Jeff Ward has been working as a full-time professional mountain guide since 1995. During that time he has had the opportunity to guide in a variety of places including Europe, South America, Nepal, Africa, Mexico, Alaska, Canada, and throughout the Western U.S. Jeff's schedule usually includes trips to Colorado and Canada for ice climbing, the European Alps for ski mountaineering and alpine climbing, and the North Cascades for alpine climbing and ski touring. Jeff has been trained as a Wilderness EMT, Level 3 Avalanche Forecasting and High Angle Rescue. Jeff is also an Internationally (IFMGA) Certified Mountain Guide.

email

Larry Goldie has been climbing for 24 years and guiding professionally for 20. He guides and instructs rock climbing, mountaineering and backcountry skiing. He has climbed and guided extensively in the Cascades, with additional experience in the Alps, Sierras, Rockies, Alaska and Canada. With a passion for skiing, Larry holds PSIA certification in the Nordic, Alpine, Telemark and Backcountry disciplines. As an AIARE trained instructor, Larry is one of our lead avalanche educators. Larry is an internationally (IFMGA) Certified Mountain guide.
 

Paul Butler has been guiding in the North Cascades for over 17 years. His experience has been a combination of private guiding and working as a Chief Instructor for the Pacific Crest Outward Bound School. His passion for climbing has led to adventures all over the western United States as well as abroad in Ecuador, Patagonia and the Alps. He is a level III PSIA certified Nordic and backcountry ski guide.

Mark Allen is a Washington native and cut his teeth in the North Cascades 1991 and began guiding in the Northwest in 2001. Now he is currently a Full IFMGA Mountain Guide; AMGA Rock, Ski, Alpine Certified and a AIARE Level II Avalanche instructor. When not personal climbing across the US Mark divides his time guiding  Alpine, Ice, Rock and Ski trips in the North Cascades, Colorado’s San Juans, and European Alps. Mark’s shoulder seasons are typically spent by annual spring migrations to Alaska to alpine and ski guide in the Alaska and Chugach ranges, rock guide in Red Rock NV and Joshua Tree CA, or high altitude mountaineering in Asia. Mark’s personal interests are alpinism and ski mountaineering descents in areas that still need exploring. His academic background is in geology with an emphasis on mountain building processes. 

Tim Connelly has been around the world block a few times and with his 13 years of mountain guiding, he has found himself helping people fulfill their dreams from Alaska to Patagonia, from the Himalaya to the Alps to Antarctica with many a stop in between. Fully licensed UIAGM and the 2006 recipient of the American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA) 'Outstanding Guide of the Year' award, Tim has also received numerous honors from Denali National Park in Alaska for help with search and rescue operations. Tim is recognized throughout the guiding world for his expertise and passion for the peoples and experiences to be had in the mountains. Tim speaks Spanish and French.

email
 

Joshua Cole has been adventuring in the mountains for more than 15 years, and guiding for 8. He has climbed and skied extensively in the North Cascades, Swiss Alps, Italian Dolomites, Sierra Nevada, New Zealand and the ranges of SW Montana. He is the Washington Program Director for Outward Bound and a lead instructor for Wilderness Medicine Training Center. Josh has worked as a professional ski patroller in Montana and New Zealand, and has a former life as a research geologist.

email
 

Susan Cram has been a climber for 18 years starting her climbing career in Eldorado Canyon in Colorado. Since then she has climbed all over the world including; Africa, Asia, Nepal, Europe, Mexico and Canada. In the United States she has honed her skills in the Tetons, Wind River Range, Pacific Northwest, Yosemite Valley, and Tuolumne, the Sierras, Joshua Tree, Idyllwild, the Shawangunks and many other climbing destinations.

Susan has worked for Yosemite Search and Rescue and the American Alpine Club.

Susan owns and operates Uprising Adventure Guides, Inc based out of Joshua Tree national Park where she spends all of the non summer months of the year.

Susan is an AMGA Certified Top Rope Site Manager and has spent the majority of her life teaching people how to climb.

Scott Johnston grew up in Boulder, Colorado where he began climbing in his teens in 1973. He has since climbed extensively in the U.S., Canada, Alaska, Mexico, South America, Europe and the Himalayas. He began his guiding career with the Boulder Mountaineering School in 1977. When not climbing Scott loves to ski. After spending 5 years Nordic ski racing on the U.S. ski team, Scott now focuses on backcountry ski touring. While pursuing personal and professional goals in the mountains, Scott supported himself with jobs in the aerospace and astronomy fields in his own businesses utilizing his formal education in mechanical engineering.
 

Katharine Bill began climbing and backcountry skiing as a teenager near Crested Butte, Colorado, and for the past 24 years she has pursued her passion for mountains both as a guide and by doing conservation work. Katharine was a mountaineering instructor for the Colorado Outward Bound School and a field ecology instructor for the Teton Science School, she researched songbirds and lynx for the Forest Service, and was the Executive Director of the Methow Conservancy from 2002-2007. Katharine has climbed and skied extensively throughout the Western US and the Canadian Rockies, and has also climbed in Ecuador, Nepal, Sikkim, Spain and Pakistan.
 

email
 

Seth Hobby, a Washington Native climbing since 1998 and guiding since 2001.  His guiding experience focuses on technical alpine, rock, and ice.
Seth can be found guiding challenging alpine ice and rock routes in the North Cascades in the summer, Nepal Himal in the Fall, Norway Fjell for the winter, and the Alaska Range in the spring.  His love for climbing mountains has taken him to Alaska Range, Waddington, Bugaboos, Cascades, Sierra, Canadian Rockies, Norway, French Alps, Nepal and the Tibetan Plateau. Seth speaks fluent Nepali and loves the North Cascades.  He is a certified AMGA Alpine Guide.

