The news arrived at the beginning of the week from a colleague at Daily Outdoor Retailer: “I don't know if you know: Doug has lymphoma. He's on chemo, and I think it's going well, but it's definitely taking its toll. Ugh.”
Doug Schnitzspahn's friends, Megan Odom and Erica Randall, launched a GoFundMewriting: “He will be fine. But for now, he needs us to take the lantern and hold it in the dark. He needs us – his friends, his family, his communities (yoga, writing, all things wild) – to bring light.
I've been writing for Doug for almost 15 years, but he's always been more than just my editor. We have shared Thanksgiving meals at his home in Boulder, Colorado, and I am like an uncle to his children, Kieran and Isa. When they were babies, I helped look after them; As they became teenagers, I trained them in rock climbing and guided them on the rock. I watched their plays, picked them up at school when Doug's wife, Radha Marcum, poet, writer, editor, teacher and author of Line And Pine soot tendon bones– was criticized and spent time with them at the climbing gym. Doug and I have climbed together, climbed in the Flatirons above Boulder with his brother Greg “Max” and ice climbed in Rocky Mountain National Park.
We also collaborated on difficult stories, ones that involved the loss of climbers. I remember spending hours with him, telling him memories of the late Hayden Kennedy, helping him compose a tribute to Kennedy and Inge Perkins for Men's Journal. We worked together again after the deaths of Hansjörg Auer, David Lama and Jess Roskelley at Howse Peak in Canada. Thanks to Doug's unwavering dedication to getting every detail perfect, this piece resonated within the climbing community. My inbox was flooded with heartfelt messages and for a week, I read each one with tears in my eyes, knowing that the story had touched so many people. I owe a lot to Doug for guiding me in authentically sharing the legacy of these climbers and honoring what they meant to so many.
But our work was not limited to difficult times; Doug also helped me highlight uplifting stories, like when my longtime climbing partner Mike Schneiter and his friend Mark Reiger climbed El Cap with Mike's daughter Selah, who, at the time, was the youngest person to climb The Big Stone. Doug brought them to Outdoor Retailer, put them in front of the camera and asked me to interview the two stars about their family's rise to El Cap. Doug also put Selah on the cover of Exterior elevation.
Thanks to Doug, I met legends like Alex Honnold, David Lama, and countless other prominent names in the outdoor world, all in front of the cameras. For as long as I can remember, Doug, the editor-in-chief of Outdoor goods retailer, Le QuotidienAnd Exterior elevationassigned me to work on the summer and winter shows, year after year.
What makes Doug truly special is how he treats his team like family. Anyone who has worked with him knows that he keeps us close, even if his schedule is busy or deadlines are tight. He always made time for me, made me feel part of something bigger, and shared his contagious enthusiasm. Travel + Leisure describes him as “a leading voice in outdoor, travel, music and conservation journalism in North America.”
Now Doug needs our support. As of this writing, its GoFundMe campaign has raised just under $20,000, with a goal of reaching $44,000.
Raised in Little Silver, New Jersey, Doug studied English literature at Boston University before earning an MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington, where he received the Mary Rouvelas Prize for Fiction. He also taught at the UW Rome Center in Italy. Prior to graduate school, where he met his wife, Doug worked for the United States Forest Service, building trails and fighting fires. He later worked with various environmental organizations advocating conservation, including the Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club.
Doug's writings have appeared in Outside, Men's Journal, The Chicago Tribune, BackpackerAnd National geographic. He was the driving force as editor of Exterior elevation since its inception, and he has held editorial positions for Outdoor Retailer, The Daily, Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine, SIA SnowPressAnd Charger output 205among others.
Whatever publication he works for, he brings his team with him, and I have had the privilege of writing most, if not all, of those publications for him.
Doug is known for his dedication and leadership in adventure writing. His stories and deep involvement in the outdoor community inspire countless people. And he doesn't just talk: Doug has skied in Japan, climbed in Chamonix, hiked the Sahara, and even joined me on countless road and mountain bike rides around Boulder.
