Carolina People: Russell Hobart

Russell Hobart
assistant director of climbing programs
Campus Recreation
6 years at Carolina

What do you do at Carolina?

I run the two climbing walls, teach an exercise and sport science class, and am part of Carolina Adventures, the program that includes the challenge course, expeditions and the climbing program. I also run some specialty trips that take more technical know-how. I used to work as a rock-climbing guide, and I have a master’s in experiential education.

Walk us through a recent day.

Yesterday, for Carolina Adventures, we held a hiring event called the Outdoor Leadership Series that offers a potpourri of our different programs. One of the sessions is climbing. Last night, I was working with a bunch of new students, teaching them some specific climbing things and getting them to think more broadly about risk management. In some ways you could look at risk management as a kind of engineering problem. It allows students to figure out, “what are the deficiencies?” and then “how do you control those deficiencies to maintain a high level of safety?”

Half of my day was working with the climbing wall staff, making certain that shifts are filled and talking to my management team. I have three student managers: a wall manager, an assistant wall manager and a route setting manager who manages the process and art of placing the climbing holds on the walls.

What inspires you in your job?

It’s kind of twofold. The reason we have student managers — some of the work I could probably do a lot quicker and easier myself — is to create leadership opportunities. When they feel confident in expressing their ideas, it keeps me engaged and on my toes working. As a result, they grow, I grow and the program gets better.

More broadly is the idea that climbing is a powerful tool for self-efficacy. Climbing forces you to challenge yourself emotionally. You have this fear that every person has, the natural fear of heights, and you learn to look at it, to compartmentalize it and understand that fear. Also, when you see someone else on the wall, you see the struggle that person’s going through — the physical struggle, their fear. Opening that up between different people creates this bond. If you’re climbing, you’re going to fail. When you’re trying a route, you’re going to push yourself beyond your capabilities. I think it creates this atmosphere of empathy and community that, to me, is a great way to create a home for students at a big university. I like to create a place where they feel connected, where they feel seen, and they see the struggles of others. That’s what gets me going every day. It is why I changed my life to put climbing at the center of it.

What’s your favorite memory working at Carolina?

As for something recently, day one of the Outdoor Leadership Series started last Friday, and you had this big group of 20 students that didn’t know each other. You’d see people do the kind of things people do when they’re uncomfortable: sitting by themselves, getting on their phone, looking at me and not being engaged in that particular moment. To be able to see through the day, evening or weekend that our work had them working together, engaged and enjoying each other’s company, it’s a lovely memory.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I love climbing. But more than anything, climbing is just a piece of my love of nature, whether I’m hiking or mountain biking or just walking slowly through the woods. I love the smells and sounds — the first birds you hear coming back in the spring, the first flowers. Even at this time of year when the trees are denuded and things are kind of gray, you see the form of things that you couldn’t see before. So, most of what I like doing in my free time is connected to my love of nature.

Who at Carolina has most impacted you?

I’ve got a lot of great colleagues, and to me it’s not about any one person; it’s about the general culture we have within our community. I think it’s very supportive. In other workplaces, people will talk about being pro-family, but then they’ll ask you to work an 80-hour week every week. But at Carolina, I find that there’s an understanding and kind of gentleness of connection between people that I really appreciate.

What else do you find special about working at Carolina?

In some ways, the University is a homey, simple place, but then you find out that there are these amazing things happening and great work being done. Sometimes you open a newspaper, and you see some amazing project or research that a professor and their students are working on. You can go to the theater, where there are works of art that you might see in Chicago or LA or New York, and they’re being performed in this relatively small venue where you feel a great connection to the work.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I just think for a person like me, who really enjoys culture and music — things that you typically only find in the larger cities — and the outdoors, Chapel Hill is really special. You’ve got this awesome mix of high culture and awesome pieces of low culture and then also access to nature, which I think is pretty special.