Gregory Crouch graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he studied military history. He completed U.S. Army Airborne and Ranger schools and led an infantry platoon in Panama, for which he earned the Combat Infantryman’s Badge. He left the Army to pursue other interests, most notably in mountaineering. He developed a particular obsession with the storm-swept peaks of Patagonia, and has made seven expeditions to those remote mountains.
Along the way he became a writer, and his work has appeared in The Atlantic, National Geographic (“Stone Cold Ascent,” 3/00, and “Caves of Oman,” 4/03), Outside, National Geographic Adventure, American History, Islands, Popular Mechanics, Climbing, and many others. He served as a senior contributing editor at Climbing. His book, Enduring Patagonia (Random House, 2001), was chosen for the Barnes & Noble “Discover Great New Writers” program. China’s Wings: War Intrigue, Romance, and Adventure in the Middle Kingdom During the Golden Age of Flight was published by Bantam in March, 2012 and was reviewed in the Wall Street Journal.
Great website Greg. Can’t wait to really have time to explore it all! Congrats. xo,
dina
Thanks, Dina… sometime soon I’m going to be blogging about our ride to and from our 20th high school reunion, and me being reluctant to believe your husband could possibly be connected to flying in China in the 1930s…. a serendipitous connection that still boggles my mind.
Dina is right. The website is cool, Greg. Nice to see your talent reflected on the Web. And thx for using my dad’s photos and crediting him. Congrats!
Technically, Ed, aren’t those your grandfather’s photos? But you’re all Edward P. Howards anyway, right? Sometime soon, I’m going to post those two beautiful pen & ink drawings he did, and I’ll be trickling out most of those photographs in the months to come. Crazy connection. What’re the chances?
I am very glad that the Climber Exchange Program gave me the opportunity to meet you.
Gregory-
On a recent trip to Shanghai, I brought along China’s Wings to help re- create the excitement and the ambiance of 1930s China. It was a compelling read on both the complexities and the protocol necessary to permit the the birth of civil aviation in China, and in your description of events leading up to the outbreak of war with Japan. It made my trip all the more memorable. Bravo!
Thanks, Mark! Great to hear that China’s Wings served well in Shanghai. Thanks for checking in. cheers, Greg
Gregory, Was your mother by any chance Janet Crouch? If so she was my son’s second grade teacher in Santa Barbara.
Cheers,
Mark
Mark, she sure was! Glad to hear she taught your son — she sure loved that school. Cheers, GC