BRANDON BERTELSEN

CREDENTIALS

AIARE CERTIFIED AVALANCHE INSTRUCTOR
APPRENTICE GUIDE (AMGA)
PSIA LEVEL 2 CROSS-COUNTRY INSTRUCTOR
WILDERNESSS FIRST RESPONDER

Brandon is our Avalanche Education Program Manager and one of our AIARE Instructors. He has worked in outdoor recreation and outdoor recreation since 2012, in various states around the west: Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and Washington. He studied Park Recreation, and Tourism at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. He spent three years guiding month-long wilderness expeditions for NOLS in Wyoming. Before making his way to The Mountain Bureau, he also spent two winters as a PSIA Level 2 Instructor teaching cross-country in Mazama, WA. Since 2019, he has spent summers as owner and operator of Methow Rafting, a river outfitter in Winthrop, WA. In the winter, his passion is to introduce people to backcountry skiing by teaching AIARE and Intro to Ski Touring courses at the Mountain Bureau. Whether it is skiing, rivers, or mountains, for work or play, Brandon lives to share wilderness adventures with others.

ERICA ENGLE

CREDENTIALS

AMERICAN MOUNTAIN GUIDE (AMGA)
IFMGA MOUNTAIN GUIDE (IFMGA)
LEVEL I & II AVALANCHE COURSE LEADER (AIARE)
LEVEL III AVALANCHE COURSE INSTRUCTOR (AIARE)
WILDERNESS FIRST RESPONDER

Erica Engle is an IFMGA/UIAGM licensed mountain guide based in Leavenworth, Washington. After close to a decade in Jackson, Wyoming, she recently moved back to the Cascade Mountains, where she was raised and learned to ski and climb. Erica has worked professionally in the mountains since 2003 and came to guiding with a background in environmental science and is on the National Instructor Team for the AMGA and the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE), training new guides and avalanche professionals. She has spent time working and playing in ranges throughout the world, including throughout Alaska and the North American West, Ecuador, Norway and Iceland, the French, Swiss and Austrian Alps, the Caucasus, Tanzania, Thailand and Nepal's Himalaya.

~MEET ERICA-AMGA INSTRUCTOR TEAM MEMBER VIDEO

~WOMEN GUIDES SUCCEED IN MALE-DOMINATED INDUSTRY-CLIMBING MAG

STEFFAN GREGORY

CREDENTIALS

CERTIFIED ROCK GUIDE (AMGA)
CERTIFIED ALPINE GUIDE (AMGA)
ASSISTANT SPLIT-BOARD GUIDE (AMGA)
CERTIFIED SINGLE PITCH INSTRUCTOR (AMGA)
WILDERNESS FIRST RESPONDER

It’s no wonder Steffan is the Bureau’s aficionado of Southwest Rock. He has been professionally guiding rock, alpine, and desert canyons since 2009. He is an accomplished big wall climber, establishing 10 new free or first free ascent routes up to IV, 5.12+ numerous single pitch and short multi pitch routes in and around Zion National Park When Steffan is not guiding, he spends his time exploring the remote frozen waterfalls of the desert Southwest, completing demanding alpine objectives in Patagonia and Argentina, looking for fresh turns on his split-board, and working on many side projects. Steffan is the host of the Peak Season Podcast for the Mountain Bureau, The executive Director of the Zion Climbing Coalition and has managed projects in Argentina working on solutions for waterless human waste management in National Parks. Steffan grew up in the Pacific Northwest’s Skagit Valley and the Mountain Bureau is lucky that he returns each season to guide in the North Cascades.

Steffan is currently an Aspirant Mountain Guide which requires passing at least one exam in Rock, Alpine and Ski.

~PATAGONIA: GRANT TO IMPROVE CLIMBING INFRASTRUCTURE, ARGENTINA

~FIRST ASCENTS ON BIG WALLS IN ZION, UTAH

~NEW ROUTE TO SUMMIT OF MT. JOHNSON; ZION, UTAH

ZACK NOVAK

CREDENTIALS

AMERICAN MOUNTAIN GUIDE (AMGA)
IFMGA MOUNTAIN GUIDE (IFMGA)
LEVEL I & II AVALANCHE COURSE LEADER (AIARE)
WILDERNESS FIRST RESPONDER
LEAVE NO TRACE TRAINER
ASSISTANT SINGLE PITCH INSTRUCTOR PROVIDER (AMGA)

Zack is an IFMGA Mountain Guide based out of North Bend, WA. He grew up in Jerusalem, exploring the desert canyons of the Judean desert and cut his teeth climbing long routes on the Jordanian sandstone of Wadi Rum. Zack has spent the majority of his professional life as an outdoor educator and to this day is more excited about creating strong bonds and helping people grow their skill sets, than he is about always climbing or skiing the hardest or coolest line. After many years of a semi-nomadic lifestyle and returning to the US full time in 2014, Zack now lives with his wife in the Snoqualmie Valley and is passionate about exploiting his local terrain, both climbing and on skis. In his free time, you can find him sport climbing, riding bikes, walking in the woods, and attempting to speak languages other than English to varying degrees of success.

