Our Team.
Tyler Karow
Co-Founder
Tyler Karow is a licensed civil engineer in the state of California who has spent the past three years living out of his van and climbing around the world.
An obsessed builder from a young age, Tyler spent most of his childhood building Legos or helping his dad renovate the house. He started off his career building high-rises and stadiums in New York City prior to entering college. After graduating from the University of Southern California with a degree in civil engineering, Tyler worked in construction litigation and then in the modular construction realm designing and building multifamily modular apartments and high-rises in Oakland.
During the summer of 2019, Tyler built himself a van and ventured out on the road to climb full time. As a passionate climber, he has traveled the world on a quest for big walls in places such as Kyrgyzstan, Jordan, Patagonia, and Alaska. He has climbed 12 unique routes on Yosemite’s El Capitan within the past 2 years including a speed record on Sunkist (A3+, Grade VI) and a ground up free ascent of Golden Gate (5.13a, Grade VI). Tyler has a popular YouTube channel that showcases his climbs and contains a van tour video of his first build. See it here: https://www.youtube.com/tylerkarow
Tyler has hopes to start his own tiny home construction company. Truckee Van Co. is the start to that vision.
Mats Allen
Co-Founder
Mats Allen is a licensed general contractor in the state of California who has worked in the residential construction industry for the last 7 years. Since 2018 Mats has specialized in custom cabinetry, designing and building cabinets for houses out of a small shop in Santa Cruz. When he is not working, he spends as much time outside as possible.
As an aspiring “jack-of-all trades”, his interests vary across many disciplines. Over the last decade Mats has bounced from sport to sport – big wave surfing at Mavericks, hiking the Pacific Crest trail, and competing at the Ironman World Championships in Kona. He recently became interested in big wall climbing, with his last venture being a clean solo ascent of Zodiac (C3, Grade VI) on El Capitan.
Prior to his contracting work, Mats was a web designer. He now brings his creativity to the third dimension through his woodwork. As a passionate woodworker, Mats has produced a number of custom pieces of furniture. As someone who has spent a lot of nights on the trail or in the bed of his truck, Mats knows the importance of building useful, efficient systems for recreational vehicles and has an understanding of how to make a design practical yet aesthetic.