Selected writings

LATEST

“Pamola’s Fury,” Boston Globe Magazine, cover story, March 3, 2024 (view in Boston Globe). A 1974 ice climbing disaster on Mount Katahdin in Maine, a clash of cultures fought out at 25 below zero, and the heroic rescue effort that forever changed mountaineering in New England. I spent years tracking down and interviewing survivors and finally tell this remarkable story. Hear the back story in this video interview on Globe Today. 

“How colleges should handle student protest,” Boston Globe, May 3, 2024. In the 1970s and ’80s, Harvard displayed patience and tolerance toward me and other anti-apartheid protesters. That can be a model for today. (view in Boston Globe)

“How a Vermont Ski Area Roared Back from a Financial Scandal,” New York Times, February 28, 2024. The story behind the biggest fraud in ski industry history and the powder trove I found beneath the Jay Cloud.

“After Devastating Floods, Vermont is ‘Very Much Open'”, New York Times, October 16, 2023. A double blow of record rain and a plummet in tourism has the travel industry scrambling to reassure leaf peepers and winter-sports enthusiasts that the state is ready for them.

Best Backcountry Skiing in the Northeast: 50 Classic Ski & Snowboard Tours in New England and New York, AMC Books, 2020. The 30th anniversary edition of  my guidebook, “the Eastern backcountry bible.” Winner, 2022 International Skiing History Award. 

“The Ski Season That Just Won’t Quit,” New York Times, March 20, 2023. Record-breaking snowfalls have extended the ski season into the summer.

“Skiing Town to Town in a Magical Corner of Vermont,” New York Times, March 2, 2023. The remarkable scene in Craftsbury, Vt., where you can ski town to town, meet Olympians, and help save the planet.

“Taking Back the Mountains,” New York Times, December 3, 2022. How skiers are reclaiming the mountains from corporate control in a quest for sustainability, diversity & soul. 

“Meet the Athlete Challenging Ideas About What is Possible,” New York Times, March 4, 2022. Vasu Sojitra lost his leg when he was 9 mos. old. Now 30, he recently completed the first disabled ski descent of Denali. He wants others to follow. 

“A Town That Saved a Mountain, and a Mountain That Saved a Town,” New York Times, February 1, 2022. How a struggling Vermont town and a failed ski area saved one another by getting rid of chairlifts, preparing for a warmer future — and creating a community-powered backcountry skiing magnet.

“Skiing Hut-to-Hut in the Maine Wilderness,” New York Times, November 16, 2021. A 20-year conservation effort has yielded one of the best hut-to-hut ski routes in the country, with full-service lodges linked by groomed trails. (view in NY Times)

“It’s the Winter of Backcountry. Here’s How to Start Safely,” New York Times, November 27, 2020. Backcountry skiing will be the only skiing for many in the winter of covid-19. A story on how and where to start (view in NY Times).

“Looking for Wild Snow? Here are 6 Backcountry Skiing Tours to Explore,” Boston Globe, January 14, 2021. (view in Boston Globe)

“Chasing Iceland’s Vanishing Ice,” Go World Travel Magazine, October 2022. Exploring Iceland as climate change alters its other worldly landscape.

INVESTIGATIVE & POLITICAL REPORTING

“Literary icon John Irving on LGBTQ+ rights, abortion and ‘The Last Chairlift,’” Vermont Conversation, VTDigger, December 27, 2023.

“Naomi Klein dives into the far right conspiratorial mirror world to find her doppelganger,” Vermont Conversation, VTDigger, December 20, 2023.

“Katherine Paterson on writing books that are beloved — and banned,” Vermont Conversation, VTDigger, February 2022.

“Best of the Vermont Conversation: Cartoonist Alison Bechdel,” Vermont Conversation, VTDigger, May 2021.

“Twenty Years After Deaniac Insurgency, Howard Dean Still Swinging Hard on Politics,” Vermont Conversation, VTDigger, February 28, 2024.

“How Democracies Die:” Harvard Professor Steven Levitsky on two nightmare scenarios for the U.S., Medium, June 23, 2020.

“How Racism Kills:” A conversation with Harvard social epidemiologist Nancy Krieger, Elemental in Medium, June 1, 2020. 

“This Is An Impending Catastrophe:” A conversation with Stanford epidemiologist Dr. Steve Goodman, Elemental in Medium, March 15, 2020. How my my epidemiologist brother turned me from skeptic to believer about COVID-19. National feature in Elemental, science mag on Medium.

Deep in the Amazon, A Tiny Tribe is Beating Big Oil, cover story, Yes! Magazine, Spring 2015. A journey into the Ecuadorian rainforest to learn how the community of Sarayaku has held off Big Oil for two decades.

My Day in Prison With Nelson Mandela, motherjones.com & Boston Globe, December 2013. The day that I spent with Nelson Mandela as he returned to his final prison.

Building a Healthy Food System in Rural America, Eating Well, July/August 2009. How a handful of organic farmers, world-class cheesemakers and a locavore restaurant transformed Hardwick, Vermont—a poor, rural town—into a foodie mecca.

A Few Good Kids, Mother Jones, September/October 2009. How No Child Left Behind, an education law, allows military recruiters to collect info on million of teens.

Hard Time Out, Mother Jones, July/August 2008. How doodling on her desk in school landed an eighth grade girl in jail, and other tales from the school-to-prison pipeline.

Apartheid’s Man and Me, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 3, 2006. One day when I was living in South Africa, my car broke down near the home of former apartheid strongman, President P.W. Botha. While waiting for my car to be fixed, I paid him a visit.  

Recruiting the Class of 2005, Mother Jones, Jan/Feb 2002. Military programs have expanded into thousands of public high schools, signing up nearly half a million students. Is Junior ROTC building character — or lining up soldiers?

Other investigative stories for Mother Jones can be found here.

SKIING

Community-Supported Skiing’s New Golden Era, Backcountry Magazine, Oct. 15, 2018. The renaissance of publicly-accessed community-supported backcountry skiing throughout the Northeast.

Hard Knocks and Soft Landings: A college search cushioned by Utah powder, Boston Globe, March 12, 2019. A trip with my son to ski powder while awaiting his college admissions decisions. 

Big Ski in Big Sky, Boston Globe, Nov. 8, 2014. “I’m greedy. I like all types of skiing. I want epic downhill, champagne powder, perfect cross-country, pristine backcountry. Add a historic gourmet lodge, and the list of destinations where you can have it all is decidedly short.” I found them all on a trip to Montana.

Other articles on skiing can be found here.

TRAVEL

Take Us Out to the Ballparks, Boston Globe, August 23, 2014. A quest to visit all 30 major league baseball parks with my 14 year old son was overly ambitious. But we could at least try. 

Kayaking the Big Melt, Burlington (Vt.) Free Press, August 5, 2012 & Canoe & Kayak Magazine, April 2013. Kayaking to the front lines of climate change in Alaska.

ESSAYS

The Flood, Yankee Magazine, Nov./Dec. 2011. When Tropical Storm Irene struck Vermont, rain-swollen waterways washed away homes, bridges and roads in my town. Amid the destruction, my neighbors found hope in one another.