Guides

Experienced expedition climbing guide & Uphill Athlete Mountaineering coach Mark Postle is an avid technical rock climber and mountaineer who thrives on ultra-endurance challenges.

He spent his teens as a competitive road cyclist in the farmlands of Ohio, racing to state championship podium finishes in both road and cyclocross disciplines as a Junior. Once his father introduced him to climbing, his love of cycling was quickly eclipsed, and he began spending more and more time on the sandstone cliffs of the Southeast.

After earning a B.S. degree in chemistry, Mark migrated out west to be closer to the mountains, where he pursued a career guiding and climbing.

He has led over 50 expeditions worldwide, including ascents of Denali, Aconcagua, Mount Vinson, Lhotse, and Ama Dablam. He has tallied 150+ summits of the Grand Teton and numerous guided ascents of the Grand Traverse.

During the down time between guiding seasons, Mark turns to long-distance trail and mountain running to stay in top shape for expedition guiding. He has notched a sub-24-hour Leadville Trail 100 Run finish, done a full-moon R2R2R Grand Canyon double crossing, circumnavigated Mount Rainier via the Wonderland Trail, and run across the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the Appalachian Trail.

Now settled on the east side of the Sierra Mountains in Bishop, California, Mark splits his free time between coaching, training, doing home-improvement projects, and tending his bonsai tree.

A native of Washington State, USA, Aaron was introduced to the outdoors at an early age by his parents, who often took he and his sister skiing, backpacking, and boating.

He attended the University of Puget Sound, where he graduated with a degree in International Political Economy.

He has been a professional mountain guide for nearly a decade and in that time has guided over 100 trips to the summit of Mount Rainier, several trips to Alaska, Antarctica, South America, and the Himalaya, including Mount Everest.

He has a passion for ski mountaineering and has skied throughout Washington, Canada and Alaska, including first descents on Rainier, Shuksan, and Denali.

He is an IFMGA Certified Guide through the American Mountain Guides Association, holds an AIARE Level 3 Certification, is a Wilderness First Responder, AIARE Level 1 Instructor, and Leave No Trace Trainer.

Testimonials:

“Firstly, thanks for being such an amazing guide and genuinely kind person; your passion for the mountains and helping people achieve their goals is incredibly inspiring to watch. You have taught me not only about how to climb mountains but also how to push people beyond what they though was possible in a very positive environment.”

“I really would like to express just how stoked I was with the amount of work and passion you put into this trip. You went above and beyond on so many occasions to enable us to get the most out of the trip. The quality of training was very high, and your passion and enthusiasm for mountaineering, for safety and for building team camaraderie was greatly appreciated. Even when the conditions were terrible, you spun it into a positive for the group in that they were experiencing such a diverse range of possible scenarios in the mountains and getting us to learn how to cope in each of them. The trip has well and truly exceeded my expectations and I have not stopped talking about it to others.”

Born and raised in Kansas (where he was most reliably found high in a tree) Robert’s family built a sense of adventure with frequent trips to Colorado and bedtime stories of great Himalayan climbs from an early age.

Always seeking out new challenges he started rock climbing at 13 and first started guiding with a whitewater rafting outfit in California when he was 19.

Since then he’s worked as a sea kayak guide, instructor for college outdoor programs, volunteer search and rescue with the park service, and spent 7 seasons guiding on Rainier.

Robert has over 50 summits of Rainier to his name, has climbed high on Everest & Manaslu, has guided our Aconcagua, Vinson and Ecuador programs and is the Senior Guide for our Alpine Academies.

Robert now lives in Washington state where he enjoys easy access to climbing and skiing year-round. When he’s not in the mountains you’ll likely find him tinkering with some broken piece of machinery, or building in his wood shop.

A Montanan, Josh spends much of the year working as a fly fishing and hunting guide when not leading climbers in the mountains. Josh has recently been specializing in our Aconcagua and Vinson programs and leads the annual Tiger of the Snows Fund charity climb to raise money for education for outdoor tourism workers and their families in under-served communities. Josh has worked as a lead guide on Mt Rainier for over 10 years where he has over 100 ascents.

Here are a few of Josh’s accomplishments:

• 103 Summits of Mount Rainier on the Kautz Glacier, Ingraham Glacier, Emmons Glacier and Liberty Ridge
• 8 Aconcagua expeditions
• Summited Vinson Massif in Antarctica
• 15 Ascents of Mount Adams with 5 of those summits being ski descents with clients via the Southwest Couloir
• 5 Ascents of Mount Shuksan via the Sulphide Glacier and Fisher Chimneys
• 6 Ascents of Mount Baker via the Easton Glacier, Coleman-Demming Glacier, and North Ridge
• 1 expedition to Denali
• Lead Instructor, Aerie Backcountry Medicine, Missoula, MT — 2008-Present
• Education Coordinator and Avalanche Forecaster, Missoula Avalanche Foundation, Missoula, MT — 2015-2018
• Colorado Mountain College, Emergency Medical Technician
• 2007 University of South Carolina, Bachelors of Political Science, 2005

Brenton Systermans is an expedition doctor and guide who loves nothing more than getting his clients up and down a mountain safely and with all their digits intact!

