Del is an emphatic proponent of "Leave No Trace" expeditions

"The exhilaration I feel in wilderness is a result from learning respect for wilderness."




Del's favorite climbs are those around her home state of Utah

"When I went there for the first time, I knew the landscape would mold me."

Del has taken on the challenging task of guiding this year's Adventure Grant winners through the Canadian wilderness. In the next few weeks, she'll be showing them the ropes at the NOLS Northwest headquarters before
their attempt on Mount Sir Sandford in mid-July.

In her own words
"The wilderness itself is the reward for me, the skills are merely a vehicle to move through remote and isolated landscapes."

Bio
Del Smith, who runs her own business, Eagle Crag Ventures, has logged more than 20 years of canyoneering, mountaineering, kayaking, river rafting, and just about every other outdoor activity available in her home state of Utah.

As an expedition leader and teacher, Del has long advocated the Leave No Trace school of of thought. She promotes this earth-friendly practice through her work with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), where she teaches a Master Leave No Trace course for which she was awarded the NOLS Instructor of the Year award in 1989.

Before she started her own business, Del worked as Branch Director for NOLS Southwest and Director of Education and Special Programs for NOLS. The positions gave her the opportunity to research wilderness issues and administer outreach programs.

Del Smith goes to Washington
Several times, Del has taken the sustainability message to the nation's capital. She is an active lobbyist for designating more Utah land as protected wilderness. She has also lobbied for passage of land-protection bills. Says Smith, "There aren't enough lands set aside to remain free of development."

Her expertise on the Utah wilderness has also brought her before Congress to testify on behalf of conservation, as she did in 1985.

Where the trail takes her
In addition to the miles of canyons, trails, and rushing waters around the Southwest, Del's passion for the outdoors has led her north to Alaska, where she completed a 45-day traverse of the Alaskan Range on foot and a 30-day sea kayaking trip on Prince William Sound.

But she considers her greatest accomplishment to be her summit of Mount McKinley with two other women and one man in 1979, a time when female-led expeditions were unheard of, Del says. "It's still one of the finer achievements I think of because it was long before Denali or Mount McKinley became a real scene or before there was a medical camp at 14,000 feet ... and has turned into the situation that it is now."

Photographs by Dave Pettit