Ian Brown lives with his family in the Blue Mountains of Australia. He has been climbing, mountaineering and tramping in New Zealand since the 1970s, accumulating more than a year in the Southern Alps. Ian has made several first ascents in the Darran Mountains and was part of the first Australian team to walk to the South Pole without resupply. Ian is a former national park ranger and environmental consultant, a small publisher, a naturalist, and an activist. His nature photographs and writing have appeared in numerous magazines, books, calendars, diaries, websites and other media. In 2000, Ian was awarded the medal of the Order of Australia in recognition of his South Pole journey and associated fundraising.