Dave Hancock

Dave founded Field Touring as a large outdoors club based at a local university in 1993. Since becoming a full-time expedition and guiding company in 1997, he has drawn together adventurers and climbers from around the world for no less than 50 separate undertakings to the world's great peaks or places of natural beauty. During this time he has also penned or photographed a similar number of magazine articles worldwide, and has been featured in, and made films for, several TV broadcasters, including the National Geographic Channel. An adventure magazine once said of him; "he seems to be able to live several lifetimes in each month". His two prevailing interests in life are to see as much of the planet as he can, and to get as many other people to see as much of the planet as he can.

 

Stuart Remensnyder

Senior Field Touring guide Stuart Remensndyer began climbing and taking photographs in the mountains in 1988 with NOLS. He has since climbed extensively in the Tetons, Cascades, Andes, Himalayas and Alps during which time he has led expeditions on dozens of peaks between 5000m and 8000m in height. While not on expedition, Stuart keeps busy as the FTA US office & guide coordinator, as an instructor for SOLO Wilderness Medicine and a volunteer EMT. He is a qualified Wilderness EMT and lives in Massachusetts with his wife Nicole and daughter Madalyn and son Benjamin

After three years or running the Aconcagua trips Stu has focused on building the FTA Nepal program for the last three years leading three successful expeditions to Ama Dablam and in 2008 will be heading off to Cho Oyu.

 

Sean James

Since joining the Field Touring Team, Sean has been to Broak Peak, Spantik, Ama Dablam, Lobuche, and Aconcagua. He has also led trips in Africa and Ecuador.

In the UK he is a qualifed Mountain Instructor and Rock Climbing Coach and also a Kayak & Canoe Senior Instructor.

Living in Sheffield he splits his time between being a Financial Advisor, lecturing at Sheffield Hallam Univeristy in Adventure Sports and leading climbing and trekking expeditions throughout the world including, South America, The Himalaya and Africa.

In 2008 he hopes to be leading Elbrus, Kilimanjaro & Kenya and returning to Aconcagua and the fantastic country of Argentina as well as fitting in a Tharpu Chuli and Ama Dablam peaks in Nepal in the Autumn.

Chris Szymiec

Living full time in the Canadian Rockies Chris's typical weekends include quick trips up 50-70° snow and ice climbs and skiing back down to the car! Originally from the Alberta, Canada, Chris has climbed in personal and commercial expeditions throughout the Rockies & the Himalayas.

Chris has many alpine climbs to his name including 2006 & 2007 summits of Ama Dablam with FTA, Spantik summit 2007, Cho Oyu Expedition 2007 & trekking peaks in Nepal, India & Kashmir. His extensive personal climbing background along with his guiding experience make Chris a leader who understands the desires and needs of independently minded climbers and trekkers. Kashmir, India, Pakistan, Tibet, Nepal & Canada have given Chris a great love and passion for the mountains. His excitement about a new day in the hills is infectious, as any who have climbed with Chris will attest.

Chris is currently leading our Spantik, Island Peak, Ama Dablam climbs and Everest Base Camp treks as well as working on several new trips including Satopanth and Cholatse.

Chris is a guide for Outward Bound Canada, works with the Alpine club of Canada on their mountaineering & ski courses and is a qualified Wilderness First Responder working towards his EMT certification. You can view his personal climbing website at http://www.szymiec.com/blog

Martin Girodo

Martin Girodo is a leading light as far as Aconcagua climbing expediitons go. His multitude of ascents via various routes makes him an accomplished expert, with his summit strike rate hovering around 90%. He is warmly received and held in high esteem by all our members, and can now rightly boast to having more friends around the world than he does in Argentina!.

Martin lives with his wife andtwo childrenin a small village 60kms south of Mendoza, where he farms bees in the off-season. Our expeditions to Aconcagua often end up at his home for a BBQ, honey collecting and homemade wine fiesta!

Dave Elmore

Growing up in the Northwest United States, Dave has been exploring wild places since childhood. Teaching, guiding and climbing while attending the University of Oregon captured Dave's imagination…twelve years later Dave's personal and professional resume speaks for itself.
Having worked professionally as a teacher and guide for many leading organizations, he brings with him a wealth of experience. Dave specialized in technical and risk management trainings for years, culminating in working as the Patagonia Program Director. As co-owner of Mountain Professionals, he now dedicates his time to the development of Mountain Professionals, working both in the office and in the field.
Dave has climbed in the U.S., Asia, Europe, Nepal, Argentina, Chile, has completed difficult big-wall and ice ascents and paddled all over the U.S. Dave is a lead guide for Mountain Professionals on Orizaba, Aconcagua, Tronador, Kilimanjaro, Cho Oyu, and many more. Dave is a member of the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) and has completed his Alpine Guides Course with the AMGA. Dave is certified with his Wilderness Medical Training certificate, and has a B.S. in Environmental Science and Psychology.

