December Member Spotlight: Dan Lambson

What do you do for work/free time?

I'm a structural engineer with Morrison-Maierle; these days, my focus is bridge design and inspection work. In my free time, when I'm not outside hiking or exploring (or dabbling in climbing, biking, paddling, etc.), I'm usually at home reading or banging away on the piano. I'm always down for a good board game too.

How did you land in Helena?

I was in a bit of a rut living in a 3,000-strong fishing community on an island in Alaska (side note- I'm from New Jersey), so I browsed around for structural job openings in the Northwest, stumbled into a position in Helena, moved here in January this year, and haven't looked back since!

What is the best piece of advice that you ever received – career-related or otherwise?

"If it is to be, it's up to me." Pretty self-explanatory bit of advice, but one that's worth re-hearing every so often.

When do you feel the most yourself?

Whenever and wherever I can lose myself in something, be it scrambling up a mountain, wandering around a new city, playing some good music, or grappling with design calcs in Excel.

Where is the last place you explored and where do you want to explore next?

This year I've stayed pretty local, roaming all over the Montana Rockies from the Pintlers to Glacier. It's been a nice breather after I spent over half of 2018 traveling to exotic locations like Chile, Maui, and West Virginia, but lately wanderlust has started to set in again. Haven't figured out where it'll take me next, but until I do there's still plenty more mountains to visit around here!

Tell us something about yourself that we didn’t ask:

My trip to Chile last year was a volunteer deal; I spent almost 2 months down there building a trail bridge in some prime real estate in Torres del Paine National Park! I had to get back to the US before I could finish it (stupid engineering licensing exam), but I can still proudly state that I almost built a bridge in Chile.