Living on the mountain

Twenty-nine-year-old Adam Roberts can't imagine spending hours in stop-and-go traffic. It would kill him to sit behind a desk from nine to five. Roberts has carved out a space for himself beyond the humdrum world of making money and paying rent. He has built a custom home on the truck bed of his Toyota Tacoma so he can live where he truly feels alive - on the mountain. Roberts lives out of his truck, which you can often find on in the parking lot of the Mount Baker Ski Area 50 miles east of Bellingham, Wash. He hikes up the mountain on skins and skis down through massive powder. He cooks and sleeps in his self-made gypsy wagon. Living off the grid has its challenges, but Roberts willingly sacrifices convenience to be amongst the trees, deep in the snow.

This video profile was shot, edited and produced by Western Washington University students Jasper Gibson, Hannah Leone, Elliot Reid and Annika Wolters for a Digital Media in Journalism class taught by Stephen Howie. They shot video of Roberts performing day-to-day activities and skiing on Mount Baker, and they interviewed him in his natural environment.