Charlie Barrett
Charlie Barrett grew up among the beautiful coastal redwoods of the bay area, mostly around Santa Rosa, CA. Charlie got into rock climbing, bouldering, and climbing mountains through backpacking trips to the Yosemite high country as a kid. As a climber of over 15 years, he couldn’t imagine life without climbing, for him it would be harder to not go climbing than it would to go. Climbing is his life, and he feels very privileged to call his endless playground the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range his home.
Charlie has now literally made climbing his life. Beyond sponsorships, he wrote two bouldering guidebooks for his home areas: ‘Mammoth Bouldering’ and ‘Tuolumne Meadows Bouldering’. As an all-around climber, he’s red-pointed and done first ascents of 5.13c cracks, 5.14b sport routes, V14 boulder problems and has been on top of over 100 mountains in the Sierra. Charlie has learned a lot from climbing and the mountains. It’s about being with good friends, pushing yourself, enjoying everyday, and being in some of the most beautiful places climbing takes you.
Ali Criscitiello
Ali loves the cold. Loves it. As a post-doctoral fellow and glaciologist at the University of Calgary, she studies the history of sea ice in polar regions, which involves long months of living in a tent and drilling ice cores in places like Antarctica, Alaska, the Canadian High Arctic, and Greenland. Ali holds the first PhD in Glaciology ever conferred by MIT. When she’s not busy shivering for science, Ali seeks out the cold for fun, whether working as a climbing ranger in national parks or guiding expeditions to major peaks in the Andes, Alaska, and the Himalayas.
In 2010, Ali fearlessly led the first all-women’s ascent of Pinnacle Peak in the Indian Himalaya. She has been awarded the American Alpine Club (AAC) Under 25 Mountaineering Fellowship Fund Grant for an expedition in Ecuador, the AAC’s Live Your Dream grant for an expedition to the Little Switzerland area of the Central Alaska Range, and the AAC Lara Kellogg and Scott Fischer Conservation Grants for an all-woman winter ski traverse of the Pamirs, Borderski. She and her climbing partner were just announced as this year’s winners of the Alpine Club of Canada John Lauchlan Award, for an upcoming expedition in the Garhwal region of India.
In her spare time, Ali kicks butt in Ironmans, catches lobsters, plays the mirror game with her identical twin sister, and generally makes the rest of us feel equal parts inspired and lazy. Most recently, Ali was named one of the Mugs Stump Award recipients for the 2016 season. She and her climbing partner will be attempting the unclimbed Brahmasar II in the Garhwal Himalaya of India.
Eric Layton
Eric’s love for the mountains and passion for backcountry snowboarding is contagious.
Originally from California, Eric spends his winters in search of the best powder on earth. Guiding professionally since 2007, his passion and expertise for mountaineering and backcountry splitboarding has led him to work as a guide for operations throughout the world. Eric is one of the first snowboarders in the United States to pass the American Mountain Guide Association Ski Exam on his splitboard. He is also an AMGA Single Pitch Rock Instructor and is a Certified Heli Guide through the American Mechanized Ski Guide Program. Now owner of Splitboard Guides International, a dedicated splitboard guide company, Eric is proud to share turns all over the world with people who share the same passion. When not in the mountains, time is spent with his wife and kid exploring nature and the wonders of life.
Miranda Oakley
Miranda Oakley grew up in Washington DC and started climbing in a local climbing gym at age 15. After graduating college with a degree in International Studies in 2006, Miranda moved to Yosemite National Park where she worked odd jobs in order to have access to endless granite. After a few years climbing in Yosemite and the High Sierras, Miranda started working for the Yosemite Mountaineering School as a climbing guide.
Miranda’s enthusiasm for rock climbing has taken her all over the world, from sport climbing destinations in Asia to first ascents in Patagonia. She enjoys pushing herself in all disciplines of rock climbing. She has onsighted climbs as hard as 5.13-, free climbed big walls and done speed accents of almost all of Yosemite Valley’s major formations.
Aaron Richards
Aaron grew up running through the soggy forests of Western Oregon. His love of the outdoors led him to a degree in botany and years of plant-survey work. He turned to guiding six years ago, after the plants started responding to his questions.
Aaron is a certified rock guide, an assistant ski guide and an assistant alpine guide. His favorite climb is the Harding Route on Keeler Needle, one of the most awe-inspiring towers in the Sierra’s granite wonderland. On brisk nights in the backcountry, you’ll often see him wearing his Brooks-Range Mojave Jacket. With light-weight warmth and bright colors, it often finds its way into his pack. When not skiing, climbing or swinging ice tools, he spends his time playing peekaboo with his 6-month-old daughter. Photo credit: Nick Manning
Drew Smith
Drew grew up in Montana on a ranch with the fields and mountains as his backyard. Living a childhood without the restrictions of private property boundaries thus the adventurous life was ingrained in me.
Climbing was introduced at a later age of 23 and instantly captivated him like nothing had ever before. For the past 7 years, Drew made it a goal to become an all around climber, pushing himself in all aspects of climbing. Trad, sport, bouldering, aid, ice, mixed, and alpine are all skills that he strives to progress in so that he may explore larger and more difficult features. Drew loves first ascents, from small to big, and the life experiences gained from them. He’s established new routes in El Chalten, Argentina Patagonia; Cochamo, Chilean Patagonia, Colorado and California.
For the past eleven years he hasn’t lived in a place for longer than six months. Doing jobs ranging from commercial fishing in Alaska to leading 49 day expeditions with at risk youth. Currently Drew is on the Yosemite Search and Rescue Team for six months out of the year and the other half running around in the mountains. Photo credit: Savannah Cummins.
Kevin Tatsugawa
Kevin Tatsugawa has climbed, skied, paddled, and guided people to many of the most amazing mountain ranges around the world. His love for adventurous outdoor activities encompasses; clipping bolts on sport climbs, leading splitter cracks, skiing off-piste powder, establishing first ascents, ice and mixed climbing, and paddling rivers, lakes, and oceans. He loves sharing his passion for adventurous outdoor experiences with others in a safe, responsible, environmentally friendly manner. Lately, he has been training the next generation of climbers to be leaders in the outdoor industry as an assistant professor in Wilderness Leadership at Westfield State University. He also works with organizations such as the Access Fund’s ROCK Project, Leave No Trace, and the American Mountain Guides Association to educate climbers and outdoor recreationists about their potential impacts on the environment and help increase the status of guiding as a profession.