Bio
Zoe Hart is the fourth American woman to earn her IFMGA, or International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations, status. This is the highest level of credential available to a professional mountain guide anywhere in the world and is recognized in over 20 IFMGA member countries. Based in Chamonix, France, Zoe Hart takes advantage of conditions as they present themselves - ski mountaineering, alpine climbing, or rock climbing - when she’s not working as a mountain guide. Zoe is labeled as a perpetual transient – she hasn't lived in the same place for more than three months over the past eight years – finding the call to travel and explore the mountains of the world too alluring to stand still.

Although she considers herself a "Jack of all trades," alpine climbing is her passion. In 2004, Zoe climbed in the Ruth Gorge with fellow Mountain Guide, Isabelle Santoire. The pair climbed Ham and Eggs on the Mooses Tooth (just short of the summit to the notch due to spindrift), and Nettle-Quirk on Mont Huntington. In 2006, with the late Sue Nott, Zoe attempted Deprivation on the North Face of Mont Hunter but was turned around by the conditions. In 2007, after a 60-foot fall and a broken hand, Zoe got back on the horse to climb the Dru Couloir on the famed Dru, and Over Couloir on the Brenva Face of the Mont Blanc Range with Maxime Turgeon. Failed journalist visas pushed a ski mountaineering expedition in the Karakorum back a month allowing Zoe to pop over to Yosemite and climb the Northwest Face of Half Dome in a day. With good luck and a weather window, June 2007 brought a first female ski descent of a 5800m peak in the Karakoram along with a global warming educational project.

For Zoe, the adventure, the challenge and the playing has just begun. With the Alps in her background, and many projects perpetually in her mind, the future will likely hold numerous opportunities.

Favorite Products
“Europe's lift access and hut systems provide easy access to the high mountains and big alpine routes in between work stints and high-pressure windows. The harshness and cold of winter scares the crowds away from the alpine routes leaving the goods for the locals. I never leave home without my Micro Puff Jacket. With the combination of water resistance, warmth, and durability (not to mention color ... PINK) I almost always end up climbing in it. Another essential is my Ready Mix Jacket. It's lightweight, moves well, and again, durable. The performance of each piece is essential for success in harsh environments.”

Recommended Web Sites
Alpine Princess - my blog
Chasing Glaciers - an interactive Internet adventure to bring greater understanding and awareness to the issue of climate change and its effect on the great glaciers of the Karakoram Mountain region of Pakistan.

Quotable
"A few years ago, while waffling between pursuing climbing and guiding as my full time career, feeling the pressures of "normal society" and my upbringing as the child of a University Professor and a School Teacher, a friend of mine sent me a note that pushed me in the right direction:

"'You have the potential to become a capable climber, able to go up any route in the world. You have the potential to shape others' impressions of climbing: who can do it, why it's a valuable discipline on the path to self-knowledge, etc. You also have the potential to blow up, burn out, throw in the towel, and go back to school. Clearly you have talent, and the worst thing to do is to waste it. Almost as bad would be to coast on talent alone, when, with some hard work, that talent could be formed into something bigger, something transformative.'

"Since then I have considered complacency and mediocrity as a non-option, both as it relates to alpine climbing and to my environmental impact."