Lionel (Tony) Atwill grew up on both coasts, went to school in the south (Duke), served four years in the Army, including a year as a platoon leader in Vietnam, and settled down in the northeast for a 35-year run in the magazine business.

He was involved in the start-up of two magazines (Adirondack Life and Backpacker), then drifted into the hook-and-bullet game where he was a regional editor for Outdoor Life, a staff writer for Sports Afield for 14 years, and finally the senior editor at Field and Stream for a decade. He also freelanced widely, including to The New York Times, all the ski magazines, Sports Illustrated, Esquire, Geo, Readers Digest, National Geographic, and Architectural Digest.

In 2005 Tony left Vermont, where he had lived for 30 years, and moved to Hotchkiss, CO. He has "one daughter, four dogs, too many traditional bows, not enough arrows, and a passion for the mountains."

Atwill is 64 and happily retired.