However, his recent cancer diagnosis has presented him with significant physical and financial challenges. Chemotherapy impacted her ability to work and her main source of income declined.
“I'm doing well. I am responding well to chemo,” Doug wrote to me this morning. He then sent a series of photos: First, he was rocking a mohawk in spirit of his chemotherapy treatments. Other images followed: one with his son by his side and another with his wife. If his daughter wasn't still in school in New York, I imagine he would send a photo with her too.
Doug always put his family first. Countless times, he piled everyone into his aging SUV, loaded up the roof racks, strapped the bikes into the back, and set off on a family adventure. He not only shared his love of the outdoors with his children; he also took them to concerts across Colorado. I remember many Outdoor Retailer shows where he would rush to Red Rocks with his family after completing his daily deadlines to catch Sigur Rós or Coldplay.
We were once invited on a press trip with mountain guides from southern Yosemite, to explore Yosemite. For a week, we traveled the Central Valley, backpacking through the park, and stopping to boulder wherever we could. Doug, even though he only climbed occasionally (his favorite sport is skiing), clung to the rock with fearless determination. I remember him getting up on a rock at Camp 4, to a height that broke his ankle, climbing a ridge and making his way to the top. I was impressed by his perseverance!
I remember well Doug's coffee orders, always plentiful, and his affinity for a cold IPA. After a long day of writing, he would meet up with his friends and colleagues around a drink, recharging his batteries in good company. Covering stories at Outdoor Retailer, we worked hard, setting up our laptops along the huge windows overlooking the living room. In the evening we would go party, close the bars, then get up early to do it all again the next day.
Doug is all about bringing people together. Back then, he would visit my small apartment when I lived in Loveland, Colorado, and stay in touch as I moved across the country, working for various magazines and eventually settling in the Sierra foothills. And if I worked with a member of his team, we'd stay in touch and connect over a mountain run, an editorial project, or a memorable climb. Every year, Doug would contact me, not only to check in, but also to offer assistance, asking if he could lend a hand in guiding my clients through Yosemite Electric Bike. “Can I come out sometime and help guide you on a trip?” » he would write.
Since Doug's son Kieran and I share the same birthday, I received a message from him every April: “I hope you have a great birthday. And I hope to see you soon. When I was diagnosed with alopecia and lost all my hair and then my house in a fire, Doug reached out to me with a message: “Hey, we're thinking of you here. I hope you are well and having a great vacation. More than that, I hope to connect more in the coming year and see you soon.
Oh, Doug, what a darling.
To me – and to dozens, maybe hundreds, of others in the outdoor industry – Doug is a king. There is no one I have worked with more, no one who has brought me closer. Without his mentorship, I would not have the experience or confidence to write the stories I do today. When Doug wrote, he approached each story with meticulous research and true expertise, whether he was covering topics like public lands, climbing culture, skiing, or outdoor gear. As an editor, he worked tirelessly to ensure our stories were published perfectly.
Doug's work has gained well-deserved recognition; it was featured in Best American Essays (2005) and received a fellowship in nonfiction from the Colorado Council on the Arts.
His medical bills pile up as he undergoes treatment, and he continues to support a family of four, carrying the weight of his responsibilities as a parent and key member of a community that owes him so much.
As her friends Megan Odom and Erica Randall wrote on GoFundMe:
Dougie, the guy who humbly bows to you when he rolls out his mat next to yours during yoga; the guy whose deep yawn towards the end of class reminds us to breathe and laugh; the guy who drives like he's still on the East Coast but openly loves like the West. He's the one who makes enchiladas and sends you home with the leftovers, takes the best photos of your wedding, sends you poems because they remind him of the shape of your heart, and can outdo us all, making you swear to do better.
Doug has dedicated his life to adventure writing and growing the outdoor community. Now it's our turn to support him.
