“Life Lived Wild”: A tale of adventure and companionship

Rick Ridgeway, a prominent mountaineer, writer, photographer, filmmaker and jack-of-all-trades professional adventurer recently published a collection of carefully crafted and sequenced short stories to serve a dual purpose as his memoir and guide book. The book, “Life Lived Wild,”sweeps the reader away to the world’s highest peaks, harshest tundras and most pristine jungles, testifying to the power of spending time outside of one’s comfort zone. 

Ridgeway’s adventures began in earnest when, at just 18 years old, he decided to sail a small sailboat from Hawaii to Tahiti with a handful of friends. From there his undertakings only grew in scale and difficulty as Ridgeway attempted to summit some of the world’s most dangerous peaks — in an era where mountaineering was still in its infancy. In an interview with the Exponent, Ridgeway said, “High-altitude mountaineering was still in an early stage of evolution back in the 60s and 70s. I didn’t know very many people who had been to extremely high altitude and I was uncertain how I would fare as I approached the 8000-meter contour, and, in fact, I ended up getting sick when I was up really high.” Despite his initial struggles at altitudes above 8000 meters (known as “the death zone” in the mountaineering community) Ridgeway would return to the Himalayas on many occasions, persevering through the harsh conditions of the world's tallest mountains and finding tremendous success along the way.

As much as “Life Lived Wild” is a tale of Ridgeway’s connection to the natural world, it is equally focused on his relationships with his closest friends and family. Ridgeway’s adventures brought him into the company of notable outdoorsmen and entrepreneurs Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins, who founded Patagonia, Inc. and The North Face, respectively. Ridgeway even found himself in the company of household names like Tom Brokaw on a few climbs. He described the people he and the “Do Boys” — which Ridgeway described as, "group of guys who go around having adventures" — associated with as “people who had the ability to identify goals for themselves and figure out strategies to reach the goals. They were curious, they were inquisitive and they were enjoyable to be around. They were great companions.” 

As Ridgeway grew older, he began to shift his focus from exploring new territory to protecting the places he loved the most. That’s not to say that Ridgeway gave up exploring, only that he became a determined conservationist as well. Chouinard and Tompkins dedicated immense time, effort and money to protect large expanses of wilderness in Patagonia, and Ridgeway was inspired by their efforts. “I certainly hope that the model that [Tompkins and Chouinard] developed gets replicated in other areas of the world,” Ridgeway said. In addition to land conservation, Ridgeway is deeply involved in combating climate change. “At the end of the day, all of us have to rally and get behind the solutions that are going to be required to keep us to 1.5 degrees [of warming],” he said. As the Vice President of Environmental Initiatives and Special Media Projects at Patagonia, Ridgeway and his team oversee the company’s environmental grant-making, internal and external environmental education and environmental initiatives. 

Near the end of the book, Ridgeway reveals that his original manuscript contained twice as many stories as the final version. The author has begun releasing the cut stories one-by-one on his website for readers to enjoy, To find “Life Lived Wild” and additional short stories, visit rickridgeway.com