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Shastina and the West Face

Rising almost 10,000ft above the surrounding terrain, Mt. Shasta is a true gem of California. Its smooth slopes and craggy ridges that fall for thousands of feet in all directions from the lofty summit have long been a magnet for adventurers and we couldn’t be happier to now offer climbing and ski trips on this iconic mountain.

Clocking in at 14,179’/4,322m, Mount Shasta is a large stratovolcano anchoring the southern end of the Cascade Range, along with Lassen Peak. This mountain has been the focus of climbers, skiers, poets,…

It’s about that time of year where we kick off our mountaineering education programing, and we’re stoked! Below we’ll go over some of the equipment you’ll need for the Intro to Mountaineering and Glacier Travel & Crevasse Rescue Courses.

For this course we’ll utilize all of the technical equipment that we would use on one of our more advanced mountaineering expeditions like the Ecuador Climbing School or Mount Everest Rapid Ascent Expedition.  If you are purchasing your own gear, you’ll need to make sure you have the follow equipment:

– Climbing Helmet…

We may love skiing pow at Alpenglow, but we LOVE backcountry safety even more. We asked our guide team to give us one of their favorite backcountry safety tips, check it out:

“When planning a backcountry tour first decide where not to go – that means figure out where the avalanche problems are, “close” that terrain and agree to not go there. THEN decide on where to go, and “open up” that terrain.” – Logan Talbott

“Don’t just blindly follow a skin track – make sure it goes exactly where…

After Alpenglow Expeditions Founder Adrian Ballinger and fellow Alpenglow guides Carla Perez and Esteban “Topo” Mena completed their successful summit of K2 in the Karakoram mountain range of Pakistan in 2019, we knew we had to expand our program to explore this remote and wild region. After a year of dreaming and drawing up plans, we’re psyched to announce two new expeditions to the Karakoram: Enter Gasherbrum II  Rapid Ascent™ and our K2 & G2 Base Camp Rapid Ascent™ Trek.

Situated in Northern Pakistan, the Karakoram boasts more 7,000m+ peaks than anywhere in the world.…

Logan Talbott leading a team during the Ecuador Climbing School.

These are uncertain times. While we can’t eliminate all the variables, our team has done a lot of legwork to make it possible to travel as responsibly as possible given the current state. Learn more about the modifications we’ve made to our international climbing programs from Logan Talbott, co-owner and chief guide. In the following interview, Logan gives a play-by-play of how we’ve altered operations to make it all work.

“The pandemic has had significant effects on…

Renting ski equipment from our rental fleet but aren’t quite sure what sizes you need? No worries, we can help out with that. It can be hard to get the correct sizing for your skis and ski boots if you don’t already know your sizes. Below we’ll take a quick dive into how to best-guess your ski and ski boot size while renting gear on your client portal. Let’s start with boots.

While we do have a large array of boot sizes, our rental fleet is somewhat limited. We have boots ranging in…

The highest mountain in the world just increased the margin of its lead by an additional 2.8 feet (.86 meters). China and Nepal presented a new official figure of 8,848.86 meters (29,031.69 feet) above sea level.

Everest stands on the border between China and Nepal and is climbed by parties from both sides. Previously, China and Nepal had disagreed on how to measure the mountain- should the highpoint be measured to the highest point of rock OR should it be measured all the way through the layer of snow that sits on top of that rock? Up until the…

Fuya Fuya: “once again, team did great 3h 11min round trip…. now sitting at a local restaurant, trying the local cuisine of Otavalo” – Jamie

We are beyond excited to welcome climbers back to our international programs for the first time in almost a year. After an 8-month shutdown of our entire international program, we are officially operating again in Ecuador!

The Ecuador Climbing School is running for two weeks and our team is planning to climb Cayambe, Cotopaxi, and then Chimborazo. There’s also a crew of skiers who will be climbing the same peaks…

The time has come. You’re ready to leave the boundaries of the resort and venture out into the world of backcountry ski touring. We couldn’t be more stoked for you! Before you head out, you should make sure you’ve got the right bindings for an epic time touring. I hate to break it to you, but your downhill alpine bindings won’t cut in the backcountry. Below we’ll go through and explain alpine touring bindings and give you recommendations on what we use here at Alpenglow Expeditions in North Lake Tahoe, CA.

The…

So you’re wanting to start backcountry skiing? Before you click into your skis and head out, you should go over what equipment you’ll need to make sure you’re properly set up for a great day in the backcountry. The ski boots that you use for backcountry touring are different from the boots you use while you’re lapping groomers at the resort, so it’s important to know what you should be looking for in a ski touring boot. When it comes to backcountry touring boots, it’s a bit more complicated than “If the shoe fits, wear it”. Below are…

It is clear that COVID-19 will remain a challenge for the upcoming winter, and that diligent planning and attention to detail are paramount in managing the spread of the disease. After a busy summer of guiding and teaching here in Lake Tahoe, we have settled into our “new normal” way of running our business, and want to share a peek at what a day will look like with us this winter. One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned from the last 8 months is that we need to be flexible and responsive in how we react to the virus, local…

Following the shut down of our entire international program in March of 2020, Ecuador will be the first country outside of the U.S. that Alpenglow Expeditions will venture back to. Understandably, there are a lot of questions from both our guide team and our clients regarding the unique challenges that COVID-19 poses to an international mountain climbing trip.

In an effort to create the best circumstances for health, safety and success we’ve put together a specific COVID plan for our expeditions in Ecuador. We’ll be creating similar plans for each country that we subsequently travel to as they open.

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