Last night was the most stupendous bookclub. Our book was Rowing to Latitude. And the author, Jill Fredston, was our guest.
She is just tremendous - very very smart, articulate, open, friendly, wryly funny, and totally, completely Alaskan. Jill and her husband Doug Fessler are North America's leading avalanche experts. During winter, they teach avalanche awareness courses, perform avalanche research, and sadly, recover bodies.
In the summer, they row in extreme Northern Latitudes. Over the past 15 years, they've rowed 24,000 miles. Much of it above the Arctic Circle, the remainder in high latitudes.
Sort of your proto/stereotypical Alaska outdoors types.
But my God, Jill can also write. I didn't read "Rowing" until early this year. Several of my outdoorsy friends had read it and loved it. So, being contrary, I wasn't quite ready to hop on the bandwagon. But, the book popped up during my winter wilderness reading kick. And I couldn't put it down. Jill's style is so well developed. So clean. So polished.
And in person she is open, approachable, and very personable. We all loved just being able to talk to her about writing, how she approached the book, what she's currently working on (an avalanche book), her relationship with Doug, her northern climate observations, etc. Wow. A real mind blowing evening.
I am a now a complete and total fan.
9:07:28 PM 
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