Adventurer Focusing On Environment Will Present Lecture In Spokane

Sun., April 2, 2000

Rich Landers Outdoors Editor

Galen Rowell, internationally known for his talent as a climber and photographer, is coming to Spokane to present an adventure photo lecture with a different twist.

“For years I gave lectures about adventure, with the environment as a secondary theme,” the Californian said last week.

“As it’s become more important to me, I’ve put together a lecture where the environment comes first and the adventure is secondary.”

In the world of adventure and climbing, Rowell has been there, done that.

The younger Rowell led about 100 first ascents in California. Recently, at 57, he became the oldest person to make a one-day ascent of the “Nose” route on Yosemite’s El Capitan.

In between, he has shot photo assignments for magazines such as National Geographic while on expeditions ranging from both poles and to Everest, Cholatse, Great Trango Tower and many more of the world’s most daunting places.

He is the artist who has received the Ansel Adams Award for his contribution to wilderness photography. And he is the iron-lunged athlete who made the first one-day climbs of Mount McKinley and Mount Kilimanjaro as well as a unique 285-mile winter ski traverse of the Karakoram Himalaya.

But Rowell is not planning to simply relive his own accomplishments during the Spokane program.

“It’s about adventurers who later in life, after they’ve had primary experiences in wild places, devote a lot of their selves to preserving the environment,” he said.

Examples include John Muir, the catalyst for preserving Yosemite and the High Sierra, as well as Jacques Cousteau and Sir Edmund Hillary.

“The lecture goes around the world and examines the theme in a global fashion,” Rowell said.

This sidebar appeared with the story: TICKETS Photos for a purpose

Galen Rowell’s environmental and adventure slide program is set for April 13 at The Met, with proceeds going to the Gonzaga Environmental Law Caucus. Tickets, $6, available from Mountain Gear of G&B Select-A-Seat.

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