John first started hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in 1992, but it was a climb of the Grand Teton (the Owen-Spaulding Route) in 2010 that really ignited his love for mountaineering. In addition to climbs in the Bighorns of Wyoming, the Whitney-Gilman and Moby Grape routes on Cannon Cliff in NH, and Red Rock Canyon in Nevada, John also assisted as co-lead on the successful 2013 SSMC Mt. Rainier Expedition. John led a climb of Mt. Sanford, Alaska in 2014, climbed Mt. Baker in 2015, and led the 2016 Ecuador expedition. In 2017 John led the Canadian Rockies expedition, with attempts on Mt. Robson and Mt. Assiniboine. John also successfully led the Kautz route on Mt. Rainier in 2018, getting all 7 climbers to the summit and back. During a Covid-limited season in 2020, John climbed the Grand Teton and Teewinot. In 2022, John led a team of six SSMC climbers to within 100 feet of the summit of Mt. Assiniboine. In 2023, John is the expedition lead for the first club Mt. Adams expedition.
Besides climbing the bigger peaks, John has been focused on spending time in the NH backcountry, finishing the 48-in-1 Winter challenge in 2009-10, completing the Wilderness First Aid Course thru SOLO in 2013, and branching out into technical rock climbing across the state.
John is a former U.S. Air Force Pilot, logging nearly 2000 hours (combat and peacetime), in the B-1B Lancer, T-6A Texan II, T-38 Talon, and T-37 Tweet. He graduated from USAF SERE out of Spokane, Washington, in 2001.
John holds an Undergraduate Degree in Computer Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (1999), as well as an M.B.A from the University of West Florida (2006). John was President of New England Truck Tire Centers, Inc from 2015-2018 after 11 years in his family’s business. He currently serves as Chief Operations and Transformation Officer at MPX in Portland, Maine.