Dave joined FTA as an assistant on our successful Ama Dablam Autumn 2006 trip, assisted Ryan Waters on G2/G1 2007 and will be a lead guide on Aconcgua for summer trips.

Jason Thomas

A graduate of Alaska Pacific University, Jason worn in Barrow, Alaska, the most northern town in the US. Jason has climbed and guided all over world on expeditions to Alaska, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, continental US, Ecuador, Morroco, and Nepal (Lhotse and Ama Dablam).

Over many seasons in the Alaska Range, St. Elias Mountains, Wrangell Mountains, and the Chugach Range, Jason has climbed Denali, Mt. St. Elias, Mt. Bona, Mt. Hunter, Mt. Marcus Baker, Mooses Tooth, Mt. Huntington and put up first ascents the St Elias range. Jason's travels and climbs outside Alaska have taken him to El Cap, Aconcagua (10+ times), Tronador, Cotopaxi, Rainier (4+ times), Ama Dablam Lhotse and a host of 5-6000 meter peaks.

Armed with great experience guiding climbers of all levels and a certified Wilderness First Responder Jason has a strong record of safety and success and is a well respected guide. He also is an easy going and interesting person to spend a month with and In the quieter moments of a trip be sure to ask him about his piloting school, internship with a glaciologist or how to choose the right fly to catch the best trout in Alaska!

Jacob Schmitz (USA)

Armed with a superior background in big wall rock climbing, ice climbing and mountaineering, Jacob brings this experience to his guiding work and is a respected and busy guide around the world. In particular his background in teaching introductory mountaineering courses in Alaska makes him a fantastic guide for members looking to learn a great deal on expeditions.

During his many years climbing in the U.S., Asia, Africa, Argentina and more Jacob has led trips for leading companies like Alaskan Mountain Guides and Adventure Patagonica and guided extensively in Alaska (including Fairweather and Denali), Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua. His personal climbing resume includes many years of big wall climbing in Yosemite and mountaineering in the USA, Patagonia, Ecudaor and Mexcico. Jacob is also certified as a Wilderness First Responder and holds a Level 1 Avalanche Awareness certification

 

Mike Hale

Mike lives between homes in Costa Rica and Colorado when not travelling or on expedition. His alpine credits include Makalu, Ama Dablam, Broad Peak, Denali, 3 routes on Aconcagua, Ski ascent of Elbrus, Alpamayo, Chopacalki, various ski ascents/descents in Chile and Argentina, a handful of moderate routes in the Alps and a host of US 14,000ers. He is qualified WEMT and he also enjoys racing blue water cruising yachts across the Atlantic.

 

Nick Gigueren

Nick is a National Parks Service climbing ranger in the USA, and was one of the guys seen on TV trying to dodge the crashing rescue helicopter on the slopes of Rainier last year. Primarily an Aconcagua lead guide for the company, Nick is a popular trip manager and highly regarded by his team members. He has untold dozens of ascents of US 14,000ers and has climbed in South America and the Karakoram Himalaya.

 

Marcello Lucero

One of Argentina's most successful high altitude guides, the venerable Marcello has been working as a support guide on our Aconcagua programs for several seasons. He has climbed dozens of Andean peaks as well as 14 ascents of Aconcagua via 5 separate routes. He is also gaining a reputation as a party animal, leading our post climb teams on pub crawls in Mendoza that apparently equal the demands of the climb itself!

 

Nima T Sherpa

Nima sherpa is our man on the ground handling all logistics and field organisation for our Nepal programs. A denizen of the local sherpa community, Nima has focused on providing the highest quality services for our expedition climbs and treks and is one of our most popular and dedicated Nepalese staff.

 

Ashraf Aman

As the first Pakistani to climb K2, and a holder of the Pride of Performance medal from the Pakistani Government (their equivalent to a knighthood), we could have no better person running our ground based logistics than Ashraf Aman and his team of specialists based in Islamabad. In 10 years he has catered to over 400 clients on Field Touring trips to the Karakoram, ensuring every detail is catered to and contributing immensely to the success of our Pakistani programs.

