Why Climb Mount Shuksan with Alpine Ascents?
All three of our guides were extremely impressive and demonstrated effective leadership skills. We had a diverse group of clients on the trip and I thought they did a great job of managing the different personalities as well as skill levels.
At all times I felt I was in safe hands with the team and could not give them higher marks. Our lead guide went above and beyond to coach me up the mountain, especially when I lacked confidence in certain parts of the rock portion. Not only did he give advice, but also gave feedback on what I can work on to take the next step in terms of progressing as a climber.
Schedule Flexibility
Important to success and enjoyment for our climbers is the ability to adjust our climbing schedules as needed to account for ever-changing mountain conditions. Rather than throwing up our hands and ending an expedition when a route may become unclimbable, we treat these situations as challenges and, thanks to our experience and local expertise, we can change locations mid-expedition if necessary and offer alternate climbs and adventures. When such occasions have arisen, our climbers regularly praise these adjustments as highlights of their expeditions.
Experience
We have been running successful expeditions around the world since 1986 and look forward to our 30th year of operation. Our familiarity with the region, our expertise and our knowledge around the world lend a depth and richness to every expedition that we feel is unrivaled in the guiding community. This expertise is based upon years of accumulated experience-not just from individual mountain guides, but through experience on particular mountains where details are fine-tuned over time. We maintain our process of multi-leveled and critical evaluations for each expedition. Innovations like daily weather reports, established season-long base camps, environmental pioneering, and operating our trips with small climber-to-guide ratios led by Alpine Ascents guides are just some of the factors that keep us in the forefront
Environmental Awareness
We believe that most of the guiding world is eco-friendly, but taking leadership in environmental matters can be costly and present obstacles. Pioneering the use of Wag Bags© in the Cascades, officially partnering with Leave No Trace for over 10 years, and removing trash from Everest, Aconcagua and Kilimanjaro are a few of the efforts that demonstrate our leadership of environmental causes. More than simply the right thing to do or a marketing angle, we look to keep the mountains and wilds clean because this is our second home (first home for many guides) and we want to return each year to pristine environments. Environmental leadership is axiomatic, yesterday’s ideas are simply not good enough, and we constantly challenge ourselves by asking, “What’s next? What more can we do? Is this really helping?”
Leave No Trace principles are fundamental to our program, and we encourage all who climb and trek with us to understand proper wilderness practices. We help facilitate this effort by passing on Leave No Trace training and literature to every Alpine Ascents climber.
The Fisher Chimney Shuksan climb was outstanding. The pre-climb rock review/class was super helpful and in a beautiful spot on Mt. Erie. The Shuksan route was exactly what I hoped with fantastic hiking, rock climbing, glacier travel, and camping.
