Alpine of the Americas Project

The AAP connects alpine travelers with their capacities to witness and record the present condition of alpine habitats for important climate research. Combining photography with geo-referencing we conduct and facilitate simple, repeatable, and useful observations that document the current state of these changing environments. Personal experiences in these valuable environments fosters connections to understand and communicate through provocative images and media the visceral experiences focused on these precious resources.

Alpine of the Americas Project began as a high alpine trip in the summer of 2011 in the Sierra Nevada of California and a mirror trip in the Andes of Patagonia in the austral summer 2011.  We have now repeated over 60 historic photographs and established 16 photopoints of our own showing important changes in glacier and flora composition in California’s Sierra Nevada and Andes in Chile and Argentina.  These photos and locations are going to build a larger cooperative database for scientists and the public to study and understand how our world is changing.

Visit the website at alpineamericas.com to find out more.

Following the Footsteps of John Muir

In 1911 at the age of 70 John Muir set sail on a year long journey through the jungles and mountains of South America, across the Atlantic on a steamship and by train and road through Africa.  This was his last journey and he traveled alone.

Inspired by Muir’s sketches and journals, my father, Bruce Byers, and I began looking for some of the places Muir had camped and sketched in the central Andes of Chile.  He went looking for the elusive Araucaria tree, we went looking to follow his footsteps.

Follow the whole story below:

Tracking John Muir to the Monkey Puzzle Forests of Chile

Following Muir’s Route in Sketches and Photos

Maples, Mapuches, and Monkey Puzzles: Human Dimensions of Muir’s Travels in Chile