Glen Heywood was born on December 7, 1958, in Truckee, California. His father, Glennthorne Maplesworth von Heywood IV, was an itinerant ski-lift operator. His mother, Gladys, inventor of the hot tub, was the town librarian. His formative years were happy and good, spent in wonderfully high altitude, the squirrels and ravens his playmates, and plenty of nourishing snow to feed his ever-growing muscles and bones.

But Glen’s idyllic boyhood was shattered asunder on his 18th birthday, when he was accepted to UCLA. Thus began his sad descent, quite literally, to what he calls “the bad zone.” (Which is anywhere below 3,000 ft.—not just Los Angeles.)

Life at sea level soon took its toll on Glen. His spirits no longer naturally lifted, he fell into a state of sadness and mediocrity. He truly bottomed out in his Psychology 101 class, when he tripped over someone’s books. Sent sprawling to the cold linoleum floor, he had a revelation. “Up,” Glen thought, “is where the good is.”

He stood straight up, marched out of the lecture hall, hitched a ride up into the mountains and never looked back.

Since that rendezvous with destiny, Glen has dedicated his life to helping others feel good. And through his work at the Northstar-at-Tahoe™ Institute of Goodology, he’s reached thousands upon thousands of good souls.

When he’s not conducting experiments, researching the harmful effects of prolonged exposure to cities or inspiring good-seekers to keep their ski tips up, Glen indulges in his many hobbies: vacuuming, snowshoeing, potatoes, tanning, curing cast iron pans, and needlepoint (in fact, he stitched much of this site himself!)