Dick Griffith – A Legend You Should Know

If you don’t know about Dick Griffith, it’s time you do. He has been leading the way for a long time.

Canyons and Ice

Unfiltered

The Last Hurrah

It will be worth your time. I promise.

Definitely worth my time. Thanks for the links Greg.

Very much worth my time as well. Thanks Greg.

89 years old

I won’t be packrafting the Colorado but maybe I have a few more years of backpacking : )

I’m updating this thread because Dick Griffith died in early December and he should be remembered, especially by BPLers. See the above post for a film and other resources on him.

https://alaskapublic.org/news/2025-12-05/alaska-adventure-grandfather-dick-griffith-passes-at-98

If you feel like it and have spare change, the Eagle River Nature Center is doing a fundraiser in his name; he was a long time volunteer. It’s a great little organization.

I thought about Dick today on my minus 26F dog nature walk. It’s minus 40 (F and C) at my house and hasn’t budged at all today. For the last 4 weeks we haven’t seen above minus 15F. I go out regardless, as I imagine Dick would have also. I will make a separate post about my gear for today, but here I’ll just ask, what would Dick do? I think he wouldn’t have fussed about gear the way we love to, and just made do and weathered his way through it. In the Canyons and Ice movie, he comments that the difference between himself and some other guy who might trek through the arctic isn’t really skill, it’s luck. A lot of it. Not that you don’t need skills; you should absolutely learn as much as possible. But for what Dick did, you also need a whole lot of luck. And still end up with part of your behind being removed. I on the other hand, will stick with day walks until we get a lucky break in the weather!

Here is the PBS documentary, Canyons & Ice: The Last Run of Dick Griffith

https://www.pbs.org/show/canyons-ice-last-run-dick-griffith/