Patagonia ambassador, international mountain guide, and now, at 47, beginner skateboarder and snowboarder. Zoe Hart is a phenomenally interesting balance of someone that takes risks that most of us would baulk at, but also voices the fears we all have in our heads as she takes on new sports in midlife and the very real anxiety that comes with being an adult beginner.
I met Zoe at Kendal Mountain Festival, listening to a Yeti hosted panel that she featured on, she spoke about the balance of being someone who has always chased adventure and risk, and then has to find a way to make that work as a parent. Zoe’s take on it? ‘Disaster Style Parenting’ as evidenced by the intriguing documentary series she produced on behalf of Patagonia about her own family and how they are navigating living in the outdoors lifestyle that their base in Chamonix affords them.
I listened to her talk with great interest, not least because some of her experience marries with my own - as someone who has always loved to travel and be outdoors, and then spent 3 years travelling round the world with our first child, we are continually trying to find a way to balance our own needs with those of our kids. It’s not easy.
“I think it was just like a visceral, emotional thing, where this idea of managing risk and controlling fear felt like such an awesome process before I had kids, and then when I had kids, I was just scared all the time. I would get into these situations and be like “wow, I don’t want to be here”. It was not longer enjoyable in the way it was before”
But what really intrigued me was hearing about Zoe’s journey into skateboarding in her mid 40’s, and more recently starting snowboarding. Her comfort zone is the mountains, but it doesn’t make starting something new any easier.
Her new foray into skateboarding started from her kids skateboarding, but now her husband is in on the act, and she’s found a crew locally to share her journey with. It was so refreshing for a world-acclaimed climber and guide like Zoe to echo the same fears I hear regularly from the board women community:
“There were ups and downs for the first couple of years where you’d be able to drop in, and then the next week you couldn’t. There are proper slams in the bowl in front of like teenage boys, where you just gotta suck it up and walk away and pretend you’re totally fine. But I feel like I’ve hit a groove where I”m improving and I come back at a certain level. I don’t take a ton of risk, but I have learned some stuff and feel proud of myself.
We cover:
Zoe’s journey into living and working in the mountains
How she became a Patagonia ambassador
Balancing parenting & adventure
Women’s community and beginner skateboarding
Learning to be kind to yourself
Navigating ageing and feeling good about yourself
Let me know what you think! See you in a couple of weeks when we have Abby Richardson, Head of Impact and Communications for The Wave; and co-author with Nick Hounsfield of the latest in the Do book series, Do Blue, talking about the power of water. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast on your favourite platform so you don’t miss out x
Have a great week all
Caroline x
Board Women Founder