As a doctor, Brent has volunteered at the Himalayan Rescue Association’s famous high-altitude clinic, Everest ER, and the Pheriche Clinic. He’s had stints with the Australian Army and the Australian Antarctic Division as an ExMO (expedition medical officer) and currently works with Australia’s high-performance winter athletes at the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia. He’s also involved in training the next generation of expedition medics as the Course Coordinator for the Healthcare in Remote and Extreme Environments program at the University of Tasmania.

Having grown up in regional Victoria, he spent his youth trekking, climbing, and skiing in the Victorian High Country and Grampians National Park. Before commencing medical school, he worked as an Outdoor Instructor at Falls Creek Ski Resort.

Brent primarily practices medicine in the Snowy Mountains of Australia, at Thredbo, the trailhead for our Kosciuszko climbs. He has also worked as an expedition doctor and/or guide in Australia, Antarctica, Europe, Tanzania, Nepal, and China.

Brent loves exploring our fantastic planet and sharing his knowledge of mountain medicine.

Nani is one of our Aconcagua specialists and a client favorite.

Nani is Argentinian and has been working as a guide and porter on Aconcagua for more than 10 years.

He has 20+ Aconcagua summits under his belt beyond many other steep, technical ascents around South America.

Nani has mainly been working as a private for our custom private and custom Speed Ascent private clients the past few years.

Everyone who climbs with Nani has amazing things to say about his guiding style, personality and patience. He is one of our best.

• Multiple Everest summiteer
• The Late Ueli Steck’s climbing partner on the North Face Cholatse and many other expeditions
• Guides and climbs throughout the Himalaya, Europe and the USA

• Multiple Everest summiteer
• K2 summiteer
• Certified IFMGA guide
• Simone Moro’s longtime climbing partner
• Expeditions to Manaslu, Cho Oyu
• Climbed Kanchenjunga in a single day (the World’s 3rd highest peak)
• NOLS wilderness first aider, high mountain rescue instructor for Nepal Mountaineering Association, trained in Longline helicopter rescue
• Speaks 5x languages
• Guides and climbs throughout the Himalaya, Europe and the USA

Here are some of Pemba Gelje’s notable summits and expeditions:

1. Mt. Himlung X 2 (7126m)
2. Mt. Kanchenjunga X 2 (8586m)
3. Mt Manaslu X 2 (8163m)
4. Mt. Everest X 5 (8850m North and South)
7. Cho Oyu X 1 (8201m)

Lam Babu is one of the most experienced and respected Sherpa working in the Himalayas. He has been climbing and guiding for 30+ years as an internationally certified IFMGA guide. He has been a mentor for our younger generation of IFMGA Nepali guides and is a crowd-favorite of our clients.

Lam works as a private guide on our “Private IFMGA Sherpa Guided Climb.” In 2018 he successfully guided the first two women from the state of Gujarat in India to the summit of Everest, sister Anuja and Aditi.

Here are a few of Lam Babu’s accomplishments:

• Multiple Everest summiteer with 30+ years of experience
• Our most senior private IFMGA Sherpa Guide
• Tenured Instructor for the Nepal Mountaineering Association & Guide School
• Has worked as a Sirdar (Lead Sherpa) for many Everest expeditions

Pasang Tendi is one of our go-to guides for Mt Everest because of his skill, experience, hard work and calm and personable demeanor. Pasang works as a private IFMGA Sherpa guide for CTSS and has received rave reviews from all those that climb with him. He is an internationally certified guide IFMGA guide having trained both in Europe and Nepal. He also recently spent a season guiding on Aconcagua in Argentina gaining valuable international experience.

Here are a few of Pasang Tendi’s achievements:

• 3X Everest summiteer (North and South)
• A client favorite! (By far one of the nicest, most humble personalities you will come across paired with climbing prowess and expertise)
• Guides and climbs throughout the Himalaya, Europe, Argentina and the USA
• Internationally certified Nepal National Mountain Guide Association UIAGM Guide.
• Has been working as an instructor for 3 years: Nepal Mountaineering Association, Nepal Mountaineering Instructor Association and Nepal Mountain Academy.
• Himali athlete
• 1X Annapurna summit
• 1X Shisapangma summit
• 1X Ama Dablem summit
• 1X Gyachung khang
• Kanchenjunga
• Cho Oyu
• 20X 6000m peak summits