A native South Carolinian, Duncan lived in Maryland, Virginia and Rhode Island before moving to Oregon. His face is a familiar one at the Mazamas, and we’re fortunate that he is a devoted instructor. He’s a professor at Linfield College and volunteers much of his time teaching and overseeing first aid courses for the Mazamas. He also leads Basic Climbing Education Program teams, leads and assists on many climbs throughout the season and steps in as needed for other programs, like Families Mountaineering 101.
Name: Duncan Hart
Pronouns: he/him
Year Joined Mazamas: 2009
Present-day outdoor activities: Alpine climbing, camping, cycling, gardening, hiking, kayaking, and sandbox play
What’s your earliest outdoor memory?: Riding on the handlebars of my brother’s bike before age 3 and yes, we did not wear helmets back in the day.
How did you first hear about the Mazamas, and what prompted you to engage with the organization? My manager would drag himself into Monday morning meetings with a big smile where he would spend a few minutes sharing Mazamas weekend adventures stories. At the time, doing the kinds of activities that Mazamas do seemed unimaginable to me. One day he asked where I wanted to be in life, and my response was that I wanted to be in a pair of snowshoes on Mt Hood. The response was priceless, “Well that sounds kind of risky. You really should have some BCEP training before going into the mountains.”
As more people seek to recreate outdoors, what advice would you offer them? Be responsible not only for yourself but for others. Thirty years ago, we moved to the Pacific Northwest for the natural beauty and outdoor access. Today, we might be loving our mountains and outdoors a little too much. The inner drive to get that next great selfie is taking some people beyond their physical limits and into risky situations. The policy response is to place access restrictions on public lands. I feel that more people should be educated on the 10 essentials and that a smartphone is never an adequate substitute for planning and preparation. Having more people in the outdoors with Wilderness First Aid skills would also be a very good thing.
What activities/situations/people most inspire you? Acts of human kindness. Each of us does simple things every day that can make life better for others. Sometimes it is reaching out to a teammate who was involved in a challenging situation with you. “Hey, how are you doing?” A casual check-in like this can make a big difference in the first 10 minutes, later in the day, or even the next day after a tragedy or a near miss. Traumatic events affect each of us differently. Pay attention to the subtle details and listen. When we come together as Mazamas for an outdoor or educational experience, we often become a close-knit team. What we do as Mazamas is a dangerous sport, and bad things can and do happen. It is those formal and informal leaders within the teams who have the right sense of timing of when and how to do a check-in that inspire me.
What is your favorite book/movie/TV show/social media account that you follow and why? The Society for Science & the Public is a nonprofit that publishes a monthly Science News magazine that seeks to promote the understanding and appreciation for science and the vital role it plays on people and the planet. The articles are synopses of peer-reviewed white papers published in the last two months. I am interested in following the environmental issues and where this scientific community is focusing. Everyone can make individual choices both big and small that can result in a positive impact on the environment.
What’s on your adventure bucket list? My wish is to take all of my grandchildren up a glaciated peak. I pick up summit rocks as gifts and tell them that someday they will need to take them back (hopefully with me). Climate change is a reality. If we inspire our youth, someday they will tell their grandchildren stories of the time when there were glaciers on the mountains. Maybe one of those children will grow up with the answers on how to save our planet.