Category: The Whole U Program Information

As we close out our UW Fitness Day Community Coaches Corner series, we’re celebrating the incredible instructors and partners who bring this event to life across all our campuses. From Husky Stadium to UW Bothell, UW Tacoma and Harborview Medical Center, the UW Fitness Day community coaches show up in a big way.

UW Fitness Day is more than a workout. It is a shared moment to step away, move your body and feel connected to something bigger across the UW community. It’s not too late to sign up and join us.

• Seattle campus at Husky Stadium
• Harborview Medical Center at View Park
• UW Bothell at the ARC
• UW Tacoma at the University Y

Meet our final round of Husky Stadium community coaches

Ferrah Seifert

shefayoga – Roosevelt

Ferrah brings a grounded, mindful approach to movement through yoga, creating space for participants to slow down, reconnect and move with intention. At shefayoga, she is part of a welcoming and inclusive community that emphasizes both physical and mental well-being.

shefayoga discount: Enjoy 20% off all classes and memberships.

Morgan Jenson

Seattle Dance Fitness

Morgan has been in the fitness industry for six years, starting as a dancer before expanding into personal training and group fitness. She now teaches strength, dance fitness and pole, bringing high energy and a strong belief that movement should feel fun and freeing.

Her advice: “Get out of your head and have fun moving your body!”

‎UW’s Seattle Dance Fitness discount: 10% off any class pass.

Floyd Collins Jr

Equinox – Seattle

Floyd is a personal trainer focused on building strength, confidence and sustainable performance. At Equinox, he works with clients across experience levels to develop strong foundations and push toward their goals in a supportive, high-performance environment.

Equinox – Seattle discount: UW faculty, staff, and students enjoy exclusive benefits at Equinox, including waived invitation fees and preferred membership rates.

Kara Stone

Seattle Bouldering Project – U District

Kara represents a movement-first approach to fitness, rooted in climbing, strength and mobility. At Seattle Bouldering Project, she helps participants explore new ways of moving, building functional strength and confidence through play and community.

Seattle Bouldering Project discount: Enjoy a reduced membership and no joining fees, plus special rates on summer camps.

Christopher DeGoede

Equinox – Seattle

Christopher brings a performance-driven approach to training, focusing on strength, conditioning and long-term progress. His coaching style emphasizes consistency, proper technique and helping clients unlock their full potential.

Equinox – Seattle discount: UW faculty, staff, and students enjoy exclusive benefits at Equinox, including waived invitation fees and preferred membership rates.

Karen Cornelio

UW Recreation / Zumba

Karen is a longtime favorite in the UW community, leading high-energy Zumba classes through UW Recreation and The Whole U. With years of experience and a loyal following, she creates a welcoming, joyful space where everyone can dance, sweat and feel part of the community.

Take Zumba with Karen: Join Karen’s weekly Zumba classes open to UW employees.

Sharon Lei

Equinox

Sharon brings a balanced, client-centered approach to training, helping individuals build strength, confidence and consistency in their fitness routines. At Equinox, she supports a wide range of clients, focusing on creating an encouraging environment where everyone can feel successful.

Equinox – Seattle discount: UW faculty, staff, and students enjoy exclusive benefits at Equinox, including waived invitation fees and preferred membership rates.

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UW Tacoma – University YMCA Student Center

UW Tacoma Fitness Day brings the same energy, connection and movement to the south sound, creating a space for students, staff and community members to come together through fitness. Hosted at the University YMCA Student Center, this location highlights the strength of local partnerships and the power of movement to build community beyond campus.

Whether you are joining a group run, trying boxing for the first time or slowing down with yoga or Tai Chi, UW Tacoma offers a welcoming, inclusive environment to move in a way that feels right for you.

Pamela Draper

Pamela has been a WSU Master Gardener since 1996 and a Tai Chi Chih instructor for over 27 years.

She brings a calming, intentional approach to movement, helping participants build balance, focus and awareness through gentle, flowing practice.

Her advice: “Focus on calmness, balance, softness and settling into your body.”

Amos Freiheit

Amos has been a YMCA run coach for over two years and brings his passion as an avid runner and soccer player into every session.

His run club welcomes both students and community members, focusing on endurance, strength and connection through movement.

His advice: “Life’s short… running makes it seem longer.”

Ruthie White

Ruthie teaches bootcamp and boxing, bringing high energy and a strong focus on building a supportive fitness community. With a background in teaching boxing at WSU, she is passionate about helping people feel strong, confident and connected.

