I fell in love with the outdoors and became an instructor for Outward Bound. During that time of my life, I basically lived outside. Just one of my accomplishments includes climbing Aconcagua (22,831 feet) in Argentina, the tallest mountain in South and North America where I spent 14 days on the mountain. I also spent a few summers in Alaska, living in Valdez as a whitewater-rafting guide.

Just two years ago, I moved to Durango to become the clothing buyer for Gardenswartz Outdoors. It's great because I've been able to enjoy the outdoor life and sell products that I truly believe in.

As for the Sierra Designs ad that ran in Backpacker Magazine, all of this information is true. Here's the longer version. I decided to head out on a little adventure with a friend of mine, Kim, who now happens to be my wife. We had heard that there was this great BLM land just north of Bryce Canyon, Utah called the San Rafael Swell. When we arrived, you could see these amazingly beautiful narrows and canyons. We hiked up into this major canyon and found a place to pitch our Sierra Designs tent. We started eating dinner and it began to rain. As the downpour continued, we could hear the side canyons filling up. It was dark but it started to sound like a flash flood in the canyons around us. Luckily, the rain eventually quit. The next day we decided to hike up the canyon that flash flooded to check it out. We negotiated a 40-foot "jump" and potholes that were filled with water, forgetting that we would eventually have to return the same way. We kept on hiking and exploring but then it started getting dark. We figured we should start heading back to camp. It was at that time that we realized we were ill prepared. Kim was wearing prescription sunglasses and we had forgotten our flashlight back at camp. We both had years of training so we knew better than to panic.

It took us awhile to hike back to our camp area. With only a 100 yards left to go, we peered down the very DARK 40-foot walled canyon below us. All of a sudden, I had an idea. I had a lighter and toilet paper. That could work. I carefully lit little plys of toilet paper as we climbed our way down. We didn't get back to camp until midnight.

My advice would be to start lists. The older I get, the more I'm into them. There are a lot of things that you can get by without but never leave without the essentials."

Click here to see how Sierra Designs was used by Glenn, a person in the know.