Guides

Kami Sherpa is one of the most respected and experienced Himalayan climbers in history. Hailing from Pangboche, Khumbu, Nepal at the foot of Ama Dablam, Kami has been climbing and guiding his whole life. His dad was a famous climbing Sirdar (lead Sherpa) who climbed many times with Sir Christopher Bonington and his brother Ang Dorjee holds 19 summits of Everest and is also a Sirdar.

Kami has been part of more 8000m expeditions than probably anyone in the world. He is a veteran of 60+ X 8000m expeditions including more than 30 to Everest expeditions with 16 summits (including 3 X Everest expeditions in one year: pre-monsoon, post-monsoon, and winter). He has also summited K2, Shishapangma, Manaslu, and many other 8000m, 7000m and 6000m Himalayan giants.

Kami is not only one of the hardest working people on the mountain, he is one of the nicest and most humble. Truly a legend of the Himalayas, we are proud to have Kami as part of our team.

“Big” Tendi is one of our most respected guides in the Himalayas and is an integral part of our Everest programs. He has been working as a private guide as part of our “Private IFMGA Sherpa Guided Climb” and is in high demand each year. Beyond his capacity as a lead guide, Big Tendi is also co-owner of our logistics company in Nepal and works year round to help organize our expeditions.

Big Tendi is currently the Technical Director for the Nepal Mountain Guides Association and an instructor for the school. It would not be a stretch to say that he is the Godfather of the certified Nepali mountain guides association having trained an entire generation of mountain guides and elevating them to international esteem. Big Tendi is of course an internationally certified guide as well and has trained many of our other IFMGA private guides.

Tendi Sherpa is widely regarded as one of the most respected guides on Mt Everest. Tendi is an incredibly hard-working leader who approaches everything he does respectfully and with tenacity.

Tendi, a fully internationally certified UIAGM guide, has led all over the world and is one of CTSS’s most trusted guides whether on Mt Everest or elsewhere in the world. He has 15 Everest summits from both the North and South sides to his resume, not to mention many other much more technical and remote peaks throughout Nepal.

Tendi guides around the world in places like Argentina, Bolivia and Antarctica and is scheduled to finish the Seven Summits this year.

He currently works as a private guide for CTSS on Mt Everest, Lhotse, Vinson, Carstensz, Cho Oyu and Manaslu

Beyond guiding for CTSS, Tendi also acts as Sirdar, or lead climbing Sherpa, for CTSS and over sees the logistics of each Himalayan expedition.

Beyond his work as a Mountain Guide, Tendi is also the co-owner of Himali gear, a high-end adventure gear manufacturer based in Denver, Colorado. Tendi is also the namesake and Founder of the “Tendi Sherpa Foundation” which provides opportunities to Sherpa in and around his home community.

He is also a devoted father and husband. When not living and guiding in Nepal, he can often be found traveling in the US, Switzerland, the UK and around the world.

Sasha is an indispensable part of many of our CTSS programs. She is a Mt Elbrus and Kilimanjaro specialist but has recently expanded her repertoire to other regions of the globe including Aconcagua. Sasha has amassed well over 100 ascents of Mt Elbrus over the years and is one of the most respected guides on the mountain. Sasha got her Avalanche 2 certification in the United States and her Wilderness First Responder certification in Sweden.

All of our clients love Sasha and she has become one of our most popular and sought-after guides. She is incredibly strong, competent, and skilled while being incredibly caring and helpful to each and every one of our clients. I know of few climbers that have gone home not thinking of Sasha as a friend for life.

Sasha is originally from the Ural Mountains in Russia where she grew up fashioning her own climbing gear out of household items and challenging herself in the surrounding hills. She studied as a translator at St Petersburg State University before deciding that she loved the mountains more and becoming a full-time mountain guide. Sasha has never looked back and is incredibly passionate about her job.

When not guiding, Sasha would like to be nowhere else more than water skiing in Washington State or ice climbing in Ouray, Colorado! If you climb Elbrus or Kilimanjaro with us you will most likely have Sasha as a guide.

Sagar is our local logistics agent in Kathmandu. He truly is the man behind the success! Sagar is working on our Himalayan programs year-round and runs a tight ship. Sagar is incredibly detailed and savvy when it comes to navigating local logistics for climbing permits, base camp setups, climber logistics, and organizing our Sherpa teams.

