Kyle
A native Long Islander, Kyle has now been in
Northern California for almost 15 years. Having moved around a lot
as a kid, his brief stint in N. CA as a teenager made such an impact
that he relocated here permanently as soon as he could.
Kyle is a Union Electrician by trade, following in his dad's and bother's
footsteps and has over 12 years experience under his belt. He also followed his dad into becoming a volunteer firefighter which led to his career change 7 years ago, but more about that later.
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| Kyle climbing The Edges in Pinecrest |
So years later when the fire service kept calling his name, Kyle became a Paramedic, went to the Fire Academy and joined the Fire Fighting ranks in Piedmont, CA. A year later he moved over to Emeryville Fire Department where is now a Paramedic/Engineer and loves his job.
In 2007 Kyle became an official team member of the USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) Team in Oakland. He is also a volunteer fire fighter at the Cedar Ridge Fire Department near his house in Sonora, teaches the Emeryville Community Emergency Response Training as well as First Aid and CPR certification for the workplace.
When not saving the world, Kyle is starting to make inroads toward summiting the seven summits. Having peaked on Mt. Shasta, Mt. Rainier, among others he has Aconcagua under his belt already and a first attempt at Denali, with a view to summiting Denali this spring and then looking to the remaining 5 on the list. Kyle is also an avid caver, having ventured to some of the most beautiful caves that the U.S. has to offer and is also Level 3 Cave Rescue Certified - so if you ever find yourself stuck down a narrow passage, 200ft under ground, you know who to call.
Hannah
Hannah spent the first 3 yrs of her life in Scotland, kilt and all,
but a move to the Northeast U.S. in 1976 made her more American than anything else. Growing up until 9 in Sharon, Mass. she survived the blizzard of 1978, a
marauding Lhasa Apso and 3 major head injuries. A move to the
Yorkshire Coast of England brought a thick British accent pretty
quick in order to fit in and not be the Yank.
3 years in
the U.K. kicked off her riding career with a pony called Flax who was
an idiot but all she had to ride. Upon moving back to the States
in 1987, Hannah began her riding career in earnest and at 16 began
home schooling in order to travel to compete and train with some of
the top riders in the world. Having been long-listed for the 1994
World Games and gone through quite a few horses and 4 years of
working student (aka slave), Hannah decided to begin college and
finished her undergrad in Finance and Economics in 3 years at the
University of New Hampshire.
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| HCW Canyoneering in Escalante, UTAH |
With horses and a place on an International team still on the radar, she relocated to Northern Virginia in 2000 to train with some of the best riders. At this time Hannah was competing with her best partner ever, Kilpatrick. Working full time at a Philanthropic Non-Profit and then as a Quantitative Research Analyst at IPA, it was tricky to juggle working and keeping a horse at the upper levels of competition.
2004 brought a return to grad school, sadly leaving IPA but an opportunity to ride full time for Shawn Mojallali while continuing studies at Virginia Tech. This was a great few years doing the two things she loved, school and horses. Upon finishing grad school the pull to move out west proved too much and she sought a position in the San Francisco area with a consulting company, met Kyle and in his words - "there you have it". So the horses were finally traded in for a mountain bike, rock climbing, a tent and some fun in the sun and no regrets at all.
Now pursuing starting her own business in the concrete and steel industry, nights and weekends are taken up with welding classes, apprenticing with at concrete fabricator and shopping for new tools. Its an exciting new chapter with a new house on the horizon and lots of travel and adventures to come.