Her advice: “Show up for yourself, try something new and have fun.”

Nick Brodeur

Nick teaches power and vinyasa yoga, blending strength, balance and mindfulness.

His journey into movement started with distance running and evolved into yoga as a way to create balance, leading him to pursue teacher training and share that experience with others.

His advice: “Don’t hesitate to try anything that calls to you.”

 

Celeste Cole

Celeste has been teaching movement since 2018 and is certified in yoga and mat Pilates. She has taught across a wide range of settings and brings a holistic lens to her work, also practicing as a therapist in Tacoma.

Her approach emphasizes connection, mindfulness and overall well-being.

Her advice: “Let this be a day of growth, connection and a little bit of fun.”

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UW Bothell – ARC

UW Bothell Fitness Day offers a chance to pause, reset and move together in a welcoming campus setting. Hosted at the ARC in partnership with UW Bothell Recreation, this midday session is designed to help you recharge, connect and return to your day feeling refreshed.

Whether you are stepping onto your mat for the first time or returning to a familiar practice, this Vinyasa Flow class invites you to move with intention, build strength and find a moment of calm in the middle of your day.

Coach Samantha

Samantha is a third-year Business Administration student at UW Bothell and a leader in campus fitness programming. In addition to teaching Yoga Vinyasa Flow and Restorative Yoga, she serves as the Student Program Coordinator for fitness, supporting events, mentoring instructors and helping build a strong, connected recreation community.

UW Bothell Recreation: Join group fitness classes and explore wellness programs at the ARC.

 

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Harborview Medical Center in View Park

Harborview Fitness Day brings high-energy movement to the heart of UW Medicine, creating space to step outside, recharge and connect with colleagues. Set in View Park, this midday bodyweight class offers an accessible, energizing way to reset during the workday.

Led in partnership with Ampersand Fitness, this session focuses on strength, mobility and functional movement using just your bodyweight. Whether you are new to fitness or looking to challenge yourself, this class is designed to meet you where you are and leave you feeling strong and recharged.

Steph Duryea

Ampersand Fitness

Steph is a NASM-certified personal trainer who brings a fun, energetic and empowering approach to every session. She specializes in strength training, functional mobility, boxing and women’s health, helping clients build confidence and reach goals they once thought were out of reach. Her coaching style is rooted in connection, motivation and celebrating what the body can do.

Steph is passionate about creating a supportive environment where people feel encouraged to show up, push themselves and enjoy the process.

Ampersand Fitness discount: Special membership rate with exclusive 24-hour access to Harborview employees.

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More than movement

UW Fitness Day is about showing up for each other. As a Husky Strong signature event, we’re proud to give back to our community, raising over $22,000 for the UW Food Pantries thus far in 2026. You can be part of it by making an optional donation through the UW Combined Fund Drive in support of Husky Strong.

Thank you to our sponsors!

UW Fitness Day is possible because of our partners BECU, TIAA, Decathlon, Husky Mobile, UW Medicine, and UW Athletics!

In the lead-up to UW Fitness Day, we are spotlighting the incredible community coaches and studio partners who will be bringing the energy to Husky Stadium and our campuses.

UW Fitness Day is more than a workout. It is a chance to move, connect and experience the energy of being a Husky in a whole new way.

A workout for every body

If you haven’t attended UW Fitness Day before, you might be wondering what to expect. The workout is structured as a fun, flow-at-your-own-pace circuit. You’ll rotate through different stations, each guided by a different expert coach, giving you a taste of everything from cardio dance to yoga and mobility work.

Every single movement can be modified. Whether you are a seasoned athlete, recovering from an injury, or just starting your wellness journey, our coaches are there to ensure you get exactly what you need out of the day.

Sign up today to secure your spot!

• Seattle campus at Husky Stadium
• Harborview Medical Center at View Park
• UW Bothell at the ARC
• UW Tacoma at the University Y

Meet our community coaches

Kalena Claveria

Equinox – Rainier Square

Kalena focuses on hypertrophy with an emphasis on form, helping clients of all backgrounds master performance-related movements. As a UW Alum, Kalena is especially thrilled to return to campus and share her knowledge with the larger community.

Her advice: “Come ready to learn, sweat, and most of all have fun!”

Equinox – Seattle discount: UW faculty, staff, and students enjoy exclusive benefits at Equinox, including waived invitation fees and preferred membership rates.

