About
Bob at Machu Picchu
Robert L. Gram holds theological degrees from New Brunswick, Princeton,and San Francisco Seminaries. At New Brunswick, he was the first person in the history of the school--established in 1784-- to receive two graduate degrees in three years. He also holds an M.S. from Columbia University School of Social Work, and was a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in New York and New Jersey. He worked as a group therapist at the Addiction Institute of St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan. In that capacity, he trained graduate school interns in substance use disorders, and taught addiction therapy at Ferkauf Graduate School. He was also a clinician in private practice.
Bob received a Lily Foundation Grant, administered by Covenant Theological Seminary, which allowed him to pursue his culinary and cycling passions.
Bob After Bicycling Across the USA
In 2016, he bicycled across the country, beginning in San Francisco, and ending on a beach near Portsmouth, New Hampshire. His group averaged 82 miles a day. On a dare--and for 'extra credit'--he peddled a double metric century (124 miles) in a day. He accomplished this a week after being sideswiped by a pickup truck and briefly hospitalized.
My favorite book as a boy was Maurice Herzog's "Annapurna". Herzog wrote about his party's ascent of the first 8000 meter peak to be climbed in 1950. The author and his partner, Louis Lachenal, became my heroes. At age 50, I decided to fulfill boyhood dreams, and started climbing, first in the United States, followed by expeditions to Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia, France, and Tanzania.
Bob on Pequeno Alpamayo
My highest ascents occurred in my late 50's and early 60's. Nothing better than seeing the world from great heights:
Illimani: 21,125' Bolivia
Chimborazo: 20,702' Highest Mountain in Ecuador and closest point to the stars because of the equatorial bulge.
Huayna Potosi: 19,974' Bolivia.
Cotopaxi: 19,347 Ecuador
Mt. Kilimanjaro: 19,341 Highest mountain in Africa.
Cayambe: 19,000' Ecuador.
Antisana: 18,875' Ecuador (Reached 18,600' --Weather and crevasse).
El Pico de Orizaba: 18,491' Highest mountain in Mexico and third highest mountain in North America.
Pequeno Alpamayo - 17,618' Bolivia.
Illiniza Sur: 17,208' Ecuador.
Iztaccihuatl: 17,160' Mexico.
Pyramide Blanca 17,159' Bolivia.
Illiniza Norte: 16,818' Ecuador.
Mont Blanc 15,407' France (Reached Gouter Hut 12,582'--hurricane winds)
Mt. Elbert: 14,440' Colorado. Second highest mountain in the contiguous United States.
Castle Peak: 14,279' Colorado.
Longs Peak: 14,259' Colorado.
Mt. Shasta, 14,179' California.
Mount Lady Washington: 13,277' Colorado.
Aiguille du Tour 11,614' France.
Bob w/ author John Rothschild, at the top, Pico de Orizaba, Mexico
Bob on the steeps, Illiniza Sur, Ecuador
Bob on the Peak Illiniza Sur, Ecuador
Bob has written and directed plays. Two of his short stories won national awards. Apocalypses is his third book and first novel. He lives in Rhinebeck, N.Y.