Matt Robinson

I was born and raised in Woodbridge, CT where I spent my time playing in the woods, biking around town, snowboarding, going to the Jersey Shore on the weekends to surf, and wrestling in high school. When it came time to go to college I decided to leave the cold New England winters to go to school at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fl where I met the love of my life, Samantha, to whom I’ve been married since 2009.

In 2009 I also found the second love of my life, climbing, in a small hole in the wall climbing gym in an industrial park by Tampa International Airport. The only thing stronger than the smell of feet in the gym was the group of dedicated regulars who would train hard in the humid Florida heat with lofty goals of bigger trips to outdoor climbing destinations in their sights. This need to travel to find real rock has lead me and Sam all across the country from the steep sandstone in the Southeast to the hallowed granite climbing Mecca that is Yosemite Valley with many destinations in between including Red Rock Canyon, Indian Creek, and the Fisher Towers to name just a few.

Sam and I first came to the Red River Gorge in 2016 and instantly fell in love with the impeccable Corbin Sandstone and started checking real estate websites on the drive home with the distant dream of one day owning our own slice of heaven in the Red. Fast forward 5 years and that dream quickly became a reality when we found a perfect property in July of 2021 where we built a tiny house we now call home for 9 months of the year with our dachshund Ollie before heading back to Florida to kiteboard, spend time with family, and avoid the winters (I still don’t love the snow). After buying the property and tiny house I knew it was time to leave behind a total of 15 years in the corporate worlds of Retail Sales Management and the Auto Insurance industry to pursue my passion for sharing the outdoors and climbing with others by joining the team at Southeast Mountain Guides.