keeping it real like the coast
Dear reader, welcome to my website. I am about to take you on a long-winded tale about how this website came to be, and what it means to me. So, hold tight. I promise, there’s a moral at the end of this story.
The Coast Mountains of British Columbia run from the Fraser River Valley to the Alaska panhandle. They are considered to be among the least documented and least inhabited mountains in the world. Not surprisingly, the ranges first inhabitants and those who adventure among its peaks and valleys are a hearty and resourceful bunch. Every time I return to my home in Squamish after traveling to mountains ranges throughout the world, I feel as though I am returning to my spiritual centre.
Like the Coast Mountains, the coastal mountaineer is a unique breed too. It’s a rag tag crew of old schoolers and new schoolers all of whom seem to share one common theme - unassuming nerds who speak with such understatement you’ll seldom recognize that what they just pulled off is most definitely newsworthy. I like it like that. I like that the coastal mountaineer conveys no pretence, there’s no verbal jockeying for position or pecking order. They are simply stoked about these mountains and the adventure they find amongst them.
There’s one particular figure in our coastal community who I have long admired for this reason, the late Guy Edwards. The photos of Guy below, though silly and unassuming in nature, belie the fact that he was one of the most accomplished young alpinists of his time, among the ranks of Marc-Andre LeClerc. I won’t rattle off his accomplishments here, but what I will share is an amazing editorial piece he wrote for our national climbing magazine, Gripped, way back in the year 2000. In true coastal style Guy’s article is titled unassumingly, “Just a Thought”. Guy goes on to explain that the Coast Range mountaineers outlook is, “…wonderfully different and unique, making them quite distinct from climbers in other parts of the world” and, “BC mountaineers are unique in that they are much more adventurous and open than climbers from other mountain ranges. Many BC climbers are true explorers, defining their own goals and following their own path”
I like to think I have come to embody similar values.
Creating a website has forced me to get really clear on who exactly I am, and what I have to offer. Sure, I’m an athlete and a facilitator but what kind of athlete, and what kind of facilitator? And here’s where my long-winded connection lies, like the Coast Mountains of my home province and the people who travel amongst them, I value being unapologetically myself, with a certain what’s-around-the-corner type of enthusiasm. It’s a word that’s probably been overdone, but I believe in authenticity. Allow me to explain.
Being myself is maybe one of my most enduring features. They say you get more stuck in your ways the older you get, and you know, that might be true for me. I feel uncomfortable saying something or doing something I don’t believe in from the very bottom of my heart. You might say, I wear all of myself on my sleeve.
As an athlete, the outdoor industry in which I’ve had the greatest fortune of being a part of, for a long time represented so many of these values. Full of committed, unapologetically dorky and authentic folk whose life as a mountain athlete bleed so seamlessly into their career in the industry.
But climbing has changed a lot since I started way back in 2000, and the climbing industry has changed even more since I became, I guess, what you’d call a professional climber in 2012. Our sport has been embraced by popular culture, and an uncritical consumerism has taken hold. I see a constant jockeying for position, and the endless spray of marketing rhetoric. The authenticity is lost. The heart of why we travel into the mountains is fading.
Throughout my career I’ve tried hard to wade through the More Free Shit mentality and focus on nurturing lasting relationships with brands who could provide exactly what I needed to be the best climber I could be. I mean, isn’t that the point of sponsorship, to gain access to the things you need to do your job? Yet, the internet is full of people (and climbers) trying to sell you something. They say hollow things that they themselves may not even understand, all in the name of More Free Shit. It’s been tricky to navigate the less than obvious path of a professional sponsored climber who’s trying to contribute something meaningful to their audience on behalf of the industry partners that they represent.
As in climbing, my vocational career has evolved similarly.
My development as a speaker and facilitator has been underpinned by similar values of authenticity, curious enthusiasm and a desire to get-the-job-done. In my work with groups I want to create a space where all are welcome to be exactly who they are, and that enthusiastically we can work towards a meaningful goal. Not just lip service, but collectively working towards real and material change, whatever that happens to be.
Let me close this philosophical rant by welcoming you to my website. This has been a long time coming. I think I purchased the domain www.sarahleannhart.com like, five years ago, or something. And essentially, it’s been a half-completed idea ever since. I absolutely hate leaving things undone, and so when Kim of Sawoola Designs (who also happens to be a long time Squamish local and friend) proposed that she finish my website for me, I think I may have surprised her with my extreme enthusiasm. I was so happy to finally get this thing wrapped up.
I hope you’ll sense from the detail contained within that I am an athlete, speaker, and facilitator who above all else strives to be true to herself, and correspondingly, encourage the people I work with to become more of themselves too. I hope you’ll find here, a space that is absent of the More Free Shit mentality and full of unapologetic stoke for the mountains I love, and the people I love to work with.
And with that, it’s a side hustle no more.
Yours truly embarking on a little coastal slogging. Naturally, in the company of the venerable Mr. Richard So.