Word: chouinard
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...dams were just something we had to get done," Chouinard continues. "In a few years, all the salmon will be gone. As for the 1% we give away, we do get complaints because the groups we help are often radical, like Earth First! But we're committed to give to groups working with causes, not symptoms...
...time to do things right. Look at those guys." He indicates three boats that have appeared on the river. Two fishermen sit on raised chairs at the bow and stern of each boat. A guide sits in the middle and rows. "They won't catch a thing," says Chouinard, "because they're dry casting. Besides, you don't need a boat to fish this goddamn river. All summer I haven't seen one other person walking the river." Chouinard is dead on; the men don't catch a single fish among them...
...Same with mountain climbing," he says. Chouinard, who has climbed El Capitan and every other seemingly impossible mountain, was caught in an avalanche on Gongga Shan in China in 1980. He and three companions rode the avalanche down 1,500 ft.; one of the others broke his neck and died. "Nowadays, people are interested only in reaching the top so they can tell others they did it," says Chouinard. "So they climb Everest with a Sherpa tied to them by a 3-ft. rope, one behind and one in front. Their beds are made when they reach camp. Someone...
...Chouinard can work himself into a lather of pessimism and rage at environmental abuses, yet he is personally content, and he has good reason. His Wyoming house, about a mile from where we are fishing, is one of his three residences. The other two are on the California coast. On a whim, he can board a plane to British Columbia in search of brown trout and steelheads. Having accumulated a fortune, "I do what I want to do," he says. He wishes the same for his employees, who often refer to his "Let my people go surfing" speech, in which...
...with cheer and curiosity, was his partner when they started out living under benches in their shop to save on rent. And she is his partner today in the good life, which is expensive but not lavish. The house at Jackson Hole is small, done in comfortable rustic sloppy. Chouinard seems a little ashamed of having so much, though he has less than he could have. He has no stocks, only a checking account. He admires the Native American potlatch ceremony, in which the host would give away everything he owned...