email
 

Anne Keller, a Washington native, has been climbing since 1985 and guiding for 13 years. Her guiding experience includes over 40 ascents of Mt. Rainer, several expeditions to the Alaska Range, and numerous routes in the North Cascades and the Tetons. Anne has worked 5 years as a professional ski patroller and now works winters as a heli-ski guide in Mazama. She is an Emergency Medical Technician and has a formal education in Physical Therapy. Anne is an AMGA certified Ski Mountaineering guide.

email
 

Ian Nicholson. Ian's experience ranges from having established over a half dozen first ascents in his home range of the Cascades as well as opening new routes in farther off regions such as The Waddington Range, Patagonia and The Alaska Range.  His other experience comes from having climbed extensively in Yosemite as well as Zion, the Tetons, the Alps, Canadian Rockies, New England, the Sierras and Colorado. Ian has been twice the recipient of the ACC Fellowship Grant and is a Wilderness First Responder, AIARE Level III certified and a Level I instructor. Ian is a AMGA certified Alpine and Rock guide who is activily pursuing IFMGA status. His passion to be out in the mountains has been known to spur people to greater heights.
Ian has recently been working with the American Safe Climbing Association after replacing nearly 100 bolts in the last 2 1/2 years.

Sean McCabe has recently passed away after a short but intense battle with Thyroid cancer. Some of you were fortunate enough to have climbed with Sean and will undoubtedly know what an amazing human he was. Many of you likely know of Sean through his art that NCMG has used for many years.  His images have appeared on our T-shirts, website, brochures and posters for many years, with some of his original oil paintings gracing the walls of our office.  Sean used climbing as inspiration for his art. His love for the mountains is apparent in all of his artwork, and his love for teaching has won him "Teacher of the Year" at the Methow Valley High School where he taught art. To see a sampling of some of Sean's work Click Here. Several years ago Sean began making prints of many of his most popular paintings.  Some of our longtime loyal guests received some of these prints as gifts over the last few years.  Sean's work will continue to be available through his website and will continue to be a source of income for his family.  Click here to go to Sean's website .
 

email
 

Brad Sawtell recently moved with his wife Heide to the Methow Valley from the Breckenridge area in Colorado. During the previous ten years, he worked as an Avalanche Forecaster and Educator for the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC). Prior to forecasting, Brad directed the Wilderness Program for the High Mountain Institute (HMI), was senior staff at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and worked as a mountain guide for various guide services. He serves on the board for the American Avalanche Association (A3) as the Certified Instructor Representative as well as on A3's Education Committee. His is an A3 Certified Instructor and is working towards his AIARE Instructor qualification and has a current WFR certification. He has traveled or guided in the Rocky Mountains, the North Cascades, the Sierras, Alaska, the Canadian Rockies, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Chile, Ecuador and Norway. His passions include snow, weather, dark coffee, his pets and breaking trail.

email
 

Hayley Riach is the NCMG office manager. Hayley's relationship with the mountains and skiing began at the Summit where she spent most of her childhood and adolescence training for alpine racing. Her passion for the mountains carried into employment with the Forest Service and eventually the Park Service helping manage remote backcountry fires in the Cascades, Sierras, Rockies, and Grand Canyon. She is excited to be back in her home range the Cascades and couldn't imagine a better place to reconnect with her passion for the mountains. Hayley's habits include practicing yoga, taking saunas, reading design blogs, and hiking with her husband Ryan and their dog Manitou.

Chris Wright grew up in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania and explored the hills and crags of the Northeast before moving to the Pacific Northwest where he began guiding in 2006. Chris has climbed, guided, and established new routes in Alaska, Oregon and Washington and has climbed everywhere from New Zealand and Australia to Europe, Asia, Africa, Mexico and Canada.  Chris is currently an AMGA Certified Rock Guide, an Alpine Guide Aspirant, is AIARE Level 3 Certified, and holds a BFA from New York University. You can learn more about Chris and follow his adventures at Now!Climbing.com.

Matt Walker has worked as an outdoor educator and mountain guide for the past decade. This work has allowed him to travel and climb throughout the world.

Matt has focused his work teaching and facilitating leadership development through outdoor adventure. Matt is a certified Single Pitch Instructor by the American Mountain Guide Association and has completed the AMGA Rock Instructor training. He is as comfortable rock climbing at Washington Pass as he is climbing ice and snow at 24,000 feet in Nepal. Matt has held Wilderness First Responder medical certification since 1995. Matt received his Master's Degree in Applied Behavioral Science from Bastyr University in Seattle, WA and uses these skills to lead NCMG's coaching and teambuilding porgrams. Matt is also an instructor in Adventure Leadership and EcoPsychology for Prescott College. He divides his time between Tucson and Mazama with his wife Elizabeth, their daughter Elaine and their canine climbing partner, Zora.

Scooby, a veteran member of our staff, helps us remember what is really important in life - face shots and good food. Scooby is a fully trained avalanche rescue dog and often accompanies us on mountain adventures. With a host of summits to her credit, she will usually travel 3-4 times the distance of any other team member without the slightest complaint. While not out in the mountains Scooby can usually be found making friends outside the Mazama store.