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Hal Clifford

I started my journalistic career 25 years ago by bumming around the South Pacific and stringing articles back to the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, and Christian Science Monitor. I parlayed this experience into a reporter’s job at The Aspen Daily News, where the masthead motto reads “If You Don’t Want It Printed, Don’t Let It Happen.” I eventually ended up running that publication, but after six years in the smallest hard-news newspaper war in America, I left to write my first nonfiction book, The Falling Season, which was published by HarperCollins.

Over the next decade I wrote and published two more nonfiction books, and wrote for more than 60 publications, including Outside, Mother Jones, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and The New York Times Magazine. I helped start one magazine, edited another, and had a brief, enlightening foray into nonprofit management.

In 2003 I joined Orion magazine as executive editor, and I stayed there until 2010. I helped lead the magazine into the multimedia world.

During this time I was  the creative director of the independent documentary film "The Next, Best West," released in early 2012. I also edited several major nonfiction books, and acquired and edited an article for Orion that was a 2010 National Magazine Award nominee. Twice during my tenure Orion won the Utne Award for General Excellence. (Gilding the lily alert: In the early Aughts I won a share of a National Magazine Award.)

Along with Jason I have made several short films, and each has been accepted into multiple film festivals. My best job ever was as a volunteer with Mountain Rescue-Aspen, where I really did save lives. Like Jason, I am passionate about most self-propelled outdoor pursuits, especially those involving mountains. I have a particular fondness for athletic dogs, high-quality beer, gardening, and strong saltwater fish willing to take a fly.