[1] While attending college, he spent his summer breaks working at Philmont in positions such as a trail crew foreman and director of conservation.
Moving to Seattle, he became an author, writing magazine articles for Boys' Life and merit badge pamphlets on subjects such as backpacking.
[1] Birkby met Scott Fischer in 1982, and was convinced to climb Mount Olympus.
He then worked for Fischer's adventure travel company Mountain Madness as a writer and guide, co-leading adventure trips to the Cascade Range, Alaska, Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Elbrus and Nepal.
After Fischer's death in the 1996 Everest disaster, Birkby wrote the biography Mountain Madness.