how curiosity played a positive role in the breadth of my career. As anyone who has climbed a mountain knows: the higher you get, the more you see. I was constantly pulled into new environments by my own curiosity. I was able to travel around the world, sharing experiences with people who inspired me. This tendency continues today—I continue to follow my curiosity into environments that challenge me.
I have committed myself to living simply in Chile. And while I am traveling far less and there will be no more photos of me carving arcs on steep mountain faces, I feel like I am at the beginning of my biggest adventure yet. I am building myself a home, off the grid, in a remote valley at the base of a spectacular part of the Andes. I have challenged myself to truly minimize my carbon emissions. I don’t want to be completely isolated from human contact, but I do want to insulate myself from the turbulence I anticipate will only get worse in the years ahead. This alone is a challenge that captivates me. But there are more traditional adventures in store, too. There are still so many places in this beautiful country that I’d like to travel through—quietly and slowly. And finally, I will put more effort into writing and sharing my thoughts and experiences. This is a process I enjoy—whether the final product is well received or not. As I have for my whole life, I am pursuing the high peaks on the horizon, but now my happiness is not dependent on reaching them. I now know that I will never reach the horizon, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t keep walking. There’s a lot to learn between here and there.
It’s always great to hear from people, whether you are an old friend or acquaintance looking to reconnect or someone who has come across this by chance. If you’d like to reach me, my contact information is below…
Email: [email protected]
Chilean Phone & WhatsApp: +56 9 3237 3316
US Phone: +1 970 497 4132