Laura Waterman (born 10 October 1939) is an American author,

mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

and

ice climber is a 1985 Platformer, platform video game developed and published by Nintendo. It was released for both the arcade Nintendo VS. System, VS. System and the Famicom / Nintendo Entertainment System console. The main protagonists, Popo and Nana, col ...

homesteader Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (building), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Nguni homestead, a cluster of houses inhabited by a single extended family, typically with a kraal ...

, and conservationist, primarily known for her books on the outdoors, many as a collaborative effort with her husband Guy Waterman. They were early spokespersons and advocates for the

hiking A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hi ...

movement of the 1970s with their books ''Backwoods Ethics'' and ''Wilderness Ethics''. The Watermans' writing and advocacy are credited with giving significant impetus to the

Leave No Trace Leave No Trace, sometimes written as LNT, is a set of ethics promoting conservation of the outdoors. Originating in the mid-20th century, the concept started as a movement in the United States in response to ecological damage caused by wilderne ...

program.

Early life

Laura Waterman was born Laura Johnson in 1939 to Catherine and Thomas Herbert Johnson. Thomas Johnson was a noted teacher and scholar, particularly of Emily Dickinson, at the

Lawrenceville School The Lawrenceville School is a Private school, private, coeducational College-preparatory school, preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Local government in New Jersey, unincorporated community of Lawrenceville, New Jers ...

in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. In 1962, Laura graduated from Hollins College in Virginia with a degree in English, and moved to New York City to work in publishing. She met her future husband Guy Waterman in the fall of 1969 while on a weekend climbing trip to the

Shawangunk Mountains Shawangunk ( ) may refer to: In New York *Shawangunk, New York, a town in Ulster County * Shawangunk Correctional Facility, in Ulster County * Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge, in Ulster County * Shawangunk Kill, a tributary of the Wa ...

North of New York.

Homesteading and Barra

In 1973, Laura and Guy Waterman purchased 27 acres in East Corinth, Vermont, to build a cabin and construct a new life far from the city, gaining inspiration from Helen and Scott Nearing’s book ''Living the Good Life''. They named their cabin Barra, for Guy's ancestral Scottish island homestead.

Climbing

The move to Vermont and the adoption of the homesteading lifestyle was in large part a way to simply leave more time to climb mountains. Laura went on to climb all 48 of the 4000-foot New Hampshire peaks seven times, and in 1975 made the

first female free ascent In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers and climbers focused ...

of ''The Black Dike'' ( WI4+, M3), a New Englands most famous

ice climbing Ice climbing is a climbing discipline that involves ascending routes consisting entirely of frozen water. To ascend, the ice climber uses specialist equipment, particularly double ice axes (or the more modern ice tools) and rigid crampons. ...

route that was described by

Yvon Chouinard Yvon Chouinard (born November 9, 1938) is an American rock climber, environmentalist, and businessman. His company, Patagonia, sells outdoor products, outerwear, and food. He was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by '' ...

as "A filthy black horrendous icicle."

Writing

The Watermans' devotion to the mountains of the Northeast generated two definitive mountain histories, ''Forest and Crag: A History of Hiking, Trail Blazing, and Adventure in the Northeast Mountains'' (1989), and ''Yankee Rock & Ice: A History of Climbing in the Northeastern United States'' (1993). Their last co-authored book was a collection of fiction and essays, ''A Fine Kind of Madness: Mountain Adventures Tall and True'' (2000) was published a few months after Guy's death. Waterman is the subsequent author of three other books: a memoir ''Losing the Garden: The Story of a Marriage'' (2005), ''Starvation Shore'', a historical novel on the

Lady Franklin Bay Expedition * The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1881–1884 ( the Greely Expedition) to Lady Franklin Bay on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic was led by Lieutenant Adolphus Greely, and was promoted by the United States Army Signal Corps. Its purp ...

of the 1880s (2019), and a second memoir ''Calling Wild Places Home: A Memoir in Essays'' (2024). She administer
The Waterman Fund
supporting education, trail work, and research in the alpine and subalpine zones of Northeastern North America.

Publications

Singly authored books

* ''Losing the Garden: The Story of a Marriage'', Shoemaker & Hoard, 2005, * ''Starvation Shore'', University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 2019, * ''Calling Wild Places Home: A Memoir in Essays'', SUNY Press, Albany, 2024,

Coauthored books

* ''Forest and Crag: A History of Hiking, Trail Blazing, and Adventure in the Northeast Mountains'' (co-author with Guy Waterman), Excelsior Editions, 1989, * ''Wilderness Ethics: Preserving the Spirit of Wildness'', (co-author with Guy Waterman, Countryman Press, 1993 * ''Yankee Rock & Ice: A History of Climbing in the Northeastern United States'' (co-author with Guy Waterman), Stackpole Books, 1993, * ''A Fine Kind of Madness: Mountain Adventures Tall and True'' (co-author with Guy Waterman), Mountaineers Books. 2000, * ''The Green Guide to Low Impact Hiking and Camping'' (previously ''Backwoods Ethics''), (co-author with Guy Waterman), Countryman Press, 2016,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waterman, Laura 1939 births American women memoirists American conservationists Living people American female climbers Ice climbers 20th-century American sportswomen