Robert C. Birkby is an American trail designer and an author who authors Boy Scout handbooks. Birkby grew up in

Sidney, Iowa Sidney is a city in Fremont County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,070 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Fremont County and is one of the smallest county seats in the state. History Sidney was laid out in 185 ...

. As a Boy Scout, Birkby was on staff at summer camp, made a trek at

Philmont Scout Ranch Philmont Scout Ranch is a ranch located in Colfax County, New Mexico, United States, near the village of Cimarron. Donated by oil baron Waite Phillips, the ranch is owned by Scouting America. It is a high adventure base where crews of Scouts ...

and earned

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of Scouting America. Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Scout rank has been earned by over ...

. While attending college, he spent his summer breaks working at Philmont in positions such as a trail crew foreman and director of conservation. After college, Birkby was an English instructor at

Missouri State University Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second-largest u ...

. He thru-hiked the

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tra ...

. Moving to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, he became an author, writing magazine articles for ''

Boys' Life ''Scout Life'' (formerly ''Boys' Life'') is the monthly magazine of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Its target readers are children between the ages of 6 and 18. The magazine‘s headquarters are in Irving, Texas. ''Scout Life'' is published ...

'' and

merit badge Merit badges are awards earned by members of Scouting America, based on activities within the area of study by completing a list of periodically updated requirements. The purpose of the merit badge program is to allow Scouts to examine subjects ...

pamphlets on subjects such as backpacking. He worked for the

Student Conservation Association The Student Conservation Association (SCA) is a non-profit group in the United States whose mission is to build the next generation of Conservation movement, conservation leaders and inspire lifelong Environmental stewardship, stewardship of the ...

, directing trail building across the US. Birkby met

Scott Fischer Scott Eugene Fischer (December 24, 1955 – May 11, 1996) was an American mountaineer and mountain guide. He was renowned for ascending the world's highest mountains without supplemental oxygen. Fischer and Wally Berg were the first Americans ...

in 1982, and was convinced to climb

Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (, , ) is an extensive massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, between the regional units of Larissa (regional unit), Larissa and Pieria (regional ...

. He then worked for Fischer's

adventure travel Adventure travel is a type of tourism, involving exploration or travel with a certain degree of risk (real or perceived), and which may require special skills and physical exertion. In the United States, adventure tourism has seen growth in l ...

company

Mountain Madness Mountain Madness is a Seattle-based mountaineering and trekking company. The company specializes in mountain adventure travel and has a training school for mountain and rock climbing. History Fischer and Krause In 1984, Scott Fischer, Wes K ...

as a writer and guide, co-leading adventure trips to the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington (state), Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as m ...

, Alaska,

Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...

Mount Elbrus Mount Elbrus; ; is the highest mountain in Russia and Europe. It is a dormant stratovolcano rising above sea level, and is the highest volcano in Eurasia, as well as the tenth-most prominent peak in the world. It is situated in the south ...

and Nepal. After Fischer's death in the

1996 Everest disaster The 1996 Mount Everest disaster occurred on 10–11 May 1996 when eight expedition climbing, climbers caught in a blizzard died on Mount Everest while attempting to descend from the summit. Over the entire season, 12 people died trying to reach ...

, Birkby wrote the biography ''Mountain Madness''. Starting in 2008, Birkby aided in the construction of the

Great Baikal Trail The Great Baikal Trail or GBT (Russian: (Bolshaya Baikalskaya Tropa or BBT)) is a Russian non-profit environmental organization promoting the development of ecotourism, voluntary work, and ecological education. Based in Irkutsk, Russia, GBT i ...

, an environmental trail system along

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast, Irkutsk Oblasts of Russia, Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

Works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birkby, Robert Living people American mountain climbers People from Sidney, Iowa American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Writers from Iowa Year of birth missing (living people)