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Faculty Profile: Lester Zook, Outdoor Man

By Joe T. O'Connor, Rocktown Weekly
www.rocktownweekly.com

“Getting to the top of any given mountain is considered less important than how one got there.”
— Jon Krakauer Into Thin Air

In 1996, renowned mountaineer guides Scott Fisher and Rob Hall led 16 clients up the southeast ridge of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, at 29,035 feet.

But what should have been a triumphant moment ended in tragedy when Hall, Fisher and six of the climbers died trying to summit the peak.

Considered the deadliest day on Everest, May 10, 1996, could have been avoided, says Lester Zook, a physical education professor and director of outdoor ministry at Eastern Mennonite University.

Good Decisions

“It just shows that even good guides can’t save you from bad decisions,” said Zook, who is a member of the American Mountain Guides Association and owns WILD GUYde Adventures, a local company that leads outdoor adventures. “I think the lesson here is that you have to be willing to change your plans and adjust to the situation, whether you are on Everest or in the Appalachian Mountains.”

Zook, 45, is built like a climber. He’s a wiry 135 pounds and just over 5 feet, 6 inches tall. He has climbed El Capitan in Yosemite, Calif., and is an Advanced Wilderness First Aid Responder.

But he has a non-traditional approach to rock climbing. He’s not obsessed with the “gear,” and he’s not an adrenaline junkie like many climbers out there. “I’m not as jazzed about the whole adrenaline thing,” Zook said. “I think it’s far more meaningful to spend a great day with your family in an activity you enjoy.”

Zook has been climbing rocks since he was a teenager when he and a friend grabbed ropes from his garage and winged it.

“It was not safe,” said Zook, who lived in Zimbabwe with his missionary parents until he was 10. “We’re lucky to be alive after that day.”

Zook climbed through college, but let it rest once he married and had kids.

In 1988, Zook, his wife, Robin, and their four children moved to the area from Pennsylvania. Zook had been teaching physical education at the middle school level, but was drawn to his father’s occupation. When EMU offered him a job as a professor in its Physical Education and Recreation Department, he jumped at the opportunity.

At the same time, Zook became the head coach for EMU’s men’s and women’s cross-country teams. He has been named Old Dominion Athletic Conference cross-country coach of the year four times.

Unsurprisingly, the outdoorsman took an immediate interest in the beauty of the surrounding area.

In the summers, the Zooks would visit Christian camps that focused on the outdoors.

Back to Climbing

Then Zook discovered Seneca Rocks in West Virginia. It drew him back into climbing and he began checking around the area for other climbs, and recording them.

In 1999, Zook published his first book, an area climbing guide called, “Climbing ROCKingham County.” But access and climbing routes change often, due to overgrowth and lack of maintenance.

“Everything is constantly changing,” said Zook, who is writing more this semester since he is on sabbatical. “They say a guide book is obsolete the day it leaves the press.”

Writing his book turned Zook on to the number of hikes and climbs in the area and he wanted to share this with others. Zook saw outdoor adventures within a half-hour of Harrisonburg in any direction, and asked himself, “Is that saleable?”

A New Company

He opened WILD GUYde Adventures in 2004, allowing groups to experience his love of the outdoors. The company offers guided hikes and climbs, along with canoe trips and caving expeditions.

Zook says he’s now beginning to see results. “I said I’d give the business three years,” he said. “A friend of mine told me it takes about that long for an operation to start making money, and he was right.”

Now, Nathan, the Zook’s oldest son at 19, is in college at EMU, and this summer he will be helping his father as an assistant guide to earn money for school.

“It’s something more meaningful to him than flipping burgers at McDonald’s,” Lester Zook said. “He will learn leadership and be able to make some money on the side. The dream of the company is to involve the family, and it’s been delightful.”

‘Tech-weenies’

Being in the world of the outdoors brings with it a need for certain equipment. Rope, carabiners, harnesses, boots and a helmet are necessary climbing gear.

But some gear is unnecessary. And too much of this will get expensive. Zook sees people buying equipment that they don’t know how to use, just because it’s fashionable.

“When I worked part-time at Wilderness Voyager, we called them ‘tech-weenies,” Zook said, a grin washing over his tanned face. “It’s someone with more tools than skills. You don’t want to be called that.” Often, these “tech-weenies” can seriously hurt themselves or someone else in the group, Zook says.

“The scariest person in the outdoors is someone who doesn’t know what he doesn’t know,” he said. And many times, it’s a matter of being too competitive and having too big of an ego.

Zook thinks that the 1996 Everest disaster could have been avoided if Hall and Fisher had checked their egos at the door. Egoism, he says, has no place in the outdoor environment. “Stubbornness can result from someone’s ego.

‘The rigid person is a disciple of death; the soft, supple and delicate are lovers of life,’ ” he said, quoting a maxim from the Tao Te Ching, a book of ancient Chinese philosophy.

A History of Safety

For the past 18 years, Lester Zook has been teaching and guiding students into the outdoors to tune them in with nature, God and themselves. He teaches them that alternative sports like hiking and climbing can be fun.

“Many people get turned off from team sports in school because they were forced to be so involved in physical education classes,” he said. “But out here, there’s no coach, no score, no audience screaming.”

For Zook, the outdoors will always be a place to enjoy with the people he loves. His family is a priority. And he checks his ego at the door. “I’m not a great climber,” he said. “But I think I’m a good teacher.”

— article by: Joe T. O'Connor, Rocktown Weekly; posted March 9, 2006