Cyan Fuehr

TruFusion

Cyan teaches a little bit of everything, kettlebells, Pilates, barre, TRX and HIIT, and brings unlimited positive energy to every session. A metabolic health coach, Cyan believes movement is medicine for the soul. Her goal is to share smiles and show people the transformative power of fitness.

Her hype message: “Get ready to feel on top of the world and buzzing with energy after today!!!”

UW TruFusion discount: Get 50% off the first month of unlimited access, or a special $119 monthly rate for those 25 and under.‎

Chelsea Murphy

Halea Yoga

A lifelong mover, Chelsea has been teaching since 2013 and primarily guides Vinyasa Yoga and Yoga + Strength Training. For Chelsea, movement means complete freedom in body, mind, and self-expression. She loves how UW Fitness Day showcases diverse options to inspire new passions.

Her message: “Proud of you for saying YES to your body and health!”‎‎

‎‎UW’s Halea Yoga discount: $24 off monthly memberships or 10-class packs.

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Katie Moos

Seattle Dance Fitness

With 20 years in the group fitness industry, Katie is passionate about dance fitness, strength training and yoga. She aims to help people move in ways that feel fun, empowering and sustainable.

Katie’s reminder for the day: “Come curious, bring your energy (or borrow ours), and let yourself have fun while connecting with your body and the community around you. By the end of the day, you’ll leave feeling energized, empowered, and grounded in what your body can do.”

‎UW’s Seattle Dance Fitness discount: 10% off any class pass.

Yi Jiao Hong

Chinese Wushu & Taichi Academy

Bringing over 40 years of experience in both China and the US, Yi Jiao is a master of Tai Chi. Her practice emphasizes the profound connection between the body’s breathing and the surrounding environment, bridging earth and heaven.

Her guiding words for the event: “Feel the sky and feel the earth, feel your body gravity downward with relaxed breath.”

UW Chinese Wushu & Taichi Academy discount: $20 off new beginner classes.‎

Dan Druliner

Halea Yoga

With 15 years of experience teaching yoga, Dan centers his practice around building community. He views movement as a fundamental part of life and thrives on the energy of group gatherings.

Dan’s message about UW Fitness Day: “It’s more fun to celebrate together!‎

‎UW’s Halea Yoga discount: $24 off monthly memberships or 10-class packs.

Hannah Rex

Seattle Bouldering Project – University District

Teaching yoga since 2020 and certified in personal training in 2025, Hannah is passionate about making exercise accessible. She focuses on functional movements designed to help people feel better in their daily lives and enhance the outdoor activities they already enjoy.

Her simple hype message: “Let’s get moving!”

‎UW’s Seattle Bouldering Project discount: Discounted annual membership and waived initiation fees on monthly memberships (valid at all locations).

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Megan West

TruFusion Washington

A proud UW alum, Megan is dedicated to breaking down barriers to fitness and creating an incredibly welcoming environment for everyone—from first-time exercisers to advanced athletes. With a strong background in fitness management and community building, she ensures that newcomers feel comfortable from the exact moment they walk through the front doors. Megan wants to eliminate the “I don’t have time” excuse by proving how seamless fitness can fit into a busy schedule.

Her ultimate goal for participants: “Whatever it is that you’re looking for, we always want to be the best part of everybody’s day.”

UW’s TruFusion discount: Get 50% off the first month of unlimited access, or a special $119 monthly rate for those 25 and under.‎

Aaliyah Earvin

Aaliyah Earvin Coaching

With 20 years of teaching experience across a wide variety of classes, Aaliyah currently focuses her expertise on strength training and running. She is passionate about getting people moving because she believes movement equates to freedom, confidence, strength, and stress relief.

Her hype message to participants is simple: “UW Fitness Day is the party you don’t want to miss!”

‎Connect with Aaliyah: Your guide to help you become confident, bold and brave in your movement and running journey.

 

More than movement

UW Fitness Day is about showing up for each other. As a Husky Strong signature event, we’re proud to give back to our community, raising over $22,000 for the UW Food Pantries thus far in 2026. You can be part of it by making an optional donation through the UW Combined Fund Drive in support of Husky Strong.

Thank you to our sponsors!

UW Fitness Day is possible because of our partners BECU, TIAA, Decathlon, Husky Mobile, UW Medicine, and UW Athletics!

