Alpine Guiding Team

Our Alpine Guiding Team

We are a friendly, patient bunch of IFMGA guides with a great depth of experience between us, spanning Europe and most of the major mountain ranges in the world. We are Alpinists, icefall experts, trad climbers, Scottish winter enthusiasts and Himalayan expedition veterans – it’s all part of our game and we love it. Many of us also have a teaching or instructional background, which allows us to deliver clear and well structured coaching and skills based courses across the seasons.

Take a look through our social media and images to see the depth and variety of guiding work we undertake, each and every season. We simply love spending time in the mountains and we hope to share some with you soon.

Al Powell

Al plans our courses and guiding itineraries, deals with the company website and maintains our social media accounts, so is responsible for most of the photo and video content that we produce. He has lived in the mountains his whole life, both parents having been keen Alpinists. In his early climbing career he concentrated mainly on winter alpinism and expeditions, climbing several cutting edge new routes around the world during the course of 20 expeditions to the Greater Ranges.

He also kept up a running career, with highlights including winning the Elite course on both the LAMM and OMM Mountain Marathons and being the first Briton to run the Tour du Mont Blanc in under 24hrs (102ml & 9000m ascent – that hurt!) In more recent times he has moved back to orienteering, having won the Veteran Home Internationals for Wales and numerous night orienteering races.

In the winter months he heads up the Alpine Guides ski program and in the summer works in both the Uk and the Alps, guiding trips and leading alpine training courses.

The rest of the year he lives in Yorkshire with his wife Sima and their family, where he works for the company whilst trying to spend as much time riding, running and bouldering as possible.

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Alpine Guiding Team
Ski Guiding Team
Staff member

Rich Cross

Rich runs the company on a day to day basis, so is well known to everyone as a key point of contact with Alpine Guides. He has been climbing for over 25 years, loving every apsect of the sport from bouldering right through to winter Alpinism, and has travelled the world pursuing his passion for the sport. Earlier in his climbing career he went on many expeditions to the Greater Ranges, which included the first ascent of Ama Dablams NW ridge, for which he was nominated for the Piolet d’Or.

In the winter season Rich specialises in ice fall guiding, Scottish and Norwegian winter climbing, and winter Alpinism. During the summer he loves exploring different regions of the Alps especially if it involves classic alpine rock routes, mixed climbing and north faces – some highlights of his guiding career include the Croz Spur on the North face of the Grand Jorasses, the North face of the Piz Badile, North face of Les Droites, and the West Ridge of the Salbitschen. He also spends each spring and autumn in the UK guiding in the Peak District, Wales, the Lakes, Ireland and the Scottish Highlands, and time on the road bike or personal climbing whenever he can!

Rich lives in Sheffield with his wife Liz and their young boys Sam and Charlie who also love the outdoor life.

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Alpine Guiding Team
Ski Guiding Team
Staff member

Dee Abrahams

Undoubtedly the most efficient member of our team, Dee keeps the show on the road during the autumn, winter and spring – booking huts, making payments, liasing with our hotels and transfer companies and pretty much everything else! A brilliant organiser and fixer, she provides logistical support to our guides on the hill, so they can concentrate on guiding and keeping you safe and enjoying your trip.

Married to a British Mountain Guide, our old friend Si Abrahams, she speaks fluent French and is a keen skier and outdoor enthusiast. Dee lives in the Chamonix Valley with husband Simon and their two teenage daughters.

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Alpine Guiding Team
Ski Guiding Team
Staff member

Calum Muskett

Calum is an IFMGA qualified British Mountain Guide with over ten years of experience leading mountaineering and ski trips in challenging conditions and environments around the world, from Arctic Norway to the Southern Alps and Antarctica. Hailing from Eryri in Wales, Calum learnt his craft in the local mountains from an early age, becoming a professional rock climber and alpinist, whilst also qualifying as a rock and winter climbing instructor. He’s travelled and established difficult first ascents on peaks and rock faces in four continents. He now divides his time between his home areas of Wales and the French Alps. In his spare time, Calum enjoys paragliding, kayaking and playing the piano, as well as spending as much time as possible with his young family. He also works in areas of health research in Wales between the guiding seasons.

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Alpine Guiding Team
Ski Guiding Team

Lori Lorencic

Winner of the Piolet D’Or in 2007 for his ascent of the NW Face of Chomolhari (7326m) in Tibet with Marko Prezelj, Lori is a world class alpinist and mountain guide.

