Journalist: The Oregonian
Portland, OR
Age: 48

An outdoor and travel writer, Richard, 48, of Portland, Oregon, is filing stories on the expedition for The (Portland) Oregonian with a view toward the local angle in several participants. Richard, who grew up in North Dakota, has reported for the paper for 28 years since graduating with a B.A. in communications from Washington State University in Pullman. He has covered three Winter Olympic Games, in Sarajevo (1984), Calgary (1988) and Albertville (1992). He lists his hobbies as "his job" and peak-bagging in places like Mexico and Ecuador; his wife, Randi, is getting her master's degree in library sciences.

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Though he doesn't plan to climb beyond Base Camp, he's thrilled at the opportunity to spend a summer on K2 especially after having reported on the expedition since November 1998. He detailed the expedition's organizational roots in leader Jeff Alzner, a Portland native, and fellow Portland climber Wayne Wallace, but Richard's columns also have taken a broader look at life in the Karakoram Range and K2 history. "I've been working toward covering this story, in a way, for 20 years," Richard says. "It's sort of the big chance of my career. In 1979, I first started climbing mountains and writing about them."