Eric Bjornstad is perhaps best known as a pioneer of desert towers during the early years when those phenomenal spires were first being climbed. Indeed, many of us climbing his routes today would shudder at the idea of doing them in the 1960s and early 1970s with the available gear and lack of information. Raised in California, his early passions included poetry writing, chess, speed typing and classical music-playing both piano and oboe. He also sought physical challenges such as boxing, in which he excelled. He began camping early, with numerous trips to the High Sierra, and like many climbers then and now, a great love of high places was kindled.

Eric has experienced a working life of great variety; over the years he worked as a draftsman, piano salesman, photo processor, gardener, bartender, dump truck driver, tree topper and handyman at a sorority to mention only a few. He married three times, divorced three times, and fathered four children (David, Heather, Mara & Eigerwand). In the late 1950s, he moved to Seattle and began a long career in alpine mountaineering. He also taught climbing for the Seattle Mountaineers, served on the Seattle Mountain Rescue Team for eight years, and represented American climbers during the Seattle World's Fair French-American climbing week. It was also during this time that Eric began to write about climbing, in both magazines and books. He co-authored Climbers Guide to Leavenworth Climbing Areas with Fred Beckey and wrote the Pitoncraft chapter for the second edition of the classic text Mountaineering, Freedom of the Hills.

In 1985 Eric returned to live in Moab, where he developed a passion for climbing in the mysterious landscape of the Southwest desert. The routes that he and other desert pioneers established on these spooky towers tested the limits of existing equipment and techniques as well as their nerves. He undertook the task of authoring Desert Rock, the only comprehensive guide to the sandstone climbs of the Colorado Plateau. He now gives private tours in little-known regions of the Colorado Plateau, drives 4-wheel drive commercial tours, produces and sells etched glass window hangings of Anasazi rock art-and is completing and expanded five-volume guide to technical rock climbs on the sandstone walls of the Southwest desert.

Eric enjoys discussing the Moab area and the history behind it. Riding along with Eric on the 4x4 tour, you will receive extensive information about the rock layers and how they were formed as you ascend and descend on amazing 4x4 trails. Eric's love for climbing is evident during the tour, as he points out established routes along the path and discusses the development of climbing in the Southwest desert. He will converse with you about the groups of people from the past that have traveled through this area and show you the impressions that they left behind as proof that they were here; in the same areas you will have the opportunity to see evidence of ancient life forms that lived and thrived in the area.