 

Owen Spooner

UK based Owen is a leading ski and board enthusiast who spends 6 months of each year on the circuit. Owen manages our Las Lenas programs, heading up both the tour options and managing accomodation and guiding duties at the vast Lenas field in Argentina

 

 

Daniel Lowery

Dan was a member on several of our climbs before we offered him a job running our IT department and web development. He has been on expeditions to South America and has traveled extensively in Australia. He heads up our internet marketing and sales, and lives in Sydney, Australia.

 

Lunita Palacios

Luna is our full time ground services manager for South America based out of Buenos Aires and Mendoza in Argentina. An absolute hit with our clients, she has moved mountains to provide wonderful and satisfying holiday experiences outside of the actual climbing, skiing or trekking expeditions. She operates all our ground transfers, extensions, and hotel bookings.

 

 

Eva Budiselik

Eva operates our office and satellite communications in Perth when we are in the field. A budding rock climber and hiker, she will be spending her first season in Las Lenas this year overseeing the ski touring programs.

 

 

IN MEMORIAM - Ray Brown

Ray Brown (pictured on K2) was a long time client and then valuable contributor to our expanding high altitude program in the late 1990's, leading trips to Aconcagua, Ecuador, and Nepal. After a short but action packed climbing career characterised by fast and light ascents he summitted Everest in 2000. Ray died of heart failure shortly after returning from a K2 expedition last season. He left behind a wife Liz, and two sons.

 

Annibel Maturano

The 31 yr old geophysicist and professional guide will be heading up our Broad Peak climb in 2005, and has worked for us in South America on Mercedario and Aconcagua. He is an exceptionally strong and fast climber (holding the speed record for a solo on Orizabal), and prefers hard technical routes, which reflects in his stack of new lines pushed through remote hills around the world. He summitted Broad Peak in 2002, and has completed over 60 expeditions including Shishapangma.

Brad Clement

Mountaineering guide and instructor since 1999, Brad's climbing experience includes trips throughout Alaska, the Western US, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nepal (including Mt. Everest). When not guiding, Brad can be found working as a mountaineering & wilderness adventure filmmaker and cameraman; both for his own production company, Spindrift Films, as well as a range of freelance clients. His footage has been featured on several broadcast networks including, The Discovery Channel, NBC, CNN and more.

Casey Henley

Casey grew up in the Canadian Rockies where he learned to climb and ski. A graduate of The UCC Guide Program and the MRC Outdoor Pursuits Program, he has guided, climbed and skied throughout North and South America, Asia, Antarctica and Europe, including ascents of Denali, Mt. Logan (with ski descent), Imja Tse, Ama Dablam, Mt. Elbrus (with ski descent), Aconcagua, Cho Oyu (without O2), Vinson Massif, various Patagonian peaks and various St. Elias Range Peaks while ski-traversing the entire range.

He has instructed and guided for Outward Bound, Mountain Madness, Slipstream Adventures, The Alaska Mountaineering School, The British Army Training Unit and The Canadian Outdoor Leadership Training Program. Being in remote, mountain areas is a passion he loves to share. Known for his mellow, friendly teaching style and demeanor, Casey directs the climbing and skiing programs for the Expeditionary Studies Degree Program at SUNY Plattsburgh when not out guiding.

Mark Lewis

Mark has been actively involved in mountaineering for the past 15 years since he was introduced to climbing in the Alps in 1992. In 1995 he first visited Nepal and summited Mera Peak, the highest 'trekking peak' in the Himalayas and went on to summit Ama Dablam and reach the South Col of Everest in 1997. Expeditions to Evererst, Kanchenjunga, Broad Peak and treks to Nanga Parbat, K2 and Everest and have given Mark the technical experience and management skills he brings to his guiding and mountaineering instruction. Mark is a qualified Mountain Leader and qualified Mountain Instructor living in South Wales in bliss with his wife Elizabeth. When Mark is not leading or managing expeditions he can often be found establishing new routes in France and Portugal most notably a 22 pitch ‘dificile’ in the Ercin Massif in 2004.

Pieter ter Kuile

Pieter has lived and worked in the Northern Areas of Pakistan after he first climbed in there in 1991. He started his climbing career at age 15 in the Alps. In Switzerland he climbed peaks like Salbitschijen, Jungfrau and Monte Rosa. In France he summitted among others Aiguille Dibona and Aiguille Centrale de Soreiller. Since then he has climbed peaks on six continents; Mungalig Sar and Wallyo Sar in Pakistan, Damavand in Iran, Jebel Toubkal in Marocco, Aconcagua, Chimborazo, Mount Cook and Elbrus to name a few.
Pieter has instructed on introductory mountaineering courses and has successfully put his own skills to use during rescues on steep and glaciated terrain.
At present Pieter helps corporate managers become better leaders. He is a Dutch national educated in the US.