What is your favorite travel memory?
One of my favorite Mountain Skills Semester memories was on a final expedition to Mt. Columbia in late May. The twelve students, after close to 3 months of training, had organized the trip across the expansive Columbia Icefields.
On our summit day the students woke before sunrise, cooked breakfast and stepped into their skis. The sun came up after an hour or two and the East Face of Mt. Columbia (the highest peak in Alberta) was looming above them. After another hour of skiing the skis where put aside for crampons and ice axes to tackle the face.
The students must have felt the exposure below as they kicked steps higher up the snowy face of the mountain before finally all making the summit. The students had achieved this with little additional input from the other guide, or me, which was a very memorable moment.
How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?
At the beginning of my climbing and skiing career I started my learning with Yamnuska's Mountain Skills Semester. After taking the MSS I continued to climb and ski gaining the IFMGA Mountain Guide certification. This was a huge personal and skills growth curve.
Since starting at Yamnuska Mountain Adventures, my role at Yamnuska has evolved to now being heavily involved on an operational and planning level.
If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?
We have many great programs to offer in both the summer and winter that fit different guests abilities and available time.
If I could recommend just one program it would be the Mountain Skills Semester. It is the program that I have seen the biggest transformations in students mountain skills development and many life long friendships have been made.
What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?
We love what we do and have for the past 40 years. Our guides are passionate and committed to providing guests with the best program possible.
To compliment this, Yamnuska Mountain Adventures has a full service facility, full time office, operations and guide team, a licensed kitchen to provide program meals, professional equipment that is inspected and cycled regularly, as well as commercially inspected vehicles for program support.
We also offer one of the largest ranges of programming for both the summer and winter including options for the complete beginner to the expert. Combine all of this and you get the highest quality adventures in the Canadian Rockies.