CHRIS WRIGHT

CREDENTIALS

AMERICAN MOUNTAIN GUIDE (AMGA)
IFMGA MOUNTAIN GUIDE (IFMGA)
LEVEL I AVALANCHE COURSE LEADER (AIARE)
LEVEL II AVALANCHE INSTRUCTOR (AIARE)
WILDERNESS FIRST RESPONDER

Chris Wright began his guiding career in 2006 with a move to the Pacific Northwest. An avid alpinist, Chris recently made the first ascent of one of the world’s most beautiful unclimbed 7000m peaks, Link Sar in Pakistan. Chris has also received the prestigious Mugs Stump and American Alpine Club Cutting Edge Awards for climbs in India and Nepal. Closer to home, he opened a new route on the famed East Face of Alaska’s Mooses Tooth. In addition to being the 93rd American Mountain Guide certified by the AMGA and IFMGA, Chris has climbed, guided, and skied across the U.S. and the world from Canada to Alaska, New Zealand, Europe, Africa, Mexico, the Andes, and the Himalayas. His climbing achievements include everything from Yosemite big walls to unclimbed Karakoram summits, and his guiding career has taken him from the Denali to the Matterhorn, and up Mt. Hood too many times to count. He is also on the National Instructor Team for the AMGA.

~ ZIMMERMAN AND WRIGHT-FIRST ASCENT ON MT. MACDONALD

~CLIMBERS OPEN EXPLORATORY ALPINE ROUTES; MOOSES TOOTH, AK

~AMERICAN TEAM CLIMB NOTABLE ASCENT IN PAKISTAN

Zack Wentz

CREDENTIALS

AMGA SINGLE PITCH INSTRUCTOR
AMGA SPLITBOARD GUIDE
AMGA ASSISTANT ROCK GUIDE
AMGA APPRENTICE ALPINE GUIDE
LEVEL I & II AVALANCHE COURSE LEADER (AIARE)
CANADIAN AVALANCHE ASSOCIATION ITP LEVEL 2
WILDERNESS FIRST RESPONDER

Zack Wentz is a Seattle-based mountain guide, having worked in Washington full-time as a mountain guide since 2018 & is one of the country’s best splitboard guides. As one of less than 15 total AMGA-certified Splitboard Guides, he designed the curriculum for the Washington Splitboarding Courses we offer at Mountain Bureau, and is a leader in the splitboard community in Washington.

His mission is to increase responsible access to the mountains for the public, and he does this in a number of ways: -building curriculum & instructional progressions for courses through the Mountain Bureau, -teaching courses for all difficulties for the Mountain Bureau, -work with the Northwest Weather & Avalanche Center (NWAC) on instructing avalanche awareness courses, as well as submitting professional field observations, and -writing about splitboarding through WildSnow.com.

Zack believes the best educators & guides are the ones who have the breadth of personal mountain experience coupled with the desire to share this with the public, & his climbing & splitboard mountaineering achievements are numerous. He has a full splitboard descent of the East Face of Aoraki/Mt. Cook in New Zealand, which has been skied less than 100 times, numerous steep splitboarding descents in Alaska, Canada, Washington, Oregon & France. He also studied Snow Avalanche Forecasting as a part of his Forestry degree at UBC Vancouver, and believes having both a thorough experiential & academic knowledge of avalanche risk management makes for the best understanding of this complex hazard. His research in vegetation effects on the snowpack he presented at ISSW 2018.

Zack is pursuing full IFMGA Mountain guide certification, and aims to use this cert to better serve his mission. You’ll see him on both winter & summer programs with the Mountain Bureau, helping educate the public on mountain common practices in risk management.

~ Thesis Understanding the Effects of Tree Height on Snowpack Instability in Maritime Snowpack Climates - Presented at ISSW 2018
~ WildSnow Splitboarding Blog Posts
~ Washington Ski & Splitboard Courses

EXPERIeNCE

The founder, Mark Allen has been guiding since 2000 and has maintained a hand in developing all Mountain Bureau programs along with his trusted core staff. Mark has the pleasure of working for nearly every outfitter in the PNW and experienced every possible program variation. Mark as selected and networked team of experienced locals in all the regions we operate. Mark is still involved in all Mountain Bureau operations or guiding your trip. Learn about the Mountain Bureau evolution in our podcast PEAKSEASON Episode 0 & Episode 1.

SMall - Craft - Boutique

We offer a craft experience at competitive prices. All of our trips have a high touch feel and get you the access you desire to a professional team. Mountain Bureau programs are all inclusive by providing instructional team meeting and packing session, group meals all camping equipment, all group climbing equipment all facilitated by a licensed professional with remote emergency oversight. On foreign trips, group accommodations and local transport is also included.

We are Career Guides

We are the most experienced group of regional guides in the PNW with a strong emphasis on mentorship of our staff in training. We are extremely selective in who guides our clients and in tern are Fair Trade Living Wage. Our guides are made up of professional rock climbers, alpinists, and skiers, regarded as some of the best technical experts and educators in the outdoor industry.

OPERATIONAL STANTARDS

Its important to know guides are not required to meet a national standard in the US. The bar is quite low. We hire career guides working within their SOP. We also provide our staff an incredible amount of mentorship, communications and tools to succeed on your program. Our operational standard is one of the highest in the industry.