Recent Work
Featured
The Middle Finger Master
Exploring the life of Alain Robert, the French “Spider-Man.”
In the fall of 2023, I met Frenchman Alain Robert in Paris, as he was preparing to illegally scale the side of Tour Hekla (722ft), the second-highest building in France. In his youth, Robert was among the world’s most talented free solo rock climbers, busting grade benchmarks and tackling many audacious climbs that have yet to be repeated.
Transitioning into a career in “urban” soloing in the mid-1990s, Robert has since climbed nearly 200 skyscrapers and urban landmarks around the world—from the Empire State Building to Taipei 101 to the Eiffel Tower—often illegally, and always without a rope.
Now 62, he shows no sign of slowing down, even after seven falls, two comas, and dozens of broken bones. I spent time with Robert both while climbing in Paris, France and at his home in Bali, Indonesia, to pen a print profile for the magazine Summit Journal.
APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION
Investigating a colossal (and controversial) open pit mine in the Peruvian Andes
In 2021, I rode a CB500X motorcycle into the high mountains of the Peruvian Cordillera Blanca, investigating a colossal open pit mine accused of poisoning the air and water of surrounding indigenous Quechua villages, killing crops and livestock, and intimidating local activists.
The mine, Antamina, is the largest copper-zinc mine in Peru and one of the largest in the world, half a mile deep and over ten square miles around. It is also among the highest-altitude mines on Earth, operating at an elevation over 14,100 feet, (equivalent to the summits of the highest peaks in the contiguous United States).
My investigation, which also focuses on the endangered climbing surrounding the mine, was originally published in print in one of the final issues (#388) of Climbing magazine, under the title “First Ascent, Last Ascent.” Interested readers can view the digital version by clicking the button below.
THE JULIANA TRAIL
Walking 167 miles solo across Slovenia’s Julian Alps
In 2019, I became the first person to solo hike the Juliana Trail, a new long-distance hiking trail encircling Slovenia’s Julian Alps and the nation’s only national park, Triglav. I spent 19 days traveling on foot through small mountain villages, exploring dilapidated castles and World War II bunkers, and sampling more than my fair share of local grappa. Along the way, I stumbled into an off-limits gold mine, was chased by at least a dozen shepherd’s dogs, shocked by two electric fences, and inadvertently briefly placed in a Slovenian mental asylum while trying to find antibiotics.
My coverage of the Juliana Trail appeared in print and digital articles in a number of international magazines, including Outside and Travel + Leisure. You can click the link below to read a short digital piece I wrote about the experience for Outside Online.
VALANDRÉ
Thought-provoking storytelling for a legendary alpine gear brand
For the past four years, I’ve served as the lead writer for Valandré. This veteran French brand handcrafts down jackets, sleeping bags, mittens, booties, full-body suits, and other equipment for 8,000-meter expeditions and cutting-edge alpine climbs.
Valandré’s marketing style is at once thought-provoking, oddball, and irreverent, and in my role as lead writer I’ve concepted (and written copy for) countless imaginative print advertisements appearing in climbing magazines around the world, including Alpinist, Rock and Ice, Climbing, and Gripped.
I’ve also helped revamp their website, pioneered several outlandish social media campaigns, helped design product tags and accompanying merchandise, and
By clicking the button below, you can view a selection of full-scale PDFs of our hand-drawn advertisements, as well as other written work I’ve performed for Valandré, such as a fairy tale-esque brand origin story.
