Sean Kristl's Posts

Dave Nettle’s signature grin

Professional mountain guides are integral to educating mountain travelers and safely leading adventures into the mountain ranges of the world. We sat down with veteran ski guide Dave Nettle to ask him a few questions about the value in hiring a professional mountain guide in the context of backcountry skiing. 

-What are the benefits of hiring a mountain guide for backcountry skiing or riding?

When anyone goes into the backcountry the first considerations are usually, “where do I go and where are the best and safest conditions?” A guide dials in these…

A family that plays together, stays together. At least that’s the way it is for this group of four. David and his three kids are in Ecuador setting their sights on Cotopaxi during this family expedition.

Summit of Rucu Pinchincha with Tikka the dog!

They began like we always do at Alpenglow, with a climb of Rucu Pinchincha rising high above Quito. Lead guide Jaime Avila reported that they all moved super fast, ascending to the 15,696′ summit in 2:10. Even the dogs in Ecuador are pretty darn acclimatized, Jaime’s dog Tikka joined in on the climb and…

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…

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…

Adrian Ballinger sent in this report from day 2 in the Cordillera Huayhuash with the Eddie Bauer team.

“Another 15 miles plus our first 16,000 foot pass. Amazing views of the east faces of Yerupaja, Siula Grande, Jarishanka and Trapecio. Now we’ve circled around from the east side of the range to the south, and we are camped off the normal route at 15,300 feet right below the amazing south face of Trapecio.”

Here’s a photo essay from day 2. All photos submitted by Adrian Ballinger:

Reflection in Lake Carhuacocha

Sunrise over Carhuacocha Lake …

Team of Eddie Bauer athletes is trekking in the Huayhuash scouting some ski lines…

When Eddie Bauer calls and says “hey Adrian, let’s take a team on a beautiful trek… no skiing, no climbing, just a beautiful trek” you say yes. We’ve got a team of 3 athletes (Adrian Ballinger, Drew Tabke and Lysey Dyer) out on the circuit hiking their brains out at high altitude taking in the sights and sounds of this beautiful part of the world.

Yesterday they were on trail for 7 hours and 45 minutes, all above 13,000′ / 3962m including 2 passes over 15,000′…

Pico Austria & Glacier School

With the team so deep in the mountains, we get satellite text updates every day. Unfortunately for us here at home we don’t get to see many pictures yet. Those will come once they return from the mountains and we’ll be sure to post them to our blog and social channels.

On Friday, August 3 the team climbed Pico Austria. Standing at 17,438′ / 5315m this “little” peak is nothing to shake a stick at. It’s higher than any peaks here in the contiguous U.S. by nearly 3,000′ / 1000m! Our team however uses it…

Summit of Elbrus at 5:30am local time

Successful summit for Jim on Elbrus! 

We’re a little behind on posting this blog, because the guys moved so fast! Gaspar and Jim took advantage of a small weather window on Friday morning and decided to make a bid for the summit. They took off in the dark and working together as a team they made the summit at 5:30am in time to catch an incredible sunrise. Gaspar said they had no wind and clear sky’s, making for a great climb.

Homeward Bound

The guys made quick work of their descent and in…

We have a special team in Russia this season with just one guide and one very strong client. Gaspar Navarrete is leading the charge with Jim Walker right behind him. The target is Elbrus, and the guys are making great progress already.

Before they even arrived…

Jim and Gaspar

For his final training push, the week before leaving for Russia Jim climbed a 14’er in Colorado to get prepped for the fast expedition. This is a fantastic way to get the body ready for higher altitudes and something we always recommend to our climbers. If you can fit it…

Alpenglow Expeditions is back in Bolivia for our annual expedition to climb three different peaks. Every year we head down to the landlocked country to explore it’s incredibly deep culture and of course to climb peaks that hold almost surreal beauty and adventure within them. Out of our South American expeditions, Bolivia is still one of the more wild places we explore filled with a unique culture and history all it’s own.

On their way to the mountains…

Early Sunday morning (July 29) the team led by Topo Mena left La Paz in their rear view mirror headed towards the mountains.…