About Michael Ybarra

Journalist.  Author.  Adventurer.

Michael J. Ybarra graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a B.A. in political science and received an M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. He was a former staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal. From 2007-2012 he chronicled his outdoor adventures as the extreme sports correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. A diverse and prolific writer, Ybarra also contributed to The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post and The New York Times. At the request of Senator Ted Kennedy, Ybarra’s article for The Washington Post “Activists Attest to Romania’s Idea of Democracy” is part of the Congressional Record. Ybarra’s work has also been featured in The New Republic, Upside and Alpinist magazines. His story about Hurricane Katrina “The Long Road Back” for CIO Decisions magazine won the National Azbee Gold Award from ASBPE (the American Society of Business Publication Editors) and a Bronze Tabbie Award.

Ybarra is the author of the award-winning book “Washington Gone Crazy: Senator Pat McCarran and the Great American Communist Hunt.