About

Rising Hammer Lightworks was a concept evolved from a true passion

born from mountains, steel, wood, fire, and light. 

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I've dedicated my life to sharing the love I have for mountains with others. 

Skills I first learned through my scouting career spent exploring these sacred places were refined by professional practice.  Leadership was as much a focus as basic outdoor living skills, and on my journey from Arrow of Light to Eagle, I knew that Guiding and high end coaching was my souls calling.  My eye centered and mountains at the focus, leading me to direct climbing programs from coast to coast,  zipline guide in Alaska, attend professional avalanche training through AIARE, relentlessly pursue and train for my AASI Level III, and finally olympic calibur ski and snowboard coaching to some of the raddest little shred bots on the planet. 

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My students demanded that I elevate myself with them, and I kept saying "yes".  Injuries from 'to much send' required recovery, and yoga teacher training found me.  I was quickly handed the keys to the nightlight yoga scene in Bend, and built two classes from the ground up.  Shake Your Asana, the only class the Baptiste Affiliate Studio allowed music to be played during, paved the way to creating my own brand of yoga called "NamaShakeIt', a practice I've since brought to music festivals across the west coast and Colorado.  I also built a thriving Acro Yoga program on Saturday night, and became a certified instructor with AcroRevolution.

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My career eventually lead me to the American heartland of mountains, The Rockies.  I was honored to work at some of the finest establishments on the planet, teaching private lessons and bartending at legendary hotels such as The Ritz Carlton at Beaver Creek and The Little Nell in Aspen.  I walked in to a sushi bar so a stranger could buy me a beer after I randomly gave him feedback on spinning, and an hour later I was a chef at Hooked.  Working with steel has long been a passion of mine, and it was my experience as a sushi chef that led me to artistry.  

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The first production was simply a going away present for a friend; one who loves teaching in the mountains as much as myself.  I bought her Subaru so she could chase winter in New Zealand, and then my head gaskets blew up in fabled Glenwood Canyon. Working in the mountains is 'poverty with a view' they say, and my personal experience confirms this.  I threw a hail mary, and scored a touchdown.  

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All I had was four photos, a story, and a wide community that seemed to wildly adore me.  I asked if anyone wanted a Christmas present as an early Black Friday Sale, and $2500 showed up in my empty bank account.  With a concussion, no real relevant experience or tools, and only youtube as my guide, I performed open heart surgery on my fire-breathing dragon, through the middle of the night in a November snowstorm at 8000', and it worked like first try Friday.  

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I put out my first round of production and got everything under a tree by Christmas.  Ever since I've been figuring out how to build this little idea I had into a well-oiled machine, which turns out to have been a little harder than redoing the head gaskets.  Now I have a fully functional  production facility in La Pine, Oregon where I am just starting to work with epoxy, fractal wood burning, gilding, and more.

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Welcome to Rising Hammer Lightworks