Chris Kassar

Chris has an intense reverence for nature and a thirst for adventure. She’s most at peace in the outdoors and has meandered along ridges, scaled peaks, and run rivers across the globe. Over the years, she’s increasingly turned her attention to using words and imagery to document these adventures and to bring attention to important issues.

Before joining the Gear Junkie Affiliate Team as an Editor, she worked as senior editor of Elevation Outdoors Magazine and as a freelance writer and photographer with works printed in publications including Climbing Magazine, The Boston Globe, Mother Jones, National Geographic Adventure, and Outside Online.

Adventure journalist Chris Kassar writes compelling pieces about outdoor adventures, the best gear for these exploits, environmental issues, and adventure travel. She also enjoys profiling leaders who are pushing the limits in a variety of arenas, from climbing mountains to sustainability to adaptive sports and everything in between.  

Her career, coupled with her intense reverence for nature and thirst for adventure, has taken her all over the world from the Arctic to Asia. She has scaled peaks and run rivers all over North America, and in exotic lands like Nepal, Kenya, Cuba, Tanzania, Thailand, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Costa Rica, and Iceland. 

Her award-winning freelance writing (often accompanied by her photographs) appears in National Geographic Adventure, Climbing Magazine, The Boston Globe, Mother Jones, Filmmaker Magazine, Outside Online, WEND, and Women’s Adventure Magazine, among others. She works as Senior Editor for Elevation Outdoors Magazine and has written two Falcon Guides: Colorado Wildflower Hikes and Guide to Southern Rocky Mountain Wildflowers.

With over 20 years in the travel and outdoor industry, she also helps companies tell their stories. She has helped create strategic messaging and written content for leading brands including Patagonia, Mountain Hardwear, and Natural Habitat Adventures. She has acted as a consultant and strategist, and utilized her ability to break down complex concepts into easily digestible and interesting written material for essential organizations including the United Nations, Responder Alliance, Adventure Travel Trade Association, and Chaffee County Public Health.  

Chris currently resides in Salida, Colo., with her husband Ryan and their yellow lab, Nala. Together, they run Elk Raven Photography, a business dedicated to using ethical wildlife and landscape photography to inspire others to explore this great wild world in a sustainable way.  

As a guide, mountaineer, skier, runner, hiker, world traveler, and activist, nature has been and continues to be central to her life. Filled with a growing knowledge, unceasing energy, and the passion to make an impact, Chris plans to continue telling important stories and protecting wild places.