Mark Hesse, a longtime Colorado climber, conservationist, and wilderness educator, died from unknown causes in Boulder on Monday. He dedicated his life to outdoor education and was widely recognized for his work in conservation. Mark was a devoted husband and father and is survived by his wife and two grown daughters.
Hesse was a leader in the Outward Bound system for many years, at first with COBS working with youth in open enrollment and at-risk programs as well as the professional development courses for business. He was co-founder and executive director of the Santa Fe Mountain Center from 1977-1980. During the early 1980’s Mark was the program director of the Southwest Outward Bound School and co-founder of the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative program. He created the American Mountain Foundation and ran it from 1989 to 1998. That organization morphed into the Rocky Mountain Field Institute, which he ran for another decade. Both non-profits were leaders in the stewardship of climbing areas, building extensive trail networks in Indian Creek and Castle Valley, Utah; Shelf Road, Colorado; and on the Colorado 14ers and other high peaks. Even to this day many service projects that are part of OB semester and other courses are done in support of the work Mark instituted with the Rocky Mountain Field Institute and other organizations.
Mark was the recipient of many awards including the American Alpine Club’s David Brower Award for Mountain Conservation in 1995. In 2005 and 2007, he received the Bob Marshall Champion of Wilderness Award presented by the US Forest Service. He founded and directed the Rocky Mountain Field Institute from 1986 to 2009. In 2012, Mark founded Wildscapes Planning and Design, a company focused on trail building and restoration.
He climbed and traveled all over the world and made many first ascents on several continents. In 1976, Mark made the first ascent of the southeast face of Mt. Asgard on Baffin Island. In 1982, he soloed the south face of Denali via the Scott-Haston Route. In 1986, he did the alpine-style first ascent of the northeast buttress of Kangtega (22,241 feet) in Nepal. As recently as 2006, Mark completed a new route on a 20,000-foot peak in Peru.
In lieu of flowers the family requests memorial donations be made to the Front Range Climbing Stewards Program at www.boulderclimbingcommunity.net or hike a local trail with someone you love.
