Blog

It’s handy to have a can of Hiball Energy on the table while packing 🙂

As part of the AIARE 1 Avalanche Course that he teaches, Tim always gives an overview of all the essentials that guides carry with them for a day in the field. With a little ingenuity and the right ingredients, a guide can build an emergency shelter or rescue sled with these must-have items.

Here’s the breakdown of what’s in the pack:

Rescue Sled: My favorite is the Alpine Threadworks Sled.…

We caught up with Sydney Duncan after a great day of powder skiing in Nat Geo Bowl this week. On Tuesday, Sydney, along with lead guide Logan Talbott, rode up the Granite Chief chair at Squaw Valley and left the boundary to head toward Granite Peak. They took their client to explore the terrain in Nat Geo Bowl and beyond to Needle Peak. With all the new snow this week, the coverage is great and the whole zone above 7,500′ is skiing well. Loving the 5″ inches of soft, light snow on top of a supportable layer, the group made smooth…

Aconcagua Rapid Ascent – Update From the Mountain

Alpenglow’s first Aconcagua Rapid Ascent team of the season is currently (December 29) at camp 2 on Aconcagua dealing with windy conditions but feeling strong and in good spirits. But first, a little recap of what’s happened so far…

Smooth Arrivals, Quickly into the Mountains

Bus ride to Penitentes.

Between Saturday (December 22) and Sunday (December 23), all 8 clients arrived safely in Mendoza and were picked up by guides Jaime Avila and Carla Perez. No missing baggage made the transition smooth and before we knew it the whole team was…

North Side of Castle Peak, photo: Brennan Lagasse

Tips and tricks from guide Jules Hanna.

We caught up with Jules while he was teaching an AIARE rescue course last weekend. Here’s his rundown beacon battery protocol.

Alkaline or Lithium?

Short answer: Alkaline. BUT, check your manufacturer, while it is likely that you should only be using alkaline batteries, some beacons accept lithium batteries. (Do not use rechargeable batteries though!) What’s the big deal? Alkaline batteries slowly discharge their power.  Lithium batteries will go…

Words and photos by lead guide Chad Peele

Arriving in the Chaos of Kathmandu

It’s been two years since I was last in Nepal. Arriving at the Kathmandu airport was the same uncontrolled chaos as always. Confusion surrounded us with hoards of people trying to locate bags so they could get out as fast as possible. This time luck was on my side and my bags popped up quickly, promoting a speedy exit!

Over the next several days, I worked on recovering from my jet lag and prepping for our upcoming adventure into the mountains. This year we had three…

On their recent Ring of Fire Expedition, ski mountaineers Emily Harrington and Michelle Parker combined the hard work of climbing with the most efficient form of descent (that isn’t flying) and skied down Cotopaxi! Check out these beautiful photos by Michelle from the trip.

Emily and Michelle attempted to ski Cotopaxi a few years back but were turned around in marginal conditions – you can read all about it here. This year it looks like conditions were much better, congratulations on the summit ladies!

To the hut! Hosteria Tambopaxi. Climbing tomorrow.    // …

Cotopaxi’s summit with the steaming caldera below.

We caught up with Emily Harrington for a quick chat in Quito right before she headed into the mountains for a Ring of Fire Ski Expedition. Both she and Adrian are in Ecuador this season to complete two different objectives. Adrain will be guiding a Cotopaxi Rapid Ascent team while Emily will be skiing and climbing Cotopaxi with Michelle Parker and crew. We’re wishing the team good climbing conditions this season. They have encountered some rough storms during previous attempts!

Q: First off, can you tell us about your objective in…

Ski season is nearly upon us so it’s time to start thinking about dialing in your backcountry skills again. We caught up with AIARE instructor Ben Weaver and asked him a couple of questions about this season’s avalanche training program at Alpenglow Expeditions.

Can you start by introducing yourself? What’s your background? What drew you to teaching AIARE courses?

I am ski guide and avalanche course instructor at Alpenglow Expeditions.  I am in my third season at Alpenglow and loving it.  I was a professional ski patroller at Mt. Hood Meadows in Oregon for 5 years. …

Lunch spot across River in Phakding

We’re back to the Himalaya this week with two separate teams accomplishing different objectives in the Khumbu Valley. Our guides are joined by a team of trekkers heading to Everest Base Camp and another team setting their sights on Ama Dablam.

Touch down in Lukla with fabulous weather!

Team moving around a Moni Stone

Everest Base Camp Trek
This isn’t just any EBC trek. The team connects with our Ama climbing team in Kathmandu and tags along with the working climbing team until the climbers split off…

Photo: Philip Luedtke

Opening week of Via Ferrata was a total whirlwind and energy is running high at our home base in Squaw Valley. We had a big turnout of locals and visitors alike, with everyone from young kids to grandparents out scrambling on the rocks. We caught up with guide Braden Mayfield in between guiding sessions and asked him a couple of questions about his experience so far.

First off, can you give us a brief rundown of what a via ferrata is?  

A via ferrata is a mountain climbing route that has been modified with steel…