Join UW faculty, staff, families, and allies for a special night of connection and celebration at Seattle Sounders Pride Night on Saturday, August 16.

Hosted by the University of Washington Queer Faculty and Staff Association (QFSA), this group outing is an opportunity to come together in a fun, inclusive environment and show support for the LGBTQ+ community.

Event details

Seattle Sounders Pride Night Match
Date: Saturday, August 16
Location: Lumen Field, Seattle
Group seating: Section 126

Queer Faculty and Staff Association will coordinate group seating for UW attendees in Section 126, making it easy to connect with colleagues, friends, and community members throughout the match.

What to expect

• A welcoming, community-centered experience for UW faculty, staff, families, and allies
• Group seating with other UW attendees in Section 126
• Nearby access to family and gender-neutral restrooms
• A stadium environment that supports individuals using the restroom that aligns with their gender identity
• Event security in place, with additional details to be shared closer to the event

Ticket information

• $51.02 per ticket (includes service fees)

How to participate

If you’re interested in attending, tickets can be purchased at the following link:

• Sounders FC Vs Canvouver Whitecaps – UW QFSA

About QFSA

The University of Washington Queer Faculty and Staff Association (QFSA) supports LGBTQ+ employees and allies by fostering community, advocacy, and connection across UW.

Questions?

For additional information, please reach out to Queer Faculty and Staff Association organizers James Fesalbon, Alan Glavez, and Nick Stelzner, (jfesal@uw.edu, aagalvez@uw.edu, & nrcs@uw.edu

Distinguished emeritus professors Merrill and Bertil Hille are partners in wellness and paragons of active — even adventurous — aging

Like many retired couples of a certain age, Bertil and Merrill Hille log their engagements in an old-fashioned paper calendar. Theirs would look pretty unremarkable, actually, if not for the sprawling range of scribbled triangles that blankets much of its orderly grid like crowded peaks on a topographic map. 

“Each of these triangles is a mountain hike,” explains Bertil, an emeritus professor in the UW Department of Physiology and Biophysics. “This one is Grand Park. This is Fremont Lookout. And Coldwater Lake. Alta Vista. Cowlitz Divide. Sunrise Rim. Summerland.” 

This litany of alpine ascents would test the quads of the sturdiest young body. The Hilles are in their mid-80s. 

“Our son and his wife were visiting,” explains Merrill, a professor emerita of zoology at the UW. “So, it’s a bit full.” 

She’s speaking of this past July’s schedule, of course. But she might as well be describing the life that she and Bertil have made together: full. 

While remaining intellectually active after long and distinguished careers devoted to research, writing and teaching in the life sciences, Merrill and Bertil have continued to feed a lifelong wanderlust in retirement. Amplified it, really.

They train diligently for the hiking and snowshoeing adventures across the Pacific Northwest and around the world that pack their calendar. Recent travels have found them hiking across northern Norway, circumnavigating Mont Blanc, visiting Machu Picchu and trekking in the Italian Dolomites. 

These trails they have traversed serve as a neat metaphor for their lives and careers, which have been, by turn, linear and meandering, straightforward and challenging, serving obstacles to negotiate and detours to explore. And though their trails diverge at times, they always come back together. 

Paths first cross 

Merrill and Bertil Hille have been together for more than 60 years, long enough to finish each other’s sentences and edit each other’s stories (a biproduct, perhaps, of lifetimes working inside the peer-review system). 

Both grew up with esteemed “faculty fathers.” Merrill’s was a professor of mechanical engineering at Cornell and Bertil’s was professor of mathematics at Yale. 

Encouraged by his academic-minded parents, Bertil Hille cultivated an early love of science, from soaking up fascinating conversations among his parents’ scholarly friends to high school summers interning in a biology lab to daily hikes up Yale’s famed Science Hill and summer field studies at Woods Hole Oceanic Institute as an undergrad. “For me, it was an almost linear progression,” he says. 

Merrill Burr’s path was more roundabout. She became fascinated by the study of embryology — how organisms develop — as a chemistry undergraduate at Cornell. And she became equally fascinated by the wild places of the Pacific Northwest when she tagged along a Boeing consulting project with her father one summer. 

She preceded Bertil as a graduate fellow at New York’s Rockefeller University in the early 1960s. They met on a group camping trip organized by her roommate, the only other woman in the program. “At the time,” Merrill says,” women weren’t well accepted in science.” 

