I grew up on the shores of a wooded lake in Connecticut, was educated at Brown University, and received a Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the University of Colorado in 1971. Somewhere along the line I realized that I would ooze into insanity if I spent my life in a laboratory, but I didn’t want to “drop out” completely either. I continued my academic pursuits by co-authoring the first environmental science textbook in the United States, and then pursued a career as a textbook writer.
I married Debby Young and we led a wondrously nomadic existence: from a dirt-floor cabin in Montana, to a tipi in Jackson Hole, and then onward to a sailboat off the coast of California. After the boat sank in a storm, we moved to a subsistence farm in Maine, and then to a cabin in Colorado – where we separated.
Several years later, I married Chris Seashore and we lived in a small house in the Montana forest. We shared many expeditions and at other times I traveled without her. During our 25 years together, I climbed previously unclimbed rock walls and high peaks, skied all over the world, kayaked around Cape Horn and across the Pacific Ocean, and mountain biked across the Mongolian Gobi. I have shared these adventures through my books and magazine articles.
Then, on March 26, 2005, my beloved Chris was killed tragically in an avalanche on Mt Tom in the Eastern Sierra. We all miss her bright smile and happy demeanor.
I am now 61 years old. I have three wonderful children and six grandchildren. Nathan is a computer programmer, Reeva, a veterinarian and author, and Noey, an organic farmer and rock climber.
In September, 2006, Nina Maclean and I fell in love and we decided to join our lives together. We have had a marvelous time, learning each other's ways, wants, and personalities. Nina skied in the backcountry with me in the winter of 2006-7 and we are now planing to sea kayak in the South Pacific together.
I spend winters in a two-bedroom apartment in Fernie, B.C. and still own the house in Darby. In all the glory, madness, and tragedy, there have been two constants in my life: love of remote landscapes and writing. My accomplishments – the waypoints of my life – are listed below:
Travel Writing
I've written two adventure/travel books,
In the Wake of the Jomon and
Cold Oceans.
In addition to the writing, I speak frequently for a variety of venues on numerous topics.
Magazine Writing
36 articles in magazines such as "SeaKayaker", "Paddler", "Sailing", "American Alpine Journal", "Rock and Ice", "Walrus", and others.
Textbook Writing
23 Environmental and Earth Science Textbooks written between 1971 and 2004. Published by Saunders College Publishing and Thomson Learning
A few more details of my life are listed below:
Education
Phillips Academy, Andover; BS from Brown University; Ph.D. from University of Colorado
Teaching Experience
- Teaching assistant, University of Colorado, 1967 - 69. (Excellence in Teaching Resident Tuition Scholarship, Spring of 1968.)
- Instructor, Spring School, an alternative high school, 1969 -- 70.
- Visiting instructor for Senior Seminar, Ketchum/Sun Valley Community School, fall, 1986.
- Invited Faculty: Fishtrap Writing Conference, Feb, 2000
- Creative Writing Instructor: College of the Rockies, January, 2003-2005
Major Expeditions
- First rock climbing party to make big wall ascents in Sam Ford Fiord, Baffin Island. (Featured in American Alpine Journal and Fifty Favorite Climbs.)
- First ascent of Lamo-she Peak (6070 meters), Sichuan Province, China
- Kayak passage around Cape Horn.
- 3,000 mile kayak passage from Japan to Alaska, following a 10,000 year old aboriginal migration route.
- Unsupported crossing of the western Gobi of Mongolia on a mountain bike.
- Several first ski descents in the Tien Shan and Pamir Alai ranges of Kyrgyzia, volcanoes of Kamchatka, and Appolobamba of Bolivia.
- Five expeditions to northeast Siberia in search of a shaman's dream.
- Recipient of three Polartec and four Gore-tex grants for outstanding adventures.
My Paddle from Japan to Alaska was rated by Paddler Magazine as one of the 10 All-Time Greatest Sea Kayak Expeditions.
