Billy Barr

Curious story of a hermit who lives up Gothic Mountain in the Rockies, alone. A case of the right person in the right place – Billy was a college trained environmental scientist – his notebooks of snow levels, flowering times and animal appearances have become a treasure trove for scientists studying the impact of climate change.

Barr still wakes each day in his cabin before dawn to log the snow levels. He buys his wood now, which has freed up some time, and he has started the dreary process of converting his notebooks into spreadsheets. Sometimes Barr is credited as a contributor on reports that use his data; sometimes not. This year, however, he’s won some much deserved recognition. He is a character in a not-yet-released documentary called End of Snow; and this summer the RMBL named a building after him: The Billy Barr Community Center.

“Some day I’ll die,” Barr said, and people will ask: “Who the hell is it named after—this Billy Barr?”

Read on: The Hermit Who Inadvertently Shaped Climate-Change Science – The Atlantic