Guide Spotlight: Isaac Laredo

Early Roots and Finding Snow
Isaac Laredo grew up in New Mexico, far from the big alpine ranges he now calls home. His first pull toward snow and board sports came from an unlikely place: the Disney movie Johnny Tsunami. Before he ever touched snow, Isaac and his friends were building makeshift sandboards and riding dunes. Once he got his first snowboard, though, everything changed. All of his energy went into riding.

That progression accelerated when Isaac earned a scholarship to snowboard camp. What started as a place to improve his riding became a community. He stayed on as a counselor, and that experience—teaching, mentoring, and spending long days outside—set the stage for what came next.

Education, Community, and the Path to Guiding
Isaac went on to attend Sierra Nevada College, where he pursued an Outward Bound–influenced degree that blended environmental science, leadership, and time in the mountains. Looking back, guiding felt like a natural next step. Even in college, Isaac was already leading his friends into terrain they had the fitness to handle but not always the technical experience to navigate on their own.

Helping people move confidently through the mountains—and watching what that did for their relationship with the outdoors—stuck with him.

Guiding Today: From Tahoe to the Andes
Today, Isaac is an AMGA Certified Splitboard Guide and an apprentice Alpine and Rock Guide. He guides with us at Alpenglow Expeditions, working everywhere from Lake Tahoe and the Eastern Sierra to international objectives in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Japan. His work spans splitboarding, ski mountaineering, and high-altitude climbing, always with an emphasis on thoughtful decision-making and solid fundamentals.

Why He Guides
At the core of Isaac’s guiding is connection—between people, place, and experience. His goal is to facilitate days in the mountains that allow people to show up fully for the moments that matter. Sometimes that’s a challenging climb or a long day on a splitboard. Other times it’s something quieter: learning to read snow, moving efficiently through terrain, or sharing a conversation during a break in the sun.

Those moments, he believes, can ripple outward into lasting change in people’s lives and communities.

The Emotional Range of the Mountains
When Isaac talks about being in the mountains—guiding or on his own—he doesn’t point to a single emotion. Instead, he describes a range: calm, nerves, excitement, uncertainty, confidence. The power of outdoor experiences, in his view, is that they create space for all of it. Push through challenge, and you’re often met with clarity and a deeper sense of presence.

Life Outside of Work
Outside of guiding, Isaac still spends most of his time outdoors—or working on his house. Lately, he’s been especially drawn to stand-up paddleboarding rivers, exploring how skills from other board sports translate to moving water. He’s also laying the groundwork for a small, custom guiding operation focused on curated, intentional adventures.

A Moment That Stands Out
When asked to name one standout outdoor moment, Isaac points to a ridge scramble with his longtime climbing partner, Tristin. After years of building experience, they returned to the Cathedral Range with the confidence to link multiple peaks in a single day. Moving smoothly along a knife-edge ridge, with time on their side and red-tailed hawks circling overhead, the day became a clear marker of growth—earned through patience, repetition, and time in the mountains.

We’re proud to have Isaac on our guide team and grateful for the perspective, care, and curiosity he brings to every day out.