A Husband, a Father, and a Physician Who Believes the World Gets Better When We Show Up for Each Other
Hunter's Humble Beginnings
Hunter Stutz grew up in Puyallup, Washington—a town at the foot of Mount Rainier, where the mountains were never far from view and neither was a deep sense of community.
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It was there that he fell in love with climbing and his high school sweetheart. Now he and his wife, Katie, are raising two boys together, with a daughter on the way.
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He always knew two things about himself: he loved the mountains, and he wanted to serve people. What he didn't know was how those two things would eventually come together—or that a single college course would change the direction of his life.
The Moment Everything Clicked
It wasn't until a required anatomy class at BYU–Idaho that Hunter discovered his gift for medicine. While many students struggled to memorize the intricate network of joints, muscles, ligaments, and connective tissue that makes up the human body, Hunter found it came naturally to him—almost intuitively. That class didn't just earn him a grade. It revealed a calling.
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From that point forward, his path sharpened. Medical school at Noorda College of Osteopathic Medicine. A commission as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force Medical Corps. And an incoming residency at The Ohio State University—one of the country's leading academic medical centers. The kid from Puyallup who liked climbing mountains was becoming a physician.
Service Has Always Been Part of the Journey
Long before any of those credentials, Hunter was already putting in the work. As a teenager, he organized his first charity climb — not as a résumé builder, but because it felt like the right thing to do.
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That instinct never left him.
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Over the years, it grew into something larger: fundraisers that directed thousands of dollars toward pediatric care, community climbs, and eventually a Remote Area Medical clinic he helped organize from the ground up — bringing free medical, dental, and vision services to rural patients who had no other access to care. He has always believed that proximity to need is a reason to act, not an excuse to look away.
Trek for Hope:
Where It All Comes Together
Trek for Hope: Charity Climbs is the simplest way Hunter knows how to describe what he's always been doing. Take the mountains he loves, the medicine he's spent years training for, and the instinct to point both of them toward something that matters.