WK: What about climbing in Central and South America?
CN: In Central America, the big mountain to climb is Pico de Orizaba. In Ecuador, the good prep trips are Cotopaxi and Chimborazo, which are the highest peaks in Ecuador. There are many great peaks in the Andes, for example, in Peru or Bolivia, and they would all be good to climb.
Aconcagua is probably the one in South America you would direct a client to. The nice thing about Aconcagua is that you get the altitude because it's over 22,000 feet, but it sits so close to the Equator that the weather systems are stable and there's not a whole lot of glacier travel. You can have a client get exposed to the altitude and also learn what it's like to be on an expedition without having them travel a lot on glaciated terrain.
WK: How does a climber become known and demonstrate the skills to become a guide?
CN: The way I got into it was through a mentorship. It was like you go out and climb 100 mountains, and you are under the tutelage of a senior guide the whole time. You learn by doing. You learn all the skills, but it is also a long process of learning humility and the mentorship relationship.
Now you have a lot of guides that come out of the AMGA background that obviously have the skills because they've gone through the curriculum-based course, but they don't have the experience. They learn all of these tools but they haven't applied them yet. They get put immediately into a guide situation without any real experience.
WK: What are the opportunities for sponsorship for a guide?
CN: In my case, at about the time I started guiding, the thing I started doing was trying to climb new routes everywhere I went. I tried to climb new routes and it wasn't about following the pattern of climbing the 7 summits.
I tried to climb mountains that hadn't been climbed or doing new routes on peaks people had already done. By doing this, it allowed me to pursue sponsors who could help support me in first ascents either monetarily or through equipment. Without them, I would have never been able to do all the things I have done.
Guiding helps a lot because sponsors know that, not only am I trying to climb at a high level, but I am also working in harsh environments, constantly testing their equipment and pushing the limits of their products.
My current sponsors are Mad Rock Climbing, Rab Outdoor Clothing, Nemo tents, and World Minded Clothing.
WK: I know you stress environmental considerations when you climb. What does that involve?
CN: Any time we go into the mountains, especially in ecologically sensitive areas or glaciers that are receding, we must be very mindful of our impact. Guiding is a wonderful vocation, but bringing people into the mountains can be taxing on the environment. I try my hardest to educate and practice "Leave No Trace" ethics.
On most glaciated peaks, the glaciers are moving. However, with an area like Vinson Massif, the glacier moves very slowly because of the low temperature and the lack of precipitation—it's basically a desert. Therefore, any human waste in Antarctic stays there forever, so we have been moving into a process of making sure that we remove all waste from the mountain, both trash and human.
