Zoe Hart

USA

As though motion was in her blood from the start, Zoe Hart was in a New York City cab just a few hours after being born.  She grew up in the flat suburbs of New Jersey, and then headed to Boston College to get a degree in English Literature well on her way to a “normal life.”  In 1997, the unexpected death of her father sent her searching, what she found was climbing and her place in the mountains.  For the past ten years, tents, duffel bags, basecamps and the back of her car have been her home.

Despite travel, each year she found her way back to Chamonix to climb, ski and guide.  In May 2008 Zoe passed her last guides exam becoming the 4th American woman IFMGA (International Federation of Mountain Guides Association) certified, and decided to lay roots in Chamonix, buying and renovating a small apartment beneath the Glaicers of Mont Blanc.

Currently she spends most of her days ski mountaineering, climbing on steep limestone crags in the valley or exploring the north faces and granite of the Mont Blanc range right out her backdoor.

Birthday? July 15, 1978

Year you first started climbing? 1998

Three climbing achievements you are most proud of?

• First Female Ascent and speed record of Deprivation on Mount Hunter, Alaska Range, Alaska in 41 hours with Maxime Turgeon, May 2008


• Northeast Couloir of Le Grand Dru, Chamonix, France, March 2007


• First Ascent of Cracker Pterodactyl 5000 on Jebel Misht, Oman with Brittany Griffith, Jonathan Thesenga, John Dickey, February 2008

Memory/story of the first time you ever went climbing? The first time I went climbing/mountaineering was on a NOLS course in Washington, in the North Cascades. It rained for 17 days straight; we saw nothing but white. When we learned how to tie knots with a rope I thought “Knots, cool, I wonder what we will do with these!” I learned a lot of trial by fire and luckily succeeded

Favorite climbing area and why? It’s a toss up. Alaska is one of my favorite playgrounds. It’s like alpine sport climbing—you get flown in with a tub of salsa, big blocks of cheese, lots of tortillas and ample amounts of alcohol to sustain the bad weather days. And when the weather is good you go light and fast all day and all night as the sun never sets. Yet despite its accessibility, the climbing is hard, steep and committing, and you are on your own without much access to a rescue.

The other is Chamonix, France, because it’s my backyard. I have a love/hate relationship with the telepheriques and huts. They allow access to big routes in a day, two-day trips up big alpine north faces, or just an afternoon of hand jamming in sunny granite cracks on the south face of the Aguille du Midi with huge glaciers surrounding you and the sound of caving seracs to make it all feel real! The hate side is the crowds and the lack of respect for the fragile mountain environment. Because of the ease of access and the ease of rescue many people get into situations they are not prepared for knowing or hoping they can call a helicopter, and leave their waste not treating the mountains, their beauty and their fragility with the respect they deserve

Best climbing experience? Deprivation on Mount Hunter. I just finished my last guide’s exam, was pinned on the birthday of my late father, and was on the Kahiltna Glacier with a pizza and beers to meet my boyfriend, Maxime Turgeon, the next day. We packed the following day and then with perfect conditions, stellar weather and a flow that was seamless we simu-climbed, swapping blocks for 23 hours until we found a nook in the cornice at the top of the North Buttress of Mount Hunter to sleep in for a few hours, brew up and eat. We summitted with sunny skies, and found all the v-threads that Max and Freddie Wilkinson and Ben Gilmore had created a few days earlier on their ascent of the Moonflower. Forty-one hours later we were back in basecamp eating burritos and soup cooked by friends, and sleeping soundly in our tent.

Worst climbing experience? After my NOLS course I thought I was an expert, one month of walking on glaciers and I knew all that there was to know! Me and my boyfriend at the time decided to go for the North Face of Mount Shuksan. Without much knowledge of the weather forecast or technical skill we set out for a moderately technical route that was well above my skill level at the time. We started climbing on the 14th of July and were turned around half way by a storm. We ended up rappelling off snow bollards and downclimbing—me with my straight shaft mountaineering axe and leather climbing boots two sizes too big and round, rusty crampons. When we got back to the tent it was a full fledged storm. We gorged ourselves on all the rest of our food thinking we would be back in town the next day to celebrate my birthday.

We decided to try to go out a more direct way because there was not trail, just slippery, thick alders. Not looking at a map or following our bearings we walked straight down the ridge in the completely wrong direction, and ended up rappelling off trees until we finally made it to the river—where we thought our car would be on the other side. Yet the river was flowing the wrong way, or actually we were at another river! And being cheap and poor we had only bought one map quadrant and were well off it now!

