As a teenager, my mind exploded with possibility, awe and confidence when I discovered the joy and simplicity of spending time in the mountains.

My passion for the outdoors drove how I spent every spare moment and eventually my decisions to move to Alaska and then Switzerland.

In my twenties, I spent many years working as a guide, outdoor educator and wilderness trip leader for both youth and adults in North Carolina, across the American West and in Alaska. I worked restaurant and odd jobs in the off seasons so I could pay for personal wilderness trips. I even accepted my first desk job in Alaska politics in large part because it left me free for summer trips each year in that amazing place, of which I did many.

The ability to influence policies to make the world a better place, becoming a father, and the stability of “email jobs” as my son calls them led me to spend too much of the last twenty years behind a desk. Now, I want to spend my time sharing the awe and joy I get from the mountains with others. 

I am a certified Wilderness First Responder, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and am working toward my International Mountain Leader certificate. I speak English and French, although my French is a continuous work in progress :). 

With my family, friends or on my own, I have been fortunate enough to have hiked, biked or backcountry skied in almost every Swiss canton from our home base in Geneva. The mountains have given me so much, and I look forward to helping more people get out from behind their desks to experience the wonder of nature and the awe of Switzerland, safely. 

I hope you will join me.

Mark Gnadt