Sagar has been organizing expeditions for nearly 20 years and is widely regarded as one of the best in the business. Sagar’s philosophy is to provide the best service to our clients for a great price and he has certainly followed through on that over the years for us! If you come on any of our Himalayan programs with us you will likely meet Sagar.

Jeremiah began guiding on Denali in 2012, teaching mountaineering and wilderness courses, skills-intensive workshops, and working with our film production assignments.

He has guided for CTSS in Antarctica on Mt Vinson and in the Himalayas on Cholatse.

Jeremiah grew up rock climbing and exploring near his home in Rocky Mountain National Park. There he guided class IV-V whitewater trips in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Jeremiah’s climbing focus is to get as many days as possible on ice, mixed, and alpine routes every year.

An avid pack-rafter, you can also find Jeremiah on rivers from Alaska to Mexico.

He has many hard rock, ice and alpine ascents to his name including an ascent of the Cassin Ridge on Denali.

Currently, Jeremiah is an adjunct instructor at Alaska Pacific University and the University of Alaska Anchorage, where he teaches ice climbing.

• Hometown: Estes Park, Colorado
• Was charged by a polar bear in the arctic!
• Technical rigger for a wide variety of purposes, from roller coasters to large dams

Caroline Pemberton is co-owner and General Manager of CTSS hailing from Sydney, Australia.

An adventurer at heart, she first found herself in the mountains as a teenager when she spent an entire season at Everest Base Camp supporting her brother, Rex, who became the Youngest Australian to Climb Everest back in 2005. It was an expedition which set the course of her life.

She spent the next decade working in mainstream media, travelling the world as an adventure travel TV host and journalist working for the likes of Australian Geographic, Red Bull and Outside TV to name a few.

Passionate about the transformational power of adventure, she founded MissAdventure, a social purpose enterprise to inspire girls (7-14yrs) into the world of action sports, adventure and the outdoors so that they learn firsthand that their bodies are so much more than just what they look like. The idea is to instill girls with an intrinsic sense of self-worth that isn’t shaken by an increasingly superficial world.

When she’s not busy organising your next great adventure, you will find Caroline surfing, skiing, biking or in her rare quiet moments at home, gardening!

Edgar has tons of experience of more than 20 years mountain climbing in Ecuador and around the world. An Ecuador native, he is instrumental to our Ecuador programs and know those mountains as well as anyone. Some of the places outside of Ecuador that he guides are: Colombia, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina as well as in the Italian, Swiss, French, German and Austrian Alps, in northern Himalayas Central Asia the Khan Tengri peak.

Recently Edgar has summited Mount Denali (McKinley) in Alaska 3 times, and climbed in the Caucasus Range, Kazbek and Elbrus Mountains.
He is passionate traveler, photographer, rock and ice climber and much more, he spends most of his free time and vacation “discovering” new mountains, new destinations, new cultures, and new challenge routes.

Rolfe Oostra (UIML), has been leading expeditions globally for more than 30 years. He has led expeditions to four of the 8,000m peaks: Manaslu (summit) in 2013; Mount Everest in 2007 (to North Col), 2015, 2016 (summit) and 2019; Lhotse (no summit) in 2016, and Cho Oyu in 2016 (where he achieved a back to back summit in 24 hours) and 2018.

He has led five unsupported expeditions to technically difficult 7,000m peaks and has guided more than seventy expeditions to 6,000m peaks (including Great Trango Tower, Ama Dablam and remote Andean summits). He has also completed the Bass version of the Seven Summits numerous times.

Apart from being in the mountains his passion for finding out what lies beyond the horizon has taken him on expeditions to the Amazon basin, the Congo and remote deserts, such as the Sahara. He lives with his wife, Marni in the French Pyrenees and together they head out the door whenever the sun shines (which fortunately in this spectacular mountain range is practically every day!)

“Fideo” is one of our Aconcagua and European Alps specialists. An Argentine by birth, Fideo has spent most of his life climbing and guiding throughout Argentina on Aconcagua and steep rock and ice routes. He is an internationally certified guide and has amassed more than 40 ascents of Aconcagua. He spends the northern summer months guiding the classic routes of Europe or climbing and guiding throughout South America.

Fideo is one of our most requested Aconcagua guides. He is incredibly patient and supportive and has a very relaxed demeanor when leading and instructing.