Flying By the Seat of His Jeep
Chris J. brings balance to his aviation career with the outdoors.
Chris J. brings balance to his aviation career with the outdoors.
Pilot Chris
From an early age, Chris knew he wanted to fly—both his father and grandfather were pilots. He grew up in Highlands Ranch, but moved all around as his father’s job shifted. When Chris began flight training, it dictated that he move to southern Illinois. This is where he met his wife, yet when children became part of the conversation, returning to the Centennial State was inevitable. “I love Colorado. We’re either in our immediate area or heading into the mountains,” Chris reflects. Now, with children in the mix he aims to share the experience he had as a child with his own. “When we’re in these beautiful remote areas, it’s so important that my kids recognize the opportunity that they have and appreciate that. Maybe because we started them so young, it hasn’t taken a lot of parenting to get them to do that. Before I can even unpack the Jeep at a campsite, they’re digging holes just being kids outside. It’s so awesome to see.”
Quick Hits
Occupation: Pilot
Activities: Off-roading, Fly Fishing
Location: Aurora
Hometown: Highlands Ranch, Colorado
From the Cockpit to Rock Crawling
This pilot knows how to make the most of his days off.
What Carried Over from Flight School into Off-roading?
“Monitoring weather. When you’re exposed like that out in the backcountry, it helps to know what you’re looking at. Noticing a cumulous cloud building in the distance or sensing a gust front ahead of a storm, are just a few things I picked up in pilot training. I can also rely on my dad through the satellite messenger if things are really gnarly.”
How Do You Use onX Offroad?
“Phone and tablet for scouting and planning, and while en route we use Carplay to see what we’re doing. Then my wife has the tablet open and she’s marking dispersed campsites as we pass them. We’ll use it to look at new areas to explore by looking at trail data and difficulty. At the higher end of the difficulty scale, we start to concern ourselves with bending metal and damaging our Jeep. Trail reports are also helpful to see where snow is still present.”
How’s the Current Rig Treating You?
“We kept coming up with these missions, but our previous vehicle would get us only two-thirds of the way there. The road would disintegrate beyond the capability of the vehicle. It was painful. I was introduced to Jeeps through a friend and I was blown away by them. I found one in Billings, Montana with steel bumpers, a winch, rock slides, and only 12,000 miles. Then I went down the typical Jeep rabbit hole and lifted it three and a half inches, put 37-inch tires on it, regeared the differential, and put in a different driveshaft for the new geometry. That allowed us to get deeper into the backcountry and higher up into the mountains. I used to be about the destination, but I’m quickly falling in love with the ‘getting there’ part of the journey.”
Q&A
How do you facilitate risk in the outdoors?
“I have a prudent mindset. I love having fun and pushing it, but I don’t take risks. I’m responsible for 280-plus passengers and crew on my flights, so you always err on the side of caution. That’s how I run my life, especially if my kids are with me.”
How do you find some of your best spots?
“What I’ve found is that if there’s a dead-end forest road or a spur off of a trail, that almost always leads to something grand. Those roads exist for a reason. We’ve found some of our favorite, cliffed-out campsites that overlook 50 miles of mountains by exploring some of those roads to the end.”
Was the outdoors something you’ve always loved?
“I grew up exposed to the outdoors. We spent a lot of time camping and fishing, from my dad’s ‘91 Dodge Dakota. We’d drive a ‘medium amount’ into the Colorado backcountry and post up at a campsite.”
Does the family enjoy it too?
“They love Jeeping. When we run some of the big passes, they know the land features from past years. They know that we’ll drive through a rock tunnel near Imogene Pass. They’re engaged enough to know that we’re coming up on something rather than having their faces buried in their screens. That’s pretty awesome. They love camping, digging in the dirt, and more so lately, fishing.”
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