READING 1 Gregg Treinish: Extreme Athlete and Conservationist

GREGG TREINISH

Extreme Athlete and Conservationist

Read the following article. Pay special attention to the words in bold. 12.1

Gregg Treinish is an adventurer who turned his love of physical challenges into something more.

In 2004, Treinish hiked the Appalachian Trail, one of the longest footpaths in the world, measuring about 2,180 miles (3,508 km) in length. This path follows through 14 states from Maine to Georgia. Maryland and West Virginia are the easiest states to hike. New Hampshire and Maine are the most difficult. While Treinish was hiking one of the hardest parts, he kept slipping and cutting his legs on the sharp rock. In frustration1 , he picked up a rock and threw it at a tree. “I felt like the lowest person on earth,” he said, for being on this adventure purely for his own experience. He knew he wanted to do something more, but he didn’t know what that was.

Then he and his friend, Deia Schlosberg, spent two years hiking 7,800 miles from Ecuador to Tierra del Fuego, following along the Andes Mountains, the longest mountain chain in the world. When they arrived, they commented that Tierra del Fuego was one of the most spectacular places on Earth.

In 2008, National Geographic named Gregg Treinish Adventurer of the Year. But he wasn’t fulfilled2 . He felt his biggest challenge was in his mind. He began asking himself: Is it enough to hike the longest, most difficult trails? Am I doing anything to help the world? How can I turn my adventures into something more beneficial?

Treinish had an idea: He thought that scientists might need information from hard-to-reach places where only the bravest adventurers go. And he was right. Scientists want data, samples, and photographs from the most remote places on Earth—places that they can’t go to themselves. Treinish founded Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation (ASC) to connect scientists with extreme adventurers. Now, when athletes go to these unusual places, they can do something to benefit the world by collecting information for scientists. Several thousand adventurers have collected data with ASC.

ASC mountain climbers have discovered Earth’s highest known plant life on Mount Everest and have brought back samples for researchers to study. These samples help farmers learn to grow crops in extreme conditions.

For Treinish, connecting science and outdoor adventure is the most satisfying kind of adventure. “Adventurers tell me these chances to give back have changed their whole perspective3 . Now, being the strongest or summiting the coolest peak4 isn’t what’s important. Trying to contribute and make a difference is what matters. And there’s so much more we can do.”

1 frustration: a feeling of disappointment or anger at not being able to accomplish something 2 fulfilled: satisfied 3 perspective: a way of seeing things; point of view 4 to summit a peak: to reach the top of a mountain

Gregg Treinish takes measurements while Jason Wilmot records them. They concluded that these tracks in Mongolia were made by a snow leopard.