As has been noted elsewhere, young Mr. McGowan was an accomplished climber at a young age. Here he sums up the state of alpine climbing as it stood a few decades back in Seattle. Alpinism has come a long way, but it's clear that the reasons we still head into the hills have been around for quite a while.
That’s one heck of a resume.
Seattle’s own Dick McGowan was (among other things – see above) the first employee of REI, the first American to set foot on Mt. Everest, led the first guided climb of Denali, and obviously an accomplished backpack model.
See also: Some early instruction on alpine climbing from Dick himself.
“What is the impact of the closing down of the Wilderness on the development of children’s imaginations? This is what I worry about the most. I grew up with a freedom, a liberty that now seems breathtaking and almost impossible. Recently, my younger daughter, after the usual struggle and exhilaration, learned to ride her bicycle. Her joy at her achievement was rapidly followed by a creeping sense of puzzlement and disappointment as it became clear to both of us that there was nowhere for her to ride it—nowhere that I was willing to let her go. Should I send my children out to play? There is a small grocery store around the corner, not over two hundred yards from our...
