Climate Hero: Graham Zimmerman

Alpinist and climate activist Graham Zimmerman walked into the Source offices to discuss his winning of the Climate Hero award for the Green Issue this year. From his windblown bedhead hair and Bend finery, a reasonable person wouldn’t be able to tell he is a renowned alpinist who climbs some of the most extreme mountain faces.

Zimmerman has been recognized as an activist against climate change, marrying together his love for the outdoors with actions needed to nurture and sustain it.

“Advocacy is a team sport,” Zimmerman says. “Any credit given to me is really just credit toward that entire group of incredible folks and organizations who I have the opportunity to work with.”

Zimmerman says some of the things that worry him the most are defending public lands, frontline and fenceline communities, climate change and the lack of clean energy sources.

Frontline and fenceline communities are those that abut industrial facilities that emit heavy amounts of pollutants — and are largely communities of color.

“One of the most important moments this year is going to be the election, and that is when we will be in a position to make sure our federal government is prioritizing communities in the way that they should,” Zimmerman says.

Zimmerman won the Piolet d’Or award in 2020 for his mountaineering at Link Sar in Pakistan. His memoir, “A Fine Line: Searching for Balance Among Mountains,” was given the Independent Publisher Book Award in 2024.

“The biggest goal was some level of culture shift,” Zimmerman says. “I got some really good advice that the best thing I could do to do that was really pour my heart into this thing and build the right team.”

And by his account, it appears that Zimmerman did.

One of the major themes that kept emerging during his interview with the Source was the importance of collaboration and friendship. Zimmerman attributes much of his longevity and success to people around him like mentors, his wife and his daughter.

Many of his mentors, he says, come from the outdoor sports community. People like Kaj Bune, an outdoors photographer, have been instrumental in shaping him into the alpinist and activist he is today.

Zimmerman says Bune introduced him to the “100-year plan” when he was 25 years old. This plan centers around the idea that he needs to be doing things that get him to age 100.

“He told me, ‘I want you to tone down the risk. Give yourself more opportunity to go try hard things because you’ll have more time to go to the mountains because you won’t get hurt or killed,” Zimmerman says.

Lindsey Halvorson, senior director of advocacy and campaigns at Protect Our Winters, is someone Zimmerman credits for helping him learn how to use his voice. POW is a nonprofit organization that focuses on protecting and advocating for the environment.

“I was going to amazing mountains all the time, but it ended up being quite hollow,” Zimmerman says. “I feel very fortunate that I was coached into how to build purpose into that… and leverage my platform that I built by going on those trips in order to make the world a better place.”

Anyone who gets the opportunity to sit and talk with Zimmerman will quickly realize that he is passionate about the work he does.

Neuroscientists say when people imagine things in their head, the brain cannot distinguish between what is real and what is imaginary.

I looked over at Zimmerman spacing out during his interview and wondered where he was transported when asked to describe what the mountains are like. The corners of his mouth would twist upward in a grin as he listed off what it was like.

“There is this really deep level of commitment and exertion and partnership that all come together to create this really magical experience. And then you’re in this just otherworldly realm of the world’s highest mountains,” Zimmerman says. “It’s pretty inhospitable, but of incredible elegance and beauty.”

And that elegance and beauty is now at risk because of climate change.

Zimmerman says he has noticed the change even here in Central Oregon with us now having a historically dry winter with low snowpack at Mt. Bachelor.

Now that he says he has grown into a more mature climber, Zimmerman says the goalposts for what he wants have moved. He now wants to lean into the fight to create a better world for the community and his daughter.

He considers the 100-year plan as a way for him to do that.

“I want to make sure that what I leave behind, what we leave behind, is something that we’re proud of,” Zimmerman says.

He still pushes himself hard when he traverses a mountain; he just makes sure to remember who is waiting for him back home.

“I have to do that in a way that makes sure I come home in one piece,” Zimmerman says. “That means being really specific about the objectives that I choose and who I go with, and making sure I bring enough snacks.”

This article appears in the Source April 16, 2026.