Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • W I N T E R 2 0 1 9 10 GET YOUR SHRED ON PAGE 12 Twenty-nine years living in Montana and a lifetime in northern climes have given PHIL KNIGHT a real appreciation for the power of landscape. A student of wild places and the people and creatures who inhabit them, he writes about his adventures and misadventures from his home in Bozeman. MONTANA GLACIERS FROM ABOVE PAGE 22 Using the most ill-equipped aircraft possible for such ad- venture flying, GARRETT FISHER has based his antique Piper PA-11 Cub Special in airports around the world as well as in America. Amassing an enormous collection of aerial photographs, he has published 17 books. He blogs about his adventures at www.garrettfisher.me. MONTANA'S WOLVERINE PAGE 27 JESSIANNE CASTLE is a freelance writer and editor based in Livingston. Born and raised in Big Sky Country, she has a particular interest in both the people and animals who call this place home. LEDGER ARTISTS PAGE 47 Freelance writer LANCE NIXON writes about the arts, history, agriculture and business from his home near Pierre, South Dakota, where he previously edited the daily Capital Jour- nal newspaper for nearly five years and started a magazine, South Dakota Outdoors. He has old ties to Montana on both sides of his family thanks to Norwegian homesteaders and Finnish miners, and he worked as a features editor for e Missoulian newspaper and edited Montana Magazine in 2016. WHAT IS THE SOUND OF MONTANA? PAGE 52 JOSEPH SHELTON lives in Bozeman, where he received his Masters degree in English Literature. He loves film, hiking, reading, exploring, and above all, writing. EIGHT WAYS ROBOTS ARE IMPACTING MEDICINE AND HEALTH PAGE 60 MAGGIE SLEPIAN is a full-time editor and writer living in Bozeman. When she's not in front of a computer, she's probably outside backpacking, climbing, shooting archery, wrecking her dirt bike, or attempting to skate ski. Writing and editorial projects can be found at maggieslepian.com. BIG SKY SEARCH AND RESCUE PAGE 64 BRIAN HURLBUT is the author of the Insider's Guide to Yel- lowstone and Grand Teton National Parks (Globe-Pequot Press) and Montana: Skiing the Last Best Place (Great Wide Open Press). His writing has appeared in Montana Quarterly, Big Sky Journal, Mountain Outlaw, Western Art and Architecture, Outside Bozeman and more. He lives in Big Sky with his wife and two children. WILD WEST WORDS PAGE 78 CHRYSTI M. SMITH was raised on a farm in northeastern Montana and now wrangles words for her daily radio series, "Chrysti the Wordsmith," produced at KGLT-FM in Bozeman; it can be heard on public radio stations through- out Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and worldwide on Armed Forces Radio. www.wordsmithradio.org. HOLIDAY DRINKS PAGE 82 JIM GRAY is a retired chef and culinary instructor. He lives in Missoula where he currently works on a cookbook that is a retrospective of the recipes and dishes he created. FRENCH BRED PAGE 83 Helena native LYNDEL MEIKLE retired after 43 years with the National Park Service. Between the Independent Record and the Montana Standard she has over 1,600 columns in print, as well as a weekly radio program and chapters in Montana's popular Speaking Ill of the Dead, Jerks in Montana History series. Her qualification as an historian is unbridled curiosity. MONTANA'S HARDY WINTER BIRDS PAGE 86 SUZANNE MILLER, a native of Butte, owns Dunrovin Ranch, a full-service guest ranch and equestrian club offering unique backcountry adventures on Tennessee Walking Horses. e installation of a web camera led SuzAnne to enable cyber viewing. www.DaysAtDunrovin.com. CONTRIBUTORS CONTRIBUTORS CONTRIBUTORS VALERIE HARMS has edited this magazine since 2005 and says it is like throwing a party every season. A writer as well as editor, she is the author of 10 books and numerous articles. A graduate of Smith College, for seven years she was an editor at the National Audubon Society in New York City. She has taught writing and given workshops around the country, plus in Greece and Canada. In 1995 she moved to Montana to see wild animals in their habitats and explore the mountains and rivers. For more info see her Web site at www.valerieharms.com. Email queries to valerie@distinctlymontana.com. ROBERT RATH collects hyphens. Currently, he's an illustrator-designer-author-art director-dog walker living in Bozeman. He's illustrated many children's books, including the award-winning First Dog: Unleashed in the Montana Capitol, and Yellowstone's Hot Legends and Cool Myths. His clients include Lucasfilm, The History Channel, Scholastic Books, Farcountry Press and many others. He isn't allergic to anything, can't remember the names of housing subdivisions, likes to cook, can wiggle his ears, and hates writing bios. OUR ALEXIS PIKE

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