The star-crossed scholars fell quickly in love and married in 1964. After completing their doctoral work (and Merrill’s postdoctoral stint at NYU deciphering the genetic code with Nobel laureate Severo Ochoa), they spent a year at Cambridge University in England. There, Merrill studied the development of chick bones with Dame Honor B. Fell of the Strangeways Research Laboratory. And Bertil worked with Sir Alan Hodgkin, the Nobel Prize-winning biophysicist. 

Into the west 

The newlyweds returned to the U.S. with their firstborn son in tow and a second on the way. Bertil’s mentors arranged for meetings discussing faculty posts at Harvard and Duke. Honoring Merrill’s love of the West, he also visited universities up the Pacific coast from UC San Diego to Simon Fraser. The most fateful stop was at the University of Washington. 

“At the time,” Bertil says, “Seattle was known as the place you would have to stop in if you were traveling to Alaska or Japan. Academically, it did not have a lot of known appeal.” 

What the UW did have was a small cohort of kindred scholars, a vigorous graduate program and advanced scientific computing facilities. 

For Merrill, it had one more big selling point: location, location, location. “We came here because I wanted to be in the mountains,” she admits. 

“I knew that Merrill really wanted to be in Seattle,” Bertil confirms. “I assumed that in five years we would move back home. But it turned out to be just the right place for both of us.” 

They arrived in 1968. Bertil launched straight into an illustrious tenure at the UW School of Medicine, continuing the pioneering research he had begun at Rockefeller on cell signaling by ion channels. Merrill’s faculty career, on the other hand, began fitfully as a part-time postdoc in the zoology lab of Arthur Whiteley. 

While frustrating, Merrill’s early underemployment allowed her to play a central role in creating one of the jewels of Seattle’s public parks. 

A detour to the Burke-Gilman Trail 

During their early years in Seattle, the Hilles lived in a small house beside the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railway that had connected downtown Seattle to Woodinville since 1887. “The kids loved it,” Merrill recalls. “They would run to the window every time a train went by.” 

What she didn’t love, however, was having to lead her young children across a neighboring railroad overpass to access Matthews Beach and Lake Washington. “There was no railing,” she recalls, “So we made the kids walk between the rails so they wouldn’t fall over the edge.” 

When the Burlington Northern Railroad made its final coal run and decided to abandon the route in 1971, Merrill and a group of neighbors formed a committee to advocate for turning the railway into a paved public path for cyclists, walkers, runners and strollers along 12 scenic miles of lakeshore. They named their committee and the trail they got built after an influential judge named Thomas Burke and a financier named Daniel Gilman who were central to the rail line being built in the late 1800s. 

This neighborhood plan needed city-wide attention. So, with the guidance of then-Mayor Wes Uhlman — a powerful ally — Merrill spent the summer of 1971 organizing a massive “hike-in” to build public support for the trail. On September 12, more than 2,000 Seattleites processed southward from Kenmore’s Log Boom Park and northward from Seattle’s old coal gasification plant (now Gasworks Park) to converge at Matthews Beach for a rally. 

The event was a great success. But there was still much work to be done by the Burke-Gilman committee and civic leadership to negotiate a property deal with Burlington Northern, to convince residents along the route that a public trail would not invite criminal activity or lower property values, to grow support across the city and to establish alliances with environmental and recreation organizations. 

On August 19, 1978, the first 12.1 miles of the Burke-Gilman Trail opened to the public. 

A blockbuster discovery 

During Merrill’s detour into civic advocacy, Bertil was able to focus on his pioneering scientific research on ion channels that he had begun with grad school in parallel with colleague Clay Armstrong. Ion channels allow the passage of electrically charged particles to conduct the body’s basic biological processes, from excitation and signaling to secretion and absorption. 

In 1984, culminating many years of work, Bertil published the first of three editions of “Ionic Channels of Excitable Membranes.” 

The insightful, accessible book earned him worldwide notoriety and a passel of awards and honors. Among them, the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research and the Gairdner Foundation International Award, and election into the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

Most gratifying, Bertil says, is seeing the impact of this work over time. “Ionic Channels” created the foundation for expansive development and discovery to come. Since the book’s debut, there have been more than 400,000 papers on ion channels to date.  

Understanding ion channels has been pivotal to the development of local anesthetics, pain blockers, pharmaceuticals and medical therapies for heart disease and a multitude of other conditions. 

“I had the good fortune of being there in the beginning and starting an idea that has become very important to medicine and basic science,” Bertil says. 

