Guides

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.

Josh was only six years old when he started climbing with his father. Growing up in Washington State, he spent nearly every weekend exploring and climbing in the Cascade and Olympic Mountains. After spending nearly 20 years sharpening his skills as a climber, he decided to pursue a career as a professional mountain guide. He began guiding in 2010, and has since guided expeditions all over the world. He is one of our most sought after, highly rated guides.

Josh’s expedition resume includes summit climbs of Mount Everest (x3), Cho Oyu, Ama Dablam, Aconcagua, Denali, the Ecuador Volcanoes, the Mexico Volcanoes, Mount Vinson, Mount Bona, and many more. In addition to his extensive expedition experience, he has guided over 175 climbs on Mount Rainier, and has over 100 summits.

Josh enjoys learning the history and culture of the areas in which he works, and loves to share that knowledge with the people he guides. His passion for teaching shows in his guiding.

Josh has a Bachelor of Arts in History and Education. He is certified as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-B), and holds an Avalanche Level 2 certification. When not guiding, Josh works as a career Firefighter/EMT and enjoys spending time with his rambunctious labradoodle.

Alex is one of our top Tanzania Kilimanjaro guides. He has run many trips with us and is one of our staple guides for the Kili program. A true professional, Alex is also super fun and loves to have a lot of laughs. He has summited Kilimanjaro more than 200 times and knows the mountain as well as anyone working today. He is incredibly patient and skilled at maximizing the number of climbers who are able to stand on top by employing strategies he has perfected over his hundreds of ascents.

Here is Alex in his own words:
“I started hiking 17 years ago in my mid 30’s. Born in the southern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, I’d see the Mountain every day as a tourist going for hikes. I promised myself to go up one day, but I didn’t know I would go this far and became a mountain guide.

After high school my dad wanted me to become a policeman which was not my passion so I had to start as porter to earn some money for College. I love hiking because the mountain shows me every moment that there are no limits to the things one can do. I have met so many people who have shown me life in so many positive ways. Now I am proud to be part of an excellent team of climbers/guides from all over the world who share the same passion.

It is always a rewarding pleasure for me to share my experience of more than 200 times up the highest mountain in Africa and also several times on mount Meru. In the past I attended the College of African wildlife management Mweka for my certificate in wildlife management before my diploma in Travel and Tourism management at the National College of Tourism in Dar es salaam. Also I have gone through many short courses which have been of great support in my work like customer care and customers services, first aid and Hotel and Tourism Management, just to mention a few.”

A veteran in the polar and big mountain arena, Tim Hewette has specialized in guiding and managing expeditions in Alaska, Antarctica, and beyond since 2004. He has a diverse quiver of field skills, an adept communication ability, and a personal interest in completing expeditions in a professional style. He lives and works in Alaska, Utah, and Antarctica. He is a veteran Denali guide and has guided a wide range of climbers to Denali’s summit, including in 2016 an expedition comprised of Navy Seals and in 2004 a custom climb including the oldest man to summit.

When he’s not guiding in the Alaska Range, he is the Field Operations Manager for Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions. Tim also occasionally revisits working as a big-game hunting guide in remote Alaska. Tim is an avid paraglider and long-distance multisport backcountry wilderness traveler.

We are extremely lucky to have chef Kumar Gurung! He is an incredible chef that has trained at the best restaurants and 5 star hotels in Kathmandu. He is a stickler for proper hygiene, hearty, well-rounded meals, with a lot of flavor and variety and he is always working hard to improve his skills and add new recipes to his repertoire. He runs his kitchen with authority making sure his team of cooks are help to his very high standards.

Kumar has been a lead expedition chef for many of the biggest names in Himalayan climbing and has been cooking for well over 20 years. Non-Sherpa Everest record holder, Dave Hahn once remarked of Kumar that Kumar’s food was the reason he kept coming back to guide Everest for as long as he did. We feel grateful that Kumar has signed on to work with us knowing that our clients will have the best food possible at base camp, be well-fed, and climb stronger because of it.

In his off-time Kumar runs a little hotel and restaurant in Kathmandu where he treats his guests to the same fabulous creations as he shares with us. If you join us on Cho Oyu, Lhotse or Mt Everest you will most certainly meet Kumar and get a tour of his kitchen.

Casey and CTSS owner Mike Hamill started their guiding careers the same inaugural class on Mt Rainier in 2000 and have worked together all over the world since then. In that time Casey has amassed an incredible resume of guided and personal climbs and become a trusted friend and our Chief Everest guide.
Casey hails from Ohio where he got his start indoor rock climbing before venturing on to outdoor rock and ice. Mount Rainier in Washington State, USA is still his bread and butter and he has tallied more than 200 ascents of the mountains. Casey takes pride in being a well-rounded climber, which has led him from the ice routes in Canada to the rock climbs of Yosemite. He’s just as happy on hard ice and rock routes as he is sharing his love for the mountains on Rainier, Kilimanjaro, in Ecuador and on Everest.
Casey is a consummate professional who is always going out of his way to make sure that his teams are well prepared, well trained and ready for the challenges that lie ahead. He inspires confidence amongst those who climb with him and we have yet to meet a client who hasn’t loved climbing with him. He is masterful at getting clients on the summit and trouble-shooting along the way to make sure they have the highest chance of success. We can’t say enough good things about Casey’s leadership.