This past September [2014], I was the lucky recipient of the Jim Ratz Memorial Scholarship for my AMGA Alpine Exam, the final exam in the process of achieving my IFMGA/UIAGM Mountain Guide credential. This has been a long and sometimes slow road, a process that began with my Top-Rope Site Manager Course & Exam in […]
2015_IIC_MaxLurie_Gore-Tex from Max Lurie on Vimeo.
As someone for whom alpinism is, by far, the preferred discipline of climbing, I am very grateful to have recently experienced the American Mountain Guides Association’s (AMGA) Ice Instructor Course (IIC). I am also scheduled to attend the Alpine Guide Course (AGC) this coming fall. Thanks to receiving scholarship funding from Gore-Tex, I spent five […]
I’m so honored to be the recipient of the 2015 AMGA/F.O.R.G.E. Splitboard Guide Scholarship on behalf of Rick Gaukel. My deepest thanks to the AMGA and to the Gaukel family for making my Splitboard Guide Exam a possibility! Over the past ten years, I have been working toward becoming a fully certified splitboard guide, allowing […]
Recipient of the 2015 Arc’teryx Scholarship Eric Haskell shares his experience on his AMGA Ski Guide Course in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado. How many people are truly inspired by their work and have the opportunity to inspire others through their work? How many people can say they have the greatest job in the world? I feel […]
Photos & text by Josh Jackson, Apprentice Alpine & Rock Guide, Certified SPI and Rock Instructor and Eddie Bauer Scholarship recipient As a climbing guide for over 20 years, I have been blessed to be both a teacher and a student within the vertical world. As I have developed from a recreational climber into a […]
AMGA RGE Scholarship from Adam Butterfield on Vimeo.
By Adam Butterfield, Certified Rock Guide and recipient of the Brooks Range Scholarship The road back from injury is hard both physically, and mentally. Having seriously injured the TFCC (Triangular Fibrocartilage Complex) while climbing last fall I was now well into four months of post-surgery rehab. I was feeling broken and wasn’t sure where guiding was […]
Photos & text by Matt Shove, Certified Rock Instructor & Millet Scholarship Recipient My Alpine Guide course began with a four-connection flight to Jackson Hole, Wyo., with a late night pick up from Scott Perkins. Scott is a mutual friend, who turned out to be a great climbing partner for a few warm up climbs. […]
Photos & text by Joshua Cole, Certified SPI, Apprentice Rock Guide, Assistant Ski Guide and Walker Family Foundation Grant recipient The AMGA is working to increase the professionalism, safety, and standard of guiding in our country. While the AMGA is succeeding in these aims, the culture of guiding remains distinctly different from Europe and Canada. […]
Photos & text by Jes Meiris, Assistant Rock Guide & Millet Scholarship Recipient My deepest thanks to Millet for making my Advanced Rock Guide Course (ARGC) a possibility! Throughout the ten-day course, I had the opportunity to meet eight other aspiring AMGA guides and three instructors, all of whom contributed their own background into our […]
Photos & text by, Dave Heinbach, Apprentice Rock Guide and Marmot Scholarship Recipient I didn’t pick guiding; it picked me. A little kid walking the ridgeline of snow created by the plow truck, imagining a great peak. A desire lying dormant, while society says do this, be that, only to re-ignite when hands touch stone. […]