John grew up in Seattle, graduated from Garfield H.S. (where he was inducted into its Hall of Fame as “A Famed Northwest Sports Historian/Author”), the University of Washington (B.A. and J.D.), and George Washington U. (Masters in Urban and Regional Planning).  John spent his professional career as a lawyer in Washington D.C. and Seattle.  He was a lawyer in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation dealing with environmental issues; a trial lawyer for the Civil Right Division of the U.S. Department of Justice; an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Seattle; and a defense lawyer in private practice specializing in trial work and criminal defense in federal court.  He received the highest ratings from his peer group and was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as having one of the best regional law firms in criminal defense, general and white collar.  John also worked in the areas of land use and environmental law, served on boards of non-profit corporations, and was the long time legal counsel for the Seattle Audubon Society.

John considers himself to be “on sabbatical” from the law as he pursues his interest in history and writing, splitting his time between Seattle and Sun Valley, Idaho.  He has participated in sports his whole life, has been a life-long skier and a long time rower and sailor, participating in multiple Vancouver to Maui sailboat races.  John and his family spend summers in the mountains outside of Sun Valley, identifying wildflowers and hiking with a series of Labrador retrievers they have owned over the years.

John has worked with a number of local and national organizations.  He is a founder and long time Board member of the Washington State Ski and Snowboard Museum.  He was vice president of the North American Snowsports Journalists’ Association, and has worked with the International Ski History Association (where he is on its editorial board), the International Ski and Snowboard Museum Association, the National Nordic Museum, the Far West Ski Club Association, Ancient Skiers (that awarded him their “The Sun Valley Sun” for his work as a ski historian), the Sun Valley Ski Club, and The Community Library in Ketchum, Idaho and its Center for Regional History.

John has written six books.  Four of his books were published by History Press, and all received Skade awards from the International Ski History Association (ISHA), presented to outstanding works on ski history.  Skade is the Norse goddess associated with bowhunting, skiing, winter, and mountains.   

Two of his books are about Sun Valley – Skiing Sun Valley: A History from Union Pacific to the Holdings, and Sun Valley, Ketchum and the Wood River Valley.  Two of his books are about the Northwest – Early Skiing on Snoqualmie Pass and Ski Jumping in Washington State: A Nordic Tradition.   Ski Jumping in Washington State was the companion book for two ski jumping exhibits John helped organize at Seattle’s National Nordic Museum, “Sublime Sights: Ski Jumping, and Nordic America,” and the Sun Valley History Museum, “Skiers in Flight: Sun Valley’s Ski Jumping Roots.”

John’s book, “SIGURD HALL – Ski Racer, Mountaineer & Northwest Four-Way Ski Champion: A Life Tragically Ended too Soon in the Silver Skis Race on Mt. Rainier in 1940,” was published in Norway, and its manuscript was donated to the Norway’s National Museum, where it can be found on its website:  https://www.nb.no, or

https://www.nb.no/search?mediatype=b%C3%B8ker&title=sigurd%20hall.

John’s recent book, From Cheechakos to Sourdoughs: Two Ivy Leaguers’ Quest for Yukon Gold, was written with his brother.  It recounts the adventures of their grandfather Mark Odell and his best friend Ellis Aldrich, who dropped out of Cornell Law School to spend a year prospecting for gold in the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898.  Based on original materials from the men, and containing photos taken using a primitive Kodak camera, the book describes the grueling work required to reach the remote gold fields and to placer mine for gold in temperatures between -40 and -60 degrees.

In addition to writing six books, John has written a number of articles that have appeared in many magazines and journals, and he is a regular contributor to Sun Valley Magazine and Skiing History magazine.  He writes a history column for Eye on Sun Valley; has made a series of TV shows with that news source and Idaho Public TV (“Tracks of Time: The History of Railroads in Idaho”); and is a frequent lecturer in Seattle and Sun Valley.  See,

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/zvlqkkuq24latmsgezqwz/AJfWu6b9_Y_fnqMSkytwM-U?rlkey=1j9i029x2ut9583ywq5oszyaw&dl=0