The world is becoming increasingly connected, and being “available” is the new baseline. Our uniforms follow us—parenthood, our professions, an ever-growing list of responsibilities. Yet, countless studies have shown that going offline alleviates stress, positively impacts mental health, and fosters interpersonal connection. That’s why outdoor digital navigation company onX is on a mission to awaken the adventurer within us all. With their App’s Offline Maps functionality, you can confidently navigate in the outdoors without cell signal. This means you spend less time looking at your phone and more time enjoying your activity. They believe the best version of who you are is when you’re at full draw, rock crawling, looking down the couloir over your ski tips, or leaving the ground on a first ascent. onX exists to equip you with the tools you need to discover your next offline adventure. Learn how they’ve helped these four Coloradans deepen their relationship with the outdoors.
Meet Corinne B., Water Engineer
While on a class trip to China, Corinne got her first taste of adventure through two critical errors. On this trip, the group was on a train when hunger struck, as is common for her. The simplest plan was to visit the train’s food cart. “My first mistake was getting the three-flame dried instant noodles,” she recounts. For the uninitiated, Corinne explains, “Three flames is frickin’ spicy.” To make matters worse, “I filled up my noodles with hot water from the train bathroom sink. I got worms and it was bad. I’ve never been that sick again.” While that experience sounds awful, it catalyzed a thirst for helping humans engage with systems-level water consumption and set her on a path to becoming a water engineer.
When she isn’t working on water solutions, you can find her somewhere in the backcountry finding new ski lines. “My favorite thing to do is to get a chai latte and drive around looking for cool mountains. Even if I’m on the way somewhere, I’ll stop, pull out onX Backcountry, and assess what kind of objective I’m looking at,” she shares. When she isn’t scouting new lines, she’s using it for an annual backcountry ski trip for her friends. Having to account for 16 sets of skill levels and risk tolerances is a challenging task. For this, she uses onX Backcountry’s Slope Angle and then shares the Offline Routes with the crew.
Donny O., Fire Captain
This Denver local grew up in Holly Hills. When Donny was a youngster, he remembers helping his dad on the job site as an electrician. Today, Donny will drive by those same meatpacking plants in Denver that his dad wired with his help. “That’s when I learned what hard work was,” he shares. A few seconds into a conversation with Donny, it’s evident this guy is full-gas all the time. There’s no room for zero days or hanging on the couch binge-watching TV. His time away from the fire station is spent as a fishing and hunting guide.
He’s always on the move chasing fish, fowl, or elk. As a freelance waterfowler, he’s often in new places and chats up local landowners in hopes of gaining permission, “onX Hunt is super helpful in knowing exactly where I need to be. These landowners are allowing us the opportunity to do what we love, so I want to ensure I’m in the right spot.” As a veteran and firefighter, Donny has found that the outdoors is a place to escape and process the intense things he’s been through. And for all adventurers, it’s a privilege to know that the outdoors is a place to do that. Not everyone has that understanding.
Eddie M., Nurse Practitioner
Having grown up in Queens, New York, Eddie knows that access to the outdoors is a privilege and not a given for everyone. “I remember a school project where a teacher asked everyone to bring in a bug to class for a bug collection. It’s a concrete jungle, even my backyard was paved,” he recalls from his youth. This experience made the weekend trips that his family took to the Catskills all the more formative.
During the recession of 2008, Eddie was running a small tech business which kept him up most nights wrought with stress. What he refers to as, “The Most Boring Mid-life Crisis Ever,” he rekindled a westward vision where he was living in the mountains with his family. The family now spends their time offline climbing and skiing around their new home of Montrose, Colorado. They use onX Backcountry when scouting out new lines, approaching crags, and during the winter when they’re ski touring.
Chris J., Pilot
When Chris returns from a stretch of flying commercial airplanes across the globe, there’s no time to waste. His family is ready to load up into their Jeep and head into the mountains of Colorado. They all know that the best way to rest is while offline. The Denver local grew up in the area, and after a hiatus to pursue his career as a pilot, returned with his wife to the city where he grew up.
He finds the solace he needs out in the mountains. “I was introduced to Jeeps through a friend and I was blown away by them,” Chris shares. He loads the kids into the backseat where they’re able to take in all the big mountain passes, while his wife sits shotgun using onX Offroad to mark dispersed campsites along the way. They love the trail reports to keep track of snowlines, difficulty ratings, and the ability to color-code Waypoints.
Learn How Chris Optimizes onX Offroad >
For more on these stories and how you can Go Offline with onX visit onXoffline.com.