Leadership Sets Us Apart On Everest
Our Mount Everest expedition leader, Adrian Ballinger, has 8 summits of Everest, and has been guiding on the mountain for over a decade. He was the first to bring Rapid Ascent expeditions to the commercial guiding space in 2011, and has been pioneering faster ascents on 8,000m peaks since 2012.
Our leadership team on Everest is made up of more than our guides, however. Our Sherpa staff is a huge part of our team and our success on Everest.
Dorji Sonam Sherpa and Adrian Ballinger have been climbing together for nearly 20 years, and he has made 19 summits of Everest throughout his career. He is our Sherpa Sirdar (lead Sherpa), and is a vital member of our leadership team on Everest.
Between the entire guide/Sherpa staff on at Alpenglow, we have over 100 summits of Everest. When it comes to climbing the tallest mountain on the planet, experience matters.
Our 2024 Everest team is almost finalized. If you want to climb the north side of Everest with us, the time is now to book your spot. Reach out to the team today for more info!
Keep Reading about Mount Everest
The Practical Path: Cho Oyu Before Everest
For ambitious mountaineers eyeing the world’s tallest peaks, the decision to tackle Everest is a monumental one. At Alpenglow Expeditions, we require that our Everest team members have prior experience on at least one 8,000-meter peak before joining an Everest expedition, and we almost always recommend Cho Oyu as a stepping stone. Here’s why climbing Cho Oyu first makes practical sense.Read the story
Age Is Just A Number: Training for Everest Base Camp at 68
In February 2023, Robert Kyte of Alpenglow asked his dad, who turned 68 in 2023, to trek to Everest Base Camp in March 2024. With the help of Lynette Talbott of Billy Goat Swift, Alpenglow’s in-house expedition trainer, and many months of hard work and dedication, John Kyte trekked to Everest Base Camp in March 2024.Read the story
Everest North Side: A Climbers’ Guide
After four years of COVID closures, the north side of Everest is finally open this season to foreign expeditions. Among the limited number of teams granted a climbing permit is Alpenglow Expeditions, led by American climber and skier Adrian Ballinger, who couldn’t be happier to be back on what he considers the safest side of Everest by far.Read the story
China reopens Mount Everest access to foreigners
For the first time since the pandemic, China is allowing foreign climbers to access Mount Everest via Tibet. Adrian Ballinger, who has summited Everest eight times, is one of the Western guides who prefers the Tibet route to the top of the world’s tallest mountain (from the north), as opposed to the more well-known Nepal route (from the south). This year, he will lead a group of climbers through his company, Alpenglow Expeditions.Read the story
How to Climb Mt. Everest Sustainably and Ethically
KQED talks to Adrian Ballinger about what draws hundreds of climbers to attempt to summit Mt. Everest every year, how to climb ethically and sustainably as ever more visitors descend on the mountain and what it feels like to be on top of the tallest peak in the world.Read the story