Adam Derick Andrade spent his childhood in Mississippi and Alabama, excelling in his schooling and enjoying sports and playing music. Adam found a love for computers at a young age and was introduced to the concept of computer hacking. He quickly developed a keen interest in artificial intelligence, robotics, computer systems & networking, and electronics.
He graduated high school early and began attending Auburn University shortly thereafter, where he majored in Computer Engineering. After University he pursued a life as an alpinist & mountain guide, studying at the American Alpine Institute. Adam moved to Colorado, where he started serving on the San Juan County Search & Rescue team and working for the Silverton Avalanche School as a program director and field coordinator.
Adam experienced a near fatal encounter with an avalanche while attempting a ski mountaineering objective in a remote area of the San Juan mountains. This event had an enormous impact on his commitment to dangerous mountaineering endeavors. A week after this incident, he met Geshe Michael Roach and began studying Pabongka Rinpoche’s great exposition on the steps of the path to enlightenment: A Gift of Liberation, Thrust into Our Hands. Adam has also studied at Sera Mey Monastery in India, where he focused on Buddhist philosophy and the Tibetan language.
Adam moved to Arizona, to be closer to his teacher, and began working with the Asian Classics Input Project (now the Asian Legacy Library), overseeing operations at the Varanasi input center and helping to restart the cataloging and scanning efforts at the National Library of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar. In 2017, he began working with the Mixed Nuts translation group of the Diamond Cutter Classics organization.
Adam married the love of his life, Katheryn Fetchenhier, and soon welcomed the birth of their daughter, Ava Grace Andrade, who inspires him daily.
In his free time, Adam enjoys climbing mountains with Ava and his border collie, Gracie; as well as listening to music, reading, skiing, and mountaineering. He has climbed some of the highest mountains in North America, and is currently working on a project to climb the 100 highest peaks in Colorado with his daughter.
