IN THE CLASSROOM
“I’ve had many lives, and all the opportunities came because I could talk, listen, and communicate clearly.”
John Teaford BY MARIA BUTEUX READE
J
ohn Teaford tightened the straps of his backpack, looked at the snowy landscape spread below, said “Whatever,” and launched himself out of the helicopter. “You do what it takes to get the job done.” Teaford joined the Trinity-Pawling faculty in September 2018. An inspiring English teacher with a gift for connecting with students, Teaford is both a keen observer and a raconteur. We sat down to talk about his life as an adventure documentarian, athlete, writer, and teacher — and stood up three hours later. Then we met again. Here are some condensed excerpts. ACT ONE: ADVENTURER When I was 18, I signed up for a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) mountaineering course in the North Cascades. I thought I was tough and capable, but that course kicked my butt. Whatever skills I developed later in life were all discovered in that one month of suffering. That trip laid the groundwork for everything that has followed. I had grown up on a cattle ranch in Nebraska, spending summers at Camp Wah-Kon-Dah (which my grandfather founded). I lived my days outside,
18 T R I N I T Y - P A W L I N G M A G A Z I N E
exploring and adventuring. I suppose I’ve continued living that way because I grew up that way. ACT TWO: SPEEDSKATER I lived an entire lifetime as an athlete, though it’s now so long ago that it seems like a life that must’ve been lived by someone else. I started speedskating when I was seven, and continued in the sport until I was 32. I attended UW Madison (where the National Speedskating Team was based), and spent my winters racing both domestically and internationally. After my own racing career, I coached the national team from 1989 to 1992. My best friends came from this sport, and my most treasured experiences ... though the Olympic medal I always sought would continue to elude me. ACT THREE: WRITER For me, sport ended in 1992 when I moved to Boulder, Colorado to focus on writing. There, I wrote screenplays and contributed magazine articles — Ski, Skiing, SnowWorld, National Geographic, Outside — where I was typically hired to follow skiers and climbers on expeditions around the world. Ironically,
I’m not an adrenaline junkie; I simply film and write about people who are. ACT FOUR: FILMMAKER Greenland, Iran, Kenya, Antarctica, Chile, Nepal, central and northern Europe, and Afghanistan among others. From 1996 to 2004, I wrote and directed Warren Miller ski films (Storm and Cold Fusion are two of my favorites). This was also the time when Warren Miller (and myself, by association) began producing feature-length adventure documentaries (not just “ski films”). We spent weeks in remote locations, embedding ourselves in both the culture and the environment as we looked for the story that viewers would find compelling. Most ski movies are about the athlete’s triumphs. Our films — and they were actual film, not video — tended to highlight the disasters. As director, I would get us in just enough trouble to ensure something cool would happen. The storyline evolved from that. You push until the wheels fall off; then you film putting them back on. A helicopter is a giant death machine, if the engine quits you go down like a rock. After marrying and starting a family in 2003, I decided