Based in Maribor Slovenia, where he lives with his family, Lori guides on skis in both the Eastern and Western Alps each winter. A leading exponent of free, alpine style climbing with minimum equipment – Lori has pushed the limits, putting up several new routes in the Himalayas, North America and Patagonia over the last 20 years.

Bringing the same work ethic to his professional guiding as his personal mountaineering, he is diligent and incredibly fit, but also an inspiring teacher and mentor – with an incredible breadth of experience to share.

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Alpine Guiding Team
Ski Guiding Team

Mike Thomas

Based in Chamonix working as an IFMGA guide, Mike particularly enjoys ski touring in the mountains to discover more remote and less travelled areas of the Alps. A keen climber since his early teens, Mike has always found the mountains a place to thrive and find adventure!

After studying in the Lake District, his climbing journey and guiding career began to evolve; working first as a Mountaineering instructor, before training to be an IFMGA guide. Mike has climbed and skied all over the world with destinations including; Nepal, India, Norway, America and across Europe. With his strong passion for the outdoors, he pursues his personal interests through mountaineering and climbing.

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Alpine Guiding Team
Ski Guiding Team

Neil Mackay

Neil is a full member of the British Mountain Guides association and is part of the first ever father & son British guiding family. He’s spent his whole life in the mountains, skiing and climbing with his father Mac in the Alps, Himalaya and the UK.

In the winter months Neil specialises in ski guiding in the European Alps and further afield, where he has a good knowledge of the major venues in the Western Alps in particular. Neil is a very talented skier! In the summer he guides full time from his base in Chamonix.

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Alpine Guiding Team

Klemen Gricar

It’s no understatement to say the Klemen is a bit of a legend – a Slovenian IFMGA Mountain Guide based in the Julian Alps, he works extensively in the Western Alps with English speaking clients both summer and winter. President of the Slovenian Mountain Guides Association from 2009-2013, he is also head of the National Mountain Rescue Team.

Unbelievably fit (he guides about 150 days a year) and a consumate professional, he always takes great care of his team and makes sure that everyone is able to make the most of their time in the mountains. When not working, he enjoys spending time with his 2 children and also travels regularly and indulges his passion for mountain photography.

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Alpine Guiding Team
Ski Guiding Team

Simon Hale

Simon is an IFMGA Guide with over 30 years experience climbing and skiing in mountain ranges all over the world. He has worked at Plas y Brenin, the UK National Mountain Centre, as a Senior Instructor and also has a degree in outdoor education and environmental science, as well as diplomas in ski instruction.

Well known for his dry sense of humour, he ‘s a good guy to spend time on the hill with and has an excellent breadth of knowledge in many areas. On ski weeks he’s also a qualified instructor, so can help improve your ski technique too! In another aspect of his professional life, Simon is the training director of the British Association of International Mountain Leaders (BAIML), overseeing training and assessment of international walking tour leaders in the Uk.

Simon splits his time between homes in the French Alps and North Wales, where he works and guides year round.

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Alpine Guiding Team
Ski Guiding Team

Kenny Grant

Kenny is a friendly and enthusiastic IFMGA Mountain Guide, based between Scotland and the Chamonix valley.

Originally from Fort William in the West Highlands of Scotland, Kenny cut his teeth climbing and skiing on the local mountains of Ben Nevis and Glencoe before going on to climb throughout the UK, North America, Norway and extensively in the European Alps.

On skis, Kenny’s passion for powder skiing and touring has taken him to Canada, America and all around the European Alps, where he has good knowledge of the Mont Blanc Massif, the Ecrins, Uri Alps, Ortler, Vanoise, Silvretta, Val Anniveries and the Haute Route – as well as a many other ‘off the radar’ areas.

A keen mountain sports ‘all rounder’, bouldering, sport climbing, alpinism and winter climbing all feature in his Guiding and days off. Any other spare time is taken up with mountain biking where he enjoys trying to keep up with his young son Fraser!

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Alpine Guiding Team
Ski Guiding Team

Graham McMahon

Since his first adventures in North Wales as a teenager, Graham has gone on to climb and ski in North and South America, Asia, Australasia, Africa and Europe, becoming an International Mountain Guide (IFMGA) in 2001 and still loves it!

Well known for his experience, professionalism and easy going manner, Graham spent many years working as a Senior Instructor at Plas y Brenin (the national mountain centre ) introducing novices to the mountains and helping experts improve. Currently he spends the winters skiing and ice climbing in Europe and the summers mountaineering and rock climbing.

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Alpine Guiding Team
Ski Guiding Team