As guides, we often have opportunities to go to remarkable places around the globe. It’s hard to pick real favorite trips, but whenever I think about trips that are generally just plain fun and enjoyable, I tend to think of Aconcagua. My first time up the mountain was in 1996, when my mentor on Denali,…
Mountain Trip seeks the best guides in the business. Our guides are well traveled, highly knowledgeable, professional and awesome people. But, don’t take it from us, get to know our guides for yourself! Nick Shepherd joined the Mountain Trip family in 2006 and epitomizes the adventurous spirit of the guiding life. Nick packs a lot…
Mountain Trip seeks the best guides in the business. Our guides are well traveled, highly knowledgeable, professional and awesome people. But, don’t take it from us, get to know our guides for yourself! Jacob Schmitz chose to become a mountain guide in the late 90s while working in the backcountry of Yosemite National Park. He…
It takes a bit of effort to track down some of our guides, and among the hardest to keep track of is Ben Adkison! Ben has been guiding for Mountain Trip in 2011 and guided two teams up Denali for us this past summer. Immediately before heading to Alaska, he had been in Africa and…
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…
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…
This summer, we underwent the long, detailed process of becoming an Accredited Program of the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA). Accreditation is granted to guide services that meet or exceed the high operational standards required by the American Mountain Guides Association during an extensive safety and business review of their operations. After submitting the lengthy…
Our 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…
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…