I recently caught up with Karen Bockel, one of our go-to guides and someone I am proud to call a great friend. Guides come in all forms, each with a unique story. Karen is a reformed rocket scientist (literally!), who has followed her passion for being in wild places, a passion that has led her…
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What to wear, what to wear..? Layering has arguably gotten more complicated in recent years, as the traditional layers that we all grew accustomed to have changed with technological advances. Not new on the market, but better than ever, are the latest generation of “hybrid” garments. This past Denali season, we outfitted numerous guides in…
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Last December, our Office Manager, Laura Duncan, joined a Mountain Trip team on an Aconcagua climb, her first venture into the big mountains. Laura had worked with us since April 2010, and is definitely an “outdoor” person, but her Aconcagua climb was a big step. I sat down with her and tried to get her…
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What do we do when we aren’t climbing mountains? Just like a lot of you, we think about our next trip. We’ve just updated our latest greatest Alaska Mountaineering Gear List with the input of our guides and climbers. This is a compilation of what we think is the ultimate gear list, with recommendations of…
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A couple of our guides, Jacob Schmitz and Josh Garner, are off on a personal adventure to climb the 5th highest peak in the world, Makalu (8481 meters/27,825 ft). They have arrived in base camp, and had their Puja and they are ready to climb! They are with a couple of climber/guides from Argentina and…
DetailsOur friend Neal Beidleman wrote a great article about his return to Everest last year. Neal was a part of one of the fateful 1996 expedition made famous by the book Into Thin Air. He returned to Everest for the first time since that trip as part of the Mountain Trip team last year and…
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It’s nice to have arrived home to some snow! While there was snow up high when I left, the lower elevations and most south faces were pretty darn dry. Now it feels like winter, and makes the temperate climate of Ecuador seem all the more appealing. The trip I helped out with had been…
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Our Ecuador team took a couple of days to rest and enjoy the tropical lushness of Banos, Ecuador following an exciting and fun ascent of the 5897m volcano, Cotopaxi. We hiked up to the Jose Ribas hut in the mid afternoon of the 15th and ate an early dinner. After five hours of restless sleep…
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Panama is slipping past as our plane makes its way south towards our destination, the city “El Libertador,” Simon Bolivar called “a cathedral,” the capital city of Quito. There are four guides on board, eager to land and stretch our legs after hours of sitting in planes. Our first leg was delayed by severe thunderstorms…
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Our entire Carstensz Pyramid team summitted on the 20th and 21st of the month. Congratulations to all including our guide Scott Woolums, who completed his 4th and 5th lap of the complete 7 summits by summiting twice on consecutive days! Here are the climbers: Summit Oct. 21st Alan Arnette. Colorado, USA Chuck Raper. California, USA…
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