Like the AMGA’s Facebook Page & win a sleeping bag

Help us reach 4200 fans by December 20! The AMGA is running the Great Prize Giveaway Extravaganza starting now. New fans or existing fans who share our Facebook posts with friends will be automatically entered to win a Mountain Hardwear sleeping bag. Visit and “like” our Facebook page by clicking here. What are we giving […]

Ski season is upon us: get your ski skills ready for your courses & exams

Most of the ski resorts are now open in Colorado, so it is official – it is time to ski. For those of you who are interested in becoming an AMGA Ski Guide that means you can begin preparing yourself for an upcoming course or exam. Here are a couple of tools that might help. […]

AMGA Mentioned in Wall Street Journal

“If you thought the 14th hole was pretty that time a rainbow settled onto the green, wait until you get up at 2 a.m., climb into a sky with more stars than you’ve ever seen, and watch a “snowbow” form over the Emmons Glacier at 12,000 feet as the ice crunches under your boots. Such […]

Karsten Delap Video: Footage of the Alpine Exam, North Cascades

Karsten Delap was recently awarded the The Doug Parker and Roger Baxter-Jones Memorial Scholarship, which paid for his nine-day Alpine Exam in Cascade National Park. The exam saw poor weather, but with good planning they were able to get the exam done. In this video, Delap shows some beautiful footage of the landscape in which […]

Reflections on Recent CIP Provider Trainings

Ed Crothers, CIP Director President Woodrow Wilson, a renowned orator and speechwriter, was once asked how long it takes him to write and prepare for a speech. He quipped, “…if you would like me to speak for 15 minutes, I will need 2 weeks; for 30 minutes, 1 week; for 1 hour, 1 day; for […]

Rob Coppolillo on the Steps to Becoming a Fully Certified Guide

In this Elevation Outdoors article, climber/writer Rob Coppolillo talks about the guiding life and the steps one needs to take to become a guide. Coppolillo is close to becoming a full certified guide. He has finished all his AMGA courses, and the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (IFMGA) recognizes him as an “aspirant guide” […]

Annual Meeting Kudos: Thanks Participants!

We definitely felt like this was the most successful, engaging, and educational Annual Meeting the AMGA has ever held. Apparently many participants felt the same way. Thanks so much to Karsten Delap for capturing some really great photographic moments with our guides, and thanks to our guides for offering feedback. Look for a photo essay […]

Unroped: Finding Meaning in the Meaningless with Andrew Yasso

The fall/winter 2013 GUIDE Bulletin features an Unroped profile of Petzl Scholarship recipient Andrew Yasso. Here, on The Guiding Life blog, we present an extended Q & A with Yasso with material we didn’t have room for in the print article. AMGA: What steps did you take to become a guide? Andrew Yasso: At Central […]

AMGA Business Accreditation: presentation from Annual Meeting

This is the presentation Outreach & Advocacy Director Scott Massey gave at the Round Table Discussion on Access at the 2013 Annual Meeting. Given the development of new supervision and terrain guidelines for Accredited Businesses, the goal was to educate members on what the new guidelines stated, as well as answer any questions. In addition, he […]

Boulder Weekly Publishes Article on High Altitude Symposium

On October 24, the Boulder Weekly published an article on the AMGA and the High Altitude Symposium, which the AMGA facilitated as the opening event of its Annual Meeting. The Symposium was the first of its kind in the world, and received kudos from numerous participants. We are featuring the Symposium in the Mountain Buzz […]