Jan secured a breakthrough assignment on a high-profile National Geographic–sponsored climb and ski of Mustagata in Western China where she set the world high altitude skiing record for women, and set the record for the highest descent from a summit with her male partners.

She led dozens of exploratory expeditions and completed first ascents around the globe, working with the best adventure athletes in the world, including the gruelling record setting Everest Grand Circle Expedition.

Perhaps Jan’s proudest achievement is her award winning, best selling Vanishing Cultures children’s book series, earning Parent’s Choice, Pick of the List, recommended books for NCTE, NCSS and NCGE, Environmental Awards, and more. Jan lived with and photographed an indigenous culture on each continent, while collecting information for her subsequent books about the Tibetans in the Himalaya, the Tuareg in the Sahara, the Inuit of the Arctic, The Yanamama of the Amazon, Aboriginals in Australia, the Saamis of far northern Europe and the Mongolians. Jan has continued to capture vital, cultural material, creating over 20 award winning books.

Jan was also one of the first two adventurers ever hired by The North Face which established a new opportunity for mountain athletes around the world, putting mountaineering sports on the sponsorship map. Now, over four decades later, The North Face sponsors over 80 athletes, following Jan’s transformational breakthrough. Jan has also garnered several photography awards, numerous book awards, and has been interviewed extensively on TV, film, radio, magazines, and newspapers. Esquire Magazine dubbed Jan athlete of the decade, and her own stories and photos have been published in New York Times, National Geographic, Outside, Ski, Backcountry and many other outdoor and recreational publications. Jan has been a member of three adventure films, with Flight of the Windhorse film winning best in show at Telluride Mountain Film, and Banff Film Festival. Jan is going strong while over 65 years of age.

Her adventures are chronicled in her book The Glass Summit; One Woman's Epic Journey Breaking Through. She lives in Stowe, Vermont. Read Less ^