The author, Leonard Daughenbaugh, has been backpacking and mountaineering in the SierraNevada since 1955. He has coordinated high school wilderness and mountaineering programs for several northern California high school districts and also has taught Sierra mountaineering courses for the University of California Extension, Santa Cruz, and Cerro Coso Community College in Bishop, California. He has been captain and training officer for the Inyo County Search and Rescue Team, of which he is still an active member. He has received the team's Captain's Award and the Mountain Rescue Association's Conspicuous Dedication to Service Award. He has published a number of magazine articles and is in the process of publishing several books on the history of Sierra mountaineering and cartography. He has another website about Sierra Nevada history, www.sierranevadachronicles.org. Daughenbaugh lives in Bishop, California, where he recently retired from a career of teaching at-risk, high-school-aged youth.