You may have been following along with our Customer Spotlights. As those come to a close, we decided that it was time to switch to something more visual for our readers. Welcome to the next series of 67 Designs, photo essays.
Today we feature Nikolai Ambwani, who is a current junior studying Environmental Design at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Although he goes to school in Boulder, Colorado, he hails from California.
Being in Boulder is pretty awesome, though. For him, the “people, beauty and location” render the city incredible.
Ambwani has a 2015 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport. He says he cannot live without a “tailgate table and a good phone mount.” For the mounts, Ambwani has two 67 Designs Universals for Phone connected to our Carbon Fiber Arms and mounted to a Vector bar with clamps. He says that “they are just really high quality mounts. I do not have to worry about where my phone is, if it is going to fall off the mount, where my gauges are, etc.” You can see all of his mods below in his REVKIT.
Nikolai has always had a passion for the outdoors, camping and exploring. Once his family bought the Jeep, he began to watch YouTube channels like TrailRecon, who motivated him to start overlanding and outfitting his Jeep.
The most recent adventure that Nikolai embarked on was from California to Colorado on his way to CU Boulder for the fall term. He was able to stop in Moab for a few days and did a lot of camping and overlanding in Arches National Park. His highlight: camping on the Colorado River and swimming in it.
Being in college does impact his ability to overland: “College is obviously a priority so during the week and every weekend I am busy with college so overlanding is not really an option unless there is a break or I have a long weekend.”
It does allow him to overland with friends, though. One friend just got a Jeep and another got a 4Runner, so he will be doing more overlanding in groups in the near future. This winter, “we plan to find some new ski trails in Vail,” where Nikolai’s family has a winter home.
Out by Vail and Telluride are also some of the best trails in Colorado, according to Nikolai. “I think those have to be my favorite, by far the most beautiful.”
Don’t worry—I did not forget to ask him about his home state. California has some pretty sweet spots for overlanding. “I would say my favorite part about living in California is the diverse landscape. You can go from snowy mountains to coastal mountains to deserts to redwood forests in a matter of hours. ” His favorite place to overland is Big Sur, which looks over the ocean and is “stunning”.
However, one time in Hollister, CA, he flooded his Jeep. He explains, “ I was trying to go through this massive puddle, which I thought was a lot smaller and I got stuck in it. The water came up to above my knees inside the vehicle and me and my friend had to get out through the roof of the vehicle. Then, we had to tow the Jeep out and tow it home. Luckily, everything was fine except for the carpet, but it was by far the craziest experience I’ve ever had.”
The following are photos from the shoot with Ambwani—enjoy:
Nikolai also does some of his own photography with his Sony Alpha 6300. Check out his shots, along with his REVKIT here:
© 67 Designs, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Photo Essay by Kate Della Pietra.