Ferndale researcher travels from pole to pole for work, adventure

CRAIG PARRISH

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It's hardly a stretch to say that John Schutt travels to the ends of the Earth to gather treasures from outer space.

Schutt, 60, has spent much of his professional career in places most fair-weather people wouldn't consider visiting. For a three-month period each year for 28 years, he's gone to Antarctica to lead teams of geologists and explorers in gathering meteorite samples. He's helped recover thousands of meteorites and samples from Mars.

The findings are going to some heavy hitters - some of the samples found by Schutt's teams are used by the likes of NASA space exploration and research.

| MAX BITTLE | THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

If spending a quarter of his year on a sheet of ice in Antarctica doesn't sound bone-chilling enough, during the summer months Schutt goes to the opposite end of the planet, doing research in the Arctic.

Even with a background and resume that would probably make the heartiest adventurer take notice, Schutt is nonchalant when describing his extensive travels. Listing and describing all his stops would take hours, he admits.

"I've met amazing people, gone to incredible places, and seen so many fantastic things," Schutt said.

In the Arctic, he works with scientists from around the world for the Mars Institute, which studies the geology and biology of the polar region, how Mars' past climate may have affected Earth and other planets and how life evolves and adapts in an extreme weather environment.

Schutt lives in Ferndale, graduated from Western Washington University in the early 1970s and returned to Whatcom County in 1980 after spending several years in the Spokane area. When he and his wife are both home, they're usually at work on projects that will benefit others in his field. They build Komatik sleds, which are large cargo sleds used in snowy terrain, "capable of carrying very large loads," Schutt said.

It all "keeps me pretty busy," Schutt said.

Growing up in Bremerton, Schutt said he always gravitated to the outdoors, and earning a degree in geology from WWU enabled him to pursue a field within his comfort zone.

"I just followed that into a profession, which allowed me to be in the outdoors and in wilderness settings," Schutt said. "And because of the people I've met with like interests, I started to develop some experience in going off to different places."

Schutt described a position he held during one college summer, in which he worked for the American Smelting and Refining Company, "prospecting and sediment sampling up in Alaska."

"That was a great summer," Schutt said. "We'd fly out in the helicopter every morning, get dropped off at the top of a peak, then we'd have to walk down anywhere from 10 to 15 miles to 20 miles in a day, prospecting, all out in the wilderness in east-central Alaska."

After finishing college, Schutt returned to Alaska's Juneau Icefields and went to work as a station manager of Fletcher's Ice Island T-3 - "basically an iceberg floating around the Arctic Ocean," Schutt said. "That really opened my eyes to that sort of environment. I enjoyed being up there and the challenges of working in those situations."

Through much of the 1970s Schutt lived in Spokane and worked as an exploration geologist for mining companies and for a consulting/contracting company, traveling and working in Africa, Mexico, Alaska and "all over the West as well," he said.

During the weakening economy of the late 1970s, Schutt said, mining companies were caught in the downturn and reigning in their exploration programs, so he returned to Bellingham. That led to a position as a mountain guide for the American Alpine Institute, and shortly thereafter, a colleague from the Juneau Icefields asked him if he'd like to go to Antarctica. That turned out to be something Schutt had wanted to do for years.

"Through the 70s, I'd actually tried to get to the Antarctic a number of times, and I'd (sign) on as an alternate for a variety of positions that didn't come through. But my wife ended up getting a job down there in 1978; she was one of the first female workers down there.

"That sort of made me want to get down there even more. And ultimately this friend of mine, who had been down there a number of times, ended up getting married about that time. He'd been asked to go along as a mountain guide on the expedition to collect meteorites in Antarctica. He asked me if I was interested and, of course, I said absolutely."

The opportunity came up and "I jumped at it," Schutt said. "So that's what I've been involved with, every year since 1980, having made a trip down there, searching for meteorites on the Antarctic ice cap."

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Friday, Sep. 05, 2008

Ferndale researcher travels from pole to pole for work, adventure

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