In 1962, Laura graduated from Hollins College in Virginia with a degree in English, and moved to New York City to work in publishing.

She met her future husband Guy Waterman in the fall of 1969 while on a weekend climbing trip to the Shawangunk Mountains North of New York.

[8] The move to Vermont and the adoption of the homesteading lifestyle was in large part a way to simply leave more time to climb mountains.

Their last co-authored book was a collection of fiction and essays, A Fine Kind of Madness: Mountain Adventures Tall and True (2000)[10] was published a few months after Guy's death.

[1] She administers The Waterman Fund, supporting education, trail work, and research in the alpine and subalpine zones of Northeastern North America.