Patagonia to publish a first-hand account of the Arctic crisis, from the author of the bestselling Atlas of the National Parks
Jon Waterman is an award-winning author and photographer renowned for his immersive explorations of wilderness and environmental issues. With a prolific body of work encompassing 17 books and five films, including ESPN’s Emmy-winning “Surviving Denali” and National Geographic’s Atlas of Wild America, Waterman has earned acclaim for his deep connection to nature and his ability to inspire readers to protect the planet’s natural wonders.
This Fall, Patagonia will publish Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder Amid the Arctic Climate Crisis (Nov. 12, 2024, hardcover), a book drawn from his life’s most profound journeys. Waterman—whose wide-ranging expeditions include a first winter ascent of Denali’s Cassin Ridge, kayaking North America’s Northwest Passage, dogsledding up Canada’s Mount Logan, sailing to Hawaii, and boating the Colorado River from source to sea—says Into the Thaw is his most important work yet.
More than 40 years ago, he worked as a mountaineering ranger at Alaska’s Denali National Park, and his 1983 patrol to the Noatak River in Gates of the Arctic National Park sparked a lifetime fascination with the wild, remote regions of the North. He was astonished by the abundant wildlife above the Arctic Circle, amid a strange landscape and otherworldly light—how the “frequent rain showers glow like lemonade poured out of the sky.”
Transitioning from park ranger to an adventure and environmental writer, Waterman embarked on scores of expeditions to the North, often traveling solo by boat and on foot to document the natural wonders and cultural heritage across Arctic North America.
After a long hiatus from the Noatak headwaters, he returned with his son in 2021, witnessing firsthand the effects of climate change that he chronicled in a New York Times op-ed: “36 Years Later, the Climate Changes at This National Park Stunned Me.” Amid a river now flooded, overgrown with brush, and bereft of once-abundant caribou, he was deeply disheartened by the many transformations.
In 2022, Waterman took a final, extended expedition “into the thaw” with the professional kayaker and photographer Chris Korbulic to carefully document the environmental and cultural changes precipitated by the climate crisis. They covered more than 500 miles on foot and by packraft down the entire river, then up the coast, passing through three different National Park Service managed lands to meet with scientists, interview Iñupiat (the Alaskan Inuit), investigate the many impacts of the Arctic climate crisis, and celebrate the enduring wonder of this special place.
Into the Thaw alternates between adventure and wilderness memoir, side-noted with scholarly research into climate change and natural history. Waterman recounts encounters with bears, enduring weeks alone amidst swarms of mosquitoes, and witnessing phenomena like the Greening of the Arctic, teardrop-shaped landslides (thermokarsts) caused by thawing permafrost, and an increasing loss of sea ice as he travels along the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. The book features stunning color photographs and detailed maps. Complimentary Reader’s and Teacher’s Guides, as well as an interactive story map, will be available at Patagonia.com.
Waterman not only shows how climate change has impacted the land, sea, and animals, but also the kindhearted, welcoming Inuit people. Most affected by a crisis that has heated up the Arctic several times faster than the rest of the world, the ever-resilient villagers share how their age-old culture has attempted to cope with “the thaw.” Waterman paints an intimate portrait of both the Inuit and the little-visited North—with its treasured park lands—because “it’s high time that we truly understand the Arctic,” he writes, “lest we forget what it once was.”
Despite the unfolding climate crisis, Into the Thaw is a book about wonder—and through one man’s life-changing experiences in the wilderness—the narrative ends with a message of hope, urging actionable steps to mitigate further thawing and preserve the Arctic's extraordinary biodiversity and cultural heritage.
About the Author
Jon Waterman has worked as a director of a small press, an editor, a naturalist, a park ranger, a wilderness guide, a photographer, and a filmmaker. Among his many publications, Jon’s work has often appeared in The New York Times, Outside, Men’s Journal, Adventure, Climbing, and Sailing World. His 17 books include In the Shadow of Denali, Kayaking the Vermilion Sea, and Running Dry; he is a frequent grantee of the National Geographic Society. By taking risks and tackling difficult issues, his work transcends traditional outdoor yarns and has garnered numerous awards, including a Literary Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts, three Best Adventure Book Awards from the Banff Book Festival, a National Park Service Special Achievement Award, and the Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award. He lives in Carbondale, Colorado.
Praise
“A beautiful, compelling book about the profound effects of anthropogenic climate change on America’s last and grandest wilderness.” —Roman Dial, Arctic scientist and author of The Adventurer’s Son
“Into the Thaw is an eloquent, impassioned, and essential elegy for the far north.” —Michael Finkel, bestselling author of The Stranger in the Woods and The Art Thief
“A marvelous compendium of Jon Waterman's forty years in the high Arctic of Alaska and Nunavut. Combining geology, anthropology, climate science with intimate journal entries, Waterman's wanderings etch into our minds a vivid view of wild beauty, collapsing villages, icescapes and tundra, deeply altered by a changing climate. This lovely book is a joy to read and a warning.” —Gretel Ehrlich, author of The Solace of Open Spaces and This Cold Heaven
Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder Amid the Arctic Climate Crisis
by Jon Waterman | published by Patagonia | ISBN 9781952338236
October 22, 2024 | $35 US | 304 pages | Hardcover, Nonfiction | 9.325 in X 8.5 in
AUTHOR TOUR: Denver, Seattle, Portland, Boston / New England
PRESS CONTACT: Stephanie@wildridgepr.com, 512-810-9238