Lloyd Athearn and son, Forrest Athearn, climbing rocks in White Ranch Open Space Park, Golden Colorado (2005).

“Because you go to these places, you understand the importance of them,” Athearn said, “and you realize that people need to stand up for them and protect them.”

Athearn remembers having tempestuous relationships with his parents during high school — not over the usual car privileges — but over going backpacking without them in the wilderness with his best friend. He didn’t get to take the car to the mountains until after college, but he had enough opportunities for outdoor adventure that he was hooked. Captivated in particular by the challenges that climbing presented, he has spent many weekends at Smith Rock and Mt. Hood.

A graduate degree in wilderness management from the University of Montana and an intrepid spirit helped Athearn make a career out of his early interests. After graduating from the UO in 1986, Athearn got involved in Portland politics: working in a commissioner’s office, then with a speaker of the House of Representatives, and later as a lobbyist and risk communicator for an Oregon health communications project. He found these initial political jobs exciting, but when he considered moving to the center of politics in Washington D.C., he realized how many peaks there were in the Northwest that he had never conquered.

“Eventually I would be able to combine what I knew how to do in an intellectual way with what I really loved and wanted to do,” he says.

His experience as a risk communicator gave him insight into how people perceive risk, and when he got involved defending his fellow climbers against unfair rescue charges in proposed 1995 legislative session, he quickly became an important lobbyist in the mountain climbing world. Soon, he found his niche at the American Alpine Club, the oldest national mountaineering organization based in Colorado. Athearn served as director of the AAC for ten years, from 1996 until 2006, where he represented the interests of American climbers, dealt with regulations and policy management issues, and worked to protect and conserve worldwide mountain regions.

Though he’s tackled more than 100 big peaks and many smaller summits, Athearn is always looking for a new challenge. He joined the Colorado Conservation Trust in May of this year, where he is working toward their goal of conserving 200 million acres of Colorado’s open spaces.

He’s also working to keep up with Forrest, his adventurous four-year-old son. As a fourth generation Oregonian, Athearn says he and his wife Povy argue over whether Forrest is “a fifth-generation Coloradan, or a fifth-generation Oregonian born in exile.” Forrest doesn’t seem to be deterred by the ambiguity — though it’s clear that a love of exploration seems to run in the family. Since his dad introduced him to hiking when he was only four days old, Forrest has since taken to the trail on his own — wobbling along in long underwear, a big sunhat, tiny hiking shoes, and dad’s oversized trekking pole.

Amid a busy work and family life, Athearn still manages to fit in more extensive international trips. This year, he’s traveled to Thailand and Cambodia with his wife and son and mountain climbed in Western Australia with a long-time climbing partner.

Because such experiences have been strong contributors to who he is as a person, Athearn says it’s important to him to make sure these things are available for others down the road: “I certainly hope that when my son gets older, I’ll be able to take him backpacking and climbing in some of the places that were really important to me.”

— KN