Sarah is a Colorado native who moved to Portland from New York City in 2020. She finished our Basic Climbing Education Program in 2022, joined Mazamas shortly thereafter, and is a recent Intermediate Climbing School graduate who loves ice climbing and steep snow alpine routes. Sarah is working to start a Mazama affinity space for women, femme-identifying, and genderqueer people.
Name: Sarah Diver
Pronouns: she/her/her
Year Joined Mazamas: 2021
Present-day outdoor activities: Indoor and outdoor rock climbing, ice climbing, mountaineering, alpine touring, downhill skiing, hiking and backpacking, trail and road running
What’s your earliest outdoor memory? My earliest memory outdoors would be running through the woods at the YMCA’s Camp Shady Brook in Deckers, Colorado. I am from Denver originally, and every summer I went to Shady Brook for a few weeks, where I fell in love with mountains and forests. I remember very clearly how much I loved the smell of the pine trees baking in the sun. Very magical. Second only to the special hell that was learning to ski at age 5.
How did you first hear about the Mazamas, and what prompted you to engage with the organization? In 2019, I signed up for an all-women’s charity climb of Mt. Adams, where we raised over $10,000 for breast cancer and MS research. While we did not summit, I was instantly hooked and wanted to be able to climb more glaciated peaks. When I moved from New York City to Portland in 2020, I literally just googled “Portland mountaineering” because I wanted to learn those skills – Mazamas was the first thing that popped up! I applied for BCEP in 2021, and the rest was history. Since then I’ve been extremely lucky to be mentored and encouraged by many experienced Mazama climb leaders and volunteers.
As more people seek to recreate outdoors, what advice would you offer them? I think when someone first begins recreating outdoors more frequently, it’s easy to get “summit fever” and think only of checking peaks or goals off their list as they gain competency. All of the activities I do outdoors I think of as lifelong pursuits, and I personally try to cultivate a sustainable pattern of growth in a holistic sense: what is sustainable for my body? The environment? For my personal safety both mentally and physically? The mountains are on a much longer, more geologic timescale than all of us as it is. My advice to those interested in being outdoors is to prioritize how they can care for the natural places they visit and for themselves first – and the rest will follow.
What activities/situations/people most inspire you? Pick one. Honestly, what has been most inspiring is watching all of the wonderful people I’ve met through the Mazamas do what they do. Having just graduated from ICS this spring, it’s been amazing to see so many friends conquer their fears, learn new skills, and fulfill personal goals throughout our time together. Whether they are ultrarunners or just learned to lead climb, being around other motivated Mazamas who get after it has been incredibly inspiring – makes me want to continue to stay in shape and learn more to keep up too!
What is your favorite book/movie/TV show/social media account that you followand why? Pick one. One of my favorite Instagram accounts is @pastagrannies. These British
filmmakers are in the midst of a multi-yearlong ethnographic documentary attempting to detail all of the various regional handmade pasta techniques in Italy. They find ancient Italian grandmas and film them making pasta. It’s amazing.
What’s on your adventure bucket list? People who know me well know that I am
very passionate about ice climbing. So, my long-term adventure bucket list therefore includes as much alpine and water ice as I can reasonably and safely access.
I’m also very interested in traverses as I find we in the Pacific Northwest
often have an “up-and-out” mindset, where we approach-summit-descend-go home-repeat. I like the idea of visiting less traveled peaks or terrain by seeking less conventional
routes that connect different mountains. Perhaps this is a pipe dream, but in the meantime,
I hope to do the more established Ptarmigan and Tatoosh traverses this summer, both in
Washington.
In general, I’m not someone who has a “tick list” I’m working from, as that’s not really a
priority for me. I am chasing the experience of being out there, appreciating the incredible beauty of our planet while I still can, and challenging myself. What I strive for each trip is the elusive, if not impossible to attain, “type I fun mountaineering.” To me, this means that I have prepared enough physically, mentally, and technically to be able to comfortably travel over any terrain presented along the route, while also being challenged enough to where I have to think critically in the moment. In the future, I’d love for Type I fun mountaineering to include as much technically interesting terrain as possible – ice, snow, and rock. That would be peak living!