Meet Matthew

Matthew is my very bearded, very very smart partner of six years. When we first met in high school, Matthew had never been hiking. Despite being a Colorado native, he had only seen the Eisenhower tunnel a handful of times and never owned a pair of hiking boots. I set out for one of the greatest challenges (and most wonderful rewards) of my life. It took three years of coaxing to get him on skis–I’ll get to that once ski season rolls our way. It also took many moons to get him comfortable being uncomfortable. We took short walks outside, ogled gear at REI, talked about how you can always bring food on the trail (food is always a good motivator), and trained a lot indoors. I think he started going outside because he knew how important it was to me, but he ended up falling in love with the wilderness.

I ended up with one of the strongest, most consistent, and level-headed hiking partners I’ve ever had. Being able to share the trail with my best friend is wonderful because I feel that we know and trust each other on a level that only comes after struggling through the sort of stress that trail life brings.