Though he became renowned as an author more than a working scientist, he subsequently branched off into many new directions in biophysics, publishing more than 250 papers in his career. 

Merrill’s path 

On the other side of Bertil’s rocket-ship success, Merrill progressed more slowly up the academic chain at the UW, despite her impressive curriculum vitae. 

As a part-timer in the Whiteley lab, she initially studied sea urchin embryos, and specifically how a fertilized egg makes its first proteins. This led to an interest in how cells migrate around an embryo to develop an organism’s features and functions. 

It took the better part of a decade to achieve full-time faculty status and another to get her own lab. In the 1990s, Merrill began studying embryonic cell development in zebrafish, moving from invertebrates to vertebrates. “And vertebrates are considered relevant,” she says. “All the mechanisms I studied in zebrafish are the same as in us.” 

Merrill was resilient and resourceful. With her lab chronically underfunded, she employed an army of undergrads to help with the work. This resulted in papers with a curious multitude of young authors, many of whom were building credentials for their own graduate science or medical degree studies. “What a great opportunity it was for them,” Bertil remarks. 

During these years, Merrill also made good on her dream of climbing. She joined the Mountaineers Club while sons Erik and Trygve were in high school. And, over time, she summitted every major peak of the Pacific Northwest and many others, often alongside her equally venturesome sons. 

Globe trekkers 

Merrill shares her love of the outdoors with Bertil, too. Over their many decades together, they have spent countless memorable weekends day hiking, backpacking, skiing or snowshoeing in the local mountains.  

They have enjoyed many adventures around the globe, too. Together or apart, they have explored Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Peru. England, France, Italy, Germany. South Africa, Kenya, Malawi and Madagascar. Japan and Mongolia. Leningrad (before the fall of the Soviet Empire). 

They have floated down the Amazon, slogged the Pantanal wetlands of Brazil and trekked around the Torres del Paine and Tierra del Fuego in Argentina and Chile. They traversed the northern tundra of Norway in rubber boots (when Merrill was six-months pregnant with their first child). And they sailed to Antarctica (for their 50th wedding anniversary). 

Only the island of Borneo — where they outlasted Merrill’s durian-induced stomach bug, the swelting jungle and legions of parasites to ascend 13,400-foot Mount Kinabalu — draws mixed reviews.  

“Borneo is a place where you acquire lots of leeches,” Bertil reports. “I would avoid it.” 

“I thought that was a good trip,” Merrill counters, sending them both into laughter. 

Seize every day 

In a biographic article he wrote on making a life in the life sciences, Bertil wrote of striving to live the ancient Greek ideal of a balanced mind and body. 

They did that during their faculty years and have continued in their recent retirement. In their emeritus role, they stay intellectually active, avidly reading and writing and remaining engaged in the scholarly lives of former students and colleagues. 

They also stay physically active, as a hedge against the inevitable declines that come as the years advance — and because it just feels good to move.

“The New York Times Magazine recently had a special issue on retirement,” Bertil says. “One of the tips was that you should enjoy the things you can do and not regret the things you can’t do anymore.” 

“But I am regretting them,” Merrill says, with a laugh. 

Yes, they have had to give up skiing and backpacking. But they walk and garden for hours every day, Merrill tending to fruits and vegetable plots while Bertil landscapes the slope behind their home of 25 years that tumbles down to a familiar trail. “He’s remodeling the Burke-Gilman below here,” Merrill jokes. 

They often watch the activity along the trail with great pride. “It’s the only park that I’m happy the more people are there,” Merrill adds. 

But movement is much more than a spectator sport to them. The Hilles continue embarking on active adventures every year. The tour of Mont Blanc covered 100 miles of alpine walking. The refugio-to-refugio hike across the Dolomites was a multiday ramble. 

But most often they hike (or snowshoe) in the familiar mountains that first called them to this verdant corner of America. They have a cabin up in Greenwater, near Mount Rainier, that serves as an advanced base camp for endless explorations. “Before we retired, we hiked on weekends,” Bertil says. “But now, we’re free to go any time. We just keep going.” 

To keep fit for these everyday adventures, the Hilles religiously attend — and provide great inspiration at — The Whole U’s Virtual Weight Training Class with Lauren Updyke every Tuesday and Thursday morning. Well, most every Tuesday and Thursday. 

“If we’re missing from Lauren’s class,” Bertil says, “it’s because there’s a triangle on our calendar that day.”