This guide roster is world-class—every guide is at the very top of their respective field. They also have excellent people and group skills, and current wilderness medicine certification.
Andrew Skurka
The 31-year-old Skurka is most well known for his solo long-distance backpacking trips like the Alaska-Yukon Expedition, Great Western Loop and Sea-to-Sea Route. He began guiding in 2008 as a way to share some of the knowledge that he had gained. Read more.
Buzz Burrell
The White Mountains of New Hampshire was where Buzz did his first extended backpacking; a 6-day trip in the summer of 1968. Since then, he has hiked and run in Australia and New Zealand, Peru and Patagonia, India and Tibet, France and Italy, and many places in between. He won the inaugural Everest Award for Trail Running in 2006, a year after he was termed a “Trail Running Legend” by Trail Running Magazine. To spend any kind of time in nature, especially while hiking in the beautiful National Parks and wilderness of the United States, is a real blessing for any of us. Sharing a few tips and techniques makes it even more fun.
Mike Clelland
Mike has lived in the shadow of the Tetons for over 20 years, giving him phenomenal backcountry skiing, climbing and ultralight hiking access. He has been a guide for the Alaska Mountaineering School and for NOLS, where he was pivotal in creating a lightweight backpacking program. He is the author of ULTRALIGHT BACKPACKING TIPS, an instructional book (with cartoons). He’s been an illustrator for a long list of educational outdoor books and magazines.
Alan Dixon
Alan is the co-founder of Backpacking Light Magazine. At age 4 he carried his first backpack, into the Sierra Nevada, and since then he’s backpacked, climbed, packrafted, canyoneered, skied, fly-fished and kayaked in spectacular places on six continents. Alan is also a national level kayaker and triathlete. He resides in Washington DC with his wife Alison, who is his partner in outdoor adventures and triathloning. Alan has written numerous technical articles on backpacking and climbing and is a contributing author to publications including Lightweight Backpacking & Camping: A Field Guide to Wilderness Hiking Equipment, Technique, and Style.
Paul Magnanti
Paul is a very experienced thru-hiker: he has completed the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail (the “Triple Crown” of long-distance trails), as well as Vermont’s Long Trail, the Benton MacKaye Trail and the Colorado Trail. He is also an avid backcountry skier and enjoys alpine climbing. Paul is a contributing author to The Colorado Trail Guidebook (8th Edition), has had written articles for various publications and is a well known presence in the on-line backpacking community. When not out in the backcountry, Paul lives in Boulder, Colorado, with his fiancee’ Adrianna, a squeaky guinea pig named Charlie, and an elusive black cat named Frankie.
Brian Robinson
Brian has been backpacking since the 1970s. He helped to popularize many ultralight techniques, including use of the poncho-tarp as shelter and raingear. In 2001 Brian became the first person to complete the Calendar Triple Crown—a 7,400-mile, triple thru-hike of the Appalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide Trails, all in the same year. This feat earned him the trail name “Flyin’ Brian” and induction into the California Outdoors Hall of Fame. It also caught the attention of Andrew Skurka, at the time still a college student, who was fascinated by Brian’s far, fast and light style. Brian is also an accomplished ultra runner, as is his wife, Sophia. He set the course record at the Barkley Marathons, an off-beat and somewhat insane 100-mile race, in 55 hours, 43 minutes. And he completed the 224-mile John Muir Trail in just 4 days 7 hours.
Thomas Turiano
Shortly after moving from upstate New York to Jackson, Wyoming, in 1985 to be a ski instructor, Tom realized that more exciting and meaningful adventure was to be found outside the boundaries of the ski area. He began a career of ski and mountaineering guiding, and became absorbed with exploration in the Greater Yellowstone region on foot, ski, and packraft. Tom is a guide with Exum Mountain Guides and Jackson Hole Alpine Guides, and has written two books, Teton Skiing: A History and Guide, and the award-winning Select Peaks of Greater Yellowstone: A Mountaineering History and Guide.
Philip Werner
Philip is best known for his blog SectionHiker.com about lightweight backpacking on the Appalachian Trail and in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. He’s also completed Vermont’s Long Trail and backpacked coast-to-coast across Scotland in the TGO Challenge. Philip is a hiking and backpacking trip leader for the Appalachian Mountain Club and teaches in their spring and winter hiking programs. He also serves as a Long Trail mentor for the Green Mountain Club and maintains a trail on Mt. Washington for the US Forest Service.
