Whether it's search and rescue or exploring the wilderness, Tre Goode knows how important the right gear is in the backcountry.
If there's a mountain around, Tre Goode is going to climb it. Or ski it. Or both. Goode, 28, finds his extraordinary moments in the mountains. It's the challenge of propelling himself up and down that serves as his inspiration. It's what makes him climb higher on rock and ice and to ski deeper into the snowy wild.
The pull of the mountain is so great on Goode that when he's not working as a critical care technician in an emergency room, he's volunteering as a wilderness EMT. Or he is up on a mountain himself, exploring new routes both up and down.
“What really motivates me to climb and ski is the opportunity to explore new environments and terrains," Goode said. "I want to put myself in a place I’ve never been before, and to fully experience a moment of time I’ve never experience before and may never be able to experience again."
Goode was first introduced to backcountry exploration by a high school friend, and it's shaped his life since then. As he defined himself more by climbing rocks, ice and skiing, he eventually moved to Colorado. It was in the mountains where he learned the importance of having a good knife around.
Just recently, while rock climbing in the aftermath of a sudden thunderstorm, he needed to cut a piece of climbing rope to rappel down toward a cell phone that was pulling double duty as a flashlight.
"The storm had made us sit out the latter part of the day and when we started back down it was pretty dark," Goode said. He and his climbing partner used the phone to light the way, until in an instant, it went tumbling down below them.
To retrieve the phone, Goode cut off a length of climbing rope and worked his way down to the phone. He found it still in working order, despite the fall, and it resumed lighting the way out from there.
"A good knife is part of my basic backcountry kit," Goode said. "In cases like that, where I had to change plans and climb down to get a fallen piece of equipment, it was super handy to have a knife available."
Goode said a knife is such an essential piece of gear that he always carries when responding to a backcountry rescue call, whether that's a lost skier who has wandered off the marked trails or to attend to somebody in serious medical distress.
"I always have a knife with me," he said. "It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it."
Already with plenty of knives at his disposal for both work and play, Goode is already thinking ahead about who he's giving a knife to when the holiday gift-giving season arrives.
"One person I'd love to give a knife to is my grandpa," Goode said. "He always carries a knife, but he also always loses them. He's the first person who gave me a pocket knife back when I was a kid, so it will be cool to reciprocate."
But Goode has other plans for giving knives as gifts and it's not just the holidays. He's getting married this coming winter, a period of time where he'll be skiing on the days before the ceremony and ice climbing on those days after. He intends to give his groomsmen each engraved knives as part of their gift package.
"I like the idea of giving somebody a practical gift like a knife that they might use every day," he said. "In a way, it's a reinforcement of our friendship. It provides a remembrance of me whenever it's used."
Although the bustle of the holiday season and a wedding will undoubtedly leave most of us feeling hurried and pressured, Goode knows full well how to cope with upcoming tensions: Head to the mountains.
"When you’re in such a large landscape you can’t help but to feel really small," he said. "All of life’s troubles and stressors are put into a new perspective and they also appear really small and somewhat insignificant."