With down sleeping bags, fully drenched and fully useless, we spent two days hiking back up and around the cliff bands we had rappelled to get back to the ridge where we could orient ourselves. Two days without food, the storm finally broke and we finally found a clearing and eventually the car. When we finally made it to the car there was a note saying a rescue would be mounted the next day if we didn’t call in.

We had missed celebrating my birthday and in our arrogance, and inexperience gotten ourselves into quite an epic! Live and learn!

What's your dream trip? Where? With who? My dream trip is a big granite face, with a thin smear of clean alpine ice, and good granite cracks for torquing my Cobra picks in and placing Camalots in, a nice plateau for a bivy, clear skies full of stars and then a summit the next day, a short walk out (because the descents hurt my knees), no stuck ropes on rappels. With who? Of course with Max, because he keeps me warm in the two-person sleeping bag he made. Where? Anywhere I can meet new people, learn about a new culture, see new mountain landscapes and live in a minimalist way!

Guilty pleasure? Taking a steaming hot bath in my new bathtub at my new apartment in Chamonix with a glass of wine and a DVD playing on the computer resting on the cover of the toilet seat!

BD gear you use every time you go climbing? Sharp, shiny Express Screws. I love Express screws for their ease of placement… stubbies to long screws. OK, I like the long ones better, but stubbies suffice when needed!

Something that annoys you while climbing? Thoughtless climbers. Whether disregarding the environment or other climbers. It ruins my day to share a beautiful route with rude, selfish or thoughtless climbers.

What/who inspires you in climbing? Ines Papert and Kim Czismasia, two femme pioneers of hard climbing who have found the balance of strength, femininity and parenthood!

Favorite aprés-climb meal? Quesadillas with fresh veggies and avocadoes grilled up quick and dirty for a grumbly après climbing belly!

Favorite climbing flick? I live, eat, sleep, work, climbing, so I don’t watch climbing films, read climbing books, or read climbing magazines. I love documentary films and small budget films, and well-written literature too much to spend precious free time reading and watching what I’d rather be just doing.

What's in your iPod? Someone else’s music collection. I’m not very techno savy. So I usually go with what others listen to.

Strangest place you've ever woken up? Half way up a new route on a 3000-foot limestone wall in Oman, soaked with sweat after sleeping in an emergency blanket, on ropes, with no pad or stove, because we were going light, to the Muslim Call to Prayer and a sunrise over the stark landscape.

Strangest person you've ever woken up with? A tree! When I first learned how to aid climb, we climbed the South Face of Washington’s Column in Yosemite. After a fight with my old boyfriend over who would lead the “wild offwidth” toward the top as it got dark, we decided to sleep where we were on the ledgeless section of wall. We tied the haul bag into a tree, and one person slept half in the haul bag, hanging in the tree, and the other slept in a 65-degree crack—neither very nice. When we woke up in the morning, we were less than a pitch from the summit!

Three things you'd never roadtrip without? A good book and journal, good coffee, and my camera.

Superstitions? I’m not superstitious but I do believe in the deep karmic pot that we give and take from. I ask a lot from my friends, and in return try to give a lot back. Give what you have and take what you need and the pot is always full.

What's your dream job? Whatever gives me lots of free time, inspires me, uses my brain, helps people and allows me freedom for expeditions.

How are you training when you are not climbing/skiing? I try to do yoga, but I’m not very disciplined. I have only managed to do enough yoga to be able to touch my toes twice for two months in my life! Some running or gym time, but mostly just climbing and skiing to get and be fit!

If you could steal one thing and not get caught, what would it be? An endless supply of organic food and sushi!

If you could have dinner with three people (dead or alive) who would they be?

• My dad, who died of a heart attack when I was 18


• My uncle, who was killed in the World Trade Center


• And Max! I’d love for them to meet Max!

Which would you prefer: power of flight or invisibility?Flight, for sure!

Do you have any tattoos or piercings? I have pierced ears and a nose stud. I also have a tattoo of the Celtic Tree of Life, in memory of my dad, on the nape of my back. It symbolizes that everyone who was ever a part of your life will always be a part of your life, the branches and roots connected in a never-ending circle. I had an eyebrow stud and a tongue stud when I was at university, but let them go after I passed through my angsty teenager phase.