What I've been up to in the past year

Yesterday I shared what led me to move on from Constructor after seeing the company through 6 years of early iteration to product-market fit and hyper-growth.

The natural next question is: What have I been up to since??

I got rid of my apartment, put my things in storage and set off with my partner for 9 months of adventure, bouncing between #vanlife, friends’ houses, high alpine tents and AirBnBs.

Some of the highlights:

  • Skied all over Utah and Colorado, about equal parts backcountry touring and resort skiing in Park City, Alta, Snowbird, Snowbasin, Telluride and Crested Butte.
  • Enjoyed a secret hot spring pool formed from ancient mineral deposits high up in the Colorado mountains.
  • Traveled through Southern Utah canyoneering, hiking and sightseeing in Arches, Bryce, Canyonlands and Zion, not to mention kayaking up Antelope Canyon and an amazing out-of-the-way slot canyon (message me for info!)
  • Spent May in Squamish, BC trail running, mountain biking and rock climbing.
  • Set off on a multi-day kayaking trip in Desolation Sound… with our Moms! It rained for 4 straight days, but the BC coast was stunning!
  • Sat for a 10-day silent meditation retreat on Vancouver Island (this was probably the most meaningful part of the trip and I intend to write more on it in the future).
  • Taught my partner to kiteboard, backcountry ski, travel safely on a glacier, use crampons and trad climb (second most meaningful part of the trip!)
  • Drove 2,300 miles up to Alaska, where we hiked, biked and spent a week learning to sail in the freezing rain of Seward, Alaska, then did the drive all over again.
  • Swung by Bugaboos Provincial Park in eastern BC for the best alpine climb of our lives.
  • Built more blue pine cabinets for the van, improved my ceramics skills and started working towards my pilot’s license.
  • Coached my partner as she trained for and ran her first 50k trail race (while I've done a few longer runs myself, this was my first time coaching someone else and I loved it!)
  • We honed our culinary ambitions, cooking over 100 different dishes in the 9 months. I mostly cooked vegetarian and upleveled my cooking skills in the process!

With the year of eat-pray-ski-bike-hike-canyoneer-climb-sail-kiteboard-love coming to an end, you might ask: What comes next? Find out here!