Gray Thompson is Professor of Geology at The University of Montana where he teaches Introductory Geology, Mineralogy, Summer Field Mapping, and graduate courses in Clay Mineralogy and Shale Petrology. He has published over 20 research papers in international journals, mostly co-authored with his students. He is also a mountaineer and professional guide with first ascents, many with Jon Turk, of peaks and routes in the Rocky Mountains, Alaska, the Yukon, Baffin Island, the Alps, the Karakoram, and the Himalayas. He has authored many articles published in international climbing magazines and journals, and has been the subject of other articles in these publications. Many of the photographs in… his texts were taken by Thompson and Turk on their climbing trips and expeditions over the last eighteen years.
Jon Turk, author of Cold Oceans: Adventures in Kayak, Rowboat, and Dogsled, is a scientist and textbook author by vocation. He has paddled around Cape Horn, across the Northwest Passage, and in high-latitude oceans around the world.