I was born by the Caribbean Sea but now I’m devoted to a life of Difficult Pursuits, challenging myself in unique ways in the high mountains. Always working to be ready to seize whatever opportunity comes my way, live by the motto “I will prepare, and someday my chance will come”.

About Me:
I was born and raised in Puerto Rico’s western coast, where mountain sports and high altitude adventures were unheard of. I didn’t grow up camping, hiking, backpacking, and I only knew of the world’s highest peaks from movies. After graduating college in 2015, I moved to Virginia for a job, and there I took to hiking, mostly solo, as a way to reconnect with the places I missed from back home. This newfound hobby evolved over years, and sprung a unique life of its own after my boyfriend (now husband) and I summited Kilimanjaro in 2017. After that experience at 19,341 ft asl, I decided I would spend my time training methodically as an athlete to prepare myself for higher, more technical mountains in the future. I am still on that quest today, and as hungry as ever to show up, take space, and tell my story. I have a passion for promoting equity and inclusion in outdoor spaces, so I work part time with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy as the Latinx Partnerships Coordinator, and I’m a founding board member of the AWE Summit Scholarship Foundation. I am also an adventure fundraising alumni for The Cairn Project.

Highlights since the start of my “Difficult Pursuits”

• Grand Canyon Rim to Rim, AZ solo/day hike, 2018
• Presidential Traverse, NH solo/day hike, 2019
• “6 in 6”: climbing 6 Colorado Fourteeners in 6 days, 2019
• Section speed hike of Appalachian Trail through Shenandoah National Park, VA solo/multi-day, 109 miles in 59 hours, 2020
• “5 in 5”: climbing 5 Colorado Fourteeners in 5 days, 2020
• Mount Rainier summit via Paradise Gulch and the Cowlitz Glacier, 2021
• Mount Whitney summit, hiker’s route single day, 2021

Fun fact:
At the time of this writing, I am on a 400-day streak on Duolingo, where I’m actually getting pretty good at French. I’ve been able to keep my language practice even on multi-day backpacking treks.

What are you most looking forward to?
Enjoying the outdoors in diverse ways and supporting organizations that aim to support more women, and especially women of color, in traditionally white male adventure sports like mountaineering. I have a list of awesome Difficult Pursuits planned for the year. Long term, I look forward to summiting Denali and multiple technical mountains in the Andes.

Interesting adventure where you’ve worn your LOWA boots:
I wore my LOWA Renegade GTX on my first Difficult Pursuits, when I visited the Grand Canyon for the first time and completed a solo Rim to Rim day hike. In 2021, I took my Innox Pro’s as camp shoes on Rainier and rented the Alpine Expert GTX for a 5-day mountaineering course that ended with a successful summit of Tahoma!

Favorite LOWAs:
Maybe cliche, but my LOWA Renegade GTX are the most solid pair of outdoor footwear I’ve ever owned.