The heroes' gallery

A brief history of personal exploration

When I was in college in Minneapolis back in the early 1990s, I took a part-time job at a local outdoor shop that’s a bit of a legend around these parts: Midwest Mountaineering. Now, you may wonder how a mountaineering shop can exist in a state known more for its lakes than its altitude, but it was founded by a vagabond climber in 1970 to cater to local…