Dave Lehl

Action/Adventure photographer. Cat Wrangler. Beef Jerkey Maker.

Current town? Denver, CO

Hometown: Pueblo, CO

What inspires you? What/who made you want to do the crazy things you do? I don’t know that I’m necessarily inspired to get out and do the things I do, I think I was just born with a natural propencity to not sit on my butt! I’m always way more interested in doing SOMETHING as opposed to nothing, no matter what it is. If there’s something to do, whether I’ve done it 100 times before or not at all, my attitude is “Let’s do this!”

What is your favorite Mountainsmith product and why? My favorite product is the Parallax pack. It’s perfectly simple without a ton of unnecessary futuristic looking crap hanging off of it, making it look like a screwy basketball shoe. Mostly, it has more than enough room for all of my gear. Typically I’m traveling with two camera bodies, 3-5 lenses, pocket wizards, and cards. Previously I’ve had a heck of a time getting all of that stuff into a photo bag but with the Parallax I found myself thinking “what am I going to do with all of this extra room?

If you had a superpower, what would it be? The power to reverse time so I could go back and fix all the screwups we’ve made.

Favorite backcountry meal? Link to recipe? EVERYTHING tastes better in the backcountry! I’d have to say cheddar cheese stuffed bratwursts cooked over an open flame. Accompanied by a Oatmeal Stout.

What is playing on your iPod right now? This week I’ve been listening to the IS Tropical station on Spotify. Lots and lots of dream-pop goodness in there.

What non-survival-essential item do you bring while out exploring? I’ve got to say, I pack pretty darn light all of the time. I’m not a big fan of overweight fees or lugging unnecessarily heavy bags around, so I take great pains to keep it down to the bare minimum.

Do you own a dog? No, but my GF has a one-eyed American Eskimo dog that’s my best bud!

What activities do you participate in? Outside of photography, I keep busy with road biking, riding motorcycles both on the street and on mountain trails, skateboarding, snowboarding, hiking, camping, road tripping, and anything else that will keep me out of the house!

Favorite destination visited? I really liked the rawness of Northern China. The people were extremely friendly and curious, and everything had a bit of a raw edge to it. Nothing was very easy over there, everything was a bit of a struggle, which I liked.

Top destination that you have yet to visit? I’d have to go with Iceland. It just looks so serene and monochromatic.

Latest expedition(s)/project(s)? Did a 3 day backcountry camping trip/photoshoot for Colorado based Zeal Optics. We hiked in 4 miles where it proceeded to rain and snow on us the whole time. We never saw the sun but the positivity of everyone involved kept the spirits high. And the Tequila helped too.

Other sponsors? I’m an ambassador for Zeal Optics and Chimera Lighting.

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