Portland Mountain Rescue mourns the loss Monty Smith, who passed away Saturday, June 5th at the age of 48. Monty started climbing in 1981, and his climbing accomplishments included Himalayan peaks such as Ama Dablam, Shishapangma, and an attempt on Mt. Everest. Locally, he climbed throughout Oregon & Washington and joined Portland Mountain Rescue in 2006.

Monty was known for his brilliant mind, his enthusiasm, his generous nature, and his passion - not only for mountaineering, but also for educating the public. During his tenure as PMR’s public education committee chair, Monty made huge advances in the committee’s impact and outreach. As member of PMR’s Board of Directors, and as Vice President, Monty tackled a variety of projects and attacked each with relentless enthusiasm.

With his background in engineering, Monty was always coming up with ways to make things better, inventing things, or applying his skills to problem solving. He was a skilled debater, an excellent educator and unabashed “gear-head.” He will be greatly missed by all of us in PMR.

When he was not volunteering countless hours with PMR, Monty also volunteered with the Forest Park Conservancy, Oregon Angel Fund, and was an active member, climb leader and instructor for the Mazamas. He truly had a passion for volunteer work and was very good at it. No doubt that all of the organizations which had the benefit of Monty’s involvement are better because of it.

Monty’s passion for life; his smile, his energy, his enthusiasm, will be remembered by all who knew him.