Expedition Denali

An American Ascent, Black In National Parks Week, Blackwaters, Books, Buffalo Soldiers, Denali, Expedition Denali, Fly Fishing, Madison, National Geographic, National Monuments, National Parks, Outdoors For All, The Adventure Gap, The Joy Trip Reading Project, Unhidden / 22.04.2024

Recently I had the pleasure of welcoming two special guests to Madison, Wisconsin. As we’re entering the last two weeks of instruction in my online course at Western Colorado University, one of my students, Melanie Hardin, reached out to let me know that she would be passing through town. Coincidentally, Brian Shellum, a renowned author of several books on the Buffalo Soldiers, happened to arrive on the same day. On a beautiful spring afternoon, I was excited to meet with them both in person for coffee and lunch...

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#BlackLivesMatter, #ORShow, #ORSummer, An American Ascent, Art, Black Lives Matter, Commentary, Diversity, Expedition Denali, Outdoor Retailer, Special Events / 05.08.2021

One Day One of the first annual Big Gear Show in Park City Utah, I had the great privilege of presenting to the outdoor recreation industry a commemorative portrait of Charles Madison Crenchaw, the first Black climber to reach the summit of North America’s tallest mountain, Denali. This original painting by the artist Lamont Joesph White celebrates the enduring legacy of an American mountaineer. On July 9, 1964 Charles Madison Crenchaw ascended to the highest physical point on the continent of North America. Just seven days after the...

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Cycling, Expedition Denali, Madison, River Restoration, The Adventure Gap / 06.09.2018

In 2014, Mary Ann Thomas bicycled solo across the US and Canada. In 2017, She peddled across India with a travel partner and connected with local bike communities in cities across the nation. Accessing these cycling havens in India provided examples of community that she, a brown queer daughter of Indian immigrants, had only rarely seen in the US bike world. On September 15, 2018 her remarkable experience is the subject of a most compelling evening of community story sharing in Madison, Wisconsin at Café Domestique and the...

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Diversity, Essays, Expedition Denali, Magazines, Public Land, Uncategorized / 06.08.2018

Over my coffee on a Saturday morning I reached for a new magazine at the top of my reading pile. I actually thought it was the Patagonia catalog, thrilled to see at first glance a person of color on the cover. On closer inspection, though, I realized that it was the American Alpine Club “Guidebook to Membership”. A tight close-up image of a face with apparently dark skin wearing glasses had that vaguely artistic quality that offers little in the way of relevant information but draws the viewer in...

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Alaska, Environmental Journalism, Expedition Denali, National Parks / 10.05.2017

[caption id="attachment_2064288" align="alignright" width="689"] Randy Luskey, Mark Berry, Tyhree Moore and Mick Wang[/caption] [dropcap]Y[/dropcap]oung mountaineer Tyrhee Moore is heading back to Alaska for another attempt to summit the highest peak in North America, Denali! After an unsuccessful bid in 2013 he’s returning to climb with a small team of avid adventurers in hopes of encouraging youth across the nation to ascend the heights of their most ambitious aspirations. “It’s just really important to me that I show kids like me that anything is possible,” Tyrhee said just before his departure....

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Adventure Activism, An American Ascent, Breaking News, Expedition Denali, The Adventure Gap / 29.06.2015

Way back when we first started planning the Expedition Denali project I had one secret goal. And during one of the most remarkable weeks in recent history that objective was finally realized. In a private screening before almost 200 high school students and representatives from several youth-focused nonprofit organizations our film An American Ascent was presented at the White House. Expedition Denali team members Rosemary Saal, Tyrhee Moore and Billy Long made the long journey to Washington D.C. along with my co-producer Andy Adkins. Although I had never mentioned...

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